Effects of Human Maternal Placentophagy on Postpartum Maternal Affect, Health, and Recovery

Postpartum ingestion of the afterbirth by the mother, or maternal placentophagy, is a common behavior among eutherian mammals, including non-human primates, with humans as a rare exception. Despite the conspicuous absence of placentophagy in the cross-cultural ethnographic record, the practice appears to be gaining popularity among a small but growing number of advocates in various industrialized contexts who claim that the practice provides benefits to the postpartum mother, namely the relief and prevention of postpartum blues and depressive symptoms, improved breast milk production, and enhanced bonding with their infant. Because the placenta serves as an endocrine organ throughout pregnancy and facilitates the exchange of nutrients between mother and fetus, placentophagy supporters suggest that the hormones and nutrients remaining in the placenta after parturition can be used to replenish these substances during the postpartum period, often through the ingestion of dehydrated and encapsulated placenta supplements. This dissertation addresses the claims of placentophagy advocates through a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial in which postpartum women (N=27) were given a supplement containing either their dehydrated and homogenized placenta (n=12), or a similarly prepared placebo (n=15). Questionnaire responses and biological samples were collected during pregnancy and at three postpartum meetings to address whether supplementation with placenta capsules improves postpartum affect, energy and recovery in comparison to a placebo supplement; whether there are differences within and between these two groups in concentration of prolactin, estradiol, and progesterone across meetings and whether these hormones are related to measures of postpartum affect, energy and recovery; and to identify the concentration of hormones, micronutrients, and environmental metals in dehydrated placenta capsules. The results suggest that participants receiving the placenta supplement experienced a postpartum decrease in depressive symptoms and fatigue that was not experienced by those taking the placebo supplement, but that hormonal differences were not related to these changes. Analysis of the placenta supplements also revealed modest concentrations of some micronutrients and hormones, as well as negligible concentrations of potentially harmful environmental metals

Psychotherapists Working with Homeless Clients: The Experience of Stress, Burnout Symptoms, and Coping

Stress, secondary trauma, and burnout symptoms are significant problems within the field of human services. Homeless clients present many challenges, frequently are highly traumatized, and often require many services. Psychotherapist working with homeless clients experience negative effects of exposure to the stress and trauma of homeless clients, and as a result must develop strategies for coping in order to continue in the work. This study used a mixed method design to investigate psychotherapists\u27 experience working with homeless clients through Healthcare for the Homeless grantee projects, and their strategies for coping with the stress of their work. A survey, which included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996), was used to determine the level of burnout. Nine grounded theory interviews were conducted and used to develop a theory of psychotherapist coping. Organizational responses to burnout in their providers, and attempts to help, were also investigated. In order to evaluate when in their career phases providers experienced higher levels of burnout symptoms, survey participants were sorted by job category, number of years working in a chosen field, and number of years working with homeless clients. A 3x2x2 Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted using the three scales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. No statistically significant differences were found. The qualitative data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. A theory of psychotherapist experience of working with homeless clients was developed. Key theory components included the complex work environment, individual coping, and organizational coping. The systemic nature of burnout was discussed. Suggestions for organizational changes were made including increasing their understanding of the complexities of the work with homeless clients, providing opportunities to reduce isolation, training supervisors, and providing high quality supervision services

Psychotherapists Working with Homeless Clients: The Experience of Stress, Burnout Symptoms, and Coping

Stress, secondary trauma, and burnout symptoms are significant problems within the field of human services. Homeless clients present many challenges, frequently are highly traumatized, and often require many services. Psychotherapist working with homeless clients experience negative effects of exposure to the stress and trauma of homeless clients, and as a result must develop strategies for coping in order to continue in the work. This study used a mixed method design to investigate psychotherapists\u27 experience working with homeless clients through Healthcare for the Homeless grantee projects, and their strategies for coping with the stress of their work. A survey, which included the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996), was used to determine the level of burnout. Nine grounded theory interviews were conducted and used to develop a theory of psychotherapist coping. Organizational responses to burnout in their providers, and attempts to help, were also investigated. In order to evaluate when in their career phases providers experienced higher levels of burnout symptoms, survey participants were sorted by job category, number of years working in a chosen field, and number of years working with homeless clients. A 3x2x2 Multiple Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was conducted using the three scales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. No statistically significant differences were found. The qualitative data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach. A theory of psychotherapist experience of working with homeless clients was developed. Key theory components included the complex work environment, individual coping, and organizational coping. The systemic nature of burnout was discussed. Suggestions for organizational changes were made including increasing their understanding of the complexities of the work with homeless clients, providing opportunities to reduce isolation, training supervisors, and providing high quality supervision services

A strategy for reducing turnaround time in design optimization using a distributed computer system

There is a need to explore methods for reducing lengthly computer turnaround or clock time associated with engineering design problems. Different strategies can be employed to reduce this turnaround time. One strategy is to run validated analysis software on a network of existing smaller computers so that portions of the computation can be done in parallel. This paper focuses on the implementation of this method using two types of problems. The first type is a traditional structural design optimization problem, which is characterized by a simple data flow and a complicated analysis. The second type of problem uses an existing computer program designed to study multilevel optimization techniques. This problem is characterized by complicated data flow and a simple analysis. The paper shows that distributed computing can be a viable means for reducing computational turnaround time for engineering design problems that lend themselves to decomposition. Parallel computing can be accomplished with a minimal cost in terms of hardware and software

How Any City Can Conduct a Utility Rate Study and Successfully Increase Rates (2012)

A guide to conduct utility rate studies and successfully implement rate increases

How Any City Can Conduct a Utility Rate Study and Successfully Increase Rates (2012)

A guide to conduct utility rate studies and successfully implement rate increases

Latinx and Asian Immigrants Across California Regions have Different Experiences with Law and Immigration Enforcement

Latinx and Asian immigrants, California's two largest immigrant groups, face barriers to health care and experience worse health outcomes compared to U.S.-born Californians. This is in part due in part to restrictive immigration policies that permit local law enforcement (e.g., police, sheriffs) to collaborate with immigration enforcement authorities in the surveillance, policing, and deportation of noncitizens.Authors used data from the Research on Immigrant Health and State Policy Study (RIGHTS) to examine Latinx and Asian immigrants' experiences with local law and federal immigration enforcement policies and practices in three California regions, Bay Area (n=305), Los Angeles and Southern California (n=989), and the San Joaquin Valley (n=141). The survey is a follow-up to the 2018 and 2019 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS). Respondents were asked if they had ever experienced any of six different encounters with surveillance, policing, or deportation by law enforcement, including local police, sheriffs, or immigration enforcement authorities

Environmental Sensitivity and Outdoor Recreation Setting Preferences

Over the last 30 years, researchers have considered the complexities of environmental sensitivity, specifically, the factors that cause people to care or be concerned about the environment. Such research emerges from the notion that environmental sensitivity is the first step in a developmental process that leads persons toward environmental literacy or what Chawla (1998) calls a sense of ownership and empowerment (p. 11) regarding protection of the environment. In this sense, environmental sensitivity becomes the foundation on which environmental educators can build. By exploring the relationship between environmental sensitivity and other variables, environmental educators may be provided with means of fostering pro-environmental attitudes and behavior. The present study sought to determine if people with different levels of environmental sensitivity prefer different kinds of outdoor recreation settings