Pain Management through Music Therapy

In 1999, approximately three quarters of patients admitted to emergency departments reported pain (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, 2000). Managing pain pharmacologically alone may not be enough because pain perception is a complex phenomenon that consists of both physiological and psychological components (Trauger-Querry & Haghighi, 1999). Music therapy is one of the systematic applications in treatment of physiological and psychological aspects of an illness or disability (Cook, 1981).The objectives of this study were to measure the pain intensity index PPI (Melzack) level before after the intervention with music therapy to investigate if music therapy is effective for pain management; and to compare the mean PPI gain scores between the music intervention group and the non-music intervention group. A quantitative research design, with twenty-six randomly selected patients with acute abdominal or acute chest pain, was used to test the research question, Is pain intensity lower among patients with pain who are provided with a combination of both medications and music therapy sessions than the patients who are provided with medications alone? By using the independent sample test, it showed there was a significant difference in Pain Intensity Index gain scores (t = 2.867, df= 24, p \u3c .05) between the study and the control group. Therefore, music therapy was indicated to have some degree of usefulness in pain management; and the validity of the research question was supported with a significance level at p \u3c . 05. Health providers may now consider incorporating music therapy as an alternative way of managing pain in addition to the routine analgesic

Simulating human behavior for national security human interactions.

This 3-year research and development effort focused on what we believe is a significant technical gap in existing modeling and simulation capabilities: the representation of plausible human cognition and behaviors within a dynamic, simulated environment. Specifically, the intent of the ''Simulating Human Behavior for National Security Human Interactions'' project was to demonstrate initial simulated human modeling capability that realistically represents intra- and inter-group interaction behaviors between simulated humans and human-controlled avatars as they respond to their environment. Significant process was made towards simulating human behaviors through the development of a framework that produces realistic characteristics and movement. The simulated humans were created from models designed to be psychologically plausible by being based on robust psychological research and theory. Progress was also made towards enhancing Sandia National Laboratories existing cognitive models to support culturally plausible behaviors that are important in representing group interactions. These models were implemented in the modular, interoperable, and commercially supported Umbra{reg_sign} simulation framework

Equally Able, But Unequally Accepted: Gender Differentials and Experiences of Community Health Volunteers Promoting Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health in Morogoro Region, Tanzania.

Despite emerging qualitative evidence of gendered community health worker (CHW) experience, few quantitative studies examine CHW gender differentials. The launch of a maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) CHW cadre in Morogoro Region, Tanzania enlisting both males and females as CHWs, provides an opportunity to examine potential gender differences in CHW knowledge, health promotion activities and client acceptability. All CHWs who received training from the Integrated MNCH Program between December 2012 and July 2013 in five districts were surveyed and information on health promotion activities undertaken drawn from their registers. CHW socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, and health promotion activities were analyzed through bi- and multivariate analyses. Composite scores generated across ten knowledge domains were used in ordered logistic regression models to estimate relationships between knowledge scores and predictor variables. Thematic analysis was also undertaken on 60 purposively sampled semi-structured interviews with CHWs, their supervisors, community leaders, and health committee members in 12 villages from three districts. Of all CHWs trained, 97 % were interviewed (n = 228): 55 % male and 45 % female. No significant differences were observed in knowledge by gender after controlling for age, education, date of training, marital status, and assets. Differences in number of home visits and community health education meetings were also not significant by gender. With regards to acceptability, women were more likely to disclose pregnancies earlier to female CHWs, than male CHWs. Men were more comfortable discussing sexual and reproductive concerns with male, than female CHWs. In some cases, CHW home visits were viewed as potentially being for ulterior or adulterous motives, so trust by families had to be built. Respondents reported that working as female-male pairs helped to address some of these dynamics. Male and female CHWs in this study have largely similar knowledge and health promotion outputs, but challenges in acceptance of CHW counseling for reproductive health and home visits by unaccompanied CHWs varied by gender. Programs that pair male and female CHWs may potentially overcome gender issues in CHW acceptance, especially if they change gender norms rather than solely accommodate gender preferences

Discovery of sisunatovir (RV521), an inhibitor of respiratory syncytial virus fusion

RV521 is an orally bioavailable inhibitor of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fusion that was identified after a lead optimization process based upon hits that originated from a physical property directed hit profiling exercise at Reviral. This exercise encompassed collaborations with a number of contract organizations with collaborative medicinal chemistry and virology during the optimization phase in addition to those utilized as the compound proceeded through preclinical and clinical evaluation. RV521 exhibited a mean IC50 of 1.2 nM against a panel of RSV A and B laboratory strains and clinical isolates with antiviral efficacy in the Balb/C mouse model of RSV infection. Oral bioavailability in preclinical species ranged from 42 to >100% with evidence of highly efficient penetration into lung tissue. In healthy adult human volunteers experimentally infected with RSV, a potent antiviral effect was observed with a significant reduction in viral load and symptoms compared to placebo