Addressing Cultural Considerations of African Americans in Interdisciplinary Care

Communication and appreciation for culturally significant factors are essential to the helping relationship between the patient and the interdisciplinary team members in the health care setting. Historically, the relationship between African Americans and health care professionals in the American health care system has been one of mistrust based on unequal treatment, stereotypes, and other factors negatively affecting rapport. The main purpose of this study was to identify the cultural considerations within the Black and African American communities and their impact on the relationship between interdisciplinary care team members and their African American patients. This study used a qualitative grounded theory design and included 12 individuals aged 19 years and older recruited from the southeastern Pennsylvania, metro Philadelphia area. Semistructured interviews were conducted to gather information regarding cultural considerations African Americans deemed to be important in their interactions with interdisciplinary team members. Results identified 11 themes across five contexts that suggest relevant cultural factors for African Americans working with physical and mental health providers. Themes included Patient-Provider Collaboration, Personal Values and Sharing, Physical Environment, Empathy, Provider Reviews, Cultural Awareness and Competency, Racial Connections, Health Care Teams, Follow-up Referrals, Provider Mistrust, and Stereotypes and Stigma. Overlap in themes suggested the importance of the role of values and trust in rapport building during health care interactions. Future research may benefit from studies discussing and acknowledging the impact of providers eliciting the individual values relevant to African American patients during these patients\u27 health care visits on patients\u27 perceptions of trust and health outcomes

NFL Players\u27 Perceptions of Female Athletic Trainers

Please enjoy Volume 7, Issue 1 of the JSMAHS. In this issue, you will find Professional, Graduate, and Undergraduate research abstracts, and case reports. Thank you for viewing this 7th Annual OATA Special Edition

Quantitative Analysis of Metal Nanoparticle Ligand Shells

Nanoparticles (NPs) are used in an increasingly large number of applications ranging from coatings to sensing. Gold (Au) NPs, in particular, are emerging as some of the most well-studied and versatile particle types due to their facile synthesis, high stability, and wide range of morphologies. For these and all colloidal NPs, the surface chemistry can significantly impact physical properties and performance in downstream applications. The first step in leveraging this tunability is to develop analytical approaches to describe surface chemical features. Here, we introduce analytical approaches and resulting chemical insights that allow one to quantify, predict, and control the extent of ligand exchange on a range inorganic NPs. We present data to establish the dynamic range, chemical resolution, and substrate generality of our NMR-based ligand quantification approach. First, we determine ligand density values for thiolated single-moiety ligand shells. We then use these data to describe ligand exchange behavior with a second, thiolated molecule to identify trends in AuNP functionalization efficiency as a function of ligand properties and exchange methodologies. Finally, we use our quantification method to analyze a diversity of particle shapes, sizes, and compositions. In the studied systems, several trends emerge that ultimately serve as design rules for the generation of well-controlled ligand shells on metal NPs. In particular, we find that AuNPs functionalized with thiolated molecules exhibit a range of exchange efficiencies that strongly depend on the structure of the existing ligand shell. Further, we demonstrate that ligand incorporation into the final ligand shell varies based on the strength of the ligand binding moiety and binding affinity to the AuNP, with stoichiometric loading more closely achieved in cases where the ligands have a weaker affinity for the NP as well as with ligands that exhibit limited intermolecular interactions. Finally, we discuss the ligand loading trends in relation to particle size, composition, and shapes to probe how these aspects of particle morphology may or may not influence the ligand loading. Taken together, the reported results provide advances in the fundamental understanding of mixed ligand shell formation and are important for the use of AuNPs in a variety of applications

American libraries in wartime: the role of propaganda

This paper examines several periods of military conflict in American history and how these periods had an effect on the spread of propaganda through public libraries. First, it investigates the events leading up to, and including, the First World War in the years from 1914 to 1918. Although America was only actively involved in the war for a short period of time, propaganda was at work in the years leading up to military involvement. The paper then looks at propaganda in the aftermath of the war and the period leading up to and including World War II, mainly the years 1941 to 1945. Propaganda was still in heavy use at this time, although librarians were more aware of its existence and effects. After this war ended, the United States became involved in the Cold War and propaganda was not as often discussed in library literature. This paper will briefly looks at how McCarthy, Korea, and Vietnam all played a role in refining librarians' views on propaganda through the middle of the century. The paper concludes with an examination of how the legacy of the twentieth-century has followed librarians into the 1990s and 2000s. Modern warfare coupled with the attacks on 9/11 brought propaganda into a new, high-tech arena, and librarians have had to learn to teach patrons to find and judge information on their own

Cytotoxic Aggregation and Amyloid Formation by the Myostatin Precursor Protein

Myostatin, a negative regulator of muscle growth, has been implicated in sporadic inclusion body myositis (sIBM). sIBM is the most common age-related muscle-wastage disease with a pathogenesis similar to that of amyloid disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Myostatin precursor protein (MstnPP) has been shown to associate with large molecular weight filamentous inclusions containing the Alzheimer's amyloid beta peptide in sIBM tissue, and MstnPP is upregulated following ER stress. The mechanism for how MstnPP contributes to disease pathogenesis is unknown. Here, we show for the first time that MstnPP is capable of forming amyloid fibrils in vitro. When MstnPP-containing Escherichia coli inclusion bodies are refolded and purified, a proportion of MstnPP spontaneously misfolds into amyloid-like aggregates as characterised by electron microscopy and binding of the amyloid-specific dye thioflavin T. When subjected to a slightly acidic pH and elevated temperature, the aggregates form straight and unbranched amyloid fibrils 15 nm in diameter and also exhibit higher order amyloid structures. Circular dichroism spectroscopy reveals that the amyloid fibrils are dominated by β-sheet and that their formation occurs via a conformational change that occurs at a physiologically relevant temperature. Importantly, MstnPP aggregates and protofibrils have a negative effect on the viability of myoblasts. These novel results show that the myostatin precursor protein is capable of forming amyloid structures in vitro with implications for a role in sIBM pathogenesis

Acidosis slows electrical conduction through the atrio-ventricular node

Acidosis affects the mechanical and electrical activity of mammalian hearts but comparatively little is known about its effects on the function of the atrio-ventricular node (AVN). In this study, the electrical activity of the epicardial surface of the left ventricle of isolated Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts was examined using optical methods. Perfusion with hypercapnic Tyrode's solution (20% CO2, pH 6.7) increased the time of earliest activation (Tact) from 100.5 ± 7.9 to 166.1 ± 7.2 ms (n = 8) at a pacing cycle length (PCL) of 300 ms (37°C). Tact increased at shorter PCL, and the hypercapnic solution prolonged Tact further: at 150 ms PCL, Tact was prolonged from 131.0 ± 5.2 to 174.9 ± 16.3 ms. 2:1 AVN block was common at shorter cycle lengths. Atrial and ventricular conduction times were not significantly affected by the hypercapnic solution suggesting that the increased delay originated in the AVN. Isolated right atrial preparations were superfused with Tyrode's solutions at pH 7.4 (control), 6.8 and 6.3. Low pH prolonged the atrial-Hisian (AH) interval, the AVN effective and functional refractory periods and Wenckebach cycle length significantly. Complete AVN block occurred in 6 out of 9 preparations. Optical imaging of conduction at the AV junction revealed increased conduction delay in the region of the AVN, with less marked effects in atrial and ventricular tissue. Thus acidosis can dramatically prolong the AVN delay, and in combination with short cycle lengths, this can cause partial or complete AVN block and is therefore implicated in the development of brady-arrhythmias in conditions of local or systemic acidosis

Data Services Librarians’ Responsibilities and Perspectives on Research Data Management

This study of data services librarians is part of a series of studies examining the current roles and perspectives on Research Data Management (RDM) services in higher education. Reviewing current best practices provides insights into the role-based responsibilities for RDM services that data services librarians perform, as well as ways to improve and create new services to meet the needs of their respective university communities. Objectives: The objectives of this article are to provide the context of research data services through a review of past studies, explain how they informed this qualitative study, and provide the methods and results of the current study. This study provides an in-depth overview of the overall job responsibilities of data services librarians and as well as their perspectives on RDM through job analyses. Methods: Job analysis interviews provide insight and context to the tasks employees do as described in their own words. Interviews with 10 data services librarians recruited from the top 10 public and top 10 private universities according to the 2020 Best National University Rankings in the US News and World Reports were asked 30 questions concerning their overall job tasks and perspectives on RDM. Five public and five private data services librarians were interviewed. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The transcriptions were analyzed in NVivo using a grounded theory application of open, axial, and selective coding to generate categories and broad themes based on the responses using synonymous meanings. Results: The results presented here provide the typical job tasks of data services librarians that include locating secondary data, reviewing data management plans (DMPs), conducting outreach, collaborating, and offering RDM training. Fewer data services librarians assisted with data curation or manage an institutional repository. Discussion: The results indicate that there may be different types of data services librarians depending on the mix of responsibilities. Academic librarianship will benefit from further delineation of job titles using tasks while planning, advertising, hiring, and evaluating workers in this emerging area. There remain many other explorations needed to understand the challenges and opportunities for data services librarians related to RDM. Conclusions: This article concludes with a proposed matrix of job tasks that indicates different types of data services librarians to inform further study. Future job descriptions, training, and education will all benefit from differentiating between the many associated research data services roles and with increased focus on research data greater specializations will emerge

Standing dead trees are a conduit for the atmospheric flux of CH4 and CO2 from wetlands

In vegetated wetland ecosystems, plants can be a dominant pathway in the atmospheric flux of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Although the roles of herbaceous vegetation and live woody vegetation in this flux have been established, the role of dead woody vegetation is not yet known. In a restored wetland of North Carolina’s coastal plain, static flux chambers were deployed at two heights on standing dead trees to determine if these structures acted as a conduit for methane emissions. Methane fluxes to the atmosphere were measured in five of the chambers, with a mean flux of 0.4±0.1 mg m-2 h-1. Methane consumption was also measured in three of the chambers, with a mean flux of -0.6±0.3 mg m-2 h-1. Standing dead trees were also a source of the flux of CO2 (114.6±23.8 mg m-2 h-1) to the atmosphere. Results confirm that standing dead trees represent a conduit for the atmospheric flux of carbon gases from wetlands. However, several questions remain regarding the ultimate source of these carbon gases, the controls on the magnitude and direction of this flux, the mechanisms that induce this flux, and the importance of this pathway relative to other sources at the landscape level

Overview of the BlockNormal Event Trigger Generator

In the search for unmodeled gravitational wave bursts, there are a variety of methods that have been proposed to generate candidate events from time series data. Block Normal is a method of identifying candidate events by searching for places in the data stream where the characteristic statistics of the data change. These change-points divide the data into blocks in which the characteristics of the block are stationary. Blocks in which these characteristics are inconsistent with the long term characteristic statistics are marked as Event-Triggers which can then be investigated by a more computationally demanding multi-detector analysis.Comment: GWDAW-8 proceedings, 6 pages, 2 figure

The Role of Attention-Deficit/hyperactivity Disorder in the Association between Verbal Ability and Conduct Disorder

Although there is clear evidence that low verbal ability is a risk factor for conduct disorder (CD), some researchers have questioned whether this association is due to the common comorbidity between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and CD. The present study examined the association among verbal ability, ADHD, and CD in a genetically informative sample in order to examine the role of genes and/or environmental influences shared in common with ADHD on the covariation between verbal ability and CD. Participants were 2744 adolescents from the Center for Antisocial Drug Dependence (CADD), and included 360 monozygotic (MZ) female twin pairs, 221 dizygotic (DZ) female twin pairs, 297 MZ male twin pairs, 220 DZ male twin pairs, and 274 opposite-sex DZ twin pairs. The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-IV) was used to assess lifetime symptoms of ADHD and CD. Verbal ability was assessed via the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale III (WAIS-III) for individuals over the age of 16 and the Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III (WISC-III) for individuals under the age of 16. There was a small but significant negative covariance between verbal ability and CD and between verbal ability and ADHD. Results also suggest that the covariation between verbal ability and CD is due to influences shared in common with ADHD