Leisure Time Preferences Of Student Veterans

Since the implementation of the post 9/11 GI Bill, college campuses have seen an increase in the number of student veterans on campus. This student population may have more difficulties than other students in adjusting to campus life, and often have combat-related physical and psychological injuries. Recreation activities have been shown to help improve psychological adjustment to civilian life, and possibly reduce PTSD symptoms, in the broader veteran population. The purpose of the current undergraduate honors thesis was to collect pilot data on leisure preferences of student veterans and investigate possible relationships between these preferences, PTSD symptoms, and perceived stigma. Student veteran participants filled out questionnaires about leisure time preferences, physical activity, PTSD symptomology, and stigma towards seeking psychological help. Results indicated that social and screen time activities played the biggest role in their leisure time. Of the leisure time activities, only sport participation was associated with lower PTSD symptomatology. Previous research has shown participating in sports to be beneficial for mental health, and current survey results are consistent with those findings and also further suggest that watching sports may also be beneficial for the mental health of student veterans

The Diet of Prisoners in England

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to establish whether the meals provided by the prison service enable prisoners to follow government guidelines on nutrition and healthy eating, and the extent to which they do so. Design/methodology/approach – A total of eight prisons, four male (category A, B and C), two female and two young offenders’ institutes were randomly identified and visited. Data collection involved taking three days of cyclical menus, the institution’s recipes and methods and standard or average portion sizes to calculate the mean nutrient composition of standard, healthy, vegetarian/vegan and Halal menus. Menus were also analysed to establish how well they conformed to the “Balance of Good Health”. Findings – Results show that, with the exception of some nutrients, prisoners have access to and are able to choose a nutritionally balanced diet and in the main do so. All prisons have attempted to make available menus that conform to the Balance of Good Health model; however, in some cases, choice is hampered, primarily because menus have not been annotated accurately; some dishes are not always as healthy as they might or could be; and prisoners in most cases do not actually understand what constitutes a healthy balanced diet. Originality/value – There is a paucity of data on prison food service and as such this original work adds to the body of knowledge in the field

Blending Credit & Non-Credit Courses: Best Practices, Opportunities, Barriers

Community colleges offer an array of programs designed to help students meet different goals. Noncredit education provides training for students seeking targeted, often shorter, courses for personal and professional enrichment (Cohen, Brawer, & Kisker, 2014). Many community colleges are now increasingly emphasizing noncredit workforce education as they support regional workforce development efforts and strive to meet the needs of their local industry partners (Van Noy, Jacobs, Korey, Bailey, & Hughes, 2008). Despite the millions of students enrolled in these courses and their potential to generate revenue for the institutions delivering programs, Voorhees and Milam (2005) refer to noncredit community college education as the “hidden college” and existing research on noncredit offerings is limited. Blending community college credit and noncredit programs with thoughtful and intentional strategies will benefit the students and the institutions. Van Noy, Jacobs, Korey, Bailey, and Hughes (2008) made five recommendations for strengthening noncredit education based on their research. They included the need to expand state funding with clear goals, to increase coordination of credit and noncredit offerings, to promote articulation of noncredit courses into credit programs, to establish non-degree forms of validation for noncredit programs, and to capture more information regarding employment outcomes resulting from noncredit training. These recommendations provide the framework for an analysis of current VCCS programming

Low 2-Dimensional CD4 T Cell Receptor Affinity for Myelin Sets in Motion Delayed Response Kinetics

T cells recognizing self-peptides that mediate autoimmune disease and those that are responsible for efficacious immunity against pathogens may differ in affinity for antigen due to central and peripheral tolerance mechanisms. Here we utilize prototypical self-reactive (myelin) and viral-specific (LCMV) T cells from T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic mice (2D2 and SMARTA, respectively) to explore affinity differences. The T cells responsive to virus possessed >10,000 fold higher 2D affinity as compared to the self-reactive T cells. Despite their dramatically lower affinity for their cognate ligand, 2D2 T cells respond with complete, albeit delayed, activation (proliferation and cytokine production). SMARTA activation occurs rapidly, achieving peak phosphorylation of p38 (1 minute), Erk (30 minutes), and Jun (3 hours) as well as CD69 and CD25 upregulation (3 and 6 hours, respectively), with a corresponding early initiation of proliferation. 2D2 stimulation with MOG results in altered signaling – no phospho-Erk or phospho-p38 accumulation, significantly delayed activation kinetics of Jun (12 hours), and delayed but sustained SHP-1 activity – as well as delayed CD69 and CD25 expression (12–24 hours), and slow initiation of proliferation. This delay was not intrinsic to the 2D2 T cells, as a more potent antigen with >100-fold increased 2D affinity restored rapid response kinetics in line with those identified for the viral antigen. Taken together, these data demonstrate that time can offset low TCR affinity to attain full activation and suggest a mechanism by which low affinity T cells participate in autoimmune disease

Potential Alzheimer’s Disease Therapeutics Among Weak Cysteine Protease Inhibitors Exhibit Mechanistic Differences Regarding Extent of Cathepsin B Up-Regulation and Ability to Block Calpain

Cysteine protease inhibitors have long been part of drug discovery programs for Alzheimer's disease (AD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and other disorders. Select inhibitors reduce accumulating proteins and AD pathology in mouse models. One such compound, Z-Phe-Aladiazomethylketone (PADK), exhibits a very weak IC50 (9-11 μM) towards cathepsin B (CatB), but curiously PADK causes marked up-regulation of the Aβ-degrading CatB and improves spatial memory. Potential therapeutic and weak inhibitor E64d (14 μM IC50) also up-regulates CatB. PADK and E64d were compared regarding the blockage of calcium-induced cytoskeletal deterioration in brain samples, monitoring the 150-kDa spectrin breakdown product (SBDP) known to be produced by calpain. PADK had little to no effect on SBDP production at 10-100 μM. In contrast, E64d caused a dosedependent decline in SBDP levels with an IC50 of 3-6 μM, closely matching its reported potency for inhibiting μ-calpain. Calpain also cleaves the cytoskeletal organizing protein gephyrin, producing 49-kDa (GnBDP49) and 18-kDa (GnBDP18) breakdown products. PADK had no apparent effect on calcium-induced gephyrin fragments whereas E64d blocked their production. E64d also protected the parent gephyrin in correspondence with reduced BDP levels. The findings of this study indicate that PADK’s positive and selective effects on CatB are consistent with human studies showing exercise elevates CatB and such elevation correlates with improved memory. On the other hand, E64d exhibits both marginal CatB enhancement and potent calpain inhibition. This dual effect may be beneficial for treating AD. Alternatively, the potent action on calpain-related pathology may explain E64d’s protection in AD and TBI models

Investıgatıon of Removal of Dye from Aqueous Solutıon by Advanced Treatment

The textile dyeing and finishing industry use a significant amount of water and produce water pollution. Conventional biological treatment processes have some difficulties for degradation of nonbiodegradable compounds. Dye-bearing wastewaters have high COD and colour. In this study, a photo reactor process was used to remove color from aqueous solution.Effects of pH on Reactive Red 4 and cationic dye removal using 1g/L TiO2, as catalyst were studied at constant inital dye concentration (25 mg/l). Cationic dye removal efficiency is better than Reactive dye removal efficiency for photocatalytic oxidation in this stud

Can screening and brief intervention lead to population-level reductions in alcohol-related harm?

A distinction is made between the clinical and public health justifications for screening and brief intervention (SBI) against hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption. Early claims for a public health benefit of SBI derived from research on general medical practitioners' (GPs') advice on smoking cessation, but these claims have not been realized, mainly because GPs have not incorporated SBI into their routine practice. A recent modeling exercise estimated that, if all GPs in England screened every patient at their next consultation, 96% of the general population would be screened over 10 years, with 70-79% of excessive drinkers receiving brief interventions (BI); assuming a 10% success rate, this would probably amount to a population-level effect of SBI. Thus, a public health benefit for SBI presupposes widespread screening; but recent government policy in England favors targeted versus universal screening, and in Scotland screening is based on new registrations and clinical presentation. A recent proposal for a national screening program was rejected by the UK National Health Service's National Screening Committee because 1) there was no good evidence that SBI led to reductions in mortality or morbidity, and 2) a safe, simple, precise, and validated screening test was not available. Even in countries like Sweden and Finland, where expensive national programs to disseminate SBI have been implemented, only a minority of the population has been asked about drinking during health-care visits, and a minority of excessive drinkers has been advised to cut down. Although there has been research on the relationship between treatment for alcohol problems and population-level effects, there has been no such research for SBI, nor have there been experimental investigations of its relationship with population-level measures of alcohol-related harm. These are strongly recommended. In this article, conditions that would allow a population-level effect of SBI to occur are reviewed, including their political acceptability. It is tentatively concluded that widespread dissemination of SBI, without the implementation of alcohol control measures, might have indirect influences on levels of consumption and harm but would be unlikely on its own to result in public health benefits. However, if and when alcohol control measures were introduced, SBI would still have an important role in the battle against alcohol-related harm

Canine Models of Inherited Musculoskeletal and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Mouse models of human disease remain the bread and butter of modern biology and therapeutic discovery. Nonetheless, more often than not mouse models do not reproduce the pathophysiology of the human conditions they are designed to mimic. Naturally occurring large animal models have predominantly been found in companion animals or livestock because of their emotional or economic value to modern society and, unlike mice, often recapitulate the human disease state. In particular, numerous models have been discovered in dogs and have a fundamental role in bridging proof of concept studies in mice to human clinical trials. The present article is a review that highlights current canine models of human diseases, including Alzheimer\u27s disease, degenerative myelopathy, neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, globoid cell leukodystrophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, mucopolysaccharidosis, and fucosidosis. The goal of the review is to discuss canine and human neurodegenerative pathophysiologic similarities, introduce the animal models, and shed light on the ability of canine models to facilitate current and future treatment trials