A Phenomenological Study of the Impact of High School Student Spirituality on Transition Decision Making

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the impact of a student’s spirituality on the decisions he or she makes during transition. For this study, transition will be defined as the process of moving from high school to post-secondary education and employment. Spirituality will be defined as moments of transcendence that can often provide clarity and guidance (Maslow, 1976). The process of transition can be both stressful and exciting. While supports and preparation can make an impact, it is possible that the student’s spiritual beliefs are a significant factor in the decisions that are made. The following research questions attempt to explain this phenomenon: How much of a spiritual emphasis is placed on a student\u27s decisions regarding post-secondary education and employment? How does a student\u27s level of spiritual development contribute to his or her feelings of academic and life success? and How does a student\u27s level of spiritual development contribute to his or her idea of a career calling? The intended participants will be 10 students, either juniors or seniors, enrolled in a private Christian school. The research methods are based in transcendental phenomenology which chooses to collect individual stories and look at them as separate entities that create a phenomenon. The stories will be revealed through the collection and analysis of interviews, journals, and site documentation. Moustakas’ seven steps for data analysis will be used to analyze each experience to create common themes and develop a textural-structural description of the essence of the phenomenon

Elevated PAI-1 is associated with poor clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with acute lung injury.

PurposeDeposition of fibrin in the alveolar space is a hallmark of acute lung injury (ALI). Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is an antifibrinolytic agent that is activated during inflammation. Increased plasma and pulmonary edema fluid levels of PAI-1 are associated with increased mortality in adults with ALI. This relationship has not been examined in children. The objective of this study was to test whether increased plasma PAI-1 levels are associated with worse clinical outcomes in pediatric patients with ALI.Design/methodsWe measured plasma PAI-1 levels on the first day of ALI among 94 pediatric patients enrolled in two separate prospective, multicenter investigations and followed them for clinical outcomes. All patients met American European Consensus Conference criteria for ALI.ResultsA total of 94 patients were included. The median age was 3.2 years (range 16 days-18 years), the PaO(2)/F(i)O(2) was 141 +/- 72 (mean +/- SD), and overall mortality was 14/94 (15%). PAI-1 levels were significantly higher in nonsurvivors compared to survivors (P < 0.01). The adjusted odds of mortality doubled for every log increase in the level of plasma PAI-1 after adjustment for age and severity of illness.ConclusionsHigher PAI-1 levels are associated with increased mortality and fewer ventilator-free days among pediatric patients with ALI. These findings suggest that impaired fibrinolysis may play a role in the pathogenesis of ALI in pediatric patients and suggest that PAI-1 may serve as a useful biomarker of prognosis in patients with ALI

Gibbsiella papilionis Kim et al. 2013 is a later heterotypic synonym of gibbsiella dentisursi Saito et al. 2013

© 2015 IUMS. Synonymy of Gibbsiella dentisursi DSM 23818T (=NUM 1720T) and Gibbsiella papilionis JCM 18389T (=LEN33T) was suspected following multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of both type strains in a previous classification study, where they were found to share >99.6% gene sequence similarity. The taxonomic relationship between these two strains was re-examined here using a polyphasic approach. A DNA-DNA hybridization value of 98% confirmed that the two type strains belong to a single taxon, while the phenotypic profiles were found to be nearly identical. Therefore we propose Gibbsiella papilionis as a later heterotypic synonym of Gibbsiella dentisursi, with the type strain as NUM 1720T (=DSM 23818T=JCM 17201T)

Under Construction: Microfinance Architecture and Public Health Benefits

The number of microfinance institutions in the developing world has exploded since their earliest modern incarnations began to appear in the early 1980s.1 The highly publicized successes of Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen bank have placed microcredit, and associated financial services for the poor, in the spotlight in much of the development community literature. The designation of 2005 as The Year of Microcredit, followed by the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Yunus and Grameen Bank have increased awareness on the part of a larger audience as well. This paper will examine some key issues discussed in the literature on microfinance against the backdrop of the larger debates over the traditional top-down approach to foreign aid practiced by most Western governments and multilateral organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The increasing popularity of the bottom-up, or grass-roots, approach to poverty alleviation and other social goals as practiced by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), as exemplified by the microfinance movement, is in part a recognition of the failure of historical macrolevel policies to effect significant improvements in the lives of the poor in the developing world.1 However, the effort by the World Bank and others to promote their own vision of poverty reduction is played out in the debate over microfinance practices and in the discussion about the role of NGOs in development. Finally, some specific cases of successful microfinance organizations will be presented in order to illustrate how the controversies in the field are addressed in practice.Master of Public Healt

Differences in self-concept, reflected self, ideal self, student self and others\u27 perceptions between and among selected groups of gifted and nongifted students

The problem investigated in this study was the correlation, if any, between and among mean scores of various dimensions of self-concept and student self earned by 98 sixth grade public school students identified as gifted and nongifted. Findings suggested that dimensions of self-concept are not different in gifted and nongifted children, while dimensions of student self are different in gifted and nongifted children

Biological markers of lung injury before and after the institution of positive pressure ventilation in patients with acute lung injury

BACKGROUND: Several biological markers of lung injury are predictors of morbidity and mortality in patients with acute lung injury (ALI). The low tidal volume lung-protective ventilation strategy is associated with a significant decrease in plasma biomarker levels compared to the high tidal volume ventilation strategy. The primary objective of this study was to test whether the institution of lung-protective positive pressure ventilation in spontaneously ventilating patients with ALI exacerbates pre-existing lung injury by using measurements of biomarkers of lung injury before and after intubation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted in the intensive care unit of a tertiary care university hospital. Twenty-five intubated, mechanically ventilated patients with ALI were enrolled. Physiologic data and serum samples were collected within 6 hours before intubation and at two different time points within the first 24 hours after intubation to measure the concentration of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and von Willebrand factor (vWF). The differences in biomarker levels before and after intubation were analysed using repeated measures analysis of variance and a paired t test with correction for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: Before endotracheal intubation, all of the biological markers (IL-8, IL-6, ICAM-1, and vWF) were elevated in the spontaneously breathing patients with ALI. After intubation and the institution of positive pressure ventilation (tidal volume 7 to 8 ml/kg per ideal body weight), none of the biological markers was significantly increased at either an early (3 ± 2 hours) or later (21 ± 5 hours) time point. However, the levels of IL-8 were significantly decreased at the later time point (21 ± 5 hours) after intubation. During the 24-hour period after intubation, the PaO(2)/FiO(2 )(partial pressure of arterial oxygen/fraction of the inspired oxygen) ratio significantly increased and the plateau airway pressure significantly decreased. CONCLUSION: Levels of IL-8, IL-6, vWF, and ICAM-1 are elevated in spontaneously ventilating patients with ALI prior to endotracheal intubation. The institution of a lung-protective ventilation strategy with positive pressure ventilation does not further increase the levels of biological markers of lung injury. The results suggest that the institution of a lung-protective positive pressure ventilation strategy does not worsen the pre-existing lung injury in most patients with ALI

Pseudomonas kirkiae sp. nov., a novel species isolated from oak in the United Kingdom, and phylogenetic considerations of the genera Pseudomonas, Azotobacter and Azomonas

As the current episode of Acute Oak Decline (AOD) continues to affect native British oak in the United Kingdom, ongoing isola-tions from symptomatic and healthy oak have yielded a large Pseudomonas species population. These strains could be divided into taxa representing three potential novel species. Recently, two of these taxa were described as novel Pseudomonas species in the Pseudomonas fluorescens lineage. Here, we demonstrate using a polyphasic approach that the third taxon represents another novel Pseudomonas species. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing assigned the strains to the Pseudomonas aeruginosa lineage, while multilocus sequence analysis (based on partial gyrB, rpoB and rpoD sequences) placed the 13 strains in a single cluster on the border of the Pseudomonas stutzeri group. Whole genome intra-species comparisons (based on average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization) confirmed that the strains belong to a single taxon, while the inter-species comparisons with closest phylogenetic relatives yielded similarity values below the accepted species threshold. Therefore, we propose these strains as a novel species, namely Pseudomonas kirkiae sp. nov., with the type strain FRB 229T (P4CT=LMG 31089T=NCPPB 4674T). The phylogenetic analyses performed in this study highlighted the difficulties in assigning novel species to the genus Pseudomonas due to its polyphyletic nature and close relationship to the genus Azotobacter. We further propose that a thorough taxonomic re-evaluation of the genus Pseudomonas is essential and should be performed in the near future

Description of a novel species of Leclercia, Leclercia tamurae sp. nov. and proposal of a novel genus Silvania gen. nov. containing two novel species Silvania hatchlandensis sp. nov. and Silvania confinis sp. nov. isolated from the rhizosphere of oak

Background: Acute Oak Decline (AOD) is a decline disease first reported on native oaks in the UK, but in recentyears reports from further afield such as Europe and the Middle East, indicate that the distribution and host range isincreasing at an alarming rate. The stem weeping symptoms of the disease partially develop due to polymicrobialhostinteraction, caused by several members of the order Enterobacterales. While investigating the rhizosphere soil ofAOD-unaffected trees, termed ‘healthy’ trees, and diseased oaks suffering from Acute Oak Decline (AOD), an enrichmentmethod designed for enhanced recovery of Enterobacterales led to the recovery of several isolates that couldnot be classified as any existing species. These isolates showed a close relationship to the genus Leclercia, of whichboth species are of clinical importance, but the type species Leclercia adecarboxylata also displays plant growth-promotingproperties in the rhizosphere.Results: Partial sequencing of four housekeeping genes revealed similarity to the genus Leclercia with varyingdegrees of relatedness. As such a complete polyphasic approach was used to determine the true taxonomic positionof these isolates. This involved whole genome sequencing, phylogenomic analysis, phylogenetic analysis of both the16S rRNA and four housekeeping gene sequences, combined with phenotypic testing and fatty acid analysis. Boththe phylogenomic and phylogenetic analyses separated the isolates into four clusters, two of which were containedin the Leclercia clade. The remaining two clusters formed a separate lineage far removed from any currently definedspecies. Further investigation into the role of the isolates as plant growth-promoting bacteria as well as plant pathogenswas investigated computationally, revealing a number of plant growth-promoting traits as well as virulencegenes related to motility, adhesion and immune modulation.Conclusion: Based on the genotypic and phenotypic data presented here, these isolates could be differentiatedfrom each other and their closest neighbours. As such we propose the description of Leclercia tamurae sp. nov