Family Homelessness: Background Research Findings and Policy Options

Convergent sources suggest that as many as 600,000 families are homeless annually in the United States. This includes approximately 1.26 million children, representing 10% of the nation’s poor children each year. The National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC),1 conducted with homeless people using 16 types of homeless assistance programs in 76 geographical areas, is the only nationally representative data source available to estimate the number of families who are homeless in the United States. The NSHAPC estimated that family members made up 34% of the homeless population. Of this estimate, 23% were children and 11% were adults. These estimates, reflecting two different sampling points during 1996, suggest that 420,000 and 725,000 households respectively (1.3% - 2.2% percent of all families) were homeless at least one time during that year. The midpoint of the estimates would yield an estimate of 1.8% of all families (572,000 households) being homeless for at least one day during 1996. When just the poverty population is considered, the midpoint estimate indicates that 8% of poor families were homeless for at least one day during 1996

ExCEEd II: Advanced training for even better teaching

In 2007, the American Society of Civil Engineering’s Committee on Faculty Development (CFD) conducted a longitudinal survey of all the past participants of the ExCEEd Teaching Workshop (ETW). The CFD received 173 responses, representing 40% of the ETW population at that time, to its survey about skills and the long term value of ETW. Important to this paper, 73% of the survey respondents said that they were interested in attending a post, advanced ETW. Motivated by these survey results, the CFD began its planning for a pilot ExCEEd II workshop during the 2008-2009 academic year. In the summer of 2009, ASCE offered its first ExCEEd II workshop for past ETW participants. This paper describes the day and a half ExCEEd II workshop along with a summary of results captured from two structured evaluations. All activities, except two, received average scores for value and conduct of 4.0 or better on a 1.0 to 5.0 scale. The participant teaching experience followed by the demonstration class taught by a master teacher were rated the highest in terms of their value to the participants. For some participants, the hands-on teaching experience coupled with the constructive and supportive feedback environment were cited as the main reasons for attending ExCEEd II. The program’s cost was deemed reasonable and appropriate to the length, value, and conduct of the workshop. The participants recommended increasing the length of the workshop to two days; incorporating two participant teaching sessions; providing more information or time to the topics of brain functions, problem based learning, ETW review, and short in-class demonstrations or models; and adding content on evaluating student learning and integrating new teaching technologies

New advances in the treatment of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI)

Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) have increased in frequency throughout the world. In addition to an increase in frequency, recent CDI epidemics have been linked to a hypervirulent C. difficile strain resulting in greater severity of disease. Although most mild to moderate cases of CDI continue to respond to metronidazole or vancomycin, refractory and recurrent cases of CDI may require alternative therapies. This review provides a brief overview of CDI and summarizes studies involving alternative antibiotics, toxin binders, probiotics, and immunological therapies that can be considered for treatment of acute and recurrent CDI in severe and refractory situations

Association of Parenteral Nutrition Catheter Sepsis with Urinary Tract Infections

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141954/1/jpen0639.pd

Koinonia

In This IssuePeople are Hungry to Talk About Deep Things (Reprint from The Embarrassed Believer: Reviving Christian Witness in an Age of Unbelief), Hugh Hewitt The Legacy of Ernest L. Boyer, Sr.: The Boyer Center at Messiah College, Debra L. Elliott Filling the Voids in Christian Leadership Training Today: Connecting Student Development, Stewardship & Nonprofit Education with Emerging Leaders, An Interview with Scott Preissler, The Christian Stewardship Association Reply to an Idealistic Job-Searcher, Dana Alexander In The FieldBeyond the Horizon: Student Affairs Practice in the 21st Century, Dennis A. Sheridan Around CampusAnd God Created . . . Sex, Theresa Hannerman and Sarah Marcum Regular FeaturesPresident\u27s Corner Editor\u27s Disk Annual Conference News from the Regions: Spotlight on the Southeast Book Reviews: The Embarrassed Believer: When Hope and Fear Collide Perspective: The Ultimate Student Service: Prayer?https://pillars.taylor.edu/acsd_koinonia/1017/thumbnail.jp

Prevalence and characteristics of Complementary and Alternative Medicine use by Australian children

This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use, among Australian children and adolescents within the previous 12 months. Methods: Parents with children up to the age of 18 years were recruited from online parenting groups. Questions addressed demographic factors, socioeconomic status, conventional health service use, including vaccination status, and use of CAM. Results: A total of 149 parents responded to the study of which 73.8% (n=110) children had visited a CAM practitioner or used a CAM product in the previous 12 months. The two most frequently visited CAM practitioners were naturopath/herbalist (30.4%) and chiropractor (18.4%). The most commonly used products were vitamins/minerals (61.7%), and herbal medicine (38.8%). Children had also consulted with a general practitioner (89.8%), community health nurse (31.29%) and paediatrician (30.3%) over the same period. A total of 52% of parents did not disclose their child’s use of CAM to their medical provider. Children’s vaccination status was less likely to be up-to-date if they visited a CAM practitioner (OR 0.16; CI 0.07, 0.36; p<0.001) or used a CAM product (OR 0.25; CI 0.09, 0.64; p=0.004). Conclusion: Despite a lack of high quality research for efficacy and safety, many children are using CAM products and practices in parallel with conventional health services, often without disclosure. This highlights the need to initiate conversations with parents about their child’s use of CAM in order to ensure safe, coordinated patient care. The association between vaccine uptake and CAM use requires further investigation

ExCEEd teaching workshop: Tenth year anniversary

In response to the need for faculty training, the American Society of Civil Engineers developed and funded the ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) Teaching Workshop that is today – the summer of 2008 – celebrating its tenth year of existence. For the past decade, nineteen ExCEEd Teaching Workshops (ETW) have been held at the United States Military Academy, the University of Arkansas, and Northern Arizona University, with two more workshops scheduled for this summer for a total of 21 offerings. ETW has realized 449 graduates from 203 different U.S. and international colleges and universities. This paper summarizes the content of ETW, assesses its effectiveness, highlights changes in the program as a result of the assessment, and outlines future directions. The assessment data were obtained from multiple survey instruments conducted during each workshop, surveys taken six months to a year after the workshop, and a ten year longitudinal survey

Effect of aerobic or resistance exercise, or both, on intermuscular and visceral fat and physical and metabolic function in older adults with obesity while dieting

BACKGROUND: Obesity exacerbates age-related effects on body composition and physical and metabolic function. Which exercise mode is most effective in mitigating these deleterious changes in dieting older adults with obesity is unknown. METHODS: In a randomized controlled trial, we performed a head-to-head comparison of aerobic (AEX), resistance (REX), or combination (COMB) exercise during matched ~10% weight loss in 160 obese older adults. Prespecified analyses compared 6-month changes in intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) and visceral adipose tissue (VAT) assessed using MRI, insulin sensitivity index (ISI) by oral glucose tolerance test, physical function using Modified Physical Performance Test (PPT), VO2peak, gait speed, and knee strength by dynamometry. RESULTS: IMAT and VAT decreased more in COMB than AEX and REX groups (IMAT; -41% vs -28% and -23% and VAT: -36% vs -19% and -21%; p = .003 to .01); IMAT and VAT decreased in all groups more than control (between-group p \u3c .001). ISI increased more in COMB than AEX and REX groups (86% vs 50% and 39%; p = .005 to .03). PPT improved more in COMB than AEX and REX groups, while VO2peak improved more in COMB and AEX than REX group (all p \u3c .05). Knee strength improved more in COMB and REX than AEX group (all p \u3c .05). Changes in IMAT and VAT correlated with PPT (r = -0.28 and -0.39), VO2peak (r = -0.49 and -0.52), gait speed (r = -0.25 and -0.36), and ISI (r = -0.49 and -0.52; all p \u3c .05). CONCLUSIONS: Weight loss plus combination aerobic and resistance exercise was most effective in improving ectopic fat deposition and physical and metabolic function in older adults with obesity

FTO is necessary for the induction of leptin resistance by high-fat feeding.

OBJECTIVE: Loss of function FTO mutations significantly impact body composition in humans and mice, with Fto-deficient mice reported to resist the development of obesity in response to a high-fat diet (HFD). We aimed to further explore the interactions between FTO and HFD and determine if FTO can influence the adverse metabolic consequence of HFD. METHODS: We studied mice deficient in FTO in two well validated models of leptin resistance (HFD feeding and central palmitate injection) to determine how Fto genotype may influence the action of leptin. Using transcriptomic analysis of hypothalamic tissue to identify relevant pathways affected by the loss of Fto, we combined data from co-immunoprecipitation, yeast 2-hybrid and luciferase reporter assays to identify mechanisms through which FTO can influence the development of leptin resistant states. RESULTS: Mice deficient in Fto significantly increased their fat mass in response to HFD. Fto (+/-) and Fto (-/-) mice remained sensitive to the anorexigenic effects of leptin, both after exposure to a HFD or after acute central application of palmitate. Genes encoding components of the NFкB signalling pathway were down-regulated in the hypothalami of Fto-deficient mice following a HFD. When this pathway was reactivated in Fto-deficient mice with a single low central dose of TNFα, the mice became less sensitive to the effect of leptin. We identified a transcriptional coactivator of NFкB, TRIP4, as a binding partner of FTO and a molecule that is required for TRIP4 dependent transactivation of NFкB. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that, independent of body weight, Fto influences the metabolic outcomes of a HFD through alteration of hypothalamic NFкB signalling. This supports the notion that pharmacological modulation of FTO activity might have the potential for therapeutic benefit in improving leptin sensitivity, in a manner that is influenced by the nutritional environment.The authors thank Roger Cox (MRC Harwell) for kindly providing us with the Fto-deficient mouse strain. This study was supported by the Medical Research Council (MRC) Metabolic Disease Unit (MRC_MC_UU_12012/1), EU FP7- FOOD- 266408 Full4Health and the Helmholtz Alliance ICEMED.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212877815000241#