Deaf and Dying: Deaf People and the Process of Dying

This paper examines some of the current literature on the experiences of dying and integrates this together with the parameters that may constitute the experiences of a deaf and dying person. Influences from the American culture, processes of dying, developmental issues in learning about death and dying, and the role as teacher that the deaf community provides to deaf people are examined. This literature is combined with issues of deafness and dying. Communication issues and coping abilities of deaf people, and the necessity for a comprehensive standard of care that includes the needs of the deaf patient, family, and health care staff are examined. Examples of research are presented and the need for unimpeded communication for the deaf and dying person is stressed in the conclusion

Experimental removal of dominant plants alters the diversity of a network of flower-visiting insects

Plants form the base of complex communities on terrestrial ecosystems, and are the basic resource for insect herbivores and their associated natural enemies. Most plants contain flowers, and important interactions occur in these organs. Many insects are flower visitors and are known to be affected by habitat loss, fragmentation, and changes in landscape structure, but few studies have experimentally tested how habitat loss alters the structure of flower-visiting insect communities.In this study we focused on thrips (Insecta: Thysanoptera) as a model system. Previous studies in Reunion have revealed that flowers of the following exotic plants species host highly diverse communities of flower-visiting thrips : Solanum mauritianum, Lantana camara, Ipomea indica. Here, we tested the hypothesis that elimination of S. mauritianum flowers (as an important habitat for adult thrips) will trigger changes in thrips communities in the other two plants.We established replicated communities involving the three plants, and in a paired design, S. mauritanicum flowers were eliminated or not. The effect of this treatment on thrips was assessed during one month, by estimating their abundance, richness (i.e. the number of species) and diversity (shanon and simpson indexes). A community of eleven native and exotic thrips species was found. The treatment did not have any effect on insect abundance or diversity, but it had an effect on richness: elimination of S. mauritianum flowers had a negative effect on the richness of the number of species found on L. camara, but not on I. indica. At the landscape level, we observed that both the proportion of sugarcane and habitat fragmentation correlated with thrips richness. These correlations, however, were only observed when S. mauritianum flowers were eliminated, and not in our controls. Although our study was performed on exotic plant species, we provide evidence that at a fine spatial scale, the loss of a plant species that hosts a large diversity of flower-visiting insects can have consequences that cascade to the community of insects inhabiting other plants. Future studies are needed to unveil whether similar effects occur in communities of non-exotic plants, and to explore the consequences of habitat loss at a larger scale

Improving the Deaf community's access to prostate and testicular cancer information: a survey study

BACKGROUND: Members of the Deaf community face communication barriers to accessing health information. To resolve these inequalities, educational programs must be designed in the appropriate format and language to meet their needs. METHODS: Deaf men (102) were surveyed before, immediately following, and two months after viewing a 52-minute prostate and testicular cancer video in American Sign Language (ASL) with open text captioning and voice overlay. To provide the Deaf community with information equivalent to that available to the hearing community, the video addressed two cancer topics in depth. While the inclusion of two cancer topics lengthened the video, it was anticipated to reduce redundancy and encourage men of diverse ages to learn in a supportive, culturally aligned environment while also covering more topics within the partnership's limited budget. Survey data were analyzed to evaluate the video's impact on viewers' pre- and post-intervention understanding of prostate and testicular cancers, as well as respondents' satisfaction with the video, exposure to and use of early detection services, and sources of cancer information. RESULTS: From baseline to immediately post-intervention, participants' overall knowledge increased significantly, and this gain was maintained at the two-month follow-up. Men of diverse ages were successfully recruited, and this worked effectively as a support group. However, combining two complex cancer topics, in depth, in one video appeared to make it more difficult for participants to retain as many relevant details specific to each cancer. Participants related that there was so much information that they would need to watch the video more than once to understand each topic fully. When surveyed about their best sources of health information, participants ranked doctors first and showed a preference for active rather than passive methods of learning. CONCLUSION: After viewing this ASL video, participants showed significant increases in cancer understanding, and the effects remained significant at the two-month follow-up. However, to achieve maximum learning in a single training session, only one topic should be covered in future educational videos

Perineuronal satellite neuroglia in the telencephalon of New Caledonian crows and other Passeriformes: evidence of satellite glial cells in the central nervous system of healthy birds?

Glia have been implicated in a variety of functions in the central nervous system, including the control of the neuronal extracellular space, synaptic plasticity and transmission, development and adult neurogenesis. Perineuronal glia forming groups around neurons are associated with both normal and pathological nervous tissue. Recent studies have linked reduction in the number of perineuronal oligodendrocytes in the prefrontal cortex with human schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Therefore, perineuronal glia may play a decisive role in homeostasis and normal activity of the human nervous system.Here we report on the discovery of novel cell clusters in the telencephala of five healthy Passeriforme, one Psittaciform and one Charadriiforme bird species, which we refer to as Perineuronal Glial Clusters (PGCs). The aim of this study is to describe the structure and distribution of the PGCs in a number of avian species.PGCs were identified with the use of standard histological procedures. Heterochromatin masses visible inside the nuclei of these satellite glia suggest that they may correspond to oligodendrocytes. PGCs were found in the brains of nine New Caledonian crows, two Japanese jungle crows, two Australian magpies, two Indian mynah, three zebra finches (all Passeriformes), one Southern lapwing (Charadriiformes) and one monk parakeet (Psittaciformes). Microscopic survey of the brain tissue suggests that the largest PGCs are located in the hyperpallium densocellulare and mesopallium. No clusters were found in brain sections from one Gruiform (purple swamphen), one Strigiform (barn owl), one Trochiliform (green-backed firecrown), one Falconiform (chimango caracara), one Columbiform (pigeon) and one Galliform (chick).Our observations suggest that PGCs in Aves are brain region- and taxon-specific and that the presence of perineuronal glia in healthy human brains and the similar PGCs in avian gray matter is the result of convergent evolution. The discovery of PGCs in the zebra finch is of great importance because this species has the potential to become a robust animal model in which to study the function of neuron-glia interactions in healthy and diseased adult brains