Community Outreach and Empowerment through Service Learning and Volunteerism

Pace University and Vote 18 are teaming up in 2009-2010 to launch an exciting program for NYC high school kids to provide them with an in-depth experience in political literacy and civic engagement. The NYC Political Literacy Project brings Vote 18 together with Pace University students to provide high schoolers with a dynamic way to get involved with local, state, and national politics. The object is to teach civic engagement and literacy through direct interaction with real campaigns, issues, events, and people in each of the high school students’ local communities. Students will engage the events of their communities through interviews, reporting, dialogue and debate that will all be captured on the NYC Political Literacy Project website, soon to be launched. The site will be overseen by the Vote 18 student facilitators from Pace University

Climate Services to Support Sustainable Tourism and Adaptation to Climate Change

Tourism is one of the largest global economic sectors, is a vital contributor to the economy of many nations, and is highly promoted as an important means of future development and poverty reduction in developing countries. The interface between climate and tourism is multifaceted and complex, with broad significance for tourist decision-making and expenditures, as well as industry marketing and operations worldwide. With the close relationship of tourism to the environment and climate, the integrated effects of climate change are anticipated to markedly affect tourism businesses and destinations, as well as the destination choices and mobility of individual tourists in the decades ahead. As recent major natural, political, and economic shocks have demonstrated, the tourism sector has relatively high adaptive capacity. Improved climate services will be vital for travelers and tourism businesses and destinations to adapt to climate change in an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable manner. This paper outlines the range of applications of weather and climate information within the tourism sector and discusses priorities for future work to advance climate services for weather risk management and climate change adaptation for the tourism sector

Catalase-Containing Silica Particles as Ultrasound-Based Hydrogen Peroxide Sensors to Determine Infected From Noninfected Fluid Collections in Humans.

OBJECTIVE. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) plays a key role in neutrophil oxidative defense against infection. Catalase-containing silica nanoshells are nanoparticles that generate O2 microbubbles imaged with ultrasound in the presence of elevated H2O2. We aimed to determine whether ultrasound-detectable O2 microbubbles produced by catalase-containing silica nanoshells can determine whether fluid collections drained from patients are infected. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. During this HIPAA-compliant, institutional review board-approved study, 52 human fluid samples were collected from clinically required image-guided percutaneous drainage procedures. Catalase-containing silica nanoshells were added to the fluid samples during imaging in real time using a Sequoia-512 15L8-S linear transducer (Siemens Healthcare). Production of detectable microbubbles was graded subjectively as negative (noninfected) or positive (infected) with low, moderate, or high confidence by a single observer blinded to all clinical data. The truth standard was microbiology laboratory culture results. Performance characteristics including ROC curves were calculated. RESULTS. Microbubble detection to distinguish infected from noninfected fluids was 84% sensitive and 72% specific and offered negative and positive predictive values of 89% and 64%, respectively. The AUC was 0.79. Six of nine false-positive samples were peritoneal fluid collections that were all collected from patients with decompensated cirrhosis. CONCLUSION. The presence of elevated H2O2 indicated by microbubble formation in the presence of catalase-containing silica nanoshells is sensitive in distinguishing infected from noninfected fluids and offers a relatively high negative predictive value. False-positive cases may result from noninfectious oxidative stress. Catalase-containing silica nanoshells may constitute a novel point-of-care test performed at time of percutaneous drainage, potentially obviating placement of drains into otherwise sterile collections and minimizing risk of secondary infection or other complication

Optimising the conceptualisation of context; comment on "Stakeholder Perspectives of Attributes and Features of Context Relevant to Knowledge Translation in Health Settings: A Multi-Country Analysis"

Context matters. Therefore, efforts to develop greater conceptual clarity are important for science and practice. In this commentary, we outline some key issues that were prompted by Squire’s et al.’s contribution. Specifically, we reinforce context as an interactive concept and therefore something that is hard to ‘pin down’, the problematic nature of conceptualising context in implementation and de-implementation, and a requirement for the development of culturally sensitive understandings. Finally, we suggest it is vital that continued investment into providing a more comprehensive list of determinants needs to be accompanied by an equal effort in developing practical methods and tools to support use and application

Adrenal vein sampling for ACTH-producing pheochromocytomas

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-producing pheochromocytoma can cause a variety of clinical manifestations of excess catecholamine and corticosteroid. Anatomic localization of this source of ectopic ACTH is critical to facilitate unilateral adrenalectomy and prevent adrenal insufficiency due to bilateral adrenalectomy. Although nuclear scintigraphy remains the diagnostic gold standard, recent radiotracer supply shortages have necessitated alternative diagnostic paradigms to localize adrenal pheochromocytomas. We present a case where adrenal vein sampling (AVS) was utilized to lateralize an adrenal pheochromocytoma and discuss the approach and nuance as it differs from routine AVS for hyperaldosteronism or hypercortisolism

Ambiguities in estimates of critical exponents for long-range dependent processes

In this article we show that the Hurst parameter and a well-known wavelet estimator fail to distinguish on/o models with substantially dierent distributions of on-times. We identify the problem as arising when standard power spectrum techniques, which are well-dened for commonly considered processes, are applied to processes with extremely heavy tailed on-times. We provide an elementary mechanism whereby such extremely heavy-tailed on-time processes arise in a simple queuing model

Migraine: treatments, comorbidities, and quality of life, in the USA

This study sought to characterize the experience of stress, treatment patterns, and medical and disability profile in the migraineur population to better understand how the experience of migraines impacts the social and psychological functioning of this group. A 30-minute self-report survey was presented via a migraine-specific website with data collection occurring between May 15 and June 15, 2012. Recruitment for the study was done through online advertisements. In total, 2,907 individuals began the survey and 2,735 met the inclusion criteria for the study. The sample was predominantly female (92.8%). Migraine-associated stress was correlated with length of time since first onset of symptoms (P \u3c 0.01) and number of symptoms per month (P \u3c 0.01). Disorders related to stress, such as depression (P \u3c 0.01) and anxiety (P \u3c 0.01), were also positively correlated with the measured stress resulting from migraines. Migraine-associated stress must be understood as a multidimensional experience with broader impacts of stress on an individual correlating much more highly with negative mental and physical health profiles. Stress resulting from frequent migraine headaches may contribute to the development of medical and psychological comorbidities and may be a part of a cyclical relationship wherein stress is both a cause and effect of the social and medical impairments brought about by migraine

The generation of consensus guidelines for carrying out process evaluations in rehabilitation research

Abstract Background Although in recent years there has been a strong increase in published research on theories (e.g. realist evaluation, normalization process theory) driving and guiding process evaluations of complex interventions, there is limited guidance to help rehabilitation researchers design and carry out process evaluations. This can lead to the risk of process evaluations being unsystematic. This paper reports on the development of new consensus guidelines that address the specific challenges of conducting process evaluations alongside clinical trials of rehabilitation interventions. Methods A formal consensus process was carried out based on a modified nominal group technique, which comprised two phases. Phase I was informed by the findings of a systematic review, and included a nominal group meeting with an expert panel of participants to rate and discuss the proposed statements. Phase II was an in depth semi-structured telephone interviews with expert panel participants in order to further discuss the structure and contents of the revised guidelines. Frequency of rating responses to each statement was calculated and thematic analysis was carried out on all qualitative data. Results The guidelines for carrying out process evaluations within complex intervention rehabilitation research were produced by combining findings from Phase I and Phase II. The consensus guidelines include recommendations that are grouped in seven sections. These sections are theoretical work, design and methods, context, recruitment and retention, intervention staff, delivery of the intervention and results. These sections represent different aspects or stages of the evaluation process. Conclusion The consensus guidelines here presented can play a role at assisting rehabilitation researchers at the time of designing and conducting process evaluations alongside trials of complex interventions. The guidelines break new ground in terms of concepts and theory and works towards a consensus in regards to how rehabilitation researchers should go about carrying out process evaluations and how this evaluation should be linked into the proposed trials. These guidelines may be used, adapted and tested by rehabilitation researchers depending on the research stage or study design (e.g. feasibility trial, pilot trial, etc.)

Signing Off: Posting the Letter and the Politics of Interpretation in Finnegans Wake

Hugh Kenner characterizes Ulysses as a book "from which we are systematically taught the skills we require to read it." If this is true, then we might say Finnegans Wake seemingly offers little or no help at all as we try to read and "make sense out of" the text. It repeatedly undermines those skills we would like to think we possess as "close readers," while at the same time raising questions about the merit or usefulness of any number of critical approaches to the text. Working with the text over the last two years, I have been made both joyfully and painfully aware of this quality, this difficulty or "problem" with reading the text, and, consequently, have developed a real love/hate relationship with Finnegans Wake. The book was spoon-fed to me my first semester as a graduate student, but I knew even at that time that I would work with it for my thesis--a kind of love at first sight. My feeling then was that it would afford an opportunity to explore my interest in critical theory, to bring certain concerns to the text since it seems opaque enough to accommodate anything, as the history of criticism on the Wake suggests. What has happened along the way is that reading the text has helped define my interest in theory more clearly, or at least more carefully, allowing me to formulate and begin to answer certain questions about what it means to read literature. At the same time, the text for me has always managed to keep its distance, always holds the reader at bay, along with his or her interpretive assumptions. This frustration that is so much a part of reading the text makes it a difficult book to love. But those who respond to the text in this way, with frustration at not being able to make the text "make sense," would seem to miss out on the fun involved in reading a text like the Wake; they remain unaware of what it means to laugh along with Joyce and to bring that response to the text as well. Letting myself in on this laughter, reading the text with this mixed response, I would agree with Susan Shaw Sailer when she writes that "Learning to read Finnegans Wake has changed the way I read." In this sense, it is not entirely true that the Wake offers no help to its readers, as I attempt to argue in this thesis. There are no skills that I would claim (for myself or the text), as Kenner suggests, but that is part of the lesson, I think

A survey on the English FA heading guidelines for youth soccer: Evidence of compliance, but with limited knowledge of safety

Soccer heading may be problematic for neurocognitive function. The English Football Association (FA) recently introduced guidelines in order to limit the number of headers within training for youth soccer. However, it remains to be seen what the influence of these guidelines has been on the leaders of soccer teams that are primarily responsible for implementing the guidelines. Thus, we aimed to explore grassroot youth coaches’ knowledge of, views on, and adherence to the heading guidelines. An online survey was distributed to team representatives across Local County FAs. The survey comprised of three sections: (1) background information, (2) heading practices including details on heading activities and views on heading safety, and (3) heading guidelines including levels of awareness, knowledge, and compliance. 240 coaches responded by stating they rarely (21%) or never (73%) practiced heading, although they mostly perceived heading as being somewhat safe (36%). While respondents indicated being only somewhat aware of the guidelines (43%), they scored very high on their perceived (92%) and actual (based on retrospective accounts of heading) (87%) compliance with the guidelines. There was a mixed perceived change within practice following the introduction of the guidelines (disagree = 26% vs. agree = 22%), and they were perceived as safe (86%) and appropriate (81%). Factors that were identified as being potential barriers were only marginally agreed upon (<30%) and tended to be related to in-game rules. While there is scope to successfully implement heading guidelines, there is some discrepancy between the requirements for heading safety and coaches’ knowledge