Insight

This Podcast brings about conflicts throughout the world that many are oblivious to or ignorant towards.To connect ourselves to our audience, we not only speak of situations from around the world but we also bring in the opnions of an international student to speak on behalf of his fellow collegues. We reveal that there is more to the world than the black and white situation shown in social media so that the world may no longer be able to utter the phrase, “ignorance is bliss” and use it as an excuse for not helping others. We also provide different solutions and ways they are able to get involved so that not only our voice be heard but theirs as well. Showing that there is power in the multitude

Decreasing Stress for Parents of Special Needs Children through a Web-Based Mindfulness Program: A Pilot Study

Purpose: Parents often experience moderate to severe levels of stress due to the challenges of raising a child with special needs. Previous research has proven that excessive parental stress negatively impacts both the parent and child’s health. However, few organizations have been identified which offer intervention programs focusing directly on decreasing parental stress. This pilot study investigates the effectiveness of a 6-week online mindfulness-based course in reducing stress experienced by parents of children with special needs. Method: A pre-test, post-test pilot design, as well as a participatory action approach, were employed to determine the impact of the online mindfulness-based course in reducing perceived stress experienced by parents of children with special needs. Eleven parents participated in the pilot study. The course was facilitated by an occupational therapist (the first author) trained and experienced in mindfulness practices and a parent of two children with special needs. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale - Stress subscale (DASS-SS), The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-15 (FFMQ-15), and author-generated measures were administered pre- and post-intervention to determine changes in perceived stress levels, as well as, the impact and application of mindfulness practices. Results: The DASS-SS measuring the parents’ perceived stress level revealed a 30% mean reduction in stress when comparing pre-and post-intervention scores. The PSS revealed a 21% mean reduction in perceived stress score post-intervention. The FFMQ-15 (used to measure changes in the integration of mindfulness practices into the parent’s daily routine) indicated a 4% increase in the groups’ mindfulness practices comparing pre- and post-intervention scores. Responses to the author-generated measure revealed that 82% of parents believed they could better handle challenging situations post-intervention; 100% of the parents agreed that the course made them more mindful of their thoughts. Conclusion: Results indicate that an introductory online mindfulness-based parenting program can be an effective intervention for reducing the stress experienced by parents of children with special needs

Using Technology to Enhance Interprofessional Collaborative Practice: Creating Virtual Clinical Opportunities by Implementing Google Doc and Google Hangout in Clinical Rounding

The delivery of quality care is best done by a group of practitioners who can effectively communicate and utilize the ‘team decision making approach’ to solve patient/client/person care issues. Organizations such as the WHO advise us that “after almost 50 years of inquiry, there is now sufficient evidence to indicate that interprofessional education enables effective collaborative practice which in turn optimizes health-services, strengthens health systems and improves health outcomes” (2010, p18). The need to implement interprofessional team based approaches to patient care is important. What is also essential is the need to provide interprofessional learning opportunities for today’s health care student who will be practicing in teams in an ever changing health care delivery system of tomorrow. Currently the majority of interprofessional activities that students are exposed to are in didactic settings. Although most health professionals spend more than half of their education in a clinical setting, very little opportunity [predominately because of logistics] exists for students to develop interprofessional skills in clinical practice. Thomas Jefferson University is not immune to this challenge. While we have been successful in bringing medical and nursing students together to engage in clinical rounding, we have not been able to engage many of the other members of the health care team because they are simply not physically on the clinical unit

Drosophila Muller F Elements Maintain a Distinct Set of Genomic Properties Over 40 Million Years of Evolution

The Muller F element (4.2 Mb, similar to 80 protein-coding genes) is an unusual autosome of Drosophila melanogaster; it is mostly heterochromatic with a low recombination rate. To investigate how these properties impact the evolution of repeats and genes, we manually improved the sequence and annotated the genes on the D. erecta, D. mojavensis, and D. grimshawi F elements and euchromatic domains from the Muller D element. We find that F elements have greater transposon density (25-50%) than euchromatic reference regions (3-11%). Among the F elements, D. grimshawi has the lowest transposon density (particularly DINE-1: 2% vs. 11-27%). F element genes have larger coding spans, more coding exons, larger introns, and lower codon bias. Comparison of the Effective Number of Codons with the Codon Adaptation Index shows that, in contrast to the other species, codon bias in D. grimshawi F element genes can be attributed primarily to selection instead of mutational biases, suggesting that density and types of transposons affect the degree of local heterochromatin formation. F element genes have lower estimated DNA melting temperatures than D element genes, potentially facilitating transcription through heterochromatin. Most F element genes (similar to 90%) have remained on that element, but the F element has smaller syntenic blocks than genome averages (3.4-3.6 vs. 8.4-8.8 genes per block), indicating greater rates of inversion despite lower rates of recombination. Overall, the F element has maintained characteristics that are distinct from other autosomes in the Drosophila lineage, illuminating the constraints imposed by a heterochromatic milieu

Hispanic Residential Ethnic Density and Depression in Post-Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients: Re-Thinking the Role of Social Support

Background: The ethnic density hypothesis suggests that ethnic density confers greater social support and consequently protects against depressive symptoms in ethnic minority individuals. However, the potential benefits of ethnic density have not been examined in individuals who are facing a specific and salient life stressor. Aims: We examined the degree to which the effects of Hispanic ethnic density on depressive symptoms are explained by socioeconomic resources and social support. Methods: Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS, N = 472) completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and measures of demographics, ACS clinical factors and perceived social support. Neighborhood characteristics, including median income, number of single parent households and Hispanic ethnic density, were extracted from the American Community Survey Census (2005–2009) for each patient using his or her geocoded address. Results: In a linear regression analysis adjusted for demographic and clinical factors, Hispanic ethnic density was positively associated with depressive symptoms (β = .09, standard error (SE) = .04, p = .03). However, Hispanic density was no longer a significant predictor of depressive symptoms when neighborhood characteristics were controlled. The relationship of Hispanic density on depressive symptoms was moderated by nativity status. Among US-born patients with ACS, there was a significant positive relationship between Hispanic density and depressive symptoms and social support significantly mediated this effect. There was no observed effect of Hispanic density to depressive symptoms for foreign-born ACS patients. Conclusion: Although previous research suggests that ethnic density may be protective against depression, our data suggest that among patients with ACS, living in a community with a high concentration of Hispanic individuals is associated with constrained social and economic resources that are themselves associated with greater depressive symptoms. These data add to a growing body of literature on the effects of racial or ethnic segregation on health outcomes

Union Stewardship: A Space for Mid-career Librarian Leadership

In the spring of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic forced universities into a defensive crouch and administrators frantically looked for easy ways to cut costs, thousands of higher education jobs were suddenly at risk. At our institution, librarians were among 200+ faculty contracts under threat for non-renewal, representing a 25% overall cut in our librarian workforce. The crisis prompted us, three mid-career librarians and union stewards, to do whatever we could to save those jobs and to shore up colleagues’ morale through the uncertainty. We worked closely with our faculty union leadership to develop advocacy strategies and to engage allies and colleagues in the fight. As our work progressed and our mutual support network deepened, we realized we shared another common issue that encompassed broader and more existential concerns. After our early career years spent cementing job skills, building a professional profile, and pursuing promotion, we all found ourselves asking, “Where do I want to put my energies in the next phase of my work life? How can I make a meaningful impact?” Our experience demonstrates the value of engaging in labor union activism as a vital opportunity for the mid-career librarian to advocate for fellow colleagues and to further one’s own professional development. Throughout this book chapter, we will bring readers through our journey as three mid-career library union stewards. Although we are at different places on the mid-career spectrum and we each came to union steward work in different ways and for different reasons, we shared similar values: an interest in women’s worker rights and shared governance; a preference for collaborative feminist leadership style; and a desire to develop professionally through building partnerships and supporting our colleagues rather than pursuing advancement through a hierarchical management structure. With practical strategies and advice, we will share how we developed an advocacy plan to preserve jobs and raise the profile of librarians, and how we looked beyond the immediate crisis to enact organizing principles that we hope become normalized across the library faculty: collaboration, guidance, deep listening spaces, collective advocacy, and action-oriented practices that speak truth to the needs and rights of academic librarians

Ten-year Trends in Physical Dating Victimization among Adolescent Boys and Girls in British Columbia, Canada

Physical dating violence (PDV) victimization among adolescents is a serious global problem. Although knowledge of trends in PDV victimization can help guide programming and health policies, little research has examined whether the prevalence of PDV victimization has increased, decreased, or remained stable over time among non-U.S.-based samples of youth. In addition, few studies have directly tested whether disparities in PDV victimization between boys and girls have narrowed, widened, or remained unchanged in recent years. To address these gaps, we used school-based data from the British Columbia Adolescent Health Surveys (BC AHS) of 2003, 2008, and 2013 (n boys = 18,441 and n girls = 17,459) to examine 10-year trends in PDV victimization. We also tested whether trends differed across self-reported sex. Data from the 2003 to 2013 BC AHS revealed that recent PDV victimization rates had significantly decreased among youth overall (5.9% to 5.0%) and boys (8.0% to 5.8%), but not girls (5.3% to 4.2%). Although boys had steeper declines than girls in PDV victimization rates, year-by-sex interactions indicate that the sex gap in PDV victimization had not significantly narrowed. Moreover, rates of PDV victimization over the 10-year period indicated significantly higher rates of PDV victimization among boys compared to girls. Despite positive declines in recent rates of PDV victimization among youth, important differences in rates of PDV victimization between boys and girls remain. These findings underscore the need for greater attention to sex differences in research and programming and health policies to reduce PDV victimization and the sex disparities therein

Ariel - Volume 9 Number 4

Executive Editor Emily Wofford Business Manager Fredric Jay Matlin University News John Patrick Welch World News George Robert Coar Editorials Editor Steve Levine Features Mark Rubin Brad Feldstein Sports Editor EIi Saleeby Circulation Victor Onufreiczuk Lee Wugofski Graphics and Art Steve Hulkower Commons Editor Brenda Peterso

Design of a Professional Practice Simulator for Educating and Motivating First-Year Engineering Students

Increasingly, first-year engineering curricula incorporate design projects. However, the faculty and staff effort and physical resources required for the number of students enrolled can be daunting and affect the quality of instruction. To reduce these costs, ensure a high quality educational experience, and reduce variability in student outcomes that occur with individual design projects, we developed a simulation of engineering professional practice, NephroTex, in which teams of students are guided through multiple design-build-test cycles by a mentor in a virtual internship. Here we report on the design process for the virtual internship and results of testing with first-year engineering students at a large, public university. Our results demonstrate that the novel virtual internship successfully educated and motivated first-year-engineering students. Importantly, the virtual environment captures rich discourse that can be used to assess the process of student learning with tools from existing learning theory

Robotic Radical Prostatectomy at a Teaching Community Hospital: Outcomes and Safety

Robotic prostatectomy was found to be a safe and successful option for prostate cancer treatment in a community teaching hospital