Grief Off-The-Clock: Supporting Hospice Professionals Through Personal Loss

Working with clients who die can have a major impact on the way professionals address their own grief. Daily exposure to the possibility of death alters the process of mourning and can leave professionals feeling disconnected from family and friends during times of grief. This presentation will look at the challenges that hospice workers, clergy members, social workers and other professionals face when they experience grief in their own lives. Evidence-based strategies for supporting professionals in their grief will also be explored

Strategies for Supporting College Students Experiencing Grief

Grief and loss are a shared human experience. However, lacking cultural awareness of the impact of grief and insufficient social support can make managing the loss of a loved one very challenging for students. One strategy to support students who experience loss during college is the development of a course that addresses content related to the experience within supportive academic relationships. This presentation will explore research findings about student experiences of grief on college campuses and evidence-based practices for the development and implementation of an academic course on grief

Persistence in Practice: A Review of Evidence

Student persistence to graduation is a salient issue in higher education, especially for at-risk groups. Varied approaches to increasing student success and engagement have been tried across campuses throughout North America. The following literature review will highlight evidence-based practices used to increase student persistence at varying levels of organizational structure, including university-level, program-level, and multi-systemic interventions. Recommendations for the specific context of Olivet Nazarene University will be made based on the findings of the included research

Dynamic changes in heparan sulfate during muscle differentiation and ageing regulate myoblast cell fate and FGF2 signalling

Satellite cells (SCs) are skeletal muscle stem cells residing quiescent around healthy muscle fibres. In response to injury or disease SCs activate, proliferate and eventually differentiate and fuse to one another to form new muscle fibres, or to existing damaged fibres to repair them. The sulfated polysaccharide heparan sulfate (HS) is a highly variable biomolecule known to play key roles in the regulation of cell fate decisions, though the changes that muscle HS undergoes during SC differentiation are unknown. Here we show that the sulfation levels of HS increase during SC differentiation; more specifically, we observe an increase in 6-O and 2-O-sulfation in N-acetylated disaccharides. Interestingly, a specific increase in 6-O sulfation is also observed in the heparanome of ageing muscle, which we show leads to promotion of FGF2 signalling and satellite cell proliferation, suggesting a role for the heparanome dynamics in age-associated loss of quiescence. Addition of HS mimetics to differentiating SC cultures results in differential effects: an oversulfated HS mimetic increases differentiation and inhibits FGF2 signalling, a known major promoter of SC proliferation and inhibitor of differentiation. In contrast, FGF2 signalling is promoted by an N-acetylated HS mimetic, which inhibits differentiation and promotes SC expansion. We conclude that the heparanome of SCs is dynamically regulated during muscle differentiation and ageing, and that such changes might account for some of the phenotypes and signalling events that are associated with these processes

An experimental investigation of the consumer perception of products featured on coupons

The objective of the paper was to determine whether different characteristics of a coupon can impact consumer perceptions of the brand featured on coupons. An experiment using a homogeneous group of male subjects in a controlled classroom setting exposed subjects to one of eight coupons, each representing one of eight possible conditions of a combination of two levels of three independent variables tested in a 2 x 2 x 2 experimental design: face value, manner in which the offer was stated, and familiarity with the featured brand. Subjects were asked to respond to a questionnaire measuring perceptions such as psychological value of using the coupon, perceived quality, perceived price, liking for the brand, liking for the offer, intention to use the offer, and perceived risk in using the coupon. Findings show that the independent variables all have significant impact on consumer perceptions of the brand featured on coupons. Among them, liking for the coupon and intention to use it increase more dramatically with increases in face value when the brand is familiar. Also, when only the face value was shown, liking and intention increased more with face value for the familiar brand than the unfamiliar one. Finally, coupon proneness and value consciousness add to the understanding of consumer perceptions. Coupon prone consumers pay less attention to face values, and have more positive perceptions of coupons when only the face values are shown. Highly value conscious consumers, on the other hand, pay attention to the magnitude of the face values

The potential for circular dichroism as an additional facile and sensitive method of monitoring low-molecular-weight heparins and heparinoids

The ultraviolet circular dichroism (CD) spectra of commercial low-molecular-weight heparins, heparinoids and other anticoagulant preparations have been recorded between 180 and 260 nm. Principal component analysis of the spectra allowed their differentiation into a number of groups related to the means of their production reflecting the structural changes introduced by each process. The findings suggest that CD provides a complementary technique for the rapid analysis of heparin preparations

Shape recognition: convexities, concavities and things in between.

Visual objects are effortlessly recognized from their outlines, largely irrespective of viewpoint. Previous studies have drawn different conclusions regarding the importance to shape recognition of specific shape features such as convexities and concavities. However, most studies employed familiar objects, or shapes without curves, and did not measure shape recognition across changes in scale and position. We present a novel set of random shapes with well-defined convexities, concavities and inflections (intermediate points), segmented to isolate each feature type. Observers matched the segmented reference shapes to one of two subsequently presented whole-contour shapes (target or distractor) that were re-scaled and re-positioned. For very short segment lengths, performance was significantly higher for convexities than for concavities or intermediate points and for convexities remained constant with increasing segment length. For concavities and intermediate points, performance improved with increasing segment length, reaching convexity performance only for long segments. No significant differences between concavities and intermediates were found. These results show for the first time that closed curvilinear shapes are encoded using the positions of convexities, rather than concavities or intermediate regions. A shape-template model with no free parameters gave an excellent account of the data

A Look at Technology Use Across the Country: State Implementation of AT Practices for Infants and Toddlers

EI professionals from across the country recently participated in the Tots-n-Tech’s (TnT) Assistive Technology (AT) Program Self-Assessment. Part C Coordinators designated agency and program directors, regional coordinators, or other relevant people in their states to respond to the on-line self assessment of AT practices. The self-assessment is designed to provide a picture of how well recommended AT practices are implemented within state communities. Information from all respondents is combined to provide state-wide and regional views of how programs are doing in making AT available for infants and toddlers with disabilities or delayed development

Does life satisfaction reduce risk of incident hypertension and stroke? Evidence from the Whitehall II cohort

Background: Previous studies showed life satisfaction is related to reduced risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes, but its association with other cardiometabolic endpoints including hypertension and stroke remains unexplored. This study examined life satisfaction's prospective association with incident hypertension and stroke in middle-aged adults. Methods: At baseline (1985–1988), 6225 healthy British civil servants aged 35–55 from the Whitehall II cohort completed the validated Satisfaction with Life Scale and provided information regarding sociodemographics, a range of health-related factors, and psychological distress. Incident hypertension was ascertained according to clinic-derived measures of systolic or diastolic blood pressure of ≥140/90 mmHg, respectively, or self-reports of either physician-diagnosed hypertension or hypertensive medication use. Incident stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) were ascertained by self-reported physician diagnosis. Follow-up assessments occurred every 2–5 years through 2017. Cox proportional hazards regression models estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of hypertension and stroke/TIA risk separately. Results: Over a 31-year follow-up, 2703 cases of hypertension and 370 cases of stroke/TIA occurred. Life satisfaction was not related to risk of developing hypertension but was associated with 12% decreased risk of stroke/TIA after controlling for sociodemographics, health status, and health behaviors (HRper 1-SD = 0.88; 95%CI = 0.79–0.98). However, the association was attenuated after adjustment for psychological distress. Conclusions: No robust associations were found between life satisfaction and incident hypertension and stroke/TIA, respectively, after accounting for well-established risk factors and psychological distress. More research is needed to understand why associations of life satisfaction with cardiometabolic health seem to vary across endpoints