Toward a Legislative Solution to the Growing HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Russia: A Case for Expanded Health Privacy

The Russian Federation faces one of the fastest growing rates of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (“HIV”) infection in the world. In 1995, Russia adopted comprehensive legislation addressing HIV and the disease caused by this virus, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (“AIDS”). The legislation prohibited discrimination based on HIV infection and provided access to medical care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Having recognized that Injecting Drug Users involved in sex work will likely act as a bridge to the general population, the Russian government has recently taken greater steps to curb transmission. Russia has moved to decriminalize the distribution of hypodermic needles for prevention of infectious diseases and has committed to increasing HIV/AIDS funding. Given the Russian government’s recent dedication of additional funding to combat HIV/AIDS, this Comment seeks to identify potential barriers to HIV/AIDS prevention in existing Russian law. In both testing and treatment, inadequate protection of private health information may discourage individuals from learning their HIV status and seeking treatment. As such, an effective legislative solution to Russia’s growing epidemic must include greater protections for health privacy. Comprehensive health privacy legislation in the United States may provide a framework for enhancing existing health privacy protections for individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Russia. Despite differences between the legal systems of Russia and the United States, Russian law, like American law addressing health privacy, should clarify the statutory right to health privacy, the remedies tied to the violation of that right, and the path to legal redress for the right’s infringemen

How Are Art Therapists Utilizing the Theory of Meaning Making in Trauma Treatment?

This purpose of this research study was to explore if and how art therapists utilize the theory of meaning making in trauma treatment. A secondary aim was to investigate art therapist’s perspectives and application of the theory of posttraumatic growth. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate how twelve art therapists conceptualized trauma treatment, meaning making and posttraumatic growth. Study participants were all female, located in a wide variety of mental health settings across the United States, with experience spanning four to 34 years. Major findings included that while nine out of twelve participants found meaning making was important to healing from trauma, many differed in both definition and application of the concept. The research study also produced mixed results in response to questions about posttrauamtic growth as a goal of therapy, yet illuminated the themes of identity reformulation, metaphor, and transformative art as potential avenues of meaning making. Findings also revealed that while the use of the phase models of trauma treatment in art therapy is growing, participants concurred over phase 1 and less so on phase 2 art therapy goals and procedures. Even fewer participants referenced but did not elaborate on phase 3 of trauma treatment. These findings suggest that currently meaning making as a therapeutic mechanism in art therapy trauma treatment is not being consistently applied or understood. The implication is that there is great opportunity to develop meaning making and growth oriented art therapy goals and procedures in both phase 2 and phase 3 of trauma treatment

ASSESSMENT IN EARLY CHILDHOOD INTERVENTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING

Information collected from multiple domain child developmental assessments, known as five area assessments, are being used in early intervention for high stakes purposes such as program monitoring. As a result, it is important to examine variables that may affect test administration fidelity and its impact on obtaining valid data. The purpose of this study was to survey early intervention service providers in the state of Kentucky to determine possible independent variables that may affect their comfort level in administering five-domain tests. Surveys were made available to all early intervention service providers within the Kentucky First Steps early intervention program. Data were analyzed to determine the effect of independent variables such as: amount and format of training in administering assessments, amount and format of training in child development, years of experience, educational degree level, certification in interdisciplinary early childhood education, and discipline area on a provider’s comfort level in administering five area assessments. The results of the study indicated a statistically significant positive relationship between the amount of assessment training a provider received and their self-perceived comfort level in administering assessments

A Mother for All the People : Feminist Science and Chacoan Archaeology

In 1997, Alison Wylie outlined an epistemic and ontological critique of archaeological inquiry to advance feminist science studies. Wylie’s work, I argue, remains relevant and potentially transformative for analysis of the cultural florescence that took place in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico during the ninth through twelfth centuries A.D. Archival, archaeological, and ethnographic data presented here suggest that women had important and undertheorized roles to play in the social transformations that defined emergent Chacoan society. Legacy data made available through the Chaco Research Archive provide evidence in support of Lamphere’s (2000) ritual power model interpretation of the Chacoan florescence. The advent of such open-access resources allows for a critical analysis of gender ideologies and praxis through aggregated legacy sources that augment analyses based on surviving, institutionally curated artifact collections and published sources. En 1997, Alison Wylie delineó una crítica epistemológica y ontológica de la investigación arqueológica para promover los estudios científicos feministas. Yo planteo que el trabajo de Wylie aún es relevante y potencialmente transformativo para el análisis del florecimiento cultural que tuvo lugar en el Chaco Canyon, New Mexico desde el siglo 9 d.C. hasta el siglo 12 d.C. Los datos de los archivos, arqueológicos y etnográficos presentados aquí, sugieren que las mujeres jugaron papeles importantes que han sido insuficientemente considerados desde la teoría, en las transformaciones sociales que definieron a la sociedad emergente del Chaco . Los datos tradicionales que están disponibles a través de los Archivos de Investigación del Chaco, proveen evidencia que apoya el modelo interpretativo de Lamphere (2000) sobre el poder ritual en el florecimiento del Chaco. El advenimiento de estos nuevos recursos de acceso abierto permite un análisis crítico de ideologías de género y praxis, por medio de las fuentes agregadas al legado tradicional que amplían los análisis previos basados en las fuentes publicadas y en las colecciones de artefactos supervivientes que están muy seleccionadas por las instituciones

The Myelencephalic Gland of Lepidosteus (osseus and platostomus) and Its Relationship to the Semicircular Canals

The myelencephalic gland is tri-lobed. The median lobe is wider than any other division of the brain and the width from tip to tip of the lateral lobes is almost as wide again as the median lobe

Runoff Quality and Pollution Loading from a Residential Catchment in Miri, Sarawak

Urban non-point source (NPS) pollution for a residential catchment in Miri, Sarawak was investigated for two storm events in 2011. Runoff from two storm events were sampled and tested for water quality parameters including TSS, BOD5, COD, NH3-N, NO3-N, NO2-N, P and Pb. Concentration of the water quality parameters was found to vary significantly between storms and the pollutant of concern was found to be NO3-N, TSS, COD and Pb. Results were compared to the Interim National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (INWQS), and the stormwater runoff from the study can be classified as polluted, exceeding class III water quality, especially in terms of TSS, COD, and NH3-N with maximum EMCs of 158, 135, and 2.17 mg/L, respectively