Providing Deaf People with the Opportunity for a Degree: Benefits to Individual and Society

This study was conducted to determine the extent to which individual and societal financial sacrifices necessary to support postsecondary education for deaf people are worthwhile by determining the relationship of college to both higher salaries for deaf individuals and additional taxes paid to the government. The Internal Revenue Service provided data on earnings of, and taxes paid by, several groups of college applicants: those not accepted; no- shows; withdrawals; sub-bachelor graduates; and bachelor degree recipients. Projections of their earnings received and taxes paid over 20 years were made. Principal findings were that, after20 years: (1) deaf Bachelor degree recipients will have earned roughly $220,000 more than sub-Bachelor alumni and$320,000-$365,000 more than persons without degrees; and (2)deaf Bachelor graduates will have paid approximately$89,000morein taxes than those with sub-Bachelor degrees and $126,000-$140,000 more than those without degrees. Both individual and society benefit economically when deaf people earn postsecondary degrees

Maternal narratives about their child's identity following acquired brain injury

The aim of this study was to explore differences in how mothers perceive the identity of their child after acquired brain injury and the emotions associated with these different perceptions. Five mothers of children who had sustained a brain injury were interviewed and the data were analysed using thematic analysis to obtain the mothers’ narratives about what had happened to their child’s identity as a result of the injury. Three general narratives are described: a child with problems, in which the problems of the child dominated the perception of the child’s identity and the post-injury child was viewed as fundamentally different from the pre-injury child; an improving child, in which the child’s progress and achievements figured prominently, and the post-injury child was viewed as having an identity continuous with that of the pre-injury child; and an improved child, in which the post-injury child was viewed as fundamentally different and improved compared to the pre-injury child. These narratives were associated with different emotional responses: A child with problems was associated with a sense of burden, grief and anxiety about the future. These emotions were relatively absent from the other two narratives, and an improving child was associated with a sense of relief, pride and optimism

How Partners Experience Personality Change after Traumatic Brain Injury-Its Impact on Their Emotions and their Relationship

Objective: The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how spouses/partners experience social, emotional and behavioural changes in persons following traumatic brain injury (TBI), with a particular focus on their emotional impact and the effect on the couple relationship.Method: Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of interview data explored five women's experiences of these changes in their partners following TBI.Results: Themes describe the direct emotional impact of living with the changes as well as the emotional impact of attempts to manage and make sense of the changes (identity change, managing the changes and making sense of the changes). The impact on the couple relationship is described under the themes of feeling love and receiving love. Changes led three of the participants to experience their partner as having been replaced by a new person; they actively disliked this new person; they felt unable to love the new person in the same way as the old person; and their love was defined in terms of a caring relationship, rather than a spousal relationship.Conclusions: The study provides insight into why social, emotional and behavioural changes might be so consistently associated with reduced emotional wellbeing and lower levels of relationship quality and satisfaction.</jats:p

Development and psychometric evaluation of an observational coding system measuring person-centred care in spouses of people with dementia

YesBackground: The notion of person-centered care has been important in investigating relationships between people with dementia and paid carers, and measures are available to assess this. It has been suggested that person-centered care may be a useful construct to apply to understand family-care relationships. However, no measures of person-centered care in this context exist. The study aimed to develop an observational measure of person-centered care for this purpose. Method: First, a coding system incorporating a range of behaviors that could be considered person-centered or non-person-centered was constructed. Examples included a code relating to whether the person with dementia was involved in planning a task, and a code relating to how the spouse responded to confusion/distress. Second, 11 couples, where one partner had a dementia, were recruited and videotaped cooperating on an everyday task. The system was applied to the care-giving spouse's behaviors, labeling examples of behavior as person-centered or non-person-centered. The final step involved assessing the inter-rater reliability of the system. Results: The system captured nine categories of behavior, which were each divided into person-centered and non-person-centered types. The system had good reliability (Cohen's κ coefficients were: 0.65 for category and whether behaviors needed to be placed in a category; 0.81 for category excluding the decision about whether behaviors needed to be placed in a category; and 0.79 in relation to whether behaviors were person-centered or non-person-centered.) Conclusions: Although the small sample size limits the implications of the results, the system is a promising quantitative measure of spousal person-centered care

Bounds on the CP Asymmetry in Like-Sign Dileptons from B0Bˉ0B^{0}\bar{B}^{0} Meson Decays

We have measured the charge asymmetry in like-sign dilepton yields from B^0 B^0-bar meson decays using the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring. We find a_ll = [N(l+l+) - N(l-l-)]/[N(l+l+) + N[l-l-)] = +0.013 +/- 0.050 +/- 0.005 . We combine this result with a previous, independent measurement and obtain Re(epsilon_B)/(1+|epsilon_B|^2) = +0.0035 +/- 0.0103 +/- 0.0015 (uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively) for the CP impurity parameter, epsilon_B.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Baseline spatial distribution of malaria prior to an elimination programme in Vanuatu

BACKGROUND: The Ministry of Health in the Republic of Vanuatu has implemented a malaria elimination programme in Tafea Province, the most southern and eastern limit of malaria transmission in the South West Pacific. Tafea Province is comprised of five islands with malaria elimination achieved on one of these islands (Aneityum) in 1998. The current study aimed to establish the baseline distribution of malaria on the most malarious of the province's islands, Tanna Island, to guide the implementation of elimination activities. METHODS: A parasitological survey was conducted in Tafea Province in 2008. On Tanna Island there were 4,716 participants from 220 villages, geo-referenced using a global position system. Spatial autocorrelation in observed prevalence values was assessed using a semivariogram. Backwards step-wise regression analysis was conducted to determine the inclusion of environmental and climatic variables into a prediction model. The Bayesian geostatistical logistic regression model was used to predict malaria risk, and associated uncertainty across the island. RESULTS: Overall, prevalence on Tanna was 1.0% for Plasmodium falciparum (accounting for 32% of infections) and 2.2% for Plasmodium vivax (accounting for 68% of infections). Regression analysis showed significant association with elevation and distance to coastline for P. vivax and P. falciparum, but no significant association with NDVI or TIR. Colinearity was observed between elevation and distance to coastline with the later variable included in the final Bayesian geostatistical model for P. vivax and the former included in the final model for P. falciparum. Model validation statistics revealed that the final Bayesian geostatistical model had good predictive ability. CONCLUSION: Malaria in Tanna Island, Vanuatu, has a focal and predominantly coastal distribution. As Vanuatu refines its elimination strategy, malaria risk maps represent an invaluable resource in the strategic planning of all levels of malaria interventions for the island

Examining the immunoepigenetic-gut microbiome axis in the context of self-esteem among Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders

Introduction: Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHPI) populations experience higher rates of immunometabolic diseases compared to other racial-ethnic groups in Hawaii. As annual NHPI mortality rates for suicide and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) exceed those of the state as a whole, understanding the social and biological mechanisms underlying these disparities are urgently needed to enable preventive strategies.Methods: A community-based approach was used to investigate the immunoepigenetic-gut microbiome axis in an NHPI-enriched cohort of Oahu residents (N = 68). Self-esteem (SE) data was collected using a modified Rosenberg self-esteem (SE) assessment as a proxy measure for mental wellbeing in consideration for cultural competency. T2DM status was evaluated using point-of-care A1c (%) tests. Stool samples were collected for 16s-based metagenomic sequencing analyses. Plasma from blood samples were isolated by density-gradient centrifugation. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from the same samples and enriched for monocytes using negative selection techniques. Flow-cytometry was used for immunoprofiling assays. Monocyte DNA was extracted for Illumina EPIC array-based methylation analysis.Results: Compared to individuals with normal SE (NSE), those with low SE (LSE) exhibited significantly higher plasma concentrations (pg/ml) of proinflammatory cytokines IL-8 (p = 0.051) and TNF-α (p = 0.011). Metagenomic analysis revealed that the relative abundance (%) of specific gut bacteria significantly differed between SE groups - some of which directly correlated with SE scores. Gene ontology analysis revealed that 104 significantly differentially methylated loci (DML) between SE groups were preferentially located at genes involved in immunometabolic processes. Horvath clock analyses indicated epigenetic age (Epi-Age) deceleration in individuals with LSE and acceleration in individuals with NSE (p = 0.042), yet was not reproduced by other clocks.Discussion: These data reveal novel differences in the immunoepigenetic-gut microbiome axis with respect to SE, warranting further investigation into its relationship to brain activity and mental health in NHPI. Unexpected results from Epi-Age analyses warrant further investigation into the relationship between biological age and disparate health outcomes among the NHPI population. The modifiable component of epigenetic processes and the gut microbiome makes this axis an attractive target for potential therapeutics, biomarker discovery, and novel prevention strategies