Applying forgiveness therapy to survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV)

Twenty-five percent of women in the United States will report some form of intimate partner violence (IPV) within their lifetimes (Mac, Ferron, & Crosby, 2009). At these rates, IPV has become an epidemic, touching the lives of most people. The effects of lPV on victim\u27s physical and psychological health may be severe and chronic (Weaver & Clum, 1995). Finding potent therapy approaches with this population is essential. The author of this paper proposes forgiveness therapy as an approach worthy of further investigation. This paper focuses on explaining what forgiveness is and is not, describes common sequelae of lPV, reviews Enright\u27s model of forgiveness therapy, and a brief literature review of research concerning forgiveness therapy and its application to participants who have endured deep hurts

Strategies Framed Within Transformational Leadership That African American Female Principals Use to Retain Teachers in Texas High-Poverty Schools: A Case Study

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe strategies framed within transformational leadership that exemplary African American female principals implement to retain teachers in Texas high-poverty schools. Participants of this case study included 10 African American female principals from elementary, middle, high, and alternative Title 1 schools within the state of Texas. All of the principals had been on their campus at least 2 years and had a 75% or higher retention rate on their campus. The participants were asked questions based on the 4 categories of transformational leadership: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, individualized consideration, and intellectual stimulation. The researcher interviewed all the participants on their respective campuses, transcribed the data, member checked, and then analyzed for common themes. The findings indicated that effective communication, creating campus leadership teams, developing positive principal-teacher relationships, developing positive relationships with students and parents, and having a personal commitment to specific goals were important in retaining teachers. The findings also suggested that when principals effectively train staff, are attentive to the needs of staff, give staff positive praise and activities, and allow uninhibited conversations they are likely to stay on that campus. Implementing the Bambrick model, providing effective professional development (learning), and developing continual learners within the field of education were also found to increase teacher retention. In addition, when principals give teachers autonomy, engage in weekly reviews of lesson plans, and implement effective walkthroughs, teachers remain on their campuses. When all these strategies are completed with fidelity, the rate of teachers remaining in the profession should increase on campuses where African American and Hispanic students are the majority

Leaf Beetles of the Cayman Islands (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Data are presented for 29 chrysomelid species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) occurring in the Cayman Islands, West Indies, 26 of these not having been reported from these islands previously. Altica occidentalis Suffrian is removed from the genus Lysathia Bechyné and reinstated in Altica Geoffroy. Chaetocnema perplexa Blake is synonymized with Chaetocnema confinis Crotch, new synonymy. Omophoita cyanipennis octomaculata (Crotch) is synonymized with Omophoita cyanipennis (Fabricius), new synonymy. The following nine species are named and described: Apraea luciae, Apraea priscilae, Cryptocephalus catharinae, Cryptocephalus kirki, Cryptocephalus paulotigrinus, Longitarsus alisonae, Megistops adiae, Nyctiplanctus bifasciatus, Syphrea thurstonae, all are new species. Taxonomic notes and a key to species, as well as information on plant associations and extralimital distribution, are also provided

Elucidating the Mechanism of Action of Unnatural Amino Acid Containing Antimicrobial Peptides in Membrane Environments

Organism resistance continues to develop to the currently available antimicrobial compounds necessitating the development of innovative new therapeutic compounds with different specificities and mechanisms of action that provide acceptable therapeutic indices. Unnatural amino acid containing antimicrobial peptides could provide a novel avenue for the development of therapies with improved efficacy and pharmacokinetics over natural amino acid containing peptides which are prone to protease degradation.  Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of antimicrobial peptides containing unnatural amino acids have been performed using explicit water and multiple model membrane types in all-atom simulations. The structural properties of peptides were investigated using both the canonical and isothermal-isobaric ensembles to further understand the mechanism through which the collections of AMPs exert their in vitro activity.   Simulations with micelle membrane models were conducted at 300 K to correlate with experimental circular dichroism (CD) data showing the secondary structure the peptides adopt in the presence of an electrostatic membrane model. Analysis of the stabilized MD trajectory reflects peptide structural consistency with experimental data.  Simulations of the peptides with bilayer model membranes were conducted at the physiologically relevant 310 K to correlate with experimental cellular activity data which demonstrated the antimicrobial activity of the peptides without providing insight into the mechanism through which the activity was achieved. Long time scale simulations have noted distinct differences between bilayers in the presence of AMPs as compared to those without the peptide. Mixed bilayers with an anionic charge modeled bacterial membranes while a confluent zwitterionic bilayer modeled the mammalian membrane.  This research has demonstrated that force field parameters for unnatural amino acids can be derived from QM calculations. FF parameters derived from structures identified from a DFT approach have also been used to expand the AMBER ff03 force field. The FF parameters were able to able to model the interaction of the peptides which contain unnatural amino acids. The data is consistent with NMR data and further supported with CD spectroscopy.  Ph.D

Understanding School Climate, Chronic Absenteeism, and Effective Practices for Improving Absenteeism at a Private High School

Student absenteeism in high school continues to be a nationwide educational challenge. In manifestation of this problem, a private high school in Utah was identified as having a significant number of students with excessive absenteeism. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s socio-ecological theory and Baumrind’s authoritative model, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore teacher and administrator perceptions about school climate and how to improve chronic absenteeism (CA). The research questions focused on how faculty perceived school climate, its effect on student absenteeism, and best practices being used to encourage attendance. The data collection included a) descriptive information from 13 participants (12 teachers, 1 administrator) from the School Climate Assessment Instrument, b) 3 semi-structured interviews (2 teachers, 1 administrator), and c) archival data, including 4 years of attendance records. Data analyses included descriptive statistics derived from the attendance records and thematic analysis of the survey and interview data. Despite the study participants perceiving the school as having an overall positve school climate, the attendance records served to establish that the school exhibits CA. The key findings of the study revealed 3 major themes pertaining to the school climate, promoting attendance, and the reduction of CA, including student engagement and connectivity, practices encouraging school attendance, and student achievement. Based on the findings, a 3-day professional development course suggesting best practices to improve student attendance was created. Implementing a solution-based program may promote positive social change for students and staff

Failure to meet aerobic fitness standards among urban elementary students

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship of aerobic fitness with the elementary school environment and student characteristics among 4th and 5th grade children attending urban public schools in St. Louis, MO, USA. This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2012–2015 and included 2381 children (mean age 10.5 y) who completed the FITNESSGRAM® 20-m Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run. Healthy Fitness Zone (HFZ) was defined according to FITNESSGRAM® aerobic capacity criteria. Other student-level variables included age, race, National School Lunch Program eligibility, BMI z-score, weight status, and daily pedometer steps. School environment variables included playground features and playground safety, physical education and recess practices, and school census tract data on vacant houses and median household income. Bivariate analyses with sex stratification were used to identify student-level and school-level predictors of failure to achieve the aerobic HFZ; predictors were then included in a multivariable logistic regression model. Failure to meet the aerobic HFZ was observed among 33% of boys and 57% of girls. School environment was not predictive, but higher age and fewer daily steps were: each additional year of age was associated with 41% higher odds of failing to meet the aerobic HFZ among boys and 100% higher odds among girls. Conversely, each additional 1000 daily steps was associated with 15% (boys) and 13% (girls) lower odds of failure. Obesity posed a 60% higher risk of failure to meet HFZ among girls. These results highlight the importance of childhood physical activity opportunities, especially for girls residing in low-resource areas. Keywords: Aerobic fitness, School, Environment, Student, Child, Urban, Low-resourc

Rigidity analysis of protein biological assemblies and periodic crystal structures

Background We initiate in silico rigidity-theoretical studies of biological assemblies and small crystals for protein structures. The goal is to determine if, and how, the interactions among neighboring cells and subchains affect the flexibility of a molecule in its crystallized state. We use experimental X-ray crystallography data from the Protein Data Bank (PDB). The analysis relies on an effcient graph-based algorithm. Computational experiments were performed using new protein rigidity analysis tools available in the new release of our KINARI-Web server http://kinari.cs.umass.edu. Results We provide two types of results: on biological assemblies and on crystals. We found that when only isolated subchains are considered, structural and functional information may be missed. Indeed, the rigidity of biological assemblies is sometimes dependent on the count and placement of hydrogen bonds and other interactions among the individual subchains of the biological unit. Similarly, the rigidity of small crystals may be affected by the interactions between atoms belonging to different unit cells. We have analyzed a dataset of approximately 300 proteins, from which we generated 982 crystals (some of which are biological assemblies). We identified two types of behaviors. (a) Some crystals and/or biological assemblies will aggregate into rigid bodies that span multiple unit cells/asymmetric units. Some of them create substantially larger rigid cluster in the crystal/biological assembly form, while in other cases, the aggregation has a smaller effect just at the interface between the units. (b) In other cases, the rigidity properties of the asymmetric units are retained, because the rigid bodies did not combine. We also identified two interesting cases where rigidity analysis may be correlated with the functional behavior of the protein. This type of information, identified here for the first time, depends critically on the ability to create crystals and biological assemblies, and would not have been observed only from the asymmetric unit. For the Ribonuclease A protein (PDB file 5RSA), which is functionally active in the crystallized form, we found that the individual protein and its crystal form retain the flexibility parameters between the two states. In contrast, a derivative of Ribonuclease A (PDB file 9RSA), has no functional activity, and the protein in both the asymmetric and crystalline forms, is very rigid. For the vaccinia virus D13 scaffolding protein (PDB file 3SAQ), which has two biological assemblies, we observed a striking asymmetry in the rigidity cluster decomposition of one of them, which seems implausible, given its symmetry. Upon careful investigation, we tracked the cause to a placement decision by the Reduce software concerning the hydrogen atoms, thus affecting the distribution of certain hydrogen bonds. The surprising result is that the presence or lack of a very few, but critical, hydrogen bonds, can drastically affect the rigid cluster decomposition of the biological assembly. Conclusion The rigidity analysis of a single asymmetric unit may not accurately reflect the protein\u27s behavior in the tightly packed crystal environment. Using our KINARI software, we demonstrated that additional functional and rigidity information can be gained by analyzing a protein\u27s biological assembly and/or crystal structure. However, performing a larger scale study would be computationally expensive (due to the size of the molecules involved). Overcoming this limitation will require novel mathematical and computational extensions to our software

IRAS 18357-0604 – an analogue of the galactic yellow hypergiant IRC +10420?

Context. Yellow hypergiants represent a short-lived evolutionary episode experienced by massive stars as they transit to and from a red supergiant phase. As such, their properties provide a critical test of stellar evolutionary theory, while recent observations unexpectedly suggest that a subset may explode as Type II supernovae.Aims. The galactic yellow hypergiant IRC +10420 is a cornerstone system for understanding this phase since it is the strongest post-RSG candidate known, has demonstrated real-time evolution across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram and been subject to extensive mass loss. In this paper we report on the discovery of a twin of IRC +10420 - IRAS 18357-0604.Methods. Optical and near-IR spectroscopy are used to investigate the physical properties of IRAS 18357-0604 and also provide an estimate of its systemic velocity, while near- to mid-IR photometry probes the nature of its circumstellar environment.Results. These observations reveal pronounced spectral similarities between IRAS 18357-0604 and IRC +10420, suggesting comparable temperatures and wind geometries. IR photometric data reveals a similarly dusty circumstellar environment, although historical mass loss appears to have been heavier in IRC +10420. The systemic velocity implies a distance compatible with the red supergiant-dominated complex at the base of the Scutum Crux arm; the resultant luminosity determination is consistent with a physical association but suggests a lower initial mass than inferred for IRC +10420 (≲20 M⊙ versus ~40 M⊙). Evolutionary predictions for the physical properties of supernova progenitors derived from ~18–20 M⊙ stars – or ~12–15 M⊙ stars that have experienced enhanced mass loss as red supergiants – compare favourably with those of IRAS 18357-0604, which in turn appears to be similar to the the progenitor of SN2011dh; it may therefore provide an important insight into the nature of the apparently H-depleted yellow hypergiant progenitors of some Type IIb SNe

Treatment and Management of Depression Symptoms in Pregnant Veterans: Varying Experiences of Mental Health Care in the Prenatal Period

Depression screening is recommended for all pregnant veterans; however, little is known on how often symptomatic women receive care, how depression treatment presents in practice, and whether women veterans are utilizing treatment during the appreciable perinatal period. Our sample included 142 pregnant veterans from 15 Veterans Health Administration (VA) medical facilities with Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores \u3e/=10. Sociodemographic characteristics, military service, health utilization, and pregnancy related factors were collected as part of a telephone survey. A majority of our sample (70%) had 1 or more mental health visits or antidepressant prescriptions during pregnancy. Women with a history of depression had more mental health visits and a higher percentage of antidepressant use before and during pregnancy than women without a history of depression. Pregnant women veterans without a history of depression may be less likely to receive care for depression during pregnancy. However, the majority of our veterans showing depression symptoms prenatally had at least one mental health visit or an antidepressant medication fill during their pregnancy window, suggesting that mental health care is readily available for women veterans