Development and empirical analysis of a self-advocacy readiness scale with a university sample

Counseling as a profession has been criticized for disregarding the social and political issues facing clients and students (Bemak & Chung, 2005). Many students in urban environments are faced with difficulties such as poverty, racism, and oppression that impact their emotional, social, and academic growth (Bemak & Siroskey-Sabdo, 2005). Further, students in urban schools feel they have little power in a school culture dominated by the majority group in which differences in culture, class and language are often perceived as deficits (Bryan, 2005); The No Child Left Behind Act calls for increasing achievement rates for all students and bridging the gap between minority/low socioeconomic students and their peers (U.S. Department of Education, 2003). In fact, over the last eight years, the Education Trust has had a significant role in transforming the role of school counselors in closing the academic achievement gap (Colbert, Vernon-Jones, & Pransky, 2006). School counselors have traditionally focused on the mental well being of students, however, the current emphasis on high test scores and academic success of minority students calls for school counselors to change their focus and find effective academically driven approaches to ensure the long term personal/social and academic success of all students; Little attention has been given to the concept of self-advocacy in school counseling and its potential to empower marginalized youth in school settings. Furthermore, there has been little research in the area of self-advocacy among minority students in school counseling to promote closing the academic achievement gap. As a result, there is a substantial need for a research study to explore the development of a tool that will help school counselors assess students\u27 readiness to self-advocate; The purpose of this study was to develop and conduct an empirical analysis of a self-advocacy instrument and to determine if differences exist in response patterns between minority students and non-minority students on the Self-Advocacy Readiness Scale; The findings of the analyses indicate that the Self-Advocacy Readiness Scale and its subscales produced adequate estimates of internal consistency reliability. Further, exploratory factor analysis revealed the possibility of a self-advocacy construct; Analysis of minority students and non-minority students\u27 total scores on the Self-Advocacy Readiness Scale indicated they were not statistically different. Analysis of the five self-advocacy subscales (autonomy, control, experience, knowledge, and motivation) revealed that minority and non-minority students\u27 subscales scores were not statistically different with the exception of the control subscale; The information gleaned from this study will contribute to additional avenues of research in Counselor Education

Race, Gender, and Domestic Violence

Race and gender, as significant social locations, have an impact on many facets of life. One of these areas is the experience of victimization, particularly Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Race and gender impact who perpetrates, their views towards IPV, who is victimized, the victim\u27s experiences with the Criminal Justice System, and the preparedness of supportive services to assist these victims

Hydrogen quantitative risk assessment workshop proceedings.

The Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) Toolkit Introduction Workshop was held at Energetics on June 11-12. The workshop was co-hosted by Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and HySafe, the International Association for Hydrogen Safety. The objective of the workshop was twofold: (1) Present a hydrogen-specific methodology and toolkit (currently under development) for conducting QRA to support the development of codes and standards and safety assessments of hydrogen-fueled vehicles and fueling stations, and (2) Obtain feedback on the needs of early-stage users (hydrogen as well as potential leveraging for Compressed Natural Gas [CNG], and Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG]) and set priorities for %E2%80%9CVersion 1%E2%80%9D of the toolkit in the context of the commercial evolution of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). The workshop consisted of an introduction and three technical sessions: Risk Informed Development and Approach; CNG/LNG Applications; and Introduction of a Hydrogen Specific QRA Toolkit

Reliability and Predictive Validity of Screener/Assessment Tools in Nebraska Juvenile Diversion

Juvenile diversion is offered in most counties throughout Nebraska to eligible youth; and although state guidelines require the use of a screening or assessment tool, the tools utilized are not standardized or uniform statewide. This report quantifies whether the various tools are being reliably administered and are effectively predicting diversion completion and future system involvement. The Juvenile Justice Institute gathered item-level risk/needs screener and assessment data from all juvenile diversion programs receiving Community-based Aid (CBA) funds. Overall, 3,916 youth were assessed for a juvenile diversion program between July 1st, 2015 and June 30th, 2017. The Youth Level of Service Inventory/Case Management Inventory (YLS) comprised the largest number of completed assessments (n = 2,193), followed by the Nebraska Youth Screen (NYS; n = 1,512), and the Arizona Risk-Needs Assessment (ARNA; n = 211). First, we tested the reliability of each tool, which is how well it is consistently performing at predicting risk (i.e., less error in measurement). Reliability analyses revealed the YLS/CMI had the strongest internal consistency of the three measures, which means the items are grouped well together to measure the construct (i.e., risk level). The items within the NYS, however, demonstrated the strongest item-total correlations, which means these items were most related to the overall construct (i.e., risk level). Both the NYS and ARNA had poor internal consistency. Second, we performed Receiver Operating Curve (ROC) analyses to determine the predictive validity of each tool, utilizing both unsuccessful discharge from diversion and future system involvement as outcomes. Results revealed all three tools had predictive validity for unsuccessful diversion completion with large effect sizes (i.e., measure of strength of the relationship). Furthermore, while all three tools demonstrated predictive validity for future system involvement with small to moderate effect sizes, when we tested predictive validity by both gender and race/ethnicity, only the YLS accurately predicted future system involvement for girls, none of the tools accurately predicted future system involvement for Black/African American youth, and only the ARNA accurately predicted future system involvement for Hispanic youth. While it is always recommended to screen and/or assess youth, the tools currently being utilized in Nebraska juvenile diversion programs are not reliably and validly measuring risk for all youth assessed. The most problematic items within each tool were those relating to prior convictions or prior contacts with the legal system. Because this is a diversion population, presumably with little to no prior juvenile justice system involvement, these items poorly capture risk in this population, which in turn contributes to lower reliability and predictive validity. While these findings do not provide definitive results for us to whole-heartedly recommend a tool for juvenile diversion programs at this time, our recommendation is to explore creating/utilizing a risk assessment tool that removes items that measure previous legal system involvement or norming current tools without those items. Future research and practice should continue to explore gender and racial/ethnic differences within youth assessment

Environmental Perturbations that Cause Structural Changes in the SNARE Protein SNAP-25

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Durham County socially isolated older adults, Durham, NC : an action-oriented community diagnosis : findings and next steps of action

Between January and May of 2002, a team of five master’s students from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, completed an Action Oriented Community Diagnosis (AOCD) focusing on the socially isolated seniors of Durham County. The goal of the AOCD was to better understand the strengths and needs of the socially isolated senior community. In order to accomplish this, the team further defined the community as, “seniors who are not as connected to services or other seniors as they could or would like to be”. The students secured approval from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Public Health Institutional Review Board (IRB). The student team then reviewed secondary data, about Durham County as a whole, and specifically about senior citizens, to better understand the community. The students also attended several meetings with service providers to learn more about the resources available to senior citizens. The team’s preceptors provided referrals for both community members and service providers to interview. Other agencies that serve senior citizens, and especially more isolated senior citizens, helped secure the permission of community members to interview. The students developed interview and focus group guides to collect primary data. The team interviewed a total of 32 individuals. Eight service providers and 16 community members were interviewed individually. Two focus groups were also conducted, one with service providers (five participants) and one with caregivers for seniors (three participants). An analysis of the interviews showed that several themes commonly emerged in both the service provider and community member interviews. The most common themes were: transportation, crime, economy, physical and environmental hazards, lack of a coordinated referral system for services, race relations, social support, respite care needs, attitudes of seniors, and religion/faith. While senior citizens and service providers agreed upon the main themes, there were differences on the dimensions of some of the themes. A community forum was organized by the team in order to share findings on the strengths and needs of the socially isolated seniors, to the larger community. Service providers and community members were invited to serve on the forum planning committee in order to have a forum that best met the needs of the community. The community forum, “Seniors and Those Who Care for them: A Dialogue for Action” was held on Sunday April 28, 2002. Approximately 40 participants attended, including the planning committee members. During the forum, the team of students presented the themes that emerged from the interviews. The participants then broke into small groups for discussions and the development of action steps that would improve the quality of life for isolated seniors in Durham County. Finally, each group reported back upon action items they plan to pursue and a closing was delivered by the director of the Council for Senior Citizens. Future actions will be supported by the Keeping In Step/Senior Issues Team (KIS/SIT), a coalition that focuses on improving services for senior citizens in Durham County. Participants at the forum were encouraged to join the KIS/SIT team to work together to build upon the strengths of the community and to achieve change that will benefit the health and well-being of socially isolated seniors in Durham County.Master of Public Healt

3-\u3ci\u3eO\u3c/i\u3e sulfation of heparin leads to hepatotropism and longer circulatory half-life

Introduction: Heparins are common blood anticoagulants that are critical for many surgical and biomedical procedures used in modern medicine. In contrast to natural heparin derived from porcine gut mucosa, synthetic heparins are homogenous by mass, polymer length, and chemistry. Materials & methods: Stable cell lines expressing the human and mouse Stabilin receptors were used to evaluate endocytosis of natural and synthetic heparin. We chemoenzymatically produced synthetic heparin consisting of 12 sugars (dodecamers) containing 14 sulfate groups resulting in a non-3-O sulfated structure (n12mer). Half of the n12mer was modified with a 3-O sulfate on a single GlcNS sugar producing the 3-O sulfated heparin (12mer). Wildtype (WT), Stabilin-1 knock-out (KO), and Stabilin-2 KO C57BL/6 mice were developed and used for metabolic studies and provided as a source for primary liver sinusoidal endothelial cells. Results & conclusions: Human and mouse Stabilin-2 receptors had very similar endocytosis rates of both the 12mer and n12mer, suggesting that they are functionally similar in primary cells. Subcutaneous injections of the n12mer and 12mer revealed that the 12mer had a much longer half-life in circulation and a higher accumulation in liver. The n12mer never accumulated in circulation and was readily excreted by the kidneys before liver accumulation could occur. Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells from the Stabilin-2 KO mice had lower uptake rates for both dodecamers, whereas, the Stabilin-1 KO mice had lower endocytosis rates for the 12mer than the n12mer. 3-O sulfation of heparin is correlated to both a longer circulatory half-life and hepatotropism which is largely performed by the Stabilin receptors

Method for culturing Candidatus Ornithobacterium hominis.

Candidatus Ornithobacterium hominis has been detected in nasopharyngeal microbiota sequence data from around the world. This report provides the first description of culture conditions for isolating this bacterium. The availability of an easily reproducible culture method is expected to facilitate deeper understanding of the clinical significance of this species

Mouse genome-wide association studies and systems genetics uncover the genetic architecture associated with hepatic pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of a constrained ethyl antisense oligonucleotide targeting Malat1

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) have demonstrated variation of efficacy in patient populations. This has prompted our investigation into the contribution of genetic architecture to ASO pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD). Genome wide association (GWA) and transcriptomic analysis in a hybrid mouse diversity panel (HMDP) were used to identify and validate novel genes involved in the uptake and efficacy of a single dose of a Malat1 constrained ethyl (cEt) modified ASO. The GWA of the HMDP identified two significant associations on chromosomes 4 and 10 with hepatic Malat1 ASO concentrations. Stabilin 2 (Stab2) and vesicle associated membrane protein 3 (Vamp3) were identified by ciseQTL analysis. HMDP strains with lower Stab2 expression and Stab2 KO mice displayed significantly lower PK than strains with higher Stab2 expression and the wild type (WT) animals respectively, confirming the role of Stab2 in regulating hepatic Malat1 ASO uptake. GWA examining ASO efficacy uncovered three loci associated with Malat1 potency: Small Subunit Processome Component (Utp11l) on chromosome 4, Rho associated coiled-coil containing protein kinase 2 (Rock2) and Aci-reductone dioxygenase (Adi1) on chromosome 12. Our results demonstrate the utility of mouse GWAS using the HMDP in detecting genes capable of impacting the uptake of ASOs, and identifies genes critical for the activity of ASOs in vivo

International observational atopic dermatitis cohort to follow natural history and treatment course: TARGET-DERM AD study design and rationale

INTRODUCTION: As new topical and systemic treatments become available for atopic dermatitis (AD), there is a need to understand how treatments are being used in routine clinical practice, their comparative effectiveness and their long-term safety in diverse clinical settings. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The TARGET-DERM AD cohort is a longitudinal, observational study of patients with AD of all ages, designed to provide practical information on long-term effectiveness and safety unobtainable in traditional registration trials. Patients with physician-diagnosed AD receiving prescription treatment (topical or systemic) will be enrolled at academic and community clinical centres. Up to 3 years of retrospective medical records, 5 years of prospective medical records, and optional biological samples and patient-reported outcomes will be collected. The primary aims include characterisation of AD treatment regimens, evaluation of response to therapy, and description of adverse events. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: TARGET-DERM has been approved by a central IRB (Copernicus Group IRB, 5000 Centregreen Way Suite 200, Cary, North Carolina 27513) as well as local and institutional IRBs. No additional Ethics Committee reviews. Results will be reviewed by a publications committee and submitted to peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03661866, pre-results