The Effects of Mental Health Literacy and Perceived Social Support on Mental Health Stigma Across Racial and Ethnic Groups in the United States: A Survey-based Analysis

The goals of this study were to determine a) whether minoritized groups in the United States had lower levels of mental health literacy (MHL) and higher levels of stigma, b) whether people with higher rates of MHL and social support had lower rates of stigma and c) whether MHL and perceived social support were stronger predictors of stigma levels depending on racial group membership. I hypothesized that people with both high levels of MHL and high levels of social support would have lower levels of mental health stigma, minoritized groups would have lower levels of MHL and social support and therefore higher levels of stigma in comparison to Non-Hispanic White Americans, and finally, race would be a significant moderator in the relationship between MHL and perceived social support on stigma levels. This study contained a total of 510 participants: 93 Asian Americans, 107 Black or African Americans, 95 Hispanic or Latinx Americans, and 215 White Americans. Participants were recruited through Amazon’s MTurk service and were given a self-reported survey to measure MHL, perceived social support, and stigma levels. The results indicated MHL and social support significantly affected stigma levels in participants, with MHL having a significant negative relationship with stigma and social support having a significant positive relationship with stigma. However further analysis showed no significant difference in MHL or stigma rates across the different races, refuting the second hypothesis. Finally, race was not found to be a significant moderator in the relationship between MHL, social support, and stigma

The assessment of good practice in pain management in severe dementia : a pilot study

Introduction: Dementia constitutes a major problem for sufferers, carers and society as a whole. In common with other progressive life threatening conditions, it has been increasingly recognised that the principles of palliative care should apply to patients with dementia [1]. One important aspect of care is management of pain, which may contribute to agitated behaviour in dementia. Studies suggest that pain is under-recognised and under-treated in those with severe dementia [2]. Identifying pain is the first step in its effective management. However, research has not been carried out in the UK regarding the utility of behavioural pain and distress assessment tools in those with advanced dementia. The aim of the research was to demonstrate the importance of assessing and managing pain as part of good quality palliative care in people with severe dementia. The research objectives were to investigate the utility of a pain assessment tool (Pain Assessment in Advanced Dementia scale, PAIN AD [3]) and a distress assessment tool (Disability Distress Assessment Tool, DisDAT [4]) in a UK population with severe dementia; to demonstrate the ability of the tools to measure change in pain following a change to the management regime; to assess the nature of distress that may produce a false positive result on a pain scale and to examine the use of analgesia within the nursing homes and in those identified as experiencing pain. The PAINAD was chosen for use as it is based on a well-validated scale and changes in scores have been demonstrated on 2 analgesic administration. The DisDA T was chosen for use as it identifies distress rather than just pain and allows unique behaviours to be documented. The two assessment scales were chosen, therefore, because they offered a related but contrasting approach. Whereas PAINAD stipulates the behaviours to be observed, DisDAT allows unique behaviours to be described for individuals.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Patient partner compensation in research and health care: the patient perspective on why and how

As patient and family engagement activity broadens across the continuum of care and expands around the world, the question of compensation for an increasingly competent advisory community continues to come up. The authors are 4 patients who are highly active in patient and public involvement initiatives internationally. Through our exclusive patient perspective, we provide insight into the reasoning and motivation that many patients are now awakening to as to why lived experience is a value that organizations need to recognize and support in concrete ways. We explore the core principles that an organization needs to consider and adopt when developing compensation policies for their engagement practices with patients and family members. Organizations face an ongoing challenge to achieve diversity among their patient advisors so that all segments of the community they serve are represented. In particular, marginalized populations are confronted with financial and social determinants that are often barriers to full inclusion. Comprehensive compensation policies overcome these barriers. While there is some guidance available from organizations like PCORI, the predominant culture in health care resists the notion of compensation. In addition to defining core principles behind compensation, we outline how to put those principles into practice in a valid, credible manner that honours and values the contributions of patients and families whether in quality improvement or health research. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework) Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Storytelling at board meetings: A case study of co-developing recommendations

In healthcare, stories shared by patients often provide details and insights into experiences of illness and care. Stories are a way to educate healthcare providers and others to improve care and systems to become more patient and family centred and to better meet patients’ needs and priorities. Telling stories may bring benefits to both storytellers and audience members but also presents risks of harm. A reflective storytelling practice aims to honor stories and storytellers by ensuring there is time to prepare, reflect, learn, ask questions, and engage in dialogue with the storyteller to explore what went well and where there are learning and improvement opportunities. Healthcare Excellence Canada (HEC) is a pan-Canadian health organization focused on improving the quality and safety of care in Canada. HEC commits to engage patients, caregivers, and communities and aims to develop practices and structures to enable engagement activities. At the request of the HEC Board, the Patient Engagement and Partnerships team co-developed recommendations on the process for how best to meaningfully share stories at Board meetings, including stories from those leading, providing, and receiving care. This Case Study outlines the process HEC used to co-develop storytelling recommendations, focusing on a trauma-informed approach to create safe spaces for preparing, learning from and reflecting on stories, to clearly articulate their purpose, and to ensure the locus of control for storytelling rests with the storytellers. This Case Study shares these recommendations and invites other organizations to use these recommendations and/or adapt them within their own context. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Infrastructure & Governance lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework (https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework). Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Fixby Hall Case study: Research report

This report presents the main findings of Fixby Hall case study which study the potential of using Building Information Management (BIM) as an innovative method to manage historical buildings’ life cycle. Fixby Hall was chosen as case study due to its relevance as historical building and its suitability to adopt HBIM for its future interventions. This case study developed by the PhD candidate Isabel Jordan, (Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain), and supervised by Professor Tzortzopoulos, (University of Huddersfield, UK), is part of the doctoral thesis entitled “Method to manage heritage buildings’ interventions using BIM” developed by Isabel Jordan and supervised by Professor Jorge L. García Valldecabres and Professor Eugenio Pellicer Armiñana. BIM has been used in architecture, construction and sustainability with successful results (Barnes & Davies, 2014). The benefits of applying BIM to historical buildings have been recently studied (Volk et. al, 2014) as Historical Building Information Modeling (HBIM) (Murphy et. al, 2009). Recent research indicates that even though BIM technology is well developed, the processes and the human resources adaptation to HBIM need further study (Mondragon et. al., 2015; Zekabat et.al., 2015; Boeykens et. al., 2012; Brumana et. al, 2014). The aim of the case study with Fixby Hall is to (1) obtain information about the traditional work processes in the historical buildings in order to improve an initially developed method to manage the historical buildings’ life cycle with HBIM (Fig.5); (2) to make the method more user-friendly; and (3) to validate it from its potential user’s perspective. Fixby Hall could benefit of this HBIM Method having a helpful guidance for its future interventions and knowing the possible benefits of applying HBIM to this historical building. The data collected through the Fixby Hall case study was obtained from different companies and stakeholders involved with the building in the past and/or present. Those are: a Real Estate company, Huddersfield Golf Club (HGC), an architectural studio, an interior design company, a planning consultant company and a local construction company. The main findings around Fixby Hall are described in part 3, including: o History summary and Existing use of Fixby Hall o Existing stakeholders involved in intervention projects at Fixby Hall o Past refurbishment’s approaches at Fixby Hall o Difficulties identified in previous interventions at Fixby Hall o Existing building information system at Fixby Hall o BIM applied to Fixby Hall The findings show a high level of collaboration between stakeholders, ordered processes and clear structures. The aspects that could be further developed include the lack of HBIM implementation and the lack of a central digital archive system. The conclusions of the report demonstrate benefits in the possible HBIM application to Fixby Hall and the useful HBIM approaches to this historical building’s management. The main findings around the proposed HBIM Method are also presented in part 3 and include: o Difficulties for small restoration companies to adapt to the HBIM Method o UK legislative frame is perceived to slow BIM adoption o The HBIM Method needs to add the structural study as a complement for the Laser scanner o The HBIM Method needs to define who documents the model with the construction and maintenance data o The HBIM Method requires stakeholders with BIM skills o The HBIM Method needs to define the HBIM model’s levels of maturity The summary of the HBIM Method’s findings indicated the necessity to simplify the method, increase its scope to include the whole life-cycle of the buildings and make it more flexible to different project’s scales and resources

Supporting Teachers to Work with Children with Exceptionalities

The current study had two purposes: to explore further revisions to the Three-Part Schedule D Additional Qualification (AQ) courses in special education and to determine if a virtual knowledge network would be a viable and welcome tool in building teacher capacity for classroom inclusion of students with exceptionalities. Educational stakeholders convened at the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) for a two-day consultation meeting. A consensus-building workshop was used on the first day to discuss further revisions to the revised AQ course guidelines and to specifically identify gaps in teacher knowledge and skills. An open space consultation (Owen, 1997) was used on the second day to discuss the possibility of a provincial virtual knowledge network that would support revised Special Education AQ course guidelines and build capacity for teachers working with children with exceptionalities. Keywords: Ontario, teacher education, inclusive education, special education, additional qualifications

Screening of antimicrobial activity of diarylamines in the 2,3,5-trimethylbenzo[b]thiophene series : a structure-activity evaluation study

Gram positive (Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis), Gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli) bacteria and Candida albicans as a representative of fungi were used for screening the in vitro antimicrobial activity of diarylamines in the 2,3,5-trimethyl benzo[b]thiophene series bearing different substituents, synthesised by us using the palladium-catalyzed C-N coupling methodology. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and structure-activity relationships (SARs) were evaluated.Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian. Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

Forecasting neuromuscular recovery after anterior cruciate ligament injury: Athlete recovery profiles with generalized additive modeling

A retrospective analysis of longitudinally collected athlete monitoring data wasconducted to generate a model of neuromuscular recovery after anterior cruciateligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction (ACLR). Neuromuscular testing data in-cluding countermovement jump (CMJ) force‐time asymmetries and knee extensorstrength (maximum voluntary contractionext) asymmetries (between‐limb asymmetryindex—AI) were obtained from athletes with ACLR using semitendinosus (ST) au-tograft (n= 29; AI measurements: n= 494), bone patellar tendon bone autograft(n= 5; AI measurements:n= 88) and noninjured controls (n= 178; AI measurements:n= 3188). Explosive strength measured as the rate of torque development was alsocalculated. CMJ force‐time asymmetries were measured over discrete movementphases (eccentric deceleration phase, concentric phase). Separate additive mixedeffects models (additive mixed effects model [AMM]) were fit for each AI with amain effect for the surgical technique and a smooth term for the time since surgery(days). The models explained between 43% and 91% of the deviance in neuro-muscular recovery after ACLR. The mean time course was generated from the AMM.Comparative neuromuscular recovery profiles of an athlete with an acceleratedprogression and an athlete with a delayed progression after a serious multiligamentinjury were generated. Clinical Significance: This paper provides a new perspectiveon the utility of longitudinal athlete monitoring including routine testing to developmodels of neuromuscular recovery after ACLR that can be used to characterizeindividual progression throughout rehabilitation

Humans shape the year-round distribution and habitat use of an opportunistic scavenger

Research focused on evaluating how human food subsidies influence the foraging ecology of scavenger species is scarce but essential for elucidating their role in shaping behavioral patterns, population dynamics, and potential impacts on ecosystems. We evaluate the potential role of humans in shaping the year-round distribution and habitat use of individuals from a typical scavenger species, the yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis), breeding at southwestern Spain. To do this, we combined long-term, nearly continuous GPS-tracking data with spatially explicit information on habitat types and distribution of human facilities, as proxied by satellite imagery of artificial night lights. Overall, individuals were mainly associated with freshwater habitats (mean proportion, 95% CI: 40.6%, 36.9%-44.4%) followed by the marine-related systems (40.3, 37.7%-42.8%), human-related habitats (13.5%, 13.2%-13.8%), and terrestrial systems (5.5%, 4.6%-6.5%). However, these relative contributions to the overall habitat usage largely changed throughout the annual cycle as a likely response to ecological/physiological constraints imposed by varying energy budgets and environmental constraints resulting from fluctuations in the availability of food resources. Moreover, the tight overlap between the year-round spatial distribution of gulls and that of human facilities suggested that the different resources individuals relied on were likely of anthropogenic origin. We therefore provide evidence supporting the high dependence of this species on human-related food resources throughout the annual cycle. Owing to the ability of individuals to disperse and reach transboundary areas of Spain, Portugal, or Morocco, international joint efforts aimed at restricting the availability of human food resources would be required to manage this overabundant species and the associated consequences for biodiversity conservation (e.g., competitive exclusion of co-occurring species) and human interests (e.g., airports or disease transmission)

Development and Characterization of Microsatellite Markers for the Cape Gooseberry Physalis peruviana

Physalis peruviana, commonly known as Cape gooseberry, is an Andean Solanaceae fruit with high nutritional value and interesting medicinal properties. In the present study we report the development and characterization of microsatellite loci from a P. peruviana commercial Colombian genotype. We identified 932 imperfect and 201 perfect Simple Sequence Repeats (SSR) loci in untranslated regions (UTRs) and 304 imperfect and 83 perfect SSR loci in coding regions from the assembled Physalis peruviana leaf transcriptome. The UTR SSR loci were used for the development of 162 primers for amplification. The efficiency of these primers was tested via PCR in a panel of seven P. peruviana accessions including Colombia, Kenya and Ecuador ecotypes and one closely related species Physalis floridana. We obtained an amplification rate of 83% and a polymorphic rate of 22%. Here we report the first P. peruviana specific microsatellite set, a valuable tool for a wide variety of applications, including functional diversity, conservation and improvement of the species