Building inclusive and welcoming student health centers for transgender students

INTRODUCTION: While health, wellness, and healthcare are essential to every human being, not much is known about the health and healthcare experiences of transgender students on college campuses. Understanding these healthcare experiences are important because when we recognize them, we can establish a healthy relationship of trust. There is a growing number of transgender students on West Chester University campus, who felt they were not getting the appropriate support and care. As a result, a project was started at student health services to help transgender students effectively access sensitive and welcoming care and support. METHODS: To address the needs of the transgender student population and improve the model of care at student health services, gaining a better understanding of the transgender community was a vital step. To become familiarized with their needs and health concerns, a Likert survey was created and disseminated to investigate the current issues regarding barriers of adequate care. Additionally, to identify the barriers of providing adequate care, student and health professional interviews were completed. The students involved in the interviews and questionnaires were recruited through LGBTQ Support Services Center on West Chester University’s campus. A needs assessment was also created to gain a better understanding of the health needs of the transgender student community. The available resources and services provided to the LGBTQ students at West Chester University were reviewed and compared to other colleges and universities. RESULTS: Students expressed that they felt the healthcare providers were underprepared to provide care and that their care could be improved upon. Through meeting with students and clinicians, a key barrier was the unfamiliarity with transgender health and in addressing transgender-specific health needs. It was also discovered that being unprepared to provide care, resulted in unconscious and implicit bias and the perpetuation of transgender exclusive practices. DISCUSSION: This project identified themes, barriers and areas of concern expressed by transgender students. By identifying these elements, further research can be conducted to better understand student’s perceptions and feelings when seeking healthcare, and whether these experiences impact health outcomes. The purpose of this project was to create an atmosphere geared towards providing healthcare services that are inclusive to all people of all gender identities. With the growing number of transgender students on college campuses, establishing welcoming health setting for students is very important

Comparison of Two Methods for In Vivo Estimation of the Glenohumeral Joint Rotation Center (GH-JRC) of the Patients with Shoulder Hemiarthroplasty

Determination of an accurate glenohumeral-joint rotation center (GH-JRC) from marker data is essential for kinematic and dynamic analysis of shoulder motions. Previous studies have focused on the evaluation of the different functional methods for the estimation of the GH-JRC for healthy subjects. The goal of this paper is to compare two widely used functional methods, namely the instantaneous helical axis (IHA) and symmetrical center of rotation (SCoRE) methods, for estimating the GH-JRC in vivo for patients with implanted shoulder hemiarthroplasty. The motion data of five patients were recorded while performing three different dynamic motions (circumduction, abduction, and forward flexion). The GH-JRC was determined using the CT-images of the subjects (geometric GH-JRC) and was also estimated using the two IHA and SCoRE methods. The rotation centers determined using the IHA and SCoRE methods were on average 1.47±0.62 cm and 2.07±0.55 cm away from geometric GH-JRC, respectively. The two methods differed significantly (two-tailed p-value from paired t-Test ∼0.02, post-hoc power ∼0.30). The SCoRE method showed a significant lower (two-tailed p-value from paired t-Test ∼0.03, post-hoc power ∼0.68) repeatability error calculated between the different trials of each motion and each subject and averaged across all measured subjects (0.62±0.10 cm for IHA vs. 0.43±0.12 cm for SCoRE). It is concluded that the SCoRE appeared to be a more repeatable method whereas the IHA method resulted in a more accurate estimation of the GH-JRC for patients with endoprostheses

Gradual conversion of cellular stress patterns into pre-stressed matrix architecture during in vitro tissue growth

International audienc

Loss-of-function mutations in LEMD3 result in osteopoikilosis, Buschke-Ollendorff syndrome and melorheostosis

Osteopoikilosis, Buschke-Ollendorff syndrome (BOS) and melorheostosis are disorders characterized by increased bone density(1). The occurrence of one or more of these phenotypes in the same individual or family suggests that these entities might be allelic(2-4). We collected data from three families in which affected individuals had osteopoikilosis with or without manifestations of BOS or melorheostosis. A genome-wide linkage analysis in these families, followed by the identification of a microdeletion in an unrelated individual with these diseases, allowed us to map the gene that is mutated in osteopoikilosis. All the affected individuals that we investigated were heterozygous with respect to a loss-of-function mutation in LEMD3 (also called MAN1), which encodes an inner nuclear membrane protein. A somatic mutation in the second allele of LEMD3 could not be identified in fibroblasts from affected skin of an individual with BOS and an individual with melorheostosis. XMAN1, the Xenopus laevis ortholog, antagonizes BMP signaling during embryogenesis(5). In this study, LEMD3 interacted with BMP and activin-TGFP receptor-activated Smads and antagonized both signaling pathways in human cells