Louisiana State University

About: Louisiana State University is a education organization based out in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 40206 authors who have published 76587 publications receiving 2566076 citations. The organization is also known as: LSU & Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.

Health Literacy and Cancer Communication

Abstract: Health literacy is increasingly recognized as a critical factor affecting communication across the continuum of cancer care. We reviewed research on health literacy and examined its impact on cancer outcomes and communication. According to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), considered the most accurate portrait of literacy in our society, about one in five American adults may lack the necessary literacy skills to function adequately in our society. As patients, such individuals are at a disadvantage in their capacity to obtain, process, and understand cancer information and services needed to make appropriate health care decisions. Patients with poor health literacy have a complex array of difficulties with written and oral communication that may limit their understanding of cancer screening and of symptoms of cancer, adversely affecting their stage at diagnosis. In addition, these barriers impair communication and discussion about risks and benefits of treatment options, and patient understanding of informed consent for routine procedures and clinical trials. More research is needed to identify successful methods for educating and communicating with patients who have limited health literacy. Based on our own experience, we offer practical communication aids that can help bridge the cancer communication gap.

Changes in nutrient structure of river-dominated coastal waters: stoichiometric nutrient balance and its consequences

Abstract: We present an analysis of extensive nutrient data sets from two river-dominated coastal ecosystems, the northern Adriatic Sea and the northern Gulf of Mexico, demonstrating significant changes in surface nutrient ratios over a period of 30 years. The silicon:nitrogen ratios have decreased, indicating increased potential for silicon limitation. The nitrogen:phosphorus and the silicon:phosphorus ratios have also changed substantially, and the coastal nutrient structures have become more balanced and potentially less limiting for phytoplankton growth. It is likely that net phytoplankton productivity increased under these conditions and was accompanied by increasing bottom water hypoxia and major changes in community species composition. These findings support the hypothesis that increasing coastal eutrophication to date may be associated with stoichiometric nutrient balance, due to increasing potential for silicon limitation and decreasing potential for nitrogen and phosphorus limitation. On a worldwide basis, coastal ecosystems adjacent to rivers influenced by anthropogenic nutrient loads may experience similar alterations.

The targets of curcumin.

Abstract: Curcumin (diferuloylmethane), an orange-yellow component of turmeric or curry powder, is a polyphenol natural product isolated from the rhizome of the plant Curcuma longa. For centuries, curcumin has been used in some medicinal preparation or used as a food-coloring agent. In recent years, extensive in vitro and in vivo studies suggested curcumin has anticancer, antiviral, antiarthritic, anti-amyloid, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. The underlying mechanisms of these effects are diverse and appear to involve the regulation of various molecular targets, including transcription factors (such as nuclear factor-kB), growth factors (such as vascular endothelial cell growth factor), inflammatory cytokines (such as tumor necrosis factor, interleukin 1 and interleukin 6), protein kinases (such as mammalian target of rapamycin, mitogen-activated protein kinases, and Akt) and other enzymes (such as cyclooxygenase 2 and 5 lipoxygenase). Thus, due to its efficacy and regulation of multiple targets, as well as its safety for human use, curcumin has received considerable interest as a potential therapeutic agent for the prevention and/or treatment of various malignant diseases, arthritis, allergies, Alzheimer's disease, and other inflammatory illnesses. This review summarizes various in vitro and in vivo pharmacological aspects of curcumin as well as the underlying action mechanisms. The recently identified molecular targets and signaling pathways modulated by curcumin are also discussed here.

The utility of single nucleotide polymorphisms in inferences of population history

Abstract: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) represent the most widespread type of sequence variation in genomes, yet they have only emerged recently as valuable genetic markers for revealing the evolutionary history of populations. Their occurrence throughout the genome also makes them ideal for analyses of speciation and historical demography, especially in light of recent theory suggesting that many unlinked nuclear loci are needed to estimate population genetic parameters with statistical confidence. In spite of having lower variation compared with microsatellites, SNPs should make the comparison of genomic diversities and histories of different species (the core goal of comparative biogeography) more straightforward than has been possible with microsatellites. The most pervasive, but correctable, complication to SNP analysis is a bias towards analyzing only the most variable loci, an artifact that is usually introduced by the limited number of individuals used to screen initially for polymorphisms. Although the use of SNPs as markers in population studies is still new, innovative methods for SNP identification, automated screening, haplotype inference and statistical analysis might quickly make SNPs the marker of choice. Traditionally, phylogeography has used gene trees of nonrecombining, uniparentally inherited LOCI (see Glossary), such as mitochondrial DNA or the vertebrate Y chromosome, to study the geographical distribution of genetic variation within species [1]. As evolutionary biologists have started to examine variation in recombining, biparentally inherited loci, a natural outgrowth of phylogeography is a shift from gene trees to analyses, based on COALESCENT THEORY, of multi-locus, recombining histories. This new discipline, dubbed historical demography [2,3] or statistical phylogeography [4], is concerned less with gene trees than with estimating population parameters such as genetic diversities, divergence times, growth rates and gene flow between populations. The shift in focus is, in part, a result of recent advances in population genetics, which suggest that, from a statistical standpoint, the ability of single-locus phylogeography to determine the timing of speciation events and the historical demography of populations has been overestimated [3‐7]. The errors surrounding estimates of divergence times, rates of gene flow and population-size changes during speciation are all reduced substantially when information from multiple unlinked loci is combined [8,9]. With the move to analyses of multiple loci, phylogeographers must re-learn an old lesson: that the number of loci required to estimate the preceding parameters with statistical confidence can be soberingly large because of the high stochasticity of the gene tree of any single locus [10]. What is required is a suite of unlinked nuclear genetic markers that can capture a genome-wide picture of the population history [3,11‐14]. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as well as fluorescent sequencing and fragment analysis technologies have catalyzed a revolution in the development of genetic markers for the analysis of natural populations. Emphasizing discoveries in nonmodel species, we discuss one emerging marker of great relevance to historical demography: single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).