University of Alabama

About: University of Alabama is a education organization based out in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 27323 authors who have published 48609 publications receiving 1565337 citations. The organization is also known as: Alabama & Bama.

Tumor thickness as a guide to surgical management of clinical stage I melanoma patients

Abstract: An analysis of failure to control locally recurrent or metastatic melanoma was used to substantiate the value of thickness as a guide to surgical management. There were no local recurrences in patients with melanomas less than 0.76 mm in thickness, regardless of the skin margins excised. The three year actuarial incidence of subsequent regional metastases in patients initially treated by wide local excision (WLE) of their melanoma was directly correlated with tumor thickness (p = 4.0 mm in thickness. At five years, patients with melanomas of 1.50 to 3.99 mm thickness who had WLE plus elective regional node dissection (RND) had a calculated 15% incidence of distant metastases and an actuarial survival rate of 83%, while patients with melanomas of the same thickness who had WLE alone as their initial surgical treatment had a 78% incidence of distant metastases and a 37% survival rate (p = 0.001 and 0.01, respectively). In patients with melanomas exceeding 4.0 mm in thickness, the potential benefits of RND were less apparent because of a high risk (>70%) of distant metastases at the time of initial diagnosis. Based upon this analysis, our initial surgical management of melanomas <0.76 is a WLE using a 2.0 cm margin of skin, while thicker lesions are excised using a 3 to 5 cm skin margin. Elective RND is not indicated for lesion <0.76 mm in thickness, but it is considered for 0.76 to 1.50 mm lesions in selected patients and is employed for virtually all patients with lesions exceeding 1.5 mm in thickness. The rationale of elective RND is improved survival in patients with intermediate thickness lesions (0.76 to 3.99 mm) while it is justifiable as a staging procedure for lesions exceeding 4.0 mm thickness. Cancer 43:883–888, 1979.

The Health Consequences of Cultural Consonance: Cultural Dimensions of Lifestyle, Social Support, and Arterial Blood Pressure in an African American Community

Abstract: Cultural dimensions of health and behavior have been difficult to study because of limited theoretical and methodological models linking the cultural, the individual, and the biological. We employ a cognitive theory of culture to understand culture and health in an African American community in the southern United States. First, cultural consensus analysis is used to test for shared cultural models of lifestyles and social supports within the community. Then, the theoretical and operational construct of "cultural consonance" is used to assess the degree to which individuals behave in a way consistent with cultural models. Findings indicate that cultural consonance in lifestyle and social support combine synergistically in association with blood pressure. These associations of cultural consonance and health are not altered by taking into account a variety of other variables, indicating an independent association of cultural dimensions of behavior with health status. Implications of these results for culture theory are discussed, [culture theory, culture consensus analysis, cultural consonance, African American community, arterial blood pressure]

The amphipathic alpha helix: a multifunctional structural motif in plasma apolipoproteins.

Abstract: Publisher Summary The dominant structural motif of the peripheral apolipoproteins is the amphipathic helix, which is responsible for the reversible association of these proteins with lipids, as well as for many biological functions mediated by these apolipoproteins. This chapter reviews the different classes of amphipathic helices, using a combination of powerful computer programs to develop a comparison database and to analyze these structures. It also discusses their evolutionary origins, physical-chemical properties, X-ray structure determination, and conformational analysis. Although the structures of these lipoprotein classes are similar, they differ in relative proportion of lipids, in the apolipoprotein: lipid ratio and in the apolipoprotein species. The amphipathic α helix plays a pivotal role in the structure and functions of the exchangeable apolipoproteins. Site-directed mutagenesis and other molecular biology-based techniques are available for probing the structural motif. The location and properties of the amphipathic helices in apolipoproteins and the results are compared with recently developed and ever-expanding computer methods for the location and characterization. A variety of structure-function studies, including the activation of lipoprotein lipase, receptor recognition, lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activation, and antiviral and anti-inflammatory activities are also discussed.

The effects of production pacing and arousing content on the information processing of television messages

Abstract: The limited capacity model of television viewing is used to investigate the impact of arousing content and fast paced production of viewers’ information processing of TV messages. Results show that both fast pace and arousing content elicit self‐reported arousal, but they elicit different patterns of physiological arousal. Both fast pace and arousing content increase the allocation of processing resources to messages. The combination of fast pace and arousing content overloads the processing system resulting in less recognition and cued recall for the specific content of the message. Results generally support the limited capacity theory of television viewing.

Using forecasts of earnings to simultaneously estimate growth and the rate of return on equity investment

Abstract: We develop a method for simultaneously estimating the cost of equity capital and the growth in residual earnings that are implied by current stock prices, current book value of equity, and short-term forecasts of accounting earnings. We demonstrate the use of our method by calculating the expected equity risk premium. Our estimate is higher than estimates in extant studies that are based on the same earnings forecast data. The main difference between our study and these papers is that while they provide arguments supporting an assumed rate of growth beyond the forecast horizon, we estimate this rate.