84 research outputs found

    Correction to: Role of Delayed Neuroglial Activation in Impaired Cerebral Blood Flow Restoration Following Comorbid Injury (Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology, (2020), 40, 3, (369-380), 10.1007/s10571-019-00735-y)

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    The original version of this article contained a random order of part labels for Fig. 4. The correct caption of Fig. 4 with correct order of part labels is given below

    Reducing Poverty in California…Permanently

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    If California were to seriously commit to equalizing opportunity and reducing poverty, how might that commitment best be realized? This is of course a hypothetical question, as there is no evidence that California is poised to make such a serious commitment, nor have many other states gone much beyond the usual lip-service proclamations. There are many reasons for California’s complacency, but an important one is that most people think that poverty is intractable and that viable solutions to it simply don’t exist. When Californians know what needs to be done, they tend to go forward and get it done. When, for example, the state’s roads are in disrepair, there are rarely paralyzing debates about exactly how to go about fixing them; instead we proceed with the needed repairs as soon as the funds to do so are appropriated. The same type of sure and certain prescription might appear to be unavailable when it comes to reducing poverty. It is hard not to be overwhelmed by the cacophony of voices yielding a thick stream of narrow-gauge interventions, new evaluations, and piecemeal proposals.1 Although the research literature on poverty is indeed large and may seem confusing, recent advances have in fact been so fundamental that it is now possible to develop a science-based response to poverty. In the past, the causes of poverty were not well understood, and major interventions, such as the War on Poverty, had to be built more on hunch than science. It is an altogether different matter now. The causes of poverty are well established, and the effects of many possible policy responses to poverty are likewise well established. The simple purpose of this essay is to assemble these advances into a coherent plan that would, if implemented, reduce poverty in California substantially

    Algal symbionts of the freshwater sponge Ephydatia muelleri

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    The freshwater sponge, Ephydatia muelleri, is an emerging model system for studying animal:microbe symbioses. Intracellular green microalgae are one of the more common symbionts that live in a facultative mutualism with E. muelleri. While these symbioses have long been known, the identity of the algal symbionts in E. muelleri cells has not been studied in detail. Here, we isolate and characterize endosymbiotic algae from E. muelleri collected from different geographic locations. We find that the algae can be transmitted through asexually produced gemmules and importantly that they can form symbioses with different, differentiated sponge cell types in the adult sponge. Our findings indicate that at least two algal lineages form endosymbioses with E. muelleri. One of the lineages includes species commonly found in samples from two locations in Canada and one in the United States (clade 1: closely related to Auxenochlorella pyrenoidosa). The other clade includes algae found in sponges from one site in Maine, USA, and Lewiniosphaera symbiontica, which is a strain isolated in 1956 from the freshwater sponge Spongilla. We compared microbiomes found in cultures of microalgae as well as the original sponge hosts, and found that very similar bacterial microbiomes associate with both clades (91 orders of Bacteria are shared among the samples we compared). The microbiomes found in the cultures resemble, with a high degree of overlap, the microbiome associated with the sponge host

    Meaning in life in psychotherapy: The perspective of experienced psychotherapists

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    Objective Our goal was to explore the meaning experienced psychotherapists derive from providing psychotherapy, their beliefs about the role of meaning in life (MIL) in psychotherapy, how they worked with MIL with a client who explicitly presented concerns about MIL, and how they worked with a different client for whom MIL was a secondary and more implicit concern. Method Thirteen experienced psychotherapists were interviewed and data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research. Results Therapists derived self-oriented meaning (e.g., feeling gratified, fulfilled, connected) and other-oriented meaning (helping others, making the world a better place) from providing psychotherapy. They believed that MIL is fundamental and underlies all human concerns, including those brought to therapy. In contrast to the clients who had implicit MIL concerns, clients who explicitly presented MIL concerns were reported to have more interpersonal problems and physical problems, but about the same amount of psychological distress and loss/grief. Therapists used insight-oriented interventions, support, action-oriented interventions, and exploratory interventions to work with MIL with both types of clients, but used more exploratory interventions with implicit than explicit MIL clients. Conclusions MIL is a salient topic for experienced, existentially oriented psychotherapists; they work with MIL extensively with some clients in psychotherapy. We recommend that therapists receive training to work with MIL in therapy, and that they pay attention to MIL concerns when they conduct psychotherapy. We also recommend additional research on MIL in psychotherapy

    From pandemic response to portable population health: A formative evaluation of the Detroit mobile health unit program

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    This article describes our experience developing a novel mobile health unit (MHU) program in the Detroit, Michigan, metropolitan area. Our main objectives were to improve healthcare accessibility, quality and equity in our community during the novel coronavirus pandemic. While initially focused on SARS-CoV-2 testing, our program quickly evolved to include preventive health services. The MHU program began as a location-based SARS-CoV-2 testing strategy coordinated with local and state public health agencies. Community needs motivated further program expansion to include additional preventive healthcare and social services. MHU deployment was targeted to disease “hotspots” based on publicly available SARS-CoV-2 testing data and community-level information about social vulnerability. This formative evaluation explores whether our MHU deployment strategy enabled us to reach patients from communities with heightened social vulnerability as intended. From 3/20/20-3/24/21, the Detroit MHU program reached a total of 32,523 people. The proportion of patients who resided in communities with top quartile Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index rankings increased from 25% during location-based “drive-through” SARS-CoV-2 testing (3/20/20-4/13/20) to 27% after pivoting to a mobile platform (4/13/20-to-8/31/20; p = 0.01). The adoption of a data-driven deployment strategy resulted in further improvement; 41% of the patients who sought MHU services from 9/1/20-to-3/24/21 lived in vulnerable communities (Cochrane Armitage test for trend, p\u3c0.001). Since 10/1/21, 1,837 people received social service referrals and, as of 3/15/21, 4,603 were administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Our MHU program demonstrates the capacity to provide needed healthcare and social services to difficult-to-reach populations from areas with heightened social vulnerability. This model can be expanded to meet emerging pandemic needs, but it is also uniquely capable of improving health equity by addressing longstanding gaps in primary care and social services in vulnerable communities

    Why is there so much Poverty in California? The Causes of California’s Sky-High Poverty and the Evidence Behind the Equal Opportunity Plan for Reducing It

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    The purpose of this report is to describe the current state of poverty in California, to discuss concrete steps that could be taken to reduce poverty in California, and to present the best available evidence on the likely effects of those steps. We take on an important but infrequently-posed question: If California were to seriously commit to reducing poverty, how might that commitment best be realized? This is of course a hypothetical question, as there is no evidence that California is poised to make such a serious commitment, nor have many other states gone much beyond the usual lip service proclamations. It is nonetheless especially striking that California, the highest-poverty state in the country, has not rushed in to rectify the matter.1 There are many reasons for this seeming complacency, but an especially important one is that most people think that poverty is intractable and that viable solutions to it simply don’t exist. When Californians know what needs to be done, they tend to go forward and get it done. When, for example, the state’s roads are in disrepair, there are rarely paralyzing debates about exactly how to go about fixing them; and instead we proceed with the needed repairs as soon as the funds to do so are appropriated. The same type of sure and certain prescription might appear to be unavailable when it comes to fixing poverty. It is hard not to be overwhelmed by the cacaphony of voices yielding a thick stream of narrow-gauge interventions, new evaluations, and piecemeal proposals.

    Compassionate care in the community: reflections of a student nurse.

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    Reflecting on practice and analysing situations when compassionate care has been delivered can be a valuable way of helping student nurses develop their understanding of humanising care. This exemplar showcases a scenario when a second-year student nurse studying for a BSc (Honours) in adult nursing explored an experience while working in the community. She critically reflected on an incident highlighting a simple yet powerful example of how she helped an older couple manage an aspect of their care. This exercise helped the student to explore and understand what compassionate care means and highlighted how the value of reflection can be used to gain new insights to enhance the care of older people in her future practice in the community

    Mobilizing Community based Organizations to Address Obesity: Our Communities, Our Solutions

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    Purpose: The purpose of the focus groups is to: 1) explore existing thought patterns and lived experiences about eating habits and daily activity of African American (AA) children at risk for childhood obesity, 2) acquire an in-depth explanation of participants’ attitudes towards factors related to childhood obesity encompassing their social norms, dietary habits, and environmental influences, and 3) explore rationales for differences between children and parental perspectives of ideal health. Method: Using a Community Based Participatory Research (CPBR) framework, the HAUL research team, comprised of public health professionals, local policy makers, physicians, and community leaders, will facilitate 20 focus groups (10 among children and 10 among their parents) with community members accessing HAUL services. Focus group results will be used to develop a larger population based survey to further investigate obesity related risk factors. Use of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping will identify resources (parks, fitness centers, healthy food markets, health clinics, etc.) in the residential communities of the target population. Results: At the time of submission, 6 focus groups have been completed (28 participants, 14 children, 14 adults). The primary themes identifying differences in responses of parents and children address proximity of access to healthy food choices, food type consumed by children regularly, and children’s preference for fast food versus home cooked meals. These themes will guide the development of the “UT-HAUL Healthy Houston Initiative”, a pilot program seeking to increase healthy decision making and access to wellness services among AAs. Conclusions: “UT-HAUL Healthy Houston Initiative” is the initial course of action in addressing societal factors, renowned for breeding social injustice commonplace in AA populations. Our goal is to expand the Urban League movement\u27s efficacy by identifying data that will combat social injustices while strengthening the core of the communities we serve

    A SMART decade: outcomes of an integrated, inclusive, first-year college-level STEM curricular innovation

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    In the early 2000s, our primarily undergraduate, white institution (PUI/PWI), began recruiting and enrolling higher numbers of students of color and first-generation college students. However, like many of our peer institutions, our established pedagogies and mindsets did not provide these students an educational experience to enable them to persist and thrive in STEM. Realizing the need to systematically address our lack of inclusivity in science majors, in 2012 faculty from multiple disciplines developed the Science, Math, and Research Training (SMART) program. Here, we describe an educational innovation, originally funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, designed to support and retain students of color, first generation college students, and other students with marginalized identities in the sciences through a cohort-based, integrated, and inclusive first-year experience focused on community and sense of belonging. The SMART program engages first-year students with semester-long themed courses around “real world” problems of antibiotic resistance and viral infections while integrating the fields of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and an optional Computer Science component. In the decade since its inception, 97% of SMART students have graduated or are on track to graduate, with 80.9% of these students earning a major in a STEM discipline. Here, we present additional student outcomes since the initiation of this program, results of the student self-evaluative surveys SALG and CURE, and lessons we have learned from a decade of this educational experience

    Long Term Two-Phase Flow Analysis of the Deep Low Permeability Rock at the Bruce DGR Site

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    Abnormal pressures have been measured in the deep boreholes at the Bruce site, southern Ontario, where a deep geologic repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste disposal has been proposed. The pressure regime in the stratigraphic units exhibits either higher than hydrostatic pressure (over-pressured) or lower than hydrostatic pressure (under-pressured) are considered to be abnormal. At the Bruce site, the Ordovician sediments are under-pressured while the underlying Cambrian sandstone and the overlying Guelph carbonate are over-pressured. Hypotheses have been documented in literature to explain the phenomenon of abnormal pressures. These hypotheses include osmosis, glacial loading and deglaciation unloading, exhumation of overlying sediments, crustal flexure and the presence of an immiscible gas phase. Previous work on the Bruce site has shown that the under-pressures in the Ordovician limestone and shales could not be explained by glaciation and deglaciation or by saturated analyses. The presence of a gas phase in the Ordovician formations has been determined to be a reasonable cause of the under-pressure developed in the Ordovician shales and limestones at the Bruce site. Support for the presence of a gas phase includes solution concentrations of methane, concentrations of environmental isotopes related to methane and estimates of water and gas saturations from laboratory core analyses. The primary contribution of this thesis is the sensitivity analyses performed on the hydrogeologic parameters with respect to a one dimensional two-phase flow model. First, a one dimensional two-phase air and water flow model was adopted and reconstructed to simulate the long-term evolution of the groundwater regimes at the DGR site. Then the hydrogeologic parameters which impact the presence of under-pressure in the groundwater are investigated. Data required to quantify the properties of geologic media and groundwater are adopted directly from borehole testing and laboratory testing results. The permeable boundaries of the domain are assumed to be water saturated and pressure specified (using hydrostatic conditions in the Guelph Formation and hydrostatic with 120 m over-pressure condition in the Cambrian and Precambrian). Isothermal conditions were assumed, thus constant water density and viscosity values are estimated for the average total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration of the modelled stratigraphic column. A constant diffusion coefficient (a diffusivity of 0.25×1080.25\times10^{-8} m2^2/s) of air in water is assumed with a saturation-dependent tortuosity. The air generation rate is assumed to simulate the gas phase generated in the Ordovician formations. The numerical simulation of up to 4 million years provides a means to explore the behaviour of gas phase dissipation due to partitioning into the water phase and diffusive transport in the solute phase. Results confirmed that the presence of a gas phase would result in the under-pressure in water
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