Preventing Falls in the Elderly

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans, leading to 27,000 deaths every year and almost 3 million emergency room visits. Many view falls as just part of getting older; however fall risk can be significantly diminished through appropriate screening, education and community programs. Through literature review and talking to members of the local community, I learned about how fall risk is assessed along with what education and programs are provided for those at increased risk of falling. This project sought to educate patients about simple steps that can be made to decrease their fall risk and to educate providers about screening tools available to assess fall risk and how to work with patients who have an increased risk of falling.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1294/thumbnail.jp

Alien Registration- Robbins, Rebecca (Portland, Cumberland County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/25274/thumbnail.jp

Colonel John Black of Ellsworth (1781-1856)

The article is a recounting of the private aspects of the life of Colonel John Black, agent for the estate of William Bingham and one of early Maine’s most ambitious and hard-working businessmen

At the Center of Her Art: Ex/Isle, Trauma, and Story-Telling in Julia Alvarez's First Three Novels

Julia Alvarez's first three novels, which can be read as a story cycle, are highly autobiographical, and, if studied together, reveal how she progresses as an author. Drawing from theories concerning life writing, language, and madness, I read How the García Girls Lost Their Accents as a dual kunstlerroman, demonstrating the growth of both Alvarez's and Yolanda's agency. In her second novel, In the Time of the Butterflies, Alvarez wrestles with what "lies at the center of [her] art" -- the Dominican Republic and the trauma associated with living on and away from the island. Using cryptonomy and trauma theory, I investigate the effect of silence on both the Dominicans and Alvarez. Finally, in ¡Yo! Alvarez suggests that the responsible storyteller listens to those she represents. When considered together, these three novels reveal Alvarez's quest to articulate her development as a writer who can represent the voices of the collective

EMG Analysis of a Hamstring Co-Contraction and Its Effects on Abdominal Strength

Background and Purpose: Back pain and instability are common diagnoses treated by physical therapists. Treatment often includes abdominal or core strengthening exercises that act to improve stability about the lumbar spine. Hip flexors prevent the weaker abdominal muscles from working to their full potential and increase the lumbar lordosis placing the spine at risk of injury. Hip extensors work with abdominal muscles to reduce the lumbar lordosis, and restrict the hip flexor activity, allowing a stronger abdominal contraction. The purpose of this study was to determine if a co-contraction of the hamstring muscles during an abdominal crunch increased the electromyographic (EMG) activity of the abdominal musculature and decreased the EMG activity of the hip flexor musculature. Subjects and Methods: Thirty volunteers between the ages of 22 and 56 participated in the study, including 15 men and 15 women. An EMG analysis was used measuring the activity of the upper rectus abdominus, lower rectus abdominus, external oblique, rectus femoris, semitendinosus, and biceps femoris while performing five abdominal crunches without and five abdominal crunches with a hamstring contraction by pressing their heels into a chair. Participants were positioned with their hips and knees at 90°. Subjects performed three practice trials prior to data collection and one minute rests in between trials. Each participant\u27s EMG data was normalized to the respective maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) for each muscle group analyzed. Results: A significant (p\u3c0.001) decrease in abdominal activity during the crunch exercise with hamstring contraction was observed compared to the crunch exercise without hamstring contraction. Specifically, decreased activity of the upper (-54.8%) and lower (-7.65%) rectus abdominus muscles and external oblique (-1.42%) muscle was observed. There was an insignificant increase in hip flexor (rectus femoris, +11.77%) activity during the crunch with hamstring contraction. Discussion and Conclusion: This study found a decrease in abdominal EMG activity and an increase in hip flexor activity during the abdominal crunch with hamstring contraction. Factors to consider are the position of the hips and knees at 90°, feet not being flat on a stable surface, and difficulty coordinating all aspects of the abdominal crunch with hamstring contraction

Writing across Institutional Boundaries: A K-12 and University Collaboration

A collaborative reading and writing project between eighth graders and college English education students is discussed. The students corresponded with one another, discussing shared readings

Social Cognitive Models of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Moderate Physical Activity, and Sleep Behavior in Overweight and Obese Men

Background. Approximately 35% of men in the United States are obese, though little theoretical work examining predictors correlates of obesity exists for this population. The purpose of this study was to test the capacity of Bandura’s social cognitive model of health behavior to account for variance in fruit and vegetable consumption, moderate physical activity, and sleep behavior in overweight and obese men. Methods. Data were collected from overweight and obese men using previously validated questionnaires. Structural equation models were built to examine the direct and indirect effects the social cognitive theory constructs of self-efficacy, outcome expectation, socio-structural factors, and goals on the behaviors under investigation. Results. A total of 305 men participated in this study (Mage=44.52; SD=6.95). Overall fit for the social cognitive models of health behavior were adequate, accounting for 35.0%, 31.2%, and 21.1% of the variance in the fruit and vegetable consumption, moderate physical activity, and sleep behavior correlates, respectively. Self-efficacy had the greatest total effect on fruit and vegetable consumption (βtotal=.500) and sleep behavior (βtotal=.406), while goals has the greatest total effect on moderate physical activity (βtotal=.495). The indirect effects of self-efficacy on the three behaviors demonstrates the relative importance of self-efficacy as a mediator for health behavior change. Discussion. Men are underrepresented in behavioral obesity prevention and treatment research. This study provides support for the social cognitive model of health behavior as a theoretical framework for predicting behaviors hypothesized to protect against and treat obesity in men. Additionally, this study represents the first attempt to model correlates social cognitive constructs on sleep behavior

Developing real-time PCR assay for detection of multi-drug Salmonella strains in pigs

The main objective of this study was to develop a rapid, sensitive and accurate real-time detection assay for multi-drug resistant (MDR) Salmonella strains isolated from pigs. Initially, standardized procedures for use with real-time PCR using SYBR green were developed to evaluate selected primers, detection limitations using two predominant strains: S. typhimurium phage types DT104 and DT193

Where a Vast Global Vaccination Program Went Wrong

After months of struggle, the U.N.-backed Covax alliance will soon have many more doses, promising relief for vaccine shortages in poorer countries. But it faces a deepening crisis: difficulties getting shots into arms as the Delta variant spreads.   Deaths from Covid-19 were surging across Africa in June when 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Chad. The delivery seemed proof that the United Nations-backed program to immunize the world could get the most desirable vaccines to the least developed nations. Yet five weeks later, Chad’s health minister said, 94,000 doses remained unused.   Nearby in Benin, only 267 shots were being given each day, a pace so slow that 110,000 of the program’s AstraZeneca doses expired. Across Africa, confidential documents from July indicated, the program was monitoring at least nine countries where it said doses intended for the poor were at risk of spoiling this summer.   The vaccine pileup illustrates one of the most serious but largely unrecognized problems facing the immunization program as it tries to recover from months of missteps and disappointments: difficulty getting doses from airport tarmacs into people’s arms.   Known as Covax, the program was supposed to be a global powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar alliance of international health bodies and nonprofits that would ensure through sheer buying power that poor countries received vaccines as quickly as the rich.   Instead, Covax has struggled to acquire doses: It stands half a billion short of its goal. Poor countries are dangerously unprotected as the Delta variant runs rampant, just the scenario that Covax was created to prevent.   The urgent need to vaccinate the world goes far beyond protecting people in poor nations. The longer the virus circulates, the more dangerous it can become, even for vaccinated people in wealthy countries.   Without billions more shots, experts warn, new variants could keep emerging, endangering all nations.   “Covax hasn’t failed, but it is failing,” said Dr. Ayoade Alakija, a co-chair of the African Union’s vaccine delivery program. “We really have no other options. For the sake of humanity, Covax must work.”   More supplies are finally on the way, courtesy of the Biden administration, which is buying 500 million Pfizer doses and delivering them through Covax, the centerpiece of a larger pledge by wealthy democracies. The donated doses should begin shipping this month.   But the Biden donation, worth 3.5 billion, comes with a caveat: To help fund it, the administration is diverting hundreds of millions of dollars promised for vaccination drives in poorer countries, according to notes from a meeting between Covax and American officials. Short on funding, those countries have had a hard time buying fuel to transport doses to clinics, training people to administer shots or persuading people to get them.   Even as Covax officials scramble to fill that funding gap, the overriding question is whether the program can move beyond its mistakes, and beyond an imbalance of power that has left it at the mercy of wealthy countries and pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer, for example, balked at a direct deal with Covax this spring, interviews reveal, instead reaching an agreement through the Biden administration, an arrangement that hurt Covax’s credibility as an independent vaccine purchaser.   This text is just a part of the original report by “Mueller, Benjamin, and Rebecca Robbins. "Where a vast global vaccination program went wrong." New York Times 2.21 (2021): A1.”. Para ler a meteria completa, você pode acessar este link https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/world/europe/covax-covid-vaccine-problems-africa.html    After months of struggle, the U.N.-backed Covax alliance will soon have many more doses, promising relief for vaccine shortages in poorer countries. But it faces a deepening crisis: difficulties getting shots into arms as the Delta variant spreads.   Deaths from Covid-19 were surging across Africa in June when 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Chad. The delivery seemed proof that the United Nations-backed program to immunize the world could get the most desirable vaccines to the least developed nations. Yet five weeks later, Chad’s health minister said, 94,000 doses remained unused.   Nearby in Benin, only 267 shots were being given each day, a pace so slow that 110,000 of the program’s AstraZeneca doses expired. Across Africa, confidential documents from July indicated, the program was monitoring at least nine countries where it said doses intended for the poor were at risk of spoiling this summer.   The vaccine pileup illustrates one of the most serious but largely unrecognized problems facing the immunization program as it tries to recover from months of missteps and disappointments: difficulty getting doses from airport tarmacs into people’s arms.   Known as Covax, the program was supposed to be a global powerhouse, a multibillion-dollar alliance of international health bodies and nonprofits that would ensure through sheer buying power that poor countries received vaccines as quickly as the rich.   Instead, Covax has struggled to acquire doses: It stands half a billion short of its goal. Poor countries are dangerously unprotected as the Delta variant runs rampant, just the scenario that Covax was created to prevent.   The urgent need to vaccinate the world goes far beyond protecting people in poor nations. The longer the virus circulates, the more dangerous it can become, even for vaccinated people in wealthy countries.   Without billions more shots, experts warn, new variants could keep emerging, endangering all nations.   “Covax hasn’t failed, but it is failing,” said Dr. Ayoade Alakija, a co-chair of the African Union’s vaccine delivery program. “We really have no other options. For the sake of humanity, Covax must work.”   More supplies are finally on the way, courtesy of the Biden administration, which is buying 500 million Pfizer doses and delivering them through Covax, the centerpiece of a larger pledge by wealthy democracies. The donated doses should begin shipping this month.   But the Biden donation, worth 3.5 billion, comes with a caveat: To help fund it, the administration is diverting hundreds of millions of dollars promised for vaccination drives in poorer countries, according to notes from a meeting between Covax and American officials. Short on funding, those countries have had a hard time buying fuel to transport doses to clinics, training people to administer shots or persuading people to get them.   Even as Covax officials scramble to fill that funding gap, the overriding question is whether the program can move beyond its mistakes, and beyond an imbalance of power that has left it at the mercy of wealthy countries and pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer, for example, balked at a direct deal with Covax this spring, interviews reveal, instead reaching an agreement through the Biden administration, an arrangement that hurt Covax’s credibility as an independent vaccine purchaser.   This text is just a part of the original report by “Mueller, Benjamin, and Rebecca Robbins. "Where a vast global vaccination program went wrong." New York Times 2.21 (2021): A1.”. Para ler a meteria completa, você pode acessar este link https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/world/europe/covax-covid-vaccine-problems-africa.html   &nbsp