The Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Smoking: Focusing on Schizophrenia and Comparative Sub-Groups Diagnosed with Mental Illness

The context for this research project is a population of individuals diagnosed with a mental illness schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorders, or other diagnosis as specified by participant. Research has shown that 87 of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia are smokers and 65-75 of those diagnosed with bipolar or depressive disorders smoke compared to 20 from the general population. The purpose of this study is to determine if perceived stress is positively associated with cigarette dependence among a study sample of non-psychiatric participants and those diagnosed with a mental illness. A correlational survey based design was used to test five hypotheses of perceived stress and smoking. Survey data was obtained from smokers and non-smokers hospitalized at Windsor-Laurelwood Center for Behavioral Medicine. Included in this study sample were smokers and non-smokers from Cleveland State University representative of the general population. The survey instruments used in this data collection included the psychometric assessments Perceived Stress Scale, Cigarette Dependence Scale, and the Reasons for Quitting Scale. Consistent with prior research and published government data on smoking rates for those diagnosed with a mental illness, this sampling of participants reported similar smoking rates at 88 for those with schizophrenia, and 75 and 74 for those diagnosed with bipolar and depressive disorders respectively. The first hypothesis was supported in this research the levels of perceived stress are significantly greater in those with mental illness compared to the group drawn from the general population. A second hypothesis was supported perceived stress is positively related to cigarette dependence. Though, this relationship between perceived stress and cigarette dependence was not shown to be greater in those with schizophrenia, nor was it stronger than those with bipolar or depressive disorder

Extension Outreach: Basic Sewing 101 for Extension In-Service Training

The purpose in the study is to describe how one LG university used the results of a statewide needs assessment within the CES to return an emphasis to clothing construction programs and education outreach to extension clientele. As a result, an intensive basic sewing skills course was developed to train agents, beginning in 2014. A second purpose is to determine if the intensive in-service sewing training offered to agents is making a difference

The Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Smoking: Focusing on Schizophrenia and Comparative Sub-Groups Diagnosed with Mental Illness

The context for this research project is a population of individuals diagnosed with a mental illness schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorders, or other diagnosis as specified by participant. Research has shown that 87 of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia are smokers and 65-75 of those diagnosed with bipolar or depressive disorders smoke compared to 20 from the general population. The purpose of this study is to determine if perceived stress is positively associated with cigarette dependence among a study sample of non-psychiatric participants and those diagnosed with a mental illness. A correlational survey based design was used to test five hypotheses of perceived stress and smoking. Survey data was obtained from smokers and non-smokers hospitalized at Windsor-Laurelwood Center for Behavioral Medicine. Included in this study sample were smokers and non-smokers from Cleveland State University representative of the general population. The survey instruments used in this data collection included the psychometric assessments Perceived Stress Scale, Cigarette Dependence Scale, and the Reasons for Quitting Scale. Consistent with prior research and published government data on smoking rates for those diagnosed with a mental illness, this sampling of participants reported similar smoking rates at 88 for those with schizophrenia, and 75 and 74 for those diagnosed with bipolar and depressive disorders respectively. The first hypothesis was supported in this research the levels of perceived stress are significantly greater in those with mental illness compared to the group drawn from the general population. A second hypothesis was supported perceived stress is positively related to cigarette dependence. Though, this relationship between perceived stress and cigarette dependence was not shown to be greater in those with schizophrenia, nor was it stronger than those with bipolar or depressive disorder

The Impact of Inventory Valuation Methods on Corporate Financial Reports.

Business students are generally introduced to LIFO and FIFO in their first accounting course. However, that introduction generally focuses exclusively on computing ending inventory and cost of goods sold.  Students are rarely challenged to compute or analyze the impacts of LIFO and FIFO on the income statement, balance sheet, or cash flow statement.  This paper presents a hypothetical case designed to provide a framework within which students can compute, analyze, and discuss the financial statement impacts and economic impacts of choosing one or the other of these accounting methods.  The questions in this case also address the effects of this choice on financial indicators like liquidity ratios, the impacts of each method on quality of earnings, and the potential impacts of IFRS convergence on companies that are currently using LIFO.One important feature of this case is its adaptability to support a variety of learning outcomes in different courses.  This flexibility results from making the questions posed in the case as independent of each other as possible.  That independence allows a professor to select only the questions that support the learning outcomes for that professor’s specific course.  The teaching notes discuss in detail possible course applications and uses of this case

Blaze Manufacturing: An Ethical Analysis

Students frequently have difficulty systematically analyzing ethical situations.  They tend to respond to situations by indicating that a particular action is “just not right.”  This case uses the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice as a framework for analyzing and resolving ethical conflict.  The case is based on cost/managerial accounting and is appropriate for late in a managerial accounting course or early in a junior level cost accounting course. The case involves cost analysis, and it examines gross margin versus contribution margin as tools for analyzing product profitability.  It also challenges the student to examine the behavior of several of the main characters from an ethical point of view and to examine pathways for resolving ethical conflicts.  Suggested solutions, additional discussion, and teaching notes are provided.  The story is based on a real situation with a privately held company.  Details have been changed to protect the identity of the persons and companies involved

The impact of PPD in the fresh cassava roots value chain and current mitigation measures in Uganda: perspectives and actions of value chain actors

European UnionInternational Fund for Agricultural Developmen

Thoughts from the Editors

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including teaching and learning language arts from preschool to middle school age, the several children\u27s literature, and interviews with several scholars, authors, and researchers

Systematic review of the effect of individual and combined nutrition and exercise interventions on weight, adiposity and metabolic outcomes after delivery: evidence for developing behavioral guidelines for post-partum weight control

BACKGROUND: Post-partum weight retention contributes to the risk of chronic obesity and metabolic alterations. We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the effect of post-partum nutrition and exercise interventions on weight loss and metabolic outcomes. DATA SOURCES: Four electronic databases were searched from inception to January, 2012. Two investigators reviewed titles and abstracts, performed data abstraction on full articles and assessed study quality. METHODS: We included RCTs comparing nutrition, exercise or combined nutrition and exercise interventions with a control condition. Thirteen studies met our inclusion criteria (N = 1,310 participants). Data were abstracted on study characteristics, intervention components, enrollment period, and length of follow-up. Outcomes of interest included weight, adiposity, cardio-metabolic measures (glucose, lipids) and obesity-related inflammatory markers. RESULTS: Nine trials compared combined interventions to standard post-partum care; three trials assessed the effect of exercise interventions, one trial evaluated a nutrition-only intervention. Four good quality RCTs on combined interventions had inconsistent findings, with the larger RCT (N = 450) reporting no difference in weight between groups. Four fair-to good quality RCTs reported greater weight loss in the combined intervention group vs. standard care, ranging from 0.17 kg to 4.9 kg. Results from exercise only interventions were inconclusive. Evidence for nutrition only interventions was insufficient. There was insufficient evidence for the effect of post-partum interventions on metabolic risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS: Combined nutrition and exercise interventions can achieve weight loss, but evidence is limited due to a small number of trials and limitations in study design. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2393-14-319) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users