MĀ TE ARA WAIRUA, KA KITE HE ORANGA: A Kaupapa Māori study into the development of traditional healing knowledge and spiritual concepts in social work

This thesis explores the development of traditional Māori healing knowledge and spiritual concepts in social work from the perspective of sixteen individuals. The current knowledge base predominantly views social work from a Western lens which begs the question: “What is the role of traditional Māori healing knowledge in social work?” The present research study is an attempt to address this question by investigating the experiences of Māori healers and social workers using Pūrākau (storytelling) methodology which are then examined using the Ara Wairua (spiritual pathway) data analysis tool. Face-to-face interviews revealed six key themes during the rigorous four stage data analysis. The themes presented in this thesis provide culturally nuanced understandings and insights into traditional Māori healing concepts, relational principles for Kaupapa Māori praxis from theory to intervention, transference of knowledge for non-Indigenous workers, spiritual responsiveness, and the importance of Indigenist social work. As each of the six themes organically emerged, the study yielded twelve key research results. These specific findings establish healing as being the practice of unconditional Aroha (love) and intuition, an emphasis on enhancing Māori epistemology in social work policy and theory, and the protection of Mana Motuhake (vested power). This thesis argues that social work must develop a broader understanding of knowledge embedded within Whakapapa (ancestral lines) and how to interpret spiritual experiences which are equally as important in their structure and content. This research identifies the challenges in relation to understanding these concepts alongside several key recommendations for the social work profession

Characterization of a Netrin-4 Like Protein in \u3cem\u3eTetrahymena thermophila\u3c/em\u3e

The netrin family of proteins has homeostatic roles in vertebrate development and angiogenesis, and pathophysiological roles in the progression and metastasis of cancer. We have previously characterized a netrin-1-like protein in Tetrahymena thermophila, and have shown that vertebrate netrin-1, netrin-3, and netrin-4 all serve as chemorepellents in this organism. We are currently using Western blotting and immunofluorescence to further characterize the netrin-like proteins in Tetrahymena. Western blotting with our anti-netrin-4 antibody shows a band that is clearly visible in whole cell extract, but shows little reactivity with secreted protein, indicating that most of our netrin-4-like protein remains within the cell. Western blotting of whole cell extract with anti-netrin-1, netrin-3, and netrin-4 antibodies shows a clear band measuring 50 kD that stains with all three antibodies. Some lower molecular weight bands are also evident in all three blots, possibly due to proteolytic activity. Immunolocalization with an anti-netrin-4 antibody shows some colocalization with netrin-1, netrin-3, and ER Tracker™. Our anti-netrin-4 antibody localizes to the oral groove, basal bodies, and nuclei of cells, indicating a possible structural role for the netrin-4-like protein in this organism. Further research will involve determining the primary amino acid sequence of the 50 kD protein and comparing it with the Tetrahymena thermophila proteome database to help ascertain the physiological role of this protein

Socioeconomic drivers of urban pest prevalence

Funding: We thank the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) under funding received from the National Science Foundation DBI-1052875, for supporting the workshop series ‘Socio-Spatial Ecology of the Bed Bug and its Control'.1. Bed bugs have re-established themselves as a common household pest in the United States and pose significant public health and economic concerns, particularly in urban areas. 2. Documenting the scale of the bed bug resurgence and identifying the underlying predictors of the spatial patterns of their incidence is challenging, largely because available data come from biased self-reporting through local government code enforcement. 3. Here, we make use of a novel source of systematically collected data from periodic inspections of multifamily housing units in Chicago to investigate neighbourhood drivers of bed bug infestation prevalence in Chicago. 4. Bed bug infestations are strongly associated with income, eviction rates and crowding at the neighbourhood level. 5. That bed bug prevalence is higher in lower-income neighbourhoods with higher levels of household crowding and eviction notices provides unique empirical evidence of the disproportionate allocation of public health burdens upon neighbourhoods facing multiple dimensions of disadvantage.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Plan de negocio para el Hotel Hawai & Litus para el periodo 2023-2027

El presente plan de negocios tiene como objetivo crear una nueva oferta hotelera como es el hotel Hawai & Litus, con categoría cuatro estrellas, que iniciará sus actividades el año 2023 en el distrito de Zorritos, provincia de Contralmirante Villar, aproximadamente a 28 km de la ciudad de Tumbes (Perú). Hawai & Litus brinda una experiencia de cultura hawaiana, centrada en el cliente y ofreciendo una experiencia inolvidable gracias a la atención personalizada de colaboradores con altos estándares de servicio. El hotel ofrece un servicio basado en una estrategia de enfoque en diferenciación apoyado en fuentes de ventajas competitivas como son ubicación, servicio al cliente e infraestructura basados en la cultura hawaiana. El plan de negocios desarrolla el análisis externo e interno del hotel en estudio. El macroentorno muestra una condición favorable mientras que el análisis del microentorno realizado mediante las cinco fuerzas competitivas de Porter indica que el hotel se desenvuelve con un grado de competitividad medio. Posteriormente se desarrolla la investigación de mercados para conocer el perfil del cliente y las características de demanda y oferta, para alinear la propuesta del negocio con los objetivos del hotel y los planes de Marketing, Operaciones, Recursos Humanos, Responsabilidad Social y Finanzas

Laparoscopic-assisted resection of a giant colonic diverticulum: a case report

a case repor

Inferring Loss-of-Heterozygosity from Unpaired Tumors Using High-Density Oligonucleotide SNP Arrays

Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of chromosomal regions bearing tumor suppressors is a key event in the evolution of epithelial and mesenchymal tumors. Identification of these regions usually relies on genotyping tumor and counterpart normal DNA and noting regions where heterozygous alleles in the normal DNA become homozygous in the tumor. However, paired normal samples for tumors and cell lines are often not available. With the advent of oligonucleotide arrays that simultaneously assay thousands of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers, genotyping can now be done at high enough resolution to allow identification of LOH events by the absence of heterozygous loci, without comparison to normal controls. Here we describe a hidden Markov model-based method to identify LOH from unpaired tumor samples, taking into account SNP intermarker distances, SNP-specific heterozygosity rates, and the haplotype structure of the human genome. When we applied the method to data genotyped on 100 K arrays, we correctly identified 99% of SNP markers as either retention or loss. We also correctly identified 81% of the regions of LOH, including 98% of regions greater than 3 megabases. By integrating copy number analysis into the method, we were able to distinguish LOH from allelic imbalance. Application of this method to data from a set of prostate samples without paired normals identified known regions of prevalent LOH. We have developed a method for analyzing high-density oligonucleotide SNP array data to accurately identify of regions of LOH and retention in tumors without the need for paired normal samples

Churches as firms : an exploration of regulatory similarities

Regulatory states manage religious activity within their jurisdiction in the same way they manage economic activity, in an alignment pattern that reflects institutionally embedded processes. Relying on regulatory institutional options to trace consistencies in the way a regime manages economic and religious activity, the article develops and tests theoretical accounts of the presence and content - in terms of comparative variation - of this alignment. The empirical setting, primarily OECD countries in recent decades, allows us to reverse the conventional causal view and treat religious regulation as causally embedded in the logic and practice of economic regulation. If reliance on regulation as a means of social control is bound by the same processes across domains, this may even suggest the existence of national cross-sectoral models of coordinating competition. The study elaborates a broad conceptualisation of regulatory governance with potentially wide applicability