Student Nurses’ Perception of Sleep Quality

Sleep health is an underrepresented topic in the literature. Poor quality of sleep can lead to sleep deprivation, which has serious health and social consequences. The first year of university encompasses new demands and challenges to learning. Nursing students and nurses who suffer from poor sleep quality are at risk of providing unsafe patient care. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the perceived level of sleep quality of first year nursing students. This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study that was guided by Rosenstock’s Health Belief Model. The participants completed an online survey that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and demographic questions. A sample of 32 first year nursing students enrolled at a university in Southwestern Ontario participated in this study between weeks 12 and 14 of their second semester. Approximately 84% of participants had total PSQI scores of greater than 5, which is associated with poor sleep quality. The most common sleep disturbances reported by the participants were being unable to fall asleep within 30 minutes, waking up in the middle of the night or early morning, feeling too hot, stress or anxiety, and having a loud roommate. Significant correlations were found between sleep disturbance and needs medication to sleep, sleep latency and overall sleep quality, and age and sleep efficiency. More research on sleep quality in nursing students is required to gain a greater understanding of the predictors and consequences associated with poor sleep quality. Evaluation of targeted interventions is needed to prevent poor quality of sleep in nursing students and nurses in clinical practice

Drought and Health in the Context of Public Engagement

Droughts have profoundly affected societies around the world from the earliest beginnings. A recent estimate from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) claims that more than 1 billion people have been affected by drought during the twenty-year period between 1994 and 2013. Because of the characteristics of drought, drought impacts are often difficult to identify and quantify, and this is especially true with public health-oriented drought consequences, including those resulting from low water quantities, poor water quality, mental health and stress, dust and windblown agents, and wildlife intrusion. However, when officials emphasize adopting a proactive risk management approach to address drought, opportunities increase for reducing future public health risks. This chapter provides an overview of drought and describes drought risk management. The chapter ends with several case studies illustrating how public engagement can greatly assist in preparing a region for future droughts. Preparedness for drought is important as the competition for valuable and finite water resources increases, and as climate change potentially increases drought frequency and severity

Understanding shear thinning using Brownian dynamics simulation

In this work, we study the changes in structure during the shear thinning regime using Brownian Dynamics with a simple steady-state shear flow of binary charged colloidal suspension. Previous research has analyzed the viscosity, radial distribution, elasticity and plasticity of materials with rheo-SANS experimentation; however, less research has been conducted to replicate the experiment through computer simulations. With Brownian Dynamic Simulation, this study was able to reproduce the results obtained in a recent rheo-SANS experiment and it also explored the viscosity, radial distribution, elastic and plastic behavior of a system under different parameters. The comparison of simulated data with experimental data revealed the computer simulation to successfully generate results indicative of shear thinning behavior in both the viscosity versus shear data as well as the radial distribution data. The simulated system was also able to successfully generate systems which exhibited plastic behavior and elastic behavior

PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH WORKSHOP ON SEASONAL PREDICTION OF HYDROCLIMATIC EXTREMES IN THE GREATER HORN OF AFRICA

Sixty participants, including experts from seven countries from the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) and project coinvestigators from the United States, met to discuss seasonal prediction of hydroclimatic extremes across the GHA, engage decision-makers in the assessment of information requirements, and use feedback to orient prediction models to address user needs. Perceptions of current climate change impacts in the GHA were assessed using pre- and postworkshop surveys. Participatory research was conducted through small group discussions on water, agriculture, impacts, and data sharing

Do Adolescents Who Live or Go to School Near Fast-Food Restaurants Eat More Frequently from Fast-Food Restaurants?

This population-based study examined whether residential or school neighborhood access to fast food restaurants is related to adolescents' eating frequency of fast food. A classroom-based survey of racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (n=2724) in 20 secondary schools in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota was used to assess eating frequency at five types of fast food restaurants. Black, Hispanic, and Native American adolescents lived near more fast food restaurants than white and Asian adolescents and also ate at fast food restaurants more often. After controlling for individual-level socio-demographics, adolescent males living near high numbers fast food restaurants ate more frequently from these venues compared to their peers

Climate Change Survey Measures: Exploring Perceived Bias and Question Interpretation

Climate change has become an important yet politically divisive topic in recent years. Further complicating the issue are assertions that climate change– related public opinion surveys used by social scientists are biased or otherwise problematic. We conducted a pilot study to explore questions concerning bias and interpretation of climate change surveys. Our study sample was composed of adult residents of Nebraska (n = 115). We augmented our survey findings with cognitive interviews of a subsample of respondents (n = 20). We assessed study participants’ attitudes about climate change, and perceptions of bias and interpretation of survey questions drawn from previously used survey instruments and national polls. Among our study sample, we found little support for perceived bias within the survey items employed. However, interview findings indicated that particular survey language may have elicited unexpected associations among respondents. We discussed implications for further research

Creating a Replicable, Valid Cross-Platform Buffering Technique: The Sausage Network Buffer for Measuring Food and Physical Activity Built Environments

Background Obesity researchers increasingly use geographic information systems to measure exposure and access in neighborhood food and physical activity environments. This paper proposes a network buffering approach, the “sausage” buffer. This method can be consistently and easily replicated across software versions and platforms, avoiding problems with proprietary systems that use different approaches in creating such buffers. Methods In this paper, we describe how the sausage buffering approach was developed to be repeatable across platforms and places. We also examine how the sausage buffer compares with existing alternatives in terms of buffer size and shape, measurements of the food and physical activity environments, and associations between environmental features and health-related behaviors. We test the proposed buffering approach using data from EAT 2010 (Eating and Activity in Teens), a study examining multi-level factors associated with eating, physical activity, and weight status in adolescents (n = 2,724) in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota. Results Results show that the sausage buffer is comparable in area to the classic ArcView 3.3 network buffer particularly for larger buffer sizes. It obtains similar results to other buffering techniques when measuring variables associated with the food and physical activity environments and when measuring the correlations between such variables and outcomes such as physical activity and food purchases. Conclusions Findings from various tests in the current study show that researchers can obtain results using sausage buffers that are similar to results they would obtain by using other buffering techniques. However, unlike proprietary buffering techniques, the sausage buffer approach can be replicated across software programs and versions, allowing more independence of research from specific software

On the Reconstruction Conjecture

"Every graph of order three or more is reconstructible." Frank Harary restated one of the most famous unsolved problems in graph theory. In the early 1900's, while one was working on his doctoral dissertation, two mathematicians made a conjecture about the reconstructibility of graphs. This came to be known as the Reconstruction Conjecture or the Kelly-Ulam Conjecture. The conjecture states: Let G and H be graphs with V(G) = {v_1, v_2, ..., v_n}, V(H) = {u_1, u_2, ..., u_n}, n greater than or equal to 3. If G - v_i is isomorphic to H - u_i for all i = 1, ..., n, then G is isomorphic to H. Much progress has been made toward showing that this statement is true for all graphs. This paper will discuss some of that progress, including some of the families of graphs which we know that the conjecture is true. Another big field of interest about the Reconstruction Conjecture is the information that is retained by a graph when we begin looking at its vertex-deleted subgraphs. Many graph theorists believe that this may show us more about the conjecture as a whole. While working on a possible proof to the Reconstruction Conjecture, many mathematicians began to think about different approaches. One approach that was fairly common was to relate the Reconstruction Conjecture to edges of a graph instead of the vertices. People realized that when deleting only one edge of a graph, then logically more information about the original graph would be retained

Design and delivery strategies of alphavirus replicon-based cervical cancer vaccines

Wereldwijd is baarmoederhalskanker de vierde kanker waar vrouwen aan overlijden. In Nederland wordt dankzij het bevolkingsonderzoek bij ongeveer 6000 vrouwen een voorstadium van baarmoederhalskanker ontdekt maar ook krijgen nog ongeveer 600 vrouwen baarmoederhalskanker waaraan 250 vrouwen overlijden. De afgelopen jaren ontwikkelden wij een kankervaccin wat sterke immuunresponsen kan opwekken tegen baarmoederhalskanker. Dit vaccin is afgeleid van een virus, het Semliki Forest virus (SFV). Dit SFV hebben we zo veranderd dat het als vaccin gebruikt kan worden, zonder dat het zelf als virus schadelijk kan worden. Na immunisatie met dit vaccin wordt er een grote hoeveelheid kanker-specifiek eiwit gemaakt in SFV geïnfecteerde cellen. Deze geïnfecteerde cellen wekken vervolgens immuuncellen op die kankercellen kunnen doden. Mede dankzij een subsidie van KWF konden we dit kankervaccin testen in een fase 1 klinische studie. In het proefschrift beschrijven we de productiemethode van het vaccin die we zodanig hebben aangepast dat er door de Biotech Unit van de Farmacieafdeling van het UMCG een vaccin geproduceerd kon. De klinische studie is vervolgens ook uitgevoerd in het UMCG met vrouwen die een voorstadium van baarmoederhalskanker gehad hadden. Het doel van de studie was te onderzoeken of het kankervaccin een immuunreactie opwekt en bepalen of het vaccin ook bijwerkingen heeft. De studie lijkt zeer succesvol; de resultaten van de studie zullen in het komende jaar gepresenteerd worden. Een volgende, fase 2, klinische studie zal uitgevoerd moeten worden om de klinische effectiviteit van het vaccin aan te tonen. Daarnaast is er een tweede vaccin ontwikkeld en hebben we een onderzocht of andere toedieningsroutes de effectiviteit van de vaccins nog verder verbeterten. Beide laatste onderzoeken zijn uitgevoerd in een muizenmodel. Naast deze studies aan het kanker vaccin hebben we aangetoond dat er in baarmoederhalskankers specifieke immuuncellen zitten die correleren met een betere prognose. Dit zou betekenen dat als we deze cellen specifiek kunnen bereiken we wellicht de immuuntherapie nog verder kunnen versterken