Exploring direct and indirect predictors of heart disease information seeking.

BACKGROUND: Based on the integrative model of behavioral prediction, we examined predictors of heart disease information seeking. We also examined demographic and individual factors associated with seeking-related perceived norms, attitudes, and perceived behavioral control. METHODS: Non-Hispanic White and Black participants, aged 45 and older, completed a cross sectional online survey (N = 383). Stepwise logistic and multiple linear regression models were tested to assess study hypotheses, as well as tests of indirect effects. RESULTS: Perceived norms, attitudes and perceived behavioral control were positively associated with heart disease information seeking, but when controlling for distal variables only the perceived norm-behavior association remained significant (p <.05). Indirect effects of distal variables (race, heart disease risk, perceived heart disease susceptibility and information engagement orientation) on information seeking were also detected via perceived norms. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide support for the integrative model as a framework for predicting information seeking, but further highlight the important role of distal predictors and perceived norms on heart disease seeking intentions. When communicating to promote heart disease information acquisition, communicators should pay particular attention to promoting information seeking as a normative behavior, particularly among those who perceive a lower risk of heart disease and who may be less engaged with health information more generally.

Melting behavior of shear-induced crystals in dense emulsions as investigated by time-resolved light scattering.

The crystal growth of dense and almost monodisperse colloids has been investigated during recent years, but less is known about the melting behavior. The current study thus focuses on this topic. Monodisperse hard spheres were found to crystallize for certain concentrations (49-58 vol %), after sufficiently long times. The characteristics of the crystal growth change when the colloidal particles are polydisperse. Finally, when the size distribution function of the particles is broad enough, the crystallization no longer took place. Dense oil-in-water emulsions with polydispersities of around 10% were successfully produced, and in a first approximation, these emulsions behaved like hard spheres. The polydispersity of the emulsions was sufficiently high to avoid crystallization in equilibrium but low enough to induce a disorder-to-order transition under shear. The formed crystals started to melt once the shear was discontinued. The melting behavior of these "oil droplet crystals" was investigated by means of time-resolved static light scattering experiments, and it was found that crystallization could be induced in a concentration regime between 46 and approximately 74 vol %. The melting behavior of these crystals depended strongly on the concentration. The typical melting times ranged from a few seconds to several hours or days when the concentration was increased. It was speculated that this phenomenon could be explained by the strong dependence of the mobility of the oil droplets on the volume fraction, as verified by dynamic light scattering experiments on oil-in-water emulsions in a similar concentration regime.

Phase behavior of aqueous mixtures of 2-phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulfonic acid and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide: hydrogels, vesicles, tubules, and ribbons.

We studied the phase behavior and aggregation in mixed aqueous solutions of the anionic UV-absorber 2-phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulfonic acid sodium salt, PhBSA (Na salt), and the cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB. The mixtures of the two components behave similarly to catanionic surfactant mixtures. The samples on the PhBSA-rich side have low viscosity and are turbid. The turbidity, due to uni- and multilamellar vesicles (SUVs and MLVs), increases with the mole ratio of CTAB. The interbilayer distance inside the MLV changes with the mole ratio of the two components from a few 10 nm for the 7:3 (molar ratio of PhBSA, Na salt, to CTAB) system to practically zero for the 5:5 mixture. The latter mixture forms a precipitate within less than 1 h. With the exception of the 5:5 mixture, all samples on the PhBSA-rich side are stable for many days. After that period, within one more day, the turbid vesicle phases are transformed into more or less clear hydrogels. We found that the gelation is due to the formation of very long stiff tubules about 14 nm in diameter, which is independent of the mixing ratio of the samples. The hydrogels and the tubules melt around 45 degrees C. On the CTAB-rich side, the 4:6 sample behaves like the 6:4 sample, whereas at 3:7 a precipitate was found to form shortly after mixing. At still smaller PhBSA (Na salt) to CTAB ratios, only clear, viscoelastic solutions are found that do not change with time. We determined the micellar structures in the samples by cryo-TEM and by SAXS. The rheological properties of the hydrogels and of the viscoelastic samples were characterized by oscillating rheological measurements. DSC measurements indicated that the tubules are in a semicrystalline state and melt at around 45 degrees C. The semicrystalline bilayer of the tubules seems to have a 1:1 composition of PhBSA to CTAB. The excess PhBSA seems to be adsorbed on the tubules. It is assumed that the stiffness of the bilayer of the vesicles and the stiffness of the tubules are due to the stiffness of the PhBSA molecule.

Dynamic light scattering in turbid colloidal dispersions: a comparison between the modified flat-cell light-scattering instrument and 3D dynamic light-scattering instrument.

It remains a challenge to measure dynamics in dense colloidal systems. Multiple scattering and low light-transmission rates often hinder measurements in such systems. One of the well-established techniques for overcoming the problem of multiple scattering is cross-correlation techniques such as 3D dynamic light scattering (3D-DLS). However, a high degree of multiple scattering, i.e., vanishing single-scattering contribution in the signal, limits the use of the 3D-DLS technique. We present another approach to measure turbid media by way of upgrading our flat-cell light-scattering instrument (FCLSI). This instrument was originally designed for static light-scattering (SLS) experiments and is similar to a Fraunhofer setup, which features a flat sample cell. The thickness of the flat sample cell can be varied from 13 mum to 5 mm. The small thickness increases the transmission, reduces multiple scattering to a negligible amount, and therefore enables the investigation of dense colloidal systems. We upgraded this instrument for DLS measurements by the installation of an optical single-mode fiber detector in the forward scattering regime. We present our instrumentation and subsequently test its limits using a concentration series of a turbid colloidal suspension. We compare the performances of our modified flat-cell light-scattering instrument with that of standard DLS and with that of 3D-DLS. We show that 3D-DLS and FCLSI only have a comparable performance if the length of the light path in the sample using the 3D-DLS is reduced to a minimum. Otherwise, the FCLSI has some advantage.

Small-angle scattering from hexagonal liquid crystals.

In this paper, we discuss the scattering behavior of two-dimensional hexagonal liquid crystals with micellar cylinders as a building unit. We treat the hexagonal phase as an accumulation of ordered domains of finite size that typically consists of one hundred parallel cylinders whose axes are perpendicular to the lattice plane. When we suppose that no specific orientation is preferred, the lengths of the cylinders are rather large compared to their diameter, and the polydispersity of the size of the cylinders is negligible; it is therefore possible to split the scattering intensity into a product of the so-called form factor and the structure factor. This product approximation is the basic condition for the use of the generalized indirect Fourier transformation (GIFT) method and the deconvolution (DECON) method to evaluate the small-angle scattering data of hexagonal phases. The GIFT method provides the parameters of the structure factor model and the pair distance distribution function of the cylinders. Via the DECON technique, we can calculate the radial contrast profile of the cylinders from the pair distance distribution function that is obtained by the GIFT method.

Paramecium--a model system for studying cellular graviperception.

Experiments under varied gravitational accelerations as well as in density-adjusted media showed that sensation of gravity in protists may be linked to the known principles of mechanosensation. Paramecium, a ciliate with clear graviresponses (gravitaxis and gravikinesis) is an ideal model system to prove this hypothesis since the ciliary activity and thus the swimming behaviour is controlled by the membrane potential. It has also been assumed that the cytoplasmic mass causes a distinct stimulation of the bipolarly distributed mechano-sensitive K+ and Ca2+ ion channels in the plasma membrane in dependence of the spatial orientation of the cell. In order to prove this hypothesis, different channel blockers are currently under investigation. Gadolinium did not inhibit gravitaxis in Paramecium, showing that it does not specifically block gravireceptors. Further studies concentrated on the question of whether second messengers are involved in the gravity signal transduction chain. Exposure to 5 g for up to 10 min led to a significant increase in cAMP.

Putative graviperception mechanisms of protists.

Many (if not all) free-living cells use the gravity vector for their spatial orientation (gravitaxis). Additional responses may include gravikinesis as well as changes in morphological and physiological parameters. Though using essentially different modes of locomotion, ameboid and ciliated cells seem to rely on common fundamental graviperception mechanisms. Uniquely in the ciliate family Loxodidae a specialized intracellular gravireceptor organelle has been developed, whereas in all other cells common cell structures seem to be responsible for gravisensing. Changes in direction or magnitude of acceleration (from 0 to 5 g) as well as experiments in density-adjusted media strongly indicate that either the whole cytoplasm or dense organelles like nuclei act as statoliths and open directly or via cytoskeletal elements mechano-sensitive ion channels in the cell membrane. A recent spaceflight experiment (S/MM-06) demonstrated that prolonged (9 d) actual weightlessness did not affect the ability of Loxodes to respond to acceleration stimuli. However, prolonged cooling (> or = l4 d, 4-10 degrees C) destroyed the ability for gravitactic orientation of Paramecium. This may reflect a profound effect either on the gravireceptor itself or on the gravity-signal processing. In gravity signalling the ubiquitous second messenger cAMP may be involved in acceleration-stimulus transduction.

[Filling up small bone defects with bone ceramics (hydroxylapatite)]. / Die Auffütterung kleiner Knochenhöhlen mit Knochenkeramik (Hydroxylapatit).

First clinical results using a bovine hydroxyapatite implant to fill up small bony defects after excision of enchondromas or cysts are reported in twelve patients. Incorporation without any problems was completed radiologically after six to eight weeks. Complications did not occur. Avoiding additional surgery harvesting cancellous bone chips at the iliac crest, the use of these bovine hydroxyapatite ceramic seems to be reasonable.

[Light microscopic studies of the cartilage in funnel chest. A new view of the pathogenesis]. / Lichtmikroskopische Untersuchungen am Trichterbrustknorpel. Neuer Aspekt zur Pathogenese.

In patients with a funnel chest, light-microscopic studies of their rib cartilage showed vessels in all slices of the cartilage. In all analysed stages of life there is a constant number of vessels per unit area; even in not deformed parts of the cartilage. Furthermore, the number of the chondrocytes strongly increases within the single chondrons with rising age in an extraordinary way.