Family planning success in two cities in Zaire

Both projects described here, Matadi and Kananga, helped health providers in those two cities offer clinical family planning services. But their approaches differed markedly. The family education program in Matadi concentrated on pioneering community-based distribution of contraceptives, with carefully supervised distributors. The Kanaga Project emphasized clinical supervision and pleasing the clients; introduced social marketing with loose supervision of retailers; and provided an information team skilled in face-to-face group meetings, plus a weekly radio program. Four factors common to both projects seemed to contribute to their success: The single-minded dedication of staff members to making family planning work. An uninterrupted supply of affordable contraceptive methods available through outlets at many locations. Enough organizational autonomy to be able to respond to problems as they arose. Such autonomy made project personnel identify more with project goals and feel responsible for achieving project objectives. Regular and supportive supervision of those responsible for service delivery. Both projects emphasized regular contact with clinic personnel - Matadi also included distributors. These contacts bolstered morale by showing that the project administration was closely following service providers'activities and by transmitting to providers the staff's enthusiam for project activities. Supervisory visits included administrative functions such as collecting service statistics and controlling inventory, but these activities were handled in a friendly, nonthreatening manner that encouraged service providers to perform their tasks well. The fourth factor is adequate funding. Both projects had special funding that allowed them to experiment with approaches for increasing contraceptive prevalence. That funding may partly explain their organizational autonomy and may have contributed to the sense of purpose and esprit de corps that developed among project staff. Larger-scale programs in Zaire have operated with significant financial constraints, so it would be unfair to compare them with these more successful projects. Special funding does not guarantee project success but may make it far more likely, conclude the authors.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Adolescent Health,ICT Policy and Strategies,Early Child and Children's Health,Reproductive Health

The Effects of Training Parents in Divergent Questioning on the Creativity of the Pre-School Child

This study was designed to investigate whether teaching mothers to ask divergent questions would have a direct effect on their four year old child \u27s creativity. It was hypothesized that children whose mothers received the training in divergent questioning techniques would do better on a test of creativity than children whose mothers, did not receive the training. Twenty mother and child groups were included in the study. The twenty were divided randomly into two groups, ten groups to receive the treatment and ten to receive no treatment. Six treatment sheets were then administered in the homes to the experimental group and both groups were tested at the conclusion of the treatment using E. Paul Torrance\u27s test of creativity, Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement.\u27\u27 The data was analyzed by a single-tailed t-test and no significant differences were found between the creativity scores of four year olds whose mothers received the treatment and those whose mothers did not. Though the null hypothesis was not disproved this author feels the hypothesis is still of value. In future research the variability of the follow-up by mothers being trained with the treatment sheets needs to be controlled for in a more consistent manner. It also appears as if the time allotted for the study needs to be increased. The self-confidence of both mothers and children is an area that requires further study concerning its effect on creativity. The home environment appeared to have a greater influence on the total creativity score than originally supposed

The Imperial Sovereign: Sovereign Immunity & the ADA

Professors Brown and Parmet examine the impact of the Supreme Court\u27s resurrection of state sovereign immunity on the rights of individuals protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act in light of the recent decision, Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett. Placing Garrett within the context of the Rehnquist Court\u27s evolving reallocation of state and federal authority, they argue that the Court has relied upon a mythic and dangerous notion of sovereignty that is foreign to the Framers\u27 understanding. Brown and Parmet go on to show that, by determining that federalism compels constraining congressional power to abrogate sovereign immunity, the Court limits the ability of individuals with disabilities to obtain federal recourse. They also contend that the Court\u27s restriction of fora for individuals with disabilities raises significant separation of powers problems

Decreasing Sudden Unexpected Infant Death

Background: Sleep-related sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) is an alarming, potentially preventable event with over 3,500 annual occurrences in the United States (US). In response to sleep-related SUIDs, the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Institutes of Health advocate for safe sleep practices to promote establishment of safe sleep environments for infants through the Safe to Sleep initiative. However, research evidence shows that lack of knowledge in hospital staff and community members (parents/caregivers) and cultural barriers/biases are factors associated with the inability or resistance to adopting safe sleep practices for infants. Methods: In 2017, internal evidence within a local South Florida hospital emergency department (ED) revealed eight sleep-related SUID cases. A Sleep Safe Task Force was initiated followed by implementation of a quality improvement project using the Plan-Do-Check-Act model. The purpose of the project was to improve knowledge through education on safe sleep practices among hospital staff and parents/caregivers of infants within the community to decrease the number of infant sleep-related deaths presenting to the ED. The implementation plan included education for hospital staff, community members, and local pediatric/obstetric office staff, coupled with distribution of sleep sacks to parents/caregivers. Results: Post-implementation of education sessions, SUID cases presenting to the ED decreased by 50% (n = 4) in 2018, with zero cases in 2019 and 2020, one case in 2021, and zero in 2022. Conclusions: The results of the project suggested that providing education and safe sleep resources helped reduce the rate of SUID cases. Further studies are needed to evaluate efficacy of the education in community members by examining adoption of safe sleep practices for infants. Keywords: SIDS, SUIDS, safe sleep, Safe Sleep Task Force, crib death, newborn safe sleep, sleep sack

Candida albicans Hypha Formation and Mannan Masking of β-Glucan Inhibit Macrophage Phagosome Maturation

Received 28 August 2014 Accepted 28 October 2014 Published 2 December 2014 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Janet Willment, Aberdeen Fungal Group, University of Aberdeen, for kindly providing the soluble Dectin-1-Fc reporter. All microscopy was performed with the assistance of the University of Aberdeen Core Microscopy & Histology Facility, and we thank the IFCC for their assistance with flow cytometry. We thank the Wellcome Trust for funding (080088, 086827, 075470, 099215, 097377, and 101873). E.R.B. and A.J.P.B. are funded by the European Research Council (ERC-2009-AdG-249793), and J.L. is funded by a Medical Research Council Clinical Training Fellowship.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Fall from standing height, or greater, and mortality among ambulance-transported patients with major trauma from falls

Introduction: This study describes the relationship between falls from standing height, or greater, and mortality in ambulance-transported patients with major trauma from falls. Methods: Road ambulance records from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2016 were linked with WA State Trauma Registry records to identify ambulance-transported falls patients with major trauma. Results: Of the patients who fell from standing level, 114/460 (25%) died within 30 days, compared with 47/222 (21%) who fell from height (p=0.64). Conclusion: Mortality is relatively high, and fall height is not associated with 30-day survival, among ambulance-transported patients with major trauma in metropolitan Perth, Western Australia

Planting the Seeds: Orchestral Music Education as a Context for Fostering Growth Mindsets

Growth mindset is an important aspect of children\u27s socioemotional development and is subject to change due to environmental influence. Orchestral music education may function as a fertile context in which to promote growth mindset; however, this education is not widely available to children facing economic hardship. This study examined whether participation in a program of orchestral music education was associated with higher levels of overall growth mindset and greater change in levels of musical growth mindset among children placed at risk by poverty. After at least 2 years of orchestral participation, students reported significantly higher levels of overall growth mindset than their peers; participating students also reported statistically significant increases in musical growth mindset regardless of the number of years that they were enrolled in orchestral music education. These findings have implications for future research into specific pedagogical practices that may promote growth mindset in the context of orchestral music education and more generally for future studies of the extra-musical benefits of high-quality music education

Non-canonical signalling mediates changes in fungal cell wall PAMPs that drive immune evasion

Data Availability The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper (and its supplementary information files). Acknowledgements We are grateful to Raif Yuecel, Linda Duncan, Kimberley Sim and Ailsa Laird in the Iain Fraser Cytometry Centre, and to Kevin MacKenzie, Debbie Wilkinson, Gillian Milne and Lucy Wight in our Microscopy and Histology Core Facility for their superb support. We thank Katja Schafer and Angela Lopez for help with the design of primers and for providing CRISPR-Cas9 protocols for mutant construction. We also thank our colleagues in the Candida community, and in particular Jan Quinn, Guanghua Huang, Suzanne Noble, Karl Kuchler, Patrick van Dijck, Rich Calderone and Malcolm Whiteway for providing strains used in this study. This work was funded by a programme grant from the UK Medical Research Council [www.mrc.ac.uk: MR/M026663/1], and by PhD studentships from the University of Aberdeen to AP, DL. The work was also supported by the Medical Research Council Centre for Medical Mycology and the University of Aberdeen [MR/N006364/1], by the European Commission [FunHoMic: H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018-812969], and by the Wellcome Trust via Investigator, Collaborative, Equipment, Strategic and Biomedical Resource awards [www.wellcome.ac.uk: 075470, 086827, 093378, 097377, 099197, 101873, 102705, 200208]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Racial Differences in Neighborhood Perceptions and their Influences on Physical Activity among Urban Older Women

Background: Proper levels of physical activity (PA) are important to healthy aging. Little is known about racial differences in influences of neighborhood perceptions (NP) on PA and use of neighborhood resources among community-dwelling older women. Materials and methods: In 2014 and 2015, 49 white and 44 black women of age 65 and older living in Washington, DC were queried about their PA, NP, use of neighborhood resources and sociodemographic characteristics. They wore an accelerometer and a Global Positioning System device concurrently for 7 consecutive days. Data were analyzed by race. Results: Compared to Whites, Blacks had lower NP scores (71% positive vs. 77%, p = 0.01), lower mean daily step counts (mean (SD): 3256 (1918) vs. 5457 (2989), p \u3c 0.001), and lower frequencies of all exercise activities combined (19.7 (8.7) vs. 25.2 (11.8) per week, p = 0.01). For both Whites and Blacks, better NPs were associated with more frequent PA both at (p = 0.05) and away from home (p = 0.01). However, better NPs were associated with higher frequencies of exercise activities, moderate-to-high intensity activities, and utilitarian walking for Whites but not Blacks (p \u3c 0.05 for race-perception interaction terms). Conclusions: In an urban setting, older Black women were more likely than older White women to have poor NPs, less PA, and weaker or no association of positive NPs with higher levels of certain PAs. Such substantial racial differences warrant further investigation and consideration in health promotion programs