Women\u27s Roles In Church And Community In An Urban Appalachian Neighborhood

In her 1922 Master\u27s thesis, Sue Remaley uncovered a neighborhood type in Knoxville, Tennessee that contrasts with prevailing perceptions of urban poverty. The urban poor are often described as having high numbers of female headed families, high crime and unemployment rates, and are often portrayed as black or Hispanic. Remaley discovered that many poor neighborhoods in Knoxville are composed of two-parent families, have high employment rates, live in homes they own, and are predominantly white. This thesis focuses on one such neighborhood in Knoxville, Tennessee that exhibits a strong sense of community and stability. Specifically, this research focuses on the women of this urban Appalachian neighborhood, and how their roles in the church and community foster the stability found in the neighborhood. In order to examine religiosity among the women of this neighborhood, an ethnographic approach was taken. This included structured interviews, informal interviews, and participant observation. A general questionnaire was constructed to locate church participants and to gather information on community attitudes. A group of twenty women were then selected for an additional interview based on church involvement. These women were observed in the church environment to determine what roles women have in the church. Support networks among church-going women were evaluated to determine if friendships among these women are based almost exclusively on similar religious beliefs and behaviors. Through participant observation and informal interviews it became evident that the women of this neighborhood play an important role in the maintenance of the church. Although women cannot hold cleric positions of authority, they do play important decision making roles in the missionary and social outreach work of the church in the community

Exploration Linking Self-Reported Disordered Eating and Wellness in Undergraduate Health Students

An applied project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Education Specialist at Morehead State University by Pamela K. Owens on April 29, 2009

Deep Neural Networks for ECG-Based Pulse Detection during Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest

The automatic detection of pulse during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is necessary for the early recognition of the arrest and the detection of return of spontaneous circulation (end of the arrest). The only signal available in every single defibrillator and valid for the detection of pulse is the electrocardiogram (ECG). In this study we propose two deep neural network (DNN) architectures to detect pulse using short ECG segments (5 s), i.e., to classify the rhythm into pulseless electrical activity (PEA) or pulse-generating rhythm (PR). A total of 3914 5-s ECG segments, 2372 PR and 1542 PEA, were extracted from 279 OHCA episodes. Data were partitioned patient-wise into training (80%) and test (20%) sets. The first DNN architecture was a fully convolutional neural network, and the second architecture added a recurrent layer to learn temporal dependencies. Both DNN architectures were tuned using Bayesian optimization, and the results for the test set were compared to state-of-the art PR/PEA discrimination algorithms based on machine learning and hand crafted features. The PR/PEA classifiers were evaluated in terms of sensitivity (Se) for PR, specificity (Sp) for PEA, and the balanced accuracy (BAC), the average of Se and Sp. The Se/Sp/BAC of the DNN architectures were 94.1%/92.9%/93.5% for the first one, and 95.5%/91.6%/93.5% for the second one. Both architectures improved the performance of state of the art methods by more than 1.5 points in BAC.This work was supported by: The Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, TEC2015-64678-R, jointly with the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), UPV/EHU via GIU17/031 and the Basque Government through the grant PRE_2018_2_0260

Checking Assumptions in Latent Class Regression Models via a Markov Chain Monte Carlo Estimation Approach: An Application to Depression and Socio-Economic Status

Latent class regression models are useful tools for assessing associations between covariates and latent variables. However, evaluation of key model assumptions cannot be performed using methods from standard regression models due to the unobserved nature of latent outcome variables. This paper presents graphical diagnostic tools to evaluate whether or not latent class regression models adhere to standard assumptions of the model: conditional independence and non-differential measurement. An integral part of these methods is the use of a Markov Chain Monte Carlo estimation procedure. Unlike standard maximum likelihood implementations for latent class regression model estimation, the MCMC approach allows us to calculate posterior distributions and point estimates of any functions of parameters. It is this convenience that allows us to provide the diagnostic methods that we introduce. As a motivating example we present an analysis focusing on the association between depression and socioeconomic status, using data from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area study. We consider a latent class regression analysis investigating the association between depression and socioeconomic status measures, where the latent variable depression is regressed on education and income indicators, in addition to age, gender, and marital status variables. While the fitted latent class regression model yields interesting results, the model parameters are found to be invalid due to the violation of model assumptions. The violation of these assumptions is clearly identified by the presented diagnostic plots. These methods can be applied to standard latent class and latent class regression models, and the general principle can be extended to evaluate model assumptions in other types of models

Anti-polyQ antibodies recognize a short polyQ stretch in both normal and mutant huntingtin exon 1

Huntington's disease is caused by expansion of a polyglutamine (polyQ) repeat in the huntingtin protein. A structural basis for the apparent transition between normal and disease-causing expanded polyQ repeats of huntingtin is unknown. The “linear lattice” model proposed random-coil structures for both normal and expanded polyQ in the preaggregation state. Consistent with this model, the affinity and stoichiometry of the anti-polyQ antibody MW1 increased with the number of glutamines. An opposing “structural toxic threshold” model proposed a conformational change above the pathogenic polyQ threshold resulting in a specific toxic conformation for expanded polyQ. Support for this model was provided by the anti-polyQ antibody 3B5H10, which was reported to specifically recognize a distinct pathologic conformation of soluble expanded polyQ. To distinguish between these models, we directly compared binding of MW1 and 3B5H10 to normal and expanded polyQ repeats within huntingtin exon 1 fusion proteins. We found similar binding characteristics for both antibodies. First, both antibodies bound to normal, as well as expanded, polyQ in huntingtin exon 1 fusion proteins. Second, an expanded polyQ tract contained multiple epitopes for fragments antigen-binding (Fabs) of both antibodies, demonstrating that 3B5H10 does not recognize a single epitope specific to expanded polyQ. Finally, small-angle X-ray scattering and dynamic light scattering revealed similar binding modes for MW1 and 3B5H10 Fab–huntingtin exon 1 complexes. Together, these results support the linear lattice model for polyQ binding proteins, suggesting that the hypothesized pathologic conformation of soluble expanded polyQ is not a valid target for drug design

Comparative analysis of anti-polyglutamine Fab crystals grown on Earth and in microgravity

Huntington's disease is one of nine neurodegenerative diseases caused by a polyglutamine (polyQ)-repeat expansion. An anti-polyQ antigen-binding fragment, MW1 Fab, was crystallized both on Earth and on the International Space Station, a microgravity environment where convection is limited. Once the crystals returned to Earth, the number, size and morphology of all crystals were recorded, and X-ray data were collected from representative crystals. The results generally agreed with previous microgravity crystallization studies. On average, microgravity-grown crystals were 20% larger than control crystals grown on Earth, and microgravity-grown crystals had a slightly improved mosaicity (decreased by 0.03°) and diffraction resolution (decreased by 0.2 Å) compared with control crystals grown on Earth. However, the highest resolution and lowest mosaicity crystals were formed on Earth, and the highest-quality crystal overall was formed on Earth after return from microgravity

Higher rates of mental health screening of adolescents recorded after provider training using simulated patients in a Kenyan HIV clinic: results of a pilot study

BackgroundKenyan adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) experience a dual burden of HIV and common mental disorders (CMD). HIV clinics are a key entry point for AGYW in need of integrated CMD and HIV care; however, rates of screening and referral for CMDs are low. Our objective was to test an evidence-based provider training strategy, simulated patient encounters (SPEs), on CMD service delivery for AGYW in a Kenyan HIV clinic.MethodsThis pilot study was conducted in a public HIV clinic in Thika, Kenya from January to November 2021. The simulated patient encounter (SPE) implementation strategy included case script development from prior qualitative work, patient actor training, and a three-day SPE training including four standardized mock clinical encounters followed by quantitative surveys assessing provider competencies for each encounter. We abstracted medical record data related to HIV and CMDs such as HIV status, reason for visit, CMD screening test performed, and counselling or referral information. We conducted an interrupted time series analysis using abstracted HIV and CMD screening rates from AGYW ages 16–25 years visiting the clinic 7 months before and 3 months after SPE training. We used generalized linear models to assess changes in CMD screening rates after training.ResultsA total of 10 providers participated in the training. Competency ratings improved across four mock encounters (mean score from 8.1 to 13.7) between first and fourth encounters. We abstracted all medical records (n = 1,154) including from 888 (76%) AGYW seeking HIV treatment, 243 (21%) seeking prevention services, and 34 (3%) seeking other services. CMD screening rates increased immediately following training from 8 to 21% [relative risk (RR) = 2.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34–4.90, p < 0.01]. The 3 months following the SPE training resulted in an 11% relative increase in CMD screening proportion compared to the 7 months pre-SPE (RR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.04–1.17, p < 0.01). Finally, 1% of all pre-SPE screens resulted in referral versus 5% of post-SPE screens (p = 0.07).ConclusionThe SPE model is a promising implementation strategy for improving HIV provider competencies and CMD service delivery for adolescents in HIV clinics. Future research is needed to explore effects on adolescent clinical outcomes in larger trials

CalDAG-GEFI Deficiency Reduces Atherosclerotic Lesion Development in MiceSignificance

Platelets are important to the development and progression of atherosclerotic lesions. However, relatively little is known about the contribution of platelet signaling to this pathological process. Our recent work identified two independent, yet synergistic signaling pathways that lead to the activation of the small GTPase Rap1; one mediated by the guanine nucleotide exchange factor, CalDAG-GEFI (CDGI), the other by P2Y12, a platelet receptor for ADP and the target of anti-platelet drugs. In this study, we evaluated lesion formation in atherosclerosis-prone low-density lipoprotein receptor deficient (Ldlr−/−) mice lacking CDGI and/or P2Y12 in hematopoietic cells

Comparative analysis of anti-polyglutamine Fab crystals grown on Earth and in microgravity

Huntington's disease is one of nine neurodegenerative diseases caused by a polyglutamine (polyQ)-repeat expansion. An anti-polyQ antigen-binding fragment, MW1 Fab, was crystallized both on Earth and on the International Space Station, a microgravity environment where convection is limited. Once the crystals returned to Earth, the number, size and morphology of all crystals were recorded, and X-ray data were collected from representative crystals. The results generally agreed with previous microgravity crystallization studies. On average, microgravity-grown crystals were 20% larger than control crystals grown on Earth, and microgravity-grown crystals had a slightly improved mosaicity (decreased by 0.03°) and diffraction resolution (decreased by 0.2 Å) compared with control crystals grown on Earth. However, the highest resolution and lowest mosaicity crystals were formed on Earth, and the highest-quality crystal overall was formed on Earth after return from microgravity