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PubMed2005

Perfect syncarpy in apple (Malus x domestica 'Summerland McIntosh') and its implications for pollination, seed distribution and fruit production (Rosaceae: Maloideae).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The gynoecium of the domestic apple, Malus x domestica, has been assumed to be imperfectly syncarpic, whereby pollination of each stigmatic surface can result in fertilization within only one of the five carpels. Despite its implied effect on fruit quantity and quality, the resulting influence of flower form on seed set and distribution within the apple fruit has seldom been investigated. Instead, poor fruit quality is usually attributed to problems with pollination, such as low bee numbers and/or ineffective pollinators within apple agro-ecosystems. The objective of this study was to determine the true nature of gynoecial structure and its influence on fruit production in the apple cultivar 'Summerland McIntosh'. METHODS: A stigma-excision method was used to determine the effects of uneven pollination among the five stigmas on fruit quantity (as measured by fruit set), and quality (seed number and distribution). In addition, flowers were examined microscopically to determine pollen tube pathways. KEY RESULTS: Fruit set, seed number, seed distribution, and the microscopic examination of flower gynoecial structure reported in this study indicated that the gynoecium of the cultivar Summerland McIntosh is perfectly syncarpic and not imperfectly syncarpic as previously thought. CONCLUSIONS: Pollination levels among the five stigmas need not be uniform to obtain full seed development within Summerland McIntosh fruit; even if one stigmatic surface is adequately pollinated, a full complement of seeds is likely. The importance of perfect syncarpy in recognizing true causes of poor fruit quality in apple is discussed.

Crosses, Genetic↗
PubMed2005

Stigma development and receptivity in almond (Prunus dulcis).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Fertilization is essential in almond production, and pollination can be limiting in production areas. This study investigated stigma receptivity under defined developmental stages to clarify the relationship between stigma morphology, pollen germination, tube growth and fruit set. METHODS: Light and scanning electron microscopy were employed to examine stigma development at seven stages of flower development ranging from buds that were swollen to flowers in which petals were abscising. Flowers at different stages were hand pollinated and pollen germination and tube growth assessed. Artificial pollinations in the field were conducted to determine the effect of flower age on fruit set. KEY RESULTS: Later stages of flower development exhibited greater stigma receptivity, i.e. higher percentages of pollen germination and more extensive tube growth occurred in older (those opened to the flat petal stage or exhibiting petal fall) than younger flowers. Enhanced stigma receptivity was associated with elongation of stigmatic papillae and increased amounts of stigmatic exudate that inundated papillae at later developmental stages. Field pollinations indicated that the stigma was still receptive and nut set was maintained in older flowers. CONCLUSIONS: Stigma receptivity in almond does not become optimal until flowers are past the fully open stage. The stigma is still receptive and fruit set is maintained in flowers even at the stage when petals are abscising. Strategies to enhance pollination and crop yield, including the timing and placement of honey bees, should consider the effectiveness of developmentally advanced flowers.

Flowers↗
PubMed2005

African American, Chinese, and Latino family caregivers' impressions of the onset and diagnosis of dementia: cross-cultural similarities and differences.

PURPOSE: We explored cross-cultural similarities and differences in minority family caregivers' perceptions of the onset and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in their relatives, with specific attention to clinical encounters. DESIGN AND METHODS: We performed a meta-synthesis of three qualitative studies conducted in Massachusetts with 22 African American, Latino, and Chinese caregivers. RESULTS: All participants conveyed striking similarities of thought about normalization of cognitive symptoms until one critical event, usually relocation, precipitated family awareness that an elder's behavior was not the result of "normal aging." A lack of knowledge about Alzheimer's disease, rather than culturally influenced beliefs, was the major deterrent to having an elder's memory assessed. Community physicians' failure to recognize Alzheimer's disease or refer to specialists was more problematic than language or ethnic differences. Physicians' disrespect for caregivers' concerns about memory loss was particularly noted by African Americans, stigmatization of persons with Alzheimer's disease was noted by Chinese, and fears that acculturation would end family home care was noted by Latinos. IMPLICATIONS: Amid ethnocultural differences, there are many similarities in needs that offer providers the possibility to unify quality improvements in Alzheimer's disease outreach, education, and physicians' services. Suggestions include providing the public with more confidential access to Alzheimer's disease information, increasing dementia awareness among community physicians, motivating clinicians to adopt culturally sensitive communication patterns, and providing community education to reduce normalization by families and stigmatization of persons with Alzheimer's disease.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Perinatal care for women who are addicted: implications for empowerment.

This article explores societal responses to perinatal drug abuse, including stigmatic attitudes and behaviors of health care workers that are directed toward women who abuse drugs during pregnancy. Health care providers' stigmatic responses can deter women from receiving perinatal care and place women and their unborn children at risk. Because poor women and women of color face a greater probability of being prosecuted or losing custody of their children for using drugs while they are pregnant, the article emphasizes societal responses to these client populations. Empowering strategies are suggested by which social workers and clients can potentially redefine perinatal drug abuse as a health problem rather than a legal issue and improve the environment in which perinatal care is provided.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2003

Signals and targets of the self-incompatibility response in pollen of Papaver rhoeas.

Self-incompatibility (SI) in Papaver rhoeas involves an allele-specific recognition between stigmatic S-proteins and pollen, resulting in inhibition of incompatible pollen. A picture of some of the signalling events and mechanisms involved in this specific inhibition of pollen tube growth is beginning to be built up. This highly specific response triggers a Ca(2+)-dependent signalling cascade in incompatible pollen when a stigmatic S-protein interacts with it. Rapid increases in cytosolic free Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)) can now be attributed (at least in part) to Ca(2+) influx. The rapid loss of the pollen apical Ca(2+) gradient within approximately 1-2 min is accompanied by the inhibition of pollen tube tip growth. Concomitant with this time-frame, hyper-phosphorylation of p26, a soluble pollen phosphoprotein is detected. Characterization of p26 reveals that it is a soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase, which suggests a possible direct functional role in pollen tube growth. Slightly later, a putative MAP kinase (p52) is thought to be activated. Finally, preliminary evidence that programmed cell death (PCD) may be triggered in this response is described. A key target for these signals, the actin cytoskeleton, has also been identified. In this article the current understanding of some of the components of this signalling cascade and how they are beginning to throw some light on possible mechanisms involved in this SI-induced inhibition of pollen tube growth, is discussed.

Apoptosis↗
PubMed2003

The actin cytoskeleton is a target of the self-incompatibility response in Papaver rhoeas.

The integration of signals received by a cell, and their transduction to targets, is essential for all cellular responses. The cytoskeleton has been identified as a major target of signalling cascades in both animal and plant cells. Self-incompatibility (SI) in Papaver rhoeas involves an allele-specific recognition between stigmatic S-proteins and pollen, resulting in the inhibition of incompatible pollen. This highly specific response triggers a Ca(2+)-dependent signalling cascade in incompatible pollen when a stigmatic S-protein interacts with it. It has been demonstrated recently that SI induces dramatic alterations in the organization of the pollen actin cytoskeleton. This implicates the actin cytoskeleton as a key target for the SI-stimulated signals. The cytological alterations to the actin cytoskeleton that are triggered in response to SI are described here and there seem to be several stages that are distinguishable temporally. Evidence was obtained that F-actin depolymerization is also stimulated. The current understanding that the actin cytoskeleton is a target for the signals triggered by the SI response is discussed. It is suggested that these F-actin alterations may be Ca(2+)-mediated and that this could be a mechanism whereby SI-induced tip growth inhibition is achieved. The potential for actin-binding proteins to act as key mediators of this response is discussed and the mechanisms that may be responsible for effecting these changes are described. In particular, the parallels between sustained actin rearrangements during SI and in apoptosis of animal cells are considered.

Actins↗
PubMed2003

Genomic organization of the Papaver rhoeas self-incompatibility S(1) locus.

The self-incompatibility (SI) response in Papaver rhoeas depends upon the cognate interaction between a pollen-expressed receptor and a stigmatically expressed ligand. The genes encoding these components are situated within the S-locus. In order for SI to be maintained, the genes encoded by the S-locus must be co-inherited with no recombination between them. Several hypotheses, including sequence heterogeneity and chromosomal position, have been put forward to explain the maintenance of the S-locus in the SI systems of the Brassicaceae and the Solanaceae. A region of the Papaver rhoeas genome encompassing part of the self-incompatibility S(1) locus has been cloned and sequenced. The clone contains the gene encoding the stigmatic component of the response, but does not contain a putative pollen S-gene. The sequence surrounding the S(1) gene contains several diverse repetitive DNA elements. As such, the P. rhoeas S-locus bears similarities to the S-loci of other SI systems. An attempt to localize the P. rhoeas S-locus using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has also been made. The potential relevance of the findings to mechanisms of recombination suppression is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2001

Three strategies for changing attributions about severe mental illness.

The effects of three strategies for changing stigmatizing attitudes--education (which replaces myths about mental illness with accurate conceptions), contact (which challenges public attitudes about mental illness through direct interactions with persons who have these disorders), and protest (which seeks to suppress stigmatizing attitudes about mental illness)--were examined on attributions about schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses. One hundred and fifty-two students at a community college were randomly assigned to one of the three strategies or a control condition. They completed a questionnaire about attributions toward six groups--depression, psychosis, cocaine addiction, mental retardation, cancer, and AIDS--prior to and after completing the assigned condition. As expected, results showed that education had no effect on attributions about physical disabilities but led to improved attributions in all four psychiatric groups. Contact produced positive changes that exceeded education effects in attributions about targeted psychiatric disabilities: depression and psychosis. Protest yielded no significant changes in attributions about any group. This study also examined the effects of these strategies on processing information about mental illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Psychiatric illness and family stigma.

Considerable research has documented the stigmatization of people with mental illnesses and its negative consequences. Recently it has been shown that stigma may also seriously affect families of psychiatric patients, but little empirical research has addressed this problem. We examine perceptions of and reactions to stigma among 156 parents and spouses of a population-based sample of first-admission psychiatric patients. While most family members did not perceive themselves as being avoided by others because of their relative's hospitalization, half reported concealing the hospitalization at least to some degree. Both the characteristics of the mental illness (the stigmatizing mark) and the social characteristics of the family were significantly related to levels of family stigma. Family members were more likely to conceal the mental illness if they did not live with their ill relative, if the relative was female, and if the relative had less severe positive symptoms. Family members with more education and whose relative had experienced an episode of illness within the past 6 months reported greater avoidance by others.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Attitudes of mental health professionals toward people with schizophrenia and major depression.

Several studies reveal poor knowledge about mental illness in the general population and stigmatizing attitudes toward people with mental illness. However, it is unknown whether mental health professionals hold fewer stigmatizing attitudes than the general population. A survey was conducted of the attitudes of mental health professionals (n = 1073) and members of the public (n = 1737) toward mental illness and their specific reaction toward a person with and without psychiatric symptoms ("non-case" as a reference category). Psychiatrists had more negative stereotypes than the general population. Mental health professionals accepted restrictions toward people with mental illness 3 times less often than the public. Most professionals were able to recognize cases of schizophrenia and depression, but 1 in 4 psychiatrists and psychologists also considered the non-case as mentally ill. The social distance toward both major depression and the non-case was lower than toward schizophrenia. However, in this regard, there was no difference between professionals and the public. The study concludes that the better knowledge of mental health professionals and their support of individual rights neither entail fewer stereotypes nor enhance the willingness to closely interact with mentally ill people.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Beggars, metaphors, and stigma: a missing link in the social history of leprosy.

Students of leprosy stigma are at odds over its sources, intensity, and current presistence. On the basis of a study of leprosy in Thailand that combined an archival survey with anthropological field-work, the present article offers a different thesis on these issues from those that have been proposed thus far. The thesis suggests that prior to the discovery of a cure for the disease, its sufferers encountered ambivalent rather than severly stigmatizing reactions. Yet the public's selective exposure-mainly to beggars with the disease-paved the way to the perception of leprosy as the epitome of stigmatization and to its transformation into a metaphor for degradation. Progress in the medical treatment of the disease significantly improved patients' social acceptance but also allowed them to keep their illness a secret. Their consequent disappearance from the public eye turned the figurative use of leprosy in the spoken language into the main source of shaping its image. This development contributed to the irrefutability and perpetuation of the negative image, and even to its intensification to the extent of utter divorce from concrete reality. After expounding this thesis, the paper discusses its potential contribution to resolving the disputes over the roots, severity, and persistence of leprosy stigma on the international level.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed2000

High AIDS awareness may cause tuberculosis patient delay: results from an HIV epidemic area, Thailand.

OBJECTIVE: To elicit community perceptions about tuberculosis (TB) and the behaviour of TB patients in an area where significant public health attention has been focused on AIDS. SETTING: Chiang Rai, Thailand, the epicentre of HIV/AIDS in this country. DESIGN: Eleven focus group sessions with a cross-section of the population. PARTICIPANTS: Health centre staff, community members, persons having HIV, TB patients (with and without HIV infection), and male injecting drug users; five female groups and six male groups. RESULT: People had good knowledge of AIDS but they knew little about TB. Only a few female patients, whose husbands had died of TB and AIDS, recognized their symptoms as TB and immediately sought care. People defined persons losing weight, having fever and cough as AIDS rather than TB. This resulted in delay in seeking care and non-adherence to TB treatment in some patients who suspected they had AIDS, and feared AIDS detection. Most HIV-negative TB patients were also suspected by their relatives and neighbours of having AIDS. Most participants, except HIV-positive females, believed TB to be curable. Although less than AIDS, the community stigmatized TB patients because of it being contagious and easily transmitted through exhalations, foods and drinks and closeness to TB patients. CONCLUSION: In HIV/AIDS high endemic situation, increased awareness and stigmatization of AIDS and inadequate knowledge of TB can result in delay in seeking TB care and in treatment non-adherence.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed2003

Doubts about DOT: antiretroviral therapy for resource-poor countries.

INTRODUCTION: Directly observed therapy programs developed for tuberculosis (TB) have been suggested as a model for the provision of HIV medications in resource-poor countries in order to ensure adherence and prevent drug resistance. METHODS: Opinions were formed based on a review of scientific literature regarding the effectiveness of witnessed dosing in directly observed TB therapy programs, adherence to HIV antiretroviral therapy in resource-rich and resource-poor settings, relationship between adherence and HIV antiretroviral drug resistance, HIV viral load and risk of HIV transmission, and stigmatization concerns related to HIV and TB in resource-poor settings. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the enthusiasm for HIV directly observed therapy programs is premature based on: equivocal evidence that witnessed dosing is superior to self administered therapy; mistaken assumptions that resource-poor countries are a 'special case' with respect to adherence; possible paradoxical impact of good adherence on HIV drug resistance; unproven efficacy of antiretroviral therapy in preventing HIV transmission; and potential stigmatization of daily antiretroviral dosing.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2000

Characteristics of adolescent cancer survivors who pursue postsecondary education.

This study aimed to identify differences between adolescent cancer survivors who participate in postsecondary education and those who do not, as well as factors that helped these survivors to cope. American College Testing records for 129,824 adolescents were meshed with Iowa's Cancer Registry to identify Iowans who had received a diagnosis of cancer between the ages of 12 and 17 years. The potential subject pool contained 85 persons. A questionnaire was sent to the 28 persons who agreed to participate in the study, and 75% responded. Most of the respondents were girls with normal levels of physical function. Measures of adjustment and mood state indicated low distress levels. Fatigue was their area of highest distress. All the respondents were enrolled in education programs or had graduated. Help from family, friends, and teachers was seen as supportive, but lack of knowledge about their disease was cited most frequently by this same group as interfering with their coping. The respondents demonstrated more discipline, stamina, and commitment than was expected. However, the accrual protocol and respondents' comments revealed a stigmatization of patients with cancer by professional health workers, indicating a need to confront the value that health professionals place on this stigmatized population and health professionals' contribution to this societal posture.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Gender verification of female Olympic athletes.

Gender verification of female athletes has long been criticized by geneticists, endocrinologists, and others in the medical community. Problems include invalid screening tests, failure to understand the problems of intersex, the discriminatory singling out of women based only on laboratory results, and the stigmatization and emotional trauma experienced by individuals screened positive. Genuine sex-impostors have not been uncovered by laboratory-based genetic testing; however, gender verification procedures have resulted in substantial harm to a number of women athletes born with relatively rare genetic abnormalities. Individuals with sex-related genetic abnormalities raised as females have no unfair physical advantage and should not be excluded or stigmatized, including those with 5-alpha-steroid-reductase deficiency, partial or complete androgen insensitivity, and chromosomal mosaicism. In 1990, the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) called for ending genetic screening of female athletes and in 1992 adopted an approach designed to prevent only male impostors from competing. The IAAF recommended that the "medical delegate" have the ultimate authority in all medical matters, including the authority to arrange for the determination of the gender of the competitor if that approach is judged necessary. The new policy advocated by the IAAF, and conditionally adopted by the International Olympic Committee, protects the rights and privacy of athletes while safeguarding fairness of competition, and the American Medical Association recommends that it become the permanent approach.

Disorders of Sex Development↗
PubMed2003

Is a career in emergency medicine associated with stigma?

OBJECTIVE: Many emergency medicine staff report anecdotally that fellow hospital staff have a low opinion of emergency medicine. No research into this attitude has been published. The aim of this study is to determine whether there is stigma attached to emergency medicine and practitioners. METHOD: A postal questionnaire of all medical staff at a district general hospital, to evaluate the presence or absence of eight perceptions associated with stigma. RESULTS: The response rate was 49.5%, with the response rate decreasing with decreasing grade. Of the stigmatizing themes tested in this study, six of the eight were demonstrated to be associated with negative attitudes, with the remaining two themes positive attitudes towards emergency medicine were suggested. The responses were similar, irrespective of grade and speciality (where given by respondees). Responses that were ambivalent or not completed varied between 25 and 48% in the returned questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: This paper demonstrates that stigmatizing opinions towards emergency medicine exist and that these negative opinions may be widely held by hospital staff.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Visible vs hidden scars and their relation to body esteem.

This study examined the relationship among burn scarring, severity and visibility, and body esteem. Previous work addressing this question has relied on case studies and small samples. We mailed a survey to 2500 members of a national burn survivor support group. Survivors were asked to complete and return the mailed survey or complete the survey on line at our Web site. Three hundred sixty-one survivors completed all questionnaires in the survey relevant to this study, which included measures of burn characteristics, social stigmatization, social support, depression, and body esteem. The sample characteristics were as follows: 52% were women, the mean age was 44.1 years, the mean age burned was 26 years, 88% were European American, 5% were African American, 4% were multiracial, 3% were other, the average TBSA was 48%, and the mean educational level was high school graduate. We measured scar visibility by asking survivors to rate "how often are your burn scars visible to others" on a six-point scale. We also asked them to rate the presence or absence of scars on 15 body parts, total TBSA, and number of surgeries. The correlation between visible scarring and different aspects of body esteem, that is, self-satisfaction with appearance (-.19) and perception of others reaction to your appearance (-.27), was statistically significant but low. Visible scarring was unrelated to self-satisfaction with weight (.01). Visible scarring had a low but significant correlation with perceived stigmatization (.23) and was not correlated with depression (0.01). Other measures of scarring also had low correlations with social and emotional outcome variables. Because scar severity and visibility are hypothesized to be particularly relevant to body esteem, we performed a multiple regression predicting body esteem. We entered the variables in three blocks: burn characteristics, demographic characteristics, and social and emotional characteristics. Burn characteristics accounted for less than 20% of the variance. R square for the final equation equaled.62, with social adjustment and depression accounting for the largest portion of the variance. In this sample, burn scar visibility and severity did not have a strong relationship with social and emotional adjustment variables. More effort must be placed into developing psychosocial interventions that help survivors accept scars, reduce depression, and build a strong loving support system.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

What is in a cause? Exploring the relationship between genetic cause and felt stigma.

PURPOSE: Concern over stigma as a consequence of genetic testing has grown in response to the recent increase in genetic research and testing resulting from the Human Genome Project. However, whether a genetic or hereditary basis necessarily confers a stigma to a condition remains unexamined. METHODS: We performed a qualitative interview study with 86 individuals with one of four conditions: deafness or hearing loss, breast cancer, sickle cell disease, and cystic fibrosis. The first two groups were divided approximately between people who ascribed their conditions to a genetic or hereditary cause and those who did not. RESULTS: Respondents interpreted genetic or hereditary causes and nongenetic causes in a variety of ways. Subjects with breast cancer reported the most consistently negative interpretation of genetic cause. This response concerned future ill health, not an enduring sense of stigma. Deaf and hard of hearing subjects provided the most consistently positive comments about a genetic or hereditary basis to their condition, casting familial hearing loss as a vital component of group and individual identity. Respondents with sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis offered similar and positive interpretations of the genetic cause of their condition insofar as it meant their conditions were not contagious. CONCLUSIONS: Although some subjects report feeling stigmatized as a result of their condition, this stigmatization is not uniformly associated with the condition's cause, genetic or otherwise. Instead, stigma emerges from a variety of sources in the context of the lived experience of a particular condition.

Adolescent↗