A Path Analysis of Latino Parental,Teenager and Cultural Variables in Teenagers' Sexual Attitudes,Norms, Self-Efficacy,and Sexual Intentions

OBJECTIVE:

to test a theoretical model based on the Parent-Based Expansion of the Theory of Planned Behavior examining relation between selected parental, teenager and cultural variables and Latino teenagers'' intentions to engage in sexual behavior.

METHOD:

a cross-sectional correlational design based on a secondary data analysis of 130 Latino parent and teenager dyads.

RESULTS:

regression and path analysis procedures were used to test seven hypotheses and the results demonstrated partial support for the model. Parent familism and knowledge about sex were significantly associated with parents'' attitudes toward sexual communication with their teenagers. Parent Latino acculturation was negatively associated with parents'' self-efficacy toward sexual communication with their teenagers and positevely associated with parents'' subjective norms toward sexual communication with their teenagers. Teenager knowledge about sex was significantly associated with higher levels of teenagers'' attitudes and subjective norms about sexual communication with parents. Only the predictor of teenagers'' attitudes toward having sex in the next 3 months was significantly associated with teenagers'' intentions to have sex in the next 3 months.

CONCLUSION:

the results of this study provide important information to guide future research that can inform development of interventions to prevent risky teenager sexual behavior among Latinos.     

Kir6.2 is required for adaptation to stress

Reaction to stress requires feedback adaptation of cellular functions to secure a response without distress, but the molecular order of this process is only partially understood. Here, we report a previously unrecognized regulatory element in the general adaptation syndrome. Kir6.2, the ion-conducting subunit of the metabolically responsive ATP-sensitive potassium (K(ATP)) channel, was mandatory for optimal adaptation capacity under stress. Genetic deletion of Kir6.2 disrupted K(ATP) channel-dependent adjustment of membrane excitability and calcium handling, compromising the enhancement of cardiac performance driven by sympathetic stimulation, a key mediator of the adaptation response. In the absence of Kir6.2, vigorous sympathetic challenge caused arrhythmia and sudden death, preventable by calcium-channel blockade. Thus, this vital function identifies a physiological role for K(ATP) channels in the heart.     

Dependence of antibody gene diversification on uracil excision

Activation-induced deaminase (AID) catalyses deamination of deoxycytidine to deoxyuridine within immunoglobulin loci, triggering pathways of antibody diversification that are largely dependent on uracil-DNA glycosylase (uracil-N-glycolase [UNG]). Surprisingly efficient class switch recombination is restored to ung(-/-) B cells through retroviral delivery of active-site mutants of UNG, stimulating discussion about the need for UNG's uracil-excision activity. In this study, however, we find that even with the overexpression achieved through retroviral delivery, switching is only mediated by UNG mutants that retain detectable excision activity, with this switching being especially dependent on MSH2. In contrast to their potentiation of switching, low-activity UNGs are relatively ineffective in restoring transversion mutations at C:G pairs during hypermutation, or in restoring gene conversion in stably transfected DT40 cells. The results indicate that UNG does, indeed, act through uracil excision, but suggest that, in the presence of MSH2, efficient switch recombination requires base excision at only a small proportion of the AID-generated uracils in the S region. Interestingly, enforced expression of thymine-DNA glycosylase (which can excise U from U:G mispairs) does not (unlike enforced UNG or SMUG1 expression) potentiate efficient switching, which is consistent with a need either for specific recruitment of the uracil-excision enzyme or for it to be active on single-stranded DNA.     

Providing competency-based family medicine residency training in substance abuse in the new millennium: a model curriculum

Background  

This article, developed for the Betty Ford Institute Consensus Conference on Graduate Medical Education (December, 2008), presents a model curriculum for Family Medicine residency training in substance abuse.     

Design and synthesis of dipeptide nitriles as reversible and potent Cathepsin S inhibitors

The specificity of the immune response relies on processing of foreign proteins and presentation of antigenic peptides at the cell surface. Inhibition of antigen presentation, and the subsequent activation of T-cells, should, in theory, modulate the immune response. The cysteine protease Cathepsin S performs a fundamental step in antigen presentation and therefore represents an attractive target for inhibition. Herein, we report a series of potent and reversible Cathepsin S inhibitors based on dipeptide nitriles. These inhibitors show nanomolar inhibition of the target enzyme as well as cellular potency in a human B cell line. The first X-ray crystal structure of a reversible inhibitor cocrystallized with Cathepsin S is also reported.