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Regardless of its utility as a measure of actual corruption, perceived corruption is related to many political attitudes and other variables which makes it an important phenomenon to understand. This paper explores demographic variables, ideological orientations, socioeconomic status, interpersonal trust, political attitudes and feelings of resentment as explanations for corruption perception with response styles controlled within a structural equation modelling framework using survey data collected in Guyana where corruption is salient and thought to be pervasive. It finds that the categories of variables jointly explain 31.5% of the variance in corruption perception and that there is explanatory utility for each category of variables evaluated except socioeconomic status with demographics and ideological orientations accounting for the largest changes in explained variance. It also finds that political cynicism attenuates an initial effect of interpersonal trust and concludes that ethnicity appears to function as partisan orientation in its relationship with corruption perception.

IntroductionEvidence-based preventive strategies for cervical cancer in low-resource setting have been developed, but implementation is challenged, and uptake remains low. Women and girls experience social and economic barriers to attend screening and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programs. Male support has been proven successful in uptake of other reproductive healthcare services. This qualitative study with focus groups aimed to understand the perspectives of males on cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination in Western-Uganda This knowledge could be integrated into awareness activities to increase the attendance of cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination programs.Materials and methodsFocus group discussions were conducted with men aged 25 to 60 years, who were married and/or had daughters, in Kagadi district, Mid-Western Uganda. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed using an inductive approach.ResultsEleven focus group discussions were conducted with 67 men. Men were willing to support their wives for screening and their daughters for HPV vaccination. Misperceptions such as family planning and poor personal hygiene leading to cervical cancer, and misperception of the preventative aspect of screening and vaccination were common. Women with cervical cancer suffer from stigmatization and family problems due to loss of fertility, less marital sexual activity, domestic violence and decreased economic productivity.ConclusionsUgandan men were willing to support cervical cancer prevention for their wives and daughters after being informed about cervical cancer. Limited knowledge among men about the risk factors and causes of cervical cancer, and about the preventative aspect of HPV vaccination and screening and their respective target groups, can limit uptake of both services. Screening and vaccination programs should actively involve men in creating awareness to increase uptake and acceptance of prevention.

Neuroblastoma includes adrenergic and mesenchymal cell types that can interconvert. Here, the authors show that this transdifferentiation is driven by a NOTCH feedforward loop that allows a swift transition between two semi-stable cellular states.

This article describes the findings of a qualitative study on knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices towards children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus in four regions of Uganda. Focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews were held with parents of children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, policy-makers, and service providers. Our findings describe how negative knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices create barriers to treatment and inclusion of children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and their parents in Uganda. The findings show how knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and practices evolve over time, are both similar and differ in the various regions, and become more conducive towards accessing treatment and achieving inclusion. Sensitisation and early intervention including parents and service providers in dissemination of knowledge, rehabilitative care to set the trend for positive change and support, as well as longitudinal studies of children with spina bifida and hydrocephalus and their parents are recommended.

Background: While there is no doubt that parental intimate partner homicide is associated with strong grief and post-traumatic stress reactions among the children who have been bereaved, there is little in-depth insight into how children and young people see and describe their circumstances and needs. Objective: Our aim was to shed light on children’s and young people’s perspectives on their life after parental intimate partner homicide. In particular, we were interested in how they experienced their living arrangements, social environment, and general well-being. Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 children and young people (8–24 years old; 15 females and eight males) who had been younger than 18 years when one of their parents killed the other (21 children lost their mother, two children lost their father). We used thematic analysis to synthesize the findings. Results: While most participants were fairly content with themselves and their living arrangements, they also expressed substantial and persistent difficulties, including distress, conflicts between family members, and feelings of unsafety. Most importantly, children’s self-image, their perspectives on their biological parents, and their views on their broader (family) environment varied considerably from participant to participant, and also between siblings. Conclusions: It is unlikely that straightforward guidelines can be given with regard to where the children should live after parental homicide, or whether they should be in contact with the perpetrating parent. Rather, this study’s findings underline the need to explore children’s individual viewpoints carefully during decision-making processes.

Institutional trust is often measured by several items that are analyzed individually or as sum-scores. However, it is difficult to summarize the results of individual-items analyses, whereas sum-scores may be meaningless if the dimensions that the items are assumed to measure are not verified. Although these limitations are circumvented by using factor analysis, response styles may still bias research results. We use data from Guyana to show that a second-order factor model is appropriate for measuring institutional trust. We also demonstrate that response styles can inflate item and factor convergent validity and may either distort regression effects or create completely spurious ones. We therefore recommend using factor models with corrections for response styles in institutional trust research instead of sum-scores and individual-items analyses.

In the context of violence against women, intimate partner homicide increasingly receives research and policy attention. Although the impact of losing a parent due to intimate partner homicide is intuitively obvious, little is known about the children involved. We aimed to identify all children bereaved by parental intimate partner homicide in the Netherlands in the period 2003-2012, describe their demographics and family circumstances, and assess their exposure to prior violence at home and to the homicide itself.We cross-examined 8 national data sources and extracted data about children's demographics and circumstances prior to, and during the homicide. Our primary outcomes were prior violence at home (child maltreatment, neglect or domestic violence) and homicide witness status (ranging from being at a different location altogether to being present at the scene). During the decade under study, 256 children lost a biological parent due to 137 cases of intimate partner homicide. On average, the children were 7.4 years old at the time of the homicide (51.1% were boys; 95% CI 47.3-54.7) and most lost their mother (87.1%; full population data). Immigrant children were overrepresented (59.4%; 95% CI 52.8-66.0). Of the children for whom information about previous violence at home was gathered, 67.7% (95% CI 59.7-73.7) were certainly exposed and 16.7% (95% CI 11.3-22.2) probably. Of the children who had certainly been exposed, 43.1% (95% CI 41.1-60.9) had not received social services or mental health care. The majority of the children (58.7%; 95% CI 52.1-65.3) were present at the location of the homicide when the killing took place, with varying levels of exposure. Homicide weapons mostly involved cutting weapons and firearms, leading to graphic crime scenes.Care providers need capacity not only to help children cope with the sudden loss of a parent but also with unaddressed histories of domestic violence and exposure to graphic homicide scenes, in a culture-sensitive way. Future directions include longitudinal monitoring of children's mental health outcomes and replication in other countries.

Objective: to investigate features of arterial remodeling and distensibility in marathon runners by a multi-site, non-invasive approach. Methods: 46 marathon runners (M) and 15 age-sex- and BMI matched sedentary (S) individuals were recruited (men 70 vs 67%, p=0.83; age 44±7 vs 43±6 years, p=0.62; BMI 23±2 vs 23±3, p=0.65; brachial BP 127±12/76±9 vs 123±10/74±8 mmHg, p=0.29 and 0.30; HR 53±14 vs 64±8 bpm, p=0.004). The following measurements were performed: brachial blood pressure (BP – oscillometric method), carotid and femoral BP, aortic BP (applanation tonometry+transfer function), carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), ultrasound assessment of abdominal aorta, common carotid, common femoral and brachial artery. For each arterial site mean diameter (MD) and local distensibility coefficient (DC) were assessed. Results: M in comparison with S had increased Aortic MD (15.8±2.0 vs 13.1±1.1 mm, p=0.0001) and reduced DC (30.3 ±15.2 vs 38.5±10.5, p=0.05), with similar carotid and brachial MD (7.16±0.59 vs 7.04±0.77mm and 4.05±0.56 vs 3.99±0.82mm, p=ns) and DC (38.0±9.3 vs 40.2±11.5 and 9.9±6.6 vs 8.9±5.6, p=ns). Furthermore, femoral MD was increased (9.8±1.0 vs 8.8±1.4, p=0.01), whereas DC was similar (29.0±12.5 vs 33.1±16.1, p=ns). Carotid, femoral and aortic BP, carotid and femoral IMT, as well as carotid-femoral PWV (6.6±1.5 vs 6.7±0.9 m/s, p=0.86), were similar in M and S. Conclusions: Marathon runners present remodeling of aorta and femoral arteries and reduced abdominal aortic distensibility. Multi-site assessment of local arterial distensibility might be more useful than assessment of regional arterial stiffness to identify specific patterns of vascular structure and function in athletes.

Loss of protein quality control by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) during aging is one of the processes putatively contributing to cellular stress and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Recently, pooled Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS), pathway analysis and proteomics identified protein ubiquitination as one of the key modulators of AD. Mutations in ubiquitin B mRNA that result in UBB+1 dose-dependently cause an impaired UPS, subsequent accumulation of UBB+1 and most probably depositions of other aberrant proteins present in plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.We used specific immunohistochemical probes for a comprehensive topographic mapping of the UBB+1 distribution in the brains of transgenic mouse line 3413 overexpressing UBB+1. We also mapped the expression of UBB+1 in brain areas of AD patients selected based upon the distribution of UBB+1 in line 3413. Therefore we focused on the olfactory bulb, basal ganglia, nucleus basalis of Meynert, inferior colliculus and raphe nuclei. UBB+1 distribution was compared with established probes for pre-tangles and tangles and Aβ plaques.UBB+1 distribution found in line 3413 is partly mirrored in the AD brain. Specifically, nuclei with substantial accumulations of tangle-bearing neurons, such as the nucleus basalis of Meynert and raphe nuclei also present high densities of UBB+1 positive tangles. Line 3413 is useful for studying the contribution of proteasomal dysfunction in AD. The findings are consistent with evidence that areas outside the forebrain are also affected in AD. Line 3413 may also be predictive for other conformational diseases, including related tauopathies and polyglutamine diseases, in which UBB+1 accumulates in their cellular hallmarks.

This paper examines the non-situational (i.e., non-exophoric) pragmatic functions of the three adnominal demonstratives, óyo, wâná, and yangó in the Bantu language Lingala. An examination of natural language corpora reveals that, although native-speaker intuitions sanction the use of óyo as an anaphor in demonstrative NPs, this demonstrative is hardly ever used in that role. It also reveals that wâná, which has both situational and discourse-referential capacities, is used more frequently than the exclusively anaphoric demonstrative yangó. It is explained that wâná appears in a wide range of non-coreferential expression types, in coreferential expression types involving low-salience referents, and in coreferential expression types that both involve highly salient referents and include the speaker's desire to signal a shift in the mental representation of the referent towards a pejorative reading. The use of yangó, on the other hand, is only licensed in cases of coreferentiality involving highly salient referents and implying continuation of the same mental representation of the referent. A specific section is devoted to charting the possible grammaticalization paths followed by the demonstratives. Conclusions are drawn for pragmatic theory formation in terms of the relation between form (yangó vs. wâná) and function (coreferentiality vs. non-coreferentiality). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Introduction: International guidelines recommend a staging chest X-ray (SCXR) in patients with colorectal cancer to exclude pulmonary metastases. The SCXR is controversial, because evidence to support its use is insufficient. The aim of this study was to determine the value of the SCXR in patients with colorectal cancer. Patients and methods: Between January 1992 and August 2006, data from all patients with colorectal cancer, who presented to the surgical clinic of the Maasland Hospital, were prospectively collected and analysed. The main outcome was the rate of pulmonary metastases on SCXR. The secondary outcome was the influence of SCXR on patient management. Results: Out of 1410 patients, 1057 had a chest X-ray before their operation. Median follow-up time was 4 years and 6 months (25th percentile 1 year and 7 months, 75th percentile 6 years and 11 months). Eight patients were excluded because follow-up data were incomplete. In 24 patients the chest X-ray was suggestive of malignancy; 9 of these patients actually had pulmonary metastases. Patient management was changed in 5 of them. Four patients were identified to have primary lung cancer. These data indicate a 0.86% detection rate of pulmonary metastases (confidence interval, 0.3–1.4%). Discussion: Our results show that SCXR has a low detection rate of pulmonary metastases and a small influence on patient management. In accordance with previous studies our data do not support the routine use of the SCXR in patients with colorectal cancer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]