Chess, Bible Clubs and the Public Schools: A Case Study of the Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Bridget Mergens.

In January 1985 Bridget Mergens, a senior at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska, proposed to principal James Findley that a Bible club be allowed access to school property. This action precipitated a sequence of events that propelled both Mergens and Westside to the chambers of the United States Supreme Court in 1990. When the Supreme Court decided a Bible club could have access to the school under the Equal Access Act of 1984, Mergens became a landmark case in the debate over the Establishment Clause of.the First Amendment. My case study of Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Bridget Mergens focuses on the origins of the access legislation, the beginnings of the Bible club, and the path of the lawsuit to the Supreme Court. The battle for passage of the Equal Access Act began with the attempt by Congress to legislate Widmar v. Vincent to secondary schools. The Widmar decision declared that a public college or university could not prevent religious meetings on campus if its policies allowed other groups to meet. Shortly after the Act\u27s passage Mergens requested her Bible club. Once the district denied the request because it did not believe it was subject to the Act, Mergens filed suit against Westside, claiming that the group should be allowed according to the Act and that her freedom of speech had been violated. The subsequent decisions _of the federal district, appeals, and Supreme Court focused on the definitions of open forµms and how student organizations may or may not be curriculum-related. The Supreme Court decided that a school could not prohibit a religious student club access if it opened its campus to other organizations not connected to the curriculum. Furthermore the Court found that the Equal Access Act was constitutional

Paul and Economics: A Theology of the Gospel and Economics

An often overlooked biblical theology that the Apostle Paul addresses is economics. Economics impacts every area of an individual\u27s life and even more so in the ancient world. Paul\u27s chief concern is with the gospel of Jesus and one of the chief components of a believer\u27s new life in Christ is how they handle their own economic situation. This work seeks to analyze the writings of Paul and explore his comments on the economic realities of individuals based on God\u27s authority

Role of Anxiety in the Pathophysiology of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Importance of the Amygdala

A common characteristic of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is that symptoms, including abdominal pain and abnormal bowel habits, are often triggered or exacerbated during periods of stress and anxiety. However, the impact of anxiety and affective disorders on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is poorly understood and may in part explain the lack of effective therapeutic approaches to treat IBS. The amygdala is an important structure for regulating anxiety with the central nucleus of the amygdala facilitating the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomic nervous system in response to stress. Moreover, chronic stress enhances function of the amygdala and promotes neural plasticity throughout the amygdaloid complex. This review outlines the latest findings obtained from human studies and animal models related to the role of the emotional brain in the regulation of enteric function, specifically how increasing the gain of the amygdala to induce anxiety-like behavior using corticosterone or chronic stress increases responsiveness to both visceral and somatic stimuli in rodents. A focus of the review is the relative importance of mineralocorticoid receptor and glucocorticoid receptor-mediated mechanisms within the amygdala in the regulation of anxiety and nociceptive behaviors that are characteristic features of IBS. This review also discusses several outstanding questions important for future research on the role of the amygdala in the generation of abnormal GI function that may lead to potential targets for new therapies to treat functional bowel disorders such as IBS

Women\u27s Choir with Ford Elementary Chorus

This performance features KSU Women\u27s Choir directed by Dr. Alison Mann, Associate Professor of Choral Music Education, along with Ford Elementary Chorus, directed by Craig Hurley.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1987/thumbnail.jp

The North Carolina Automated External Defibrillator Location Project: Recommendations for Use of Automated External Defibrillators in the Resuscitation of Victims of Out-of-Hospital Sudden Cardiac Death

Purpose: The study was undertaken to determine the current level of Automated External Defibrillator (AED) preparedness in North Carolina and to evaluate potential alternatives for future actions in the area of AED deployment and Public Access Defibrillation (PAD). Methods: A literature review was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and costeffectiveness of treatment options for out-of-hospital sudden cardiac death (SCD). Primary data were obtained via phone and electronic mail surveys of state and county EMS officials, commercial AED vendors, and American Heart Association Training Centers. Results: Review of the literature indicates successful defibrillatory treatment of SCD must be accomplished within 10 minutes of collapse. With few exceptions, most communities cannot achieve such a prompt response with traditional EMS service. Communities with AED-equipped first responders accomplish such a prompt response with greater frequency than those without such responders. PAD allows for prompt defibrillation and a markedly increased probability of survival for SCD victims in public places; only 3% of all SCDs occur in such public places. In North Carolina, in addition to 282 EMS agencies and Fire Departments, 600 locations were found to have at least 1 AED, many of which have the possibility of PAD. None of the 9-1-1 centers in the state had the locations of AEDs entered into Computer Automated Dispatch (CAD), 33% percent of counties did not have an AED or other defibrillator on all first-responding fire or EMS vehicles, and 45% of counties are unable to provide instructions for use of an AED over the phone. Conclusions: All first-responding EMS units and fire engines need to be equipped with AEDs. Those AEDs located in areas for potential PAD need to have their location registered with 9-1-1 dispatch in order to ensure they are used in the event of a near-by SCD. Emergency Medical Dispatchers must be prepared to provide instructions for use of an AED to the untrained bystander. More research is needed before recommendations regarding placement of additional AEDs for PAD can be made.Master of Public Healt

Organic Carbon, Inorganic Carbon, and Related Variables in Offshore Oil Production Areas of the Northern Gulf of Mexico

Paper by Charles R. Brent, Howard P. Williams, W. A. Bergin, John L. Tyvoll, and Tommy E. Myer

Disruption of Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Signaling in Sim1 Neurons Reduces Physiological and Behavioral Reactivity to Acute and Chronic Stress

Organismal stress initiates a tightly orchestrated set of responses involving complex physiological and neurocognitive systems. Here, we present evidence for glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1)-mediated paraventricular hypothalamic circuit coordinating the global stress response. The GLP-1 receptor (Glp1r) in mice was knocked down in neurons expressing single-minded 1, a transcription factor abundantly expressed in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus. Mice with single-minded 1-mediated Glp1r knockdown had reduced hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to both acute and chronic stress and were protected against weight loss associated with chronic stress. In addition, regional Glp1r knockdown attenuated stress-induced cardiovascular responses accompanied by decreased sympathetic drive to the heart. Finally, Glp1r knockdown reduced anxiety-like behavior, implicating PVN GLP-1 signaling in behavioral stress reactivity. Collectively, these findings support a circuit whereby brainstem GLP-1 activates PVN signaling to mount an appropriate whole-organism response to stress. These results raise the possibility that dysfunction of this system may contribute to stress-related pathologies, and thereby provide a novel target for intervention