Pilgrimage to wellness: an exploratory report of rural African American clergy perceptions of church health promotion capacity

Churches serve vital roles in African American communities, where disease burden is disproportionately greater and healthcare access is more limited. Although church leadership often must approve programs and activities conducted within churches, little is known about their perception of churches as health promotion organizations, or the impact of church-based health promotion on their own health. This exploratory study assessed perceptions of church capacity to promote health among 27 rural, African American clergy leaders and report the relationship between their own health and that of their congregation. Results indicate a perceived need to increase the capacity of their churches to promote health. Most common were conducting health programs, displaying health information, kitchen committee working with the health ministry, partnerships outside of the church, and funding. Findings lay the foundation for the development of future studies of key factors associated with organizational change and health promotion in these rural church settings.     

Neighbourhood and Neighbouring in Contemporary Guangzhou

There is now a substantial literature on various aspects of contemporary Chinese urbanization. There are, however, few recent studies of Chinese cities which examine social change and social interaction at the level of the urban neighbourhood. This paper seeks to fill some of this gap in current knowledge. It draws on a social survey of three contrasting neighbourhoods undertaken in Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic and rapidly urbanizing areas in the world. The paper explores inter alia the meaning of neighbourhood, sense of local belonging and community, and patterns and incidence of mutual assistance. The paper reflects on the extent to which market reforms are transforming patterns of local social interaction.     

The Measurand Problem in Breath Alcohol Testing

Proper interpretation of forensic measurements can be critical to the administration of justice. Breath alcohol testing is commonly relied upon to measure the concentration of alcohol in breath or, indirectly, in blood. The concentration sought constitutes the “quantity intended to be measured,” referred to as the measurand. Although breath tests always probe the same physical quantity, their measurand is dictated by statute and varies between jurisdictions. Thus, identical numerical values obtained from tests in disparate jurisdictions may refer to different quantities and may not indicate the relevant statutory measurand. This can lead to misinterpretation of results, referred to as the “measurand problem.” We first illustrate the concept of the measurand. Thereafter, the measurand problem is illustrated through application of Hlastala's breath test paradigm and Gullberg's work on breath test uncertainty. It is shown that where the measurand is not properly accounted for, conclusions based upon breath test evidence are undermined.     

Accurate STR allele designations at the FGA and vWA loci despite primer site polymorphisms

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based STR DNA typing systems are used extensively in the field of human identification. Under optimal PCR conditions, the amplicon yield from both alleles of an STR locus is expected to be approximately equivalent. However, it is reasonable to expect that rare genomic sequence polymorphisms will co-localize with well-designed primer sets and induce allele imbalance or "dropouts". Two samples were identified in the course of genotyping thousands of individuals with AmpF/STR Profiler Plus that showed strong disparity in amplitude peak height of heterozygous peaks at the loci vWA and FGA. These samples were reamplified at reduced annealing temperature in an attempt to balance the peak heights. Nucleotide sequencing documented polymorphisms at the PCR primer binding sites of the affected alleles. The results indicate that reducing the annealing temperature to improve primer-binding efficiency at the mismatch and employing an alternative multiplex enhanced the data from both samples. Reducing annealing temperatures could provide a simple general solution to improving data quality for samples where polymorphisms are suspected to cause allele imbalance. Finally, we report on additional polymorphisms surrounding the vWA locus in a genetically diverse population.