Genetic determinants of bone density and fracture risk: State of the art and future directions

Context: Osteoporosis is a common, highly heritable condition that causes substantial morbidity and mortality, the etiopathogenesis of which is poorly understood. Genetic studies are making increasingly rapid progress in identifying the genes involved. Evidence Acquisition and Synthesis: In this review, we will summarize the current understanding of the genetics of osteoporosis based on publications from PubMed from the year 1987 onward. Conclusions: Most genes involved in osteoporosis identified to date encode components of known pathways involved in bone synthesis or resorption, but as the field progresses, new pathways are being identified. Only a small proportion of the total genetic variation involved in osteoporosis has been identified, and new approaches will be required to identify most of the remaining genes.

Study of reproducibility of human arterial plaque reconstruction and its effects on stress analysis based on multispectral in vivo magnetic resonance imaging

Purpose: To quantify the uncertainties of carotid plaque morphology reconstruction based on patient-specific multispectral in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and their impacts on the plaque stress analysis. Materials and Methods: In this study, three independent investigators were invited to reconstruct the carotid bifurcation with plaque based on MR images from two subjects to study the geometry reconstruction reproducibility. Finite element stress analyses were performed on the carotid bifurcations, as well as the models with artificially modified plaque geometries to mimic the image segmentation uncertainties, to study the impacts of the uncertainties to the stress prediction. Results: Plaque reconstruction reproducibility was generally high in the study. The uncertainties among interobservers are around one or the subpixel level. It also shows that the predicted stress is relatively less sensitive to the arterial wall segmentation uncertainties, and more affected by the accuracy of lipid region definition. For a model with lipid core region artificially increased by adding one pixel on the lipid region boundary, it will significantly increase the maximum Von Mises Stress in fibrous cap (>100%) compared with the baseline model for all subjects. Conclusion: The current in vivo MRI in the carotid plaque could provide useful and reliable information for plaque morphology. The accuracy of stress analysis based on plaque geometry is subject to MRI quality. The improved resolution/quality in plaque imaging with newly developed MRI protocols would generate more realistic stress predictions.

Latitudinal and seasonal effects on growth of the Australian eastern king prawn (Melicertus plebejus)

The growth of the Australian eastern king prawn (Melicertus plebejus) is understood in greater detail by quantifying the latitudinal effect. The latitudinal effect is the change in the species' growth rate during migration. Mark-recapture data (N = 1635, latitude 22.21 degrees S-34.00 degrees S) presents northerly movement of the eastern king prawn, with New South Wales prawns showing substantial average movement of 140 km (standard deviation: 176 km) north. A generalized von Bertalanffy growth model framework is used to incorporate the latitudinal effect together with the canonical seasonal effect. Applying this method to eastern king prawn mark-recapture data guarantees consistent estimates for the latitudinal and seasonal effects. For M. plebejus, it was found that growth rate peaks on 25 and 29 January for males and females, respectively; is at a minimum on 27 and 31 July, respectively; and that the shape parameter, k (per year), changes by -0.0236 and -0.0556 every 1 degree of latitude south increase for males and females, respectively.

Policing LGBTIQ people in rural spaces: Emerging issues and future concerns

This article argues identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and/or questioning (LGBTIQ) in rural spaces can produce specific types of policing experiences. While some literature examines the experiences of LGBTIQ people with police, very little has focused on how rurality explicitly shapes these experiences. This is significant considering research highlights how rurality can be connected to pronounced experiences of homophobia and trans-phobia. The article highlights examples from three research projects that explored: LGBTIQ young people's interactions with police; LGBTI people's interactions with police liaison services; and LGBTIQ-identifying police officers. The examples demonstrate the need for further research to examine how policing “happens” with rural LGBTIQ people to ensure more accountable policing policies and practice, and to highlight the complexities of localized, rural policing contexts that can both support and marginalize LGBTIQ people.

Employee green behavior: A theoretical framework, multilevel review, and future research agenda

We propose a conceptual model based on person–environment interaction, job performance, and motivational theories to structure a multilevel review of the employee green behavior (EGB) literature and agenda for future research. We differentiate between required EGB prescribed by the organization and voluntary EGB performed at the employees’ discretion. The review investigates institutional-, organizational-, leader-, team-, and employee-level antecedents and outcomes of EGB and factors that mediate and moderate these relationships. We offer suggestions to facilitate the development of the field, and call for future research to adopt a multilevel perspective and to investigate the outcomes of EGB.

Acute and chronic effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on blood pressure and the physiological responses to moderate-intensity and incremental exercise

Dietary nitrate (NO3−) supplementation with beetroot juice (BR) over 4–6 days has been shown to reduce the O2 cost of submaximal exercise and to improve exercise tolerance. However, it is not known whether shorter (or longer) periods of supplementation have similar (or greater) effects. We therefore investigated the effects of acute and chronic NO3− supplementation on resting blood pressure (BP) and the physiological responses to moderate-intensity exercise and ramp incremental cycle exercise in eight healthy subjects. Following baseline tests, the subjects were assigned in a balanced crossover design to receive BR (0.5 l/day; 5.2 mmol of NO3−/day) and placebo (PL; 0.5 l/day low-calorie juice cordial) treatments. The exercise protocol (two moderate-intensity step tests followed by a ramp test) was repeated 2.5 h following first ingestion (0.5 liter) and after 5 and 15 days of BR and PL. Plasma nitrite concentration (baseline: 454 ± 81 nM) was significantly elevated (+39% at 2.5 h postingestion; +25% at 5 days; +46% at 15 days; P < 0.05) and systolic and diastolic BP (baseline: 127 ± 6 and 72 ± 5 mmHg, respectively) were reduced by ∼4% throughout the BR supplementation period (P < 0.05). Compared with PL, the steady-state V̇o2 during moderate exercise was reduced by ∼4% after 2.5 h and remained similarly reduced after 5 and 15 days of BR (P < 0.05). The ramp test peak power and the work rate at the gas exchange threshold (baseline: 322 ± 67 W and 89 ± 15 W, respectively) were elevated after 15 days of BR (331 ± 68 W and 105 ± 28 W; P < 0.05) but not PL (323 ± 68 W and 84 ± 18 W). These results indicate that dietary NO3− supplementation acutely reduces BP and the O2 cost of submaximal exercise and that these effects are maintained for at least 15 days if supplementation is continued.

Interventions, policies, and future research directions in partner violence

There have been sweeping changes in policy and practice on violence against intimate partners over the past several decades. New laws, policies, programs, and research funding have shaped the literature on this topic as well as the contours of violence itself. A substantial portion of the contemporary research literature is devoted to the policies and interventions that affect intimate partner violence. This chapter will first review key policy changes that have shaped interventions in violence against intimate partners. Second, it will map major areas of research on policy and intervention in violence and abuse. Finally, it will propose directions for future research.

Cognitive function in schizophrenia: Conflicting findings and future directions

Introduction Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with multiple psychopathological domains being affected. Several lines of evidence indicate that cognitive impairment serves as the key component of schizophrenia psychopathology. Although there have been a multitude of cognitive studies in schizophrenia, there are many conflicting results. We reasoned that this could be due to individual differences among the patients (i.e. variation in the severity of positive vs. negative symptoms), different task designs, and/or the administration of different antipsychotics. Methods We thus review existing data concentrating on these dimensions, specifically in relation to dopamine function. We focus on most commonly used cognitive domains: learning, working memory, and attention. Results We found that the type of cognitive domain under investigation, medication state and type, and severity of positive and negative symptoms can explain the conflicting results in the literature. Conclusions This review points to future studies investigating individual differences among schizophrenia patients in order to reveal the exact relationship between cognitive function, clinical features, and antipsychotic treatment.

Comments on: "The role of the social environment in psychiatric research: Outstanding challenges and future directions by Dana March, James Kirkbride, Wim Veling"

On 17 March 2009, we hosted a live discussion of fresh new ideas in the epidemiology of schizophrenia. Discussion leaders Dana March of Columbia University, James Kirkbride of the University of Cambridge, and Wim Veling of Parnassia Psychiatric Institute delivered a wide-ranging discussion of social factors such as migration, ethnicity, and urbanicity, but also asked how this research could benefit from genetic insights. Finally, they discussed possible biological mechanisms that might transduce social factors into psychosis

Foreign aid, domestic investment and welfare

This paper examines the welfare implications of temporary foreign aid in a simple two-period, two-country model of trade. Domestic investment is endogenous, providing an important link between aid in period one and the terms of trade in periods one and two. Transfer-induced changes in the terms of trade redistribute present and future income between the donor and the recipient. In the presence of barriers to international borrowing and lending, such redistribution gives rise to the possibility of temporary aid being both potentially and strictly Pareto improving.

The hype cycle model: A review and future directions

The hype cycle model traces the evolution of technological innovations as they pass through successive stages pronounced by the peak, disappointment, and recovery of expectations. Since its introduction by Gartner nearly two decades ago, the model has received growing interest from practitioners, and more recently from scholars. Given the model's proclaimed capacity to forecast technological development, an important consideration for organizations in formulating marketing strategies, this paper provides a critical review of the hype cycle model by seeking evidence from Gartner's own technology databases for the manifestation of hype cycles. The results of our empirical work show incongruences connected with the reports of Gartner, which motivates us to consider possible future directions, whereby the notion of hype or hyped dynamics (though not necessarily the hype cycle model itself) can be captured in existing life cycle models through the identification of peak, disappointment, and recovery patterns.