The Self-Esteem of African American Women: The Impact of Black Church Attendance

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of church involvement on African American women’s self-esteem. Specifically, this study was concerned with church attendance and the variable education on the total self-esteem scores of African American women. An Ex-Post Facto Research Design was used to collect and analyze the data. Two instruments were used to collect data for the study: The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSEI) and a demographic questionnaire. The CSEI is adjudged to have excellent validity and reliability coefficients (Coopersmith, 1987). The data were tested through the application of the One-Way Analysis of Variance, the t-Test of Independence, and the Scheffe Post-hoc Test. Findings revealed that education and regular church attendance did produce a significant influence on the total self-esteem scores of African American women

Addressing Psychosocial Care Using an Interactive Web site for Combat‐Wounded Patients

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98760/1/ppc344.pd

Phase II pragmatic randomized controlled trial of patient-led therapies mMirror therapy and lower-limb exercises) during inpatient stroke rehabilitation

© American Society of Neurorehabilitation. Background and objective. Patient-led therapy has the potential to increase the amount of therapy patients undertake during stroke rehabilitation and to enhance recovery. Our objective was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of 2 patient-led therapies during the acute stages of stroke care: mirror therapy for the upper limb and lower-limb exercises for the lower limb. Methods. This was a blind assessed, multicenter, pragmatic randomized controlled trial of patient-led upper-limb mirror therapy and patient-led lower leg exercises. Stroke survivors with upper and lower limb limitations, undergoing inpatient rehabilitation and able to consent were recruited at least 1 week poststroke. Results. Both interventions proved feasible, with >90% retention. No serious adverse events were reported. Both groups did less therapy than recommended; typically 5 to 15 minutes for 7 days or less. Participants receiving mirror therapy (n = 63) tended to do less practice than those doing lower-limb exercises (n = 31). Those with neglect did 69% less mirror therapy than those without (P =.02), which was not observed in the exercise group. Observed between-group differences were modest but neglect, upper-limb strength, and dexterity showed some improvement in the mirror therapy group. No changes were seen in the lower-limb group. Conclusions. Both patient-led mirror therapy and lower-limb exercises during inpatient stroke care are safe, feasible, and acceptable and warrant further investigation. Practice for 5 to 15 minutes for 7 days is a realistic prescription unless strategies to enhance adherence are included

Advancing Health Equity in the US Military

Eliminating health disparities and achieving health equity are central to US national health objectives and the Military Health System’s “quadruple aim,” which has readiness as its core aim. Because military service members enjoy universal eligibility for health care, it is sometimes assumed that health disparities do not exist in the Department of Defense (DoD). However, while some studies have shown that disparities have been attenuated or eliminated in the DoD, others suggest that significant disparities remain. Reasons these disparities may remain include that universal eligibility for care does not necessarily result in equal to access to care, and that equal access to care does not necessarily result in health equity. Priority groups for DoD health equity research and advocacy efforts should include: racial and ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, women, and enlisted ranks. The DoD can advance health equity by improving data quality, increasing relevant population health research, targeting interventions towards the social determinants of health, improving the health care experience, and integrating DoD health equity efforts with those in the US society at large

Taphonomic and zooarchaeological investigations at the middle Pleistocene site of Ti's al Ghadah, western Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia

In recent years, the Arabian Peninsula has emerged as a key region for elucidating hominin and faunal evolution and dispersals between Africa and Eurasia. Central to this research is the middle Pleistocene site of Ti's al Ghadah (TAG) which has yielded a diverse and abundant fossil faunal assemblage and the earliest chronometrically dated evidence for hominins in this part of the world. Here, we present the first detailed taphonomic study of the large Unit 5 fossil assemblage from the site. We aim to assess which actor/s were responsible for the accumulation of the assemblage and evaluate evidence that might be consistent with the accumulation of fauna by hominins. We also describe, for the first time, fossils and lithic artefacts from stratigraphic horizons not previously considered, providing taphonomic insights into their accumulation. The taphonomic work shows that the Unit 5 faunal assemblage was accumulated by ambush predators, likely large felids and hominins, in a lake side environment, and that carcasses were subsequently scavenged by more durophagus carnivores such as hyenas and canids. Less can be reliably said regarding the newly described fossil assemblages given their poor preservation and significant wind abrasion, but large carnivores again appear to have played a role, and hominins probably played a role in the accumulation of at least one of these. This study provides the first detail insights into the interplay between hominins, carnivores, and herbivores in Arabia, and suggests that watering holes have been a focus on the Arabian landscape for resources since the middle Pleistocene

Specialist Community Nurses: A Critical Analysis of Their Role in the Management of Long-Term Conditions

The aim of this narrative review is to identify strategies in use by specialist community and public health nurses in the prevention, care and management of individuals with long-term conditions, specifically chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and musculoskeletal disorders. These conditions have been selected as they are highly prevalent; a burden on health services globally and a major public health issue. From a UK policy perspective, specialist community nurses have been placed at the forefront of taking a lead role in the coordination and delivery of more responsive services for individuals with long-term conditions; whether this has been an effective use of skills and resource is questionable. We systematically searched relevant databases between 1999–2009 to identify interventions used by specialist community nurses and critically appraised the studies. This review reports on impact and value of interventions used by specialist community nurses in the prevention and management of COPD and musculoskeletal conditions, and makes recommendations for improving services

Genetic dissection of dopaminergic and noradrenergic contributions to catecholaminergic tracts in early larval zebrafish

The catecholamines dopamine and noradrenaline provide some of the major neuromodulatory systems with far-ranging projections in the brain and spinal cord of vertebrates. However, development of these complex systems is only partially understood. Zebrafish provide an excellent model for genetic analysis of neuronal specification and axonal projections in vertebrates. Here, we analyze the ontogeny of the catecholaminergic projections in zebrafish embryos and larvae up to the fifth day of development and establish the basic scaffold of catecholaminergic connectivity. The earliest dopaminergic diencephalospinal projections do not navigate along the zebrafish primary neuron axonal scaffold but establish their own tracts at defined ventrolateral positions. By using genetic tools, we study quantitative and qualitative contributions of noradrenergic and defined dopaminergic groups to the catecholaminergic scaffold. Suppression of Tfap2a activity allows us to eliminate noradrenergic contributions, and depletion of Otp activity deletes mammalian A11-like Otp-dependent ventral diencephalic dopaminergic groups. This analysis reveals a predominant contribution of Otp-dependent dopaminergic neurons to diencephalospinal as well as hypothalamic catecholaminergic tracts. In contrast, noradrenergic projections make only a minor contribution to hindbrain and spinal catecholaminergic tracts. Furthermore, we can demonstrate that, in zebrafish larvae, ascending catecholaminergic projections to the telencephalon are generated exclusively by Otp-dependent diencephalic dopaminergic neurons as well as by hindbrain noradrenergic groups. Our data reveal the Otp-dependent A11-type dopaminergic neurons as the by far most prominent dopaminergic system in larval zebrafish. These findings are consistent with a hypothesis that Otp-dependent dopaminergic neurons establish the major modulatory system for somatomotor and somatosensory circuits in larval fish. J. Comp. Neurol. 518:439–458, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Highlighting the versatility of the tracerlab synthesis modules. Part 1: fully automated production of [ 18 F]labelled radiopharmaceuticals using a Tracerlab FX FN

The field of radiochemistry is moving toward exclusive use of automated synthesis modules for production of clinical radiopharmaceutical doses. Such a move comes with many advantages, but also presents radiochemists with the challenge of re‐configuring synthesis modules for production of radiopharmaceuticals that require nonconventional radiochemistry while maintaining full automation. This review showcases the versatility of the Tracerlab FX FN synthesis module by presenting simple, fully automated methods for producing [ 18 F]FLT, [ 18 F]FAZA, [ 18 F]MPPF, [ 18 F]FEOBV, [ 18 F]sodium fluoride, [ 18 F]fluorocholine and [ 18 F]SFB. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The versatility of the Tracerlab‐FX FN synthesis module is showcased through preparation of a range of [ 18 F]labeled radiopharmaceuticals. Each radiopharmaceutical is prepared using a unique radiochemical strategy and all reported syntheses are fully automated. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/86935/1/1865_ftp.pd

Homo sapiens in Arabia by 85,000 years ago

Understanding the timing and character of Homo sapiens expansion out of Africa is critical for inferring the colonisation and admixture processes that underpin global population history. It has been argued that dispersal out of Africa had an early phase, particularly ~130-90 thousand years ago (ka), that only reached the East Mediterranean Levant, and a later phase, ~60-50 ka, that extended across the diverse environments of Eurasia to Sahul. However, recent findings from East Asia and Sahul challenge this model. Here we show that H. sapiens was in the Arabian Peninsula before 85 ka. We describe the Al Wusta-1 (AW-1) intermediate phalanx from the site of Al Wusta in the Nefud Desert, Saudi Arabia. AW-1 is the oldest directly dated fossil of our species outside Africa and the Levant. The palaeoenvironmental context of Al Wusta demonstrates that H. sapiens using Middle Palaeolithic stone tools dispersed into Arabia during a phase of increased precipitation driven by orbital forcing, in association with a primarily African fauna. A Bayesian model incorporating independent chronometric age estimates indicates a chronology for Al Wusta of ~95-86 ka, which we correlate with a humid episode in the later part of Marine Isotope Stage 5 known from various regional records. Al Wusta shows that early dispersals were more spatially and temporally extensive than previously thought. Early H. sapiens dispersals out of Africa were not limited to winter rainfall-fed Levantine Mediterranean woodlands immediately adjacent to Africa, but extended deep into the semi-arid grasslands of Arabia, facilitated by periods of enhanced monsoonal rainfall