OBJECTIVE: Most men diagnosed with prostate cancer in the USA will survive. Of the many aspects of survivorship affected by prostate cancer, body image receives limited attention despite some indication that it may be important to men with the disease. The present study investigated how body image changes over time and the relations between changes in body image and quality of life (QOL) in men with prostate cancer. METHODS: In a longitudinal design, patients (N = 74) completed questionnaires before treatment (T1) and at 1 month (T2) and 2 years (T3) following treatment completion. RESULTS: Growth curve modeling indicated that there was no significant change over time in group-level body image scores. However, hormone treatment was associated with a negative trajectory of change over 2 years. Also, analysis of individual difference scores indicated that ≥50% of patients demonstrated change of at least 0.5 standard deviation between time points. Hierarchical regression indicated that change in body image between T1 and T2 was significantly associated with change in QOL between T1 and T3, while controlling for demographic variables, treatment, treatment-related functioning, and general and treatment-specific positive expectations. In predicting change in body image between T1 and T2, treatment-specific positive expectation was the only significant predictor. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates that body image is an important component of the prostate cancer experience. Findings suggest that body image has a meaningful association with QOL among prostate cancer survivors.Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Back-to-back hadron pair yields in d+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV were measured with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Rapidity separated hadron pairs were detected with the trigger hadron at pseudorapidity |η|<0.35 and the associated hadron at forward rapidity (deuteron direction, 3.0<η<3.8). Pairs were also detected with both hadrons measured at forward rapidity; in this case, the yield of back-to-back hadron pairs in d+Au collisions with small impact parameters is observed to be suppressed by a factor of 10 relative to p+p collisions. The kinematics of these pairs is expected to probe partons in the Au nucleus with a low fraction x of the nucleon momenta, where the gluon densities rise sharply. The observed suppression as a function of nuclear thickness, p_{T}, and η points to cold nuclear matter effects arising at high parton densities.

We present measurements of J/ψ yields in d+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV recorded by the PHENIX experiment and compare them with yields in p+p collisions at the same energy per nucleon-nucleon collision. The measurements cover a large kinematic range in J/ψ rapidity (-2.2<y<2.4) with high statistical precision and are compared with two theoretical models: one with nuclear shadowing combined with final state breakup and one with coherent gluon saturation effects. In order to remove model dependent systematic uncertainties we also compare the data to a simple geometric model. The forward rapidity data are inconsistent with nuclear modifications that are linear or exponential in the density weighted longitudinal thickness, such as those from the final state breakup of the bound state.

Cancer-related coping strategies and social support, life stress, and optimism were tested in regression analyses as predictors of depression, affect, and quality of life among 54 low-income, immigrant Latina cervical cancer patients. Sixty-seven percent of the patients endorsed symptoms similar to diagnosable depression. Predictors significantly accounted for 35% to 54% of the variance in outcomes. Cancer-related coping strategies were found to mediate several of the relations between life stress, social support, and optimism and outcomes. Findings emphasize the need to consider the context within which patients live when assessing adjustment to cancer and developing culturally-sensitive interventions.

Large parity-violating longitudinal single-spin asymmetries A(L)(e+)=-0.86(-0.14)(+0.30) and A(L)(e-)= 0.88(-0.71)(+0.12) are observed for inclusive high transverse momentum electrons and positrons in polarized p+p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt[s]= 500 GeV with the PHENIX detector at RHIC. These e± come mainly from the decay of W± and Z0 bosons, and their asymmetries directly demonstrate parity violation in the couplings of the W± to the light quarks. The observed electron and positron yields were used to estimate W± boson production cross sections for the e± channels of σ(pp → W+ X) × BR(W+ → e+ ν(e))= 144.1 ± 21.2(stat)(-10.3)(+3.4)(syst) ± 21.6(norm)  pb, and σ(pp → W- X) × BR(W- → e- ν[over ¯](e))= 31.7 ± 12.1(stat)(-8.2)(+10.1)(syst) ± 4.8(norm)  pb.

The current bottleneck to carbon nanotubes (CNT) application in composite materials field consists in the difficulty of dispersing them in solvents. As a result of strong van der Waals interactions, as produced CNTs are tightly bundled in ropes of several tubes, rendering the carbon-powder insoluble in aqueous and organic liquids and thus unprocessable. The interest in applications that require water-soluble CNTs is growing and much attention is being directed to the study of surfactant aqueous solutions. In a typical dispersion procedure, after the surfactant has been adsorbed on the nanotube surface by hydrophobic or pi-pi interactions, ultrasonication helps nanotubes debundling, providing a mechanical energy able to overcome van der Waals interactions in CNT bundles. The electrostatic repulsion between surfactant polar heads that remain in solution allows the colloidal stability. In this work the dispersibility of HiPCO Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNT) in different surfactant solutions has been evaluated by using UV-vis and Raman spectroscopies. UV absorbance as well as intensity of SWNTs characteristic Raman bands have been studied as a function of sonication time for each type of surfactant. Moreover the surface morphology of SWNTs films obtained by solutions drying has been observed by using Scanning Electron and Atomic Force Microscopies.

We review the literature on psychosocial and emotional adjustment for individuals who have survived cancer for at least 5 years and who have not experienced recurrences of the disease. Most long-term survivors experience low levels of distress and report overall emotional adjustment that is comparable with age-matched comparisons who never had a cancer diagnosis. However, survivors frequently have circumscribed areas of persistent difficulties, including fears of recurrence and psychological reactions to the physical dysfunction and disfigurement caused by some treatments. Although some common themes emerge, there is considerable variation in response to cancer and its treatments, which the literature suggests can be predicted, in part, by disease- and treatment-related factors, individual characteristics, and psychosocial resources. Understanding the emotional and psychosocial experiences of the millions of long-term cancer survivors is essential for providing them with optimal care.

In the present healthcare environment, internal control of hospital resources is becoming increasingly important. One hospital's approach to instituting internal control is the development of a DRG clinical surveillance program. This program uses utilization review in conjunction with quality assurance to provide the hospital with a working framework for determining whether hospital admission is appropriate or whether an alternative method of healthcare delivery should be used.

The immunological privilege of the anterior chamber (AC) of the eye is due, at least in part, to a selective antigen-specific down-regulation of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) and a normal induction of antibody responses: a phenomenon that has been termed anterior chamber-associated immune deviation (ACAID). This dichotomy in the systemic immune responses is suggestive of a T-helper type-2 (Th2)-dominated immune phenotype in which a Th2 cell population is preferentially activated and cross-regulates T-helper type-1 (Th1) effector elements. This hypothesis was tested by comparing the cytokine pattern of antigen-pulsed spleen cells from mice primed in the anterior chamber with antigens that induce ACAID with responses in hosts primed with antigens that do not induce ACAID. The results indicated that CD4+ spleen cells from hosts primed in the AC with antigens that induce ACAID produced significant quantities of interleukin-10 (IL-10) but insignificant levels of IL-2, IL-4 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma). In contrast, hosts primed in the AC with antigens that do not induce ACAID, but instead elicit normal DTH, displayed cytokine patterns indicative of a Th1 response significant quantities of IL-2 and IFN-gamma were produced while IL-4 and IL-10 secretion was insignificantly different from normal controls. The immunological phenotype of the AC-primed hosts could be altered by systemic treatment with antibodies against either a Th1 cytokine (IFN-gamma) or a Th2 cytokine (IL-10). Hosts treated with anti-IL-10 antibody and subsequently primed in the AC with ACAID-inducing antigens developed normal DTH responses, while hosts treated with anti-IFN-gamma antibody and primed in the AC with antigens that normally produce positive DTH responses failed to develop positive DTH collectively the results support the proposition that immune privilege in the AC of the eye is due to the selective activation of a Th2 population that cross-regulates Th1 responses.