A Study of Three Program Types\u27 Effectiveness in the Prevention and Awareness of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to over 60% of the world’s AIDS cases; thus, HIV prevention and treatment is a pressing global issue that needs to be addressed with governmental assistance, medication, education, and overall community support. This research paper examines and compares the success of HIV/AIDS treatment, education, and prevention programs in sub-Saharan Africa in order to determine which type of program is the most effective. The three program types that are examined are large-scale governmental policies and organizations, local community run grassroots organizations, and programs that combine grassroots initiatives with umbrella organization assistance. The general consensus of the reviewed literature implies that combination programs will be most effective due to their relative financial stability (as opposed to grassroots programs) and consistent interaction and involvement with the community (unlike large-scale organizations). This study gathered data through a qualitative survey distributed to key stakeholders of organizations in sub-Saharan Africa that represent the three types listed above. Eight programs were contacted, but due to international communication barriers and limitations on releasing private program information, only one key stakeholder completed the survey, while an additional two followed up with other information. Still, through careful examination of these particular programs it was determined that, contrary to the literature, the grassroots program was most effective in terms of education, treatment, and prevention

More Than Physical: Covid-19\u27s Devastating Impact

Covid-19 has impacted our world in many ways. In this autoethnographic research paper, two college nursing students share their own unique perspective related to the topic. Through their journaling over the pandemic, they derive three main themes in their writing. These themes included vaccine hesitancy, burnout in healthcare professionals, and online schooling because of isolation protocols. Each theme is explored through research which includes personal experience, scholarly journals, website articles, blog posts, social media posts, and personal interviews. Vaccine hesitancy is explored, and research concludes that misinformation is widely to blame. Burnout in healthcare workers is shown to increase during the pandemic for a variety of reasons, including unsafe patient to nurse ratios, concern for contacting the virus, and poor working conditions related to inadequate PPE (personal protective equipment), all of which are shown to take a toll on the nurse\u27s mental health. Despite some benefits, online schooling has had an overall negative impact on the education of college students. This paper details the devastating effect Covid-19 had on the nursing profession, the education of college students, and the impact it had on these populations\u27 mental health

How do student nurses learn to care? An analysis of pre-registration adult nursing practice assessment documents

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Kate Young, Rosemary Godbold, and Pat Wood, ‘How do student nurses learn to care? An analysis of pre-registration adult nursing practice assessment documents’, Nurse Education in Practice, Vol. 28: 168-174, January 2018. Under embargo until 6 October 2018. The final, definitive version is available online at DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2017.10.004.There is international concern about the quality of nursing in resource constrained, high technology health care settings. This paper reports findings from a research study which explored the experiences and views of those involved in the education and learning of 'caring' with adult pre-registration students. A novel dataset of 39 practice assessment documents (PADs) were randomly sampled and analysed across both bachelors and masters programmes from September 2014–July 2015. Using an appreciative enquiry approach, the Caring Behaviours Inventory aided analysis of qualitative text from both mentors and students within the PADs to identify how student nurses learn to care and to establish whether there were any differences between Masters and Bachelors students. In contrast with existing research, we found a holistic, melded approach to caring. This combined softer skills with highly technologized care, and flexible, tailored approaches to optimise individualised care delivery. Both of these were highly valued by both students and mentors. Pre-registration MSc students tended to have higher perceptual skills and be more analytical than their BSc counterparts. We found no evidence to suggest that caring behaviour or attitudes diminish over the course of either programme.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Short-Chained Oligo(Ethylene Oxide)-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles: Realization Of Significant Protein Resistance

Protein corona formed on nanomaterial surfaces play an important role in the bioavailability and cellular uptake of nanomaterials. Modification of surfaces with oligoethylene glycols (OEG) are a common way to improve the resistivity of nanomaterials to protein adsorption. Short-chain ethylene oxide (EO) oligomers have been shown to improve the protein resistance of planar Au surfaces. We describe the application of these EO oligomers for improved protein resistance of 30 nm spherical gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Functionalized AuNPs were characterized using UV-Vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential measurements. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was used for separation and quantitation of AuNPs and AuNP-protein mixtures. Specifically, nonequilibrium capillary electrophoresis of equilibrium mixtures (NECEEM) was employed for the determination of equilibrium and rate constants for binding between citrate-stabilized AuNPs and two model proteins, lysozyme and fibrinogen. Semi-quantitative CE analysis was carried out for mixtures of EO-functionalized AuNPs and proteins, and results demonstrated a 2.5-fold to 10-fold increase in protein binding resistance to lysozyme depending on the AuNP surface functionalization and a 15-fold increase in protein binding resistance to fibrinogen for both EO oligomers examined in this study

Building Bridges, Building Power: Developments in Institution-Based Community Organizing

Community organizing in America is alive and well and being vigorously practiced in the version we call institution- based community organizing.\u27 This national study shows that in the last decade institution- based community organizing has significantly increased its power base as it continues to bridge divides that deeply be- devil American politics—-divides of racial and ethnic identity, religion, socio-economic status, geography, and immigrant-na- tive background. This study details the dynamic expansion of the field over the last decade, outlines the impres- sive \u27bridging social capital\u27 it generates, discusses ways it has overcome the strategic limita- tions that previously undermined the field, and identifies some of the ongoing challenges that remain. We argue throughout that institution-based community organizing is poised to be an important strategic partner in the democratic renewal of America.\u2

Presence of the Cyanotoxin Microcystin in Arctic Lakes of Southwestern Greenland

Cyanobacteria and their toxins have received significant attention in eutrophic temperate and tropical systems where conspicuous blooms of certain planktonic taxa release toxins into fresh water, threatening its potability and safe use for recreation. Although toxigenic cyanobacteria are not confined to high nutrient environments, bloom-forming species, or planktonic taxa, these other situations are studied les often studied. For example, toxin production in picoplankton and benthic cyanobacteria—the predominant photoautotrophs found in polar lakes—is poorly understood. We quantified the occurrence of microcystin (MC, a hepatotoxic cyanotoxin) across 18 Arctic lakes in southwestern Greenland. All of the focal lakes contained detectable levels of MC, with concentrations ranging from 5 ng·L−1 to \u3e400 ng·L−1 during summer, 2013–2015. These concentrations are orders of magnitude lower than many eutrophic systems, yet the median lake MC concentration in Greenland (57 ng·L−1) was still 6.5 times higher than the median summer MC toxicity observed across 50 New Hampshire lakes between 1998 and 2008 (8.7 ng·L−1). The presence of cyanotoxins in these Greenlandic lakes demonstrates that high latitude lakes can support toxigenic cyanobacteria, and suggests that we may be underestimating the potential for these systems to develop high levels of cyanotoxins in the future

Marge Piercy: Writer, Feminist, Activist: An Exhibit

University of Michigan alum Marge Piercy is a world-renowned poet, novelist and feminist. The record of this significant contribution to the world of arts and letters is a growing collection of manuscripts, literary correspondence, printed ephemera, video tapes, audio material and photographs housed in the Special Collections Library. The collection reflects the themes, images, and patterns emerging over forty years of written work by one of the foremost, socially-conscious writers of our time.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/120262/1/marge_piercy_04.pd