“Here’s a Little Something for You”: How Therapists Respond to Client Gifts

Descriptions by 12 therapists of their experiences receiving tangible gifts from clients are examined. Using consensual qualitative research (C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, & E. N. Williams, 1997) therapists’ overall gift encounters and specifically identified gift events were explored. Results indicated that although clients rarely gave gifts, all of the participants had accepted gifts. Problematic gifts (i.e., ones that raised concern for therapists) were given at more provocative times than were unproblematic gifts (i.e., ones that evoked few concerns for therapists). Both types of gifts were given for various reasons (e.g., appreciation, manipulation, equalization). Participants reported positive and negative internal responses to both types of gifts, but more often discussed unproblematic than problematic gifts with clients. Problematic gifts were more often discussed with others than were unproblematic gifts. Gift episodes of both types facilitated therapy process

Analysis of Beetle Cuticular Hydrocarbons

The insect cuticle, commonly known as the exoskeleton, consists of two layers: a bottom layer called the procuticule and a thin outer waxy coating called the epicuticle. The epicuticle contains hydrocarbons that prevent desiccation and are used for chemical communication both inter- and intra- specifically. For some insects, these compounds are important sociochemicals involved in recognizing nestmates and predators as well as identifying the sex of other insects. The established procedure to extract cuticular hydrocarbons is lethal, directly introducing the insects to toxic solvents. The goal of this study is to develop a non-lethal procedure to extract the cuticular hydrocarbons from forked fungus and carabid beetles, and to identify the extracted components. In the long term, an examination of the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of beetles may have important biological implications including differences based on sex, fungus species they feed on, and colonies they inhabit. Each beetle was sampled using the developed non-lethal procedure that uses C₁₈ and the established lethal procedure that uses hexane. The results of the C₁₈ procedure were compared to the results of the established solvent extraction to see if the developed procedure was as efficient as the established technique. The samples where analyzed using a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) instrument. Standard compounds were analyzed to identify some of the components of the cuticular profile. Both procedures extracted the same compounds. Five components of the cuticular waxes were identified including four n-alkanes and one alcohol. The identified compounds are nonadecane, eicosane, heneicosane, docosane, and 1-eicosanol. Chlaenius cordicollis was found to contain all five components, while forked fungus beetles were found to contain nonadecane, eicosane and heneicosane. The differences in the components identified for the two different species of beetles suggests that there is variation in the components of cuticular waxes amongst different species as expected. Previous studies have found that n-alkanes, the majority of extracted components in this study, are primarily involved in the prevention of desiccation and not as sociochemicals. Unlike n-alkanes, alcohols have been shown to function as sociochemicals

Changing Places: The Need to Alter the Start Point for Information Security Design

Information security is a necessary requirement of information sharing within an electronic health system because without it confidentiality, availability, or integrity controls are absent. Research shows that the application of security in this setting is subject to workarounds partly because of resistance to security controls from clinicians who feel that their voice is excluded from the security design process. Heeks\u27 explored the nature of health system design and referred to the distance between system designer and practitioner as the \u27design-reality gap\u27. To reduce this gap, systems designers typically deploy usercentred, participatory approaches to design. They use various forms of consultation and engagement to ensure that the needs of users are responded to within the design and that users understand the design process and constraints. Whilst there is evidence to suggest that the overall electronic health records (EHR) system design has increasingly used elements of a participatory, human-centred design approach, the security elements of design are still technology-focused. This discussion paper characterises the problem, outlines the principles of Heeks\u27 Information, Technology, Processes, Objectives, Skills, Management Systems, Other Resources (ITPOSMO) framework, and then uses this framework to evaluate security dimensions of both the UK and Australian EHR programmes. The resulting proposal for a \u27communities of practice\u27 approach as an alternative start-point to healthcare systems security design, provides a basis for reconceptualising the integration of security practices into EHR systems. In the increasingly distributed and complex environment of healthcare delivery, this new approach can help to address the fundamental challenges experienced in healthcare security practice today

Consensual Qualitative Research: An Update

The authors reviewed the application of consensual qualitative research (CQR) in 27 studies published since the method’s introduction to the field in 1997 by C. E. Hill, B. J. Thompson, and E. N. Williams (1997). After first describing the core components and the philosophical underpinnings of CQR, the authors examined how it has been applied in terms of the consensus process, biases, research teams, data collection, data analysis, and writing up the results and discussion sections of articles. On the basis of problems that have arisen in each of these areas, the authors made recommendations for modifications of the method. The authors concluded that CQR is a viable qualitative method and suggest several ideas for research on the method itself

Myoinhibitory peptide regulates feeding in the marine annelid Platynereis

BACKGROUND: During larval settlement and metamorphosis, marine invertebrates undergo changes in habitat, morphology, behavior and physiology. This change between life-cycle stages is often associated with a change in diet or a transition between a non-feeding and a feeding form. How larvae regulate changes in feeding during this life-cycle transition is not well understood. Neuropeptides are known to regulate several aspects of feeding, such as food search, ingestion and digestion. The marine annelid Platynereis dumerilii has a complex life cycle with a pelagic non-feeding larval stage and a benthic feeding postlarval stage, linked by the process of settlement. The conserved neuropeptide myoinhibitory peptide (MIP) is a key regulator of larval settlement behavior in Platynereis. Whether MIP also regulates the initiation of feeding, another aspect of the pelagic-to-benthic transition in Platynereis, is currently unknown. RESULTS: Here, we explore the contribution of MIP to the regulation of feeding behavior in settled Platynereis postlarvae. We find that in addition to expression in the brain, MIP is expressed in the gut of developing larvae in sensory neurons that densely innervate the hindgut, the foregut, and the midgut. Activating MIP signaling by synthetic neuropeptide addition causes increased gut peristalsis and more frequent pharynx extensions leading to increased food intake. Conversely, morpholino-mediated knockdown of MIP expression inhibits feeding. In the long-term, treatment of Platynereis postlarvae with synthetic MIP increases growth rate and results in earlier cephalic metamorphosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that MIP activates ingestion and gut peristalsis in Platynereis postlarvae. MIP is expressed in enteroendocrine cells of the digestive system suggesting that following larval settlement, feeding may be initiated by a direct sensory-neurosecretory mechanism. This is similar to the mechanism by which MIP induces larval settlement. The pleiotropic roles of MIP may thus have evolved by redeploying the same signaling mechanism in different aspects of a life-cycle transition. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12983-014-0093-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A Template Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence Survivors’ Experiences of Animal Maltreatment: Implications for Safety Planning and Intervention

This study explores the intersection of intimate partner violence (IPV) and animal cruelty in an ethnically diverse sample of 103 pet-owning IPV survivors recruited from community-based domestic violence programs. Template analysis revealed five themes: (a) Animal Maltreatment by Partner as a Tactic of Coercive Power and Control, (b) Animal Maltreatment by Partner as Discipline or Punishment of Pet, (c) Animal Maltreatment by Children, (d) Emotional and Psychological Impact of Animal Maltreatment Exposure, and (e) Pets as an Obstacle to Effective Safety Planning. Results demonstrate the potential impact of animal maltreatment exposure on women and child IPV survivors’ health and safety

Clean recoil implantation of the 100Pd/Rh TDPAC probe using a solenoidal separator

The synthesis and recoil implantation of the 100Pd/Rh probe for time differential perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) spectroscopy using the solenoidal reaction product separator SOLITAIRE has been demonstrated for the first time. The separator suppres

The Evolution of Mentorship Capacity Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Case Studies from Peru, Kenya, India, and Mozambique.

Following the Fogarty International Center-supported "Mentoring the Mentors" workshops in South America, Africa, and Asia, approaches and guidelines for mentorship at institutions within these low- and middle-income country (LMIC) contexts, appropriate for the respective regional resources and culture, were implemented. Through the presentation of case studies from these three geographic regions, this article illustrates the institutional mentorship infrastructure before the workshop and the identified gaps used to implement strategies to build mentorship capacity at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (Peru), Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kenya), Saint John's Research Institute (India), and Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique). These case studies illustrate three findings: first, that mentorship programs in LMICs have made uneven progress, and institutions with existing programs have exhibited greater advancement to their mentoring capacity than institutions without formal programs before the workshops. Second, mentoring needs assessments help garner the support of institutional leadership and create local ownership. Third, developing a culture of mentorship that includes group mentoring activities at LMIC institutions can help overcome the shortage of trained mentors. Regardless of the stage of mentoring programs, LMIC institutions can work toward developing sustainable, culturally effective mentorship models that further the partnership of early career scientists and global health

Post-Stroke Depression: Focus on Diagnosis and Management during Stroke Rehabilitation

Post-Stroke Depression: Focus on Diagnosis and Management during Stroke Rehabilitation. Geriatrics & Aging. 10(8):492–6

The Ages of the Thin Disk, Thick Disk, and the Halo from Nearby White Dwarfs

We present a detailed analysis of the white dwarf luminosity functions derived from the local 40 pc sample and the deep proper motion catalog of Munn et al (2014, 2017). Many of the previous studies ignored the contribution of thick disk white dwarfs to the Galactic disk luminosity function, which results in an erronous age measurement. We demonstrate that the ratio of thick/thin disk white dwarfs is roughly 20\% in the local sample. Simultaneously fitting for both disk components, we derive ages of 6.8-7.0 Gyr for the thin disk and 8.7 $\pm$ 0.1 Gyr for the thick disk from the local 40 pc sample. Similarly, we derive ages of 7.4-8.2 Gyr for the thin disk and 9.5-9.9 Gyr for the thick disk from the deep proper motion catalog, which shows no evidence of a deviation from a constant star formation rate in the past 2.5 Gyr. We constrain the time difference between the onset of star formation in the thin disk and the thick disk to be $1.6^{+0.3}_{-0.4}$ Gyr. The faint end of the luminosity function for the halo white dwarfs is less constrained, resulting in an age estimate of $12.5^{+1.4}_{-3.4}$ Gyr for the Galactic inner halo. This is the first time ages for all three major components of the Galaxy are obtained from a sample of field white dwarfs that is large enough to contain significant numbers of disk and halo objects. The resultant ages agree reasonably well with the age estimates for the oldest open and globular clusters.Comment: ApJ, in pres