Fostering a Healthy Body Image: Prevention and Intervention With Adolescent Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are among the most frequently seen chronic illnesses found in adolescent females. In this paper, we discuss school-based prevention and intervention efforts that seek to reduce the impact of this serious illness. School counselors play a key role in the prevention of eating disorders and can provide support even when not directly involved in psychological or medical treatment. Because of their ability to play a leadership role in school-based prevention of eating disorders, school counselors are essential in facilitating a collaborative approach to the prevention of and intervention in eating disorders and their associated risk factors

Social Media Practices of School Administrators: The Time is Now

The educational disruption caused by COVID-19 increased awareness of the value of organizational resiliency/sustainability and the critical need for administrators to provide timely communication among all stakeholders. If preparation programs are to provide administrators with the skills and knowledge to effectively use social media as a communication tool, we must explore the practices and perceptions of school administrators’ use of social media to communicate with stakeholders and to identify their recommended social media communication practices. The Social Media as a Tool to Effectively Communicate with Stakeholders Survey and interviews were used for data collection. Findings are focused on comfort levels, perceived effectiveness, benefits, concerns, and recommended practices reported by the school administrators who participated in the study. While, social media was found to be an effective communication tool that can promote and support positive public relations, there were noted gaps in self-efficacy and best practices of the reporting administrators. Research literature, preparation programs, and practicing administrators will equally benefit from the outcomes of this study

Home versus day rehabilitation: a randomised controlled trial

Objective: to assess the effect of home versus day rehabilitation on patient outcomes

Kids Don’t Float…and Their Parents Don’t Either: Using a Family-Centered Approach in Alaska’s Kids Don’t Float Program

The goal of this experiential report is to outline the adoption of a family-centered Kids Don’t Float approach. We conducted a critical synthesis of information to reflect the expansion of the Kids Don’t Float program into a more family-centered approach. The critical synthesis provided insights into why we should adopt this approach, how it was implemented, and how it influenced drowning incidents compared to the previously used child-centered approach. The adoption of a family-centered approach may contribute to reducing drowning incidents by targeting parents, providing safety information to families, and promoting parental modelling of life jackets. Program evaluators and water safety advocates may use these insights to strengthen injury prevention programs that target drowning incidents

Social cognition and executive functioning predictors of supervisors’ appraisal of interpersonal behaviour in the workplace following acquired brain injury

BACKGROUND: Social cognition and executive functioning difficulties following acquired brain injury have been linked to negative employment outcomes, such as demotion and loss of vocational roles. These are very counter-intuitive and challenging difficulties for other employees and work supervisors who have little or no brain injury knowledge, whose perceptions of play a key role in their responses to these difficulties and the final outcome of such problems for vocational status. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to study the relationship between social cognition and executive functioning difficulties and the perceptions of work supervisors’ appraisal of survivor interpersonal behaviour and social skills in the workplace. METHOD: The performance of 73 survivors of acquired brain injury (47% TBI, 38% CVA, 15% other ABI type; 73% male; mean age 45.44 years, range 19-64 years; mean time since injury 6.36 years, range 10.5-31.33 years), currently in a vocational rehabilitation placement) on neuropsychological tests of executive functioning and social cognition was measured. Informant ratings on the Social Skills Factor subscale from the Work Personality Profile (WPP, Bolton&Roessler, 1986) were used as the primary outcome measure, a vocational functioning questionnaire assessing social and presentational aspects of workplace behaviour. The raters were non-clinical workplace informants acting in a supervisory role (supervisory placement providers and job coaches). RESULTS: Correlational analysis identified significant associations between the WPP and survivor goal-orientated planning and implementation, mentalising ability, recognition of positive and negative emotions, and recognition of simple sarcasm (all significant at p < 0.05). These correlates were entered into a stepwise multiple regression. The combination final of survivor mentalising ability and executive functioning explained 32%of the variance in the WPP ratings (F (2, 52) = 12.15, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Certain limitations of the study withstanding, the current findings add to previous literature in highlighting the relevance of survivor executive functioning and social cognition difficulties for the perceptions and appraisal of work colleagues, consistent with other studies that have identified negative vocational outcomes associated with such neuropsychological difficulties. The implications for vocational rehabilitation are discussed

The Effect of Atomic Hydrogen on the Growth of Gallium Nitride by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

GaN was grown by molecular beam epitaxy using an rf plasma source. Growth under gallium‐rich conditions at 730 °C was required to produce high quality layers as indicated by photoluminescence, Hall effect, atomic force microscopy, and x‐ray diffraction measurements. Atomic hydrogen has a significant effect for Ga‐rich growth, increasing growth rates by as much as a factor of 2

Unravelling the mechanisms by which chronic hepatitis B infection is associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes

An independent association between chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the development of gestational diabetes (GDM) has been reported in the literature. Ethnic background and regional influences have been demonstrated to play a role in the reporting of incidence rates of GDM among women with chronic HBV. The mechanisms behind this association are poorly understood, but evidence suggests an inflammatory basis. Viral factors such as chronic HBV replication, quantifiable by HBV viral load, have been proposed to contribute to the increasing risk of insulin resistance in pregnancy. More research is needed to better characterise the association and determine if any interventions early in pregnancy for women infected with chronic HBV would mitigate the development of GDM

Adaptation to Aquatic Risks due to Climate Change in Pangnirtung, Nunavut

We use a vulnerability framework to examine how residents of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, perceive the risks of aquatic activities in the context of adaptation to a changing climate. Our findings suggest that community members identify climate change as increasing the risk of many aquatic activities and have adapted some practices accordingly. However, further adaptation to these changing risks is impeded by three main barriers: (1) financial constraints, (2) Inuit resistance to adopting what some consider Euro-Canadian water safety practices, and (3) issues with the design of flotation devices. Participants suggested the following practical changes: (1) make personal flotation devices, lifejackets, and floater suits available to all residents at local stores at a subsidized rate, or provide them free of charge through the community; (2) create water safety promotional items that feature locally developed messages in both Inuktitut and English; (3) include traditional knowledge in water safety campaigns; and (4) use the local pool to train residents in water safety. These changes would not only help residents adapt to changing risks, but also help incorporate climate considerations into policies and programs.Nous utilisons un cadre de vulnérabilité pour examiner comment les habitants de Pangnirtung, au Nunavut, perçoivent les risques inhérents aux activités aquatiques dans le contexte de l’adaptation au changement climatique. Cette étude nous a permis de constater que les membres de la collectivité estiment que le changement climatique augmente le risque de nombreuses activités aquatiques et qu’ils ont modifié certaines de leurs manières de faire en conséquence. Cependant, trois grands obstacles entravent une adaptation plus poussée de ces risques : 1) les contraintes financières, 2) la résistance des Inuits à adopter ce que certains considèrent comme des méthodes eurocanadiennes plus sécuritaires, et 3) des problèmes de conception des appareils de flottaison. Les participants ont suggéré les changements pratiques suivants : 1) faire en sorte que des dispositifs de flottaison personnels, des gilets de sauvetage et des survêtements protecteurs soient à la disposition de tous les résidents à des prix subventionnés aux magasins de la région ou encore, qu’ils soient distribués aux gens gratuitement;2) créer du matériel promotionnel élaboré localement, en anglais et en inuktitut, pour promouvoir la sécurité sur l’eau; 3) faire en sorte que des connaissances traditionnelles soient intégrées aux campagnes relatives à la sécurité sur l’eau; et 4) montrer aux habitants de la région des techniques de sécurité sur l’eau à la piscine locale. Ces initiatives aideront non seulement les résidents à s’adapter aux risques changeants, mais également à tenir compte des considérations climatiques dans le cadre de leurs programmes et politiques

Differences in Lipid Measurements by Antiretroviral Regimen Exposure in Cohorts from Asia and Australia

We explored the mean differences in routinely measured lipids (total cholesterol, triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) according to exposure to different combination antiretroviral regimens in Asian (n = 2051) and Australian (predominantly Caucasian, n = 794) cohorts. The regimen was defined as at least 3 antiretroviral drugs with at least 2 nucleoside-reverse transcriptases (NRTIs) and either of at least one protease inhibitor (PI) or non-nucleoside-reverse transcriptases (NNRTIs). We categorised cART regimens as: NRTIs as tenofovir based or not; NNRTIs as nevirapine or efavirenz (but not both); and PI as atazanavir based or not. We found that the impact of various antiretroviral regimens on lipids in Asian and Australian cohorts was only different by cohort for total cholesterol (P for interaction between regimen and cohort: <0.001) but not in case of other lipids (P for interaction: >0.05). The differences in total cholesterol were however small and unlikely to be of clinical significance. Overall, tenofovir with nevirapine or atazanavir was associated with the most favorable lipids, while the PI regimens without tenofovir and atazanavir were associated with least favorable lipids. We conclude that the impact of various ART regimens on lipids is largely similar in Asian and Australian cohorts and that the newer drugs such as tenofovir and atazanavir are likely to provide similar benefit in terms of lipid profiles in both populations