Estimation of Body Composition of Female Intercollegiate Basketball Players

In brief: The body composition of 49 female intercollegiate basketball players was used to derive a sport-specific equation and to assess the applicability of the Sloan et al (population-specific) and Jackson et al (generalized) equations for use with this sample. The sport-specific equation yielded an adjusted multiple regression of.71 and a standard error of the estimate (SEE) of.0077. A comparative analysis indicated that mean body density was significantly underestimated by 0.0112 gmml^?1 using the Sloan and by 0.0126 gmml^?1 using the Jackson equations. The SEEs for the Sloan (.0073 gmml^?1) and Jackson (.0085 gm ml^?1) equations were low; however, each equation produced a large total error (.014 and.016 gmml^?1).     

Continuous Subcutaneous Infusion of Narcotics: An Exploratory Study of Patient,Family and Nursing Concerns

This is a briefly annotated bibliography of useful materials for the education of health professionals, principally physicians. It encompasses teaching goals, methods, and settings, as well as model courses, course evaluation, communication skills, general resources on death education, and miscellaneous background pieces.     

B cells mediate chronic allograft rejection independently of antibody production

Chronic rejection is the primary cause of long-term failure of transplanted organs and is often viewed as an antibody-dependent process. Chronic rejection, however, is also observed in mice and humans with no detectable circulating alloantibodies, suggesting that antibody-independent pathways may also contribute to pathogenesis of transplant rejection. Here, we have provided direct evidence that chronic rejection of vascularized heart allografts occurs in the complete absence of antibodies, but requires the presence of B cells. Mice that were deficient for antibodies but not B cells experienced the same chronic allograft vasculopathy (CAV), which is a pathognomonic feature of chronic rejection, as WT mice; however, mice that were deficient for both B cells and antibodies were protected from CAV. B cells contributed to CAV by supporting splenic lymphoid architecture, T cell cytokine production, and infiltration of T cells into graft vessels. In chimeric mice, in which B cells were present but could not present antigen, both T cell responses and CAV were markedly reduced. These findings establish that chronic rejection can occur in the complete absence of antibodies and that B cells contribute to this process by supporting T cell responses through antigen presentation and maintenance of lymphoid architecture.     

Validating a Hazardous Drinking Index in a Sample of Sexual Minority Women: Reliability,Validity, and Predictive Accuracy

Background: Although sexual minority women (SMW) are at increased risk of hazardous drinking (HD), efforts to validate HD measures have yet to focus on this population. Objectives: Validation of a 13-item Hazardous Drinking Index (HDI) in a large sample of SMW. Methods: Data were from 700 adult SMW (age 18-82) enrolled in the Chicago Health and Life Experiences of Women study. Criterion measures included counts of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, average daily and 30-day ethanol consumption, risky sexual behavior, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) measures of alcohol abuse/dependence. Analyses included assessment of internal consistency, construction of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to predict alcohol abuse/dependence, and correlations between HDI and criterion measures. We compared the psychometric properties (diagnostic accuracy and correlates of hazardous drinking) of the HDI to the commonly used CAGE instrument. Results: KR-20 reliability for the HDI was 0.80, compared to 0.74 for the CAGE. Predictive accuracy, as measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for alcohol abuse/dependence, was HDI: 0.89; CAGE: 0.84. The HDI evidenced the best predictive efficacy and tradeoff between sensitivity and specificity. Results supported the concurrent validity of the HDI measure. Conclusions: The Hazardous Drinking Index is a reliable and valid measure of hazardous drinking for sexual minority women.