No abstract

BACKGROUND: Lower socioeconomic status is associated with excess disease burden from diabetes. Diabetes self-management support interventions are needed that are effective in engaging lower income patients, addressing competing life priorities and barriers to selfcare, and facilitating behavior change. OBJECTIVE: To pilot test feasibility, acceptability, and effect on disease control of a problem-based diabetes self-management training adapted for low literacy and accessibility. DESIGN: Two-arm randomized controlled trial powered to detect a 0.50% change in A1C at follow-up with a 2-sided alpha of 0.05 in a pooled analysis. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-six urban African-American patients with type 2 diabetes and suboptimal blood sugar, blood pressure, or cholesterol control recruited from a diabetes registry within a university-affiliated managed care organization. INTERVENTIONS: A group, problem-based diabetes self-management training designed for delivery in an intensive and a condensed program format. Three intensive and three condensed program groups were conducted during the trial. MAIN MEASURES: Clinical (A1C, systolic blood pressure [SBP], diastolic blood pressure [DBP], LDL and HDL cholesterol) and behavioral (knowledge, problem solving, self-management behavior) data were measured at baseline, post-intervention, and 3 months post-intervention (corresponding with 6-9 months following baseline). RESULTS: Adoption of both programs was high (>85% attendance rates, 95% retention). At 3 months postintervention, the between-group difference in A1C change was −0.72% (p =0.02), in favor of the intensive program. A1C reduction was partially mediated by problem-solving skill at follow-up (ß = −0.13, p=0.04). Intensive program patients demonstrated within-

Taking advantage of the character of Au nanorods (NRs) to absorb NIR light, a NIR-responsive oligonucleotide-gated ensemble is developed to perform intracellular drug delivery. Using an oligonucleotide bio-gate enables siRNA release into cells for translational regulation as well as cytotoxicity in anti-cancer drug delivery.

Gold nanorods conjugated with a hydrophilic photosensitizer, toluidine blue O, acted as dual-function agents in photodynamic inactivation and hyperthermia against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The best of three worlds: Gold nanorods coated with poly(styrene‐alt‐maleic acid) (see picture; pink), the photosensitizer indocyanine green (black), and antibodies (green “Y”) serve not only as photodynamic therapy and hyperthermia agents to destroy malignant cells, but they also act as optical contrast agents to simultaneously to monitor cells by imaging in the near‐IR region.

Situated e-learning is an effective method to improve novice learners' performance. The effect of situated e-learning on the improvement of cognitive ability is limited when compared to traditional learning. Situated e-learning is a useful adjunct to traditional learning for medical and nursing students.

The serial remote sensing based imageries clearly revealed large scale of upwelling within large regional enhancement of chlorophyll‐a (Chl‐a) concentration in the southern East China Sea (ECS) after the passage of super typhoon Hai‐Tang in July 2005. After the typhoon on 22 July, the upwelling area (<26°C) expanded rapidly to 9146 km2 on the shelf‐break. The large increased upwelling persisted for more than a week. Ocean color images also reveled that high Chl‐a concentration of >3.0 mg/m3 appeared in the shelf region, where the high Chl‐a pattern matched the upwelling in terms of location and time. On the other hand, a large offshore SST cooling was also observed mainly to the right of typhoon track on 20 July, it lasted in a period of 2–3 days. This paper provides clear and high‐resolution evidence that typhoon significant increased upwelling and Chl‐a concentration in the southern ECS.

Abstract. Severe tropical storms play an important role in triggering phytoplankton blooms, but the extent to which such storms influence biogenic carbon flux from the euphotic zone is unclear. In 2008, typhoon Fengwong provided a unique opportunity to study the in situ biological responses including phytoplankton blooms and particulate organic carbon fluxes associated with a severe storm in the southern East China Sea (SECS). After passage of the typhoon, the sea surface temperature (SST) in the SECS was markedly cooler (∼25 to 26 • C) than before typhoon passage (∼28 to 29 • C). The POC flux 5 days after passage of the typhoon was 265 ± 14 mg C m −2 d −1 , which was ∼1.7-fold that (140-180 mg C m −2 d −1 ) recorded during a period (June-August, 2007) when no typhoons occurred. A somewhat smaller but nevertheless significant increase in POC flux (224-225 mg C m −2 d −1 ) was detected following typhoon Sinlaku which occurred approximately 1 month after typhoon Fengwong, indicating that typhoon events can increase biogenic carbon flux efficiency in the SECS. Remarkably, phytoplankton uptake accounted for only about 5% of the nitrate injected into the euphotic zone by typhoon Fengwong. It is likely that phytoplankton population growth was constrained by a combination of light limitation and grazing pressure. Modeled estimates of new/export production were remarkably consistent with the average of new and export production following typhoon Fengwong. The same modelCorrespondence to: C.-C. Hung (cchung@ntou.edu.tw) suggested that during non-typhoon conditions approximately half of the export of organic carbon occurs via convective mixing of dissolved organic carbon, a conclusion consistent with earlier work at comparable latitudes in the open ocean.