Thesis (MTech (Environmental Health))--Cape Technikon, 2003 / This study provides information on the provision of environmental health services to informal housing settlements by local authorities. A standard for Environmental Health Service delivery according to Government policies and legislation has been provided. Actual environmental health services delivered to Ducats informal settlement at the time (1992), have been compared to the services that should have been delivered by law. Baseline data have been compiled by means of questionnaires, in order to assist the different levels of government in addressing the housing and environmental health needs of the Ducat community. The nature of Environmental Health and the history of informal housing, more specific that of the Ducat informal housing settlement, have been determined. Limited environmental health services were rendered to informal housing settlements occupying land illegally during 1992. These environmental health services were limited to basic sanitation, water supply and refuse removal. Only pit latrines or bucket latrines were required as a means of sanitation, tanks for water supply and skips for the disposal of waste. Amatola Regional Services Council however rendered all the environmental health services required. Other environmental health aspects such as pest control, communicable disease control, air pollution control, radiation, occupational health issues, temperature extremes, lighting, ventilation, noise, social environment, food and meat hygiene were not required. This study has provided a set of Government policies and legislation, which should be considered in rendering environmental health services for housing in future. Uncertainty of the past decade, about rendering of Environmental Health services to people occupying land illegally, still persists. The Municipal Structures Act, 117 of 1998 requires the rendering of Environmental Health services by local authorities, but it does not state whether these services should be rendered to people occupying land illegally as well. Since this has been the biggest restriction in providing environmental health services in the past, it is recommended that Government address this uncertainty.

Many studies have shown that short sleep duration and/or poor sleep quality is associated with increasing rates of cardiovascular (CVD) mortality and morbidity. One hypothesized explanation for this association has been that sleep loss is a type of chronic stress that induces dysregulation of biological systems that ultimately increase the risk of CVD. One biological system that has been thought to link sleep loss and CVD is the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. A number of studies using small or convenience samples have addressed the effects of sleep deprivation on cortisol. Only a few studies have examined the association of habitual short sleep duration and/or poor sleep quality with changes in the diurnal cortisol in population based-samples; those studies vary in their methodology and in findings. Another biological system that has been thought to link sleep loss and CVD is the autonomic nervous system (ANS), through overactivation of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and/or probably a withdrawal of the parasympathetic nervous system. Experimental studies have shown an association between the sleep stages and markers of the sympathetic system. However, very few studies of habitual sleep duration/sleep quality and ANS markers have been conducted. Even fewer studies have examined the association of habitual sleep duration and/or sleep quality and ANS responses to a stress challenge in a population-based sample. The findings again have been inconsistent probably due to the use of different methodology and different samples. This dissertation used measures of salivary diurnal cortisol as well as cortisol responses to a stress challenge protocol to assess the relationship of habitual sleep duration and/or sleep quality with diurnal cortisol profile in natural conditions and in response to a stress challenge protocol in a laboratory setting. Diurnal cortisol was assessed from up to 16 samples of salivary cortisol for two days. Cortisol responses to a stress challenge were assessed from four salivary samples taken during the stress challenge that was performed in a different day than the diurnal cortisol collection. To examine the relationship of habitual sleep duration and/or sleep quality and markers of the ANS, this dissertation used continuous cardiovascular measures (heart rate and heart rate variability) and four salivary amylase samples obtained during the stress challenge. The stress challenge included mental stress and orthostatic stress. Sleep duration and sleep efficiency (an objective measure of sleep quality) were assessed from 7-day actigraphy and sleep diaries. Insomnia symptoms (a subjective measure of sleep quality) were also assessed using a questionnaire that included the Women’s Health Initiative Insomnia rating scale (WHIIRS). We used mixed models so as to account for the repeated measures of diurnal salivary cortisol levels as well as the responses (reactivity and recovery) to the stress challenge tests. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to this dissertation discussing the relationship between short sleep duration and/or poor sleep quality and CVD morbidity and mortality. Chapter 2 presents a systematic literature review of studies of the association between habitual sleep duration and/or sleep efficiency and markers of neuro-endocrine systems: HPA and ANS. These are plausible mechanisms that link short and/or poor sleep to CVD morbidity and mortality. Chapter 3 presents our analyses of the relationship between short sleep duration and/or poor sleep quality and features of the diurnal cortisol. We hypothesized that those participants whose slept < 6 hours per night or whose sleep efficiency was < 85% would have higher cortisol levels on awakening, flatter cortisol awakening responses (CAR), and higher evening cortisol levels than participants who slept longer or slept better. We found that short sleepers had higher evening cortisol than the longer sleepers and that this association persisted after the adjustment for several known confounders. In chapter 4, we examined how the same groups of participants responded in terms of hormones (cortisol and amylase) and cardiovascular indices (heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV)) to a stress challenge test. We hypothesized that those participants who slept for a shorter time or whose sleep was of poorer quality would have more exaggerated responses to and less recovery from a stress challenge test than participants who slept longer or slept better. We found that participants with insomnia had exaggerated high frequency-HRV (HF-HRV) orthostatic reactivity. In an extended analysis, we found that participants who slept less than 7 hours/night had exaggerated heart rate reactivity to a mental stress test compared to participants who slept 7 or more hours/night, but this association was attenuated after adjustment for naps. Paradoxically, we also found that participants who slept less than 7 hours had higher HF-HRV recovery from mental stress compared to longer sleepers (≥7 hours). Short sleep duration or low sleep efficiency was not associated with cortisol or amylase responses to the stress challenge protocol. These findings suggest that sustained high evening cortisol levels and cardiovascular responses to a stress challenge may be among the mechanisms linking short/poor sleep and CV disease.

Many recent studies have confirmed that mindfulness meditation has wide ranging potential to improve the mental health and well-being of adults, though few studies have explored its potential to help younger populations. In the current study, a sample of 4th and 2nd grade students was trained in the techniques of mindfulness meditation. Baseline electroencephalograms (EEGs) were taken before the training, and again after a 10 week period of daily meditation practice. Measures of attention, creativity, affect, depression, behavioral inhibition/activation, emotion regulation, impulsive/aggressive behaviors, and social anxiety were also administered before and after the meditation practice period. Results indicate that mindfulness meditation produces increased relative left-frontal alpha activation, a brain pattern that has been associated with increased positive affect and more adaptive coping responses to aversive events. Significant post-meditation improvements in depression and creativity were also found in the experimental condition. / by Sara Elizabeth Klco. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In the last few decades as American society and urban life have changed dramatically, public health and urban sociological research have increasingly focused on the effect of residential location on individual well-being. In recent years, social capital has been viewed as an important pathway in understanding the associations between where one lives and health and social outcomes. Although there is not one, single definition of social capital, researchers within public health have often relied on three schools of thought labeled after Pierre Bourdieu, James Coleman, and Robert Putnam to define social capital and hypothesize its relationship with health and behaviors. However, for many years, public health researchers have often relied on Putnam's theory (1993, 1995, 2000) and a communitarian approach to defining social capital and its possible relationship to health and well-being. Many researchers and sociologists have criticized this over-reliance and overuse of Putnam's social capital constructs as they have been criticized for lacking depth and their inability to explain the causal pathways in which social capital and health operate. Additionally, the measures used to operationalize the most widely used Putnam social capital constructs often focus only on a few dimensions of his theory; generalized trust, shared norms and values, reciprocity, and civic engagement. These measures have been criticized for simultaneously being overly theoretically broad and limited in its measurement. In this research, I use a more recent paradigm of social capital theory that conceptualizes social capital as having several dimensions thereby enabling one to examine the possibility that different forms of social capital and cohesion have different impacts (both negative and positive) on health behaviors and well-being. This paper compares a Putnam-based social capital model as measured by the most commonly used variables based on his work against a broader, multi-dimensional model that measures social capital across several constructs and variables. I have evaluated the "expanded" multi-dimensional model and the smaller, Putnam-only model with a different dataset to examine the relationships between these dimensions of social capital and health behaviors and outcomes. Additionally, recent sociological research using this expanded approach has highlighted the important role of individual attachment to the neighborhood as an important mediator in the association between social capital and health outcomes. Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a longitudinal birth cohort study of families in 20 cities with populations of 200,000 or more people, I investigated the role of social capital as measured across four dimensions, social cohesion (the Putnam-based Traditional Model), individual neighborhood attachment, and neighborhood socio-economic conditions on the likelihood of maternal smoking and alcohol use. Moreover, this multi-dimensional model was enhanced by the addition of another feature of social capital that was not extensively addressed in prior research, bridging social capital. Bridging social capital has been defined as relationships among individuals who are not alike in social identity or characteristics. In recent years, bridging social capital at times has been further refined to highlight the relationships within heterogeneous networks who do not share the same power structures and institutions, and economic spheres. This has been referred to as "linking" social capital. Additionally, sociologist Mario Small has extensively documented that importance of both weak ties (an aspect of "bridging" social capital) and organizational embeddedness in the relationship between social capital and health and well- being for residents in poor communities. This underrepresented dimension in the public health literature is addressed in this paper. In this research, I incorporated a measure of bridging social capital and organizational ties to highlight the possible role this form of social capital may play in understanding the association of social capital and health outcomes. This research extends the current literature by applying a recently developed model of social capital to the analysis of health outcomes using a different data set. The goal of this study was not only to explore smoking and alcohol use, neighborhood socioeconomic conditions, indicators of social capital (including social support, social leverage, informal social control, neighborhood organization participation, and bridging social capital), and the role of individual neighborhood attachment but also highlight the importance for public health researchers to use a multidimensional approach rather than rely on utilizing a few social capital constructs retrieved from Putnam's extensive published work. The multi-dimensional approach which broadens the lens in which researchers use to aid them in the understanding the association between social capital and health and well-being is more beneficial than a narrow focus that relies on a few social capital domains to examine this relationship. The association of these different dimensions was statistically tested through multiple logistic regression analyses which examined a hypothesized interaction effect between organizational embeddedness and social capital and its association with health outcomes and behaviors. It is hoped that this research will further advance the public health discourse regarding the association between health outcomes and social capital, measured across several dimensions and conceptualized through an access to resources and networks based lens.

Since 1988 when the first HIV positive drug user was identified in Poland, for close to two decades, the predominant route of HIV transmission has been through injecting drug use. In mid 2000s, Polish officials reported that injecting drug use no longer contributed to incrasing HIV incidence. The consequences of such a statement are that many of the structural and personal risks associated with HIV infection go unaddressed, that drug users are neglected by HIV prevention efforts, that HIV treatment is not made available to drug users and that the policy environment does not adequately support effective public health initiatives. This case study is based on documentation, archival records, interviews, participant observation, and physical artifacts shows that these assertions were made, and continue to be repeated, in a highly political context. Poland is a post-socialist state with strong neoliberal leanings, and it is highly invested in successful integration with the European Union. Powerful Catholic Church serves as an important backdrop. While people considered "at risk" now have more freedom to conduct their lives, they also have a set of neoliberal expectations and religious pressures placed on them. Country's geographic location adds to this complexity - situated between "Old Europe" where HIV problem has been successfully contained and the former Soviet Union, where the HIV incidence among drug users is the highest in the world, Poland attempts to align itself with the success of the West. Furthermore, examination of the available data suggests that the assertions made by Polish officials omit numerous variables. My research shows that even though Polish leadership in the area of HIV and drug policy wishes to resemble Western Europe, Poland does not meet international standards for the prevention of HIV transmission. The interviews I conducted, as well as the review of the literature on drug and HIV policies and programs suggest that these services are scattered, often unavailable, and that their number is stagnating, at best, and in some cases, even decreasing. This maybe a direct result of lack of engagement of drug users in their design. Excluded from the discussion of risk, drug users are thus not the focus of prevention efforts. Based on gathered data, there are seven crucial issues that require immediate action if Poland is to manage HIV prevention and care for people who use drugs in a manner consistent with the international standards. The areas requiring action are: a change in the drug policy from the current very punitive approach, expansion of needle and syringe programs and other harm reduction services, improved data collection and an increase in the availability of HIV testing, scaled-up substitution treatment, improved quality of other forms of drug treatment, greater investment in civil society organizations, improved access to HIV treatment, and educational and training efforts that encourage greater attention to HIV related matters across disciplines.

Chapter 1. Background: Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease and is characterized by recurrent airway obstruction, bronchial hyper-responsiveness, and airway inflammation. Asthma is the leading cause of childhood hospitalization and school absenteeism in the United States. The associations between adverse respiratory effects and exposure to indoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and other byproducts of combustion such as particulate matter (PM) in particular ultrafine particulates (UFP), Ozone (O3) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2), have been the focus of many epidemiological studies in recent years. Indoor exposure to NO2 and other pollutants from combustion may increase the risk of acute and chronic respiratory disease, reduce lung function, initiate and exacerbate asthma in children. The levels of exposure to NO2 indoors are of public health concern because children spend nearly 70% of their time indoors at home. According to the 2010 US Census report, approximately 39% of US households use natural gas for cooking, and the primary source of residential NO2 is a gas-fuel cooking appliance. Indoor levels of NO2 where NO2 sources are present can be much higher than outdoors, where the primary source of NO2 is vehicular traffic. Epidemiological studies in developed countries suggest that gas stoves used for cooking and/or heat are associated with an increased risk of asthma and respiratory symptoms in children. While there are numerous, epidemiological studies supporting an association between increased NO2 levels and gas stoves and asthma symptom severity in children, there are other studies that have examined the relationship in homes that did not observe significant associations. A better understanding of how NO2 and other indoor environmental (e.g., environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), allergens) exposures contribute to asthma morbidity in inner city preschool children will allow interventions to more effectively designed and implemented. To date, there are conflicting results on the role of exposure to indoor NO2 and its association with new-onset asthma in young inner-city children. The recent studies assessing the effects of indoor NO2 on asthma morbidity were limited to inner-city children, largely older, who were diagnosed with asthma. A gap in knowledge remains regarding the role indoor NO2 plays on the development of asthma in children not previously diagnosed. The scientific and public health rationale for conducting this dissertation was to describe the association of exposure to indoor NO2 and primary sources with the initiation and exacerbation of asthma symptoms among pre-school children with and without diagnosed asthma. The data analyzed in the current research come from a larger study of Endotoxin, Obesity, and Asthma (EOA) in the New York City Head Start Program, funded in the summer of 2002. The primary research objective of that study was to identify modifiable risk factors associated with asthma and asthma persistence among preschool children from low-income families living in select New York City neighborhoods with high pediatric asthma hospitalization rates. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data collected from the study questionnaire and home visit sampling at study enrollment. The analyses were performed in two phases: the first phases used data collected at study enrollment and the second phase used data collected 12-months after study baseline. Henceforth, the dissertation will refer to the first analyses as the baseline study and the second as the follow-up study. The research evaluated the association of NO2 exposure with asthma status among New York City Head Start children with and without asthma at study enrollment and with respiratory symptoms among children with asthma at 12-month follow-up. Chapter 2. Baseline Study: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data collected from the study questionnaire and home visit sampling at study enrollment. Specifically, the research sought to evaluate the association of NO2 exposure with asthma status among New York City Head Start children with and without asthma at study enrollment and with respiratory symptoms among children with asthma at enrollment. A total of 503 children were included in the baseline study. A total of 105 children (20.9%) met the criteria for both asthma and allergy, and 67 (13.3%) met the criteria for asthma alone. Girls made up 51.7% and boys, 48.3% of the 503 study participants. Descriptive analyses suggested that asthma/allergy status was associated with: male gender, non-Mexican ethnicity/national origin, presence of a smoker in the child’s home, number of smokers in the child’s home, self-reported parental history of asthma, mother’s education level and sensitization to one or more of the four allergens. Logistic regression models were used to investigate the magnitude and direction (as well as trend) of the association between childhood asthma and indoor NO2 sources in the child’s home. Chapter 3. Follow-up Study: Our follow-up study involved the analysis of the 12-month follow-up data from the study of Endotoxin, Obesity, and Asthma in the New York City Head Start Program funded in the summer of 2002. We focused on assessing the magnitude and direction of the associations of exposure to indoor NO2 levels (based on baseline NO2 measurements) with children’s asthma status and with symptom severity among asthmatics at 1-year follow-up. For the follow-up study, we categorized children by whether their asthma status had changed since baseline. Descriptive analyses were performed looking at key characteristics by “change in asthma status.” Children’s asthma status at baseline and at follow-up, were based on responses to the questionnaire. We analyzed indoor NO2 level measurements at baseline in relation to asthma outcomes on follow-up. We did not have enough data on NO2 levels at follow-up to analyze them in relation to asthma status on follow-up. Unless the family had relocated since baseline and/or reported changes since baseline in the use of gas appliances or the number of smokers in the home, we assumed that baseline NO2 levels in the participating children’s homes were reasonable proxies for current exposures. We looked at the number of children who moved since baseline and whether the move (for example, looking at gas stove status, age of new building) may have impacted indoor NO2 levels. Of the 503 children who were included in the baseline analyses, 47.3% had data on asthma status on follow-up. A total of 238 children (111 male, 127 female) were grouped into the four mutually exclusive outcome categories: 122 (51.3%) did not have asthma at baseline or on follow-up, 34 (14.3%) had asthma on follow-up but not at baseline, 65 (27.3%) had asthma at baseline but not on follow-up, and 17 (7.1%) had asthma at baseline and on follow-up. The mean age at 1-year follow-up was 59.5 months (6.95), and neither age nor gender was associated with asthma. The distribution of ethnicity/national origin among the 238 children remained the same as at baseline; no one ethnicity group experienced disproportionate loss to follow-up, and asthma status remained associated with non-Mexican ethnicity/national origin, although 44.1% with new-onset asthma were of Mexican background. Asthma was also associated with self-reported parental history of asthma and allergy in children, but nearly 80% of children with new-onset asthma had no such parental history of asthma. More parents of children with new-onset (35.3%) or persistent asthma (23.5%) than of other children reported making efforts to reduce risk factors or triggers for asthma exacerbations in the past 12 months. Chapter 4. Dissertation Conclusion : The primary objective of the dissertation research was the examination of the relationship between asthma and asthma severity and exposure to gas cooking and residential NO2. In both our baseline and 12-month follow-up studies, exposure to indoor NO2 was represented by the baseline measurement of NO2 and the NO2 surrogate, gas stove. Asthma status of children was based on parental responses on the questionnaire regarding asthma symptoms and urgent care visits due to respiratory distress over the course of each 12-month period prior to the conducting study questionnaires. For both studies, we did not find an association between exposure to NO2 levels at baseline and asthma status or severity. Our findings contradict the results of most recent studies of both NO2 levels and residential sources of NO2 and their effects on asthma symptoms in very young children. However, it remains difficult to compare our results we those of previous published studies because those studies primarily focused on children who were diagnosed with asthma, whereas our research included preschool aged children with and without asthma. Based on our findings and the fact they conflict with other epidemiological studies, of which there were also conflicting results, we feel that the relationship between asthma symptoms and NO2 exposures remains ambiguous. The lack of consistent results of epidemiological research raises questions that should be the focus of future epidemiological studies. What are the roles of co-pollutants and co-risk factors? Does NO2 work alone or in concert with other indoor pollutants? There exists a real lack of understanding on the possible synergistic effects of exposure to NO2 and other combustion byproducts. Important to furthering our knowledge of the role of exposure to indoor NO2 and asthma is determining whether NO2 acts as a surrogate for co-pollutants that are considered risk factors for asthma and other respiratory conditions. Another focus of future indoor pollution studies should be the development of effective methods and technologies for measuring the constituents of the complex mixture of pollutants in indoor air; these methods and technologies can then be applied in personal monitoring of exposure to indoor pollutants in epidemiological studies that would help to determine with much more accuracy the effects of individual indoor pollutants on asthma and other respiratory symptoms. This knowledge would help in the development of more effective public health and environment policies towards reducing the burden of childhood asthma.

Yuen, Ka Leung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-104). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- CANCER / Chapter 1.1.1 --- OVERVIEW OF CANCER --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- DEVELOPMENT OF CANCER --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.3 --- CHARACTERISTICS OF CANCER CELLS --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1.4 --- CATEGORIZATION OF CANCER --- p.6 / Chapter 1.1.5 --- RISK FACTORS IN CANCER DEVELOPMENT --- p.7 / Chapter 1.1.6 --- EPIDEMIOLOGY OF CANCER --- p.11 / Chapter 1.1.7 --- CANCER THERAPIES --- p.13 / Chapter 1.2 --- SOYBEANS AND ISOFLAVONES / Chapter 1.2.1 --- GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF ISOFLAVONES --- p.18 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- NATURAL FUNCTIONS OF ISOFLAVONES --- p.19 / Chapter 1.2.3 --- STRUCTURES OF ISOFLAVONES --- p.19 / Chapter 1.2.4 --- BIOACTIVITIES OF SOY ISOFLAVONES --- p.20 / Chapter 1.2.5 --- PRODUCTION OF SOY ISOFLAVONES CAN BE AFFECTED BY MANY FACTORS --- p.21 / Chapter 1.3 --- THE AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT / Chapter 1.3.1 --- AIM OF THE PROJECT --- p.22 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT --- p.23 / Chapter 2 --- Materials / Chapter 2.1 --- 19 DROUGHT TOLERANT SOYBEAN LINES --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2 --- 5 HUMAN CANCER CELL LINES --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3 --- CHEMICALS --- p.25 / Chapter 2.4 --- REAGENTS --- p.26 / Chapter 2.5 --- SOLUTIONS --- p.26 / Chapter 2.6 --- MAJOR EQUIPMENTS AND MATERIALS --- p.28 / Chapter 3 --- Methodology / Chapter 3.1 --- PREPARATION OF SOYBEAN EXTRACTS --- p.29 / Chapter 3.2 --- HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY(HPLC) ANALYSIS OF SOYBEAN EXTRACTS / Chapter 3.2.1 --- PREPARATION OF SOYBEAN EXTRACTS FOR HPLC ANALYS --- p.30 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- HPLC ANALYSIS --- p.30 / Chapter 3.3 --- PREPARATION OF 5 HUMAN CANCER CELL LINES FOR ANTI-PROLIFERATION ASSAY / Chapter 3.3.1 --- THAWING OF THE C Y R O P R E S E R V E D CELL LINES --- p.31 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- MAINTAINING OF CELL LINES --- p.32 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- ANTI-PROLIFERATION TEST WITH MTT ASSAY --- p.33 / Chapter 3.4 --- STATISTICS --- p.35 / Chapter 4 --- Results / Chapter 4.1 --- PREPARARTION OF SOYBEAN EXTRACTS --- p.36 / Chapter 4.2 --- HPLC ANALYSIS OF 5 SELECTED ISOFLAVONES IN 19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES --- p.36 / Chapter 4.3 --- COMPARISON OF SUM OF 5 SELECTED ISOFLAVONES FROM THE PARENT SOYBEAN AND VARIETIES HARVESTED FROM IRRIGATED LAND --- p.43 / Chapter 4.4 --- COMPARISON OF SUM OF 5 SELECTED ISOFLAVONES FROM THE SOYBEAN VARIETIES HARVESTED FROM DROUGHT LAND --- p.45 / Chapter 4.5 --- COMPARISON OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES FROM THE PARENT SOYBEAN AND VARIETIES HARVESTED FROM IRRIGATED LAND --- p.47 / Chapter 4.6 --- COMPARISON OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES FROM THE PARENT SOYBEAN AND VARIETIES HARVESTED FROM DAROUGHT LAND --- p.54 / Chapter 4.7 --- COMPARISON OF SUM OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES AMONG THE SOYBEANS HARVESTED FROM IRRIGATED LAND AND DROUGHT LAND --- p.59 / Chapter 4.8 --- DETERMINATION OF ANTI-PROLIFERATION ABILITIES OF SOYBEAN SAMPLES --- p.19 / Chapter 4.8.1 --- ANTI-PROLIFERATION TEST OF ETHANOL AND 2-PHEN YLCHROMONE --- p.61 / Chapter 4.8.2 --- ANTI-PROLIFERATION ACTIVITIES OF 19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES ON 5 HUMAN CANCER CELL LINES --- p.61 / Chapter 4.9 --- COMPARISON OF ANTI-PROLIFERATION POTENCIES OF19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES WITH SUM OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES --- p.70 / Chapter 4.10 --- COMPARISON OF ANTI-PROLIFERATION POTENCIES OF19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES --- p.72 / Chapter 4.11 --- ANTI-PROLIFERATION EFFECT OF INDIVIDUAL ISOFLAVONES ON FIVE CANCER CELL LINES --- p.74 / Chapter 5 --- Discussion / Chapter 5.1 --- EXTRACTION OF 19 SOYBEAN LINES --- p.77 / Chapter 5.2 --- DETERMINATION OF QUANTITIES OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES IN 19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES BY HPLC ANALYSIS --- p.77 / Chapter 5.3 --- COMPARISON OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES AMONG 19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES / Chapter 5.3.1 --- COMPARISON OF SUM OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES BETWEEN PARENT AND SOYBEANS HARVESTED FROM IRRIGATED LAND --- p.80 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- COMPARISON OF SUM OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES BETWEEN SOYBEANS HARVESTED FROM DROUGHT LAND --- p.81 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- COMPARISON OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES BETWEEN SOYBEANS HARVESTED FROM IRRIGATED LAND --- p.81 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- COMPARISON OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES BETWEEN SOYBEANS HARVESTED FROM DROUGHT LAND --- p.82 / Chapter 5.3.5 --- COMPARISON OF SUM OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES BETWEEN SOYBEANS HARVESTED FROM IRRIGATED LAND AND DROUGHT LAND --- p.83 / Chapter 5.4 --- COMPARISON OF ANTI-PROLIFERATION ACTIVITIES OF 19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES / Chapter 5.4.1 --- COMPARISON OF ANTI-PROLIFERATION ACTIVITIES OF19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES AMONG 5 CANCER CELL LINES --- p.84 / Chapter 5.4.2 --- COMPARISON OF ANTI-PROLIFERATION POTENCIES OF19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES --- p.85 / Chapter 5.4.3 --- COMPARISON OF ANTI-PROLIFERATION ACTIVITIES OF19 SOYBEAN SAMPLES AND CORRESPONDING SUM OF SELECTED ISOFLAVONES --- p.86 / Chapter 5.4.4 --- COMPARISON OF IC50S FROM SOYBEANS HARVESTED FROM IRRIGATED LAND AND DROUGHT LAND --- p.87 / Chapter 5.4.5 --- CORRELATION OF ISOFLAVONES AND ANTI-PROLIFERATION POTENCIES --- p.88 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.90 / Chapter 7 --- References --- p.91 / Chapter 8 --- Appendix --- p.S1

背景: 香港和廣州市是華南兩大發達城市，都面臨著人口老化的嚴峻形勢。由於醫療水準的提高，癡呆成為一個非常嚴重的公共健康問題。由於缺乏有效的治療手段，早期發現和干預成為減少認知功能損害及癡呆發病的最有效的措施。研究怎樣保護長者的認知功能對於公眾健康具有越來越重要的意義。越來越多的證據表明休閒活動有益於認知功能。研究表明體育鍛煉，腦力活動以及社會活動有益於認知健康，可以減少癡呆發病的風險。然而由於概念上的差異和研究方法的不同，使得目前的研究結果很難進行比較。由於社會背景會顯著影響休閒活動的參與，研究社會背景怎樣影響休閒活動對於長者認知功能的作用具有重要的意義。香港和廣州為華南兩大城市，其人口種族，基因，健康狀況及人口學特徵相似。然而在過去的一百多年中，由於歷史發展的不同，兩城市有著不同的社會系統。以上這些因素對於研究不同設計背景下的認知功能的對照研究提供了方便。研究兩地認識休閒活動與認知功能的關係，有助於評價不同社會環境對於休閒活動影響認知功能的以及社會因素對認知功能的影響。 / 研究目的: 本研究對於兩地長者認知功能的特點以及休閒活動的參與情況進行了比較。研究的主要目的是評估休閒活動與認知功能的關係，以及兩個城市中休閒活動與認知功能的關係。 / 方法: 這是一個橫斷面研究。557名非癡呆住在社區的長者參與了研究，其中香港260名，廣州297名。兩組長者在年齡，性別以及教育程度上沒有差異。休閒活動分為體育活動，智力活動，社會活動以及消遣活動。休閒活動的參與通過三種方式進行評估：種類，次數以及每週參與的小時數。一組評估量表包括：簡短精神狀態量表，詞語記憶，延遲回憶，詞語流暢性測驗，連線測驗，數位劃消測驗及Stroop測驗，用於評估兩地長者的認知功能。 / 兩地長者的人口學特徵，認知功能以及休閒活動的參與進行了比較，多元線性回歸用於分析每一類休閒活動與認知功能的關係，同時控制可能的混雜因素包括年齡，性別，教育程度，職業，婚姻狀況，居住情況，吸煙、酒情況，慢性疾病以及精神狀態。分層回歸用於分析每類休閒活動與認知功能的關係，同時控制其他三類休閒活動以及與認知功能顯著相關的混雜因素。 / 結果: 多元回歸分析表明與家人居住在一起者休閒活動的總類較多 (p=0.01)，休閒活動的時間較長 (p=0.02)。协方差分析檢驗顯示除了每週看電視的時間 （p=0.07），香港長者參與的休閒活動在種類，次數以及每週參與的小時數都明顯多於廣州長者，差異具有顯著性。兩地長者的認知功能測驗的分數未見顯著差異。體育活動（腦-身體鍛煉及有氧鍛煉）的種類與延遲回憶及詞語分類測驗顯著相關。智力活動與所有的認知功能測驗顯著相關。社會活動與語詞回憶和詞語流暢性測驗顯著相關。休閒活動與語詞回憶及連線測驗顯著相關。 / 多元線性回歸分析了休閒活動與認知功能的關係的同時，控制了其他三類休閒活動以及與認知功能顯著相關的協變數。分析結果顯示智力活動的種類與簡易精神狀態量表，語詞回憶，延遲回憶，詞語流暢性測驗以及數位劃消測驗顯著相關 （p<0.001）。體育活動和社會活動與認知功能未見明顯相關。消遣活動的時間與連線測驗顯著相關 （p=0.01）。休閒活動與認知功能的相關性兩地未見明顯顯著差異。 / 結論: 香港的長者參與了較多的休閒活動，但是認知功能測驗的分數與廣州長者卻沒有顯著差別。結果可能與之前的研究結果相矛盾，即參與較多的休閒活動與良好的認知功能相關，這可能與兩地的社會人口學的差異相關。以前的研究證明晚年的婚姻狀態與癡呆或者認知功能的下降相關。未婚或者喪偶的長者罹患癡呆症或者認知功能下降的風險性較高。香港未婚或喪偶長者較廣州多，或許這可以解釋為什麼香港長者參與較多的休閒活動，但是認知功能測驗卻未明顯優於廣州長者。同時也表明，除了休閒活動，社會因素（婚姻及居住狀況）對認知功能也有影響。 / 我們的研究表明參與智力活動尤其是參與各種各樣的智力活動與長者良好的認知功能相關。智力活動與認知功能的相關性在兩地沒有顯著差別，表明智力活動可在不同的社會環境中用於保護長者的認知功能。其他三類的活動與認知功能未發現有顯著相關性，這可能與智力活動的混雜效應有關，也可能與各活動之間其構成成分的重疊有關。儘管這樣，休閒活動對於認知功能的保護作用扔值得進一步研究。 / Background: The two most developed cities in southern China, Hong Kong (HK) and Guangzhou (GZ), are facing rapid population aging. As a result of improvements in medical care, dementia has emerged as a crucial public health problem. With limited treatment options available, early detection and intervention are likely to be the most effective strategies to reduce subsequent impairments and morbidity. Research into the prevention of cognitive decline among older persons is crucial for public health. There is increasing evidence that participation in leisure activities has a favorable effect on cognitive function. Studies have reported that physical exercise, cognitive activity and social engagement are beneficial for cognitive health and may reduce the risk of dementia. However, interpretation of the available evidence is hampered by conceptual discrepancies and methodological variations. As the social context may significantly influence leisure activity participation, it is interesting to explore how social contexts play a role in modulating the effects of leisure activity on cognitive function in older adults. HK and GZ are two major cities in southern China, and they share very similar ethnic, genetic, health and demographic characteristics. However, owing to differences in historical development, the two cities have been run with different social systems over the past few decades. This provided a natural case-control experiment for studying the effect of the social context on cognition. Hence, this study examined the association between leisure activity participation and cognition in the two cities to evaluate the cognitive modulating effects of leisure activities in different social environments. / Objectives of the studies: The main study objectives were to compare the cognitive characteristics and leisure activity participation of the two groups; to examine the association between leisure activity participation and cognitive function and the specific associations in HK and GZ; and to explore the modulating effect of social factors on cognitive function. / Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 557 participants aged 60 years and over without dementia. Of these, 260 were recruited in HK and 297 in GZ. The two groups were recruited with similar demographic characteristics (age, gender and education). Leisure activities were classified as physical, intellectual, social and recreational activities. Leisure activity participation was measured in terms of the total number and total hours of participation per week for each category of activities. A battery of cognitive tests including the Cantonese version of the Mini Mental State Exam (CMMSE), word list learning test, delayed recall test, Category Verbal Fluency Test (CVFT), trail making test, digit cancellation test and Stroop test were used to measure participants’ cognitive function. / Differences in the participants’ demographic characteristics, cognitive performances and leisure activity participation were computed. A multiple linear regression of cognitive performance on leisure activity was performed, while controlling for other categories of activities and potential confounders that were significantly associated with cognitive function. / Results: The multiple linear regression revealed that living arrangement had a significant positive association with the total number of leisure activities (p=0.01) and total hours of leisure activity participation (p=0.02). Analysis of covariance showed that participants in HK participated in more leisure activities than those in GZ, as measured by the total number of subtypes and hours per week, except total hours of recreational activities per week (p=0.07). No significant differences were found between the cognitive performances of the older persons in the two cities. Pearson’s correlation and x² tests were performed to identify the leisure activities and potential confounders that were significantly correlated with cognitive performance. The total number and total hours of intellectual activity were significantly correlated with CMMSE scores (p<0.001 and p<0.001).The total number of subtypes and total hours per week of intellectual activity (p<0.001 and p<0.001), social activity (p<0.001 and p<0.01) and recreational activity (p<0.001 and p<0.01) were significantly correlated with the word list learning test. The total number of physical activities (p<0.01), total number of intellectual activities (p<0.001) and total hours of intellectual activity (p<0.01) were significantly correlated with the delayed recall test. The total number of physical and intellectual activities (p<0.01 and p<0.001), and total hours of intellectual and social activity (p<0.01 and p<0.001) were correlated with the CVFT. The total number of intellectual activities (p<0.01)and total hours of recreational activity (p<0.01) were significantly correlated with the trail making test (p<0.001). The total number and total hours of intellectual activity were significantly correlated with the digit cancellation test (p<0.001 and p<0.001). The total number and total hours of intellectual activity were significantly correlation with the Stroop test (p<0.01 and p<0.001). / Multiple linear regression using the enter method was conducted to measure the association between leisure activities and cognitive performance. The results showed that the total number of intellectual activities was significantly associated with better performance on cognitive tests, including the CMMSE (p<0.001), word list learning test (p<0.001), delayed recall test (p<0.001), CVFT (p<0.001) and digit cancellation test (p=0.01). Total hours of recreational activity was significantly associated with the trail making test (p=0.01). Multiple linear regression using the enter method also revealed that marital status was significantly associated with the CMMSE (p=0.002), word list learning test (p=0.003), delayed recall test (p=0.002), trail making test (p<0.001) and digit cancellation test (p=0.01). / Conclusions: HK participants participated in more leisure activities than GZ participants. However, HK participants did not show better cognitive performance than GZ participants. This finding appears to be inconsistent with previous studies that found that participation in more leisure activities predicted better cognitive functioning. This inconsistency might be explained by socio-demographic differences between the two cities. Some previous studies have found an association between late-life marital status and the risk of cognitive impairment. Older persons who were unmarried or widowed were at higher risk of dementia or cognitive decline. There were more unmarried or widowed participants among HK participants. The results indicate that in addition to leisure activities, social factors (marital or living status) might also contribute to the preservation of cognitive function among the elderly. / Our results underscore the significance of intellectual activity, especially participation in a variety of intellectual activities, in maintaining better cognitive functioning in older persons. Furthermore, a similar significant association between intellectual activity and cognitive function was found for participants in both HK and GZ, suggesting that the protective effect of intellectual activity could be generalized to different social environments. We failed to find significant associations between physical, social and recreational activities and cognitive function. However, the protective effect of leisure activity participation is recommended for further investigation in future studies. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Su, Xiufang. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-94). / Abstracts also in Chinese; appendixes in Chinese.

Researchers have examined social relationships as a basic need, showing that being well integrated in a network of social ties is related to various positive health outcomes including reduced mortality and risk behavior (e.g. reduced alcohol consumption). Conversely, a lack of strong social ties is related to negative outcomes including depression, suicide, and substance use (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Durkheim, 1951; Sarason, Sarason, & Gurung, 2001). Loneliness, a negative affective experience resulting from relationship deficits, is related to similar health outcomes as social isolation including depression and problematic alcohol use (Cacioppo, Hawkley, Crawford et al., 2002). However, research to date examining loneliness and health behavior has predominantly employed cross-sectional measures (e.g. UCLA Loneliness Scale; Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980), therefore failing to capture more fluctuating experiences of and responses to loneliness which may signify maladaptive patterns of coping behavior (Hawkley, Burleson, Bernston, & Cacioppo, 2003; Shankur, McMunn, Banks, & Steptoe, 2011). The purpose of this present study was to examine responses to daily loneliness (i.e. social and solitary alcohol consumption) as a function of social integration and gender, through a secondary analysis of data collected in a larger daily process study. Results indicated that daytime loneliness predicted evening increases in solitary consumption and decreases in social consumption. Further, these within-person effects were influenced by gender and social integration. These findings provide a unique understanding of specific processes by which social relationships, or the perceived lack thereof, influence health and more specifically, mood-related health behavior.

Open burning of biomass and anthropogenic waste is a major source of aerosols at the biosphere-atmosphere interface, yet its impact on Earth’s climate and air quality is not fully understood due to the intricate feedbacks between the natural environment and human activities. Earth system models (ESMs) are a vital tool in the study of these aerosol-biosphere-atmosphere interactions. ESMs allow the estimation of radiative forcing and climate impacts in terms of changes to temperature and precipitation as well as the attribution to natural or anthropogenic drivers. To provide coherent results, however, ESMs require rigorous development and evaluation against observations. In my work I use the NASA-GISS ESM: ModelE. One of its strengths lie in its detailed aerosol schemes that include microphysics and thermodynamic partitioning, both necessary for the simulation of secondary inorganic aerosols. To overcome one of ModelE’s weaknesses, namely its lack of interactive biomass burning (BB) emissions, I developed pyre: ModelE’s interactive fire emissions module. pyrE is driven by flammability and cloud-to-ground lightning, both of which are calculated in ModelE, and anthropogenic ignition and regional suppression parameterizations, based on population density data. Notably, the interactive fire emissions are generated from the flaming phase in pyrE (fire count), rather than the scar left behind (burned area), which is commonly used in other interactive fire modules. The performance of pyrE was evaluated against MODIS satellite retrievals and GFED4s inventory, as well as simulations with prescribed emissions. Although the simulated fire count is bias-high compared to MODIS, simulated fire emissions are bias-low compared to GFED4s. However, the bias in total emissions does not propagate to atmospheric composition, as pyrE simulates aerosol optical depth just as well as a simulation with GFED4s prescribed emissions. Upon the development and evaluation of the fire-aerosol capabilities of ModelE, I have utilized it, with the EVA health model, to study the health impacts of outdoor smoke in 1950, 2015, and 2050. I find that chronic exposure to aerosols (PM2.5) is the main driver of premature deaths from smoke exposure, yet by 2050, acute exposure to ozone, formed downwind of BB smoke plumes, is projected to cause more premature deaths than exposure to PM2.5. I estimate the annual premature deaths from BB and waste burning (WB) smoke in 1950 to be ~41,000 and ~19,000, respectively, and in 2015 to be ~310,000 and ~840,000, respectively. By 2050 I project 390,000 and 1.5 million premature deaths from BB and WB respectively. In light of the growing impact of WB smoke exposure I identify the need to scale up viable waste management practices in regions of rapid population growth.