PROSPER Community–University Partnership Model for Public Education Systems: Capacity-Building for Evidence-Based,Competence-Building Prevention

This paper presents a model to guide capacity-building in state public education systems for delivery of evidence-based family and youth interventions-interventions that are designed to bolster youth competencies, learning, and positive development overall. Central to this effort is a linking capacity agents framework that builds upon longstanding state public education infrastructures, and a partnership model called PROSPER or PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience. The paper presents an overview of the evolving partnership model and summarizes positive results of its implementation over a 12-year period in an ongoing project.     

Sickle cell anemia and hematopoietic cell transplantation: When is a pound of cure worth more than an ounce of prevention?

Abstract:  Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is curative therapy for sickle cell anemia (SCA). However, its widespread use is constrained by donor availability and by concerns about its short-term and long-term toxicities. Current efforts to identify suitable candidates for HCT, to decrease the toxicity of HCT, and to broaden its availability are discussed.     

广州、南宁市汽车安全带佩戴状况调查

目的 调查广州、南宁市汽车安全带佩戴情况。方法 采用随机抽样的方法，按照3种不同类型的道路选取观察点，在4个不同时间段对目标车辆进行观察。结果 司机安全带正确佩戴率南宁市（63．8％）高于广州市（49．3％），而不正确佩戴率广州市（22．9％）高于南宁市（8．1％）；乘客安全带佩戴率广州市高于南宁市，包括正确佩戴率和不正确佩戴率；安全带佩戴率受道路类型、时间、性别和车型等的影响，正确佩戴率高速路高于其他道路、白天高于晚上、女性高于男性、小型汽车高于其他车型，不正确佩戴率工作151高于周末。结论 广州市男性出租车司机安全带不正确佩戴率高；两地区周末和晚上佩戴安全带率较低，应加大执法力度；加强宣传教育，提高司乘人员佩戴安全带的意识。     

Matching risk and resources in high-risk pregnancies.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the joint impact of pregnancy risk and the timing of referral of high-risk pregnancies from obstetricians to maternal fetal medicine (MFM) sub-specialists on gestational age (GA) at delivery. METHODS: For the period 1992-2002, 2567 consecutive deliveries from pregnancies of at least 23 weeks gestational age (GA) from a community-level sub-specialty perinatal center were studied. A multiple regression model was developed specifying the impact of various risk factors and referral timing. RESULTS: Prior pregnancy risk was inversely related to GA at birth. Referral timing, operationalized as a continuous variable, did not have a significant additive impact on GA at birth, but several dummy-variable interaction effects combining risk factors and referral before 20 weeks as a dichotomy were significant. CONCLUSION: There are identifiable risks that occur either before the pregnancy or early into it that should lead to early referral to a sub-specialist because of their impact on GA at birth. Early referral is an important tactic in a larger preterm prevention strategy, but it needs to be embedded in a broader maternal-fetal health initiative in which both generalists and sub-specialists play important roles.     

转基因及基因打靶技术在耳科学中的应用

转基因(transgene)和基因打靶(gene targeting)技术通过基因的加入或删除建立了大量小鼠模型,尤其是条件性基因敲除为避免小鼠突变体在胚胎期死亡提供了条件.本文主要以参与听觉机械转导、表达于盖膜和纤毛束上的基因及其小鼠模型为例,讨论该技术是如何揭示耳聋基因的存在、功能及其作用机制的.     

Understanding Atypical Emotions Among Children with Autism

Children with autism are said to be poor mind readers: They have a limited understanding of the role that mental states play in determining emotions and behavior. In this research, 23 high-functioning children from the autistic spectrum (M age 9 years 3 months), 42 6-year-old controls, and 43 10-year-old controls were presented with six emotion-evoking stories and they were asked to explain protagonists' typical and atypical emotions. In the case of typical emotions, as expected on the basis of the mindblind hypothesis, children from the autistic spectrum gave few mental state explanations, referring to fewer than even the 6-year-old control group. However, in the case of atypical emotions, the autistic group performed as well as the 10-year-old controls. Their explanations for the atypical emotions demonstrate that children from the autistic spectrum indeed have the capacity to mind read (with respect to both desires and beliefs), although they do not always use this capacity in the same way as normally developing children. It is argued that the mind-reading capacity of high-functioning children from the autistic spectrum might be basically intact; unused in everyday circumstances but not necessarily defective.     

Summary of findings from the evaluation of a pilot medically supervised safer injecting facility

In many cities, infectious disease and overdose epidemics are occurring among illicit injection drug users (IDUs). To reduce these concerns, Vancouver opened a supervised safer injecting facility in September 2003. Within the facility, people inject pre-obtained illicit drugs under the supervision of medical staff. The program was granted a legal exemption by the Canadian government on the condition that a 3-year scientific evaluation of its impacts be conducted. In this review, we summarize the findings from evaluations in those 3 years, including characteristics of IDUs at the facility, public injection drug use and publicly discarded syringes, HIV risk behaviour, use of addiction treatment services and other community resources, and drug-related crime rates. Vancouver's safer injecting facility has been associated with an array of community and public health benefits without evidence of adverse impacts. These findings should be useful to other cities considering supervised injecting facilities and to governments considering regulating their use.