Sinner

A short game that lets the player explore a dark labyrinth that is a materialization of their most inner sins. Currently, this game explores both Gluttony and Lust as sins

Effects of minocycline following brain injury

Bibliography: p. 39-4

The Impact of Perinatal Stroke on Parents and Families

In this dissertation, I examined the parental and familial impact of raising a child with perinatal stroke. This was accomplished through three carefully planned studies that used a population-based perinatal stroke research cohort and survey methodology. In the first study, the APSP Parental Outcome Measure (POM) was developed to assess the psychosocial impact of raising a child with perinatal stroke, including quantifiable measures of guilt and blame. The results provided strong evidence for the POM’s psychometric properties among a sample of parents of children with perinatal stroke. More specifically, evidence was gathered for the POM’s internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, convergent validity, incremental validity, and factor structure. In the second study, the psychosocial impact of raising a child with perinatal stroke was examined. Mothers of children with perinatal stroke were compared with mothers of children with typical development and fathers of children with perinatal stroke on measures of well-being. The results illustrated that the majority of mothers of children with perinatal stroke were indistinguishable from controls. However, mothers of children with moderate and severe conditions had worse outcomes on measures of depression, quality of life, marital satisfaction, and family functioning. Furthermore, mothers of children with perinatal stroke had similar or slightly worse outcomes than fathers with the most pronounced differences in their anxiety symptoms and feelings of guilt. In the third study, predictors of parent and family outcomes were examined, along with mediators and moderators, in order to better understand the process of adaptation to raising a child with perinatal stroke. The results showed that child and psychosocial variables predicted parent and family outcomes. Mores specifically, condition severity, social support, anxiety symptoms, and blame independently predicted caregiver depression, while condition severity, stress levels, and marital quality independently predicted family functioning. An evaluation of mediators and moderators yielded evidence that parental blame mediates the relationship between condition severity and caregiver depression. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that raising a child with perinatal stroke increases parents’ risk for psychosocial morbidity. However, a large portion of parents demonstrate resiliency, and a complex interplay of factors contribute to the condition’s parental and familial impact

Record, Recall, Reflect: A Qualitative Examination of Compassion Fatigue in Toronto Zoo Staff

This study explored Toronto Zoo animal-care professionals’ (ACPs) experiences with compassion fatigue (CF) using a two-phase participatory methodology. In phase one, 11 participants took photographs of their workplace. In phase two, participants told the story behind their photographs through one-on-one interviews. The data were analyzed using NVivo12 software. The participants’ experiences with compassion fatigue stemmed from issues with foundational infrastructure at the Toronto Zoo. Specifically, the participants highlighted issues related to training, staffing, and resource availability and discussed their resultant effect on animal welfare. The participants described the importance of built and sustained trust in their jobs, both with each other and with the non-human animals under their care. While the Zoo’s motto is “One TZ”, the participants noted conflict between the public’s perception of the Toronto Zoo and how the organization cares for its staff. The additive effects of mental and physical exhaustion have led to disengagement from activities that once brought joy and difficulty staying focused while at work and home. The findings will enable the Toronto Zoo to provide comprehensive mental health support for their staff and allow participants, researchers, partner organizations, and the general public to discover more about compassion fatigue in the hope that the lessons learned will last a lifetime

Parent and family impact of raising a child with perinatal stroke

BACKGROUND: Perinatal stroke is a leading cause of early brain injury, cerebral palsy, and lifelong neurological morbidity. No study to date has examined the impact of raising a child with perinatal stroke on parents and families. However, a large breadth of research suggests that parents, especially mothers, may be at increased risk for psychological concerns. The primary aim of this study was to examine the impact of raising a child with perinatal stroke on mothers’ wellbeing. A secondary aim was to examine how caring for a child with perinatal stroke differentially affects mothers and fathers. METHODS: In Study I, a matched case-control design was used to compare the wellbeing of mothers of children with perinatal stroke and mothers of children with typical development. In Study II, a matched case-control design was used to compare mother-father dyads. Participants completed validated measures of anxiety and depression, stress, quality of life and family functioning, marital satisfaction, and marital distress. Parents of children with perinatal stroke also completed a recently validated measure of the psychosocial impact of perinatal stroke including guilt and blame outcomes. Disease severity was categorized by parents, validated by the Pediatric Stroke Outcome Measure (PSOM), and compared across the above outcomes in Study I. RESULTS: A total of 112 mothers participated in Study I (n = 56 per group; mean child age = 7.42 years), and 56 parents participated in Study II (n = 28 per group; mean child age = 8.25 years). In Study I, parent assessment of disease severity was correlated with PSOM scores (γ = 0.75, p < .001) and associated with parent outcomes. Mothers of children with mild conditions were indistinguishable from controls on the outcome measures. However, mothers of children with moderate/severe conditions had poorer outcomes on measures of depression, marital satisfaction, quality of life, and family functioning. In Study II, mothers and fathers had similar outcomes except mothers demonstrated a greater burden of guilt and higher levels of anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Although most mothers of children with perinatal stroke adapt well, mothers of children with moderate/severe conditions appear to be at higher risk for psychological concerns

Machine Learning to Identify Flexibility Signatures of Class A GPCR Inhibition

We show that machine learning can pinpoint features distinguishing inactive from active states in proteins, in particular identifying key ligand binding site flexibility transitions in GPCRs that are triggered by biologically active ligands. Our analysis was performed on the helical segments and loops in 18 inactive and 9 active class A G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These three-dimensional (3D) structures were determined in complex with ligands. However, considering the flexible versus rigid state identified by graph-theoretic ProFlex rigidity analysis for each helix and loop segment with the ligand removed, followed by feature selection and k-nearest neighbor classification, was sufficient to identify four segments surrounding the ligand binding site whose flexibility/rigidity accurately predicts whether a GPCR is in an active or inactive state. GPCRs bound to inhibitors were similar in their pattern of flexible versus rigid regions, whereas agonist-bound GPCRs were more flexible and diverse. This new ligand-proximal flexibility signature of GPCR activity was identified without knowledge of the ligand binding mode or previously defined switch regions, while being adjacent to the known transmission switch. Following this proof of concept, the ProFlex flexibility analysis coupled with pattern recognition and activity classification may be useful for predicting whether newly designed ligands behave as activators or inhibitors in protein families in general, based on the pattern of flexibility they induce in the protein

Predictors of caregiver depression and family functioning after perinatal stroke

Article deposited according to publisher policies: http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/copyright, August 5, 2015.BACKGROUND: Perinatal stroke is a leading cause of cerebral palsy and lifelong neurological morbidity. Studies on perinatal stroke outcomes are increasing, although examinations of its broader impact on parents and families have been limited. A recent study found that parents of children with moderate and severe outcomes have increased risk for psychosocial concerns, including depressive symptoms and poor family functioning. Other parents adapt remarkably well, but how this occurs is unknown. The primary aim of this study was to examine predictors of parent and family outcomes, namely caregiver depression and family functioning. The secondary aim was to explore potential mediators and moderators of the relationship between condition severity and parent and family outcomes. METHODS: Parents were recruited from a large, population-based perinatal stroke research cohort, and they completed measures assessing their demographics, social supports, stress levels, marital quality, feelings of guilt and blame, psychological well-being, and family functioning. Bivariate analyses compared these variables. Predictor variables, mediators, and moderators were chosen according to the strength of their relationship with the outcome variables (i.e., caregiver depression and family functioning) and theory. Hierarchical regression, mediator, and moderator analyses were conducted accordingly. RESULTS: A total of 103 parents participated in this study (76 mothers, 27 fathers; mean age of 39.2 years; mean child age of 7.46 years). Condition severity, anxiety, social support, and blame independently predicted caregiver depression while condition severity, stress levels, and marital quality independently predicted family functioning. Blame regarding the cause of their child's condition also mediated the relationship between condition severity and caregiver depression. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse parental outcomes can be predicted in perinatal stroke populations. Moreover, anxiety and stress management techniques, marital support, and psychoeducation regarding the unpreventable nature of perinatal stroke may be utilized in the future to enhance family outcomes.YesSponsored by the University of Calgary's Open Access Author’s Fund