The Decrease in Crime Violence and Re-Offence Rates of Juveniles Involved in Musical Theater Arts Programs in the United States

Undergraduate Theoretical Proposa

Burden, Depressive Symptoms, and Perceived Health in Male Caregivers of Persons with End Stage Renal Disease

Introduction: Men are increasingly assuming the role of caregiver to individuals with chronic illnesses. The debilitating effects of ESRD cause many of those diagnosed with the disease to require assistance from family caregivers. Caregiver literature well reports that caregivers experience mental and physical health effects related to this role. However, research involving the experiences of male caregivers of individuals with ESRD is understudied. These studies use the background and contextual as well as primary and secondary domains of the Stress Process Model to determine the levels of and explore the experiences associated with caregiver burden, depressive symptoms, and perceived health in two independent samples of male caregivers of persons diagnosed with ESRD. Methods: A series of studies were used to determine the levels of and explore factors associated with caregiver burden, depressive symptoms, and perceived health status. The initial retrospective quantitative study involved completion of questionnaires as measures of objective burden, subjective burden, depressive symptoms, and perceived health status in 29 male caregivers. The second prospective study involved a focus group interview consisting of 6 participants. This study was designed to further explore the experiences contributing to caregiver burden, depressive symptoms, and perceived health. SAS 9.4 and QDA Miner software were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Results: Demographic characteristics of caregivers in the retrospective study included a mean age of 57.1 years. The majority of participants were Black, married, unemployed and cared only for the dialysis recipient. Caregivers reported moderate levels of objective and subjective burden, mild depressive symptoms, and good perceived health status. Male caregivers in the prospective study had an average age of 43.7 years. Most participants were Black, employed, and cared for one person. One-half of the caregivers were married. Four themes emerged from the qualitative prospective study, which included care giving experiences, effects of caregiving, and coping strategies. Conclusion: Results of the retrospective study indicated that male caregivers of persons with ESRD experienced significant objective and subjective burden. Overall, caregivers reported mild depressive symptoms, however, one-third reported moderate to severe symptoms. The majority of caregivers in the prospective qualitative study also expressed feeling psychological distress and depression related to the caregiving role. One-third of caregivers in the retrospective study reported their health status as fair or poor, and 14% indicated that their health had worsened since assuming the caregiving role. One-half of caregivers in the prospective study indicated that caregiving responsibilities had negatively affected their physical health. Numerous factors are associated with caregiver burden and depressive symptoms including background and contextual factors such as caregiver age, race, and hours of care. The primary stressor, care recipients’ activities of daily living status, was also associated with caregiver objective burden. Caregiver psychiatric morbidity could impede their ability to continue in the caregiving role. Thus, findings from these studies provide support for further research including intervention trials addressing the specific needs of this hidden population of male caregivers

There Has Been No Remorse over It: A Narrative Inquiry Exploring Enslaved Ancestral Roots through a Critical Family History Project

This paper explores the benefits and value of college students’ conducting critical family history (CFH) projects, which may serve as curricular material to expand students’ understanding of complex aspects of history and immigration. This article unpacks how one student came to see herself and others from a deeper perspective, particularly through the lens of someone who chose to continue digging into her enslaved ancestors’ roots. Using narrative inquiry, a college instructor and former student collaboratively reflect on the lessons learned from using a CFH project in a college-level class primarily for preservice teachers. A unique aspect of this paper is that it gives voice to a former student in the class, which provides a way of seeing the complexities and dehumanizing components of the lives of enslaved Africans in the U.S.—often sanitized out of history books. In addition, a university librarian suggests approaches to genealogical research, by focusing more on the lived experiences of ancestors that go beyond dates and locations. The perspectives from both a former student and the college instructor add multiple dimensions on lessons learned from a critical family history project, which uses students’ family histories as funds of knowledge as the primary curriculum

Antibiotic Spacers in Shoulder Arthroplasty: Comparison of Stemmed and Stemless Implants.

Background: Antibiotic spacers in shoulder periprosthetic joint infection deliver antibiotics locally and provide temporary stability. The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences between stemmed and stemless spacers. Methods: All spacers placed from 2011 to 2013 were identified. Stemless spacers were made by creating a spherical ball of cement placed in the joint space. Stemmed spacers had some portion in the humeral canal. Operative time, complications, reimplantation, reinfection, and range of motion were analyzed. Results: There were 37 spacers placed: 22 were stemless and 15 were stemmed. The stemless spacer population was older (70.9 ± 7.8 years vs. 62.8 ± 8.4 years, p = 0.006). The groups had a similar percentage of each gender (stemless group, 45% male vs. stemmed group, 40% male; p = 0.742), body mass index (stemless group, 29.1 ± 6.4 kg/m2 vs. stemmed group, 31.5 ± 8.3 kg/m2; p = 0.354) and Charlson Comorbidity Index (stemless group, 4.2 ± 1.2 vs. stemmed group, 4.2 ± 1.7; p = 0.958). Operative time was similar (stemless group, 127.5 ± 37.1 minutes vs. stemmed group, 130.5 ± 39.4 minutes). Two stemless group patients had self-resolving radial nerve palsies. Within the stemless group, 15 of 22 (68.2%) underwent reimplantation with 14 of 15 having forward elevation of 109° ± 23°. Within the stemmed group, 12 of 15 (80.0%, p = 0.427) underwent reimplantation with 8 of 12 having forward elevation of 94° ± 43° (range, 30° to 150°; p = 0.300). Two stemmed group patients had axillary nerve palsies, one of which self-resolved but the other did not. One patient sustained dislocation of reverse shoulder arthroplasty after reimplantation. One stemless group patient required an open reduction and glenosphere exchange of dislocated reverse shoulder arthroplasty at 6 weeks after reimplantation. Conclusions: Stemmed and stemless spacers had similar clinical outcomes. When analyzing all antibiotic spacers, over 70% were converted to revision arthroplasties. The results of this study do not suggest superiority of either stemmed or stemless antibiotic spacers

Identification of a c-MYB-directed therapeutic for acute myeloid leukemia

A significant proportion of patients suffering from acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cannot be cured by conventional chemotherapy, relapsed disease being a common problem. Molecular targeting of essential oncogenic mediators is an attractive approach to improving outcomes for this disease. The hematopoietic transcription factor c-MYB has been revealed as a central component of complexes maintaining aberrant gene expression programs in AML. We have previously screened the Connectivity Map database to identify mebendazole as an anti-AML therapeutic targeting c-MYB. In the present study we demonstrate that another hit from this screen, the steroidal lactone withaferin A (WFA), induces rapid ablation of c-MYB protein and consequent inhibition of c-MYB target gene expression, loss of leukemia cell viability, reduced colony formation and impaired disease progression. Although WFA has been reported to have pleiotropic anti-cancer effects, we demonstrate that its anti-AML activity depends on c-MYB modulation and can be partially reversed by a stabilized c-MYB mutant. c-MYB ablation results from disrupted HSP/HSC70 chaperone protein homeostasis in leukemia cells following induction of proteotoxicity and the unfolded protein response by WFA. The widespread use of WFA in traditional medicines throughout the world indicates that it represents a promising candidate for repurposing into AML therapy