Establishing Foundations for the Development of a Music-Centered Music Therapy Assessment for Adults with Thought Disorders

Mental illness in the United States affects approximately 9.6 million adults, or 4.1% of the population (NIMH, 2014). Thought disorders are most often associated with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders, but can be present in other forms of mental illness, as well. Traditionally, the term thought disorder is defined as a disorder of cognitive organization in form and content, as indicated by disordered speech, delusions, disturbed sense of self, and abnormal psychomotor behavior (APA, 2013). The current methods of assessment primarily rely on the patients’ verbal language, however the literature indicates that there are limits to confining understanding to the verbal domain. Based upon the literature, the construct of thought can largely be understood in terms of the interplay among the constructs of temporality, affect, and relationship, thus suggesting an expansion of the definition of thought disorder from “a disorder of cognitive organization” to “a disorder of being.” As such, it is proposed that this is better assessed through music rather than through the traditional modality of spoken language. The purpose of this study is to establish foundations for a system of music therapy assessment, and concomitant treatment, for adults with thought disorders. In this thesis, related literature, theoretical foundations, case illustrations, and practical implications will be explored

Assertiveness in Nursing Students

The problem that this study focused on was that there was minimal evidence on whether or not nursing students become more assertive throughout their academic education. The purpose of this study was to compare the assertiveness scores of sophomore level nursing students and senior level-nursing students. The study was guided by Hildegard Peplau’s theory of interpersonal relations in nursing, which focuses on the therapeutic process between nurses and patients, rather than on internal patient pathology. The descriptive, comparative study used a 15-question survey design and a convenience sample of sophomore and senior level nursing students at a large urban Midwest university. Recruitment, informed consent, and data collection occurred during the sophomore and senior classes. An independent sample T test was used to determine group differences in assertiveness. The results revealed that the sophomore level students were more assertive than the senior level-nursing students

Comparing Performance of Methods to Deal with Differential Attrition in Lottery Based Evaluations

In randomized controlled trials, it is common for attrition rates to differ by lottery status, jeopardizing the identification of causal effects. Inverse probability weighting methods (Hirano et al, 2003; Busso et al., 2014) and estimation of informative bounds for the treatment effects (e.g. Lee, 2009; Angrist et al., 2006) have been used frequently to deal with differential attrition bias. This paper studies the performance of various methods by comparing the results using two datasets: a district-sourced dataset subject to considerable differential attrition, and an expanded state-sourced dataset with much less attrition, differential and overall. We compared the performance of different methods to correct for differential attrition in the district dataset, as well as we conducted simulation analyses to assess the sensitivity of bounding methods to their underlying assumptions. In our application, methods to correct differential attrition induced bias, whereas the unadjusted district level results were closer and more substantively similar to the estimated effects in the benchmark state dataset. Our simulation exercises showed that even small deviations from the underlying assumptions in bounding methods proposed by Angrist et al. (2006) increased bias in the estimates. In practice, researchers often do not have enough information to verify the extent to which these underlying assumptions are met, so we recommend using these methods with caution

Effects of Smoking on Healthcare Resource Utilization After Panniculectomy: Analysis of an Institutional Registry

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Recommended Priorities for Research on Ecological Impacts of Ocean and Coastal Acidification in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic

The estuaries and continental shelf system of the United States Mid-Atlantic are subject to ocean acidification driven by atmospheric CO2, and coastal acidification caused by nearshore and land-sea interactions that include biological, chemical, and physical processes. These processes include freshwater and nutrient input from rivers and groundwater; tidally-driven outwelling of nutrients, inorganic carbon, alkalinity; high productivity and respiration; and hypoxia. Hence, these complex dynamic systems exhibit substantial daily, seasonal, and interannual variability that is not well captured by current acidification research on Mid-Atlantic organisms and ecosystems. We present recommendations for research priorities that target better understanding of the ecological impacts of acidification in the U. S. Mid-Atlantic region. Suggested priorities are: 1) Determining the impact of multiple stressors on our resource species as well as the magnitude of acidification; 2) Filling information gaps on major taxa and regionally important species in different life stages to improve understanding of their response to variable temporal scales and sources of acidification; 3) Improving experimental approaches to incorporate realistic environmental variability and gradients, include interactions with other environmental stressors, increase transferability to other systems or organisms, and evaluate community and ecosystem response; 4) Determining the capacity of important species to acclimate or adapt to changing ocean conditions; 5) Considering multi-disciplinary, ecosystem-level research that examines acidification impacts on biodiversity and biotic interactions; and 6) Connecting potential acidification-induced ecological impacts to ecosystem services and the economy. These recommendations, while developed for the Mid-Atlantic, can be applicable to other regions will help align research towards knowledge of potential larger-scale ecological and economic impacts

Variation in the SLC23A1 gene does not influence cardiometabolic outcomes to the extent expected given its association with L-ascorbic acid

Background: Observational studies showed that circulating l-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is inversely associated with cardiometabolic traits. However, these studies were susceptible to confounding and reverse causation. Objectives:We assessed the relation between l-ascorbic acid and 10 cardiometabolic traits by using a single nucleotide polymorphism in the solute carrier family 23 member 1 (SLC23A1) gene (rs33972313) associated with circulating l-ascorbic acid concentrations. The observed association between rs33972313 and cardiometabolic outcomes was compared with that expected given the rs33972313-l-ascorbic acid and l-ascorbic acid–outcome associations. Design: A meta-analysis was performed in the following 5 independent studies: the British Women's Heart and Health Study (n = 1833), the MIDSPAN study (n = 1138), the Ten Towns study (n = 1324), the British Regional Heart Study (n = 2521), and the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (n = 3737). Results: With the use of a meta-analysis of observational estimates, inverse associations were shown between l-ascorbic acid and systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, and the waist-hip ratio [the strongest of which was the waist-hip ratio (−0.13-SD change; 95% CI: −0.20-, −0.07-SD change; P = 0.0001) per SD increase in l-ascorbic acid], and a positive association was shown with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. The variation at rs33972313 was associated with a 0.18-SD (95% CI: 0.10-, 0.25-SD; P = 3.34 × 10−6) increase in l-ascorbic acid per effect allele. There was no evidence of a relation between the variation at rs33972313 and any cardiometabolic outcome. Although observed estimates were not statistically different from expected associations between rs33972313 and cardiometabolic outcomes, estimates for low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, and body mass index were in the opposite direction to those expected. Conclusions: The nature of the genetic association exploited in this study led to limited statistical application, but despite this, when all cardiometabolic traits were assessed, there was no evidence of any trend supporting a protective role of l-ascorbic acid. In the context of existing work, these results add to the suggestion that observational relations between l-ascorbic acid and cardiometabolic health may be attributable to confounding and reverse causation

Geological and Geochemical Controls on Subsurface Microbial Life in the Samail Ophiolite, Oman.

Microbial abundance and diversity in deep subsurface environments is dependent upon the availability of energy and carbon. However, supplies of oxidants and reductants capable of sustaining life within mafic and ultramafic continental aquifers undergoing low-temperature water-rock reaction are relatively unknown. We conducted an extensive analysis of the geochemistry and microbial communities recovered from fluids sampled from boreholes hosted in peridotite and gabbro in the Tayin block of the Samail Ophiolite in the Sultanate of Oman. The geochemical compositions of subsurface fluids in the ophiolite are highly variable, reflecting differences in host rock composition and the extent of fluid-rock interaction. Principal component analysis of fluid geochemistry and geologic context indicate the presence of at least four fluid types in the Samail Ophiolite ("gabbro," "alkaline peridotite," "hyperalkaline peridotite," and "gabbro/peridotite contact") that vary strongly in pH and the concentrations of