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Loyola Marymount University Solidarity and Global Citizenship Collection: Introduction and Overview
No full textThe Loyola Marymount University Solidarity and Global Citizenship Collection centers on an immersion study trip to Costa Rica in 2019 and provides context by considering numerous topics relevant to the theme in general and to the travel program in specific. Through the university’s commitment to mission and identity, Fellows selected for the program considered these twin goals by engaging in one of several opportunities offered through the Office of Mission and Ministry. This article provides an overview of each contribution to the special collection
Encountering Grace: A Theological Framework for Faculty and Staff Immersion Programs
No full textMany international and domestic immersion programs for faculty and staff at Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States have in common the goal of promoting participants’ solidarity with poor and marginalized populations. These programs often understand solidarity as a pedagogical instrument: direct contact with human suffering provokes a desire to think and act differently in order to redress various forms of social inequity. This essay proposes that immersions can and should also be opportunities for engaging faculty and staff at Jesuit institutions of higher education in conversations about, and even experiences of, social grace. The paper offers an overview and definition of social grace understood theologically as the remedy to social sin, outlines the characteristics of the faculty/staff immersion program that identify it as a site for encountering social grace, and argues for the immersion as a privileged opportunity for forming faculty and staff, including those who do not identify as Catholic or Christian
Companions on an Ignatian Journey: A Reflection on the Universal Apostolic Preferences
No full textThe Universal Apostolic Preferences[i] focus my sense of mission and vocation in Jesuit higher education. I offer these personal and professional reflections as a fellow pilgrim and companion on the journey. I am a lay woman striving to embody the Jesuit, Catholic mission of Saint Joseph’s University (SJU). All Jesuit university students, staff, and faculty are also colleagues in this common mission. Together we are invited to prayer, accompaniment, discernment, conversion of heart, and action in light of these preferences.
Notes
[i] Society of Jesus, Universal Apostolic Preferences, accessed January, 2021, https://www.jesuits.global/uap/
Normative Parameters of Gastrocnemius Muscle Stiffness and Associations with Patient Characteristics and Function.
No full textImpact of COVID-19 infection on the cardiovascular system: An evidence-based analysis of risk factors and outcomes
No full textOpioid Epidemic: Our Current Opioid Epidemic in the United States: Prevalence, Physiology, Mechanisms, and Clinical Implications
No full textPerformance of OpenBCI EEG Binary Intent Classification with Laryngeal Imagery
Get PDFOne of the greatest goals of neuroscience in recent decades has been to rehabilitate individuals who no longer have a functional relationship between their mind and their body. Although neuroscience has produced technologies which allow the brains of paralyzed patients to accomplish tasks such as spell words or control a motorized wheelchair, these technologies utilize parts of the brain which may not be optimal for simultaneous use. For example, if you needed to look at flashing lights to spell words for communication, it would be difficult to simultaneously look at where you are moving. To improve upon this issue, this study developed and tested the foundation for a speech prosthesis paradigm which would utilize the innate neurophysiology of the human brain\u27s speech system. In this experiment, two participants were asked to respond to a yes or no question via an EEG-based BCI of three different types; SSVEP-based, motor imagery-based, and laryngeal-imagery-based. By comparing the accuracy of the two established BCI paradigms to the novel laryngeal-imagery paradigm, we can establish the relative effectiveness of the novel paradigm. Machine learning algorithms were used to classify the EEG signals which had been transformed into frequency space (spectrograms) and common spatial pattern (CSP) dimensions. The SSVEP control task was able to be classified with better accuracy (62.5\%) than the no information rate of 50\% on the test set, but motor activity/imagery and laryngeal activity/imagery control tasks were not. Although the laryngeal methods did not produce accuracies above the no information rate, it is possible that with a larger amount of higher-quality data, this could prove otherwise. In the future, similar research should focus on reproducing the methods used here with better quality and more data
Hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes medication adherence, health care utilization and expenditure in a Medicare Supplemental sample
No full textABSTRACT: Limited evidence exists regarding the relationships between adherence, as defined in Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) medication adherence measures, health care utilization, and economic outcomes. PQA adherence measures for hypertension, cholesterol, and diabetes are of particular interest given their use in Medicare Star Ratings to evaluate health plan performance.The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between adherence and utilization and cost among Medicare Supplemental beneficiaries included in the aforementioned PQA measures over a 1-year period.Retrospective cohort study.Three cohorts (hypertension, cholesterol, and diabetes) of eligible individuals from the Truven Health MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters Research Databases (2009-2015) were used to assess associations between adherence and health care expenditure and utilization for Medicare Supplemental beneficiaries.Generalized linear models with log link and negative binomial (utilization) or gamma (expenditure) distributions assessed relationships between adherence (≥80% proportion of days covered) and health care utilization and expenditure (in 2015 US dollars) while adjusting for confounding variables. Beta coefficients were used to compute cost ratios and rate ratios.Adherence for all 3 disease cohorts was associated with lower outpatient and inpatient visits. During the 1-year study period, adherence was associated with lower outpatient, inpatient, and total expenditures across the cohorts, ranging from 9% lower outpatient costs (diabetes cohort) to 41.9% lower inpatient costs (hypertension cohort). Savings of up to $324.53 per member per month in total expenditure were observed for the hypertension cohort.Our findings indicate adherence is associated with lower health care utilization and expenditures within 1 year
The effects of repetitive head impacts on postural control: A systematic review
No full textObjectives: The purpose of our study was to investigate the association between repetitive head impact (RHI) exposure and postural control. Design: Systematic review. Methods: PubMed, Embase and PsycInfo were searched using a self-developed search term including the keywords balance OR postural control AND repetitive OR sub-concussive head impacts. Twenty-one studies excluding non-peer reviewed studies, secondary studies, cross-sectional studies, animal studies, and studies investigating concussion were included for further analyses. We rated Level of Evidence and quality using the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine tool, the Quality Assessment for the Systematic Review of Effectiveness, and the Sub-concussion Specific Tool. Results: All included studies were grouped into Category I and II studies. Category I included trials investigating the effects of controlled soccer heading on postural control (n = 8) and Category II studies were cohort studies investigating on-the-field changes between preseason and postseason assessments on postural control measures (n = 13). Findings were heterogeneous, with a tendency towards no effects of RHI on clinical postural control measures. Most laboratory studies in Category I used instrumented assessments whereas on-the-field studies in Category II used both instrumented and non-instrumented assessments. Conclusions: Due to heterogeneous findings, future studies aiming to investigate the effects of RHI on different athlete populations are needed on other participant cohorts. Furthermore, the combination of objective clinical balance measures may be a promising approach to accurately measure how, and to what degree, postural control may be affected by RHI
Lone males: Solitary and group-living male howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) behavioral ecology in a Costa Rican rainforest
No full textObjectives: Many group-living primate species have evolved the capacity for some individuals to live alone for part of their lives, but this solitary life stage has rarely been the subject of focused research. The mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) is a social primate species with bisexual dispersal that lives in mixed-sex groups with low male-to-female sex ratios. Consequently, males often spend a long period of their lives as solitary individuals. This study compares the tree use, feeding, and long-distance vocalization behavior of solitary and group-living mantled howler monkey males living within a fragmented rainforest in Costa Rica, La Suerte Biological Research Station. Based on differences in competitive ability between solitary and group-living males, we predicted that lone males would be found in significantly smaller feeding and resting trees, consume more low-quality foods, and produce shorter howling bouts made at lower rates than group-living males. Materials and methods: We collected data on tree use and feeding during 30-min focal samples on male focal animals, recording data at 2-min intervals. We measured the trees in which the monkeys fed and rested for two or more intervals, and recorded the plant parts consumed. We recorded howling behavior using all-occurrences sampling. Results: Lone males used significantly smaller feeding and resting trees, consumed more low-quality foods, and howled at lower rates but had longer howling bouts triggered by anthropogenic noise more than group-living males. Discussion: Our results demonstrate that lone males differ in their behavioral ecology compared to group-living males, thus improving understanding of the solitary male life stage in primates