Prácticas de exclusión de refugiados en Estados Unidos

La cuestión del "apoyo material" que recibe una organización supuestamente vinculada con el terrorismo se ha visto cargada de tensión en los círculos de leyes de inmigración de Estados Unidos, más a menudo sobre el tema del apoyo que se provee bajo coacción

Object Exchange

Listed authors based on Errata found in Vol. 27 (Winter / Hiver)

Analyse préliminaire de l’épidemiologie de la fièvre de la vallée du rift au Zimbabwe

La Fièvre de la Vallée du Rift (FVR), zoonose causée par un Phlebovirus, est transmise par des moustiques et probablement aussi par voie directe. Elle est endémique en Afrique sub-Saharienne. La création de zones de conservation transfrontalières (TFCA) est à l’origine de nouveaux types d’interfaces entre humains, animaux domestiques et faune sauvage. Au niveau de ces interfaces, des contacts, souvent indirects, peuvent avoir lieu, favorisant la transmission de certains pathogènes. La FVR, présente dans plusieurs TFCA, peut avoir un impact sanitaire et économique important. Pourtant, son épidémiologie ainsi que le rôle de la faune sauvage, reste mal connue. Les sessions de piégeages réalisées ont permis de mettre en évidence la présence de 6 espèces de moustiques, dont l’une est un vecteur connu de la FVR. Les résultats obtenus lors de l’analyse de la base de données sérologiques sont compatibles avec un possible rôle de la faune sauvage, dans le maintien, voire l’amplification du virus

Equine Assisted Therapy and Changes in Gait for a Young Adult Female with Down Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of equine assisted therapy on selected gait parameters in a person with Down syndrome. One female participant with Down syndrome completed two therapeutic horseback riding programs, each consisting of six riding sessions. Specific gait characteristics were analyzed with a trend analysis of the data by examining the means of the different variables. The trend analysis revealed a difference in stride length as well as hip and knee angle. These results indicate that over the course of the two therapeutic horseback riding programs, changes in gait occurred. Therefore, therapeutic horseback riding may have the potential to benefit gait characteristics and stability in young adult females with Down syndrome; however, further research is warranted

Preservation Methods Differ in Fecal Microbiome Stability, Affecting Suitability for Field Studies.

Immediate freezing at -20°C or below has been considered the gold standard for microbiome preservation, yet this approach is not feasible for many field studies, ranging from anthropology to wildlife conservation. Here we tested five methods for preserving human and dog fecal specimens for periods of up to 8 weeks, including such types of variation as freeze-thaw cycles and the high temperature fluctuations often encountered under field conditions. We found that three of the methods-95% ethanol, FTA cards, and the OMNIgene Gut kit-can preserve samples sufficiently well at ambient temperatures such that differences at 8 weeks are comparable to differences among technical replicates. However, even the worst methods, including those with no fixative, were able to reveal microbiome differences between species at 8 weeks and between individuals after a week, allowing meta-analyses of samples collected using various methods when the effect of interest is expected to be larger than interindividual variation (although use of a single method within a study is strongly recommended to reduce batch effects). Encouragingly for FTA cards, the differences caused by this method are systematic and can be detrended. As in other studies, we strongly caution against the use of 70% ethanol. The results, spanning 15 individuals and over 1,200 samples, provide our most comprehensive view to date of storage effects on stool and provide a paradigm for the future studies of other sample types that will be required to provide a global view of microbial diversity and its interaction among humans, animals, and the environment. IMPORTANCE Our study, spanning 15 individuals and over 1,200 samples, provides our most comprehensive view to date of storage and stabilization effects on stool. We tested five methods for preserving human and dog fecal specimens for periods of up to 8 weeks, including the types of variation often encountered under field conditions, such as freeze-thaw cycles and high temperature fluctuations. We show that several cost-effective methods provide excellent microbiome stability out to 8 weeks, opening up a range of field studies with humans and wildlife that would otherwise be cost-prohibitive

Effect of natural products on the production and activity of Clostridium difficile toxins in vitro

Clostridium difficile infection is a toxin-mediated disease of the colon. C. difficile virulence is primarily attributed to the production of toxin A and toxin B; thus this study was aimed to investigate the effect of a range of natural products on the production and activity of C. difficile toxins in vitro. Twenty-two natural products were investigated against four C. difficile strains. The activity of products against toxins was determined using Vero and HT-29 cells cytotoxicity and neutral red uptake assays. The indirect effect of products on toxin-mediated cytotoxicity was determined using the same cell lines. The effect of seven products on toxin production by C. difficile was determined using ELISA. Zingerone (0.3 mg/ml) protected both cell lines from C. difficile cytopathic effects, confirmed by the neutral red uptake assay (P \u3c 0.05). Three Leptospermum honeys (4% w/v), fresh onion bulb extract (12.5% v/v) and trans-cinnamaldehyde (0.005% v/v) all reduced toxin production and activity significantly (P ≤ 0.023). Garlic clove powder (4.7 mg/ml) only reduced toxin activity (P ≤ 0.047). Overall, several natural products had activity against C. difficile toxins in vitro encouraging further investigation against C. difficile toxins in vivo

Justice is Not Blind: The Role of Race in Law Enforcement Decisions and Practices.

Differential treatment of racial groups by members of law enforcement has energized research in a number of fields. The three papers in this dissertation employ three different methodologies and synthesize literatures from several fields to examine how the racial background of citizens who come into contact with the police may influence police decisions and behaviors. The first study was a laboratory experiment designed to address a gap in the current research on racial bias in shooting decisions by including a measure of implicit racial attitudes to examine if it predicted bias. Both implicit and explicit measures of racial attitudes predicted simulated shooting mistakes when the target was black and unarmed; however, only the explicit measure marginally predicted overall racial bias in shooting latencies. The second study was a secondary data analysis of self-report data from the nationally representative Police-Public Contact Survey. This study was designed to examine differences in how members of racial groups were treated during traffic stops. The finding replicated past research and found that Blacks and Hispanics were more likely than Whites to be searched, arrested, handcuffed, and given a ticket. White motorists were also more likely than minority motorists to receive only warnings. The final field study examined how mandated video recording of certain felony interrogations affected legal outcomes, such as arrest, guilty pleas, and admissions/confessions at a pilot site. Preliminary results indicate that cases in which a custodial interrogation was recorded are more likely to result in charges and an increased percentage of guilty pleas. Another contribution of this study is the development of a coding protocol that can be used with a variety of police files to examine how characteristics like race of the protagonists may be related to interrogation practices and outcomes. Together these studies suggest that there is a significant difference in how racial and ethnic minorities may be perceived and treated by members of law enforcement. I hope that the findings of these studies can stimulate future research and ultimately provide practical guidelines to law enforcement officials about where they might focus interventions and training to reduce biased treatment.Ph.D.PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61731/1/kmknight_1.pd

Dynamic Delegation: Shared, Hierarchical, and Deindividualized Leadership in Extreme Action Teams

This paper examines the leadership of extreme action teams—teams whose highly skilled members cooperate to perform urgent, unpredictable, interdependent, and highly consequential tasks while simultaneously coping with frequent changes in team composition and training their teams\u27 novice members. Our qualitative investigation of the leadership of extreme action medical teams in an emergency trauma center revealed a hierarchical, deindividualized system of shared leadership. At the heart of this system is dynamic delegation: senior leaders\u27 rapid and repeated delegation of the active leadership role to and withdrawal of the active leadership role from more junior leaders of the team. Our findings suggest that dynamic delegation enhances extreme action teams\u27 ability to perform reliably while also building their novice team members\u27 skills. We highlight the contingencies that guide senior leaders\u27 delegation and withdrawal of the active leadership role, as well as the values and structures that motivate and enable the shared, ongoing practice of dynamic delegation. Further, we suggest that extreme action teams and other “improvisational” organizational units may achieve swift coordination and reliable performance by melding hierarchical and bureaucratic role-based structures with flexibility-enhancing processes. The insights emerging from our findings at once extend and challenge prior leadership theory and research, paving the way for further theory development and research on team leadership in dynamic settings

Trends in silicosis prevalence and the healthy worker effect among gold miners in South Africa: a prevalence study with follow up of employment status.

BACKGROUND: Given the intimate association between silicosis and tuberculosis, understanding the epidemiology of the South African gold mining industry silicosis epidemic is essential to current initiatives to control both silicosis and tuberculosis in this population, one of the most heavily affected globally. The study's objectives were to compare the prevalence of silicosis among working black gold miners in South Africa during 2004-2009 to that of previous studies, including autopsy series, and to analyse the influence of silicosis and/or tuberculosis on exiting employment. METHODS: Routine chest radiographs from a cohort of gold miners were read for silicosis by an experienced reader (I), and a subset re-read by a B-trained reader (II). Two methods of presenting the readings were used. Additionally, with baseline status of silicosis and previous or active tuberculosis as predictors, survival analysis examined the probability of exiting the workforce for any reason during 2006-2011. RESULTS: Reader I read 11 557 chest radiographs and reader II re-read 841. Overall, silicosis prevalence (ILO ≥ 1/0: 5.7 and 6.2% depending on reader method) was similar to the age adjusted prevalence found in a large study in 1984 (5.0%). When comparison was restricted to a single mine shaft previously studied in 2000, a decline in prevalence (ILO ≥ 1/1) was suggested for one of the reading methods (duration adjusted 20.5% vs. 13.0% in the current study). These findings are discordant with a long-term rising autopsy prevalence of silicosis over this period. Overall, relative to miners with neither disease, the adjusted hazard ratio for exiting employment during the follow-up period was 1.54 for baseline silicosis [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.17, 2.04], 1.71 for tuberculosis (95% CI 1.51, 1.94) and 1.53 for combined disease (95% CI 1.20, 1.96). CONCLUSIONS: This study found, a) there was no significant decline in overall silicosis prevalence among working black miners in the South African gold mining industry between 1984 and 2004-2009, and b) a possible decline at one mine shaft more recently. In the absence of evidence of declining respirable silica concentrations between the 1980s and 2000s, the trends found are plausibly due to a healthy worker survivor effect, which may be accelerating

Indiana Nonprofit Employment: 2009 Update

Analyzes recent trends in the state's nonprofit employment, including proportion of overall employment; payroll growth, distribution, and wages by sector; nonprofit and for-profit wage gap; and proportion of nonprofit workers employed by charities