HOW ARE MEDICAL SOCIAL WORKERS EQUIPPED WITH ADEQUATE TRAINING TO DETECT AND REPORT ELDER ABUSE IN HOSPICE

Purpose: This study explored how equipped medical social workers are with adequate training to detect and report elder abuse in hospice. This study was carried out in Southern California with the help of participants who currently or have previously worked as medical social workers in hospice. The eleven participants are all women of varying backgrounds in age, ethnicity, cultures, work experience, and licensures. In the United States, elder abuse is known to affect approximately one out of ten Americans aged sixty and over. However, there are ways we can combat elder abuse. One of the major ways is by properly educating and training medical social workers who work with the elderly population to detect, identify, report, and intervene when elder abuse is suspected. This study obtains a better understanding of how medical social workers are supplied with adequate training to detect and report elder abuse in hospice. Data for this study was collected through interviews of medical social workers who currently work or have previously worked in hospice. Analysis of the interviews revealed that participants who did receive mandatory and volunteer training at their hospice agencies on elder abuse, most expressed that the training they did receive was beneficial. Although, they did express a need for more comprehensive and extensive training that would challenge them and further their current knowledge on elder abuse. Along with mandatory and volunteer training, participants also shared their formal education, in the classroom and through internship, as beneficial in being able to identify, detect and report elder abuse in hospice. Results in volunteer training were similar to mandatory training in that participants found it beneficial because it was more comprehensive information that challenged and furthered their current knowledge. These findings reveal the professional and educational needs of medical social workers in hospice. Participants expressed a need for more training and education that would further their knowledge and understanding of elder abuse. Therefore, it is the social workers’ and hospice agencies’ responsibility to provide and participate in more comprehensive and extensive training in elder abuse that will create more adept social workers in hospice

Identificación de áreas vulnerables a la presencia actual y futura de la Tórtola (zenaida auriculata) en la sierra ecuatoriana, en el período 2015

The research identified the potential vulnerable areas to the presence of the turtledove (Zenaida auriculata) in 11 provinces of the Ecuadorian highlands, it was used records presence of the species, environmental variables collected in digital maps and software Maxent was modeled the current and future potential distribution. The aim of this study was to determine the possible vulnerable areas to the presence of Zenaida auriculata in relation with current and future distribution models. The resulting surface of current distribution map, with a high probability, obtained for the species was 15734.14 km2 equivalent to 24.47% of the total research area. The map of crops that helps to the presence of the turtledove was done based with their diet, which was used the identification of significant vulnerable areas, getting as result the cities: Latacunga, with an area of 369.207 km2, Quito, with area of 353.806 km2 and Riobamba, with an area of 254.23 km2. Likewise, was compared the current potential distribution with 8 maps of the future distribution in two global circulation models (CCCMA-CGCM31 and CSIRO_MK30) with two scenarios (A2 and B1) and along two time horizons (2050 and 2080). It was determined that Sierra region presents potential areas for the establishment of the species at the present as in future being climate and anthropogenic factors that could strongly influence the distribution. This model will help to generate preventive and measure controls for the species in the region, avoiding that the community take bad decisions that includes handling of chemicals that trigger ecosystems lost and environmental pollution.La investigación identificó las potenciales áreas vulnerables a la presencia de la tórtola (Zenaida auriculata) en las 11 provincias de la Sierra ecuatoriana, se utilizó registros de presencia de la especie, variables ambientales recopiladas en mapas digitales y con el software MaxEnt se modeló la distribución potencial actual y futura. El objetivo de este estudio fue determinar las posibles áreas vulnerables a la presencia de Zenaida auriculata en relación a los modelos de distribución actual y futura. La superficie resultante del mapa de distribución actual con una probabilidad alta obtenida para la especie fue de 15734,14 km2 que equivale al 24,47% del área total de estudio. El mapa de cultivos que favorecen la presencia de la tórtola se realizó en base a su dieta alimenticia, que fue utilizado para la determinación de las áreas vulnerables significativas obteniendo como resultado principalmente los cantones de: Latacunga con un área de 369,207 km2, Quito con un área de 353,806 km2 y Riobamba con un área de 254,23 km2. Así mismo se comparó la distribución potencial actual con los 8 mapas de la distribución futura en dos modelos globales de circulación (CCCMA-CGCM31 y CSIRO_MK30), con dos escenarios (A2 y B1) y a lo largo de dos horizontes de tiempo (2050 y 2080). Se determinó que la región Sierra presenta potenciales áreas para el establecimiento de la especie tanto en el presente como en el futuro, siendo los factores climático y antrópico los que podrían influir fuertemente en su distribución. Este modelo ayudará a generar acciones preventivas y de control para la especie en la región, evitando que la comunidad tome decisiones que incluyan manejo de químicos, lo que desencadenaría en pérdida de los ecosistemas y contaminación ambiental

Análisis comparativo entre las competencias adquiridas por los contadores auditores cpa de la Universidad Técnica De Cotopaxi y los requerimientos del mercado laboral

The labour market is often evoluting and affecting to the types of Jobs and profesional profiles. It is showed in the current time that it is not enough with the knowledge learned during the university formation, also, it is necessary to have the skills, attitudes and knowledge that allow to solve problems and work situations. The present proyect had as objective yo analyse adquiered competences by accounting auditors from Universidad Tecnica de Cotopaxi and the labour market requierements. A survey was applied to the undergraduates and two types of interviews, a profesor and other for employees. In case of undergraduates, cohort 2015 conformed by 115. The principal of human resources o factory owners which provides the samples for the results. There were 8 interviews with 6 open questions. The main results show tha majority of graduate students are working inmany different places and they are agreed with the amount of money they get and with the subjects that are taught in the career because they are aligned to the labor market. In fact, the project research shows that the contents into the subject which belong to the Accounting Engineering career are very important to the required aspects for the labor markets. However, the acquired results defined on the syllabus in the subjects do not allow the assessing the attitude, abilities and knowledge of the alumni.El mercado laboral está evolucionando constantemente afectando directamente a los tipos de trabajo y los perfiles profesionales. Se evidencia que en la actualidad no basta con los conocimientos aprendidos durante la formación universitaria, también es necesario contar con habilidades, actitudes y conocimientos que permitan resolver problemas y situaciones del trabajo de forma autónoma y flexible. El presente proyecto de investigación tuvo como objetivo principal analizar las competencias adquiridas por los contadores auditores titulados de la Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi y las requeridas por el mercado laboral. Para el estudio se empleó una encuesta aplicada a los titulados y dos tipos de entrevistas, una a los docentes de la carrera y otra a los empleadores. En el caso de los titulados se trabajó con la cohorte 2015 conformada por 115 graduados. En cuanto a las entrevistas a los Directivos de Talento Humano o dueños de empresas se tomó en consideración el muestreo no probabilístico por juicio. En lo que respecta a los Docentes de la carrera se efectuaron 8 entrevistas con 6 preguntas abiertas. Los principales resultados muestran que la gran mayoría de los titulados se encuentran trabajando en diversos sectores y están de acuerdo con los salarios percibidos, y consideran que las asignaturas de la carrera están acordes con los requerimientos del mercado laboral. En efecto el proyecto de investigación refleja que los contenidos de las asignaturas de la carrera de Contabilidad y Auditoría son cónsonos con los requerimientos del mercado laboral en cuanto a conocimientos, sin embargo, los resultados de aprendizaje definidos en los sílabos de las asignaturas no permiten evaluar en su totalidad si los titulados han adquirido las actitudes, habilidades y conocimientos definidos como competencias

Differential MicroRNA Expression of miR-21 and miR-155 with Oral Cancer Extracellular Vesicles in Response to Melationin

Objective: Extracellular vesicles derived from oral cancer cells, which include Exosomes and Oncosomes, are membranous vesicles secreted into the surrounding extracellular environment. These extracellular vesicles can regulate and modulate oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) progression through the horizontal transfer of bioactive molecules including proteins, lipids and microRNA (miRNA). The primary objective of this study was to examine the potential to isolate and evaluate extracellular vesicles (including exosomes) from various oral cancer cell lines and to explore potential differences in miRNA content. Methods: The OSCC cell lines SCC9, SCC25 and CAL27 were cultured in DMEM containing 10% exosome-free fetal bovine serum. Cell-culture conditioned media was collected for exosome and extracellular vesicle isolation after 72 h. Isolation was completed using the Total Exosome Isolation reagent (Invitrogen) and extracellular vesicle RNA was purified using the Total Exosome RNA isolation kit (Invitrogen). Extracellular vesicle miRNA content was evaluated using primers specific for miR-16, -21, -133a and -155. Results: Extracellular vesicles were successfully isolated from all three OSCC cell lines and total extracellular vesicle RNA was isolated. Molecular screening using primers specific for several miRNA revealed differential baseline expression among the different cell lines. The addition of melatonin significantly reduced the expression of miR-155 in all of the OSCC extracellular vesicles. However, miR-21 was significantly increased in each of the three OSCC isolates. No significant changes in miR-133a expression were observed under melatonin administration. Conclusions: Although many studies have documented changes in gene expression among various cancers under melatonin administration, few studies have evaluated these effects on microRNAs. These results may be among the first to evaluate the effects of melatonin on microRNA expression in oral cancers, which suggests the differential modulation of specific microRNAs, such as miR-21, miR-133a and miR-155, may be of significant importance when evaluating the mechanisms and pathways involved in melatonin-associated anti-tumor effects

Effective reduction of biofilm through photothermal therapy by gold core@shell based mesoporous silica nanoparticles.

Bacterial biofilms can initiate chronic infections that become difficult to eradicate. There is an unmet need for effective therapeutic strategies that control and inhibit the growth of these biofilms. Herein, light sensitive mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with photothermal (PTT) and antimicrobial combined capabilities have been developed. These nanosystems have high therapeutic potential to affect the bacterial biofilm architecture and subsequently inhibit its growth. Nucleation of gold nanorods followed by the growth of a silica shell leads to a core@shell design (AuNR@MSN) with PTT properties. Incorporation of nitrosothiol groups (-SNO) with a heat liable linker, enables an enhanced nitric oxide release upon photothermal stimulation with near infrared radiation. Further loading of an antimicrobial molecule such as the levofloxacin (LEVO) antibiotic creates a unique nanoassembly with potential therapeutic efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus bacterial biofilms. A dispersion rate of the bacterial biofilm was evident when light stimuli is applied because impregnation of the nitrosothiol functionalized nanosystem with the antibiotic LEVO led to ca. 30% reduction but its illumination with near infrared (NIR) irradiation showed a biofilm reduction of ca. 90%, indicating that localized antimicrobial exposure and PTT improves the therapeutic efficacy. These findings envision the conception of near-infrared-activated nanoparticle carriers capable of combined therapy upon NIR irradiation, which enables photothermal therapy, together with the release of levofloxacin and nitric oxide to disrupt the integrity of bacterial biofilms and achieve a potent antimicrobial therapy

El voluntariado como herramienta de desarrollo para el turismo comunitario. Caso parroquia Tocachi, cantón Pedro Moncayo

It should begin to conceive volunteerism, in the development of community tourism, as an opportunity for economic improvement, organizational gain, in the cultural and social aspect and therefore, in the level of life of those involved, the work of volunteering in the development of community tourism would provide substantial gains to the communities that practice it, this research of quantitative-descriptive analytical-exploratory approach, was proposed as an objective to assess the issue of volunteering through the analysis of tourism volunteers who have worked in tourism community in Ecuador, for the implementation of a volunteer program as a tool for community tourism development in the Tocachi parish, of the Pedro Moncayo district. After the assessment it was concluded that open and participatory, interclass, intercultural and intergenerational volunteerism should be established, where everyone contributes and benefits. It contributes in four areas to the development of community tourism, culture, organization, environment and economy, this latter can contribute to the financial support in the communities that carry out community tourism. The volunteer project as a development tool for the community tourism in the parish of study is viable and realistic to provide economic benefits to that community. In addition, there are gaps in solid data on volunteering that the academic community and the State must guarantee to develop strategies that take into account the universal and powerful force which represents volunteering in the development of the country.Se debe comenzar a concebir el voluntariado, en el desarrollo de la actividad turística comunitaria, como una oportunidad de mejora económica, ganancia organizativa en el aspecto cultural y social, y por tanto, en el nivel de vida de los involucrados. El trabajo del voluntariado en el desarrollo del turismo comunitario aportaría ganancias sustanciales a las comunidades que lo practiquen. En esta investigación de enfoque cuali-cuantitativo, de tipo descriptiva analítica-exploratoria, se propuso como objetivo valorar el tema del voluntariado mediante el análisis de voluntarios turísticos que han trabajo el turismo comunitario en el Ecuador, para la implementación de un programa de voluntariado como herramienta de desarrollo del turismo comunitario en la parroquia Tocachi, del cantón Pedro Moncayo. Después de dicha valoración se concluyó que, se debe instaurar un voluntariado abierto y participativo, interclasista, intercultural e intergeneracional, donde todos aporten y se beneficien. El mismo aporta en cuatro ejes al desarrollo del turismo comunitario, la cultura, organización, ambiente y economía, en esta última puede contribuir al aporte económico en las comunidades que realicen el turismo comunitario. El proyecto de voluntariado como herramienta de desarrollo para el turismo comunitario en la parroquia de estudio es viable y realista para aportar ventajas económicas a esa comunidad. Además, existen carencias de datos sólidos sobre el voluntariado que la comunidad académica y el Estado deben garantizar para desarrollar de estrategias que tengan en cuenta la fuerza universal y poderosa que representa el voluntariado en el desarrollo del país

In silico Analyses of Immune System Protein Interactome Network, Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Human Tissues, and Artificial Neural Networks Reveal Potential Therapeutic Targets for Drug Repurposing Against COVID-19

Background: There is pressing urgency to identify therapeutic targets and drugs that allow treating COVID-19 patients effectively.Methods: We performed in silico analyses of immune system protein interactome network, single-cell RNA sequencing of human tissues, and artificial neural networks to reveal potential therapeutic targets for drug repurposing against COVID-19.Results: We screened 1,584 high-confidence immune system proteins in ACE2 and TMPRSS2 co-expressing cells, finding 25 potential therapeutic targets significantly overexpressed in nasal goblet secretory cells, lung type II pneumocytes, and ileal absorptive enterocytes of patients with several immunopathologies. Then, we performed fully connected deep neural networks to find the best multitask classification model to predict the activity of 10,672 drugs, obtaining several approved drugs, compounds under investigation, and experimental compounds with the highest area under the receiver operating characteristics.Conclusion: After being effectively analyzed in clinical trials, these drugs can be considered for treatment of severe COVID-19 patients. Scripts can be downloaded at

Intrauterine environments and breast cancer risk: meta-analysis and systematic review

INTRODUCTION: Various perinatal factors, including birth weight, birth order, maternal age, gestational age, twin status, and parental smoking, have been postulated to affect breast cancer risk in daughters by altering the hormonal environment of the developing fetal mammary glands. Despite ample biologic plausibility, epidemiologic studies to date have yielded conflicting results. We investigated the associations between perinatal factors and subsequent breast cancer risk through meta-analyses. METHODS: We reviewed breast cancer studies published from January 1966 to February 2007 that included data on birth weight, birth order, maternal age, gestational age, twin status, and maternal or paternal smoking. Meta-analyses using random effect models were employed to summarize the results. RESULTS: We found that heavier birth weights were associated with increased breast cancer risk, with studies involving five categories of birth weight identifying odds ratios (ORs) of 1.24 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04 to 1.48) for 4,000 g or more and 1.15 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.26) for 3,500 g to 3,999 g, relative to a birth weight of 2,500 to 2,599 g. These studies provided no support for a J-shaped relationship of birthweight to risk. Support for an association with birthweight was also derived from studies based on three birth weight categories (OR 1.15 [95% CI 1.01 to 1.31] for > or =4,000 g relative to or =3,000 g relative to <3,000 g). Women born to older mothers and twins were also at some increased risk, but the results were heterogeneous across studies and publication years. Birth order, prematurity, and maternal smoking were unrelated to breast cancer risk. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide some support for the hypothesis that in utero exposures reflective of higher endogenous hormone levels could affect risk for development of breast cancer in adulthood

Genome-wide identification and phenotypic characterization of seizure-associated copy number variations in 741,075 individuals

Copy number variants (CNV) are established risk factors for neurodevelopmental disorders with seizures or epilepsy. With the hypothesis that seizure disorders share genetic risk factors, we pooled CNV data from 10,590 individuals with seizure disorders, 16,109 individuals with clinically validated epilepsy, and 492,324 population controls and identified 25 genome-wide significant loci, 22 of which are novel for seizure disorders, such as deletions at 1p36.33, 1q44, 2p21-p16.3, 3q29, 8p23.3-p23.2, 9p24.3, 10q26.3, 15q11.2, 15q12-q13.1, 16p12.2, 17q21.31, duplications at 2q13, 9q34.3, 16p13.3, 17q12, 19p13.3, 20q13.33, and reciprocal CNVs at 16p11.2, and 22q11.21. Using genetic data from additional 248,751 individuals with 23 neuropsychiatric phenotypes, we explored the pleiotropy of these 25 loci. Finally, in a subset of individuals with epilepsy and detailed clinical data available, we performed phenome-wide association analyses between individual CNVs and clinical annotations categorized through the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO). For six CNVs, we identified 19 significant associations with specific HPO terms and generated, for all CNVs, phenotype signatures across 17 clinical categories relevant for epileptologists. This is the most comprehensive investigation of CNVs in epilepsy and related seizure disorders, with potential implications for clinical practice