Half-Lives and Half-Truths, Confronting the Radioactive Legacies of the Cold War. by Barbara Rose Johnston

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79262/1/j.1548-1387.2010.01126.x.pd

Medical Education under Siege: Critical Pedagogy, Primary Care and the Making of “Slave Doctorsâ€

According to Kerr White, medical education is "mired in unhelpful rhetoric, unbecoming hubris, and reliance on an outmoded biomedical paradigm that ignores social, environmental, and psychological influences on health and health care.”  This article is an ethnographic case study of a six-year, $6 million project at Michigan State University (and three surrounding communities) that challenged this reality. The goal was to create community-oriented primary care. Commu­nity participation was a paramount goal in all areas of project life. On paper the project was quite radical as local communities were to be empowered to shape and create the medical curriculum. The project was called the Community/University Health Partnerships. Underwritten by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation it was part of a larger$50 million effort in seven U.S. states. The author, an anthropologist, served as an evaluator on the project, charged with the mission to make it succeed. The article shows how he used critical pedagogy and critical ethnography towards these ends. It traces the relationship between neoliberalism and medical education and highlights significant instances of hegemony and counterhegemony between the medical schools and the communities in the doomed project. 

The 'Tricky Dance' of Advocacy: A study of non-legal Mental Health Advocacy

Advocacy in compulsory mental health settings is complex and contested, incorporating legal, non-legal, representational and best interests advocacy. This paper presents an approach to non-legal representational advocacy used by Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA), in Victoria, Australia, drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with advocates and other key stakeholders. After outlining the Victorian context and the IMHA model, this paper shows how IMHA privileges the consumer voice using representational advocacy, which is rights-based and works for systemic change. Using a supported decision-making model, the paper highlights the enablers and challenges which exist, before discussing the implications in terms of rights, power, capacity building and systemic change. The participants saw IMHA as working to address one of the most troubling tensions in mental health care, between the perceived need for coercion and the need to support people to make their own decisions. Representational advocacy provides a clear, easily transferable and tested framework for engaging in supported decision-making processes with people in the mental health system

Automatic Pill Dispenser and Reminder

The Automatic Pill Dispenser is a device which dispenses medications and reminds users when and which one to take, helping with medication adherence. Ideally, this machine will hold four different types of medications, which will be dispensed into a portable device, which the user can take with them throughout the day. When it is time, an integrated app will notify the user when they should take a specific pill. The main focus of work this year is to improve and refine the progress made from the previous group, while meeting the requirements of the design specifications. This year, the group is focused on making the Automatic Pill Dispenser more user friendly by creating a smart phone app which connects with the device and serves as the main operator. The portable device in which the pills are dispensed to is redesigned from the previous group, and is able to be used with the smart phone app. The device has also been made faster, which was accomplished by cutting out redundant sections and optimizing different aspects of the code, decreasing the overall dispensing time

Imprisonment following discharge from mental health units: A developing trend in New Zealand

IntroductionContemporary models of care for people with mental disorders continue to shift to community-based care, requiring fewer inpatient mental health beds, shorter inpatient lengths of stay, and less use of coercion. It has been suggested that some mentally unwell people, whose behavior can no longer be safely contained in overstretched mental health units where seclusion and restraint are discouraged, are now left to the criminal justice system to manage. It is unclear whether the risk of imprisonment following discharge from a mental health unit has increased over recent years.MethodsA quantitative, retrospective cohort study design was used to investigate any association between an acute inpatient mental health service admission in Aotearoa (New Zealand), and referral to a prison mental health team within 28 days of hospital discharge, from 2012 to 2020. Data were extracted from the national mental health dataset managed by the Ministry of Health.ResultsRisk of imprisonment within 28 days of inpatient discharge increased over the study period. People experiencing this outcome were more likely to be younger, male, of Mâori or Pacific ethnicity, presenting with substance use and psychotic disorders who were aggressive or overactive, and were subject to coercive interventions such as seclusion and compulsory treatment during their admission.DiscussionWe concluded that contemporary models of less coercive predominantly community based mental health care may be increasingly reliant on the criminal justice system to manage aggressive and violent behavior driven by mental illness. It is argued from a human rights perspective that mental health inpatient units should retain the capacity to safely manage this type of clinical presentation

The DELTA MONSTER: An RPV designed to investigate the aerodynamics of a delta wing platform

The mission requirements for the performance of aerodynamic tests on a delta wind planform posed some problems, these include aerodynamic interference; structural support; data acquisition and transmission instrumentation; aircraft stability and control; and propulsion implementation. To eliminate the problems of wall interference, free stream turbulence, and the difficulty of achieving dynamic similarity between the test and actual flight aircraft that are associated with aerodynamic testing in wind tunnels, the concept of the remotely piloted vehicle which can perform a basic aerodynamic study on a delta wing was the main objective for the Green Mission - the Delta Monster. The basic aerodynamic studies were performed on a delta wing with a sweep angle greater than 45 degrees. These tests were performed at various angles of attack and Reynolds numbers. The delta wing was instrumented to determine the primary leading edge vortex formation and location, using pressure measurements and/or flow visualization. A data acquisition system was provided to collect all necessary data

Recovery-oriented mental health practice in a community care unit: An exploratory study

A recovery-oriented model of care has become the major focus of mental health service delivery in the state of Victoria, Australia. However, there is a total absence of knowledge of recovery-oriented mental health practice in community care units (CCUs). Therefore, the aims of this exploratory study were to: (a) describe what aspects of the current model of care fit within the domains of recovery; and (b) describe the pragmatic processes that staff use to mold their care within the domains of recovery. Twenty-one key stakeholders provided informed voluntary consent to participate in one-to-one interviews. Six content domains evolved to include: (a) a common vision: “a continuous journey”; (b) promoting hope; (c) promoting autonomy and self-determination; (d) meaningful engagement; (e) holistic and personalized care; and (f) community participation and citizenship. The CCU appeared to be on a journey of transformation toward personal recovery. However, clinicians were grappling with an identified tension among personal recovery and clinical recovery. The tension among personal recovery and clinical recovery may be attributed to the psychosocial rehabilitation model of care, which was previously systemic in Victorian CCUs

Photocontrol of Upper and Lower Rim Complexation of Neutral and Cationic Species by p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene Tetraethyl Ester

A number of sodium salt complexes of p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene tetraethyl ester, 1, were isolated both with and without upper-rim encapsulated solvent. Selective decomplexation of lower rim bound sodium cations and upper rim encapsulated solvent molecules could be successfully achieved using low pressure light sources. Oxidation of the counter anion at the lower rim of p-tert-butylcalix[4]arene tetraethyl ester triggered both the upper and lower rim decomplexation process. The extent of decomplexation at both rims is controlled both by the nature of the counter-anionic species at the lower rim and by the fate of the photoproducts generated. The calixarene host molecule, 1, remains intact during the decomplexation process