THE ROLE OF PHYSALIN F IN REVERSING EXPERIMENTAL NEUROPATHIC PAIN

Chronic pain continues to be an insurmountable issue in recent times, particularly due to the lack of adequate knowledge as well as the unavailability of appropriate therapeutics that target it. The increasingly common prescription of opioids as medication to treat chronic pain has ultimately contributed to a national opioid epidemic. In response to this, several strides have been made by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to revise guidelines pertaining to opioid prescription for chronic pain. This project specifically focuses on identifying the mechanism of action of Physalin F, a natural compound isolated from the Physalis acutifolia (family: Solanaceae) herb, and previously demonstrated to exhibit antinociceptive effects in models of inflammatory pain, consistent with earlier reports of its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Through the use of calcium imaging, it was revealed that Physalin F had a significant inhibitory effect on voltage-gated calcium channels in dorsal root ganglion. In order to replicate these findings in-vivo, Physalin F was found to reverse mechanical allodynia in both paclitaxel-induced and spinal nerve ligation-induced neuropathic pain models, further elucidating its antinociceptive behavior. Experimentation results provided a better scope on Physalin F mechanism of action as well as grounds for further investigation

An Approach to Corpus-based Discourse Analysis: The Move Analysis as Example

This post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of the article submitted to IUPUI ScholarWorks as part of the OASIS Project. Article reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Permission granted through posted policies on copyright owner’s website or through direct contact with copyright owner.This article presents a seven-step corpus-based approach to discourse analysis that starts with a detailed analysis of each individual text in a corpus that can then be generalized across all texts of a corpus, providing a description of typical patterns of discourse organization that hold for the entire corpus. This approach is applied specifically to a methodology that is used to analyze texts in terms of the functional/communicative structures that typically make up texts in a genre: move analysis. The resulting corpus-based approach for conducting a move analysis significantly enhances the value of this often used (and misused) methodology, while at the same time providing badly needed guidelines for a methodology that lacks them. A corpus of ‘birthmother letters’ is used to illustrate the approach

Collaborative Outcomes from the Youth Justice and Employment Community of Practice

Established in mid-2021, the Youth Justice and Employment Community of Practice (CoP) is a partnership of the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF), the National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), and Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI) formed to improve outcomes for youth with justice involvement by increasing collaboration among local workforce and juvenile justice systems. The CoP began during the middle of COVID-19 at a time when counterparts in each jurisdiction were seeking to reestablish pandemic-disrupted communication and collaboration. CoP participants met monthly to share knowledge and expertise on topics of importance to both systems. Based on work from the CoP, participating cities and counties produced notable improvements in building relationships, expanding partnerships, and promoting investments that benefit justice-involved young people in their communities. This report documents successes and offers recommendations for others seeking to improve outcomes for these young people

A Subspace, Interior, and Conjugate Gradient Method for Large-scale Bound-constrained Minimization Problems

A subspace adaption of the Coleman-Li trust region and interior method is proposed for solving large-scale bound-constrained minimization problems. This method can be implemented with either sparse Cholesky factorization or conjugate gradient computation. Under reasonable conditions the convergence properties of this subspace trust region method are as strong as those of its full-space version. Computational performance on various large-scale test problems are reported; advantages of our approach are demonstrated. Our experience indicates our proposed method represents an efficient way to solve large-scalebound-constrained minimization problems

Arts Education Academics’ Perceptions of eLearning & Teaching in Australian Early Childhood and Primary ITE Degrees

This article presents the findings of an investigation of eLearning & teaching in Arts education in Australian Initial Teacher Education (ITE) degrees. This project used survey and interviews to collect data from academics in 16 universities in 5 Australian states regarding their experiences of eLearning and Arts education. A rigorous and comprehensive thematic, inductive approach to the analysis of data revealed four main themes: congruence and incongruence of eLearning in Arts education with academic identity, dissonance between eLearning and the nature of Arts education, negatively perceived reasons for teaching Arts education in an eLearning mode, and some expressions of positive experiences in this space. These themes revealed a divided, unsettled and challenging space with pockets of acceptance, but characterised by epistemological and pedagogical questions, doubts and uneasiness

IMPACT OF PATIENT COUNSELLING ON KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICE OF HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: Hypertension is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide and proper assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) factors are helpful in its management. Our aim was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice among hypertensive patients and the impact of patient counselling on the same.Methods: A prospective study was conducted among hypertensive patients from November 2015 to April 2016. Suitably designed and validated KAP questionnaire was used to evaluate the baseline KAP score. Patient information leaflets were provided after counselling. After 3 mo patients were followed up and their KAP scores were reassessed and data were analysed.Results: Before the intervention, the mean score±SD of knowledge, attitude, and practice were 11.76(SD±4.58); 5.14(SD±2.13); 9.26(SD±1.66) which increased to 14.29(SD±2.95); 5.74(SD±1.39); 10.32(SD±1.33) respectively after the intervention.Conclusion: Our study suggests that pharmacist mediated counselling plays a vital role in improving patients' knowledge, attitude, and practice towards the disease managemen

Reframing ‘well-being’ in schools: the potential of recognition

In Australia and internationally, the well-being of children and young people is a core focus of social policy, with a growing imperative to locate well-being within the sphere of education. However, the term ‘well-being’ remains ambiguous and the implementation of educational approaches to promote and improve it appears fragmented and ad hoc. In Australia, little is known about how well-being is understood and supported in schools, particularly from the perspective of students themselves. This article reports on key findings from an ambitious mixed-methods study funded by the Australian Research Council that investigated conceptualisations and practices around well-being in schools. Underpinned by theoretical interests linked to Childhood Studies and recognition theory, the research investigated policy, student and staff perspectives on well-being. The findings point to the key role of relationships, providing considerable scope for analysing the salience of Honneth’s modes of recognition for well-being in schools

Autonomic Testing in Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders: Implications of Reproducible Gastrointestinal Complaints during Tilt Table Testing

Background: The pathophysiology of functional abdominal pain (FAP) is unknown. The upright portion of a tilt table test triggers typical symptoms in certain children. Aim: To compare the pathophysiology and treatment response of children with FAP whose gastrointestinal symptoms (GI) were replicated (RGI) by tilt table testing (TTT) to those in whom TTT did not have this effect (NRGI). Methods: An IRB-approved retrospective review of the autonomic laboratory database identified all children tested for GI complaints. We compared results of TTT, Valsalva maneuver, deep breathing and the axon reflex sweat test. Overall treatment response and that specific to fludrocortisone was ranked from 1 to 5, with 1 “much worse,” 3 “neutral,” and 5 “much better.” Results: 32/76 identified children had reproducible symptoms on TTT (RGI) and 44 did not (NRGI). The RGI group was younger, had a shorter duration of symptoms, more postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and benefited more from fludrocortisone (73% in RGI vs. 25% in NRGI). Conclusion: Dividing patients with FAP according to the effect of TTT on their symptoms appears to delineate 2 fundamentally different groups, with potentially different pathophysiologies and treatment responses. A prospective study is needed

A Review on Sewage Sludge Gasification And Its Energy Recovery Potential

Advancement in technologies & increase in population brings about more industrial production & human generated wastes. But these wastes are not being efficiently disposed causing harm to environment. Sewage sludge gasification is a recent trend in the waste treatment area wherein, most of the energy left over in sewage sludge can be harnessed and reused in constructive ways like power generation and operation of dryers etc. This method when compared to direct combustion or incineration produces far less dangerous gases and the same amount of disposable ash. Also gasification does not need fuel to hold a sustainable process, the dried sewage sludge itself is used as fuel. The dried sludge we can produce a combustible gas which can be made very flexible to produce electrical energy or to burn it very cleanly. The gasification in the fluidized bed and the gas cleaning with the granular bed filter has shown successful operation. This holds promise of a very major emission reduction and energy saving effect. There have been many plants around the world, successfully running, in an integrated fashion, along with the treatment plants to lower the running costs and emissions & the final debris to be disposed.

Identifying Gaps in Youth Employment Programs Capacity to Address Mental Health Needs

National Youth Employment Coalition (NYEC), in partnership with its member agencies, youth providers, academic institutions, and other partners, deployed a national survey in March 2022 to understand the readiness of youth programs across the US to respond to the youth mental health crisis; the processes and systems providers have in place to fight the crisis; and what supports they need to combat this ongoing, life-threatening challenge. This report identifies the many challenges practitioners face on micro and macro levels, insights into what young people are experiencing, and the types of interventions and support that are needed