Exploring critical media health literacy (CMHL) in the online classroom.

Critical media health literacy (CMHL) is concerned with identifying healthrelated messages in the media, acknowledging the potential effects on health behaviours, critically analyzing the content of the message, and the subsequent application of the message to one’s health behaviours (Levin-Zamir & Bertschi, 2018). This exploratory research examined the CMHL skills of students (n = 120) in an entry-level, online asynchronous health and wellness course, by examining their ability to think critically about health-related themes presented in news media articles online and apply course-based knowledge during a Twitter event. Employing a content analysis of tweets from the event, students were found to illustrate CMHL skills when interacting with peers on Twitter, more than when directly assessing online news media. The findings suggest that the course curriculum be altered to include CMHL skills, to better equip students with the ability to identify accurate health information in the media

Student and Agency Personnel Perceptions of the Impact of Community Service-Learning

The purpose of this study was to investigate student and agency personnel perceptions of the impact of community service-learning across several different courses at a Midwestern metropolitan university. Eighty-five students and 18 community agency personnel completed the Service-Learning Index. The results of the study indicated that student and agency personnel perceptions of the impact of community service-learning were positive and similar and did not vary across academic disciplines. Perspectives about the service-learning course received the highest ratings from both students and community agency personnel. Recommendations were made to expand the community service-learning program at the university where the study took place

Examining the experiences of justice-involved youth with mental health and substance use needs

Awareness surrounding the impact of psychological/mental health and substance use needs among young people involved in the justice system has increased in recent years. The life trajectories of youth who have justice system involvement are plagued with inequality created by various structural and social factors. Of these, mental health and substance use are among the most commonly reported. Youth who experience potentially traumatic events and are exposed to adverse events early in life, particularly childhood, have been found to experience greater psychological/mental health and substance use needs, and increased justice system involvement (Felitti et al., 1998, 2002; Abram et al, 2004; Baglivio et al., 2014, 2020). The present study relied on data from the case files of 192 youth probationers from Western Canada who were classified as “serious/violent”, to explore their mental health and substance use behaviours. Findings are discussed with regard to how justice-involved youth with “high/specialized” mental health and/or substance use needs specifically, have unique experiences of mental health and substance use compared to other justice-involved youth. Results demonstrate the importance of examining how trauma and adverse experiences in early childhood and youth affect specific psychological responses/health-related issues and higher-level substance use

THE NES WRITING AND COMMUNICATION CENTER: THE CASE FOR STUDENT-ORIENTED WRITING CENTERS IN RUSSIA

The Writing and Communication Center (WCC) at the New Economic School (NES) turned five years old in 2016 and remains the oldest writing center in Russia. Unlike many of its counterparts throughout the country, the WCC at NES has a special focus on student writing. This article offers an overview of the WCC's philosophy and current activities and presents a case for prioritizing students in writing centers. It also provides an analysis of the session reports collected from consultants from 2013-2016 in order to identify patterns of use at the writing center and understand the needs and expectations of students who visit. Experts in the field tie the growth of the information economy to rising demand for advanced literacy in all walks of life. Developing good writing habits and skills in both native and foreign languages is becoming increasingly important not only for academic success but in a variety of professions. Writing centers therefore play a critical role in preparing students for their futures

Reflecting Parameter Uncertainty in Addition to Variability in Constrained Healthcare Resource Discrete Event Simulations : Worth Going the Extra Mile or a Road to Nowhere?

Objectives Probabilistic sensitivity analysis (PSA) has been shown to reduce bias in outcomes of health economic models. However, only 1 existing study has been identified that incorporates PSA within a resource-constrained discrete event simulation (DES) model. This article aims to assess whether it is feasible and appropriate to use PSA to characterize parameter uncertainty in DES models that are primarily constructed to explore the impact of constrained resources. Methods PSA is incorporated into a new case study of an Emergency Department DES. Structured expert elicitation is used to derive the variability and uncertainty input distributions associated with length of time taken to complete key activities within the Emergency Department. Potential challenges of implementation and analysis are explored. Results The results of a trial of the model, which used the best estimates of the elicited means and variability around the time taken to complete activities, provided a reasonable fit to the data for length of time within the Emergency Department. However, there was substantial and skewed uncertainty around the activity times estimated from the elicitation exercise. This led to patients taking almost 3 weeks to leave the Emergency Department in some PSA runs, which would not occur in practice. Conclusions Structured expert elicitation can be used to derive plausible estimates of activity times and their variability, but experts’ uncertainty can be substantial. For parameters that have an impact on interactions within a resource-constrained simulation model, PSA can lead to implausible model outputs; hence, other methods may be needed

The intellectual capital supporting nurse practice in a post-emergency state: A case study

Aim To explore the resources supporting current nurse practice in the post-emergency country of Liberia, using the nursing intellectual capital framework, as nurses work to meet the targets set by Government of Liberia\u27s Essential Package of Health Services. Design Case study. Methods Data were collected in Liberia February–June 2019. Direct observation, semi-structured interviews and photographs were used to investigate how nurse practice is supported. Field notes, transcripts and photographs were coded using both directed and conventional content analysis. Reports were then generated by code to triangulate the data. Results Thirty-seven nurses at 12 health facilities participated. The intellectual capital supporting inpatient and outpatient nurse practice differs in important ways. Inpatient nurse practice is more likely to be supported by facility-based protocols and trainings, whereas outpatient nurse practice is more likely to be supported by external protocols and trainings, often developed by the Liberian government or non-governmental organizations. This can lead to uneven provision of inpatient protocols and trainings, often favouring private facilities. Similarly, inpatient nurses rely primarily on other nurses at their facilities for clinical support while outpatient nurses often have external professional relationships that provided them with clinical guidance. Conclusion Much has been accomplished to enable outpatient nurses to provide the primary- and secondary-care target services in the Essential Package of Health Services. However, as the Liberian government and its partners continue to work towards providing certain tertiary care services, developing analogous protocols, trainings and clinical mentorship networks for inpatient nurses will likely be fruitful, and will decrease the burden on individual facilities. Impact Nurses are often expected to meet new service provision targets in post-emergency states. Further research into how best to support nurses as they work to meet those targets has the potential to strengthen health systems

Negotiating stance within discourses of class: reactions to Benefits Street

In this article, we examine the way that audiences respond to particular representations of poverty. Using clips from the Channel 4 television programme Benefits Street we conducted focus groups in four locations across the UK, working with people from different socioeconomic backgrounds who had different experiences with the benefits system. Benefits Street (2014) is an example of reality television where members of the public are followed by film crews as they perform everyday tasks and routines. Our choice to focus on this particular programme was prompted by the huge media response that it received when it was broadcast; Benefits Street generated 950 complaints to regulatory watchdog Ofcom (2014) and was referred to as ‘poverty porn’ (Clark, 2014). We focus on the way that viewers of this programme produce assessments of those on benefits, analysing the discursive strategies used by our participants when evaluating representations of those on benefits. Specifically, we consider how the participants in our study construct their own stance and attribute stance to others through naming and agency practices, the negotiation of opinion, and stake inoculation. We invited our participants to judge the people they saw on screen, but they went beyond this. They used clips of the programme as stimuli to collaboratively construct an overarchingly-negative stereotype of those on benefits. We conclude that Benefits Street is not just an entertainment programme, but is rather a site for ideological construction and the perpetuation of existing stereotypes about benefit claimants. The programme (and others like it) invites negative evaluations of those on benefits and is thus a worthy site for critical linguistic analysis

Identification of PKD1L1 Gene Variants in Children with the Biliary Atresia Splenic Malformation Syndrome

Biliary atresia (BA) is the most common cause of end‐stage liver disease in children and the primary indication for pediatric liver transplantation, yet underlying etiologies remain unknown. Approximately 10% of infants affected by BA exhibit various laterality defects (heterotaxy) including splenic abnormalities and complex cardiac malformations — a distinctive subgroup commonly referred to as the biliary atresia splenic malformation (BASM) syndrome. We hypothesized that genetic factors linking laterality features with the etiopathogenesis of BA in BASM patients could be identified through whole exome sequencing (WES) of an affected cohort. DNA specimens from 67 BASM subjects, including 58 patient‐parent trios, from the NIDDK‐supported Childhood Liver Disease Research Network (ChiLDReN) underwent WES. Candidate gene variants derived from a pre‐specified set of 2,016 genes associated with ciliary dysgenesis and/or dysfunction or cholestasis were prioritized according to pathogenicity, population frequency, and mode of inheritance. Five BASM subjects harbored rare and potentially deleterious bi‐allelic variants in polycystin 1‐like 1, PKD1L1, a gene associated with ciliary calcium signaling and embryonic laterality determination in fish, mice and humans. Heterozygous PKD1L1 variants were found in 3 additional subjects. Immunohistochemical analysis of liver from the one BASM subject available revealed decreased PKD1L1 expression in bile duct epithelium when compared to normal livers and livers affected by other non‐cholestatic diseases. Conclusion WES identified bi‐allelic and heterozygous PKD1L1 variants of interest in 8 BASM subjects from the ChiLDReN dataset. The dual roles for PKD1L1 in laterality determination and ciliary function suggest that PKD1L1 is a new, biologically plausible, cholangiocyte‐expressed candidate gene for the BASM syndrome

Brexit and the Cultural Sector

A collaborative ebook on the effects of the Brexit vote on the UK's cultural sector and its agents: "It's not just the economy, stupid! Brexit and the Cultural Sector", edited by Gesa Stedman and Sandra van Lente. Our contributors come from a broad range of cultural and artistic practice and many of them worry about two aspects which have come to the fore in the context of Brexit: the stark social rift which separates the Leave and Remain camps, and the nasty rise of xenophobia and insularity in all its different shapes and forms. Although our authors do not intend to be read or viewed as all-encompassing, and although they differ in respect to the focus they chose for their essays, poems, or statements, one aspect unifies their utterances: passion. Passion for the multi-faceted characteristics of culture, language, exchange, dialogue, border-crossings, passion for an outward-looking approach to both Britain, its different nations, and its neighbours close and far. A passionate fear of what Britain might lose in the process of departing from the EU. And the fear of loss does not concentrate on the loss of revenue or even on the probable obstacles to travel and artistic exchange once Brexit is in place. But the loss of ambivalence and ambiguity, the loss of conflicting opinions, texts, stances, diversity, in short: everything that culture, which is free to find its own forms of expression, is valued for