The urban-rural divide in complementary and alternative medicine use: A longitudinal study of 10,638 women

Background: Research has identified women in rural and remote areas as higher users of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioners than their urban counterparts. However, we currently know little about what influences women's CAM consumption across the urban/rural divide. This paper analyses 10,638 women's CAM use across urban and rural Australia.Methods: Data for this research comes from Survey 5 of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health conducted in 2007. The participants were aged 56-61years. The health status and health service use of CAM users and non-users were compared using chi-square tests for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables.Results: Women who consulted a CAM practitioner varied significantly by place of residence: 28%, 32% and 30% for urban, rural and remote areas respectively (P < .005). CAM users tended to be more dissatisfied with conventional care than CAM non-users, but this was consistent across the 3 areas of residence. CAM users have higher percentages of most symptoms but the only rural/urban differences were for severe tiredness, night sweats, depression and anxiety. For diagnosed diseases, CAM users have higher percentages of most diagnoses but only hypertension and skin cancer were statistically significantly higher for rural and remote but not urban women (P < .005).Conclusions: In contrast to some recent claims, our analysis suggests the lack of access to and/or patient dissatisfaction with conventional health practitioners may not play a central role in explaining higher use of CAM by women in rural and remote areas when compared to women in urban areas. © 2011 Adams et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Global aspects of the space of 6D N = 1 supergravities

We perform a global analysis of the space of consistent 6D quantum gravity theories with N = 1 supersymmetry, including models with multiple tensor multiplets. We prove that for theories with fewer than T = 9 tensor multiplets, a finite number of distinct gauge groups and matter content are possible. We find infinite families of field combinations satisfying anomaly cancellation and admitting physical gauge kinetic terms for T > 8. We find an integral lattice associated with each apparently-consistent supergravity theory; this lattice is determined by the form of the anomaly polynomial. For models which can be realized in F-theory, this anomaly lattice is related to the intersection form on the base of the F-theory elliptic fibration. The condition that a supergravity model have an F-theory realization imposes constraints which can be expressed in terms of this lattice. The analysis of models which satisfy known low-energy consistency conditions and yet violate F-theory constraints suggests possible novel constraints on low-energy supergravity theories.Comment: 41 pages, 1 figur

HAGE (DDX43) is a biomarker for poor prognosis and a predictor of chemotherapy response in breast cancer

Background: HAGE protein is a known immunogenic cancer-specific antigen. Methods: The biological, prognostic and predictive values of HAGE expression was studied using immunohistochemistry in three cohorts of patients with BC (n=2147): early primary (EP-BC; n=1676); primary oestrogen receptor-negative (PER-BC; n=275) treated with adjuvant anthracycline-combination therapies (Adjuvant-ACT); and primary locally advanced disease (PLA-BC) who received neo-adjuvant anthracycline-combination therapies (Neo-adjuvant-ACT; n=196). The relationship between HAGE expression and the tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in matched prechemotherapy and postchemotherapy samples were investigated. Results: Eight percent of patients with EP-BC exhibited high HAGE expression (HAGEþ) and was associated with aggressive clinico-pathological features (Ps<0.01). Furthermore, HAGEþexpression was associated with poor prognosis in both univariate and multivariate analysis (Ps<0.001). Patients with HAGE+ did not benefit from hormonal therapy in high-risk ER-positive disease. HAGE+ and TILs were found to be independent predictors for pathological complete response to neoadjuvant-ACT; P<0.001. A statistically significant loss of HAGE expression following neoadjuvant-ACT was found (P=0.000001), and progression-free survival was worse in those patients who had HAGE+ residual disease (P=0.0003). Conclusions: This is the first report to show HAGE to be a potential prognostic marker and a predictor of response to ACT in patients with BC

Corporate governance compliance and disclosure in the banking sector: using data from Japan

Using regression model this study investigates which characteristics of a bank is associated with the extent of corporate governance disclosure in Japan. The findings suggest that on average 8 banks out of a sample of 46 disclose optimal corporate governance information. The regression model results reveal in general that non-executive directors, cross-ownership, capital adequacy ratio and type of auditors are associated with the extent of corporate governance disclosure. Of these four variables, non-executive directors have a more significant impact on the extent of disclosure contrary to total assets and audit firms of banks in the context of Japan. The findings of this paper are relevant for corporate regulators, professional associations and developers of corporate governance code when designing or updating corporate governance code

The clinical features of the piriformis syndrome: a systematic review

Piriformis syndrome, sciatica caused by compression of the sciatic nerve by the piriformis muscle, has been described for over 70 years; yet, it remains controversial. The literature consists mainly of case series and narrative reviews. The objectives of the study were: first, to make the best use of existing evidence to estimate the frequencies of clinical features in patients reported to have PS; second, to identify future research questions. A systematic review was conducted of any study type that reported extractable data relevant to diagnosis. The search included all studies up to 1 March 2008 in four databases: AMED, CINAHL, Embase and Medline. Screening, data extraction and analysis were all performed independently by two reviewers. A total of 55 studies were included: 51 individual and 3 aggregated data studies, and 1 combined study. The most common features found were: buttock pain, external tenderness over the greater sciatic notch, aggravation of the pain through sitting and augmentation of the pain with manoeuvres that increase piriformis muscle tension. Future research could start with comparing the frequencies of these features in sciatica patients with and without disc herniation or spinal stenosis

An Abp1-Dependent Route of Endocytosis Functions when the Classical Endocytic Pathway in Yeast Is Inhibited

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is a well characterized pathway in both yeast and mammalian cells. An increasing number of alternative endocytic pathways have now been described in mammalian cells that can be both clathrin, actin, and Arf6- dependent or independent. In yeast, a single clathrin-mediated pathway has been characterized in detail. However, disruption of this pathway in many mutant strains indicates that other uptake pathways might exist, at least for bulk lipid and fluid internalization. Using a combination of genetics and live cell imaging, here we show evidence for a novel endocytic pathway in S. cerevisiae that does not involve several of the proteins previously shown to be associated with the ‘classic’ pathway of endocytosis. This alternative pathway functions in the presence of low levels of the actin-disrupting drug latrunculin-A which inhibits movement of the proteins Sla1, Sla2, and Sac6, and is independent of dynamin function. We reveal that in the absence of the ‘classic’ pathway, the actin binding protein Abp1 is now essential for bulk endocytosis. This novel pathway appears to be distinct from another described alternative endocytic route in S. cerevisiae as it involves at least some proteins known to be associated with cortical actin patches rather than being mediated at formin-dependent endocytic sites. These data indicate that cells have the capacity to use overlapping sets of components to facilitate endocytosis under a range of conditions

Lifshitz spacetimes from AdS null and cosmological solutions

We describe solutions of 10-dimensional supergravity comprising null deformations of $AdS_5\times S^5$ with a scalar field, which have $z=2$ Lifshitz symmetries. The bulk Lifshitz geometry in 3+1-dimensions arises by dimensional reduction of these solutions. The dual field theory in this case is a deformation of the N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. We discuss the holographic 2-point function of operators dual to bulk scalars. We further describe time-dependent (cosmological) solutions which have anisotropic Lifshitz scaling symmetries. We also discuss deformations of $AdS\times X$ in 11-dimensional supergravity, which are somewhat similar to the solutions above. In some cases here, we expect the field theory duals to be deformations of the Chern-Simons theories on M2-branes stacked at singularities.Comment: Latex, 29pgs, v3. references, minor clarifications (subsection on Lifshitz geometry seen by scalar probes) added, to appear in JHE

Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the evolution of form and function in the amniote jaw.

The amniote jaw complex is a remarkable amalgamation of derivatives from distinct embryonic cell lineages. During development, the cells in these lineages experience concerted movements, migrations, and signaling interactions that take them from their initial origins to their final destinations and imbue their derivatives with aspects of form including their axial orientation, anatomical identity, size, and shape. Perturbations along the way can produce defects and disease, but also generate the variation necessary for jaw evolution and adaptation. We focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate form in the amniote jaw complex, and that enable structural and functional integration. Special emphasis is placed on the role of cranial neural crest mesenchyme (NCM) during the species-specific patterning of bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle, and other jaw tissues. We also address the effects of biomechanical forces during jaw development and discuss ways in which certain molecular and cellular responses add adaptive and evolutionary plasticity to jaw morphology. Overall, we highlight how variation in molecular and cellular programs can promote the phenomenal diversity and functional morphology achieved during amniote jaw evolution or lead to the range of jaw defects and disease that affect the human condition

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT