It is important that we speak

It is not easy to come to voice. It is not easy to speak your piece. But it is our mission to encourage each member of Roger Williams University community to reach enlightenment, to use the visual metaphor, or to come to voice, to use the aural

Between blue and light

My novella follows a narrator observing her life, as she struggles with what it is to live in a world that she finds simultaneously frightening and beautiful. The story touches on the limitations of human connection and with loss in various forms. Set in both Cape Town and small town South Africa, the story explores the inner life of a woman detached and adrift

Spatial and temporal groundwater recharge patterns in a temperate climate: An investigation at the Burley Demeritt Farm in Lee, NH

This study examines how recharge values vary spatially and temporally in the temperate climate of southeastern New Hampshire. A three dimensional groundwater model (MODFLOW) linked with a one dimensional unsaturated zone model (UZF package) was used to estimate recharge from July to November 2009 at the Burley Demeritt farm watershed in Lee, NH. The results show that topography, specifically its control on the depth of the water table, is the main factor controlling the spatial recharge patterns, with soil characteristics playing a secondary role; the main factors controlling the temporal recharge patterns are the intensity and timing of the precipitation. Net recharge amounts varied drastically spatially from 0% up to almost 60% of precipitation in different locations across the farm watershed. The watershed-wide net recharge average was 10% of precipitation, which is slightly lower than 24% net recharge average for the state of New Hampshire (Flynn and Tasker, 2004)

A Writer, an Editor, an Instructor, and an Alumna Walk into the Writing Center

As the writing center director, I believe our professional tutors provide valuable expert perspectives to student writers. They also help me mentor the peer tutors and push me to reevaluate our practices. They add staffing stability to the center (whose peer tutors never stay for more than three years). Finally, these trusted writing experts professionalize the writing center’s status among administration, faculty, and students. In the following paragraphs, Amy, Ellen, Chris, and Lindsey illustrate the rich variety of skills and perspectives professional writing tutors can contribute to a writing centerUniversity Writing Cente

Contribution of Individual, Community, and Health System Factors to Health Outcomes in Inner-city African Americans with Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is a complex disease that represents a major public health challenge due to its high prevalence, its association with increased morbidity, and early mortality. Inner-city African Americans with diabetes suffer a disproportionate burden of disease due to both economic and social disadvantage that reaches across individual, community, and health system levels of influence. Central to the principles of Public Health is the “pursuit of health equity for the elimination of health disparities, specifically in accordance to the empowerment of disenfranchised community members, aiming to ensure that the basic resources and conditions necessary for health are accessible to all”. To effectively achieve health equity in diabetes for inner-city African Americans and provide the basic resources and conditions necessary for health; establishment of barriers specific to diabetes care is paramount. The current study addresses several gaps in the literature for inner-city African Americans with diabetes by first developing a framework for understanding barriers to diabetes care for inner-city African Americans that occur across multiple levels of influence. Specifically, this framework integrated two existing behavioral models for diabetes and was informed by the literature and a social ecological model for health disparities to identify barriers at the individual, community, and health system level. Using the newly developed framework, this study then examined the influence of each barrier level on two important diabetes outcomes, glycemic control and quality of life, among inner-city African Americans with diabetes. Primary data from 241 inner-city African Americans with diabetes were analyzed. Hemoglobin A1C (A1C) was collected for each participant and served as the measure of glycemic control. The SF-12 was used to capture the physical component (PCS) and mental component (MCS) of quality of life. Advanced regression methods using four approaches including sequential, stepwise with backward and forward selection, and all possible subsets regression, were used to identify factors that may be key drivers of outcomes for inner-city African Americans with diabetes. The findings showed that factors across the three levels of influence: individual, community, and health system, have a differential relationship with glycemic control and quality of life. For glycemic control, in the final adjusted model across all four approaches, individual level factors like age (-0.05; p\u3c0.001); having 1-3 comorbidities (-2.03; p\u3c0.05) having 4-9 comorbidities (-2.49; p=0.001) were associated with poorer glycemic control. Similarly, male sex (0.58; p\u3c0.05), being married (1.16; p=0.001) and being overweight/obese (1.25; p\u3c0.01) were associated with better glycemic control. Community and health system level factors were not significantly associated with glycemic control. For quality of life, in the final adjusted models, having less than a high school education (-0.78; p=0.006), and having major depression (-1.51; p\u3c0.001) were associated with lower quality of life scores for MCS across all four regression approaches. Being employed was positively associated with better quality of life scores for PCS across all four regression approaches (0.44; p=0.004). PCS was higher across all four regression approaches (0.45; p=0.004) for those reporting a history of trauma. At the health systems level, usual source of care was associated with better PCS across three regression approaches. This study serves as preliminary for understanding barriers unique to inner-city African Americans and identifying important factors that may be driving glycemic control and quality of life. Future steps need to examine the indirect pathways that may exist within this framework contributing to poor outcomes. Additionally, application of this framework for intervention development may allow for the development of tailored and specific interventions that promote health equity and improve outcomes in diabetes for inner-city African Americans

White-faced Capuchins (Cebus capucinus) of Cahuita National Park, Costa Rica: Human Foods and Human Interactions

Cahuita National Park is an ecotourist destination in southeast Costa Rica. A troop of white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) living in the park was reported by park officials as being problematic due to their food-raiding behavior. In May-June 2012 and again in December 2012-January 2013 I collected behavioral information in the form of scan samples and human-monkey interactions to assess the frequency and severity of these interactions. Type of food consumed was also noted, as consumption of human foods has been shown to cause both demographic and behavioral changes in non-human primate populations. Anthropogenic food sources accounted for 18% for the total dietary budget for the Playa Blanca capuchins. Additionally, the consumption of human foods was associated with increased rates of agonism. Human foods were obtained by the capuchins in one of two ways: visitors feeding the monkeys (handouts) or monkeys taking food from visitors (raiding). I suggest it would be beneficial to both monkeys and tourists alike for the park to increase signage (Spanish and English) and to provide monkey-proof strong boxes in picnic areas so visitors can secure their food. Additionally, it is important strictly enforce the rules against feeding animals in the park to educate the public on the effects such behavior can have on the capuchins

Gamma-butyrobetaine does not restore beta-hydroxybutyrate inhibition of hepatic ketogenesis in diabetic, untreated ewes

A possible insulin-independent regulatory mechanism of hepatic ketogenesis was studied in eight experiments on five ewes surgically catheterized in hepatic, portal, and mesenteric veins, and femoral artery and femoral vein. Ewes were made diabetic with alloxan (50 mg/kg bw, iv) . Euglycemia was maintained with daily insulin injections (Iletin-100 ~35 lU/d) until three days prior to each experiment, when injections were withheld to induce ketosis. Ewes were housed in 1.8 X 3.0 m indoor pens under natural lighting in a thermoneutral environment. Experiments consisted of three infusion periods: (1) para-aminohippurate (1.5% @ 0.764 ml/min) infusion into the common mesenteric vein (control); (2) para-aminohippurate as in (1) and beta-hydroxybutyrate (1.18 mmol/min) into the common mesenteric vein; and (3) paraaminohippurate and beta-hydroxybutyrate as in (2) and gamma-butyrobetaine (1.18 mmol/min) into the common mesenteric vein. For each period, each infusate was allowed to equilibrate for one hour and then three blood samples were taken simultaneously from the hepatic, portal, and femoral veins and femoral artery at thirty minute intervals and analyzed for beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, non-esterified fatty acids, glucose, and para-aminohippurate. Blood flows were calculated by measuring downstream dilution of para-aminohippurate and net fluxes were calculated by multiplying tissue veno-arterial concentrations by tissue blood flow. Blood glucose (~10 mM) was unaffected by infusion. Beta-hydroxybutyrate decreased hepatic flow (3.6 to 2.5 L/min, P\u3c.01), but did not change portal flow. Consequently, portal flow contribution to the liver increased from 73 to 83% (P\u3c.01) during beta-hydroxybutyrate infusion. Relative to control, beta-hydroxybutyrate infusion decreased (P\u3c.01) non-esterified fatty acid arterial concentrations (2.1 to 1.1 mM) and hepatic (0.7 to 0.2 mmol/min) and total splanchnic (0.6 to 0.2 mmol/min) net uptakes. Beta-hydroxybutyrate infusion increased acetoacetate arterial concentrations (1.2 to 1.5 mM, P\u3c.05) and decreased (P\u3c.05) hepatic release (0.5 to 0.1 mmol/min)(i.e., decreased ketogenesis) and total splanchnic release (0.6 to 0.1 mmol/min). Similar to its effects on acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate infusion increased beta-hydroxybutyrate arterial concentrations (7.6 to 12.3 mM, P\u3c.01) but decreased net hepatic release (1.6 to 0.7 mmol/min, P\u3c.01) and total splanchnic release (2.1 to 1.3 mmol/min, P\u3c.1). Gamma-butyrobetaine infusion did not reverse any beta-hydroxybutyrate effects. According to this data beta-hydroxybutyrate may regulate ketogenesis by decreasing hepatic non-esterified fatty acid uptake and subsequent conversion to acetoacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate. Gamma-butyrobetaine, in contrast, had no effect on hepatic ketogenesis nor nonesterified fatty acid uptake, suggesting that beta-hydroxybutyrate inhibition was not at the carnitine acyltransferase level or that gamma-butyrobetaine may not be extracted by the liver in quantities sufficient to counteract observed effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate