Reverse Culture Shock: The Purdue Kenya Partnership

The Purdue Kenya Partnership (PKP) has been working in Eldoret, Kenya since 2004, providing pharmaceutical care to patients in the Academic Model Providing Access to Health Care (AMPATH) program. PKP incorporates students into its work through the 8-week advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) offered to last-year student pharmacists. The program has 24 student participants each year. Student participants go through an interview process, and if selected then participate in a 2-credit-hour elective course that prepares them to practice in this environment. This elective discusses culture shock and ways to overcome it while in the country. However, over the years, it has been observed that when many students return home after, they have some challenges adapting back. Upon further investigation and discussion with these students, it was identified that they suffered from reverse culture shock. Reverse culture shock is described as the negative effects experienced while readapting to the environment of one’s own culture after having spent time abroad. It is a serious condition that if left unaddressed can lead to anxiety, trouble in school or work, and relationship difficulties. Study abroad programs address the culture shock when traveling overseas, but many do not address the reverse culture shock. This article gives a detailed account of one student’s experience with reverse culture shock after participating in the PKP APPE. It also details a plan aimed at helping address reverse culture shock for study abroad students

The progress of early phase bone healing using porous granules produced from calcium phosphate cement

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>Bone grafting is a vital component in many surgical procedures to facilitate the repair of bone defects or fusions. Autologous bone has been the gold standard to date in spite of associated donor-site morbidity and the limited amount of available donor bone. The aim of this study was to investigate the progress of bone regeneration and material degradation of calcium phosphate granules (CPG) produced from a calcium phosphate self-setting cement powder compared to the use of autologous bone grafting in the treatment of "critical size defects" on load-bearing long bones of minipigs.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A critical size defect in the tibial metaphysis of 16 mini-pigs was filled either with autologous cancellous graft or with micro- and macroporous carbonated, apatic calcium phosphate granules (CPG) produced from a calcium phosphate self-setting cement powder. After 6 weeks, the specimens were assessed by X-ray and histological evaluation. The amount of new bone formation was analysed histomorphometrically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The semi-quantitative analysis of the radiological results showed a complete osseous bridging of the defect in three cases for the autograft group. In the same group five animals showed a beginning, but still incomplete bridging of the defect, whereas in the CPG group just two animals developed this. All other animals of the CPG group showed only a still discontinuous new bone formation. Altogether, radiologically a better osseous bridging was observed in the autograft group compared to the CPG group.</p> <p>Histomorphometrical analysis after six weeks of healing revealed that the area of new bone was significantly greater in the autograft group concerning the central area of the defect zone (p < 0.001) as well as the cortical defect zone (p < 0.002). All defects showed new bone formation, but only in the autograft group defects regenerated entirely</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Within the limits of the present study it could be demonstrated that autologous cancellous grafts lead to a significantly better bone regeneration compared to the application of calcium phosphate granules (CPG) produced from a calcium phosphate self-setting cement powder after 6 weeks. In the early phase of bone-healing, the sole application of CPG appears to be inferior to the autologous cancellous grafts in an <it>in vivo </it>critical size defect on load-bearing long bones of mini-pigs.</p

Spin fluctuations in the quasi-two dimensional Heisenberg ferromagnet GdI_2 studied by Electron Spin Resonance

The spin dynamics of GdI_2 have been investigated by ESR spectroscopy. The temperature dependences of the resonance field and ESR intensity are well described by the model for the spin susceptibility proposed by Eremin et al. [Phys. Rev. B 64, 064425 (2001)]. The temperature dependence of the resonance linewidth shows a maximum similar to the electrical resistance and is discussed in terms of scattering processes between conduction electrons and localized spins.Comment: to be published in PR

Radiosensitization of HNSCC cells by EGFR inhibition depends on the induction of cell cycle arrests

The increase in cellular radiosensitivity by EGF receptor (EGFR) inhibition has been shown to be attributable to the induction of a G1-arrest in p53-proficient cells. Because EGFR targeting in combination with radiotherapy is used to treat head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) which are predominantly p53 mutated, we tested the effects of EGFR targeting on cellular radiosensitivity, proliferation, apoptosis, DNA repair and cell cycle control using a large panel of HNSCC cell lines. In these experiments EGFR targeting inhibited signal transduction, blocked proliferation and induced radiosensitization but only in some cell lines and only under normal (pre-plating) conditions. This sensitization was not associated with impaired DNA repair (53BP1 foci) or induction of apoptosis. However, it was associated with the induction of a lasting G2-arrest. Both, the radiosensitization and the G2-arrest were abrogated if the cells were re-stimulated (delayed plating) with actually no radiosensitization being detectable in any of the 14 tested cell lines. Therefore we conclude that EGFR targeting can induce a reversible G2 arrest in p53 deficient HNSCC cells, which does not consequently result in a robust cellular radiosensitization. Together with recent animal and clinical studies our data indicate that EGFR inhibition is no effective strategy to increase the radiosensitivity of HNSCC cells.</p

Premotor Gray Matter Volume is Associated with Clinical Findings in Idiopathic and Genetically Determined Parkinson’s Disease

In the present voxel-based morphometric study, we investigated whether the severity and duration of disease are associated with alterations in gray matter volume (GMV) in symptomatic Parkin mutation carriers (sPARKIN-MC) and patients with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (iPD). Regression analyses revealed different negative correlations between GMV in cortical motor areas and the severity as well as the disease duration in sPARKIN-MC and iPD patients. SPARKIN-MC showed a less involvement of cortical motor areas, in particular in the supplementary motor area (SMA) than iPD patients. Specifically, in iPD patients, but not in sPARKIN-MC, there was a negative correlation between the SMA degeneration and the UPDRS-II item freezing. The different degeneration patterns may mirror diverse kinetics of the disease progress in these two groups of PD patients with different underlying etiologies

A new high-speed IR camera system

A multi-organizational team at the Goddard Space Flight Center is developing a new far infrared (FIR) camera system which furthers the state of the art for this type of instrument by the incorporating recent advances in several technological disciplines. All aspects of the camera system are optimized for operation at the high data rates required for astronomical observations in the far infrared. The instrument is built around a Blocked Impurity Band (BIB) detector array which exhibits responsivity over a broad wavelength band and which is capable of operating at 1000 frames/sec, and consists of a focal plane dewar, a compact camera head electronics package, and a Digital Signal Processor (DSP)-based data system residing in a standard 486 personal computer. In this paper we discuss the overall system architecture, the focal plane dewar, and advanced features and design considerations for the electronics. This system, or one derived from it, may prove useful for many commercial and/or industrial infrared imaging or spectroscopic applications, including thermal machine vision for robotic manufacturing, photographic observation of short-duration thermal events such as combustion or chemical reactions, and high-resolution surveillance imaging

Solar Radiation Maps

[EN]Solar maps are very interesting tools to describe the characteristics of a region from the solar radiation point of view, and can be applied in atmospheric sciences and for energy engineering. To make them possible, a solar radiation numerical model is proposed. This one allows us to estimate radiation values on any point on earth. The model takes into account the terrain surface conditions and the cast shadows. The procedure uses 2-D adaptive triangles meshes built refining according to surface and albedo characteristics. Solar irradiance values are obtained for clear sky conditions. Using clear sky index as a conversion factor, real sky values are computed in terms of irradiance or irradiation with a desired time step. Finally, the solar radiation maps are obtained for all the domain