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Cultural Self-Harm Differences
Get PDFThis study is based on the evident cultural differences in self-harm behaviors and what those behaviors look like specifically for individuals that identify as Black or African American. Previous literature suggests that cultural differences in self-harm exist but very little research centers Black experiences and their connection to self-harm. Self-harm is considered a broad term, and it encompasses a variety of behaviors, some more common than others, but these common behaviors are typically exclusively explored within only a few demographics with a low Black participant pool. This contributes to the assumed lack of self-harm among the Black community but through the lens of culture, self-harm behaviors may be present differently for individuals of color. Exploring this topic supports mental health professionals better identify and acknowledge self-harm as it uniquely appears for Black clients. This reframes how self-harm is currently viewed for Black clients and can aid in the identification and treatment for various mental illnesses for Black clients. This study also contributes to a large gap in research and general mental health support for individuals that identify as Black or African American. Considering the partially supported hypotheses, it is important to inform Black communities on behaviors that are considered self-harm but currently may not be viewed as such and what those behaviors may signify about one\u27s life and mental health/ behavioral health needs. This supports individuals in seeking care when identifying these behaviors within themselves and positively benefit the Black community
Examining the Role of Intersectionality with Risk and Protective Factors in Suicidal Ideation: Insights from the 2022- 2023 California Health Kids Survey
Get PDFCritical suicidology aims to broaden traditional suicidology and theories by critically engaging with discourse, power dynamics, and social histories to draw attention on how social systems and structures affect an individual’s experience with suicidal behavior. This study was grounded by critical suicidology and investigated suicidal ideation in secondary school-age students by using an intersecting lens. The 2022 – 2023 California Healthy Kids Survey, and accompanying Mental Health Supports Module and Trauma Module, were used to identify both risk and protective factors for suicidal ideation. A series of binary logistic regression models were conducted to predict the likelihood of an individual reporting suicidal ideation based demographic variables, including race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Additional independent variables included two-way interaction, three-way interaction, bullying experiences, school connectedness, access to mental health, and having a trusted person. Results consistently found that sexual minority students had high rates of suicidal ideation when accounting for race/ethnicity, gender, intersectionality, bullying experiences, mental health access, and having a trusted person. In addition, gender nonconforming students also had elevated rates of suicidal ideation in all models. Another risk factor was bullying, as experiences with bullying continued to increase rates of suicidal ideation. Protective factors of school connectedness and having a trusted parent showed decreases in the rates of suicidal ideation. An overarching finding was that having multiple marginalized identities does not linearly increase risk. These findings demonstrate the importance of understanding the nuances of suicidal ideation. Future research should continue to expand on the role that intersecting demographic variables have on rates of suicidal ideation while considering risk and protective factors. To continue expanding this field, future research should consider alternate methods, examining additional marginalized identities, and additional protective factors.
Critical suicidology aims to broaden traditional suicidology and theories by critically engaging with discourse, power dynamics, and social histories to draw attention on how social systems and structures affect an individual’s experience with suicidal behavior. This study was grounded by critical suicidology and investigated suicidal ideation in secondary school-age students by using an intersecting lens. The 2022 – 2023 California Healthy Kids Survey, and accompanying Mental Health Supports Module and Trauma Module, were used to identify both risk and protective factors for suicidal ideation. A series of binary logistic regression models were conducted to predict the likelihood of an individual reporting suicidal ideation based demographic variables, including race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Additional independent variables included two-way interaction, three-way interaction, bullying experiences, school connectedness, access to mental health, and having a trusted person. Results consistently found that sexual minority students had high rates of suicidal ideation when accounting for race/ethnicity, gender, intersectionality, bullying experiences, mental health access, and having a trusted person. In addition, gender nonconforming students also had elevated rates of suicidal ideation in all models. Another risk factor was bullying, as experiences with bullying continued to increase rates of suicidal ideation. Protective factors of school connectedness and having a trusted parent showed decreases in the rates of suicidal ideation. An overarching finding was that having multiple marginalized identities does not linearly increase risk. These findings demonstrate the importance of understanding the nuances of suicidal ideation. Future research should continue to expand on the role that intersecting demographic variables have on rates of suicidal ideation while considering risk and protective factors. To continue expanding this field, future research should consider alternate methods, examining additional marginalized identities, and additional protective factors
Inpatient Length of Stay and Mortality Prediction Utilizing Clinical Time Series Data
Get PDFElectronic Health Records (EHRs), which include demographic information, clinical notes, vital signs, laboratory test results, and others, provide rich information for clinical outcome prediction. In this work, we propose a novel attention embedded residual long short-term memory (LSTM) fully Convolutional Network (FCN) to perform the clinical predictions of inpatients’ length of stay (LoS) and mortality. The proposed model is uniquely composed of a convolutional neural network (CNN) layer, three residual blocks, an LSTM unit, an FCN module, and a self-attention module. This innovative architecture allows for comprehensive feature extraction, where the CNN and residual blocks enhance clinical data features, the FCN and LSTM separately extract spatial and temporal features, and the self-attention mechanism focuses on pertinent information while filtering out noise. By optimizing the loss function to address class imbalance and overfitting, our model ensures robust and accurate predictions. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art methods, validating its effectiveness and feasibility in inpatient length of stay and mortality prediction
Theoretical and Experimental Synthesis of β-Fluorinated Morphine Derivative for Selective Binding in Inflamed Tissue
Get PDFOver the past two decades, the United States has experienced a substantial rise in opioid overdoses and related fatalities. Morphine is a frequent prescription for pain management following traumatic procedures and contributes to potential tolerance and dependency with prolonged use. By reconstructing the structure of morphine, adverse side effects may be eliminated. Previous studies have identified several morphine derivatives that, in theory, could result in fewer side effects. This was determined by a decreased pKₐ of the biochemically active amine group to promote the selective binding in peripheral opioid receptors within inflamed tissue (pH=6-6.5). This activation provides analgesia while central receptors within the brain remain inactive, thus preventing undesired side effects associated with opioids. The study aims to experimentally synthesize the novel opioid derivative Fluoromorphine β-C2 from a theoretical synthesis plan assisted by computational resources. A SmilesCode generator created a single-line string of symbols to illustrate a 3-dimensional molecular compound. These symbols were inputted into IBM RXN for Chemistry, an AI synthesis program, to determine a theoretical synthesis plan starting from the compound 2-chloro-3-fluoromethoxypyridine. The resulting information was cross-referenced with peer-reviewed articles and experts in the field. The first synthesis step was a palladium-catalyzed dechlorination and hydrogenation, which used palladium on carbon in methanol. Stoichiometric ratios of reagents were used to calculate the corresponding masses and volumes of Pd/C, methanol, and the starting reagent. The first step was completed in vivo, and H1 NMR concluded no desired product was synthesized. According to IBM RXN, the reaction step has high confidence (0.965), indicating additional attempts with procedural adjustments could be fruitful. This would mark a significant achievement toward the synthesis of a morphine derivative less capable of the dangerous side effects associated with narcotics
Student Perceptions of Supports and Barriers for Transferring Quantitative Reasoning in Introductory Biology Lab Courses
Get PDFQuantitative reasoning is a critical skill in biology and has been highlighted as a core competency by Vision and Change. Despite its importance, students often struggle to apply mathematical skills in new contexts in biology, a process called transfer of knowledge. However, the supports and barriers that students perceive for this process remain unclear. To explore this further, we interviewed undergraduate students in an introductory biology lab course about how they understand and report the transfer of quantitative skills in these courses. We then applied these themes to the Step Back, Translate, and Extend (SBTE) framework to examine student perceptions of the supports and barriers to their knowledge transfer. Students reported different supports and barriers at each level of the transfer process. At the first step of the framework, the recognition level, students reported reflecting on previous chemistry, statistics, and physics learning as helpful cues to indicate a transfer opportunity. Others, however, reported perceiving math and science as separate subjects without overlap, causing a disconnect in their recognition of transferable knowledge. In the second level of the framework, students recall previous learning. Students reported repetition and positive dispositions toward science and math as supportive factors. In contrast, gaps of time between initial learning and new contexts and negative dispositions hindered recall ability. The final level of the SBTE framework focuses on application. Students reported being better able to apply previous learning to new contexts in the biology lab when they could relate their applied skills to “real-world” applications, external motivating factors, and future career goals. These students also reported proactively seeking outside resources to fill gaps in their understanding. Generating data in a lab setting was also mentioned by students as both a supportive factor of application when they felt confident in their answers and a hindrance to application when they felt unsure about its accuracy
Does Choice of Media Amplify Support for Political Violence?
Get PDFActs of political violence have increased in frequency and exposure to American society via news media. Violent rhetoric is a common theme among many forms of media Americans consume, including social media, which has become an essential platform where Americans increasingly get political news information. The events of the January 6 Capitol Riots and the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in late 2024 show how urgent the rise of political violence is and its destabilization of American Democracy. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the types of news media people consume and their potential to increase people’s support for political violence and radicalization. I also investigate other independent factors, such as economic anxiety and level of education. Using Chapman University’s Survey of American Fears\u27 original data set, a national sample of U.S. adults, I find a strong relationship between Americans’ support for political violence and one’s level of educational attainment. Notably, lower than high school and high school levels of education correlate to higher support and approval for acts of political violence. I also find that Fox News audiences exemplified higher levels of support for political violence compared to other news networks and even social media usage, while feelings of victimhood had a noticeable effect on radicalization, evidence being that survey questions implicating unfairness and injustice showed higher respondent support for political violence. Consequently, an inquiry into possible solutions for how we talk about politics in news coverage should be pursued to save the future of American Democracy
Similarity Metrics, Metrics, and Conditionally Negative Definite Functions
Get PDFWe give an example of a similarity metric which is not positive definite, and present a general theorem which provides a large family of similarity metrics which are positive definite
