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This study examined age and gender differences in global, academic, athletic, and social self-concepts in 311 academically talented middle and high school students. Males scored significantly higher on global and athletic self-concepts whereas females obtained significantly higher scores on social self-concept. No gender differences were found on academic self-concept and no age differences were found. (Author/DB)

OBJECTIVE: Prior to the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), active tuberculosis (TB) was a major contributor to HIV-related morbidity and mortality in Canada and other low-incidence regions. We performed this study to examine TB incidence, clinical manifestations and screening uptake in HIV-infected TB patients during the era of HAART therapy. METHODS: We performed a retrospective study on all HIV-infected TB patients in British Columbia over a 10-year period (2003-2012). Demographic and clinical characteristics were extracted along with screening and treatment outcomes. Trends in provincial TB incidence, HIV testing and HAART prevalence were also examined. RESULTS: In total, 2,839 TB cases were identified in BC during this period, including 129 HIV-infected TB patients. Surprisingly, only 64 HIV-infected TB patients (50%) had a documented screening tuberculin skin test (TST) prior to TB diagnosis. Of the 39 HIV-infected TB patients with prior TST positivity, 38 (97.4%) had not completed a course of isoniazid preventive therapy. TB incidence decreased significantly in the HIV-infected population of BC over the study period, from 1.9 to 0.5 TB cases per 1,000 HIV-infected individuals (p CONCLUSION: The incidence of HIV-TB decreased significantly over the past decade despite suboptimal latent TB infection screening and prevention practices. This decrease in TB incidence is likely attributable to the increased uptake of HAART. Consideration should be given to intensifying prevention efforts to accelerate TB elimination in HIV-infected populations in low-incidence regions. KEY WORDS: Tuberculosis; tuberculin test; latent tuberculosis; anti-retroviral agents; HIV OBJECTIF: Avant l'avenement de la therapie antiretrovirale hautement active (TAHA), la tuberculose progressive etait l'un des principaux facteurs de morbidite et de mortalite liees au VIH au Canada et dans d'autres regions a faible incidence. Notre etude visait a examiner l'incidence de la tuberculose, ses manifestations cliniques et le recours au depistage chez les patients tuberculeux infectes par le VIH a l'ere de la TAHA. METHODE: Nous avons mene une etude retrospective de tous les patients tuberculeux infectes par le VIH en Colombie-Britannique sur une periode de 10 ans (2003-2012). Nous avons extrait leurs caracteristiques demographiques et cliniques, ainsi que les donnees sur le depistage et les effets du traitement. Nous avons aussi examine les tendances de l'incidence de la tuberculose, du depistage du VIH et de la prevalence de la TAHA dans la province. RESULTATS: En tout, 2 839 cas de tuberculose ont ete signales en C.-B. au cours de la periode, dont 129 patients tuberculeux infectes par le VIH. Etonnamment, seuls 64 patients tuberculeux infectes par le VIH (50%) avaient subi un test cutane a la tuberculine (TCT) consigne en dossier avant leur diagnostic de tuberculose. Sur les 39 patients tuberculeux infectes par le VIH ayant eu un TCT positif au prealable, 38 (97,4%) n'avaient pas suivi un traitement preventif complet a l'isoniazide. L'incidence de la tuberculose a considerablement diminue dans la population infectee par le VIH en C.-B. au cours de la periode de l'etude, passant de 1,9 a 0,5 cas de tuberculose pour 1 000 personnes infectees par le VIH (p CONCLUSION: L'incidence de la comorbidite VIH-tuberculose a considerablement diminue au cours de la derniere decennie malgre les pratiques sous-optimales de prevention et de depistage de la tuberculose latente. Cette incidence reduite de la tuberculose est probablement imputable au recours accru a la TAHA. Il faudrait envisager d'intensifier les efforts de prevention afin d'accelerer l'elimination de la tuberculose au sein des populations infectees par le VIH dans les regions a faible incidence. MOTS CLES: tuberculose; test tuberculinique; tuberculose latente; antiretroviraux; VIH, Tuberculosis disease (TB) represents an important source of morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected people worldwide. (1-3) In the absence of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), HIV-infected individuals are up to [...]

Self-esteem and self-efficacy are theorized to serve as mediators of the relationship between religious involvement and health outcomes. Studies confirming these relationships have produced mixed evidence. This study examined whether self-esteem and self-efficacy mediate the relationship between religious involvement (beliefs, behaviors) and a set of modifiable health behaviors in a national probability sample of African Americans. African Americans, in general, are relatively high in religious involvement and have higher than average rates of chronic disease. Participants were interviewed by telephone, and a Religion-Health Mediational Model was tested using structural equation modeling. Results suggest that self-esteem and self-efficacy at least in part mediate the relationship between religious beliefs (e.g., relationship with God) and greater fruit and vegetable consumption, and lower alcohol consumption. Religious behaviors (e.g., service attendance) were found to have direct, unmediated effects on health behaviors. Findings have implications for church-based health promotion in African American communities such as education or support groups. Keywords Religion * Self-esteem * Self-efficacy * African Americans * Health behaviors, Introduction Literature reviews on the relationship between religion and health have widely suggested evidence for a generally, though not always, positive role of religious involvement in health outcomes (Koenig et [...]

Prior stroke is one of the biggest risk factors for future stroke events. Effective secondary prevention medication regimens can dramatically reduce recurrent stroke risk. Guidelines recommend the use of antithrombotic, antihypertensive and lipid-lowering medications after stroke. Medication adherence is known to be better in the presence of a caregiver but long-term adherence after stroke is unknown and disparities may persist. We examined the effects of race and sex on baseline prescription and maintenance of secondary prevention regimens in the presence of a caregiver using the Caring for Adults Recovering from the Effects of Stroke (CARES) study, an ancillary study of the national REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS). Incident ischemic stroke survivors (N = 172; 36% Black) with family caregivers had medications recorded at hospital discharge and on average 9.8 months later during a home visit. At discharge, antithrombotic prescription (95.9%), lipid-lowering medications (78.8%) and antihypertensives (89.9%) were common and there were no race or sex differences in discharge prescription rates. One year later, medication persistence had fallen to 86.6% for antithrombotics (p = 0.002) and 69.8% for lipid lowering (p = 0.008) but increased to 93.0% for antihypertensives (p = 0.30). Blacks were more likely to have discontinued antithrombotics than Whites (18.3% v 7.7%, p = 0.04). No significant differences in persistence were seen with age, sex, income, depression, or cognitive impairment. Medication persistence was high in this sample, likely due to the presence of a caregiver. In our cohort, despite similar prescription rates at the time of hospital discharge, Black stroke survivors were more than twice as likely to stop antithrombotics than Whites. The effect of changes in patterns of medication usage on health outcomes in Black stroke survivors warrants continued investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ischemic damage is recognized to cause cardiomyocyte (CM) death and myocardial dysfunction, but the role of cell-matrix interactions and integrins in this process has not been extensively studied. Expression of [...]