Professional Counselors’ Understanding of Public Policy Advocacy Efforts

Limited literature exists that outlines professional counselors experience integrating the public policy arena into their clinical practice. This study examined the lived experience of professional counselors related to public policy advocacy. Through a qualitative, phenomenological analysis five themes emerged: barriers to advocacy, strategies to advocating, issues to advocate for, and influence on clinical practice. Findings suggest that although many counselors are already engaging in advocacy, training is needed to continue the practice. Recommendations are outlined for professional counselors and graduate training programs

Histopathological analysis of liver in Puntius ticto exposed to water soluble fraction (WSF) of petrol

The fresh water fish Puntius ticto were exposed to lethal concentration of water soluble fraction (WSF) of petrol (5%-PF1, 10%-PF2, 15%-PF3, 20%-PF4 and 25%-PF5) for 96 hours. The exposure of WSF produced some conspicuous histopathological changes in liver. The swelling of hepatocytes, degeneration, necrosis, hemolysis, dilation, congestion and fibrosis in blood sinusoids were the prominent changes observed. The histological analysis showed increasing damages dose-dependents and time-dependents

Gibberellin signaling mediates lateral root inhibition in response to K+-deprivation

The potassium ion (K+) is vital for plant growth and development, and K+-deprivation leads to reduced crop yields. Here we describe phenotypic, transcriptomic, and mutant analyses to investigate the signaling mechanisms mediating root architectural changes in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) Columbia. We showed effects on root architecture are mediated through a reduction in cell division in the lateral root (LR) meristems, the rate of LR initiation is reduced but LR density is unaffected, and primary root growth is reduced only slightly. This was primarily regulated through gibberellic acid (GA) signaling, which leads to the accumulation of growth-inhibitory DELLA proteins. The short LR phenotype was rescued by exogenous application of GA but not of auxin or by the inhibition of ethylene signaling. RNA-seq analysis showed upregulation by K+-deprivation of the transcription factors JUNGBRUNNEN1 (JUB1) and the C-repeat-binding factor (CBF)/dehydration-responsive element-binding factor 1 regulon, which are known to regulate GA signaling and levels that regulate DELLAs. Transgenic overexpression of JUB1 and CBF1 enhanced responses to K+ stress. Attenuation of the reduced LR growth response occurred in mutants of the CBF1 target gene SFR6, implicating a role for JUB1, CBF1, and SFR6 in the regulation of LR growth in response to K+-deprivation via DELLAs. We propose this represents a mechanism to limit horizontal root growth in conditions where K+ is available deeper in the soil

Iron Deficiency Anemia- Does it affect the Glycosylated Hemoglobin levels in Non- diabetic Patients?

Background: Glycosylated hemo­globin (HbA1c) is used in diabetic patients as an index of glycemic control. Reports on the effects of iron deficien­cy anemia (IDA) on HbA1c levels have shown inconsistent results. This study investigated the effects of IDA on HbA1c levels in non- diabetic patients. Methods: Fifty non- diabetic patients diagnosed as having IDA, and an equal number of age- and sex- matched healthy controls, were included in this study. Hematological and biochemical parameters, including HbA1c levels were measured, and compared between cases and controls.Results: Mean baseline HbA1c (%) level in anemic patients (6.1 ± 0.2) was significantly higher than in control group (4.1 ± 0.3) (p < 0.0001, 95% CI 1.89 to 2.1). A significant positive correlation of HbA1c was observed with total iron binding capacity (TIBC) (r = 0.36, p = 0.009, 95 % CI 0.09 to 0.58), but not with hemoglobin (r = −0.015, p = 0.915, 95% CI −0.29 to 0.26), MCV (r = −0.082, p = 0.571, 95 % CI −0.35 to 0.20), MCH (r = −0.11, p = 0.453, 95% CI −0.38 to 0.18), hematocrit (r = −0.0032, p = 0.982, 95% CI −0.28 to 0.28) and ferritin (r = −0.052 p = 0.721, 95% CI −0.33 to 0.23).Conclusions: HbA1c levels were higher in patients with IDA than in controls and had a significant positive correlation with TIBC. This may have a practical application in diabetic individuals with IDA where HbA1c alone may give a false picture of poor glycemic control

Costs analysis of a population level rabies control programme in Tamil Nadu, India

The study aimed to determine costs to the state government of implementing different interventions for controlling rabies among the entire human and animal populations of Tamil Nadu. This built upon an earlier assessment of Tamil Nadu’s efforts to control rabies. Anti-rabies vaccines were made available at all health facilities. Costs were estimated for five different combinations of animal and human interventions using an activity-based costing approach from the provider perspective. Disease and population data were sourced from the state surveillance data, human census and livestock census. Program costs were extrapolated from official documents. All capital costs were depreciated to estimate annualized costs. All costs were inflated to 2012 Rupees. Sensitivity analysis was conducted across all major cost centres to assess their relative impact on program costs. It was found that the annual costs of providing Anti-rabies vaccine alone and in combination with Immunoglobulins was \$0.7 million (Rs 36 million) and \$2.2 million (Rs 119 million), respectively. For animal sector interventions, the annualised costs of rolling out surgical sterilisation-immunization, injectable immunization and oral immunizations were estimated to be \$ 44 million (Rs 2,350 million), \$23 million (Rs 1,230 million) and \$ 11 million (Rs 590 million), respectively. Dog bite incidence, health systems coverage and cost of rabies biologicals were found to be important drivers of costs for human interventions. For the animal sector interventions, the size of dog catching team, dog population and vaccine costs were found to be driving the costs. Rabies control in Tamil Nadu seems a costly proposition the way it is currently structured. Policy makers in Tamil Nadu and other similar settings should consider the long-term financial sustainability before embarking upon a state or nation-wide rabies control programme

Joint B0 and image estimation integrated with model based reconstruction for field map update and distortion correction in prostate diffusion MRI

In prostate Diffusion Weighted MRI, differences in susceptibility values exist at the interface between the prostate and rectal-air. This can result in off-resonance magnetic field leading to geometric distortions including signal stretching and signal pile-up in the reconstructed images. Using a set of EPI data acquired with blip-up and blip-down phase encoding gradient directions, model based reconstruction has recently been proposed that can correct these distortions by using a B0 field estimated from a separate B0 scan. However, change in the size of the rectal air region across time can occur that can result in a mismatch of the B0 field to the EPI scan. Also, the measured B0 field itself can be erroneous in regions of low Signal to Noise ratio around the prostate rectal air interface. In this work, using a set of single shot EPI data acquired with blip-up and blip-down phase encoding gradient directions, a novel joint model based reconstruction is proposed that can account for changes in the off resonance effects between the B0 and EPI scans. For ten prostate patients, using a measured B0 field as an initial B0 estimate, on a 5-point scale (1-5) image quality scores evaluated by an experienced radiologist, the proposed framework achieved scores of 3.50+/-0.85 and 3.40+/-0.51 for bvalues of 0 and 500 s/mm2, respectively compared to 3.40+/-0.70 and 3.30+/-0.67 for model based reconstruction. The proposed framework is also capable of estimating a distortion corrected EPI image even without an initial B0 field estimate in situations where a separate B0 scan cannot be obtained due to time constraint

Co-axial dual-core resonant leaky fibre for optical amplifiers

We present a co-axial dual-core resonant leaky optical fibre design, in which the outer core is made highly leaky. A suitable choice of parameters can enable us to resonantly couple power from the inner core to the outer core. In a large-core fibre, such a resonant coupling can considerably increase the differential leakage loss between the fundamental and the higher order modes and can result in effective single-mode operation. In a small-core single-mode fibre, such a coupling can lead to sharp increase in the wavelength dependent leakage loss near the resonant wavelength and can be utilized for the suppression of amplified spontaneous emission and thereby gain equalization of an optical amplifier. We study the propagation characteristics of the fibre using the transfer matrix method and present an example of each, the large-mode-area design for high power amplifiers and the wavelength tunable leakage loss design for inherent gain equalization of optical amplifiers.Comment: 6 page