The public health approach to youth violence and child maltreatment prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Millions of people in the United States suffer the consequences of violence, including physical injuries, psychological trauma, and death. Solutions to violence have traditionally been reactive. Through the lens of the public health perspective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) views violence as predictable based on various contributing factors, and thus as preventable. Within CDC, the Division of Violence Prevention (DVP) leads efforts to prevent injury, death, and disability, and to reduce the suffering and medical costs caused by violence. DVP employs a multidisciplinary, public health approach to identify factors associated with violence, and to develop, evaluate, and disseminate preventive interventions. Psychology is one discipline that has contributed to our approach. The authors present a series of violence prevention initiatives funded by the CDC that are framed within a public health perspective, with attention to the contributions of psychology to youth violence and child maltreatment prevention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Efficient PCR-based gene disruption in Saccharomyces strains using intergenic primers

Gene disruptions are a vital tool for understanding Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene function. An arrayed library of gene disruption strains has been produced by a consortium of yeast laboratories; however their use is limited to a single genetic background. Since the yeast research community works with several different strain backgrounds, disruption libraries in other common laboratory strains are desirable. We have developed simple PCR-based methods that allow transfer of gene disruptions from the S288C-derived strain library into any Saccharomyces strain. One method transfers the unique sequence tags that flank each of the disrupted genes and replaces the kanamycin resistance marker with a recyclable URA3 gene from Kluyveromyces lactis. All gene-specific PCR amplifications for this method are performed using a pre-existing set of primers that are commercially available. We have also extended this PCR technique to develop a second general gene disruption method suitable for any transformable strain of Saccharomyces.     

Nonenzymatic hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine prepared as liposomes and mixed micelles

Nonenzymatic hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine was investigated at several pH ranges in liposomes and mixed micelles. Phosphatidylcholine was stable to hydrolysis for 140 hr at pH 4, 7 and 10, but slowly hydrolyzed at pH 1 with a half-time of 50 hr. We conclude that phosphatidylcholine is not significantly degraded by hydrolysis under conditions typical for liposome preparation methods.     

Protein immobilization on carbon nanotubes through a molecular adapter

A new approach to the modification of carbon nanotubes with biomolecules for the development of nanoscale biosensors is presented. Alkaline phosphatase was immobilized on the surface of multi-wall carbon nanotubes utilizing a layer-by-layer methodology. Carbon nanotubes were incubated with streptavidin, resulting in the formation of a protein layer on the surface of the nanotubes. Biotinylated alkaline phosphatase was then allowed to bind to streptavidin, anchoring the sensing protein onto the surface. Electrochemical biosensors were constructed by using carbon nanotubes compacted into pellets. 1-Naphthyl phosphate, which is hydrolyzed by alkaline phosphatase to the electroactive 1-naphthol, was used as a substrate. Electrodes constructed in this manner were observed to generate an electrochemical signal that was a function of substrate concentration.     

Low-ball procedure for producing compliance: Commitment then cost.

Examined the low-ball technique, a tactic often used by automobile sales dealers to produce compliance from customers, in a set of 3 experiments. In all 3 studies, a requester who induced Ss to make an initial decision to perform a target behavior and who then made performance of the behavior more costly obtained greater final compliance than a requester who informed Ss of the full costs of the target behavior from the outset. The low-ball phenomenon—that an active preliminary decision to take an action tends to persevere even after the costs of performing the action have been increased—was found to be reliable (Exp I), different from the foot-in-the-door effect (Exp II), and effective only when the preliminary decision was made with a high degree of choice (Exp III). In competition with 3 other conceptual explanations, a formulation based on the concept of commitment was seen to best account for the results. An ecologically derived strategy for the identification and investigation of research questions is discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of interlayer potential on mechanical deformation of multiwalled carbon nanotubes

A study on the modeling and simulation of interlayer interaction in the multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) system is presented. We use an interlayer Morse potential previously developed from a local density approximation (LDA) treatment of a bilayer of graphite. We have fit this Morse potential to experimental high-pressure compressibility data for graphite and to a more extensive LDA equation of state (EOS) for graphite, and excellent agreement is observed. We employ this potential to treat the interlayer mechanics of MWCNTs, where the MWCNT is so highly deformed that interlayer separation well below approximately 0.34 nm, such as down to approximately 0.26 nm, is occurring. This, to our knowledge, is the first treatment that attempts to account for deformations that have the layers approaching each other at very high local (interlayer) stress levels. Since evaluating the interlayer potential for a large MWCNT system is computationally intensive, a continuum simulation approach is proposed that saves on computational time and thus on cost. Comparisons with experimental results of buckled and highly kinked MWCNTs are presented.     

Low-temperature synthesis of large-area CNx nanotube arrays

Well-aligned nitrogen-doped multiwall carbon nanotube arrays have been successfully grown over large areas on quartz and silicon wafers by floating-catalyst chemical vapor deposition at low temperatures (600 degrees C). These nitrogen-including nanotubes, derived from pyridine-ferrocene mixtures, have smaller outer diameters but larger inner diameters compared with carbon nanotubes grown from a xylene-ferrocene mixture under similar conditions. The N-doped nanotubes exhibit bamboo-like structures in the core. Elemental analysis and electron energy loss spectroscopy analysis show that the as-prepared nanotubes contain as much as 2.62 wt.% N, with most of the N concentrated in the inner few shells of the nanotube. Such large-scale arrays of well-aligned N-doped nanotubes on silicon wafers have a current density as high as 23.8 mA/cm2 at an applied electric field of 17 V/micron, which can be further improved by patterning the tubes and coating the silicon substrate with a conductive thin metal film for the fabrication of flat panel displays.     

The impact of continuing care adherence on environmental risks, substance use, and substance-related problems following adolescent residential treatment.

The effectiveness of adolescent treatment to reduce substance use has been demonstrated by a number of different literature reviews, yet longer term outcome studies have suggested that continued alcohol and other drug use is common. Participation in continuing care services and reductions in environmental risk factors (e.g., peer substance use or alcohol or drug use in the home) have both been found to be associated with improved posttreatment substance use. The authors conducted Path analysis to examine the experimental direct effect of the Assertive Continuing Care Protocol (S. H. Godley, M. D. Godley, & M. L. Dennis, 2001) on general continuing care adherence following residential treatment and the protocol's indirect effect (via general continuing care adherence) on social and environmental risk factors, as well as subsequent substance use and substance-related problems. Supporting previous findings, the final model indicates that greater adherence to continuing care is associated with reductions in environmental risk, which in turn is associated with reduced adolescent substance use and substance-related problems 9 months after discharge from residential treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Irradiation of synthetic garnet by heavy ions and α-decay of Cm

Garnet, A₃B₂X₃O₁₂, has a structure that can incorporate actinides. Hence, the susceptibility of the garnet structure to radiation damage has been investigated by comparing the results of self-radiation damage from α-decay of ²⁴⁴Cm and a 1 MeV Kr²⁺ ion irradiation. Gradual amorphization with increasing fluence was observed by X-ray diffraction analysis and in situ transmission electron microscopy. The critical dose, D_c, for an yttrium-aluminum garnet (Y₃Al₅O₁₂) doped with 3 wt.% ²⁴⁴Cm is calculated to be 0.4 displacements per atom (dpa). While the doses obtained by ion irradiation experiments of garnets with different compositions (Y_2.43Nd_0.57)(Al_4.43Si_0.44)O₁₂, (Ca_1.64Ce_0.41Nd_0.42La_0.18Pr_0.18Sm_0.14Gd_0.04)Zr_1.27Fe_3.71O₁₂, and (Ca_1.09Gd_1.23Ce_0.43)Sn_1.16Fe_3.84O₁₂, varied from 0.29 to 0.55 dpa at room temperature. The similarity in the amorphization dose at room temperature and critical temperature of the different garnet compositions suggest that the radiation response for the garnet structure is structurally constrained, rather than sensitive to composition, which is the case for the pyrochlore structure-type.