Consensus on Best Practices in Neuroscience-Informed Treatment of Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress in Military Veterans: A Delphi Study of Experts in the Field of Mental Health

The purpose of this study was to capture consensus among mental health professionals who work with combat trauma-afflicted veterans and/or utilize a neuroscience-informed counseling approach, about a set of best practices for uniting neuroscience-informed treatment modalities with the treatment of veterans who present with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS). A multi-round Delphi study was used to elicit information from mental health professionals, which led to the proposition of ways in which mental health professionals may more efficiently work with combat veterans while utilizing neuroscience-informed treatments such as Prolonged Exposure Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) neuro-informed Cognitive Behavioral therapy (nCBT), neuro-informed group work (NIGW), and other neuro-informed treatment methods currently being utilized by practitioners in the field

The aesthetic items scale: A tool for the evaluation of aesthetic outcome after breast reconstruction

__Background:__ Valid tools to assess aesthetic outcomes after breast reconstructive surgery are scarce. Previously a professional aesthetic assessment scale was introduced, the Aesthetic Items Scale (AIS). We aim to determine if this method is a valid and reliable tool to assess aesthetic outcome after breast reconstructive surgery. __Methods:__ The study population was consenting women who underwent prophylactic mastectomy with subsequent implant-based breast reconstruction. The aesthetic outcome with regard to breast volume, shape, symmetry, scars, and nipple areola complex was rated on a 5-point scale using standardized photographs to give a summed total score. Photographs were evaluated by the patient, 5 plastic surgeons, and 3 mammography nurses. An overall rating of aesthetic outcome on a 1-10 scale was given separately. We determined the intraclass correlation coefficient and assessed interobserver agreement. To assess validity, we calculated the correlation between total score and overall rating of aesthetic outcome. __Results:__ Interobserver reliability was highest between plastic surgeons for the subitem and overall scores and ranged between 0.56 and 0.82. The summed score of the AIS correlates strongly with the overall rating in professionals but not in patients. __Conclusions:__ The AIS is a valid and reliable method for evaluating aesthetic outcome of breast reconstruction by plastic surgeons. The results indicate that patients judge aesthetic outcome differently, taking into account factors that are not represented in the AIS. Professionals can use this method to evaluate surgical results, but other measurements are needed to map satisfaction of the patient with her breasts

Colorfastness of Naturally-Dyed Fabrics Using Contact Dyeing Method

The purpose of this study was to examine colorfastness of naturally-dyed fabrics using contact dyeing and a natural mordant in relation to different mordant concentrations, mordanting procedures, and heating times. Natural dyes still are exclusively used with chemical mordants and large quantities of water, making the process of natural dyeing unsustainable. The use of the contact dyeing method and natural mordant may have potential for reducing water wastes and developing a more sustainable way of natural dying. Mashed blue berries were sprayed on bleached cotton fabrics, and vinegar, used as a mordant, was applied in different mordant concentrations, mordanting procedures, and times exposed to heat. Results indicate time exposed to heat had significant impact on color change and staining on cotton rather than mordant concentrations and mordanting procedures. Further research is needed because overall colorfastness of the contact-dyed cotton fabrics to laundering was poor to moderate

An analysis of antiseptic and antibiotic properties of variously treated mosses and lichen.

General EcologyLichen, a symbiosis between algae and fungus, and sphagnum moss are both able to fight against bacteria. In this experiment, we tested whether moss and lichen have antibiotic or antiseptic properties on human-affecting bacteria, and to find out which types of mosses and lichen have the strongest of these properties. We collected samples of fruticose lichen, foliose lichen, crustose lichen, red sphagnum moss (Sp. 1) and green sphagnum moss (Sp. 2) from Bryant Bog and placed them into 160 Petri dishes with bacteria. We also recorded the pH of each type, to see if it had a relationship with bacterial growth. Although pH was not found to be related to antiseptic and antibiotic properties, treatments of each taxon were found to make a difference in the inhibition of bacterial growth. The abilities lichen and sphagnum moss to fight off bacteria were determined after they were plated for five days with gram-positive bacteria in an incubator at 35C. From our test, we were able to draw the conclusion that fruticose, when crushed, was a strong antibiotic compound, and ground green sphagnum moss (Sp. 2) was a strong antiseptic compound.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78342/1/Morton_Winters_Smith_2010.pd

Mainstreaming as rhetoric or reality?:Gender and global health at the World Bank

Background: Over the past decade gender mainstreaming has gained visibility at global health organisations. The World Bank, one of the largest funders of global health activities, released two World Development Reports showcasing its gender policies, and recently announced a $1 billion initiative for women’s entrepreneurship. We summarise the development of the Bank’s gender policies and analyse its financing of gender projects in the health sector. This article is intended to provide background for future research on the Bank’s gender and global health portfolio. Methods: First, we constructed a timeline of the Bank’s gender policy development, through a review of published articles, grey literature, and Bank documents and reports. Second, we performed a health-focused analysis of publicly available Bank gender project databases, to track its financing of health sector projects with a gender ‘theme’ from 1985-2017. Results: The Bank’s gender policy developed through four major phases from 1972-2017: ‘women in development’ (WID), institutionalisation of WID, gender mainstreaming, and gender equality through ‘smart economics’. In the more inclusive Bank project database, projects with a gender theme comprised between 1.3% (1985-1989) and 6.2% (2010-2016) of all Bank commitments.  Most funding targeted middle-income countries and particular health themes, including communicable diseases and health systems. Major gender-related trust funds were absent from both databases. The Bank reports that 98% of its lending is ‘gender informed’, which indicates that the gender theme used in its publicly available project databases is poorly aligned with its criteria for gender informed projects. Conclusion: The Bank focused most of its health sector gender projects on women’s and girls’ issues. It is increasingly embracing private sector financing of its gender activities, which may impact its poverty alleviation agenda. Measuring the success of gender mainstreaming in global health will require the Bank to release more information about its gender indicators and projects

Prehabilitation for adults diagnosed with cancer: A systematic review of long‐term physical function, nutrition and patient‐reported outcomes

Objective: Prehabilitation is increasingly being used to mitigate treatment-related complications and enhance recovery. An individual's state of health at diagnosis, including obesity, physical fitness and comorbidities, are influencing factors for the occurrence of adverse effects. This review explores whether prehabilitation works in improving health outcomes at or beyond the initial 30 days post-treatment and considers the utility of prehabilitation before cancer treatment. Methods: A database search was conducted for articles published with prehabilitation as a pre-cancer treatment intervention between 2009 and 2017. Studies with no 30 days post-treatment data were excluded. Outcomes post-prehabilitation were extracted for physical function, nutrition and patient-reported outcomes. Results: Sixteen randomised controlled trials with a combined 2017 participants and six observational studies with 289 participants were included. Prehabilitation interventions provided multi-modality components including exercise, nutrition and psychoeducational aspects. Prehabilitation improved gait, cardiopulmonary function, urinary continence, lung function and mood 30 days post-treatment but was not consistent across studies. Conclusion: When combined with rehabilitation, greater benefits were seen in 30-day gait and physical functioning compared to prehabilitation alone. Large-scale randomised studies are required to translate what is already known from feasibility studies to improve overall health and increase long-term cancer patient outcomes

Investigating the Epistemology of Ignorance

In exploring the relationship between Neoliberalism and race in higher education, I use literature such as Charles Mill’s “Epistemology of Ignorance,” particularly the component of historical amnesia, as well as T. Elon Dancy II and his co-authors ``Historically white Universities and Plantation Politics: Anti-Blackness and Higher Education in the Black Lives Matter Era” to show the continuing legacy of Black folks’ objectification of American higher education. In this research project, I argue that white students engage in the epistemology of ignorance to avoid their responsibility to social justice with phrases like “I’m not the person to talk about this” or “I have to pick my battles.” Anti-racism for racial/ ethnic equity is then thrust upon the BIPOC community, whose activism is a fight for survival. I use data from my sociology research lab in which a group of six students has been split into two groups of three, conducting interviews with current undergraduate students at BSU. In these interviews, we ask students about their motivation to attend an institution like Boise State, their race and class influence in their academic pursuits, and their interactions with and experiences of diversity on the Boise State University campus and within the curriculum offered by the institution. Some of our preliminary findings indicate a profoundly entrenched and internalized ideology of colorblindness, which tracks well with the literature on mechanisms of racism in the “post-racial” American society. As a solution, drawing from Dancy et al.’s theory of the “New Plantation,” I argue for a Black-centered curriculum to allow students like myself to finally be able to learn and not teach or have to be a show for the University’s performativity attempts of diversity rhetorics