Is topical eflornithine an effective adjunctive therapy in reducing unwanted facial hair in women diagnosed with hirsutism?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not topical eflornithine is an effective adjunctive therapy in reducing unwanted facial hair in women diagnosed with hirsutism. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review of three randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from peer reviewed journals, published in 2006, 2007 and 2016. DATA SOURCES: The studies analyze the effectiveness of eflornithine in women with hirsutism and were found using PubMed, Embase and Medline. OUTCOMES MEASURED: Reduction of unwanted facial hair was measured through hair counts done at 0, 1, 3 and 6 months, Physician Global Assessment which considered hair length, density and darkening of skin, and Patient Self-Assessment. RESULTS: Two of the randomized control trials suggested that the addition of topical eflornithine was statistically significant in the reduction of unwanted facial hair in women with hirsutism. The other study suggested that while eflornithine may initially be beneficial in the reduction of unwanted facial hair, it’s utility decreases after 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of hair counts, Physician Global Assessments, and Patient Self- Assessment, it can be concluded that topical eflornithine is an effective adjunctive therapy in reducing unwanted facial hair in women diagnosed with hirsutism for at least the first 6 months

We Charge Genocide: An Examination of Racism as Black Genocide in America

The US Civil Rights Movement and race relations in the US have been met with recent academic popularity, with different historiographies being hotly contested (Hall, 2007) – the result is a complex understanding of African American history (Dwyer, 2000; Lawson, 1991). African Americans were enslaved, segregated, massacred, beaten, raped, and lynched for hundreds of years, leading some academics to believe that African Americans faced a genocide, specifically a ‘Black Genocide’ (Wright, 1969). For the purpose of this essay, the term genocide will follow Lemkin’s orginal conception of the word as well as the United Nation’s definition, where genocide is not necessarily to kill but to destroy a group, in part or in whole, through other means i.e. social, political and economic means (Lemkin and Power, 1944; United States. Department of State. Office of Public et al., 1949). The historical context of slavery, the creation of a race and the treatment of African Americans in America suggests genocidal intentions against black people. The violence that African Americans faced and the continuation of Jim Crow Laws shows dolus specialis, an intent to destroy. Furthermore, the legacy of racism and continuation of violence against African Americans further suggests genocidal intentions

As Stable as the Dollar Stretches: The Impact of US Foreign Aid on Social Stability in Jordan

After the fall out of the Arab Spring in 2010, most of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region suffered from extreme political, social, and economical instability. Usually, the citizens of these counties were revolting against the authoritarian regimes that have held power for decades. Jordan stands as the only obvious exception. How has Jordan maintained relative economic stability where others have failed? I have found that it is hard to judge the economic or social stability of Jordan without recognizing the large amounts of foreign aid Jordan has received from the US. This thesis asks what the relationship exist between developmental US foreign aid and political stability in Jordan The basic argument is that foreign aid affects the economic, social, and governmental structure in a country, which decreases unrest in the population and increases social stability. This thesis looks at the relationship between these factors and their influence on each other

Cops: Know Your Rights

Radars beeped, scans ran and the siren was ready for use. Taking the passenger seat in the Iowa State Campus Police car, flashbacks of “Reno 911” episodes ran through my mind as I imagined all of the sweet moves that would be thrown down on every freshman traveling with a backpack full of Keystone. Roaming through Campustown, we drove slowly, circling the mass of students traveling between parties and bar

Fast and slow readers and the effectiveness of the spatial frequency content of text: Evidence from reading times and eye movements

© 2016 American Psychological Association. Text contains a range of different spatial frequencies but the effectiveness of spatial frequencies for normal variations in skilled adult reading ability is unknown. Accordingly, young skilled adult readers showing fast or slow reading ability read sentences displayed as normal or filtered to contain only very low, low, medium, high, or very high spatial frequencies. Reading times and eye movement measures of fixations and saccades assessed the effectiveness of these displays for reading. Reading times showed that, for each reading ability, medium, high, and very high spatial frequencies were all more effective than lower spatial frequencies. Indeed, for each reading ability, reading times for normal text were maintained when text contained only medium, high, or very high spatial frequencies. However, reading times for normal text and for each spatial frequency were all substantially shorter for fast readers than for slow readers, and this advantage for fast readers was similar for normal, medium, high, and very high spatial frequencies but much larger for low and very low spatial frequencies. In addition, fast readers made fewer and shorter fixations, fewer and shorter regressions, and longer forward saccades, than slow readers, and these differences were generally similar in size for normal, medium, high, and very high spatial frequencies, but larger when spatial frequencies were lower. These findings suggest that fast and slow adult readers can each use a range of different spatial frequencies for reading but fast readers make more effective use of these spatial frequencies and especially those that are lower

Effects of spatial frequencies on word identification by fast and slow readers: Evidence from eye movements

� 2016 Jordan, Dixon, McGowan, Kurtev and Paterson. Recent research has shown that differences in the effectiveness of spatial frequencies for fast and slow skilled adult readers may be an important component of differences in reading ability in the skilled adult reading population (Jordan et al., 2016a). But the precise nature of this influence on lexical processing during reading remains to be fully determined. Accordingly, to gain more insight into the use of spatial frequencies by skilled adult readers with fast and slow reading abilities, the present study looked at effects of spatial frequencies on the processing of specific target words in sentences. These target words were of either high or low lexical frequency and each sentence was displayed as normal or filtered to contain only very low, low, medium, high, or very high spatial frequencies. Eye movement behavior for target words was closest to normal for each reading ability when text was shown in medium or higher spatial frequency displays, although reading occurred for all spatial frequencies. Moreover, typical word frequency effects (the processing advantage for words with higher lexical frequencies) were observed for each reading ability across a broad range of spatial frequencies, indicating that many different spatial frequencies provide access to lexical representations during textual reading for both fast and slow skilled adult readers. Crucially, however, target word fixations were fewer and shorter for fast readers than for slow readers for all display types, and this advantage for fast readers appeared to be similar for normal, medium, high, and very high spatial frequencies but larger for low and very low spatial frequencies. Therefore, although fast and slow skilled adult readers can both use a broad range of spatial frequencies when reading, fast readers make more effective use of these spatial frequencies, and especially those that are lower, when processing the identities of words

Dance Experience Affects Tempo Perception

In music, the word “tempo” refers to the speed or pace of the music (the number of beats per minute, for example). Tempo is surprisingly subjective, given that beat perception depends on age and cultural experience. Other factors besides beat (like the density of events per unit time) might influence how fast or slow people dance to music. Certain styles of music afford different speeds of dance, even when their tempos are the same.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/durep_posters/1134/thumbnail.jp

Learning in the Time of a Pandemic and Implications for Returning to School: Effects of COVID-19 in Ghana

The Covid-19 pandemic led to school closures all over the world, leaving children across diverse contexts without formal education for nearly a year. Remote-learning programs were designed and rapidly implemented to promote learning continuity throughout the crisis. There were inequalities in who was able to access remote-learning during school closures, though little systematic evidence documenting these gaps exists, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In this study, we surveyed 1,844 children in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, as well as their caregivers and teachers, regarding their engagement in remote learning, literacy and math test scores, and household economic hardships. We document inequalities in access to and engagement in remote-learning activities during the ten months in 2020 in which schools were closed in Ghana. Specifically, children in private schools and children in higher-socioeconomic status households engaged in remote-learning at higher rates and received more support from their schools and caregivers. Further, controlling for demographic characteristics and pre-pandemic learning outcomes, we document gaps in children’s literacy and math test scores, with food insecure and low-SES children, as well as children enrolled in public schools before the pandemic, performing significantly worse than their peers (0.2-0.3 SD gap). Finally, children in households that experienced more economic hardships during the pandemic engaged in fewer remote learning activities and had lower literacy and numeracy assessment scores. The findings speak to the potential consequences of increased inequalities due to the pandemic as schools re-open in Ghana and around the world and provide insight into how schools may address these inequalities as children return to the classroom

Carrying Jeremy Safran into sessions: relying on internal representations of researchers to facilitate emotion regulation, clinical intervention, and self-efficacy

Relying on positive internal representations facilitates our ability to feel safe and secure when taking risks and provides a road map to guide us during interpersonal exchanges. Although most graduate programs encourage students to engage in research, we rarely link participating in research as directly influencing positive internal representations that can influence treatment. We used a qualitative method to examine how watching videos of Jeremy Safran, coding therapy sessions using his model, and reading his articles on ruptures and repairs influenced students’ ability to self-soothe, take risks, and engage when patients confront them or withdraw. Results revealed that students often thought of Jeremy Safran and his colleagues during a session and recalled how he addressed ruptures in the videos they watched. When they were anxious during a session, they reported relying on the video coding training to facilitate emotion regulation during sessions. Having the research experience increased their clinical skills and overall clinical self-efficacy. Implications of our findings and future recommendations are discussed