In the United States today, one-fifth of the nation's children are growing up in immigrant homes. In the process of migration, families undergo profound transformations that are often complicated by extended periods of separation between loved ones--not only from extended family members, but also from the nuclear family. Though many families are involved in these transnational formulations, there has heretofore been little sense of the prevalence of these forms of family separations, nor of the effects on family relations. Further, such research has generally been conducted with clinical populations using Western theoretical frameworks and perspectives of families, limiting its applicability to immigrant families. The data presented in this article are derived from a bicoastal; interdisciplinary study of 385 early adolescents originating from China, Central America, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Mexico. Findings from this study indicate that fully 85% of the participants had been separated from one or both parents for extended periods. While family separations are common to all country-of-origin groups, there are clear differences between groups in lengths of separations as well as people from whom the youth are separated. Descriptive statistics of country-of-origin prevalence, patterns, and outcomes are presented. Results of analyses of variance indicate that children who were separated from their parents were more likely to report depressive symptoms than children who had not been separated. Further, qualitative data from youth, parent, and teacher perspectives of the experience of separation and reunification provide evidence that the circumstances and contexts of the separations lead to a variety of outcomes. We conclude with a discussion of attenuating and complicating factors family therapists should consider in the assessment and treatment of immigrant families.

Chalcones (1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-ones) are open chain flavonoids that are widely biosynthesized in plants. They are important for the pigmentation of flowers and, hence, act as attractants to the pollinators. As flavonoids, chalcones also play an important role in defense against pathogens and insects. A longstanding scientific research has shown that chalcones also display other interesting biological properties such as antioxidant, cytotoxic, anticancer, antimicrobial, antiprotozoal, antiulcer, antihistaminic and anti-inflammatory activities. Some lead compounds with various pharmacological properties have been developed based on the chalcone skeleton. Clinical trials have shown that these compounds reached reasonable plasma concentrations and did not cause toxicity. For these reasons, chalcones became an object of continued interest in both academia and industry. Nowadays, several chalcones are used for treatment of viral disorders, cardiovascular diseases, parasitic infections, pain, gastritis, and stomach cancer, as well as like food additives and cosmetic formulation ingredients. However, much of the pharmacological potential of chalcones is still not utilized. The purpose of this review is to describe the recent efforts of scientists in pharmacological screening of natural and synthetic chalcones, studying the mechanisms of chalcone action and relevant structure-activity relationships. Put together, these activities aimed at synthesis of pharmacologically active chalcones and their analogs.

No abstract

Health and wellness coaching (HWC) for lifestyle behavior change is emerging as a practice, role, and profession, in diverse health care, employee wellness, and community settings. Health care professionals apply HWC as a behavior change methodology for the prevention and treatment of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic disorders. The purpose of this systematic review was to provide a comprehensive and organized compendium of HWC literature. To date, extant HWC literature remains scattered with no meaningful summary accessible. Lack of comprehensive summary stems from lack of consensus on HWC definition and standards. We applied a recently proposed, standardized definition of HWC to determine compendium inclusion criteria for peer-reviewed, data-based literature from relevant search engines (ie, PubMed, PsychInfo, and CINAHL). A systematic review process was executed and ultimately yielded 219 articles meeting HWC inclusion criteria. Of these, 150 were data-based and the remainder were expert opinion or review-style articles. A summary of results generally reveals HWC as a promising intervention for chronic diseases though further research is needed in most categories. The resulting HWC compendium organizes and describes the quantity and quality of available literature for the use and benefit of HWC practitioners and researchers.

Racism and discrimination can have significant implications for health, through complex biopsychosocial interactions. Latino groups, and particularly Puerto Ricans, are an understudied population in the United States in terms of the prevalence of discrimination and its relevance to health. Participants in our study were 45-75- year- old (N=1122) Puerto Ricans. The measures were perceived discrimination, depressive symptomatology, (CES-D), perceived stress (PSS), self-rated health, medical conditions, blood pressure, smoking and drinking behaviours, demographics. Our findings show that 36.9 per cent of participants had experienced discrimination, with men, those with more years of education, currently employed and with higher incomes being more likely to report it. Experiences of discrimination were associated with increased levels of depressive symptoms and perceived stress. When controlling for covariates, perceived discrimination was predictive of the number of medical conditions, of ever having smoked and having been a drinker, higher values of diastolic pressure. Depressive symptoms are a mediator of the effect of perceived discrimination on medical conditions, confirmed by the Sobel test: z=3.57, p < 0.001. Mediating roles of perceived stress, smoking and drinking behaviours were not confirmed. Increased depressive symptoms might be the main pathway through which perceived discrimination is associated with a greater number of medical diagnoses.

Although proanthocyanidins (PACs) modify dentin, the effectiveness of different PAC sources and the correlation with their specific chemical composition are still unknown. This study describes the chemical profiling of natural PAC-rich extracts from 7 plants using ultra high pressure/performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) to determine the overall composition of these extracts and, in parallel, comprehensively evaluate their effect on dentin properties. The total polyphenol content of the extracts was determined (as gallic acid equivalents) using FolinCiocalteau assays. Dentin biomodification was assessed by the modulus of elasticity, mass change, and resistance to enzymatic biodegradation. Extracts with a high polyphenol and PAC content from Vitis vinifera, Theobroma cacao, Camellia sinensis, and Pinus massoniana induced a significant increase in modulus of elasticity and mass. The UHPLC analysis showed the presence of multiple types of polyphenols, ranging from simple phenolic acids to oligomeric PACs and highly condensed tannins. Protective effect against enzymatic degradation was observed for all experimental groups; however, statistically significant differences were observed between plant extracts. The findings provide clear evidence that the dentin bioactivities of PACs are source dependent, resulting from a combination of concentration and specific chemical constitution of the complex PAC mixtures. A supplemental appendix to this article is published electronically only at http://jdr.sagepub.com/supplemental.

Burnout and risk health behaviors among health professionals are important both in the context of health professionals' health and well-being and as factors contributing to medical errors and inadequate patient safety. Organizational interventions should incorporate early identification of such behaviors together with programs promoting health and aimed at the reduction of burnout and work-related stress.

Social ties are generally protective, but may also be contributing, particularly for women, to increased psychological distress in the face of stressful life events.