The Relationship between Ventriculoperitoneal Shunts and Shunt Revisions versus Visual Complaints among Patients with Spina Bifida in the Arkansas Spina Bifida Research Project

Many patients with Spina Bifida suffer from hydrocephalus as a complication of their developmental disability and surgeons commonly treat this condition with ventriculoperitoneal shunts. Surgeons have speculated for years that these shunts may cause some type of visual disturbance because of their close proximity to the visual pathways in the brain. Little research has been done, however, to support or discourage this commonly held belief. Questions and data from the Arkansas Spina Bifida Research Project were used to examine whether ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunts and VP shunt revisions increase reports of visual complaints for the individuals participating in this research project. This cross sectional design used responses to the vision questions from the 2005 Arkansas Spina Bifida Questionnaire. Results showed a 333% increase in reported vision complaints after receiving a VP shunt, but no significance with the increase in vision complaints for those having three or more VP shunt revisions. Females were 50% to 60% less likely to report vision complaints in both multivariate linear logistic models. While these results indicate the potential relationship between VP shunts and vision concerns, they must be viewed cautiously in light of study limitations due to the small sample size, selection bias, and study design

A Christian Perspective on World Religions

Throughout the history of Christianity, Christians have questioned how they, individually as well as collectively, should view other religious traditions. From the musings of Christian thinkers, one can discern four possible relationships between Christianity and other faiths. Some thinkers see Christianity as having continuity with other traditions. Those who hold this view strongly contend that Christianity is no different from other traditions as a means of existence. Christianity is similar to other faiths but has special status as one\u27s heritage or cultural background describes the weaker continuity position. Others hold that discontinuity exists between Christianity and other faiths. The weaker discontinuity position recognizes that other religions contain some value or truth, but only Christianity possesses the whole truth. The strong discontinuity view proclaims Christianity to be the only valid religion; other traditions have no value or truth. This strong discontinuity view is inconsistent with the other three opinions. It comes through history in the writings of Augustine, Luther, and Barth. As a Fundamentalist position it can be found in the doctrine of the American Neo-Fundamentalists of the late 1970s and 1980s. Is Christianity the only valid religion? That is the question to be addressed in this paper

Interview with Regina Sullivan by Brien Williams

Biographical NoteRegina Sullivan was born on January 16, 1957, to Richard and Julia Sullivan in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Washington, DC. Her father was chief counsel to the House Public Works and Transportation Committee and her mother ran a nonprofit organization called Candle Lighters Childhood Cancer Foundation. Regina was graduated from Bishop Dennis J. O’Connell High School and went on to Regis University in Denver, Colorado, where she received a degree in economics. During her senior year of college, she worked for Denver Mayor Bill McNichols. After graduation she returned to Washington, D.C., where she took a temporary job in Senator Ed Muskie’s office. She worked there for approximately four months helping the receptionist and doing filing. She went back to Denver to help run a city council race, and then decided to move back to Washington as a legislative correspondent in Muskie’s office. She stayed on when Mitchell was appointed to fill Muskie’s vacant Senate seat. When Charlie Jacobs came on staff as head of scheduling, she became his assistant. She worked on scheduling in Maine for the 1982 campaign; after Mitchell won the seat, she returned to Washington and worked as the deputy press secretary, later going back to the front office to do scheduling and worked as a liaison between Mitchell’s Senate staff and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) staff. In 1986 she left Mitchell’s office and started a government relations firm, now R. Sullivan & Associates, where she continued to work at the time of this interview. SummaryInterview includes discussion of: Regis University; starting work in Senator Muskie’s office; working on a city council race in Denver, Colorado; working for Mayor McNichols in Denver; learning about Congress while growing up in Washington, D.C.; working as a legislative correspondent for Muskie; the transition in the office when Mitchell was appointed to fill Muskie’s seat; the degree of changeover or continuity in staff between Muskie and Mitchell; Mitchell’s first Banking Committee hearing and Senator Proxmire’s praise of his performance; working on Mitchell’s scheduling in Maine; working in Maine on the 1982 election; Mitchell’s work ethic, especially on the campaign; Mitchell’s relationship with Senator Cohen; 1982 U.S. Senate campaign and David Emery; moving over to the press office; the complications that arose from Mitchell’s attempts to travel back to Maine every weekend; Mitchell’s relationship with the women on his staff; the “fun times” they had on the campaign; commiserating with other senators’ schedulers; what Sullivan learned from and respected about Senators Muskie and Mitchell; the increasing partisanship on Capitol Hill; and Mitchell’s ability to see other opportunities to do public service beyond his Senate career

Near-field angular distributions of high velocity ions for low-power hall thrusters

Experimental angular distributions of high-energy primary ions in the near-field region of a small Hall thruster between 50-200 mm downstream of the thruster exit plane at a range of centerline angles have been determined using a highly-collimated, energy-selective diagnostic probe. The measurements reveal a wide angular distribution of ions exiting the thruster channel and the formation of a strong, axially-directed jet of ions along the thruster centerline. Comparisons are made to other experimental determinations as applicable

Hollow Cathode and Low-Thrust Extraction Grid Analysis for a Miniature Ion Thruster

Miniature ion thrusters are well suited for future space missions that require high efficiency, precision thrust, and low contamination in the mN to sub-mN range. JPL’s miniature xenon Ion (MiXI) thruster has demonstrated an efficient discharge and ion extraction grid assembly using filament cathodes and the internal conduction (IC) cathode. JPL is currently preparing to incorporate a miniature hollow cathode for the MiXI discharge. Computational analyses anticipate that an axially upstream hollow cathode location provides the most favorable performance and beam profile; however, the hot surfaces of the hollow cathode must be sufficiently downstream to avoid demagnetization of the cathode magnet at the back of the chamber, which can significantly reduce discharge performance. MiXI’s ion extraction grids are designed to provide >3mN of thrust; however, previous to this effort, the low-thrust characteristics had not been investigated. Experimental results obtained with the MiXI-II thruster (a near replica or the original MiXI thruster) show that sparse average discharge plasma densities of ∼5×10^15–5×10^16 m^−3 allow the use of very low beamlet focusing extraction voltages of only ∼250–500 V, thus providing thrust levels as low as 0.03 mN for focused beamlet conditions. Consequently, the thrust range thus far demonstrated by MiXI in this and other tests is 0.03–1.54 mN

Enduring Neurobehavioral Effects of Early Life Trauma Mediated Through Learning and Corticosterone Suppression

Early life trauma alters later life emotions, including fear. To better understand mediating mechanisms, we subjected pups to either predictable or unpredictable trauma, in the form of paired or unpaired odor-0.5 mA shock conditioning which, during a sensitive period, produces an odor preference and no learning respectively. Fear conditioning and its neural correlates were then assessed after the sensitive period at postnatal day (PN)13 or in adulthood, ages when amygdala-dependent fear occurs. Our results revealed that paired odor-shock conditioning starting during the sensitive period (PN8–12) blocked fear conditioning in older infants (PN13) and pups continued to express olfactory bulb-dependent odor preference learning. This PN13 fear learning inhibition was also associated with suppression of shock-induced corticosterone, although the age appropriate amygdala-dependent fear learning was reinstated with systemic corticosterone (3 mg/kg) during conditioning. On the other hand, sensitive period odor-shock conditioning did not prevent adult fear conditioning, although freezing, amygdala and hippocampal 2-DG uptake and corticosterone levels were attenuated compared to adult conditioning without infant conditioning. Normal levels of freezing, amygdala and hippocampal 2-DG uptake were induced with systemic corticosterone (5 mg/kg) during adult conditioning. These results suggest that the contingency of early life trauma mediates at least some effects of early life stress through learning and suppression of corticosterone levels. However, developmental differences between infants and adults are expressed with PN13 infants' learning consistent with the original learned preference, while adult conditioning overrides the original learned preference with attenuated amygdala-dependent fear learning

Integration of Disability Studies and Culinary Instruction into Nutrition Curriculum Development

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is currently promoting the advancement of cultural humility as a means for nutritional professionals to better appreciate the lived experience and identities of others as well as the power dynamics that create health inequalities. At the same time, the Academy has struggled to advance services to underserved populations such as those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) and autism spectrum disorder. Here the authors argue that both goals can be achieved by involving nutrition students in the teaching of food preparation skills to individuals with IDD. Dietetic students emerge with an enhanced understanding of marginalized populations and individuals with IDD develop important life skills contributing to improved dietary quality. Two programs based upon the Active Engagement protocol are described herein, both of which advance food skills and cultural humility amongst participants

Exploring Dual Roles in Law Enforcement Officers Who Administer Naloxone

With the introduction of law enforcement-administered naloxone, officers are assuming the dual role of law enforcer and caregiver with opioid users. This study used cognitive role theory and Thorne’s interpretive approach to explore the dual roles experienced by officers. The purpose of this study was to understand (1) how officers who administer naloxone describe their experience of the dual role, and (2) how the officers describe the role expectations of law enforcer and caregiver. Seven officers completed semi-structured, one-on-one, telephone interviews. The eight themes that emerged were related to the officers’ views of (1) saving and changing opioid users’ lives; (2) humanizing the officers; (3) mental health, stress, and trauma of officers; (4) the cycle of opioid reuse and re-arrest of opioid users; (5) views of the opioid user; (6) views of their role; (7) flaws and recommended improvements to the system; and (8) views of the naloxone program. Findings showed the dual role has created role ambiguity and conflict and has created additional stress and trauma for the officers. Most officers in the study supported the use of naloxone and identified this new responsibility from the existing aspect of their role to save lives and improve the community. Recommendations included increased medical training to improve officers’ confidence in making medical decisions, policy improvements to reduce role ambiguity and conflict, department and community naloxone implementation campaigns to socialize the concept before implementation into a department, emotional and psychological monitoring and supports for officers administering naloxone, and more outreach for secondary support following naloxone administration leading to positive social change

Exploring Dual Roles in Law Enforcement Officers Who Administer Naloxone

With the introduction of law enforcement-administered naloxone, officers are assuming the dual role of law enforcer and caregiver with opioid users. This study used cognitive role theory and Thorne’s interpretive approach to explore the dual roles experienced by officers. The purpose of this study was to understand (1) how officers who administer naloxone describe their experience of the dual role, and (2) how the officers describe the role expectations of law enforcer and caregiver. Seven officers completed semi-structured, one-on-one, telephone interviews. The eight themes that emerged were related to the officers’ views of (1) saving and changing opioid users’ lives; (2) humanizing the officers; (3) mental health, stress, and trauma of officers; (4) the cycle of opioid reuse and re-arrest of opioid users; (5) views of the opioid user; (6) views of their role; (7) flaws and recommended improvements to the system; and (8) views of the naloxone program. Findings showed the dual role has created role ambiguity and conflict and has created additional stress and trauma for the officers. Most officers in the study supported the use of naloxone and identified this new responsibility from the existing aspect of their role to save lives and improve the community. Recommendations included increased medical training to improve officers’ confidence in making medical decisions, policy improvements to reduce role ambiguity and conflict, department and community naloxone implementation campaigns to socialize the concept before implementation into a department, emotional and psychological monitoring and supports for officers administering naloxone, and more outreach for secondary support following naloxone administration leading to positive social change