Social and Emotional Barriers in Online Graduate Counseling Programs: Recommendations for Effective Practice for Working with Hispanic Adult Learners

Hispanic learners in higher education face unique challenges and barriers to success. An understanding of Adult Learning Theory through the lens of Hispanic culture is imperative, particularly in relation to both social and emotional barriers that are likely to disrupt the graduate learning process.  The responsibility to effectively lead and educate such learners falls into the hands of counselor educators in higher education. When considering ethnic diversity among adult learners, it is imperative to explore effective practice methodologies for students from specific cultures/ethnic origins. The purpose of this semi-systematic review was to explore the case of Jen, a Hispanic/Latina graduate student enrolled in an online masters in clinical mental health counseling program, and to synthesize implications for effective practice in educating and working with Hispanic students

Clemson Libraries Inclusive Description Task Force Report

This report summarizes the findings of the Inclusive Description Task Force presented to the Libraries administration in December 2022. It serves as the final deliverable of the Task Force that outlines the research completed from July to December, presents recommendations on how Clemson Libraries can systemically implement inclusive description practices across all descriptive records, and lists the next steps and prioritized tasks to complete

Care-experienced cHildren and young peoples Interventions to improve Mental health and wEll-being outcomes: Systematic review (CHIMES) protocol

Introduction The mental health and well-being of children and young people who have been in care (ie, care-experienced) are a priority. There are a range of interventions aimed at addressing these outcomes, but the international evidence-base remains ambiguous. There is a paucity of methodologically robust systematic reviews of intervention effectiveness, with few considering the contextual conditions under which evaluations were conducted. This is important in understanding the potential transferability of the evidence-base across contexts. The present systematic review will adopt a complex systems perspective to synthesise evidence reporting evaluations of mental health and well-being interventions for care-experienced children and young people. It will address impact, equity, cost-effectiveness, context, implementation and acceptability. Stakeholder consultation will prioritise a programme theory, and associated intervention, that may progress to further development and evaluation in the UK. Methods and analysis We will search 16 bibliographic databases from 1990 to June 2020. Supplementary searching will include citation tracking, author recommendation, and identification of evidence clusters relevant to included evaluations. The eligible population is children and young people (aged ≤25 years) with experience of being in care. Outcomes are (1) mental, behavioural or neurodevelopmental disorders; (2) subjective well-being; (3) self-harm; suicidal ideation; suicide. Study quality will be appraised with methodologically appropriate tools. We will construct a taxonomy of programme theories and intervention types. Thematic synthesis will be used for qualitative data reporting context, implementation and acceptability. If appropriate, meta-analysis will be conducted with outcome and economic data. Convergent synthesis will be used to integrate syntheses of qualitative and quantitative data. Ethics and dissemination We have a comprehensive strategy for engagement with care-experienced children and young people, carers and social care professionals. Dissemination will include academic and non-academic publications and conference presentations. Ethical approval from Cardiff University’s School of Social Sciences REC will be obtained if necessary

Recreational marathon running does not cause exercise-induced left ventricular hypertrabeculation.

BACKGROUND: Marathon running in novices represents a natural experiment of short-term cardiovascular remodeling in response to running training. We examine whether this stimulus can produce exercise-induced left ventricular (LV) trabeculation. METHODS: Sixty-eight novice marathon runners aged 29.5 ± 3.2 years had indices of LV trabeculation measured by echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging 6 months before and 2 weeks after the 2016 London Marathon race, in a prospective longitudinal study. RESULTS: After 17 weeks unsupervised marathon training, indices of LV trabeculation were essentially unchanged. Despite satisfactory inter-observer agreement in most methods of trabeculation measurement, criteria defining abnormally hypertrabeculated cases were discordant with each other. LV hypertrabeculation was a frequent finding in young, healthy individuals with no subject demonstrating clear evidence of a cardiomyopathy. CONCLUSION: Training for a first marathon does not induce LV trabeculation. It remains unclear whether prolonged, high-dose exercise can create de novo trabeculation or expose concealed trabeculation. Applying cut off values from published LV noncompaction cardiomyopathy criteria to young, healthy individuals risks over-diagnosis

Organic phase separation opens up new opportunities to interrogate the RNA-binding proteome.

Protein-RNA interactions regulate all aspects of RNA metabolism and are crucial to the function of catalytic ribonucleoproteins. Until recently, the available technologies to capture RNA-bound proteins have been biased toward poly(A) RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) or involve molecular labeling, limiting their application. With the advent of organic-aqueous phase separation-based methods, we now have technologies that efficiently enrich the complete suite of RBPs and enable quantification of RBP dynamics. These flexible approaches to study RBPs and their bound RNA open up new research avenues for systems-level interrogation of protein-RNA interactions

Framing the Next Nuclear Posture Review: A State-Centric, Strategic Approach

The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), released by the Department of Defense (DoD) in 2010, announced an unprecedented shift in the U.S. nuclear policy away from state-based threats to nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism concerns. While these issues remain important, the evolving global strategic environment dictates that the next NPR return to a state-centric, strategic focus emphasizing four states: Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. The only strategic peer to the United States, Russia, is actively modernizing all aspects of its nuclear arsenal and has placed nonstrategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs) at the center of its national security.1 China has overhauled the structure of its nuclear weapons program and nuclear and missile developments in North Korea are ongoing. Not long ago Iran reached the cusp of nuclear capability before the implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The United States must now ensure that this agreement is implemented effectively. All of these developments make it impossible to ignore the importance of nuclear weapons in the U.S. global strategic posture today

The use of routine outcome measures in two child and adolescent mental health services: a completed audit cycle

Background: Routine outcome measurement (ROM) is important for assessing the clinical effectiveness of health services and for monitoring patient outcomes. Within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the UK the adoption of ROM in CAMHS has been supported by both national and local initiatives (such as government strategies, local commissioning policy, and research). Methods: With the aim of assessing how these policies and initiatives may have influenced the uptake of ROM within two different CAMHS we report the findings of two case-note audits: a baseline audit conducted in January 2011 and a re-audit conducted two years later in December 2012-February 2013. Results: The findings show an increase in both the single and repeated use of outcome measures from the time of the original audit, with repeated use (baseline and follow-up) of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) scale increasing from 10% to 50% of cases. Re-audited case-notes contained more combined use of different outcome measures, with greater consensus on which measures to use. Outcome measures that were applicable across a wide range of clinical conditions were more likely to be used than symptom-specific measures, and measures that were completed by the clinician were found more often than measures completed by the service user. Conclusions: The findings show a substantial improvement in the use of outcome measures within CAMHS. These increases in use were found across different service organisations which were subject to different types of local service priorities and drivers

Chemical signals from eggs facilitate cryptic female choice in humans

Mate choice can continue after mating via chemical communication between the female reproductive system and sperm. While there is a growing appreciation that females can bias sperm use and paternity by exerting cryptic female choice for preferred males, we know surprisingly little about the mechanisms underlying these post-mating choices. In particular, whether chemical signals released from eggs (chemoattractants) allow females to exert cryptic female choice to favour sperm from specific males remains an open question, particularly in species (including humans) where adults exercise pre-mating mate choice. Here, we adapt a classic dichotomous mate choice assay to the microscopic scale to assess gamete-mediated mate choice in humans. We examined how sperm respond to follicular fluid, a source of human sperm chemoattractants, from either their partner or a non-partner female when experiencing a simultaneous or non-simultaneous choice between follicular fluids. We report robust evidence under these two distinct experimental conditions that follicular fluid from different females consistently and differentially attracts sperm from specific males. This chemoattractant-moderated choice of sperm offers eggs an avenue to exercise independent mate preference. Indeed, gamete-mediated mate choice did not reinforce pre-mating human mate choice decisions. Our results demonstrate that chemoattractants facilitate gamete-mediated mate choice in humans, which offers females the opportunity to exert cryptic female choice for sperm from specific males

Widening participation – recruitment methods in mental health randomised controlled trials: a qualitative study

Background: Barriers to mental health research participation are well documented including distrust of services and research; and stigma surrounding mental health. They can contribute to a lack of diversity amongst participants in mental health research, which threatens the generalisability of knowledge. Given the recent widespread use of the internet in medical research, this study aimed to explore the perspectives of key partners on the use of online (e.g. social media) and offline (e.g. in-person) recruitment as an approach to improving diversity in mental health randomised controlled trials (RCTs).Methods: Face-to-face and online interviews/focus groups with researchers working in mental health and Patient and Public Involvement partners in the United Kingdom. Recordings were transcribed and analysed using a combination of inductive and deductive thematic analysis.Results: Three focus groups and three interviews were conducted with a total N=23 participants. Four overarching themes were identified: (1) recruitment reach; (2) Demographic factors that affect selection of recruitment method; (3) safety of technology, and; (4) practical challenges. Five main factors were identified that affect the choice of recruitment method: age, complexity of mental health problem and stigma, cultural and ethnicity differences and digital divide. The use of online methods was considered more accessible to people who may feel stigmatised by their mental health condition and with a benefit of reaching a wider population. However, a common view amongst participants was that online methods require closer data monitoring for quality of responders, are not fully secure and less trustworthy compared to offline methods that enable participants to build relationships with health providers. Funding, staff time and experience, organisational support, and technical issues such as spam or phishing emails were highlighted as practical challenges facing online recruitment. All participants agreed that using a hybrid approach tailored to the population under study is paramount.Conclusions: This study highlighted the importance of offering a flexible and multifaceted recruitment approach by integrating online with offline methods to support inclusivity and widening participation in mental health research. The findings will be used to develop considerations for researchers designing RCTs to improve recruitment in mental health research