The British Peace Commission of 1778

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Kansas, History, 1921. ; Includes bibliographical references

Reading and Writing Habits of Preservice Teachers

Reading and writing experts agree that, to teach effectively, teachers must first be readers and/or writers themselves. In this study, we examined beliefs and habits related to reading and writing in preservice teachers based upon interview data. The results revealed a variety of reading and writing histories and patterns of involvement in ongoing reading and writing. Both readers and writers, and nonreaders and nonwriters, were able to identify strategies for reading and writing in their future classrooms that matched strategies taught in university methods courses. None of the students were able to articulate suggestions for fostering a love of reading or writing in their own future students. Implications focus on examining preservice teacher education programs to identify what we do and do not model for students

Alterations in Blood-Brain Barrier Function Following Acute Hypertension: Comparison of the Blood-to-Brain Transfer of Horseradish Peroxidase with That of Alpha-Aminoisobutyric Acid

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) selectively restricts the blood-to-brain passage of many solutes owing to unique properties of cerebrovascular endothelial cell membranes. This selective blood/brain interface participates in the maintenance of brain homeostasis by controlling nutrient, gas, and fluid exchange necessary for brain function. Normal BBB function can be altered under various pathological and experimental conditions, allowing the transfer into brain parenchyma of blood-borne solutes normally excluded. To date, experimental study of the BBB has been accomplished primarily through the use of two different methodological approaches. Some investigators have focused on the barrier\u27s morphological correlates and its morphopathological alteration under various pathological conditions. Other investigators have attempted to define the physiological transport properties of the BBB. Morphological studies have employed, for the most part, large molecular weight (MW) tracers to detect morphological alterations underlying increased permeability. Physiological studies, employing smaller, more physiologic tracers have been successful in describing, quantitatively, certain functional aspects of blood-to-brain transfer. The current work attempts to merge these two approaches and to consider barrier function/dysfunction from both a morphological and a functional perspective. Specifically, the study compares in rats, following acute hypertension (a condition well-known to elicit BBB alteration), the cerebrovascular passage of C-alpha-aminois obutyric acid (AIB), a small MW tracer employed in quantitative physiologic barrier studies, and that of horseradish peroxidase (HRP), a large MW protein tracer traditionally employed in morphological barrier studies. The blood-to-brain passage of AIB and HRP were compared, following acute hypertension, with regard to both the topographical distributions of the tracer extravasation patterns and the magnitude of tracer extravasation at two different levels of hypertension. Quantitative measures of cerebrovascular AIB transfer were obtained through macroautoradiography and computerized image analysis. The data, both qualitative and quantitative, revealed dramatic focal permeability increases to AIB in some brain loci which also showed permeability increases to HRP. Such loci included the cerebral cortices and the thalamus. However, many brain regions, such as the caudate-putamen, cerebellum, and brainstem, showed more subtly-elevated AIB passage where no corresponding HRP passage was observed. Linear regression analysis of the physiologic data showed that the rate of cerebrovascular AIB transfer was positively related to the abruptness of the onset of hypertension and not related to other physiologic parameters of the hypertensive insult. The qualitative and quantitative results of this study suggest that traditional morphological barrier studies a lone do not reveal all aspects of altered barrier status and that multiple mechanisms underlying increased BBB permeability may operate simultaneously during BBB dysfunction

The role of need affiliation in the social exchange of friendship rewards.

Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1980 .D727. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1980

Exploring professional circus artists’ experience of performance-related injury and management

AIMS: Circus is a physically demanding profession, but injury and help-seeking rates tend to be low. This qualitative interview study explored the perceptions and beliefs about injury and help-seeking of circus artists. METHODS: Ten professional circus artists (5 males, 5 females; mean age 33 yrs, range 27-42) were enrolled. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted until data saturation of themes was reached. Data were analysed thematically. FINDINGS: Four themes were identified: 1) the injured artist; 2) professionalism; 3) circus life; and 4) artists' experience of healthcare. Most participants described the circus as central to their lives, and injuries had wide-ranging psychosocial consequences. Injury adversely affected participants' mood and threatened their identity. Situational and personal factors (e.g., the belief that pain was normal) pushed participants to use adaptive strategies to perform when injured. Continuous touring and financial constraints affected help-seeking. Easy access to healthcare was rare and participants often self-managed injuries. Experiences of healthcare varied, and participants desired flexible and accessible approaches to prevention and injury management. A modified version of the integrated model of psychological response to injury and rehabilitation process and the concept of identity provided a framework to understand participants. CONCLUSION: Injuries had extensive negative consequences. Work schedules, financial factors, employer support, the artist's perception of the importance of the show, and the relationship between circus and identity influenced injury management and help-seeking. Injury prevention and management strategies could be optimised by developing centres of expertise, online resources, and better regulations of the profession

Increased GABA Contributes to Enhanced Control over Motor Excitability in Tourette Syndrome

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a developmental neurological disorder characterized by vocal and motor tics [1] and associated with cortical-striatal-thalamic-cortical circuit dysfunction [2, 3], hyperexcitability within cortical motor areas [4], and altered intracortical inhibition [4, 5, 6, 7]. TS often follows a developmental time course in which tics become increasingly more controlled during adolescence in many individuals [1], who exhibit enhanced control over their volitional movements [8, 9, 10, 11]. Importantly, control over motor outputs appears to be brought about by a reduction in the gain of motor excitability [6, 7, 12, 13]. Here we present a neurochemical basis for a localized gain control mechanism. We used ultra-high-field (7 T) magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate in vivo concentrations of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) within primary and secondary motor areas of individuals with TS. We demonstrate that GABA concentrations within the supplementary motor area (SMA)—a region strongly associated with the genesis of motor tics in TS [14]—are paradoxically elevated in individuals with TS and inversely related to fMRI blood oxygen level-dependent activation. By contrast, GABA concentrations in control sites do not differ from those of a matched control group. Importantly, we also show that GABA concentrations within the SMA are inversely correlated with cortical excitability in primary motor cortex and are predicted by motor tic severity and white-matter microstructure (FA) within a region of the corpus callosum that projects to the SMA within each hemisphere. Based upon these findings, we propose that extrasynaptic GABA contributes to a form of control, based upon localized tonic inhibition within the SMA, that may lead to the suppression of tics

Determinants and processes of HIV status disclosure to HIV - infected children aged 4 to 17 years receiving HIV care services at Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation Tanzania, Centre of Excellence (COE) in Mbeya: a cross-sectional study

This article presents Studies on disclosure of HIV sero-status to HIV-infected children is associated with reduced risk of death and better adherence to antiretroviral drugs.Background: Disclosure of HIV sero-status to HIV-infected children is associated with reduced risk of death and better adherence to antiretroviral drugs. However, caregivers find it difficult to determine when and how they should disclose the HIV sero-positive status to HIV-infected children. In this study, we assessed the determinants and processes of HIV status disclosure to HIV-infected children aged 4 to 17 years receiving HIV care services at the Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation Tanzania, Centre of Excellence (COE) in Mbeya. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 334 caregivers of HIV positive children attending the Baylor COE in Mbeya, Tanzania. Data were collected using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data were collected on socio-demographic characteristics of children and caregivers using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were entered into Epi-Info version 3.5.1 and analyzed using STATA version10. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to obtain odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) associated with disclosing HIV positive status to HIV-infected children. Qualitative data were collected on the processes used in accomplishing the HIV status disclosure event using case histories and key informant interviews and analyzed manually using latent analysis techniques. Results: About one-third of the caregivers (32.6 %) disclosed the children’s HIV sero-positive status to them. Disclosure was more likely among children 10 years or older (adjusted OR [AOR] = 8.8; 95 % CI: 4.7, 16.5), caregivers with knowledge about HIV disclosure (AOR = 5.7; 95 % CI: 2.3, 13.7) and those earning more than Tsh 99,999 (US $62.5) per month (AOR = 2.4; 95 % CI: 1.3, 4.5). Qualitative findings showed that caregivers used a diversity of approaches to complete the HIV status disclosure event including direct, third-party, event-driven and use of drawings. Conclusions: Our study shows that disclosure is common among older children and is largely driven by the caregivers’ knowledge about HIV status disclosure and monthly earnings. HIV status disclosure was accomplished through a variety of approaches. These findings suggest a need to provide caregivers with knowledge about HIV status disclosure approaches to improve HIV status disclosure to HIV-infected children

Simulation case development and training

Poster presented at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing 2007 Hot Issues Conference, April 2007, Denver, Colorado

Characterizing degradation of palm swamp peatlands from space and on the ground: an exploratory study in the Peruvian Amazon

Peru has the fourth largest area of peatlands in the Tropics. Its most representative land cover on peat is a Mauritia flexuosa dominated palm swamp (thereafter called dense PS), which has been under human pressure over decades due to the high demand for the M. flexuosa fruit often collected by cutting down the entire palm. Degradation of these carbon dense forests can substantially affect emissions of greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change. The first objective of this research was to assess the impact of dense PS degradation on forest structure and biomass carbon stocks. The second one was to explore the potential of mapping the distribution of dense PS with different degradation levels using remote sensing data and methods. Biomass stocks were measured in 0.25 ha plots established in areas of dense PS with low (n = 2 plots), medium (n = 2) and high degradation (n = 4). We combined field and remote sensing data from the satellites Landsat TM and ALOS/PALSAR to discriminate between areas typifying dense PS with low, medium and high degradation and terra firme, restinga and mixed PS (not M. flexuosa dominated) forests. For this we used a Random Forest machine learning classification algorithm. Results suggest a shift in forest composition from palm to woody tree dominated forest following degradation. We also found that human intervention in dense PS translates into significant reductions in tree carbon stocks with initial (above and below-ground) biomass stocks (135.4 ± 4.8 Mg C ha−1) decreased by 11 and 17% following medium and high degradation. The remote sensing analysis indicates a high separability between dense PS with low degradation from all other categories. Dense PS with medium and high degradation were highly separable from most categories except for restinga forests and mixed PS. Results also showed that data from both active and passive remote sensing sensors are important for the mapping of dense PS degradation. Overall land cover classification accuracy was high (91%). Results from this pilot analysis are encouraging to further explore the use of remote sensing data and methods for monitoring dense PS degradation at broader scales in the Peruvian Amazon. Providing precise estimates on the spatial extent of dense PS degradation and on biomass and peat derived emissions is required for assessing national emissions from forest degradation in Peru and is essential for supporting initiatives aiming at reducing degradation activities