depressive symptoms are prospectively associated with systolic dysfunction, and examine the bio-behavioral pathways of this association.

In the PREVENCION sample tested, depressive symptoms were independently associated with cardiac function among Hispanic adults, even above and beyond pertinent factors such as demographic factors, cardiovascular risk factors, and comorbidities. Future studies should determine whether depressive symptoms are prospectively associated with systolic dysfunction, and examine the bio-behavioral pathways of this association.

Self-management has become the dominant care model for chronic disease management. This study aimed to investigate the effect of changes in self-management strategies on the clinical outcomes of chronic diseases.

Two hundred ninety-seven patients with one or more chronic disease (diabetes, dyslipidemia, or hypertension) were registered and followed in this prospective cohort study. We compared differences in the changes in clinical outcomes from baseline to 6months according to the improvement of self-management strategies by analysis of covariance.

Diabetic patients with improved self-management strategies showed a significantly greater change in HbA1c levels compared to patients without improvement of self-management strategies (group difference in HbA1c=0.51%). In hypertensive patients, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) showed a significant decline in the patients with improved self-management strategies (group difference in systolic BP=6.2mmHg and in diastolic BP=5.5mmHg). Clinical outcomes improved significantly when self-management strategies improved in people with a poor self-management strategy at baseline.

This study suggests that improvements in self-management strategies are associated with an improvement in clinical outcomes among patients with chronic diseases, especially for those with an initially poor self-management strategy.

This study suggests that improvements in self-management strategies are associated with an improvement in clinical outcomes among patients with chronic diseases, especially for those with an initially poor self-management strategy.

The majority of Indonesian smokers are men and those who are married nearly always have a non-smoking wife (i.e. single-smoker couples). Previous studies have suggested that Indonesian women dislike smoking. However, contesting their husbands’ smoking could be seen as disrespectful. In this study, we examine whether, and if so how, wives employ social control tactics to change their husbands’ smoking and how the smokers perceive the tactics.

In-depth interviews (N=12) with five single-smoker couples (N=10 individual interviews) and two non-smoking wives of smokers (N=2) were conducted in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. read more We used a social control framework and thematic analysis approach to analyse the transcribed interviews.

Three themes emerged from smokers and their wives (1) although the wives know that smoking is bad, they have to tolerate it, (2) wives and their husbands find it important to maintain harmony and (3) their family’s needs serve as common ground. All the wives interviewed exerted social control to some degree, especially when they were pregnant or had children. Smokers reacted positively to social control and agreed to child-related house rules, but not to requests to give up smoking.

Wives do exert social control and smokers are willing to accommodate and adapt their smoking. However, wives’ influence on smoking may be limited in Indonesia, and focusing on managing their husbands’ smoking at home rather than overall smoking might be more fruitful.

Wives do exert social control and smokers are willing to accommodate and adapt their smoking. However, wives’ influence on smoking may be limited in Indonesia, and focusing on managing their husbands’ smoking at home rather than overall smoking might be more fruitful.The high-risk organic pollutants produced by industries are of growing concern. The highly porous coal-based activated carbon (AC) having a specific surface area of 3452.8 m2/g is used for the adsorption of azo dye from synthetic solution. The sorbent is characterized through BET, SEM, TEM, XRD, FT-IR, TGA, and zeta potential. The sorbent exhibits – 18.7 mV surface charge, which is high enough for making suspension. The maximum dye uptake of 333 mg/g is observed in sorbent under acidic medium. The thermodynamics parameters like ∆G, ∆H, and ΔS were found to be – 12.40 kJ mol-1, 39.66 kJ mol-1, and 174.55 J mol-1 K-1 at 293 K, respectively, revealing that the adsorption mechanism is spontaneous, endothermic, and feasible. The experimental data follows the Langmuir and D-R models. The adsorption follows pseudo 2nd-order kinetics. DFT investigation shows that the dye sorption onto AC in configuration No. 4 (CFG-4) is more effective, as this configuration has high ∆H (enthalpy change) and adsorption energy (Eads). This is confirmed by Mullikan atomic charge transfer phenomenon.The Itapemirim River is considered one of the most important water resources in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. However, environmental problems due to continuous anthropogenic contamination are threatening its potential use. This study assessed water quality by analyzing abiotic and toxicogenetic aspects of the water from four stations along the river. Samples were collected in both dry and rainy seasons. Most of the abiotic variables were below the threshold established by CONAMA Resolution No. 357/2005, and so were most of the metals. However, Al and Cu contents were above those allowed by legislation, ranging from 0.2 to 0.9 mg/L. Regarding toxicogenetic aspects, genotoxic effects were observed in meristematic cells of Allium cepa, in micronucleus test and comet assay of Oreochromis niloticus, and CHO-K1 cells. Mutagenic effects were significant at RI 02 (0.34), RI 03 (0.46), and RI 04 (0.12) stations on the first campaign in A. cepa F1 cells, compared to the negative control (0.0). The second campaign revealed the same results, but with the addition of samples from RI 01 (0.17) and RI 03 (0.18) showing mutagenicity in the micronucleus test with fish erythrocytes when compared to the negative control (0.3). Essentially, all the samples evaluated in both campaigns showed damage in A. cepa, O. niloticus, and CHO-K1 cells, thus demonstrating that the water quality of the Itapemirim River is compromised and requires action plans for its recovery.