Healthy Sexuality: Evaluating a Psychoeducational Group Promoting Knowledge, Communication, and Positive Experiences

The present study examined the state of healthy sexuality among college students and the influence of a psychoeducational group on related constructs. Healthy sexuality is comprised of multiple constructs, including accurate knowledge, positive attitudes, risk reducing behaviors, open communication among partners, and self-efficacy for creating desired experiences and preventing unwanted experiences. Sexuality-related knowledge, attitudes and values, and behaviors were measured prior to and following the four-session intervention. Additionally, prior sexuality education at the familial and school-based levels was assessed and compared to the designed intervention. Fifty-six young adults participated in the groups, with topics covering sexual anatomy and response, communication, safer sex practices, and preventing unwanted experiences. Assessment prior to the designed intervention exemplified the wide variety of educational experiences and sources that young adults have, contributing to great variation in sexual knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and self-efficacy. Participants reported varying levels of satisfaction with their sexuality education prior to the intervention, but satisfaction was unrelated to knowledge accuracy. Attitudes, values, and behaviors were similar to national samples. Assessment following the intervention demonstrated significant improvement in many of these areas, indicating that college students are likely to benefit from continued sexuality education. The level of interest for participation in the study indicates young people\u27s interest in increasing healthy sexuality in their lives. It is hoped that the designed intervention may continue to be made available to young adults and tailored to meet their needs and desires as appropriate

“Woman Enough” To Win? An Analysis of Sex Testing in College Athletics

In recent years, dozens of bills restricting the rights of transgender, or trans, individuals have been introduced in state legislatures throughout the country. To date, ten states have successfully passed laws prohibiting trans athletes from competing on teams in accordance with their gender identities. For its athletes, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the United States’ largest intercollegiate athletic organization, has pursued a compromise to balance trans inclusion and fair competition. Established in 2011, the NCAA’s conditionally inclusive policy permits trans women—meaning those who were assigned the sex of male but identify as women—to compete on a women’s team only after undergoing one year of testosterone suppression. This constitutes a form of sex testing, a method long used by sports organizations worldwide to sort athletes into binary men’s and women’s teams. This Article critiques the NCAA’s policy under Title IX, a cornerstone of federal law that prohibits discrimination in educational settings “on the basis of sex.” Although the Supreme Court has yet to define the contours of this protection as it relates to trans student athletes, its recent trans-friendly ruling in the Title VII case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia may be indicative of a decision on the issue. Further, even without Bostock’s logic, the Court may find that in light of modern science, the NCAA’s selective testosterone regulation stands as an improper and overbroad application of Title IX’s competitive skill exception. Looking forward, this Article provides solutions that the NCAA may employ in a revised policy to satisfy Title IX and to champion trans inclusion

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This autoethnographical piece explores how weight stigma and misconceptions about weight status, intentional weight loss, and health, may mask or render invisible serious health issues experienced by people of higher weight to healthcare providers and the medical establishment as a whole

Estrogen Signaling and Endocrine Disruption Potential in the Embryonic Development of the Female Reproductive Tract of the American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis

Perturbation of endocrine signaling during critical embryonic developmental windows has been implicated in many female reproductive system disorders. Reproductive tract anomalies in women exposed in utero to synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol, prescribed as a miscarriage preventative, provided some of the first evidence for this “embryonic origins of adult disease” paradigm and suggested a role for estrogen signaling in female reproductive tract (FRT) differentiation. Developmental studies of FRT in other vertebrates have great value in furthering our understanding of embryonic origins of reproductive disorders. The alligator is a particularly intriguing model as an environmental sentinel species with temperature dependent sex determination, which allows for controlled manipulation of sexual differentiation in laboratory experiments. The signals involved in determining regionally specific cell fates in FRT of alligators and other crocodilians are not yet known, but multiple studies in their closest extant evolutionary relative, birds, underscore the role of estrogen signaling in this process. Here I seek to characterize the role of estrogen signaling in the developing alligator FRT. I treated alligator embryos with estradiol-17β (E2) and pharmaceutical agonists that are selective for their two estrogen receptor isoforms, ERα and ERβ. The ERα agonist, propyl pyrazole triol (PPT), induced significant enlargement of the developing FRT, compared with controls and E2 and ERβ agonist treatments. Histological analysis revealed precocious glandulogenesis and connective tissue differentiation similar to mature FRT in these enlarged tissues. PPT treatment also altered expression of steroid hormone receptors and growth factor IGF1. Further experiments assessing this

Evaluation of the Federal Writers\u27 Project

This essay examines an interview with a former slave, Sarah Graves. The interview is a product of the Federal Writers\u27 Project, a government funded program created during the Great Depression. I address the possible problems that arise when working with this type of memory source (an interview), and how to work around them. This essay also ponders the reasoning why certain bits of information were included in the interview, and why others were excluded

Supported Decision-Making and Merciful Health Care Access: Respecting Autonomy at End of Life for Individuals with Cognitive Disabilities

Supported decision-making is a relatively new, powerful, and quickly developing alternative to restrictive guardianships and other draconian surrogate decision-making arrangements for individuals with cognitive disabilities. Its power lies specifically in the protection and affirmation of their autonomy, allowing these individuals to remain central in the planning of their lives and affairs. Despite supported decision-making’s theoretical promise, it is often unclear whether and how the model interacts with other legislation presiding over how one may make crucial life choices, such as those at end of life. This Note attempts to bridge the gap by analyzing how supported decision-making may be a valuable tool in effectuating equal access to end-of-life health care. For several reasons, individuals with disabilities are living longer and are subsequently more likely to encounter complex end-of-life treatment decisions. Unfortunately, they also face significant barriers in accessing health services. Their autonomy is often subjugated in favor of paternalistic norms, potentially rendering them ineligible for certain pain-mitigating care and forcing them to suffer needlessly at end of life. It is possible that through the use of supported decision-making, patients may be able to access pain mitigating treatment that may otherwise be unavailable to them. At the same time that supported decision making is gaining legal traction and public favor, laws like the FDA’s Expanded Access Program, otherwise called compassionate use, and state medical aid in dying legislation are promoting individual autonomy and the ethical concept of mercy by providing alternative avenues to limit suffering at end of life. Undoubtedly, those with cognitive disabilities wishing to access medical aid in dying or compassionate use are in unique circumstances, but no individual should be forced to suffer through a terminal diagnosis without access to the health care of their choice. Although more research is needed regarding how supported decision-making agreements are commonly used and how they interact with end-of-life legislation, a continued push for expansion and revision of both supported decision-making statutes and end-of-life legislation may legitimize its application to end-of-life pain management. This would halt foreclosure of individuals’ rights to self-determination

Sugammadex Protocol

Sugammadex is a new medication used for the reversal of muscle relaxation induced by rocuronium, vecuronium, and pancuronium. Sugammadex is available for use at St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital in Effingham, IL. However, they did not have a protocol regarding the use of this medication. A sugammadex protocol was written for the operating room (OR) staff after a thorough, evidence based literature review was completed. The OR staff included certified registered nurse anesthetists, anesthesiologists, registered nurses, and pharmacy. The protocol was implemented and evaluated with a pretest, an educational PowerPoint regarding sugammadex, and a posttest. A paired samples t test was used to analyze the pretest and posttest. Significance was found regarding the two tests with p = 0.005. The OR staff showed improvement in their understanding of sugammadex. The protocol was adopted by the hospital. The initiation of an evidence based practice protocol in the use of sugammadex can have a positive effect on the healthcare provided at St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital

Understanding the factors that influence motivation and experiences in high school physical education

Intro: In comparison to children, adolescents achieve significantly less physical activity (PA). Additionally, activity differences exist among genders and race/ethnicities. One way to influence the PA habits of adolescents is through high school physical education (PE). Though PE class reaches students of all ages, genders and races, motivation and experiences across these groups appear to differ. Purpose: The purpose of the present study is to determine if physical education descriptors, motivators, and experiences in ninth and tenth grade students differ across gender, race/ethnicity, and grade. Methods: Students completed a questionnaire about the factors that influence their motivation and experiences in PE class. Responses were compared across gender, race/ethnicity, and grade. Results: Primary findings show that boys and freshmen had more positive experiences in PE class than girls and sophomores, respectively. Additionally, Caucasian students had more negative experiences in PE class in comparison to students of any other race/ethnicity. Discussion: These findings illustrate the necessity for PE teacher sensitivity when teaching students of different genders, grades, and ethnic backgrounds and for attention to the social aspect of PE classes among females. Also, the results demonstrate the need for future research in this area

Low-lying dipole response: isospin character and collectivity in 68{}^{68}Ni, 132{}^{132}Sn and 208{}^{208}Pb

The isospin character, the collective or single-particle nature, and the sensitivity to the slope of the nuclear symmetry energy of the low-energy isovector dipole response (known as pygmy dipole resonance) are nowadays under debate. In the present work we study, within the fully self-consistent non-relativistic mean field (MF) approach based on Skyrme Hartree-Fock plus Random Phase Approximation (RPA), the measured even-even nuclei ${}^{68}$Ni, ${}^{132}$Sn and ${}^{208}$Pb. To analyze the model dependence in the predictions of the pygmy dipole strength, we employ three different Skyrme parameter sets. We find that both the isoscalar and the isovector dipole responses of all three nuclei show a low-energy peak that increases in magnitude, and is shifted to larger excitation energies, with increasing values of the slope of the symmetry energy at saturation. We highlight the fact that the collectivity associated with the RPA state(s) contributing to this peak is different in the isoscalar and isovector case, or in other words it depends on the external probe. While the response of these RPA states to an isovector operator does not show a clear collective nature, the response to an isoscalar operator is recognizably collective, for {\it all} analyzed nuclei and {\it all} studied interactions.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.