We work from a life course perspective and identify several reasons to expect age and gender differences in the link between marital quality and health. We present growth curve evidence from a national longitudinal survey to show that marital strain accelerates the typical decline in self-rated health that occurs over time and that this adverse effect is greater at older ages. These findings fit with recent theoretical work on cumulative adversity in that marital strain seems to have a cumulative effect on health over time-an effect that produces increasing vulnerability to marital strain with age. Contrary to expectations, marital quality seems to affect the health of men and women in similar ways across the life course.

The location of a schizophrenia susceptibility locus at chromosome 22q11 has been suggested by genome-wide linkage studies. Additional support was provided by the observation of a higher-thanexpected frequency of 22q11 microdeletions in patients with schizophrenia and the demonstration that Ϸ20 -30% of individuals with 22q11 microdeletions develop schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in adolescence and adulthood. Analysis of the extent of these microdeletions by using polymorphic markers afforded further refinement of this locus to a region of Ϸ1.5 Mb. Recently, a high rate of 22q11 microdeletions was also reported for a cohort of 47 patients with Childhood Onset Schizophrenia, a rare and severe form of schizophrenia with onset by age 13. It is therefore likely that this 1.5-Mb region contains one or more genes that predispose to schizophrenia. In three independent samples, we provide evidence for a contribution of the PRODH2͞DGCR6 locus in 22q11-associated schizophrenia. We also uncover an unusual pattern of PRODH2 gene variation that mimics the sequence of a linked pseudogene. Several of the pseudogene-like variants we identified result in missense changes at conserved residues and may prevent synthesis of a fully functional enzyme. Our results have implications for understanding the genetic basis of the 22q11-associated psychiatric phenotypes and provide further insights into the genomic instability of this region.

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The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most common injuries in sports. ACL injuries are not only costly from financial and health services consumption standpoints, but also can have devastating consequences on patients' activity levels and quality of life. Tremendous efforts have been made over the past two decades toward the goal of preventing ACL injuries. A substantial number of studies have been performed to determine the characteristics of ACL injury events, identify risk factors for ACL injury, and develop prevention strategies. The purpose of this review was to objectively summarize the current literature regarding the characteristics of ACL injury, ACL loading mechanisms, and risk factors for injury to provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of research and how our current level of knowledge may inform clinical practice in this area.

A novel oligomeric phosphorous-nitrogen-containing intumescent flame retardant poly (4,4diaminodiphenylmethane-O-bicyclicpentaerythritol phosphate-phosphate) (PDBPP) is synthesized, and subsequently fullerene (C 60 )-decorated oligomeric intumescent flame retardant, C 60 -d-PDBPP, is fabricated via chemical grafting reaction and characterized. The grafting degree of C 60 is as high as 70 wt%, and C 60 -d-PDBPP nanoparticles can homogeneously disperse in polypropylene matrix since the grafting process may prevent the aggregation of C 60 particles. Upon incorporating C 60 -d-PDBPP, thermal oxidation degradation of polypropylene is considerably delayed. When the concentration of C 60 -d-PDBPP reached 2 wt%, the initial degradation temperature (T 5 : the temperature where 5wt% mass loss occurred) and maximum weight loss rate temperature (T max ) display an increase of about 72 C and 80 C, respectively. Moreover, C 60 -d-PDBPP can remarkably reduce the peak heat release rate (PHRR) values of polypropylene, and consequently slow down the combustion process of nanocomposites. Additionally, to some extent it prolongs the time to ignition (t ign ) and time to peak heat release rate (t PHRR ), all of which are very important parameters for evaluating the fire retardancy of a polymeric material.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac rhythm disorder at the clinical setting and accounts for up to 15% of all strokes. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2106261 and rs7193343 in ZFHX3 (zinc finger homeobox 3 gene) and rs13376333 in KCNN3 (encoding a potassium intermediate/small conductance calcium-activated channel, subfamily N, member 3) that showed significant association with AF in multiple populations of European ancestry. Here, we studied a Chinese Han, GeneID cohort consisting of 650 AF patients and 1,447 non-AF controls to test whether the GWAS findings on ZFHX3/KCNN3 and AF can be expanded to a different ethnic population. No significant association was detected for rs7193343 in ZFHX3 and rs13376333 in KCNN3. However, significant association was identified between rs2106261 in ZFHX3 and AF in the GeneID population for both allelic frequencies (P = 0.001 after adjusting for covariates of age, gender, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and diabetes mellitus; OR = 1.32), and genotypic frequencies assuming either an additive or recessive model (OR = 1.29, P = 0.001 and OR = 1.77, P = 0.00018, respectively). When only lone AF cases were analyzed, the association remained significant (OR = 1.50, P = 0.001 for allelic association; OR = 1.45, P = 0.001 for an additive model; OR = 2.24, P = 0.000043 for a recessive model). Our results indicate that rs2106261 in ZFHX3 confers a significant risk of AF in a Chinese Han population. The study expands the association between ZFHX3 and AF to a non-European ancestry population and provides the first evidence of a cross-race susceptibility of the 16q22 AF locus.

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BACKGROUND Schools can promote healthy eating in adolescents. This study used a qualitative approach to examine barriers and facilitators to healthy eating in schools. METHODS Case studies were conducted with 8 low-income Michigan middle schools. Interviews were conducted with 1 administrator, the food service director, and 1 member of the coordinated school health team at each school. RESULTS Barriers included budgetary constraints leading to low prioritization of health initiatives; availability of unhealthy competitive foods; and perceptions that students would not eat healthy foods. Schools had made improvements to foods and increased nutrition education. Support from administrators, teamwork among staff, and acknowledging student preferences facilitated positive changes. Schools with a key set of characteristics, (presence of a coordinated school health team, nutrition policies, and a school health champion) made more improvements. CONCLUSIONS The set of key characteristics identified in successful schools may represent a school’s health climate. While models of school climate have been utilized in the educational field in relation to academic outcomes, a health-specific model of school climate would be useful in guiding school health practitioners and researchers and may improve the effectiveness of interventions aimed at improving student dietary intake and other health behaviors.