An Evaluation of a Structural Competency Training for School Nurses

The aim of this quality improvement project was to use structural competency as a tool to highlight the broad social, political, and economic structures that influence health and subsequent inequities and disparities. A one group, pre-and post-design quality improvement project was used to determine whether the Structural Competency Working Group curriculum influenced school nurses’ thought processes regarding the factors that influence health outcomes. The curriculum was adapted to a 1.5-hour training and delivered to a group of school nurses from a highly populated and socially, economically, and culturally diverse urban county in northern California. The results showed that after the training the school nurses had an increased awareness of the broader structures that impact student health. Teaching structural competency to school nurses offers the skills and tools they require to ensure students are able to reach their full academic potential

History of The Wildcats Motorcycle Club

History of The Wildcats Motorcycle Club will be presented by Old Dominion University student Rachel Mannetta-Torres

Assessing critical gaps in COVID-19 testing capacity : the case of delayed results in Ecuador

Background: Testing is crucial for COVID-19 response and management, however, WHO's preparedness index omits estimations of actual testing capabilities, which influence the ability to contain, mitigate and clinically manage infectious diseases. With one of the highest excess death rates globally, Ecuador had a comparatively low number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which may have been influenced by limited availability of data for decision-making due to low laboratory capacity. Methods: We examine de-identified data on 55,063 individuals with suspected COVID-19 between February 27 and April 30, 2020 included in the RT-PCR testing database collected by the Ministry of Health. Processing times and rates per province, and the number of pending tests, were tallied cumulatively. We assessed the relationship between sample shipping, laboratory capacity and case completion using a negative binomial generalized linear model. Results: The national average time for case completion was 3 days; 12.1% of samples took ≥10 days to complete; the national average daily backlog was 29.1 tests per 100,000 people. Only 8 out of 24 provinces had authorized COVID-19 processing laboratories but not all processed samples. There was an association between samples coming from outside the processing laboratory province, the number of other samples present at the laboratory during processing, and the amount of time needed to process a sample. Samples from another province took 1.29 times as long to process, on average. The percentage of pending results on April 30 was 67.1%. Conclusion: A centralized RT-PCR testing system contributes to critical delays in processing, which may mask a case burden higher than reported, impeding timely awareness, and adequate clinical care and vaccination strategies and subsequent monitoring. Although Ecuador adapted or authorized existing facilities to address limitations in laboratory capacity for COVID-19, this study highlights the need to estimate and augment laboratory capabilities for improved decision making and policies on diagnostic guidelines and availability. Support is needed to procure the necessary human and physical resources at all phases of diagnostic testing, including transportation of samples and supplies, and information management. Strengthening emergency preparedness enables a clear understanding of COVID-19 disparities within and across the country.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Comparing the Effectiveness of Alternative and Prescription Antibiotics Against Gram-Positive Bacteria

The rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a global public health concern that threatens the efficacy of antibiotic drugs. We found that natural remedies, specifically coconut oil, honey and cinnamon essential oil, have the potential to be used as a clinical alternative to treat antibiotic-resistant infections. In this experiment, we performed a disk diffusion test and measured the area of inhibition of each treatment to compare the effectiveness of natural and prescription antibiotics. Cinnamon essential oil showed significantly greater antibiotic activity compared to a prescription treatment, amoxicillin. With bacterial resistance continuously expanding, more work needs to be done to determine how alternative antibiotics might be used in clinical settings

The impacts of replacing air bubbles with microspheres for the clarification of algae from low cell-density culture

Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) is a well-known coagulation–flotation system applied at large scale for microalgae harvesting. Compared to conventional harvesting technologies DAF allows high cell recovery at lower energy demand. By replacing microbubbles with microspheres, the innovative Ballasted Dissolved Air Flotation (BDAF) technique has been reported to achieve the same algae cell removal efficiency, while saving up to 80% of the energy required for the conventional DAF unit. Using three different algae cultures (Scenedesmus obliquus, Chlorella vulgaris and Arthrospira maxima), the present work investigated the practical, economic and environmental advantages of the BDAF system compared to the DAF system. 99% cells separation was achieved with both systems, nevertheless, the BDAF technology allowed up to 95% coagulant reduction depending on the algae species and the pH conditions adopted. In terms of floc structure and strength, the inclusion of microspheres in the algae floc generated a looser aggregate, showing a more compact structure within single cell alga, than large and filamentous cells. Overall, BDAF appeared to be a more reliable and sustainable harvesting system than DAF, as it allowed equal cells recovery reducing energy inputs, coagulant demand and carbon emissions

Quinolones modulate ghrelin receptor signaling: potential for a novel small molecule scaffold in the treatment of cachexia

Cachexia is a metabolic wasting disorder characterized by progressive weight loss, muscle atrophy, fatigue, weakness, and appetite loss. Cachexia is associated with almost all major chronic illnesses including cancer, heart failure, obstructive pulmonary disease, and kidney disease and significantly impedes treatment outcome and therapy tolerance, reducing physical function and increasing mortality. Current cachexia treatments are limited and new pharmacological strategies are needed. Agonists for the growth hormone secretagogue (GHS-R1a), or ghrelin receptor, prospectively regulate the central regulation of appetite and growth hormone secretion, and therefore have tremendous potential as cachexia therapeutics. Non-peptide GHS-R1a agonists are of particular interest, especially given the high gastrointestinal degradation of peptide-based structures, including that of the endogenous ligand, ghrelin, which has a half-life of only 30 min. However, few compounds have been reported in the literature as non-peptide GHS-R1a agonists. In this paper, we investigate the in vitro potential of quinolone compounds to modulate the GHS-R1a in both transfected human cells and mouse hypothalamic cells. These chemically synthesized compounds demonstrate a promising potential as GHS-R1a agonists, shown by an increased intracellular calcium influx. Further studies are now warranted to substantiate and exploit the potential of these novel quinolone-based compounds as orexigenic therapeutics in conditions of cachexia and other metabolic and eating disorders.Irish Research Council for Science and Technology (IRCSET)Science Foundation Ireland (SFI/12/IP/1315)Science Foundation Ireland (SFI/12/RC/2275)Science Foundation Ireland (SFI/12/RC/2273)Universidad de Sevill

Violencia familiar y su relación con los nive les de Autoesti ma en mujeres del distrito de la Banda de Shilcayo. Enero - mayo 2003

The present study was carried out in order to determine the relationship between family violence and levels of self - esteem in women in the Band District of Shilcayo January - May 2003. The methodology used in the present study was descriptive, Used the descriptive correlational design. The universe was constituted by 925 women belonging to the clubs of mothers aged 18 - 42 years, to whom the Murillo test was applied to determine the number of women who were raped in the last month prior to the survey, 448, representing 48.4%, to which the epi info statistical package was processed for the calculation of the sample, considering a sample of 130 women for the study, which was selected by systematic sampling. Total of 130 women, 89 obtained scores of 5 to 9 points with 68.4% and 41 women obtained scores of 1 to 4 points with 31.6o / o which showed that if there is large-scale family violence. Between 64.6% for those with inadequate self-esteem and 35.4o / o with adequate self-esteem. When the variables family violence and self-esteem levels were crossed, we found that 68.4% of mothers had higher scores Of violence (5-9 points), of which 85.5% present inadequate self-esteem. Of the 31.6% who have violence scores between 1 - 4 points, 80.5% have adequate self - esteem. These results show the highly significant association (P <0.05) between Family Violence and Self-esteem Levels, accepting the hypothesis presented in this study in which "A higher violence levels of self-esteem"Se realizó el presente trabajo con el objeto de determinar la relación que existe entre la violencia familiar y los niveles de autoestima en mujeres del distrito de la Banda de Shilcayo Enero - Mayo 2003. La metodología empleada en el presente estudio fue de tipo descriptivo, se utilizó el diseño descriptivo correlacional. El universo estuvo constituido por 925 mujeres que pertenecen a los clubes de madres con edad de 18 - 42 años, a las cuales se le aplicó el test de Murillo para determinar el N" de mujeres violentadas en el último mes previo a la encuesta, encontrándose 448 que representa el 48.4%, a las cuales se procesó el paquete estadístico epi info para el cálculo de la muestra considerándose para el estudio una muestra de 130 mujeres, la cual fue seleccionada por el muestreo sistemático. Entre los resultados se encontró que de un total de 130 mujeres, 89 obtuvieron puntajes de 5 a 9 puntos con un 68.4% y 41 mujeres obtuvieron puntajes de 1 a 4 puntos con un 31.6o/o lo que demostró que si existe violencia familiar en gran escala. Los niveles de autoestima oscilaron entre el 64.6% para aquellas con autoestima inadecuada y el 35.4o/o con autoestima adecuada. Al cruzarse las variables violencia familiar y niveles de autoestima, encontramos que el 68.4% de madres tienen puntajes mayores de violencia (5-9 puntos), de éstas el 85.5o/o presentan autoestima inadecuada. Del 31.6% que tienen puntajes de violencia entre 1 - 4 puntos, el 80.5% presentan autoestima adecuada. Estos resultados muestran la asociación altamente significativa {P< 0.05), entre la Violencia Familiar y los Niveles de Autoestima, aceptándose la hipótesis planteada en este estudio en el que "'A mayor violencia menores niveles de autoestima