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Evaluating the Cancer Information Service: a model for health communications. Part 1.

The Cancer Information Service (CIS) was established in 1975 by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to meet the information needs of cancer patients, their families, health professionals, and the public. As the nation's foremost source for cancer information, the CIS applies a unique health communications model to bring the latest research findings on cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and supportive care to the nation. It does this through two main program components: a toll-free telephone service (1-800-4-CANCER) and an outreach program that focuses on providing technical assistance, specifically to partners reaching minority and underserved audiences. During its 22-year history, more than 7.5 million callers have reached the CIS telephone service. In addition, 100,000 requests are received each year from 4,500 organizations nationwide seeking cancer-related outreach expertise. This overview describes the CIS model for health communications, describes the program's impact in broad terms, and defines the critical role evaluation plays in each program component. The overview describes two customer satisfaction and impact surveys performed by an independent survey research firm in 1996 to evaluate the CIS model: (a) the telephone service user survey, a random sample of 2,489 persons representing major caller groups who were interviewed 3 to 6 weeks after their initial call to the CIS; and (b) the outreach partner survey, a random sample of 867 partner organizations, the majority of which reach minority and underserved audiences with information and programs, surveyed within a few months after a contact with the CIS outreach program. Impact data for both program areas were favorable: Approximately 8 out of 10 CIS callers reported that the information they received had a positive impact (either in eliciting a positive action [56%] or in reassurance of decisions made [22%]) and two-thirds of CIS partners said the CIS has an important impact on their programs.

Consumer Behavior↗

Differences between husbands' and wives' approach to infertility affect marital communication and adjustment.

OBJECTIVE: To test a theoretical model of the effect on marital communication and adjustment of men's and women's approach to infertility. DESIGN: A cross-sectional research design involving interviews, questionnaires, and a marital discussion task. SETTING: Volunteers from practices of fertility specialists. PATIENT(S): Forty-eight couples currently seeking infertility treatment. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Quality of marital communication during a marital discussion task and effect of infertility on the marriage. RESULT(S): Having children was more important to wives than husbands; wives were more involved in trying to have a baby, wanted to talk with their partner more about trying to have a baby, and experienced a greater loss of self-esteem than did their husbands. To the extent that husbands saw having children as important, were involved in trying to have a baby, or wanted to talk with their wives about trying to have a baby, the quality of marital communication when discussing infertility was less negative, and in turn, wives perceived a more positive effect of infertility on their marriage. CONCLUSION(S): Increases in husbands' interest and involvement in fertility treatment may lead to positive changes in couple communication about infertility and to a more positive effect of infertility on the marriage.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Correlates of condom use intentions and behaviors among a community-based sample of Latino men in Los Angeles.

HIV/AIDS has disproportionately affected Latino communities. The majority of research addressing HIV risk behaviors within this population has focused on women. However, men who have sex with women (MSW) are a population increasingly becoming infected with HIV and heterosexual contact is the primary source of HIV transmission among Latinos diagnosed with AIDS. It has been assumed that because men are likely to control condom use, relationship factors are less likely to influence safer sex behavior among men. However, because condom use is an interdependent behavior, understanding factors that predict safer sex behavior among MSW is critical. This study examined the influence of multiple factors on condom use behavior in a community-based sample of young Latino men. Data from 191 Latino men who completed baseline interviews for an intervention were analyzed to examine the association of background, intrapersonal and relationship factors with intentions to use condoms and condom use in the past three months. Findings from multivariate analyses indicated that more positive attitudes toward condoms, stronger partner condom norms and greater participation in decision-making about condom use were significantly associated with both condom use and condom use intentions. Additionally, men reporting lower expectations of negative partner reactions to condom requests were more likely to use condoms, and condom use intentions were higher among men reporting more health protective communication in the relationship. Findings suggest that interventions to prevent HIV need to include men as well as women and address the role of relationship factors and dynamics in safer sex practices.

Adolescent↗

Reporting the results of cystic fibrosis carrier screening.

The recent discovery of the cystic fibrosis gene has offered the possibility of population-based cystic fibrosis carrier screening. Although > 100 distinct mutations have been identified, five of these in aggregate represent about 85% of the alleles in Britain and the United States. Screening programs that test for these five mutations can be designed to offer several alternative ways to communicate the risk to a pregnancy and several alternative ways to manage a pregnancy. At this time we favor a strategy of screening partners in a couple in sequence, screening the second partner only if the first is positive; nevertheless, different strategies will appeal to different couples.

Cystic Fibrosis↗

Micrografting techniques for testing long-distance signalling in Arabidopsis.

Grafting in species other than Arabidopsis has generated persuasive evidence for long-distance signals involved in many plant processes, including regulation of flowering time and shoot branching. Hitherto, such approaches in Arabidopsis have been hampered by the lack of suitable grafting techniques. Here, a range of micrografting methods for young Arabidopsis seedlings are described. The simplest configuration was a single-hypocotyl graft, constructed with or without a supporting collar, allowing tests of root-shoot communication. More complex two-shoot grafts were also constructed, enabling tests of shoot-shoot communication. Integrity of grafts and absence of adventitious roots on scions were assessed using plants constitutively expressing a GUS gene as one graft partner. Using the max1 (more axillary growth) and max3 increased branching mutants, it was shown that a wild-type (WT) rootstock was able to inhibit rosette branching of mutant shoots. In two-shoot grafts with max1 and WT shoots on a max1 rootstock, the mutant shoot branched profusely, but the WT one did not. In two-shoot grafts with max1 and WT shoots on a WT rootstock, neither shoot exhibited increased branching. The results mirror those previously demonstrated in equivalent grafting experiments with the ramosus mutants in pea, and are consistent with the concept that a branching signal is capable of moving from root to shoot, but not from shoot to shoot. These grafting procedures will be valuable for revealing genes associated with many other long-distance signalling pathways, including flowering, systemic resistance and abiotic stress responses.

Arabidopsis↗

Analysis of the vocal profiles of male seduction: from exhibition to self-disclosure.

The authors analyzed the suprasegmental (temporary) vocal profiles of 19 young men (not married) during their seductive interaction with 19 young women (not married) whom they had not known previously. The aim of the research was to verify the specificity, the sequential temporal stream, and the efficacy of the acoustical features of the seducer's voice during seductive interaction. In an ecological laboratory situation, the male participants were asked to meet their female partners. Participant-by-participant analysis showed that the male seductive voice is characterized by strong variations during the course of the seductive sequence. At the beginning of the sequence it had a higher pitch and an elevated intensity, as well as a faster rate of articulation than it did during normal speech (the exhibition voice). In the following phases it became gradually lower, weaker, and warmer (the self-disclosure voice). The modulation and variability of the vocal profiles during the seductive interaction were significantly stressed in the 9 successful seducers (those who succeeded in arranging a subsequent meeting with the partner), compared with the 10 unsuccessful seducers. The results have been interpreted as an ability to perform an effective local management of seductive communication.

Exhibitionism↗

The treatment of secondary orgasmic dysfunction II.

This study investigated the impact of group treatment on women with secondary orgasmic dysfunction and their partners. Eleven couples received 4 hours of basic sex education, after which seven of the couples received a Combination treatment format consisting of communication skills followed by sexual skills, while four of the couples received the opposite sequence. No significant differences were found between the two sequences. When compared with similarly recruited control couples in a previous study, a significantly greater number of treated women reached or exceeded the 50% criterion for coital orgasmic functioning after treatment. Couples who reported a better relationship adjustment prior to treatment reported a significantly greater gain in total sexual harmony than did less adjusted couples. Across the treatment conditions, women who had reached coital orgasm prior to treatment reported a significantly greater increase in relationship adjustment between the post-sex education and 6-month follow-up testing periods than women who had never reached coital orgasm. Some discrepancies in outcome were found in comparison with our earlier study, suggesting that subject heterogeneity may influence differential outcomes.

Adult↗

Deaf children's use of beliefs and desires in negotiation.

Although several studies have shown that deaf children demonstrated impaired performances on false-belief tasks, the children's belief understanding appeared intact when asked to explain emotions or behavior. However, this finding does not necessarily indicate a full-fledged theory of mind. This study aimed to investigate deaf children's negotiation strategies in false-belief situations, because situations that require negotiation provide a natural context with a clear motivational aspect, which might appeal more strongly to deaf children's false-belief reasoning capacities. The purpose of this study was to compare the reactions of 11- to 12-year-old deaf and hearing children to scenarios in which a mother, who is unaware of a change in the situation, threatens to block the fulfillment of the child's desire. The results showed that deaf children more often failed to correct the mother's false beliefs. In contrast with hearing children, who frequently left their own desires implicit, deaf children kept stressing their desires as a primary argument, even though the mother could be expected to be fully aware of these desires. Moral claims were used to the same extent by both groups. In general, deaf children more often used arguments that did not provide new information for their conversation partners, including repetitions of the same argument. The results were interpreted in terms of the special needs that are required by the hampered communication between deaf and hearing people as well as in terms of the ongoing discussion regarding theory-of-mind development in deaf children.

Case-Control Studies↗

Scaling up health promotion interventions in the era of HIV/AIDS: challenges for a rights based approach.

A sustained scaled up response to global public health challenges such as HIV/AIDS will require a functioning and efficient health system, based on the foundation of strong primary health care. Whilst this is necessary, it is not sufficient. Health promotion strategies need to be put into place to better engage and support families and communities in preventing disease, optimize caring, creating the demand for services and holding service providers to account. There will have to be a move away from the traditional model whereby the problem of HIV/TB/malaria is to be solved by merely increasing resources to a centralized bureaucracy that tries to increase the supply of services including health promotion messages. Development projects and programs that succeed are based on understanding of local practice and preferences, rather than on internationally 'generalized models' of how people or villages should behave and what they should want. This paper will first briefly review different approaches to scaling up health promotion interventions, some of the key obstacles in scaling up and then suggest some possible solutions with a focus on a human rights based approach. This approach changes the emphasis from the content of the message to the characteristics of a community's organisations and institutions. Scaling up occurs as a process of association between state actors and civil society that is planned strategically and involves a sharing of experience and a strong learning process among the association partners. A human rights-based approach can facilitate such an approach through developing a common vision, delineating roles and responsibility and facilitating communication channels for the most vulnerable. But this will require health development agencies to pursue a more overt political agenda.

HIV Infections↗

Psychosocial correlates of adolescents' worry about STD versus HIV infection: similarities and differences.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents' worry (perceived threat) of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and HIV infection may have different correlates. This study examined associations between selected psychosocial and behavioral constructs and adolescents' worry about STD and HIV infection. GOAL: To assess levels and correlates of worry about STD and HIV among a high-risk sample of black adolescent females. STUDY DESIGN: High-risk black females (n = 522), enrolled in a randomized, controlled HIV and STD prevention trial, completed a questionnaire and structured interview at baseline. Worry about STD and HIV infection, recent risk behaviors, and several measures potentially related to worry were assessed. RESULTS: Levels of worry for both STD and HIV were low. Recent history of STD infection was associated with STD worry (OR, 4.6) and HIV worry (OR, 2.0). Infrequent communication about sex (OR, 2.0) and low perceived ability to negotiate condom use (OR, 2.0) were related to STD worry; whereas, only partner-specific barriers were related to HIV worry (OR, 1.9). CONCLUSIONS: Despite high risk, adolescents were generally complacent about the threat of infection with STD and HIV. Adolescents' worry about STD and HIV infection had different sets of correlates.

Adolescent↗

Barriers to health care for abused Latina and Asian immigrant women.

This study identifies social, political, and cultural barriers to help seeking from health care organizations faced by abused Latina and Asian immigrant women. Qualitative data were collected through four semistructured ethnic-specific focus group interviews with 28 abused Latina and Asian immigrant women. Participants who had suffered intimate partner abuse were recruited through urban community-based organizations in San Francisco, California. Sociopolitical barriers to help seeking and patient-provider communication included social isolation, language barriers, and, for some, discrimination and fears of deportation. Sociocultural barriers included dedication to the children and family unity, shame related to the abuse, and the cultural stigma of divorce. Abused Latina and Asian immigrant women face significant social, cultural, and political barriers to patient-provider communication and help seeking. Medical and social service providers and policy makers may improve the quality of care for these women by understanding and addressing these barriers.

Adult↗

[Role of regional health observation posts: structure, operation, actions].

The ORS were established at the beginning of 1980's to improve and to promote health informations to help decision makers. The ORS are non-profit making institutions supported by Health Ministry and local authorities. They also conclude contracts with private or public partners. A national federation exist since 1988. The ORS use a lot of scientific technics but have the constant preoccupation to adapt their communication for decision makers and non specialised public. From 1989 to 1994, more than 900 works have been published on a large variety of topics. In 1994, all of the ORS produced a "regional dashboard on health" according to a pattern elaborated by their national federation. In each region, these documents present most of the available indicators on health and social reality. So, the ORS associate local and national points of view.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Is the junctional uncoupling elicited in rat ventricular myocytes by some dephosphorylation treatments due to changes in the phosphorylation status of Cx43?

Gap junctions, specialized membrane structures that mediate cell-to-cell communication in almost all animal tissues, are composed of channel-forming integral membrane proteins termed connexins. Most of them, particularly connexin43 (Cx43), the most ubiquitous connexin, the major connexin present in cardiac myocytes, are phosphoproteins. Connexin phosphorylation has been thought to regulate gap junctional protein trafficking, gap junction assembly, channel gating, and turnover. Some connexins, including Cx43, show mobility shifts in gel electrophoresis when cells are exposed to phosphorylating or dephosphorylating treatments. However, after exposure of rat cardiac myocytes to different uncoupling dephosphorylating agents such as H7 or butanedione monoxime, no modification in the Cx43 phosphorylation profile was generally observed. The lack of direct correlation between the inhibition of cell-to-cell communication and changes in the phosphorylation pattern of Cx43 or, conversely, modifications of the latter without modifications of the intercellular coupling degree, suggest that the functional state of junctional channels might rather be determined by regulatory proteins associated with Cx43. The modulation of the activity of junctional channels by protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation processes very likely requires (as for several other membrane channels) the formation of a multiprotein complex, where pore-forming subunits bind to auxiliary proteins (e.g. scaffolding proteins, enzymes, cytoskeleton elements) that play essential roles in channel localization and activity. Such regulatory proteins, behaving as targets for phosphorylation/dephosphorylation catalysers, might in particular control the open probability of junctional channels. A schematic illustration of the regulation of Cx43-made channels by protein phosphorylation involving a partner phosphoprotein is proposed.

Animals↗

Some thoughts about neural coding and spike trains.

This communication introduces the topic. Foundations: Core concepts: Codings are relations summarized by rules or 'codes'. Special codings are 'neural', 'natural' (in everyday life), 'experimental' (in laboratories), 'conditional' (to partner restrictions). etc. Partial aspects are mechanisms, what partners say about each other, etc. Critical experimental issues: Trains are evaluated by when spikes occur: i.e. as point processes and timings. Trains and point process representations become synonyms. Any code must: (i) be a 'number (rate) code' and an 'interval code'; and (ii) include 'referent, train' covariations involving steady states with overall averages and fluctuations with patterns (dispersions, sequences). Seminal findings. Early data proved trains participated in codings; this is accepted unanimously. Inevitably, though accepted less readily, codings included rates, intervals, averages and patterns. Literature highlights. (1) Confirmed the seminal finding (2.2.) over vast domains; (2) Demonstrated both general and synaptic codings (referents, respectively, sensory, states, etc. and trains in directly connected neurons); (3) Revealed overlap between general and synaptic coding features. Overlap allows train participation in network dynamics; (4) Introduced natural formal contexts. (Point Process Mathematics, Communication. Information and Dynamical Systems Theories); (5) Includes confused opinions: (i) Opposition between rates and intervals; (ii) claims that averages are meaningful but patterns irrelevant. Both, overlooking foundations and evidence, are untenable.

Action Potentials↗

[HIV-infection in Norway before 2006].

BACKGROUND: Our goal is to give an epidemiological description of the HIV epidemic in Norway until 2006, with emphasis on the decade 1996 - 2005. METHODS: We analysed data from the Norwegian Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases. In this system, the year of infection has been estimated using results of previous tests and other information. We can thus measure an annual minimum incidence of HIV infection. RESULTS: Before 2006, HIV infection had been diagnosed in 3263 persons in Norway. Persons who had been heterosexually infected before arrival in Norway and homosexual men account for one third of the total each, while injecting drug users and persons who have been heterosexually infected while living in Norway comprise one sixth each. Each year for the last few years about 50 persons have been infected homosexually, 20 heterosexually and 10 by injecting drug use. In addition, every year at least 100 heterosexually infected immigrants have arrived in Norway. INTERPRETATION: The HIV epidemic is considerable in Norway, although far from the prospects one had 20 years ago. The prevention of HIV infection must continue. Presently, prevention among homosexual men should be prioritised. In addition, continued measures are needed among injecting drug users and men who engage with casual sex partners in countries with a high prevalence of HIV infection.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Structural determinants of allosteric ligand activation in RXR heterodimers.

Allosteric communication underlies ligand-dependent transcriptional responses mediated by nuclear receptors. While studies have elucidated many of the components involved in this process, the energetic architecture within the receptor protein that mediates allostery remains unknown. Using a sequence-based method designed to detect coevolution of amino acids in a protein, termed the statistical coupling analysis (SCA), we identify a network of energetically coupled residues that link the functional surfaces of nuclear receptor ligand binding domains. Functional analysis of these predicted residues demonstrates their participation in an allosteric network that governs the ability of heterodimeric receptors to activate transcription in response to ligand binding by either partner. Interestingly, mutation of a single network residue can discriminate between receptor activation by endocrine, dietary, and synthetic agonists. These results reveal a structural network required for RXR heterodimer allosteric communication and suggest that the specificity of ligand response and permissivity coevolved to enable signal discrimination.

Allosteric Regulation↗

Normal human melanocyte homeostasis as a paradigm for understanding melanoma.

Melanocytes, after cell division, separate and migrate along the basement membrane; they extend their dendrites and establish multiple contacts with keratinocytes. Once adhesion is established, keratinocytes control melanocyte growth and expression of cell surface receptors. Most melanomas arise within the epidermis (melanoma in situ) and then invade across the basement membrane. These melanoma cells escape from control by keratinocytes through five major mechanisms: (1) downregulation of receptors important for communication with keratinocytes such as E-cadherin, P-cadherin, and desmoglein, which is achieved through growth factors such as hepatocyte growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, and endothelin-1 produced by fibroblasts or keratinocytes; (2) upregulation of receptors and signaling molecules important for melanoma cell-melanoma cell and melanoma cell-fibroblast interactions such as N-cadherin, Mel-CAM, and zonula occludens protein-1; (3) deregulation of morphogens such as Notch receptors and their ligands; (4) loss of anchorage to the basement membrane because of an altered expression of cell-matrix adhesion molecules; (5) increased elaboration of metal-loproteinases. Thus, investigating normal melanocyte homeostasis helps us to better define how melanoma cells escape the microenvironment created by epidermal keratinocytes and how they develop new cellular partners in fibroblasts and endothelial cells, which support their growth and invasion.

Cadherins↗

The psychological impact of MND on patients and carers.

Nineteen patients with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) who had been living with their partners for at least two years prior to the onset of their illness, together with their partners, completed self-report questionnaires to investigate the impact of MND on both patients and carers. Physical disability and impact of the illness on aspects of everyday functioning were related to levels of anxiety and depression in the patients; psychological coping strategies adopted depended to some extent on symptom duration. Carers also demonstrated signs of anxiety and depression, with the latter correlating with aspects of the patients' functional impairment. Perceived strain in carers over caring for the patient correlated with a loss in intimacy in their relationship, which in turn was predicted by patients' cognitive/behavioural and communication changes. Changes in patients' social performance also correlated with the extent to which carers felt that the illness was affecting other areas of their life, the extent to which their partner dominated their thoughts and the extent to which they could control their reactions when thinking about the patient. Satisfaction with formal services and the number of social groups to which carers belonged correlated with carers' self-predicted future ability to cope.

Caregivers↗