Spiritual Questioning And Its Impact On The Therapeutic Alliance: A Preliminary Study

A growing number of studies have found that clients would prefer to discuss spiritual and religious (S/R) concerns in psychotherapy and, notably, see it as an appropriate place to discuss these concerns. Although clients report they would prefer to discuss S/R matters with their therapist, psychologists are reluctant to do so. Lack of training may be a factor in the reluctance of psychologist to discuss spirituality and religion with their clients. In addition to the research on spirituality/religion and psychotherapy, the therapeutic alliance has been proposed as a similar component among all forms of treatment and consistently shown to be predictive of psychotherapy outcome. While the therapeutic alliance is one of the most widely investigated components in psychotherapy, no studies to date have looked at the impact of S/R querying on ratings of the alliance. This study is a first attempt towards that goal. A measure of clinician competence, the Scale of Spiritually Conscious Care (SSCC) was constructed to assess clinician awareness, knowledge, comfort, competence, and skills in addressing spirituality and religion in psychotherapy. Following creation of this measure and initial reliability investigation, clinicians were trained to administer S/R queries to their clients. Finally, the impact of this training on clinician competence and client ratings of the alliance was investigated. Results indicated the SSCC demonstrates adequate test-retest reliability and strong internal consistency. Although clinicians reported increased comfort and competence after the training, in addition to increased incorporation of client spirituality and religion into psychotherapy; no significant differences were found between those who attended the training and those who did not. Additionally, no significant differences in ratings of the alliance between client who discussed spirituality and religion with their clinicians and those who did not were found. The lack of significant results may be related to the small sample and low power to detect genuine differences between groups. These results are taken to be a strong first step in investigating the effect of S/R querying on ratings of the alliance and worthy of further investigation

Development of a Glucose-Powered Biobattery for Implantation and Use in Humans

With current demands for implantable electrical devices increasing, the need for a more stable and biocompatible source of power is becoming increasingly necessary. Several battery types and materials were evaluated. Ultimately, an abiotic biobattery was designed with the goal of implantation in the human body. Nafion, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), and gold were used to create an abiotic biobattery that is powered by glucose. The SWCNTs were used to create the cathode, the gold was used to fabricate the anode, and the Nafion acted as the separator between the cathode and anode. A thin Nafion membrane was evaluated for overlaying the SWCNT cathode to prevent biofouling. A biofouling resistant membrane should allow the biobattery to continue to operate with greater efficiency without the surface area effectually decreasing over time as a result of biofouling

VCU Jazz Orchestra I

First half of performanc

Racial and ethnic representation among a sample of nutrition‐ and obesity‐focused professional organizations in the United States

OBJECTIVE: Obesity is a chronic disease that disproportionately affects individuals from nonmajority racial/ethnic groups in the United States. Research shows that individuals from minority racial/ethnic backgrounds consider it important to have access to providers from diverse backgrounds. Health care providers and scientists from minority racial/ethnic groups are more likely than their non-Hispanic White counterparts to treat or conduct research on patients from underrepresented groups. The objective of this study was to characterize the racial/ethnic diversity of nutrition- and obesity-focused professional organizations in the United States. METHODS: This study assessed race/ethnicity data from several obesity-focused national organizations including The Obesity Society, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), the American Society for Nutrition, and the American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM). Each organization was queried via emailed survey to provide data on racial/ethnic representation among their membership in the past 5 years and among elected presidents from 2010 to 2020. RESULTS: Two of the three professional societies queried did not systematically track race/ethnicity data at the time of query. Limited tracking data available from AND show underrepresentation of Black (2.6%), Asian (3.9%), Latinx (3.1%), Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (1.3%), or indigenous (American Indian or Alaskan Native: 0.3%) individuals compared with the US population. Underrepresentation of racial/ethnic minorities was also reported for ABOM diplomates (Black: 6.0%, Latinx: 5.0%, Native American: 0.2%). Only AND reported having racial/ethnic diversity (20%) among the organization's presidents within the previous decade (2010-2020). CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that (1) standardized tracking of race and ethnicity data is needed to fully assess diversity, equity, and inclusion, and (2) work is needed to increase the diversity of membership and leadership at the presidential level within obesity- and nutrition-focused professional organizations. A diverse cadre of obesity- and nutrition-focused health care professionals is needed to further improve nutrition-related health outcomes, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and undernutrition, in this country

Junior Recital, Cody Reifsteck, alto saxophone

The presentation of this junior recital will fulfill in part the requirements for the Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies. Cody Reifsteck studies saxophone with J.C. Kuhl

An improved germline genome assembly for the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus illuminates the evolution of germline-specific chromosomes

Programmed DNA loss is a gene silencing mechanism that is employed by several vertebrate and nonvertebrate lineages, including all living jawless vertebrates and songbirds. Reconstructing the evolution of somatically eliminated (germline-specific) sequences in these species has proven challenging due to a high content of repeats and gene duplications in eliminated sequences and a corresponding lack of highly accurate and contiguous assemblies for these regions. Here, we present an improved assembly of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome that was generated using recently standardized methods that increase the contiguity and accuracy of vertebrate genome assemblies. This assembly resolves highly contiguous, somatically retained chromosomes and at least one germline-specific chromosome, permitting new analyses that reconstruct the timing, mode, and repercussions of recruitment of genes to the germline-specific fraction. These analyses reveal major roles of interchromosomal segmental duplication, intrachromosomal duplication, and positive selection for germline functions in the long-term evolution of germline-specific chromosomes

ISARIC-COVID-19 dataset: A Prospective, Standardized, Global Dataset of Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19

publishedVersio

A roadmap for island biology: 50 fundamental questions after 50 years of The Theory of Island Biogeography

Aims The 50th anniversary of the publication of the seminal book, The Theory of Island Biogeography, by Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson, is a timely moment to review and identify key research foci that could advance island biology. Here, we take a collaborative horizon-scanning approach to identify 50 fundamental questions for the continued development of the field. Location Worldwide. Methods We adapted a well-established methodology of horizon scanning to identify priority research questions in island biology, and initiated it during the Island Biology 2016 conference held in the Azores. A multidisciplinary working group prepared an initial pool of 187 questions. A series of online surveys was then used to refine a list of the 50 top priority questions. The final shortlist was restricted to questions with a broad conceptual scope, and which should be answerable through achievable research approaches. Results Questions were structured around four broad and partially overlapping island topics, including: (Macro)Ecology and Biogeography, (Macro)Evolution, Community Ecology, and Conservation and Management. These topics were then subdivided according to the following subject areas: global diversity patterns (five questions in total); island ontogeny and past climate change (4); island rules and syndromes (3); island biogeography theory (4); immigration–speciation–extinction dynamics (5); speciation and diversification (4); dispersal and colonization (3); community assembly (6); biotic interactions (2); global change (5); conservation and management policies (5); and invasive alien species (4). Main conclusions Collectively, this cross-disciplinary set of topics covering the 50 fundamental questions has the potential to stimulate and guide future research in island biology. By covering fields ranging from biogeography, community ecology and evolution to global change, this horizon scan may help to foster the formation of interdisciplinary research networks, enhancing joint efforts to better understand the past, present and future of island biotas

Neurological manifestations of COVID-19 in adults and children

Different neurological manifestations of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in adults and children and their impact have not been well characterized. We aimed to determine the prevalence of neurological manifestations and in-hospital complications among hospitalized COVID-19 patients and ascertain differences between adults and children. We conducted a prospective multicentre observational study using the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium (ISARIC) cohort across 1507 sites worldwide from 30 January 2020 to 25 May 2021. Analyses of neurological manifestations and neurological complications considered unadjusted prevalence estimates for predefined patient subgroups, and adjusted estimates as a function of patient age and time of hospitalization using generalized linear models. Overall, 161 239 patients (158 267 adults; 2972 children) hospitalized with COVID-19 and assessed for neurological manifestations and complications were included. In adults and children, the most frequent neurological manifestations at admission were fatigue (adults: 37.4%; children: 20.4%), altered consciousness (20.9%; 6.8%), myalgia (16.9%; 7.6%), dysgeusia (7.4%; 1.9%), anosmia (6.0%; 2.2%) and seizure (1.1%; 5.2%). In adults, the most frequent in-hospital neurological complications were stroke (1.5%), seizure (1%) and CNS infection (0.2%). Each occurred more frequently in intensive care unit (ICU) than in non-ICU patients. In children, seizure was the only neurological complication to occur more frequently in ICU versus non-ICU (7.1% versus 2.3%, P < 0.001). Stroke prevalence increased with increasing age, while CNS infection and seizure steadily decreased with age. There was a dramatic decrease in stroke over time during the pandemic. Hypertension, chronic neurological disease and the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation were associated with increased risk of stroke. Altered consciousness was associated with CNS infection, seizure and stroke. All in-hospital neurological complications were associated with increased odds of death. The likelihood of death rose with increasing age, especially after 25 years of age. In conclusion, adults and children have different neurological manifestations and in-hospital complications associated with COVID-19. Stroke risk increased with increasing age, while CNS infection and seizure risk decreased with age