Evolutionary Eating: A Critical Evaluation of the Paleo Diet

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Job Desire and Motivation: Response Distortion in Personality Assessment

This study examined personality response distortion based on an individual‟s job desire within a personnel selection scenario. The aim was to determine the extent to which job desire affected individuals‟ responses to a personality assessment. Numerous researchers have studied individuals‟ choices and thought processes that lead to response distortion (Ellingson & McFarland, 2011; McFarland & Ryan, 2000; Snell, Sydell, & Lueke, 1999). Although one determinant that has been proposed is the concept of an individual‟s perceived job desire, little research has been conducted relating to this. Job desire was defined as an individual‟s motivation and passion for a position being applied for. As the study inferred individual‟s job desire from their motivation, individual‟s growth need strength (GNS) and need for achievement (nAch) measures were also assessed. Ninety-four participants were subjected to two conditions: one a situation of high job desire and one a situation of low job desire. Responses to a measure of the Big Five personality dimensions (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability), GNS and nAch were assessed and compared between the two conditions. The findings suggest that job desire affected the individuals‟ pattern of response. Participants responded more positively within the high job desire condition in regards to all five personality dimensions and nAch. Significant correlations occurred between GNS and openness to experience and emotional stability and nAch significantly correlated with openness to experience and conscientiousness. If an individual possesses high job desire, they are more likely to respond more positively on a personality assessment. The increase in response means from low to high job desire could be related to item transparency. High job desire may motivate the individual to think about the items more to determine the desired correct response. In addition, individuals who change their behaviour depending on the situation are thought to have a higher functional awareness of what is needed. The results indicated that personality assessments are affected by response distortion raising possible consequences relating to personnel selection. Hiring managers may benefit from using use personality assessments in conjunction with other appropriate selection methods tools to cross-reference the self-report measure. Further investigation of an individual‟s job desire is recommended to confirm which personality dimensions are most affected by response distortion. Additionally, further exploration of whether it is possible to assess an applicant‟s job desire may be warranted

Reliability Testing of the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) Mobile Application: Results from a pilot study

Globally, approximately 3500 individuals are killed due to a road traffic injury each day, equating to nearly 1.3 million deaths each year and more than a million children are either killed by, or sustain serious injury, from road traffic incidents. School zones are locations where there may be high concentrations of children at certain hours of the day, thereby increasing their exposure to road and pedestrian injuries. The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP), an NGO established in 2006, developed the Star Ratings measurement system, which is used globally to provide simple, comparable and objective measurements of the built-in safety of road segments for road users. These ratings are given to governments and other users to inform infrastructure and other road safety programs. Recently, the Star Rating methodology has been adapted for the Star Rating for Schools (SR4S) mobile application (an app), which is designed to measure and communicate road and pedestrian safety risks that children and adolescents are exposed to on their journey to and from school. iRAP has brought together several organizations, including Safe Kids Worldwide (SKW), from around the globe to pilot test the SR4S app. This project, in collaboration with SKW, aims to test the reliability of the SR4S app to answer the following questions: 1) Does the SR4S app produce consistent Star Ratings for the same road segments across multiple users? 2) Does training app users increase the reliability of the SR4S app to assess road and pedestrian safety in local school zones? Data collection took place during a two-day workshop in Washington, D.C., where 9 child injury experts with experience working in pedestrian safety advocacy (i.e. Safe Kids Coordinators) conducted multiple safety assessments using the SR4S app at a local elementary school at 10 road segments and received training on how to use the app. Data was collected once before training, and twice post-training. This data is currently being analyzed for inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability. Preliminary results: only 5 of 9 users fully collected the required data and this greatly reduced the reliability of the app. The results of the reliability analysis will be presented to iRAP and the SR4S app developers to inform the development of improved versions of the app which will eventually be rolled out for worldwide use

Inositol-less death recombination technique

Inositol-less death recombination techniqu

Justification of Intimate Partner Violence in Egypt

Background: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is an important problem in developing countries and associated with poor reproductive health outcomes. Objectives: To describe trends and justification of IPV in Egypt. Methods: We used the 2008 Egypt Demographic Health Surveys (EDHS). Information on IPV was drawn from 16,527 women in 2008. We performed bivariate analyses to examine trends in and risk factors for justification of IPV. Results: 39.5% of respondents reported that IPV is justifiable. Logistic regression suggests that age, education, wealth and female autonomy are associated with respondents not justifying IPV. In contrast respondents who supported the continuation of female circumcision and who were related to their husband reported that IPV is justifiable. Conclusions: Justification of IPV continues to be prevalent in Egypt. Further research is needed to identify points of intervention to reduce the support for IPV in Egypt

Arginine transport in Neurospora conidia

Arginine transport in Neurospora conidi

Occupational Health Risk Factors for Schistosomiasis: Systematic Review and Analysis

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by a parasitic flatworm which afflicts over 200 million people in the poorest regions of Africa. Carried by snails living in fresh, stagnant water, the parasite penetrates human skin upon contact, causing the victim to suffer a range of symptoms including diarrhea, blood in the urine, and eventual death. Despite its prevalence, schistosomiasis is preventable, treatable, and curable once a control program is implemented. Substantial reduction of schistosomiasis would relieve suffering and produce many socio-economic benefits, including higher productivity and higher school attendance rates. Disease transmission is directly tied to the environment, and those in certain occupations are at particularly high risk, including agricultural workers and fishermen due to direct contact with unsafe water. The objective of this study was to examine which occupations yield risk factors for acquiring schistosomiasis in Africa. Conducting a systematic review and analysis, 36 peer-reviewed studies were selected from Scopus, Web of Science, and Medline based on inclusion criteria. All relevant evidence from the systematic review concluded that certain occupations result in an increase in risk of schistosomiasis, and that a comprehensive approach to prevention is integral in community health in rural areas. Prevention programming for schistosomiasis should focus on at-risk occupations, including targeting water-resource management, irrigation systems management, and agricultural management, in order to stop the occupation-specific transmission of the disease, which leads to higher schistosomiasis rates in endemic communities

Assessing seasonality of travel distance to harm reduction service providers among persons who inject drugs.

BACKGROUND: Prior research has examined access to syringe exchange program (SEP) services among persons who inject drugs (PWID), but no research has been conducted to evaluate variations in SEP access based on season. This is an important gap in the literature given that seasonal weather patterns and inclement weather may affect SEP service utilization. The purpose of this research is to examine differences in access to SEPs by season among PWID in the District of Columbia (DC). FINDINGS: A geometric point distance estimation technique was applied to records from a DC SEP that operated from 1996 to 2011. We calculated the walking distance (via sidewalks) from the centroid point of zip code of home residence to the exchange site where PWID presented for services. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine differences in walking distance measures by season. Differences in mean walking distance measures were statistically significant between winter and spring with PWID traveling approximately 2.88 and 2.77 miles, respectively, to access the SEP during these seasons. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that seasonal differences in SEP accessibility may exist between winter and spring. PWID may benefit from harm reduction providers adapting their SEP operations to provide a greater diversity of exchange locations during seasons in which inclement weather may negatively influence engagement with SEPs. Increasing the number of exchange locations based on season may help resolve unmet needs among injectors

Interrelationship between Climatic, Ecologic, Social, and Cultural Determinants Affecting Dengue Emergence and Transmission in Puerto Rico and Their Implications for Zika Response

Objective. The global resurgence of dengue has been attributed to rapid population growth, urban expansion, increased air travel, globalization, and climate change. Dengue is now endemic in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is at risk for Zika, another emerging arbovirus. The interrelationship between climatic, ecological, social, and cultural factors that affect dengue and other arboviruses’ transmission is understudied. Design. The objective of this systematic review is to examine the interrelationship between climatic, ecological, social, and cultural factors on dengue transmission in Puerto Rico and to draw lessons for Zika response. Results. A comprehensive search of peer-reviewed journal articles was performed, producing 562 articles; 26 were selected for this review. Findings indicate that human activities and behaviors (urbanization, migration, and consumption) as well as climate have a significant impact on the abundance and the transmission potential of Ae. aegypti, the vector for dengue, Zika, and other viruses. Conclusion. Despite the public health burden of dengue limited investments have been made in research and surveillance. Future research is needed to develop models that integrate the multivariate effects of climatic, ecological, social, and cultural factors, which for Puerto Rico have mostly been examined independently. Such models have the potential to inform response to dengue, Zika, and other arboviruses

Cross-Sectional Comparison of Behavioral Risk Factors for HIV/HCV in People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) in Egypt

Background Egypt has the greatest HCV prevalence worldwide at 15% and a concentrated HIV epidemic in male people who inject drugs (PWID) at 6.8%, who are at a high risk for HCV infection as well. Injection drug use is criminalized in Egypt, and there is limited availability of harm reduction programs. Drug-use and sexual risk behaviors between PWID and the general population have not been studied there. Methods To address this gap, a cross-sectional HIV/HCV epidemiological study of 632 consenting injection drug users in Cairo and Alexandria was conducted. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was done to evaluate the associations between HIV/HCV and needle sharing or sexual practices using SAS 9.4. Results 10.6% (63/ 604) of the study population tested positive for HIV and 61.5% (384/624) tested positive for HCV. Sharing needles with more than 10 people was associated with HIV and HCV infection (OR=3.65, p-val=0.001; OR=2.05, p-val=0.02, respectably). Age was associated with both HIV and HCV (p-val=0.03 and Conclusions The results indicate that the growing epidemic among PWID in Egypt may place the general population at risk for HIV and HCV primarily through sexual contact. In Russia, repressive policies toward PWID allowed HIV to spread to the general population at the start of the epidemic in 2000. Now, 48% of HIV is heterosexually transmitted in Russia and the country contributes \u3e80% of the HIV cases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In response to the epidemic, even more punitive laws and regulations were introduced in Russia, and their HIV prevalence has seen a 49% increase between 2005 and 2015. A similar trajectory can be expected for Egypt if preventative measures are not taken. Common-sense harm reduction programs like clean needle exchanges and decriminalization of injection drug use should be part of a comprehensive plan to control the spread of HIV and HCV in Egypt