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Highly flexible proteins present a special challenge for structure determination because they are multi‐structured yet not disordered, so their conformational ensembles are essential for understanding function. Because spectroscopic measurements of multiple conformational populations often provide sparse data, experiment selection is a limiting factor in conformational refinement. A molecular simulations‐ and information‐theory based approach to select which experiments best refine conformational ensembles has been developed. This approach was tested on three flexible proteins. For proteins where a clear mechanistic hypothesis exists, experiments that test this hypothesis were systematically identified. When available data did not yield such mechanistic hypotheses, experiments that significantly outperform structure‐guided approaches in conformational refinement were identified. This approach offers a particular advantage when refining challenging, underdetermined protein conformational ensembles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Small samples with few minority women and/or the absence of comparisons to peers without cancer histories have limited previous research suggesting racial differences in breast cancer survivors' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). This study not only compared HRQoL of African American and white breast cancer survivors, but also compared the HRQoL of these women to that of same-race women with no cancer history.Methods: Data from the Women's Health Initiative-Observational Study were used, including 5021 cancer survivors and 88,532 women without a history of cancer. Multivariate regression analyses estimated differences in breast cancer survivors' baseline HRQoL (RAND36), depressive symptoms (CES-D short-form), and sleep quality (WHIIRS).Results: African American breast cancer survivors reported worse physical functioning and general health compared with white survivors. Among African Americans, survivors reported worse role limitations due to physical health, pain, general health, and vitality than women without a history of cancer. This was most evident in those with more recent diagnoses. Most significant differences between groups were small in magnitude (Cohen d = .21-.36).Conclusions: These results add to the increasing knowledge of cancer disparities by showing that African American women have small, but clinically meaningful, decrements in physical HRQoL compared with white survivors and with African American women without cancer. Because African American women also face diagnosis with higher grade tumors and higher breast cancer mortality, more research is needed to examine the physical and psychosocial experiences of African American breast cancer survivors to elucidate the mechanisms leading to poorer outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines patterns in risk-taking behaviors among adolescent females. Overview of adolescent behavior; Examination of risk-taking in adolescence; Research methods employed in this examination; Analysis of statistical data compiled; Results of this research.