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Background: There is a clinical need for treatments that can slow or prevent the growth of an abdominal aortic aneurysm, not only to reduce the need for surgery, but to provide a means to treat those who cannot undergo surgery. Methods: Analysis of the UK Aneurysm Growth Study (UKAGS) prospective cohort was conducted to test for an association between cardiometabolic medications and the growth of an abdominal aortic aneurysm above 30 mm in diameter, using linear mixed-effect models. Results: A total of 3670 male participants with data available on abdominal aortic aneurysm growth, smoking status, co-morbidities, and medication history were included. The mean age at recruitment was 69.5 years, the median number of surveillance scans was 6, and the mean(s.e.) unadjusted abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rate was 1.75(0.03) mm/year. In a multivariate linear mixed-effect model, smoking (mean(s.e.) +0.305(0.07) mm/year, P = 0.00003) and antiplatelet use (mean(s.e.) +0.235(0.06) mm/year, P = 0.00018) were found to be associated with more rapid abdominal aortic aneurysm growth, whilst metformin was strongly associated with slower abdominal aortic aneurysm growth (mean(s.e.) −0.38(0.1) mm/year, P = 0.00019), as were angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (mean(s.e.) −0.243(0.07) mm/year, P = 0.0004), angiotensin II receptor antagonists (mean(s.e.) −0.253(0.08) mm/year, P = 0.00255), and thiazides/related diuretics (mean(s.e.) −0.307(0.09) mm/year, P = 0.00078). Conclusion: The strong association of metformin with slower abdominal aortic aneurysm growth highlights the importance of the ongoing clinical trials assessing the effectiveness of metformin with regard to the prevention of abdominal aortic aneurysm growth and/or rupture. The association of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists, and diuretics with slower abdominal aortic aneurysm growth points to the possibility that optimization of cardiovascular risk management as part of abdominal aortic aneurysm surveillance may have the secondary benefit of also reducing abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rates. Abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rates were compared with smoking status, co-morbidities, and medication history in the UK Aneurysm Growth Study (UKAGS) prospective cohort. It was found that: smoking and antiplatelet use were associated with a more rapid abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rate; the drug metformin was strongly associated with a slower abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rate; and drugs in the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, angiotensin II receptor antagonist, and thiazide/related diuretic classes were also associated with a slower abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rate. These results suggest that common cardiometabolic medications may be useful therapeutic options to slow abdominal aortic aneurysm growth rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering how Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg has been stigmatized for decades, and recently targeted for redevelopment, you would hardly guess from the outside that the neighborhood is beloved by racialized long-time residents, and considered to be a warm, welcoming Heimat: a space of belonging, where you do not have to justify your presence. This identification is tied to the neighborhood's racialization; the qualities that have been labeled as problems to be transformed through social mix make it a space of relative safety and security, in a context in which many residents experience attempted exclusions from German identity. Based on interviews with racialized long-time residents, contextualized within racialization in Germany, the racialized displaceability embedded in social mix policy, the contested meaning of Heimat, and the experiences of Wilhelmsburg residents with migrantization, I argue that this emphatic claim is a strength that is threatened by the current process of social mix gentrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'urban laboratory' concept has become a popular discourse and structure for urban projects in recent years. In this article, I ask what the concept achieves in the context of racialized urban disinvestment and stigmatization, with the Hamburg International Building Exhibition's (Internationale Bauausstellung Hamburg, 2006–2013) work in Hamburg–Wilhelmsburg as an example. Drawing on laboratory studies and urban sociology, I sketch out the laboratory as an 'imaginative infrastructure', including what it offers to the 'investigators' who use it. Based on the 'situatedness' of the urban laboratory, I argue that the racialization of the neighbourhood and its residents is important to the history of Wilhelmsburg's planning, and to its recent laboratorization. Laboratorization of racialized people and spaces is not new, but rather has a long history in European colonialism. I conclude that though the experiment in Hamburg–Wilhelmsburg appears to be with the neighbourhood's racialization itself, there is nothing experimental about attempting the planning myth and common sense of 'social mix' to which Internationale Bauausstellung Hamburg contributes. I argue that racialized Wilhelmsburgers deserve problem-solving that does not reinforce existing patterns of development and thus their stigmatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on research with community organizers in India. We illustrate that community organizers in India have done a thorough analysis with respect to the impact of globalization on the communities with which they work. We argue that community practitioners have a clear political understanding of their practice that is tied to the perception that global change has led to increasing marginalization of communities in India. As a result of these changes, the guiding principles of community practices in India need to be rethought. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: To determine whether sleep quality and fatigue associated with breast cancer adjuvant chemotherapy treatments can be improved with behavioral therapy (BT) [Individualized Sleep Promotion Plan (ISPP©)] including modified stimulus control, modified sleep restriction, relaxation therapy, and sleep hygiene. Methods: Randomized-controlled trial based on Piper Integrated Fatigue Model, 219 stages I–IIIA breast cancer patients. Prior to the initial chemotherapy treatment, BT participants developed an ISPP plan that was regularly reinforced and revised. Controls received healthy eating information and attention. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), daily diary, actigraph, and Piper Fatigue Scale (PFS) data were collected 2 days prior, during the 7 days after each treatment, and 30 days after the last treatment. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used. Results: Prior to chemotherapy, participants reported mild fatigue and fairly poor sleep quality. All variables changed over time. A group by time interaction was found for sleep quality (PSQI) improving in the BT group. Diary revealed group differences on number of awakenings, minutes awake after sleep onset, and sleep efficiency. Fatigue (PFS) was similar between groups. Conclusions: The BT group showed improved sleep quality over time and better sleep (diary). Perceptions of improved sleep quality over time are not consistently associated with diary or actigraph, or result in lower fatigue. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]