Interview with Rodrigus Kentavis Graham: Life as an African-American in the Rio Grande Valley

Anne Marie Huff conducted an interview with Rodrigus Kentavis Graham at residence in Mission, TX. Mr. Graham grew up in a predominantly African-American area of Atlanta and graduated from Morehouse College, and came to the Rio Grande Valley with the Teach for America program. He discusses Black-Brown relations in the RGV and social justice commonalities that can unite Latinos and African Americans toward a higher purpose. This interview was conducted as part of the CHAPS Porciones to Colonias project.https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/chapsoralhistories/1114/thumbnail.jp

STEEL FIBER REINFORCED CONCRETE DURABILITY USING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY TEST

Fiber reinforced concrete (FRC) is increasingly present in civil construction, and has often been used in floors and structures which are high mechanical strength and great capacity for energy absorption. Several studies approach FRC in terms of behavior, studies that consider one of  possibilities of the scores are scarce. The electrical resistivity test, in turn, represents an alternative to the destructive tests to evaluate pathologies and longevity of concrete, considering that during its execution material under study is preserved. For this reason, cylindrical specimens of both FRC and reference concrete were molded, then evaluated by the electric resistivity and diametric compression. The ages of 7, 14, 21 and 28 days were studied to evaluate mechanical and electrical properties. Water absorption test was also performed to determine the porosity and specific mass of composites. From analysis and discussion of results it was observed that electrical resistivity for fiber reinforced specimens is much smaller when compared to conventional composite. That way, it is suggested that electrical resistivity test is not most adequate to evaluate durability of concrete reinforced with steel fibers, in view of which reinforcing material is conductive

Changing the mind: hypnosis and diabetes

[Excerpt] Diabetes, although a physiological disorder suffers the impact of negative psychological stresses through the dysfunctional activation of the autonomic nervous and endocrine systems. In fact, a variety of psychological variables have been found to be important in the metabolic control and management of diabetic patients, particularly regarding adherence to self-care behaviors and medication. Lifestyle therapy is the cornerstone of diabetes treatment and, therefore, any intervention that is able to achieve the control of glycaemia, prevent micro and macro complications of diabetes, improve patient’s quality of life and decrease diabetes risk factors is certainly welcome. [...](undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Erlotinib in patients with previously irradiated, recurrent brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer: Two case reports

Background: With the current improvements in primary lung care, the long-term control of brain metastases becomes a clinical challenge. No established therapeutic approaches exist for cranial relapse after response to previous radiotherapy and systemic therapy. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors like erlotinib with its proven activity in non-small cell lung cancer may provide clinical benefits in such patients. Patients and Methods: Two case reports are presented illustrating the efficacy of erlotinib in patients with recurrent brain metastases and parallel thoracic progression. Results: Both patients showed lasting partial remissions in the brain and lung, and clinical symptom improvement. Conclusion: The observed survival times of above 18 and 15 months, respectively, since occurrence of cranial disease manifestation in line with the achieved progression-free survival times of 9 and 6 months by the erlotinib third-line therapy are remarkable. The use of targeted therapies after whole-brain irradiation should be investigated more systematically in prospective clinical trials

High-precision prostate cancer irradiation by clinical application of an offline patient setup verification procedure, using portal imaging

Purpose: To investigate in three institutions, The Netherlands Cancer Institute (Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Huis [AvL]), Dr. Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center (DDHC), and Dr. Bernard Verbeeten Institute (BVI), how much the patient setup accuracy for irradiation of prostate cancer can be improved by an offline setup verification and correction procedure, using portal imaging. Methods and Materials: The verification procedure consisted of two stages. During the first stage, setup deviations were measured during a number (N(max)) of consecutive initial treatment sessions. The length of the average three dimensional (3D) setup deviation vector was compared with an action level for corrections, which shrunk with the number of setup measurements. After a correction was applied, N(max) measurements had to be performed again. Each institution chose different values for the initial action level (6, 9, and 10 mm) and N(max) (2 and 4). The choice of these parameters was based on a simulation of the procedure, using as input preestimated values of random and systematic deviations in each institution. During the second stage of the procedure, with weekly setup measurements, the AvL used a different criterion ('outlier detection') for corrective actions than the DDHC and the BVI ('sliding average'). After each correction the first stage of the procedure was restarted. The procedure was tested for 151 patients (62 in AvL, 47 in DDHC, and 42 in BVI) treated for prostate carcinoma. Treatment techniques and portal image acquisition and analysis were different in each institution. Results: The actual distributions of random and systematic deviations without corrections were estimated by eliminating the effect of the corrections. The percentage of mean (systematic) 3D deviations larger than 5 mm was 26% for the AvL and the DDHC, and 36% for the BVI. The setup accuracy after application of the procedure was considerably improved (percentage of mean 3D deviations larger than 5 mm was 1.6% in the AvL and 0% in the DDHC and BVI), in agreement with the results of the simulation. The number of corrections (about 0.7 on the average per patient) was not larger than predicted. Conclusion: The verification procedure appeared to be feasible in the three institutions and enabled a significant reduction of mean 3D setup deviations. The computer simulation of the procedure proved to be a useful tool, because it enabled an accurate prediction of the setup accuracy and the required number of corrections

Chronic renal patients everyday on hemodialysis: expectations, modifications and social relations

Objectives: to know the perception of chronic renal patients undergoing hemodialysis about the disease, list the expectations, changes and social relationships after the establishment of the diagnosis. Method: this is a qualitative descriptive research approach developed in a hemodialysis unit in the Northeast of Brazil with 39 patients affected by CKF. A semi-structured interview guide was used for data collection. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee for Research CAAE: 14153513.2.0000.5180, Case nº.147/431. Data were analyzed with conceptual basis of the Collective Subject Discourse (CSD). Results: the categories that emerged from the discourse of respondents were: Rim paralyzed; Lack of knowledge; limitations; optimism; hopelessness; support; Prejudice and isolation. Conclusion: the daily life of hemodialysis patients requires changing eating habits, water restrictions, travel is not possible because the frequency of sessions, work deprivation and activities of daily living due to the weakness imposed by the treatment