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BackgroundAdults over age 40 are increasing their use of email and social media, raising interest in use of peer-to-peer Internet-based messaging to promote cancer screening. ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to assess current practices and attitudes toward use of email and other e-communication for peer-to-peer dialogues on cancer screening. MethodsWe conducted in-person interviews with 438 insured adults ages 42-73 in Georgia, Hawaii, and Massachusetts. Participants reported on use of email and other e-communication including social media to discuss with peers routine health topics including breast and colorectal cancer (CRC). We ascertained willingness to share personal CRC screening experiences via conversation, postcard, email, or other e-communication. Health literacy scores were measured. ResultsEmail had been used by one-third (33.8%, 148/438) to discuss routine health topics, by 14.6% (64/438) to discuss breast cancer screening, and by 12.6% (55/438) to discuss CRC screening. Other e-communication was used to discuss routine health topics (11.6%, 51/438), screening for breast cancer (3.9%, 17/438), and CRC (2.3%, 10/438). In the preceding week, 84.5% (370/438) of participants had used email, 55.9% (245/438) had used e-communication of some type; 44.3% (194/438) text, 32.9% (144/438) Facebook, 12.3% (54/438) instant message, 7.1% (31/438) video chat, and 4.8% (21/438) Twitter. Many participants were willing to share their CRC screening experiences via email (32.4%, 142/438 might be willing; 36.3%, 159/438 very willing) and via other e-communication (15.8%, 69/438 might be willing; 14.4%, 63/438 very willing). Individuals willing to send CRC screening emails scored significantly higher on tests of health literacy compared to those willing to send only postcards (P

A novel, nearly isothermal, nonselective-membrane separation process, membrane vapor extraction (MVE), efficiently recovers butanol from a dilute aqueous solution, for example, from a fermentation broth (Liu et al., 2015). In MVE, feed and solvent liquids are not in contact; they are separated by vapor. Therefore, compared to conventional extraction, MVE avoids formation of difficult-to-separate emulsions. In MVE, a semi-volatile aqueous solute (e.g., butanol) vaporizes at the upstream side of a membrane, diffuses as a vapor through the membrane pores, and subsequently condenses and dissolves into a high-boiling nonpolar solvent, favorable to the solute but not to water. Design analysis of a 1.5-m long, 30-m 2 membrane-area countercurrent MVE unit for processing 2-wt% aqueous butanol by dodecane solvent at 40 °C indicates over 90% recovery of the feed butanol with essentially no water loss and with very low energy requirement (Liu et al., 2015). The separation factor is over 1500. However, the published design study gives no experimental evidence for the calculated MVE separation. Here, we present experimental data to validate the MVE process. We use an omniphobic (i.e., hydrophobic and oleophobic), 0.2-µm pore-diameter Versapor®200 R membrane (Pall Corporation, Exton, PA) housed in a 6-cm wide by 10-cm long plate-and-frame channeled flow cell with 0.8-cm gap thickness. Membrane transfer area is 28 cm 2 . The membrane flow cell is designed for minimal axial concentration change and is operated in the transient mode between two recirculating flow loops. 2-wt% aqueous butanol is extracted into dodecane or mesitylene at 25 or 40 °C. Also, 1.5-wt% furfural is extracted into dodecane at 40 °C. Since vapor transport across the membrane contributes minimal resistance, MVE performance is governed by mass transfer through feed and solvent boundary layers. Mass-transfer coefficients are determined from the Graetz-Lévêque analysis of laminar thin-slit flow (Bird et al., 2002). Predicted extraction performance agrees well with experiment using no adjustable parameters. Consistent with the initial multistage-design analysis (Liu et al., 2015), our new bench-scale experimental results confirm that MVE is a viable separation process to recover dilute semi-volatile biosolutes from water with minimal energy requirement. Preliminary analysis of downstream solute recovery from the extract via distillation is more efficient than that for pervaporation because of insignificant water carry over through the MVE membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversational interactions of sixth-grade friends and acquaintances in mixed- and same-gender pairs were computer analyzed so that the individual and dyadic time patterns of their vocal behavior could be examined. A comparison of their time patterns revealed that the boy-boy pairs used more and longer segments of simultaneous speech with acquaintances than with friends whereas the girl-girl pairs did the opposite. In general, partners tended to coordinate the durations of their vocal behaviors with each other but, more specifically, the boys coordinated the timing of their speaking turns and switching pauses more when they were friends than when they were acquaintances, and the girls again did the opposite. Finally, the girls coordinated the durations of their pauses significantly more than did the boys regardless of whether they were with friends or acquaintances or in mixed- or same-gender pairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High school seniors (N = 89) from a suburban private high school were administered a comprehensive questionnaire to determine differences between adolescents who rated the quality of their parent and peer relationships as high or low. Adolescents with high parent and high peer relationship scores had more friends, greater family togetherness, lower levels of depression and drug use, and a higher grade point average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty children with autism, ages 3 to 6 years, were randomly assigned to massage therapy and reading attention control groups. Parents in the massage therapy group were trained by a massage therapist to massage their children for 15 minutes prior to bedtime every night for 1 month and the parents of the attention control group read Dr. Seuss stories to their children on the same time schedule. Conners Teacher and Parent scales, classroom and playground observations, and sleep diaries were used to assess the effects of therapy on various behaviors, including hyperactivity, stereotypical and off-task behavior, and sleep problems. Results suggested that the children in the massage group exhibited less stereotypic behavior and showed more on-task and social relatedness behavior during play observations at school, and they experienced fewer sleep problems at home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescent suicidal ideation and its relationship to other variables was tapped by a self-report questionnaire administered to 88 high school seniors. Eighteen percent responded positively to the statement 'sometimes I feel suicidal.' Those who reported suicidal ideation were found to differ from those who did not on a number of variables, including family relationships (quality of relationship with mother, intimacy with parents, and closeness to siblings), family history of depression (maternal depression), peer relations (quality of peer relationships, popularity, and number of friends), emotional well-being (happiness, anger, and depression), drug use (cigarettes, marijuana, and cocaine), and grade point average. Stepwise regression indicated that happiness explained 46% of the variance in suicidal ideation, and number of friends, anger, and marijuana use explained an additional 20%, for a total of 66% of the variance. While 34% of the variance remained unexplained, it is suggested that the questions used to measure these four variables be included in global screenings to identify adolescents at risk for suicidal ideation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an abstract of the article 'Right Hemisphere Contribution to Lexical Access in an Aphasic With Deep Dyslexia,' by A. Schweiger, E. Zaidel, T. Field and B. Dobkin which appeared in the 1989 issue of the 'Brain and Language' journal.

Forty adolescents were observed at McDonald's restaurants in Paris and Miami to assess the amount of touching and aggression during their peer interactions. The American adolescents spent less time leaning against, stroking, kissing, and hugging their peers than did the French adolescents. Instead, they showed more self-touching and more aggressive verbal and physical behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seventy-nine adolescent mothers (mean age = 18.1 years) were administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and three validity scales (L, F, and K) of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2). The aim was to determine whether low-BDI mothers were 'faking good,' or denying their depression. The adolescent mothers were assigned to a low-BDI group (scores = 0, 1, 2), a nondepressed group (scores = 3-9), or a depressed group (scores > or = 13). The depressed group had higher F (Symptom) scale scores than did the nondepressed group, which in turn had higher scores than did the low-BDI group. The low-BDI group, in contrast, had more fake-good profiles than did the two other groups. Discriminant analyses indicated that 90% of the fake-good profiles could be classified correctly based on BDI and K (Defensiveness) scale scores. These data suggest the need for further assessment when individuals have extremely low BDI scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assesses the effects of massage therapy over one month on both parents and their cystic fibrosis-afflicted children. Overview of the disease; Questions relating to present anxiety levels answered by both parents and children; Improvement of the mood and peak air flow readings for children in the massage therapy group.