Systematic characterization of thermodynamic and dynamical phase behavior in systems with short-ranged attraction

In this paper we demonstrate the feasibility and utility of an augmented version of the Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo method for computing the phase behavior of systems with strong, extremely short-ranged attractions. For generic potential shapes, this approach allows for the investigation of narrower attractive widths than those previously reported. Direct comparison to previous self-consistent Ornstein-Zernike approximation calculations is made. A preliminary investigation of out-of-equilibrium behavior is also performed. Our results suggest that the recent observations of stable cluster phases in systems without long-ranged repulsions are intimately related to gas-crystal and metastable gas-liquid phase separation.

Understanding Patients’ Needs and Healthcare Seeking Behavior in Rural Southern India: The Comparison of Providers through Patients’ Perceptions and Cost Issues

This study explores patients’ needs in rural Thanjavur, southern India through understanding how people with diabetes choose providers and perceive care-seeking experience. To measure perception, the study surveyed people regarding six common barriers to care-seeking behavior, selected from both literature and local expert interview. Ninety-one percent of the sampled population goes to public or private allopathic providers out of the six presented providers. The low socioeconomic group and people with more complications or comorbidities are more likely to go to private allopathic providers. What is more, there is no difference between public and private allopathic providers in patients’ perception of care except for perceived cost. Positive perceptions in both providers are very common except for perceptions in blood-sugar management, distance to facilities, and cost of care. Sixty-six percent of patients perceived their blood-sugar control to fluctuate or have no change versus improved control. Twenty-seven percent of patients perceived the distance to facilities as unreasonable, and sixty-two percent of patients perceived the cost as high for them. The results suggest that cost may affect low socioeconomic people’s choice of care significantly. However, for people in middle and higher socioeconomic groups, cost does not appear to be a major factor. For qualitative text analyses, physician’s behavior and reputation emerge as themes, which require further studies.

Phase behavior and far-from-equilibrium gelation in charged attractive colloids

In this Rapid Communication we demonstrate the applicability of an augmented Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo approach for the phase behavior determination of model colloidal systems with short-ranged depletion attraction and long-ranged repulsion. This technique allows for a quantitative determination of the phase boundaries and ground states in such systems. We demonstrate that gelation may occur in systems of this type as the result of arrested microphase separation, even when the equilibrium state of the system is characterized by compact microphase structures.

The Role of Dopaminergic Systems in the Neurobehavioral Teratology of Organophosphates in Zebrafish

Background: Organophosphate (OP) pesticides are well-known developmental neurotoxicants that have been linked to abnormal cognitive and behavioral endpoints through both epidemiological studies and animal models of behavioral teratology, and are implicated in the dysfunction of multiple neurotransmitters, including dopamine. Chemical similarities between OP pesticides and organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), a class of compounds growing in use and environmental relevance, have produced concern regarding whether developmental exposures to OPFRs and OP pesticides may share behavioral outcomes, impacts on dopaminergic systems, or both. Methods: Using the zebrafish animal model, we exposed developing fish to two OPFRs, TDCIPP and TPHP, as well as the OP pesticide chlorpyrifos, during the first 5 days following fertilization. From there, the exposed fish were assayed for behavioral abnormalities and effects on monoamine neurochemistry as both larvae and adults. An experiment conducted in parallel examined how antagonism of the dopamine system during an identical window of development could alter later life behavior in the same assays. Finally, we investigated the interaction between developmental exposure to an OPFR and acute dopamine antagonism in larval behavior. Results: Developmental exposure to all three OP compounds altered zebrafish behavior, with effects persisting into adulthood. Additionally, exposure to an OPFR decreased the behavioral response to acute D2 receptor antagonism in larvae. However, the pattern of behavioral effects diverged substantially from those seen following developmental dopamine antagonism, and the investigations into dopamine neurochemistry were too variable to be conclusive. Thus, although the results support the hypothesis that OPFRs, as with OP pesticides such as chlorpyrifos, may present a risk to normal behavioral development, we were unable to directly link these effects to any dopaminergic dysfunction.

Understanding Suicidal Behavior Among Latin Adolescent Girls Living in the United States

Suicide in adolescents between the age of 10 and 24 years old is the second cause of death in the United States. This rate differentiates by ethnic and racial groups within the same country; Latino/Hispanic adolescent girls have the highest rate of suicide behavior. Considering that Latino/Hispanic is the fastest growing minority group in the nation, with an expected population of 30% by 2060, this issue should be a public health priority. This paper answers the following question: what are the conditions operating among Latin adolescent girls living in the United States that cause significantly higher suicidal behavior rates in the U.S. and compared with their peers in Latin American countries? And, how adequate are treatments such as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and prevention programs in tackling the specific risk factors affecting this population? The paper is divided into five chapters; the first four are based on a comprehensive literature review of statistics of suicide, risk and protective factors, treatment, and prevention programs. The last chapter offers an analysis of the sociological phenomenon of suicidal behavior in this population and three brief narratives of attempters and non-attempters. Studies show that subjective distress, familism and immigration issues are the key risk factors of suicidal behavior in Latina adolescent girls. Understanding the risk factors is key in order to design promotion and prevention programs that are culturally relevant and that can have a positive impact in the reduction of this alarming phenomenon.

Individual differences in toddlers' social understanding and prosocial behavior: disposition or socialization?

We examined how individual differences in social understanding contribute to variability in early-appearing prosocial behavior. Moreover, potential sources of variability in social understanding were explored and examined as additional possible predictors of prosocial behavior. Using a multi-method approach with both observed and parent-report measures, 325 children aged 18-30 months were administered measures of social understanding (e.g., use of emotion words; self-understanding), prosocial behavior (in separate tasks measuring instrumental helping, empathic helping, and sharing, as well as parent-reported prosociality at home), temperament (fearfulness, shyness, and social fear), and parental socialization of prosocial behavior in the family. Individual differences in social understanding predicted variability in empathic helping and parent-reported prosociality, but not instrumental helping or sharing. Parental socialization of prosocial behavior was positively associated with toddlers' social understanding, prosocial behavior at home, and instrumental helping in the lab, and negatively associated with sharing (possibly reflecting parents' increased efforts to encourage children who were less likely to share). Further, socialization moderated the association between social understanding and prosocial behavior, such that social understanding was less predictive of prosocial behavior among children whose parents took a more active role in socializing their prosociality. None of the dimensions of temperament was associated with either social understanding or prosocial behavior. Parental socialization of prosocial behavior is thus an important source of variability in children's early prosociality, acting in concert with early differences in social understanding, with different patterns of influence for different subtypes of prosocial behavior.