Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and work: is it time to stop?

This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it

Authentic allyship for gender minorities

The visibility and discussion on the rights and needs of Trans and Non-Binary communities in relation to healthcare have seen growing prominence in recent years. Despite an overall improvement in access to legal protections, civil rights, and in many jurisdictions specialist provision of healthcare for gender minorities, there remain poorer health outcomes in many areas and ongoing experiences of discrimination and transphobia. In this article, we set out the prerogative for nurses to step up as authentic allies for Trans and Non Binary people and put forward strategies to enhance the experience of gender minorities in healthcare through practice, education, and systems change

Cost-effectiveness of once-daily single-inhaler triple therapy In COPD: The IMPACT Trial

We assessed the cost-effectiveness of single-inhaler fluticasone furoate (FF)/umeclidinium (UMEC)/vilanterol (VI) versus FF/VI or UMEC/VI from a Canadian public healthcare perspective, incorporating data from the IMPACT trial in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (NCT02164513).This article is freely available via Open Access, click on the Publisher URL to access

Understanding the Current Situation of E-Government in Saudi Arabia: A Model for Implementation and Sustainability

Saudi Arabia started its implementation of the E-Government project in 2005, when it established the Yesser programme, which is the organization that controls this project. Since 2005, there have been two action plans aimed at providing a collaborative environment for government agencies to be able to transform to E-Government. There have been a number of issues and challenges investigated in previous studies, which address phases of implementation. However, it is essential to investigate the current situation of the project in order to gain in-depth understanding of its development and implementation. This study explores the perceptions of the main stakeholders of project Yesser, government agencies and citizens. It aims to understand the current situation of the project from different points of view. Eight open-ended interviews were conducted in order to achieve the aim of this study. The constructivist grounded theory method was used in this study for the data analysis. The analysis uncovered seven core categories, which could provide a model for the implementation and sustainability of the project in Saudi Arabia and other similar states

Family-Focused Addiction Support Training (FFAST): Getting Your Life Back

Maureen Cavanaugh will introduce her newest project “Taking Back Your Life.” Taking Back Your Life is a family-focused intervention designed to define and increase fluency in the language of recovery. If you are a parent, sibling, a member of the extended family or even a professional working in a setting with individuals going through substance use disorder, learning the steps to care for yourself is essential if want to be a healthy, empathetic and effective supporter to your loved one, patient or student. Learning Objectives: Learn what “recovery” and “recovery capital” are. Understand the multiple pathways that are available to treat the disease of addiction. Learn what the “Stages of Change” are and how they are necessary to the recovery process. Understand the power of stigma and how blame and shame hinder recovery. Learn how to create strategies conducive to your own mental and physical health

Engaging Parents and Caregivers in Substance Use Disorder Prevention and Recovery

Fred Muench the President of the national organization, Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and Center on Addiction, will present on family-based interventions to engage parents and caregivers, as well as data on the resources the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids offers for families addressing every aspect of substance use and addiction, from prevention to recovery. Learn about the support and guidance offered through the latest science-based information designed to empower parents and caregivers. Fred will also discuss how the merger with the Center on Addiction now provides the research necessary to advance effective prevention and treatment strategies advocating for lifesaving policy changes with state and local partners. Through these initiatives the Partnership and Center on Addiction aspire to change the national conversation around addiction so that no one will feel alone or ashamed to seek help, and everyone can have access to the care they need and deserve. Learning Objectives: Become familiar with the resources for Substance Use Disorder NLM and partner organizations offer such as MedlinePlus, Drug Information Portal and Pillbox. Learn the latest research on parenting and caregiver interventions for substance use prevention and intervention. Learn about how the Partnership is infusing, best-in-class science with compassion from prevention to sustained recovery, to support families caring for a child or loved one struggling with substance use. Learn about the work the Partnership is doing with health care systems to provide effective addiction treatment, research and practices that work, and promote accessibility and affordability of care for everyone

Struggles and Strategies for Survival Beyond the Walls of Jail

Louie Diaz is a substance use disorder counselor and re-entry specialist with the Middlesex County, Massachusetts Sheriff’s Office. In his youth, Louie sold drugs and stolen jewelry and was part of a crime theft ring. During his struggles with addiction, he received a 10-year prison sentence for stabbing a police officer while trying to flee a crime scene. It was during his last sentence that he made a commitment to change his life and developed a passion for helping other returning citizens. As a counselor and re-entry specialist, Louie now tends to the emotional and physical needs of others. Louie knows drugs and crime from both a criminal and a treatment perspective. “No re-entry program is going to go under the bridges and into the tent cities of the homeless looking for the guys who come out of jail and fall between the cracks. But if you are not willing to go to their places, they will end up back in jail.’ In this webinar Louie will share his own story of substance use disorder and incarceration as well as the work he is doing in the cities of Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts to address the addiction crisis. He will discuss what it was like to be followed by a film crew for 5 years as this documentary was being made. He will also share why this film is important as we begin to treat substance use disorder as a public health issue instead of a law enforcement issue. Learning Objectives: Understand the barriers individuals face when returning to the community after incarceration and how those barriers might affect the success of their transition back into society. Learn what “recidivism” is, and why 95% of people return to drugs and alcohol after release from prison and how substance use disorder relates to recidivism. In the film, Billy Cabrera says, “We get a handbook on how to conduct ourselves in prison, when you get released you don’t get a handbook on how to live life.” Learn what jails and prisons are doing to prepare individuals for re-entry into the community

Understanding Factors Influencing E-Government Implementation in Saudi Arabia from an Organizational Perspective

The purpose of this paper is to explore the organizational factors influencing the implementation of the egovernment project within the public sector in Saudi Arabia. This project (also known as the Yesser programme) was established in Saudi Arabia in 2005 to control the e-government transformation process. The aims of the project are to provide a collaborative environment for government organizations to implement egovernment and increase effectiveness and efficiency within the public sector. This paper sheds light on the organizational factors that have delayed implementation and achievement of the government’s vision and plans for Yesser. A qualitative approach was employed to understand those factors, by conducting a series of interviews with government officials for the data collection required. The analysis of the data uncovered seven organizational factors that are needed to advance implementation of the e-government project in Saudi Arabia and other similar states

Understanding Grief After an Overdose Death

This webinar focuses on the dynamics of grief after a death caused by substance use. It begins with a look at three key questions people bereaved by an overdose death commonly ask themselves: Why did the person die from an overdose? Did the person intend to die? Was the death preventable? It also covers the stigma, stress, and trauma that can come with grief after a death from substance use -- and it considers issues that begin to influence survivors\u27 experience of grief and loss long before a death occurs, such as struggling with a loved one\u27s addiction and the demands of caring for a chronically ill person. The concepts in the webinar are based on the presenter’s 20 years of experience as a peer grief support advocate and his current work on two statewide projects in Massachusetts focused on helping people affected by the opioid epidemic. Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to do the following: • Discuss how three key questions affect bereaved people • Explain the effects of stigma and stress on the experience of grief • Give examples of how trauma can play a role in grief • Consider how the dynamics of addiction and caregiving can shape a person’s grie

Non-perturbative renormalization of the KPZ growth dynamics

We introduce a non-perturbative renormalization approach which identifies stable fixed points in any dimension for the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang dynamics of rough surfaces. The usual limitations of real space methods to deal with anisotropic (self-affine) scaling are overcome with an indirect functional renormalization. The roughness exponent $\alpha$ is computed for dimensions $d=1$ to 8 and it results to be in very good agreement with the available simulations. No evidence is found for an upper critical dimension. We discuss how the present approach can be extended to other self-affine problems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let