Family Permanence Versus the Best Interests of the Child

Historically, promoting family permanence (e.g., keeping the original parent-children relationships intact) has been controversial. At times, priority was given to the family of origin, but due to the best interests of the child principle, there has also been preference for foster placements and adoptions. This article presents the legal backdrop (e.g., the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997) and discusses history, as well as ethical and psychological issues. It is asserted that (1) at present, the concept of the best interests of the child is of foremost importance, and (2) biological and psychological parental qualities can be enhanced through preventive and remedial parent education in the family therapy context

Identifying appropriate motivations to encourage people to adopt healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviours

Many social marketing campaigns use threat (or fear) appeals to promote healthy behaviours, for example, ‘Quit smoking. You’ll soon stop dying for a cigarette’, ‘Slip! Slop! Slap! Don’t die in the sun this summer’, and ‘Speed kills’. These messages appeal to the negative motivation of problem avoidance and use fear arousal to persuade. This study explored people’s motivations for adopting healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviours. Overall, it appeared that four motivations (two negative and two positive) were particularly salient: a) Problem removal: managing illness and injury; b) Problem avoidance: avoiding illness, injury, premature death, harm to unborn baby; c) Self approval: feeling better about self; and d) Sensory gratification: mood elevation. The results suggest that, while problem avoidance is an appropriate motivation it is not the only one. Social marketing practitioners could use a range of other motivations that may be equally effective. In the same way that consumers assess marketing messages relating to goods and services, consumers of social marketing messages can choose to pay attention to the sorts of messages that work for them, and decide to disregard others that may be less helpful

Semi-classical spin dynamics of the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice

We investigate the dynamical properties of the classical antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on the kagome lattice using a combination of Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. We find that frustration induces a distribution of timescales in the cooperative paramagnetic regime (i.e. far above the onset of coplanarity), as recently reported experimentally in deuterium jarosite. At lower temperature, when the coplanar correlations are well established, we show that the weath- ervane loop fluctuations control the system relaxation : the time distribution observed at higher temperatures splits into two distinct timescales associated with fluctuations in the plane and out of the plane of coplanarity. The temperature and wave vector dependences of these two components are qualitatively consistent with loops diffusing in the entropically dominated free energy landscape. Numerical results are discussed and compared with the $O(N)$ model and recent experiments for both classical and quantum realizations of the kagome magnets.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figure

Length-independent DNA packing into nanopore zero-mode waveguides for low-input DNA sequencing

Compared with conventional methods, single-molecule real-time (SMRT) DNA sequencing exhibits longer read lengths than conventional methods, less GC bias, and the ability to read DNA base modifications. However, reading DNA sequence from sub-nanogram quantities is impractical owing to inefficient delivery of DNA molecules into the confines of zero-mode waveguides-zeptolitre optical cavities in which DNA sequencing proceeds. Here, we show that the efficiency of voltage-induced DNA loading into waveguides equipped with nanopores at their floors is five orders of magnitude greater than existing methods. In addition, we find that DNA loading is nearly length-independent, unlike diffusive loading, which is biased towards shorter fragments. We demonstrate here loading and proof-of-principle four-colour sequence readout of a polymerase-bound 20,000-base-pair-long DNA template within seconds from a sub-nanogram input quantity, a step towards low-input DNA sequencing and mammalian epigenomic mapping of native DNA samples.R01 HG009186 - NHGRI NIH HHS; R21 HG006873 - NHGRI NIH HHSAccepted manuscrip

Integrating Mental Health Services into Humanitarian Relief Responses to Social Emergencies, Disasters, and Conflicts: A Case Study

Utilizing lessons learned from development and implementation of "Project Liberty” in New York City, created in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, this paper explores the importance of integrating structured mental health services with community-based social service programs offered in large-scale humanitarian relief responses. Relevant international research studies illustrating similar integrated programs are also reviewed. The primary approach is community-based and resilience-enhancement focused, offering structure, stability, support, and community cohesion, with an added integrated screening component to identify persons with severe treatable mental health conditions. Because there is thus far little evidence that resilience-enhancing programs are effective for severe mental health conditions, a secondary program initiated in parallel would be staffed with more specialized providers offering services for those referred from the primary program. The key implication supports the establishment of more effective links between programs and professionals from different disciplines, who then can more effectively implement integrated program responses to large-scale disaster

Soy foods have low glycemic and insulin response indices in normal weight subjects

BACKGROUND: Foods with a low glycemic index (GI) may provide a variety of health benefits. The objective of the present study was to measure the GI and insulin index (II) of select soy foods. METHODS: The study was conducted in two parts with low-carbohydrate products being tested separately. In Experiment 1, subjects averaged 23.2 years of age with BMI = 22.0 kg/m(2), while subjects in Experiment 2 averaged 23.9 years of age with BMI = 21.6 kg/m(2). The reference (glucose) and test foods were served in portions containing 10 g of carbohydrates in Experiment 1 (two test foods) and 25 g of carbohydrates in Experiment 2 (four test foods). Subjects consumed the reference food twice and each test food once. For each test, subjects were instructed to consume a fixed portion of the reference food or test food together with 250 g of water within 12 min. Blood samples were collected before each test and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 min after consumption of reference or test foods to quantify glucose and insulin. Two-hour blood glucose and plasma insulin curves were constructed and areas under the curves were calculated. GI and II values for each subject and test food were calculated. RESULTS: In Experiment 1, both low-carbohydrate soy foods were shown to have significantly (P < 0.05) lower GI and II values than the reference food. In Experiment 2, three of the four test foods had significantly (P < 0.05) lower GI and II values than the reference food. CONCLUSION: All but one of the soy foods tested had a low GI, suggesting that soy foods may be an appropriate part of diets intended to improve control of blood glucose and insulin levels

A Survey of Street Children in Northern Tanzania: How Abuse or Support Factors May Influence Migration to the Street

In October 2006, a survey was undertaken of youth "on the streets” in the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions of Tanzania (n=1,923). The question of interest was if street children who live on streets full-time differ concerning reports of abuse and support, compared to reports of children who are only part-time on the streets, and to children who don't self-identify as "street children” at all. Results show full-time street children reporting significantly more abuse than part-time counterparts, or children who were not street children (mean difference=−1.44, P<.001). Concerning support scores, non-street children and part-time street children reported significantly more support from their family than full-time street children (mean difference=1.70, P<.001). This information identifies possible reasons why vulnerable children migrate to live on the streets in the urban areas, and contributes to the limited literature and data on this subjec

Does school attendance reduce the risk of youth homelessness in Tanzania?

BACKGROUND: This paper is based on data gathered from a 2006 survey of 1,098 "street children" in Northern Tanzania. It examines the role that school may play in preventing the migration of vulnerable youth to become homeless "street children". Specific focus is placed on the correlations found between children's attendance in school, their reports of abuse or support in their family, and their status of living "on the street" full-time or part-time. METHODS: This study is from quantitative interview data gathered from 1,098 children and youth between 5 and 24 years old on the streets of Moshi and Arusha, Tanzania, over a 48-hour period during the school year on October 26th and 27th, 2006. Respondents were given survey questions about their home, school and street life experiences, in order to measure the impact of outreach work being performed by a Tanzanian NGO. Interviewers used purposive sampling, approaching all young people who appeared to be under the age of 25 years within a number of precincts in each town known to be where 'street children' were known to congregate. RESULTS: Results suggest that regular attendance in school may be a significant protective factor for children in preventing migration to the street life. Statistical analysis revealed that those young people who dropped out of school had nearly 8 times higher chances for ending up on the streets permanently than those who attended school daily. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports the new concept of "multi-layered social resilience", providing evidence from research completed by one NGO on how community-based organizations can help enhance resilience in a broader social context, spanning individuals, households and community structur

Investigation of the mechanism for current induced network failure for spray deposited silver nanowires

Silver nanowires are one of the prominent candidates for the replacement of the incumbent indium tin oxide in thin and flexible electronics applications. Their main drawback is their inferior electrical robustness. Here, the mechanism of the short duration direct current induced failure in large networks is investigated by current stress tests and by examining the morphology of failures. It is found that the failures are due to the heating of the film and they initiate at the nanowire junctions, indicating that the main failure mechanism is based on the Joule heating of the junctions. This failure mechanism is different than what has been seen in literature for single nanowires and sparse networks. In addition, finite element heating simulations are performed to support the findings. Finally, we suggest ways of improving these films, in order to make them more suitable for device applications