Parent Skills Training: Expanding School-Based Services for Adolescent Mothers

This article reports the results of a collaborative intervention effort between a teen-parent program and a school of social work Social work faculty and students participated in a program aimed at strengthening parental skills and the utilization of social support among adolescent mothers who were enrolled in a special high school program. The results of this evaluation study point to additional factors, such as empathy training and stress management, which need to be included in a comprehensive service-delivery program for school-age mothers.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68359/2/10.1177_104973159200200203.pd

Wavy Strings: Black or Bright?

Recent developments in string theory have brought forth a considerable interest in time-dependent hair on extended objects. This novel new hair is typically characterized by a wave profile along the horizon and angular momentum quantum numbers $l,m$ in the transverse space. In this work, we present an extensive treatment of such oscillating black objects, focusing on their geometric properties. We first give a theorem of purely geometric nature, stating that such wavy hair cannot be detected by any scalar invariant built out of the curvature and/or matter fields. However, we show that the tidal forces detected by an infalling observer diverge at the `horizon' of a black string superposed with a vibration in any mode with $l \ge 1$. The same argument applied to longitudinal ($l=0$) waves detects only finite tidal forces. We also provide an example with a manifestly smooth metric, proving that at least a certain class of these longitudinal waves have regular horizons.Comment: 45 pages, latex, no figure

The global atmospheric electrical circuit and climate

Evidence is emerging for physical links among clouds, global temperatures, the global atmospheric electrical circuit and cosmic ray ionisation. The global circuit extends throughout the atmosphere from the planetary surface to the lower layers of the ionosphere. Cosmic rays are the principal source of atmospheric ions away from the continental boundary layer: the ions formed permit a vertical conduction current to flow in the fair weather part of the global circuit. Through the (inverse) solar modulation of cosmic rays, the resulting columnar ionisation changes may allow the global circuit to convey a solar influence to meteorological phenomena of the lower atmosphere. Electrical effects on non-thunderstorm clouds have been proposed to occur via the ion-assisted formation of ultra-fine aerosol, which can grow to sizes able to act as cloud condensation nuclei, or through the increased ice nucleation capability of charged aerosols. Even small atmospheric electrical modulations on the aerosol size distribution can affect cloud properties and modify the radiative balance of the atmosphere, through changes communicated globally by the atmospheric electrical circuit. Despite a long history of work in related areas of geophysics, the direct and inverse relationships between the global circuit and global climate remain largely quantitatively unexplored. From reviewing atmospheric electrical measurements made over two centuries and possible paleoclimate proxies, global atmospheric electrical circuit variability should be expected on many timescale

The importance of Real-Life research in Respiratory Medicine: Manifesto of the Respiratory Effectiveness Group:Endorsed by the International Primary Care Respiratory Group and the World Allergy Organization

status: publishe

Diagnosing diabetic foot infection : the role of imaging and a proposed flow chart for assessment

Diabetes mellitus, a major current epidemic, is frequently complicated by foot infections that are associated with high morbidity. Diagnosing these infections, especially whether or not underlying bone is involved, poses clinical challenges, but is crucial to making proper decisions regarding therapeutic strategies. The most effective means of managing patients with a diabetic foot infection is within the framework of a multidisciplinary team. Present diagnostic efforts are aimed at developing better methods to differentiate uninfected from infected soft tissue wounds, to determine when bone infection is present, and to more clearly define when infection has resolved with treatment. Imaging studies play a major role in diagnosis. This usually begins with plain radiographs, but when advanced imaging is needed, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered the modality of choice. Newer techniques, such as molecular hybrid imaging, positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) and single photon emission (SPECT)/CT using various radiotracers, play an increasing role. These tests may redefine the non-invasive diagnostic work-up of diabetic foot wounds, potentially leading to substantial improvements in patient management. As experts in infectious diseases, radiology and nuclear medicine, we reviewed the available literature on diagnosing diabetic foot infections, especially the currently available imaging techniques, and developed a proposed diagnostic flow chart, for evaluating patients with a diabetic foot wound