Music Therapists’ Self-Compassion, Compassion for Others, and Professional Quality of Life

As helping professionals, music therapists show compassion to their clients but may lack necessary self-care skills to prevent burnout and promote well-being. Due to a lack of research in this area, this study investigated reported levels of compassion for others, self-compassion, burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion satisfaction among music therapists in relation to age, gender, and years of professional experience. A survey of 575 board certified music therapists in the USA revealed higher levels of compassion for others than self-compassion, low levels of burnout and secondary traumatic stress, and high levels of compassion satisfaction. Burnout strongly negatively correlated with both self-compassion and compassion satisfaction and strongly positively correlated with secondary traumatic stress. A MANCOVA revealed significant differences in compassion for others and compassion satisfaction based on gender, with female participants reporting significantly higher scores for both constructs. Additionally, there was a trend related to self-compassion and compassion levels increasing over time. There were strong associations between compassion and self-compassion with burnout and secondary traumatic stress; therefore, it would benefit music therapists to cultivate compassion practices to lower burnout risk

An Analysis of Plant Closings in Georgia's Apparel and Textile Industries

This report explores various issues and programs associated with re employment of workers from apparel and textile plants that close

The Admissibility of Brain Scans in Criminal Trials: The Case of Positron Emission Tomography

The People of the State of New York v. Herbert Weinstein (1992)1 is one of the earliest and most prominent examples of an attorney offering a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scan as evidence in a criminal trial. Mr. Weinstein, a 68-year-old, married, Caucasian male worked in advertising. Mr. Weinstein had no past criminal history and no history of violence, but he was accused of strangling his wife and throwing her body from their 12th-story Manhattan apartment to make her death appear to be a suicide. When confronted, Mr. Weinstein admitted his guilt and even readily admitted his attempts to cover up his crime.2 Mr. Weinstein’s lack of emotion when discussing the crime and apparent lack of remorse for his action caused his legal team to question whether the older gentleman could be suffering from a neurological impairment that caused an uncharacteristic act of aggression.3 Acts of aggression have been hypothesized to arise from dysfunction within the prefrontal cortex and impaired connections between the frontal lobe and associated limbic brain regions. Physicians consulting with Mr. Weinstein’s defense attorneys suggested Mr. Weinstein undergo neuropsychological testing and brain scanning that could demonstrate potential structural and/or functional deficits in his brain.

Deceptively Simple: the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act

In the 2017 legislative session, the Arkansas General Assembly significantly changed the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (“ADTPA”). These changes now prohibit private class actions under the ADTPA and require plaintiffs to prove additional elements of reliance and actual financial loss when bringing a claim. The changes appear to limit the ability of a consumer to bring a private action under the ADPTA. With these changes, Arkansas joins a minority of jurisdictions with deceptive trade practices acts that increase a plaintiff’s burden and restrict private class actions

Relative Function: Nuclear Brain Imaging in United States Courts

Neuropsychological testing--medical imaging of the brain structure and function--allows the expert to inform the court on the brain structure and function of the forensic examinee. Supported by extensive clinical use, neuropsychological testing and structural imaging in the form of computerized tomography and structural magnetic resonance imaging have achieved general acceptance in court. However, functional imaging such as functional MRI and nuclear medicine techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET), have faced more admissibility challenges. While functional imaging is becoming an increasingly important tool in assessing neuropsychiatric illness, we surmise that evidentiary challenges are largely related to the phase of trial in which the nuclear study is offered as evidence. This article will review the basic science of functional nuclear imaging including PET and single photon emission computed tomography. We will then review cases where admissibility of these techniques has been challenged and consider whether and how nuclear brain imaging can influence the outcome of the trial

Grazing Cover Crops for Soil Health in an Integrated Crop-Livestock System

. Optimizing soil health requires building an environment that creates conditions which allow for best function of the chemical, biological, and physical properties of the soil to thrive as an organism and an ecosystem. Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) use a systems approach to provide improvements to soil health parameters. In the fall of 2021, a randomized complete block study was conducted at the Coastal Plain Branch Experiment Station (CPBES) in Newton, Mississippi and at the Prairie Research Unit (PRU) in Prairie, Mississippi to observe the soil health effects of grazing cereal rye cover crops in a soybean production system. Three treatments were replicated three times across nine paddocks at each location. Treatments included: conventional soybean production respective for each location (CS); cereal rye established as a cover crop for a no-till soybean system (CC); and cereal rye established as a cover crop for a notill soybean system and grazed (GC). Soil health was measured by soil sample analysis and forage production. Soil samples were evaluated for soil respiration, total carbon (TC), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). All paddocks were stocked at approximately 2000 lb ac1 using replacement beef heifers. Forage samples were collected throughout grazing periods and were analyzed for forage mass (FM) and nutritive value (crude protein – CP, total digestible nutrients - TDN) using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Mean FM from CG paddocks was 999 lb DM ac-1 at CPBES compared to 705 lb DM ac-1 at PRU. CP concentration was 25.6% from CPBES and 15.8% from PRU. Mean TDN was 56.3% at CPBES compared to 57.5% at PRU. Change in mean soil respiration from pre-grazing to post grazing at CPBES was 0.327mg CO2/g soil, 0.308 mg CO2/g soil, and 0.464 mg CO2/g soil in CS, GC, and CC treatments respectively. Change in mean soil respiration from pre-grazing to post grazing at PRU was -0.159 mg CO2/g soil, -0.034 mg CO2/g soil, and -0.072 mg CO2/g soil in CS, GC, and CC treatments respectively. Total carbon mean differences were 0.791mg C/kg soil, 0.953mg C/kg soil, and 1.01mg C/kg soil in CS, GC, and CC treatments at CPBES and were 0.595mg C/kg soil, 0.438mg C/kg soil, and 0.476mg C/kg soil in CS, GC, and CS treatments at PRU. Changes in mean N, P, and K were 0.06 mg N/kg soil, -12.141 mg P/kg soil, and 34.555mg K/kg soil at CPBES and 0.052 mg N/kg soil, 0.518 mg P/kg soil, and 17.409 mg K/kg soil at PRU in CS treatments, 0.082 mg N/kg soil, -3.899 mg p/kg soil, and 29.699 mg K/kg soil at CPBES, 0.032 mg N/kg soil, 0.325 mg P/kg soil, and 9.877 mg K/kg soil at PRU in GC treatments, and 0.082 mg N/kg soil, -3.217 mg P/kg soil, and 36.767 mg K/ kg soil at CPBES, 0.041 mg 0.357 mg P/kg soil, and 7.267 mg K/kg soil at PRU in CC treatments. Differences in nutrient concentrations can be attributed to nutrient cycling of residue from previous growing season and nutrient cycling from grazing heifers. A second year of grazing combined with additional soil sample analysis will help determine the effects grazing a cereal rye cover crop has on soil health of two distinct soils in eastern Mississippi

MicroRNA-21 promotes survival but not functional maturation of human embryonic stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs)

published_or_final_versionThe 16th Medical Resarch Conference (MRC), The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, 22 January 2011. In Hong Kong Medical Journal, 2011, v. 17, suppl. 1, p. 35, abstract no. 5