Mentes Positivas en Acción: Feasibility Study of a Promotor-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management Program for Low-Income Spanish-Speaking Latinas.

Purpose: Low-income Latino immigrants lack access to mental health providers. We explored the feasibility of training promotores to deliver a stress management program in community settings. Methods: We trained promotores to deliver an 8-week intervention program comprising evidence-based cognitive-behavioral stress management techniques. Trained promotores then delivered the program to Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants. Results: Promotores (n=10) improved their knowledge significantly after the training (p<0.001) and delivered the program demonstrating excellent fidelity. Participants who received the program (n=50) had significantly improved scores on immigration stress, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms (p<0.001). Conclusion: It is feasible to train Latino promotores to deliver an effective stress management program to low-income Latino immigrants in their communities. Results contribute to a growing literature on the value of such interventions in community settings. If it is found to be effective in future studies, the program could help fill a large need in the Latino community

Diverging Discourses: Animal Health Challenges and Veterinary Care in Northern Uganda

People in northern Uganda are currently rebuilding their lives after a lengthy period of conflict. To facilitate this, the Ugandan government and donors have promoted investment in pigs as an important strategy for generating income quickly and ensuring livelihood security. In this context, animal health issues are an acknowledged challenge, creating uncertainty for animal owners who risk losing both their animals and income. This paper draws on policy documents guiding the veterinary sector, interviews with faculty staff at Makerere University and with veterinarians and paraprofessionals in northern Uganda, and ethnographic fieldwork in smallholder communities. The aims of this study were to contribute to an understanding of the structure of veterinary support and its dominant development narratives in policy and veterinary education and of the way in which dominant discourses and practices affect smallholders' ability to treat sick animals. Particular attention was paid to the role of paraprofessionals, here referring to actors with varied levels of training who provide animal health services mainly in rural areas. The results suggest that veterinary researchers, field veterinarians and government officials in agricultural policy share a common discourse in which making smallholders more business-minded and commercializing smallholder production are important elements in reducing rural poverty in Uganda. This way of framing smallholder livestock production overlooks other important challenges faced by smallholders in their livestock production, as well as alternative views of agricultural development. The public veterinary sector is massively under-resourced; thus while inadequately trained paraprofessionals and insufficient veterinary support currently present a risks to animal health, paraprofessionals fulfill an important role for smallholders unable to access the public veterinary sector. The dominant discourse framing paraprofessionals as "quacks" tends to downplay how important they are to smallholders by mainly highlighting the negative outcomes for animal healthcare resulting from their lack of formalized training. The conclusions of this study are that both animal health and smallholders' livelihoods would benefit from closer collaboration between veterinarians and paraprofessionals and from a better understanding of smallholders' needs

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Interventions Used to Reduce Exposure to House Dust and Their Effect on the Development and Severity of Asthma

We assessed whether any household dust reduction intervention has the effect of increasing or decreasing the development or severity of atopic disease. Electronic searches on household intervention and atopic disease were conducted in 2007 in EMBASE, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We included randomized controlled trials comparing asthma outcomes in a household intervention group with either placebo intervention or no intervention. Meta-analyses on the prevention studies found that the interventions made no difference to the onset of wheeze but made a significant reduction in physician-diagnosed asthma. Meta-analysis of lung function outcomes indicated no improvement due to the interventions but found a reduction in symptom days. Qualitatively, health care was used less in those receiving interventions. However, in one study that compared intervention, placebo, and control arms, the reduction in heath care use was similar in the placebo and intervention arms. This review suggests that there is not sufficient evidence to suggest implementing hygiene measures in an attempt to improve outcomes in existing atopic disease, but interventions from birth in those at high risk of atopy are useful in preventing diagnosed asthma but not parental-reported wheeze

Limitations and opportunities of smallholders' practical knowledge when dealing with pig health issues in northern Uganda

Pig production has a short history in Uganda. The majority of pigs are kept by smallholder farmers in rural areas where access to veterinary services is limited, and pig keeping has been suggested as a potential pathway out of poverty for smallholders. Previous research has identified the disease of African swine fever (ASF) as a major threat, causing high mortalities in pigs. With no available cure or vaccine, the only option is to implement biosecurity measures, i.e. strategies that prevent the spread of ASF. This paper draws on data from four months of ethnographic fieldwork in rural northern Uganda. Combining methods of participant observation, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and a survey, the aim was to improve understanding of smallholders' perceptions and responses to pig health issues such as ASF. Applying the concept of practical knowledge, this paper analyses the potential and limitations of smallholders' practice-based knowledge as a means of dealing with pig health issues. The results show that while pigs were appreciated locally for providing an income, many informants found it difficult to deal with pig diseases effectively. Consequently, informants commonly expressed a need for other kinds of knowledge in their pig production, indicating that veterinary advice can play an important role in reducing the negative impact of pig health issues. For animal health provision to have relevance in this context, however, veterinary practitioners must pay close attention to smallholders' priorities and ways of knowing in their livestock keeping. Results further show that pig health issues made some informants abandon pig production altogether. To enhance the potential of pig production as a poverty mitigation strategy in Uganda, research and policy need to focus on ways of bettering general conditions for smallholder pig keeping, including improving the quality of and access to veterinary services in rural areas

Bacterial Contamination of Equine Dentistry Equipment—Effect of Cleaning and Disinfection

Simple Summary Some of the equipment used in equine dentistry is difficult to clean and disinfect. Since it is vital to avoid the spread of infections in equine healthcare it is important to develop practical and easy-to-follow methods for cleaning and disinfecting dental equipment. The aim of this study was to investigate hygiene in equine dentistry. Dental equipment and the head support, where horses rest their head during dental care, were sampled for the amount of bacteria between each patient before and after dental care as well as after cleaning and/or disinfecting. The amount of bacteria was, in general, high on dental equipment and the head support after dental procedures. Bacteria were found in different amounts on most of the dental equipment after cleaning or disinfecting, which indicates a risk for spreading infections when using the equipment. For the head support, cleaning and/or disinfecting generally resulted in a reduced amount of bacteria, indicating a lowered risk for spreading infections. There is a great need for evidence-based guidelines on hygiene in equine dentistry to decrease the risk of transmitting infections between patients, facilities, and stables. Equine dentistry has developed immensely and human dental equipment, such as handpieces, are often used. Measures to avoid the spread of infectious microorganisms are important, but this is challenging since handpieces are difficult to decontaminate. Thus, it is necessary to develop effective IPC measures in equine dentistry. The aim of this study was to contribute to the evidence needed for future evidence-based guidelines on IPC by investigating hygiene in equine dentistry. Used handpieces and dummies (i.e., handpieces not used during dental procedure, reflecting environmental bacterial contamination) and the head support were sampled each day before the first patient, for each patient after treatment, and after decontamination. All equipment was sampled with 3M (TM) Swab Samplers and the head support additionally sampled with dip slides. After dental procedures, the detected bacterial load was often high on used handpieces, dummies, and the head support. After decontamination, handpieces did not meet the criteria for high-level disinfected equipment. In all but one case decontamination of the head support resulted in a lowered bacterial load. There is a great need for evidence-based guidelines on hygiene in equine dentistry, including IPC measures, to decrease the risk of spreading infectious microorganisms between patients, facilities, and stables

Polarization and acoustic properties of barium-modified lead-free potassium–sodium niobate ceramics

The publication costs of this article were covered by the Estonian Academy of Sciences and the University of Tartu.Results of polarization and polarization switching in samples prepared by solid phase synthesis of the (1-х)(K0.5Na0.5)(Nb0.93Sb0.07)O3–xBaTiO3 + 0.5mol%MnO2 system at x = 0.01, 0.02, and 0.04 (KNNS7–xBT) studied over a wide range of temperatures are reported. The observed features of the dielectric nonlinearity at the ferroelectric and structural phase transitions in the materials are described. The dielectric response data of the samples of different contents of the admixture in the KNNS7–xВT ceramics are compared with the behaviour of their elastic properties.Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART

Behaviour of thermal expansion of (1-x)Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3–xPbTiO3 solid solutions

The publication costs of this article were covered by the Estonian Academy of Sciences and the University of Tartu.The features of the dependence of the bulk coefficient of thermal expansion of the (1-x)Pb(Ni1/3Nb2/3)O3-xPbTiO3 solid solution studied in the series of x = 0-0.8 in the temperature range from 100 to 750 K are reported. The obtained data and observed anomalies of thermal expansion are compared with dielectric properties, heat capacity, and the phase diagram of concentration. The anomalous and lattice constituents of deformation and of the coefficient of thermal expansion are analysed and the data on deformation are used to estimate the Burns temperature and the mean square polarization of the samples found to decrease with the decrease of the PbTiO3 concentration.Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia as the Center of Excellence has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART