Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0277787 (stigma)
 13,352 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Early passive case finding and treatment compliance are the cornerstones of tuberculosis (TB) control programs. As human behavior plays a critical role in both strategies, a better understanding of it is important for the planning and implementation of a successful TB programme, especially for the health education component, Our qualitative study in Uasin Gishu, Kenya, aimed at a better understanding of the community's beliefs and perceptions of TB, recognition of early symptoms and health-seeking behavior. Five focus groups with a total of 49 people were held: on with hospitalized TB patients, two with rural and two with urban participants. Tuberculosis is well known in the communities and many vernacular names for the disease exist. TB is perceived as a contagious, 'sensitive' disease difficult to diagnose and treat. Community members believe that TB should be diagnosed and treated in a hospital or by a medical doctor and not at the peripheric level. TB treatment is perceived as long, agonising and cumbersome. Traditional treatment is considered a valid alternative to modern treatment, believed to be as effective and much shorter. Initial symptoms such as cough and fever are often overlooked and/or confused with malaria or a common cold. Symptoms associated with the disease refer to the later stage of TB. TB is attributed to causes such as smoking, alcohol, hard work, exposure to cold and sharing with TB patients. Many participants believe TB is hereditary. Prolonged self-treatment and consultation with the traditional health sector as well as the social stigma attached to the disease increase patient's delay. Only after symptoms persist for some time and/or the suspect's health deteriorates, are modern health services consulted. These social conditions necessitate culturally sensitive health education, taking into account local perceptions of TB.
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PMID:From their own perspective. A Kenyan community's perception of tuberculosis. 929 51

The ZPT2-2 gene belongs to the EPF gene family in petunia (Petunia hybrida), which encodes proteins with TFIIIA-type zinc-finger DNA-binding motifs. To elucidate a possible function for ZPT2-2, we analyzed its pattern of expression in relation to different developmental and physiological stress signals. The activity of the ZPT2-2 promoter was analyzed using a firefly luciferase (LUC) reporter gene, allowing for continuous measurements of transgene activity in planta. We show that ZPT2-2::LUC is active in all plant tissues, but is strongly modulated in cotyledons upon germination, in leaves in response to desiccation, cold treatment, wounding, or ultraviolet-B light, and in petal tissue in response to pollination of the stigma. Analysis of mRNA levels indicated that the modulations in ZPT2-2::LUC expression reflect modulations in endogenous ZPT2-2 gene expression. The change in ZPT2-2::LUC activity by cold treatment, wounding, desiccation, and ultraviolet-B light suggest that the phytohormones ethylene and jasmonic acid are involved in regulating the expression of ZPT2-2. Although up-regulation of expression of ZPT2-2 can be blocked by inhibitors of ethylene perception, expression in plants is not induced by exogenously applied ethylene. The application of jasmonic acid does result in an up-regulation of gene activity and, thus, ZPT2-2 may play a role in the realization of the jasmonic acid hormonal responses in petunia.
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PMID:Developmental and wound-, cold-, desiccation-, ultraviolet-B-stress-induced modulations in the expression of the petunia zinc finger transcription factor gene ZPT2-2 1059 2

Stimulation of the stigma of Hibiscus flowers by pollen, wounding (heat), or cold shock (4[deg]C) evokes electrical potential changes in the style, which propagate toward the ovary with a speed of 1.3 to 3.5 cm s-1. Potential changes were measured intracellularly by microelectrodes inserted in the style. The resting potential ranged from -90 to -112 mV (n = 20) in cells of the vascular tissue and from -184 to -220 mV (n = 22) in cells of the pollen-transmitting tissue. The amplitude of the potential changes was between 40 and 150 mV, depending on the kind of stimulus. Self- as well as cross-pollination hyperpolarized the resting potential after 50 to 100 s, followed by a series of 10 to 15 action potentials. In contrast, cooling of the stigma caused a single action potential with a different shape and duration, whereas wounding generated a strong depolarization of the membrane potential with an irregular form and a lower transmission rate. To determine the physiological function of the different signals measured in the style, the gas exchange and metabolite concentrations were measured in the ovary before and 10 min after stimulation of the stigma. Self- and cross-pollination caused a transient increase of the ovarian respiration rate by 12%, which was measured 3 to 5 min after the stigma was stimulated. Simultaneously, the levels of ATP, ADP, and starch increased significantly. In contrast, both cold shock and wounding of the stigma caused a spontaneous decrease of the CO2 content in the measuring chamber, as well as reduced metabolite concentrations in the ovary. Since the transport of labeled auxin from the top to the base of the style lasts at least 45 min, the influence of a chemical substance transmitted within 10 min is unlikely. Thus, our results strongly support the view that different, stimulus-dependent electrical signals cause specific responses of the ovarian metabolism.
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PMID:The Biochemical Response of Electrical Signaling in the Reproductive System of Hibiscus Plants. 1222 1

A case study of a young Haitian American is presented that is illustrative of cultural issues that influence care of those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Medications are the preferred treatment for ADHD and can be combined with psychological intervention. However, many Haitians and Haitian Americans see psychoactive medications as leading to substance abuse or mental illness. Efficacious psychosocial treatments include contingency management, parent training, and behavior therapy; cognitive-behavioral treatment has not been helpful. Complementary and alternative medicine might have appeal; primary care physicians can help families to assess such treatments and not to be enticed by expensive ones of little benefit. A determinant of the treatment a family pursues is their perception of the cause of the ADHD behaviors. While there is no term for ADHD in the Haitian-Creole language, in the Haitian culture the behaviors consistent with the diagnosis might be interpreted as indicating a poorly raised child whose behavior could be modified by parental discipline, an intentionally bad child, or a psychically victimized child suffering from an "unnatural" condition. "Natural" ailments are attributed to natural forces (e.g., wind, temperature), while "unnatural" ones are attributed to bad spirits or punishment by God. Families may "lift their feet" (Leve pye nou: to see a Hougan or voodoo priest) to determine the unnatural cause. Haitian Americans often combine therapeutic foods that are considered cold in nature, natural sedatives and purgatives from herbal medicine, religious treatments, and Western medicine. Immigrants often lack support of extended families in an environment not supportive of their interpretation of child behaviors and traditionally accepted parental disciplinary style. Stigma, language, cultural conceptions, concerns about governmental agencies, and physician bias can all be barriers to care for immigrant families. Primary care and behavioral integration are useful in managing families from other cultures.
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PMID:Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: presentation and management in the Haitian American child. 1616 2

Impulsive behavior is a common source of stigma. The authors argue that people often stigmatize impulsive behavior because they fail to appreciate the influence visceral impulses have on behavior. Because people tend to underestimate the motivational force of cravings for sex, drugs, food, and so forth, they are prone to stigmatize those who act on these impulses. In line with this reasoning, in 4 studies, the authors found that participants who were in a cold state (e.g., not hungry) made less favorable evaluations of a related impulsive behavior (impulsive eating) than did participants who were in a hot state (e.g., hungry). This empathy gap effect was tested with 3 different visceral states--fatigue, hunger, and sexual arousal--and was found both when participants evaluated others' impulsive behavior (Studies 1 & 2) and when participants evaluated their own impulsive behavior (Study 3). Study 3 also demonstrated that the empathy gap effect is due to different perceptions of the strength of the visceral state itself. Finally, Study 4 revealed that this effect is state specific: Hungry people, for example, evaluated only hunger-driven impulses, and not other forms of impulse, more favorably.
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PMID:Evaluating Eve: visceral states influence the evaluation of impulsive behavior. 1760 90

A novel method was developed and implemented during the recent outbreak of bluetongue (BT) in sheep and cattle in The Netherlands to obtain rapidly a 'snapshot' of Culicoides vector densities at the national level. The country was divided into 110 raster cells, each measuring 20 km x 20 km; within 106 of these cells, a farm was selected with a minimum of 10 cattle and sampled for Culicoides for one night only using the Onderstepoort-type blacklight trap. Prior to deployment of the light traps in the field, local veterinarians were trained in their use and in the preservation of captured Culicoides. The collections were dispatched daily by courier to a field laboratory where the Culicoides were counted and identified. The 'snapshot' commenced on 12 September 2006 and was completed on 28 September coinciding with the 5-7 weeks of BT virus (BTV) activity in The Netherlands and when the number of weekly cases of disease was on the rise. Analysis of the 106 collections was completed on 5 October. The number of grid cells in which a taxon occurred is represented by the index 20(2) gFR (=20 km x 20 km grid Frequency Rate); this index essentially reflects the percentage of examined raster cells found to contain the potential vector in question. The 'snapshot' results can be summarised as follows: A total of >35,000 Culicoides were captured (mu=333 midges/light trap) representing 16 species; Not a single specimen of C. imicola, the principal Afro-Asiatic vector of BTV in southern Europe, was captured; The three European species of Culicoides implicated previously as potential vectors in the Mediterranean region and the Balkans also occur in The Netherlands; The Obsoletus Complex (represented by both potential vectors Culicoides obsoletus and Culicoides scoticus) was the most prevalent taxon (20(2) gFR: 93.4%) followed by the Pulicaris Complex (76.4%); The Pulicaris Complex comprised at least six species. One of these, Culicoides pulicaris sensu stricto (ss), a potential vector in southern Europe, had a low 20(2) gFR of 17.9% indicating it played no role in the transmission of BTV; The next most prevalent taxa were Culicoides dewulfi (70.8%) and Culicoides chiopterus (67.0%) both of which breed in cattle dung. This close association with livestock raises their potential as vectors of BTV; Culicoides achrayi, Culicoides circumscriptus, C. dewulfi, Culicoides halophilus, Culicoides lupicaris and Culicoides stigma are new species records for The Netherlands and demonstrates that the extant knowledge on the Culicoides fauna of northern Europe is incomplete; Cooling trends in the weather induced a >50-fold decrease in overall Culicoides numbers but with subsequent warming these would rebound rapidly indicating that more intense cold is required before heightened mortalities are induced amongst adult biting midges. The northward advance of BT in Europe compels the competent authorities in affected and in neighbouring territories to acquire rapidly baseline information around which to plan sound vector surveillance and livestock movement strategies. The Culicoides 'snapshot' is a tool well suited to this purpose. It is stressed that a vector surveillance program must be built upon a firm taxonomic base because misidentifications will flaw the mapped seasonal and geographic distribution patterns upon which veterinary authorities depend.
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PMID:The Culicoides 'snapshot': a novel approach used to assess vector densities widely and rapidly during the 2006 outbreak of bluetongue (BT) in The Netherlands. 1865 71

Episodes of high temperature at anthesis, which in rice is the most sensitive stage to temperature, are expected to occur more frequently in future climates. The morphology of the reproductive organs and pollen number, and changes in anther protein expression, were studied in response to high temperature at anthesis in three rice (Oryza sativa L.) genotypes. Plants were exposed to 6 h of high (38 degrees C) and control (29 degrees C) temperature at anthesis and spikelets collected for morphological and proteomic analysis. Moroberekan was the most heat-sensitive genotype (18% spikelet fertility at 38 degrees C), while IR64 (48%) and N22 (71%) were moderately and highly heat tolerant, respectively. There were significant differences among the genotypes in anther length and width, apical and basal pore lengths, apical pore area, and stigma and pistil length. Temperature also affected some of these traits, increasing anther pore size and reducing stigma length. Nonetheless, variation in the number of pollen on the stigma could not be related to measured morphological traits. Variation in spikelet fertility was highly correlated (r=0.97, n=6) with the proportion of spikelets with > or = 20 germinated pollen grains on the stigma. A 2D-gel electrophoresis showed 46 protein spots changing in abundance, of which 13 differentially expressed protein spots were analysed by MS/MALDI-TOF. A cold and a heat shock protein were found significantly up-regulated in N22, and this may have contributed to the greater heat tolerance of N22. The role of differentially expressed proteins and morphology during anther dehiscence and pollination in shaping heat tolerance and susceptibility is discussed.
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PMID:Physiological and proteomic approaches to address heat tolerance during anthesis in rice (Oryza sativa L.). 1985 18

After WWII in the United States, gender and sexual minorities began to construct social identities in a cold war climate hostile to gender and sexual transgression. The coming of the sexual revolution in the mid-1960s and 1970s unleashed forces that provided opportunities for these groups to demarcate their differences from one another, achieve visibility, and court public favor in a more permissive and tolerant society. In this article, I examine how a cohort of white, heterosexual crossdressers and their wives forged a redeeming social script in ways that seem counterintuitive to the "spirit of the times." The presence of transvestism within the sacred, idealized space of the American home produced tremendous anxiety on the part of these transvestite husbands and especially their wives. To deflect the stigma of sexual deviancy and sooth feelings of insecurity, these couples utilized strategies of containment and embraced the domestic ideal, even well into the sexualized and swinging seventies. Their strategic yet curious retreat into domesticity compels a second look at the consensus, conformity, and containment narratives that once dominated our scholarly imagination of intimate matters during the postwar years. Might current revisionist histories have gone too far in discrediting these potent forces? How do gender and sexual populations beholden to whiteness and notions of respectability fit within the sexual revolutions of postwar America?
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PMID:"We share a sacred secret": gender, domesticity, and containment in Transvestia's histories and letters from crossdressers and their wives. 2185 Jul 92

Frequently used in a pejorative sense, "disease mongering" connotes a widening of the diagnostic boundaries of illness. Pharmaceutical companies conduct disease awareness campaigns on the pretext of educating the public about the prevention of illness or the promotion of health. Encouraged by disease awareness advertisements, people gradually become filled with concern that they are ill and need medical treatment. As a result, pharmacotherapy is increasingly being applied to ever-milder conditions, leading to potentially unnecessary medication, wasted resources, and even adverse side effects. Among all fields of clinical medicine, psychiatry is undoubtedly the most vulnerable to the danger of disease mongering. In Japan, depression provides the most drastic example of the impact of disease awareness campaigns on the number of patients seeking treatment. Until the late 1990s, Japanese psychiatrists focused almost exclusively on psychosis and endogenous depression, the latter being severe enough to require conventional forms of antidepressants, known as tricyclic antidepressants, and even hospitalization. At this time, people's attitude toward depression was generally unfavorable. Indeed, the Japanese word for clinical depression, utubyo, has a negative connotation, implying severe mental illness. This situation, however, changed immediately after fluvoxiamine (Luvox-Fujisawa, Depromel-Meiji Seika), the first selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) to receive approval in Japan, was introduced in 1999. In order to aid the drug's acceptance by the Japanese public, pharmaceutical companies began using the catchphrase kokoro no kaze, which literally means "a cold of the soul". Thus armed with this phrase, the pharmaceutical industry embarked on a campaign to lessen the stigma surrounding depression. According to national data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of patients with a diagnosis of mood disorder increased from 327,000 in 1999 to 591,600 in 2003. At the same time, antidepressant sales have sextupled, from\14.5 billion in 1998 to\87 billion in 2006, according to statistics from GlaxoSmithKline. Recently, the pharmaceutical industry has shifted its focus from depression to bipolar disorder. Historically, Japanese psychiatrists have been familiar with Emil Kraepelin's "manic depressive insanity" (1899), whose definition was much narrower than that of its contemporary counterpart, bipolar disorder. Thus far, perhaps due partly to the reference in Kraepelin's definition of "manic depressive" disorder, Japanese psychiatrists have rather conservatively prescribed mood stabilizers for persons with frequent mood swings. Japanese psychiatrists can learn a great deal from their experience with the aggressive marketing of antidepressants. In the case of depression, over-medication arguably did more harm than good. The same risk exists with bipolar disorder. Disease mongering may occur whenever the interests of a pharmaceutical company exceed the expected benefits from the proposed pharmacotherapy on those affected by the putative bipolar disorder. In cases that are not severe enough for aggressive medication, psychiatrists should propose natural alternatives, such as an alteration of lifestyle and psychotherapy.
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PMID:[Disease mongering and bipolar disorder in Japan]. 2235 6

Annexins have been suggested to play pivotal roles in stress resistance and plant development. However, related studies on fruit-bearing plants, especially on fruit development, are very limited. In the present study, we provide a comprehensive overview of the annexin family in tomato, describing the gene structure, promoter cis-regulatory elements, organ expression profile, and gene expression patterns under hormone and stress treatments. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the nine tomato annexins were structurally different from their animal counterparts, but highly conserved annexin domains were still found in most of them. Cis-regulatory element prediction showed that there were important elements in the 2kb upstream promoter regions, including stress- and hormone-responsive-related elements. The expression patterns of these genes were investigated, and the results revealed that they were regulated under developmental processes and environmental stimuli. Among them, AnnSl1.1 and AnnSl2 were highly expressed in most of the tested organs. Genes preferentially or specifically expressed in organs, such as stigma or ovary (AnnSl6), stamen (AnnSl8), and fruit pericarp (AnnSl1.2 and AnnSl9), were identified. Some annexin genes were induced by plant hormones including abscisic acid (AnnSl3, AnnSl6, AnnSl8, and AnnSl9) and gibberellic acid (AnnSl1.1, AnnSl1.2, AnnSl4, and AnnSl7). Most of these annexin genes were induced by salt, drought, wounding, and heat or cold stresses. The present study provides significant information for understanding the diverse roles of annexins in tomato growth and development.
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PMID:Genomic organization, phylogenetic comparison and expression profiles of annexin gene family in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). 2242 74


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