Ua Ola Loko i Ke Aloha (Love Gives Life Within): Mindful Forgiveness with Aloha

Aloha is more than a greeting of “hello” and “good-bye.” Native Hawaiians believe Aloha is a foundational cultural value encompassing love, compassion, and respect. Mindful Forgiveness is a process of releasing negative emotions and thoughts towards a person, or persons, or event (e.g., COVID, cancer) who has caused a grievance, harm, or offense to increase feelings of hope and peace. In this paper, we explore the role of Aloha in enhancing the Mindful Forgiveness process. Via a peer support group with individuals practicing Mindful Forgiveness, we found that incorporating Aloha values and practices into the forgiveness process helped participants let go of resentment and anger towards the grievance and offender and led to increased feelings of peace and well-being in a cultural context. Moʻolelo (stories) and our lived experiences and other findings suggest that incorporating the values and practices of Aloha into Mindful Forgiveness may deeply enhance the therapeutic benefits of releasing grievances and facilitating healing. Further research is needed to fully understand the potentiality of Aloha in promoting Mindful Forgiveness with Aloha in healing grievances and kaumaha (heavy grief).   &nbsp

Barriers to Completing Colonoscopy Screenings

Background: - Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States and the third leading cause of cancer death in Vermont. - Colon cancer progression may be prevented by removing precancerous polyps found on colonoscopy screening. -Vermont ranks among the states with the best colon cancer screening rates, but there is room for improvement. In 2006, 55.5% of Vermonters over 50 years of age had undergone a sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy within the last 5 years. Vermont’s public health goal is to raise this percentage of screened individuals to 65% by 2010. - Vermont medical institutions have the resources to perform screening colonoscopies on all Vermonters over 50 years of age. - Although primary care physician (PCP) recommendations increase the likelihood of a patient completing a colonoscopy screening, a substantial number of patients referred for screening colonoscopies do not complete their appointments.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1004/thumbnail.jp

Tracking the Near Eastern origins and European dispersal of the western house mouse

Abstract: The house mouse (Mus musculus) represents the extreme of globalization of invasive mammals. However, the timing and basis of its origin and early phases of dispersal remain poorly documented. To track its synanthropisation and subsequent invasive spread during the develoment of complex human societies, we analyzed 829 Mus specimens from 43 archaeological contexts in Southwestern Asia and Southeastern Europe, between 40,000 and 3,000 cal. BP, combining geometric morphometrics numerical taxonomy, ancient mitochondrial DNA and direct radiocarbon dating. We found that large late hunter-gatherer sedentary settlements in the Levant, c. 14,500 cal. BP, promoted the commensal behaviour of the house mouse, which probably led the commensal pathway to cat domestication. House mouse invasive spread was then fostered through the emergence of agriculture throughout the Near East 12,000 years ago. Stowaway transport of house mice to Cyprus can be inferred as early as 10,800 years ago. However, the house mouse invasion of Europe did not happen until the development of proto urbanism and exchange networks — 6,500 years ago in Eastern Europe and 4000 years ago in Southern Europe — which in turn may have driven the first human mediated dispersal of cats in Europe

Congenital rubella syndrome surveillance in South Africa using a sentinel site approach : a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND. Congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) includes disorders associated with intrauterine rubella infection. Incidence of CRS is higher in countries with no rubella-containing vaccines (RCV) in their immunization schedules. In the World Health Organization African region, RCVs are being introduced as part of the 2012–2020 global measles and rubella strategic plan. This study aimed to describe the epidemiology of confirmed CRS in South Africa prior to introduction of RCVs in the immunization schedule. METHODS. This was a descriptive study with 28 sentinel sites reporting laboratory-confirmed CRS cases in all 9 provinces of South Africa. In the retrospective phase (2010 to 2014), CRS cases were retrieved from medical records, and in the prospective phase (2015 to 2017) clinicians at study sites reported CRS cases monthly. RESULTS. There were 42 confirmed CRS cases in the retrospective phase and 53 confirmed CRS cases in the prospective phase. Most frequently reported birth defects were congenital heart disease and cataracts. The median age of mothers of CRS cases was 21 years in the retrospective phase (range: 11 to 38 years) and 22 years in the prospective phase (range: 15 to 38 years). CONCLUSION. Baseline data on laboratory-confirmed CRS will enable planning and monitoring of RCV implementation in the South African Expanded Programme on Immunization program. Ninety-eight percent of mothers of infants with CRS were young women 14–30 years old, indicating a potential immunity gap in this age group for consideration during introduction of RCV.The NICD/NHLS, South Africahttp://cid.oxfordjournals.orgam2020Paediatrics and Child Healt

A DIGITAL INTEGRATOR FOR AN S-BAND HIGH-SPEED FREQUENCY-HOPPING PHASE-LOCKED LOOP

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, NevadaPhase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizers used for high-speed data transmission must rapidly hop and lock to new frequencies. The fundamental problem is that the settling time depends inversely on the loop bandwidth, and increasing the bandwidth causes unwanted noise interference and stability problems for the circuit. We demonstrate the feasibility of replacing the analog integrator in the PLL with a digital integrator. This circuit has advantages of increased hopping speed, ability to compensate for temperature drift and system stability. PLL lock-in was demonstrated in a prototype circuit designed and built with both discrete components and with a programmable logic device.International Foundation for TelemeteringProceedings from the International Telemetering Conference are made available by the International Foundation for Telemetering and the University of Arizona Libraries. Visit http://www.telemetry.org/index.php/contact-us if you have questions about items in this collection

Wildlife hot spots along highways in Northwestern Oregon

Determining locations where wildlife movement and highway operation conflict is an essential first step in making highways safer for motorists and animals. Using an expert-opinion approach, we identified 86 conflict areas (hot spots) for wildlife along state-maintained roads in the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Region 1. Of the 757 miles of highway analyzed, 22% were identified as wildlife hot spots by expert teams, suggesting that the scope of this problem is substantial. Most of these hot spots were locations with frequent deer-vehicle collisions, although some were crossing locations for deer and elk that did not have frequent animal-vehicle collisions. Some hot spots were identified for non-focal species, including northwestern pond turtle, western painted turtle, coyote, bobcat, black bear, and beaver. Hot spots generally were associated with topographic features that directed animals towards highways, the presence of habitat adjacent to highways, or food resources that attracted animals. Six hot spots were considered high priority. The expert-opinion approach employed for this analysis was effective in rapidly assessing many miles of state-maintained highway for the presence of wildlife hot spots and may prove useful in addressing conflicts between wildlife and highways in other locales or on a statewide basis. Not all of the hot spots warrant mitigation, although we suggest that the areas identified in this analysis be examined more carefully during development of projects that may affect wildlife passage

Interstate 84 Wildlife Crossing Study

<p>Results of a 10-month study of the distribution of animal carcasses along a 44-mile segment of Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge of Oregon.</p

Fusobacterium necrophorum Leukotoxin Induces Activation and Apoptosis of Bovine Leukocytes

Fusobacterium necrophorum, a gram-negative, rod-shaped, anaerobic bacterium, is a primary or secondary etiological agent in a variety of necrotic, purulent infections in humans and animals. Its major virulence factor is leukotoxin, a high-molecular-weight secreted protein, primarily toxic to ruminant leukocytes. In this study, bovine peripheral blood leukocytes were exposed to various concentrations of immunoaffinity-purified leukotoxin and the cytotoxicity was analyzed by flow cytometry and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. At very low toxin concentrations, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) showed activation, as indicated by translocation of primary and secondary granules to the periphery of the cytoplasm. Furthermore, these cells showed changes characteristic of apoptosis, including decreased cell size, organelle condensation, cytoplasmic membrane blebbing (zeiosis), and chromatin condensation and margination, and decrease in cellular DNA content. At moderately high concentrations of leukotoxin, bovine mononuclear cells were also induced to undergo programmed cell death. At very high concentrations, leukotoxin caused necrotic cell death of bovine peripheral leukocytes. The ability of F. necrophorum leukotoxin to modulate the host immune system by its toxicity, including cellular activation of PMNs and apoptosis-mediated killing of phagocytes and immune effector cells, represents a potentially important mechanism of its pathogenesis