1,509 research outputs found
Supplemental Material, Suppl_Tables_1_and_2 - Determining the Validity and Accuracy of Multiple Activity-Tracking Devices in Controlled and Free-Walking Conditions
No full textSupplemental Material, Suppl_Tables_1_and_2 for Determining the Validity and Accuracy of Multiple Activity-Tracking Devices in Controlled and Free-Walking Conditions by Daniel V. Gaz, Thomas M. Rieck, Nolan W. Peterson, Jennifer A. Ferguson, Darrell R. Schroeder, Heather A. Dunfee, Jill M. Henderzahs-Mason and Philip T. Hagen in American Journal of Health Promotion</p
Upregulation of Polyamine Transport in Human Colorectal Cancer Cells
No full textFunding: M.C. was funded by CONACyT, Mexico with the PhD scholarship 237771/411030. Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Mark Burns of Aminex Therapeutics for kindly providing the AMXT compounds and P.M. Woster from Medical University of South Carolina for DFMO and Gary Cameron for LC-MS analyes Author Contributions: M.C. and H.M.W. designed the study. M.C. performed the experiments, interpreted the data and wrote the manuscript. H.M.W. interpreted the data and revised the manuscript. Conceptualisation, Heather M Wallace; funding acquisition, Heather M Wallace; investigation, Misael Corral; methodology, Misael Corral and Heather M Wallace; resources, H.M.W.; supervision, H.M.W.; validation, M.C.; visualisation, M.C.; writing—original draft, M.C.; writing—review and editing, H.M.W.. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.Peer reviewe
Institutional Racism and the Dynamics of Privilege in Public Health
No full textInstitutional racism, a pattern of differential access to material resources and power determined by race, advantages one sector of the population while disadvantaging another. Such racism is not only about conspicuous acts of violence but can be carried in the hold of mono-cultural perspectives. Overt state violation of principles contributes to the backdrop against which much less overt yet insidious violations occur. New Zealand health policy is one such mono-cultural domain. It is dominated by western bio-medical discourses that preclude and under-value Māori, the indigenous peoples of this land, in the conceptualisation, structure, content, and processes of health policies, despite Te Tiriti o Waitangi guarantees to protect Māori interests.
Since the 1980s, the Department of Health has committed to honouring the Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of Māori-settler relationships and governance arrangements. Subsequent Waitangi Tribunal reports, produced by an independent Commission of Inquiry have documented the often-illegal actions of successive governments advancing the interests of Pākehā at the expense of Māori. Institutional controls have not prevented inequities between Māori and non-Māori across a plethora of social and economic indicators.
Activist scholars work to expose and transform perceived inequities. My research interest lies in how Crown Ministers and officials within the public health sector practice institutional racism and privilege and how it can be transformed. Through dialogue with Māori working within the health sector, fuelled by critical analysis and strategic advice from a research whānau (family) of Māori health leaders and a Pākehā Tiriti worker, and embracing the traditions of feminist and critical race theory I provide evidence of racism that can invoke strong emotional reactions. More disturbing is its normalisation to nigh imperceptibility within ones personal and professional life. The exposure of racism as a socially created phenomenon is a strength of the research presented here.
My action orientation is my ethical response. Honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a pathway to transforming racism. Such change is likely to be resisted by the Pākehā majority. This anticipated resistance is not a credible reason to weaken responsibility for such necessary change. Transforming institutional racism needs to be driven by senior managers, professional bodies, unions, and by communities. Policies, practices and leadership that enable institutional racism need to be systematically eliminated from the health sector. Crown officials must be supported to strengthen their professional accountabilities and to embrace ethical bicultural practice. Greater transparency could enable more effective monitoring of Crown behaviour and support transformed practice
The relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and social-emotional competence in at-risk girls
No full textLittle is known about the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and social-emotional competence in ethnic minority middle school girls. These children face a number of challenges related to their minority status, peer relationships, school transition, and entry into adolescence. School psychologists have attempted to increase the chances of success among this population by trying to build their resilience. Unfortunately, there is little prior research on the relationship between protective factors such as self-efficacy, optimism, social skills, and pro-social classroom behaviors for this unique population. A goal of this study was to generate data that would appropriately inform social and emotional interventions. This study examined the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and social-emotional competence in 16 at-risk 7th and 8th grade students over the course of one school year. A cross-lagged panel design determined the trajectory of change among self-efficacy beliefs and social-emotional competence variables over time. Crosstab and chi-square analyses examined relationships among variables on an individual level. The strongest relationships were found among the same variables over time, indicating that interventions should focus on a single skill set of concern for the greatest improvement in that skill set over time. Some data suggest a relationship between optimism and social-emotional competence, which would indicate that optimism interventions may be helpful in improving social-emotional competence for this population. Optimism may be necessary but not sufficient for improvement in social-emotional competence. Future research may benefit from examining these relationships across a longer period of time and examining how different cultural variables may impact our understanding of the relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and social-emotional competence.Psy. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Heather M. Hame
The sticky resting box, a new tool for studying resting behaviour of Afrotropical malaria vectors
No full textBackground:
Monitoring densities of adult mosquito populations is a major challenge in efforts to evaluate the epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases, and their response to vector control interventions. In the case of malaria, collection of outdoor-resting Anophelines is rarely incorporated into surveillance and control, partially due to the lack of standardized collection tools. Such an approach, however, is increasingly important to investigate possible changes in mosquito behaviour in response to the scale up of Insecticide Treated Nets and Indoor Residual Spraying. In this study we evaluated the Sticky Resting Box (SRB) - i.e. a sticky variant of previously investigated mosquito Resting Box, which allows passive collection of mosquitoes entering the box – and compared its performance against traditional methods for indoor and outdoor resting mosquito sampling.<p></p>
Methods:
Daily collections were carried out in two neighbouring villages of Burkina Faso during rainy season 2011 and dry season 2012 by SRB located indoors and outdoors, and by Back-Pack aspiration inside houses (BP) and in ad hoc built outdoor pit-shelters (PIT).<p></p>
Results:
Overall, almost 20,000 Culicidae specimens belonging to 16 species were collected and morphologically identified. Malaria vectors included Anopheles coluzzii (53%), An. arabiensis (12%), An. gambiae s.s. (2.0%) and An. funestus (4.5%). The diversity of species collected in the two villages was similar for SRB and PIT collections outdoors, and significantly higher for SRB than for BP indoors. The population dynamics of An. gambiae s.l. mosquitoes, as obtained by SRB-collections was significantly correlated with those obtained by the traditional methods. The predicted mean estimates of An. gambiae s.l. specimens/sampling-unit/night-of-collections was 6- and 5-times lower for SRB than for BP indoors and PIT outdoors, respectively.<p></p>
Conclusions:
Overall, the daily performance of SRB in terms of number of malaria vectors/trap was lower than that of traditionally used approaches for in- and outdoor collections. However, unlike these methods, SRB could be set up to collect mosquitoes passively over at least a week. This makes SRB a promising tool for passively monitoring anopheline resting populations, with data presented here providing guidance for how to set up SRB-based collections to acquire information comparable to those obtained with other methods.<p></p>
Using imagery to solve spatial problems
No full textThis report focuses on the use of imagery to solve a range of spatial problems. The research projects reviewed in this report offer some insight into the range of strategies used by solvers of spatial problems and point to relationships between spatial and verbal skills
Toxicological profile for dinitrotoluenes
No full textA Toxicological Profile for Dinitrotoluenes, Draft for Public Comment was released in April 2013. This edition supersedes any previously released draft or final profile.Chemical manager(s)/author(s): Carolyn Harper, Nickolette Roney, Mike Fay, Selene Chou, Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences, Atlanta, GA;Heather Carlson-Lynch, Julie M. Klotzbach, Kelly Salinas, H. Danielle Johnson, Mario Citra, SRC, Inc., North Syracuse, NY
Dialogue and Collaboration in the Creation of New Works for Clarinet
No full textThis PhD thesis explores dialogue-based, “intimate” collaboration through the creation of new works for clarinet. It borrows from Grounded Theory in order to facilitate an analysis through which emergent themes within a dialogue-based
collaboration are discovered. The aim has not been to insist on one model of collaboration, but to discover methods for improving one’s collaborative skills and to identify ways in which one benefits from a focus on dialogue in
collaboration. Furthermore, it aims to suggest that through collaboration one can make discoveries about the instrument: original contributions to clarinet technique are made within this thesis. The literature from which the research draws inspiration to further collaborative “technique” is cross-disciplinary and wide-ranging: it draws from social theory, collaborative creative writing, dance, the visual arts and of course, music. Added to this is a select discussion of collaboration throughout the repertoire of the clarinet. Finally, this consists of practice-based research. Seven new pieces for clarinet accompany the text
Dietary nitrate increases arginine availability and protects mitochondrial complex I and energetics in the hypoxic rat heart
No full textHypoxic exposure is associated with impaired cardiac energetics in humans and altered mitochondrial function, with suppressed complex I-supported respiration, in rat heart. This response might limit reactive oxygen species generation, but at the cost of impaired electron transport chain (ETC) activity. Dietary nitrate supplementation improves mitochondrial efficiency and can promote tissue oxygenation by enhancing blood flow. We therefore hypothesised that ETC dysfunction, impaired energetics and oxidative damage in the hearts of rats exposed to chronic hypoxia could be alleviated by sustained administration of a moderate dose of dietary nitrate. Male Wistar rats (n = 40) were given water supplemented with 0.7 mmol l(-1) NaCl (as control) or 0.7 mmol l(-1) NaNO3, elevating plasma nitrate levels by 80%, and were exposed to 13% O2 (hypoxia) or normoxia (n = 10 per group) for 14 days. Respiration rates, ETC protein levels, mitochondrial density, ATP content and protein carbonylation were measured in cardiac muscle. Complex I respiration rates and protein levels were 33% lower in hypoxic/NaCl rats compared with normoxic/NaCl controls. Protein carbonylation was 65% higher in hearts of hypoxic rats compared with controls, indicating increased oxidative stress, whilst ATP levels were 62% lower. Respiration rates, complex I protein and activity, protein carbonylation and ATP levels were all fully protected in the hearts of nitrate-supplemented hypoxic rats. Both in normoxia and hypoxia, dietary nitrate suppressed cardiac arginase expression and activity and markedly elevated cardiac l-arginine concentrations, unmasking a novel mechanism of action by which nitrate enhances tissue NO bioavailability. Dietary nitrate therefore alleviates metabolic abnormalities in the hypoxic heart, improving myocardial energetics
Heather M. Erb, The Path of Spiritual Happiness
No full textOne of the most famous political documents, The Declaration of Independence, claims that our Creator has created everyone with the right to the pursuit of happiness. When asked about what they think the happiness actually is that one has a right to pursue, many students respond in a relativist manner, claiming that it is different for everyone, or rather, it is what each determines it to be. It can be difficult to get students to entertain the possibility that there might be an objective understanding of happiness that everyone is called to achieve. That is why I am glad Professor Heather Erb has written this excellent book. In the introduction we discover that her motivation for this book is the unfortunate state of affairs where there appears to be an emphasis on the pursuit of ephemeral desires and too little desire for truth and wonderment about reality. One is reminded of the infamous Rolling Stones, who tell us we can’t get our satisfaction no matter how hard we try. The author makes the case that only in the two sources of reason and revelation, as transmitted by Christian philosophy and theology, is a reflective and authentic spiritual happiness to be found
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