A Midrange theory of Empowered Holistic Nursing Education: A pedagogy for a student-centered classroom

The purpose of this article is to propose Empowered Holistic Nursing Education (EHNE) as a midrange theory—developed through induction, explication, deduction, and retroduction—to help nurse educators teach holistically and create a student-centered classroom, to establish a theoretical basis for a nursing pedagogy reflecting nursing\u27s foundational principles, and to guide future research. The model\u27s 5 core concepts, how to use the model as a pedagogy for practice, and its application to research will be presented. Holistic nursing will be defined, and traditional holistic nursing, holistic pedagogy, and emancipatory pedagogy will each be described

Influential Article Review- A Multifaceted and Complex Model of Dispute and Strategic Thinking Within the Intragroup

This paper examines communication and decision making. We present insights from a highly influential paper. Here are the highlights from this paper: Although intragroup conflict has both multilevel and dynamic natures, less attention has been paid to establishing a holistic model of intragroup conflict that emerges across levels and unfolds over time. To address this research gap, we extend the multilevel view of intragroup conflict (Korsgaard et al. 2008) to develop a multilevel and dynamic model of intragroup conflict that explicitly includes (1) the role of time and (2) the feedback loop to encompass the dynamic aspect of intragroup conflict. We further instantiate the extended model in the context of team decision-making. To achieve this and systematically examine the complex relationships, we use agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS). We directly investigate how two types of intragroup conflict—task and relationship conflict—interplay with cross-level antecedences, interrelate and develop over time, and affect team outcomes. This study adds to the intragroup conflict research by extending the field with multilevel and dynamic views. For our overseas readers, we then present the insights from this paper in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German

Single Incision Laparoscopic Ventral Hernia Repair

This study suggests that single incision laparoscopic ventral hernia repair is technically feasible, effective, and reproducible

Investigating the Role of Disulfide Bond Formation in FABP5

Thesis advisor: Abhishek ChatterjeeThesis advisor: Eranthie WeerapanaEGF signaling activates multiple pathways within the cell that lead towards proliferation, rendering this pathway of interest for cancer therapy. Recent studies focused on triple-negative breast cancer have shown that EGF-induced tumorigenesis strongly correlates with the up-regulation of FABP5, which shuttles fatty acids from the cytoplasm of cells to the nucleus. Our work began with the identification of redox active cysteine residues upon EGF activation in situ using a caged electrophile to perform live cell labeling. In these studies, the C120 residue of FABP5 was identified as a cysteine with high redox activity and thus became a subject of further interest. The characterization of redox active cysteine residues yields important information about protein structure and function. We have confirmed these results via in-gel fluorescence and developed fluorescence assays to probe the significance of C120 and C127 in FABP5. Two fatty acids were chosen based on their conformation in the FABP5 binding pocket. Upon the addition of a fatty acid, wild type protein showed a decrease in fluorescence indicating that the fatty acids were outcompeting the fluorophores used. Future studies will investigate both wild type and mutant versions of FABP5 with emphasis on determining potential disulfide bond formation via phosphoproteomics and western blotting techniques.Thesis (MS) — Boston College, 2016.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: Chemistry

Vital lines drawn from books: difficult feelings in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Are You My Mother?

This article examines the representation of a transnational archive of queer books in Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoirs Fun Home and Are You My Mother? for the insights it provides into role of reading in making sense of the often difficult “felt experiences” of lesbian life. In both memoirs, books serve an important narrative function in the portrayal of Alison’s lesbian identification and its complex emotional entanglements with the lives of parents who are trapped – killed even, in the case of the father – in the wastelands of patriarchy and heterosexual expectation. The article argues that in this complex family dynamic in which “sexual identity” itself is a problem and emotions remain largely unspoken, books act as fragile conduits of feelings, shaping familial relationships even as they allow Alison to contextualise her life in relation to historical events and social norms. Reading books allows her to understand the apparently U.S.-specific history of her family in relation to a wider queer history in the West

What is the purpose of clinical trial monitoring?

Background: The sources of information on clinical trial monitoring do not give information in an accessible language and do not give detailed guidance. In order to enable communication and to build clinical trial monitoring tools on a strong easily communicated foundation, we identified the need to define monitoring in accessible language. Methods: In a three-step process, the material from sources that describe clinical trial monitoring were synthesised into principles of monitoring. A poll regarding their applicability was run at a UK national academic clinical trials monitoring meeting. Results: The process derived 5 key principles of monitoring: keeping participants safe and respecting their rights, having data we can trust, making sure the trial is being run as it was meant to be, improving the way the trial is run and preventing problems before they happen. Conclusion: From the many sources mentioning monitoring of clinical trials, the purpose of monitoring can be summarised simply as 5 principles. These principles, given in accessible language, should form a firm basis for discussion of monitoring of clinical trials

The Intersection of Massage Practice and Research: Community Massage Therapists as Research Personnel on an NIH-funded Effectiveness Study

Introduction: Few NIH funded studies give community massage therapists the opportunity to become study personnel. A recent NIH/NCCAMfunded study investigating chronic low back pain (CLBP) recruited, trained, and utilized community massage practitioners (CMPs) as study personnel. This study’s aim was to determine whether health-related outcomes for CLBP improve when patients are referred from primary care to select CAM modalities including massage therapy (MT). The purpose of this paper is to report the results of the study’s three massage practice-driven study objectives which were to: 1) identify challenges and solutions to recruiting and retaining ample CMPs, 2) develop a practice-informed protocol reflecting real-world MT, and 3) determine the extent to which CMPs comply with rigorous research methodology in their clinical practices as study personnel.Methods: Eligible CMPs in urban and rural Kentucky counties were identified through licensure board records, professional organizations, and personal contact opportunities. Interested CMPs completed 6 CE hours of research and Human Subjects Protection training and agreed to comply with a study protocol reflecting MT as practiced. Once trained, study CMPs were matched with study participants to provide and document up to 10 MT sessions per participant.Results: Utilizing prominent MT community members proved invaluable to CMP recruitment and protocol development. CMP recruitment challenges included mixed interest, low number of available rural CMPs, busy clinic schedules, and compensation. Ethics CE credits were offered to encourage CMP interest. A total of 28 Kentucky licensed massage therapists with 5–32 years of experience completed study training. A total of 127 CLBP patients consented to participate (n = 104 for MT). Twenty-five CMPs were assigned CLBP patients and provided 1–10 treatments for 94 study participants. Treatment documentation was provided by CMPs for 97% of treatments provided.Conclusions: When recruitment, retention, and protocol compliance challenges are met, CMPs are valuable study personnel for practice-based research reflecting real-world MT practice

Uptake of plasmodium falciparum gametocytes during mosquito bloodmeal by direct and membrane feeding

Plasmodium falciparum remains one of the leading causes of child mortality, and nearly half of the world’s population is at risk of contracting malaria. While pathogenesis results from replication of asexual forms in human red blood cells, it is the sexually differentiated forms, gametocytes, which are responsible for the spread of the disease. For transmission to succeed, both mature male and female gametocytes must be taken up by a female Anopheles mosquito during its blood meal for subsequent differentiation into gametes and mating inside the mosquito gut. Observed circulating numbers of gametocytes in the human host are often surprisingly low. A pre-fertilization behavior, such as skin sequestration, has been hypothesized to explain the efficiency of human-to-mosquito transmission but has not been sufficiently tested due to a lack of appropriate tools. In this study, we describe the optimization of a qPCR tool that enables the relative quantification of gametocytes within very small input samples. Such a tool allows for the quantification of gametocytes in different compartments of the host and the vector that could potentially unravel mechanisms that enable highly efficient malaria transmission. We demonstrate the use of our gametocyte quantification method in mosquito blood meals from both direct skin feeding on Plasmodium gametocyte carriers and standard membrane feeding assay. Relative gametocyte abundance was not different between mosquitoes fed through a membrane or directly on the skin suggesting that there is no systematic enrichment of gametocytes picked up in the skin

Assessment of tumor response, AFP response, and time to progression in the phase 3 CELESTIAL trial of cabozantinib versus placebo in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)

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Platelet Factor 4 Activity against P. falciparum and Its Translation to Nonpeptidic Mimics as Antimalarials

SummaryPlasmodium falciparum pathogenesis is affected by various cell types in the blood, including platelets, which can kill intraerythrocytic malaria parasites. Platelets could mediate these antimalarial effects through human defense peptides (HDPs), which exert antimicrobial effects by permeabilizing membranes. Therefore, we screened a panel of HDPs and determined that human platelet factor 4 (hPF4) kills malaria parasites inside erythrocytes by selectively lysing the parasite digestive vacuole (DV). PF4 rapidly accumulates only within infected erythrocytes and is required for parasite killing in infected erythrocyte-platelet cocultures. To exploit this antimalarial mechanism, we tested a library of small, nonpeptidic mimics of HDPs (smHDPs) and identified compounds that kill P. falciparum by rapidly lysing the parasite DV while sparing the erythrocyte plasma membrane. Lead smHDPs also reduced parasitemia in a murine malaria model. Thus, identifying host molecules that control parasite growth can further the development of related molecules with therapeutic potential