The Heroin Crisis Act: What You Need to Know about the New Law

The Heroin Crisis Act aims to address the heroin epidemic in Illinois through improved access to treatment and expanded overdose prevention activities. Expanded Medicaid benefits for medications that treat substance use disorders, increased access to Naloxone that prevent overdose, and numerous other provisions represent a big step forward in saving lives and effectively treating addiction. It will take time to implement all the provisions of the law, but stakeholders and public officials are working on it now. This fact sheet breaks down the multifaceted law with a focus on what healthcare providers and those who might be struggling with addiction need to know

Unhappiness, health and cognitive ability in old age

Background To test whether scores on depression inventories on entry to a longitudinal study predict mental ability over the next 4–16 years. Method Associations between scores on the Beck Depression Inventory and on tests of intelligence, vocabulary and memory were analysed in 5070 volunteers aged 49–93 years after differences in prescribed drug consumption, death and drop-out, sex, socio-economic advantage and recruitment cohort effects had also been considered. Results On all cognitive tasks Beck scores on entry, even in the range 0–7 indicating differences in above average contentment, affected overall levels of cognitive performance but not rates of age-related cognitive decline suggesting effects of differences in life satisfaction rather than in depression. Conclusions A new finding is that, in old age, increments in life satisfaction are associated with better cognitive performance. Implications for interpreting associations between depression inventory scores and cognitive performance in elderly samples are discussed

Kimberley Women : Their Experiences of Making a Remote Locality Home

In previous histories of Western Australia, pre-dominantly written from a male Eurocentric viewpoint, scant attention has been drawn to the everyday lives of country women. The study described in this dissertation explores the responses of women to the challenges of relocation and settlement within a remote locality in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

Some kinetic and equilibrium studies of the reactions of nitrobenzofurazan derivatives with nucleophiles

The reactions of 4,6-dinitrobenzofuroxan, (DNBF) with aniline and six of its N- and ring- substituted derivatives have been studied. It is known that aniline usually reacts as a nitrogen nucleophile, forming nitrogen-bonded σ-adducts with trinitrobenzene, (TNB) in the presence of a strong base. However, in acidic solutions, a-adducts are formed with bonding between a ring carbon atom of the anilines and the 7-position of DNBF. A value of 2.0 for k(_H)/k(_D), the kinetic isotope effect, indicates that bond formation is largely rate determining in the substitution pathway. Estimates were made for the pK(_a) values relating to carbon protonation of the anilines. In solutions of aniline buffered with aniline hydrogen chloride it was possible to distinguish an initial, rapid reaction via the nitrogen centre to give anionic a-adducts. The thermodynamically more stable carbon-bonded σ-adducts were observed to form over time. In the presence of excess amine, these zwitterionic σ-adducts were in rapid equilibrium with the deprotonated forms. Equilibrium constants for this acid-base process were measured, and indicate that the negatively charged DNBF moiety is electron withdrawing relative to hydrogen. Kinetic and equilibrium studies are reported for the reactions of several aliphatic amines with a selection of nitrobenzofurazan derivatives in DMSO. Rapid reaction at the 5- position to yield σ-adducts was followed by slower formation of the thermodynamically more stable adducts at the 7-position. Proton transfer from the zwitterionic intermediates to a second molecule of amine was generally rapid, and the attack of the amine rate determining. This is in direct contrast with reactions involving TNB, where the proton transfer step is usually rate limiting. The reactions of four nitrobenzofurazan derivatives with sulfite have been studied in aqueous solutions. The stability of the initially formed 5-adducts was remarkably high in comparison with the corresponding σ-adducts formed from attack of sulfite on TNB. A slow isomerisation was observed to yield the thermodynamically more stable 7-adducts, except in the reaction with 4-nitro-7-chlorobenzofurazan, where attack at the 7-position would lead to nucleophilic substitution of the chloro-group to yield the substitution product. The mechanism of the isomerisation was found to occur via an intermolecular rearrangement, and not according to an intramolecular Boulton-Katritzky rearrangement. Sulfite attack on DNBF was also studied. A value for the equilibrium constant for the formation of a 1:1 adduct, K(_7) 1.1 x 10(^13) dm(^3) mol(^-1) was determined. This high value is a reflection of the high carbon basicity of the sulfite ion, and the highly electrophilic character of DNBF. Evidence was also obtained for the formation of 1:2 di-adducts in the presence of excess sulfite, which are present in the isomeric cis and trans forms

How do you like it? Student Perspectives On Remote E-Learning

Edith Cowan University (ECU) is embracing e-learning as its preferred mode of distance education. E-learning has changed the mode, pedagogy and style of learning for distance education students. The convenience of studying online has provided numerous opportunities for remote learners but what is the reality of their educational experience via e-learning? This paper reports on a smallscale research project that examined e-learning from the student‘s perspective. The views of ECU distance education students in Singapore, Thailand, and remote parts of Australia were analysed in order to learn how to better support their needs

Using the cardiovascular system to illustrate fundamental laws and principles in a freshman course

Journal ArticleOur Fundamentals of Bioengineering I course is organized around key physical and engineering laws and principles. A semester-long Major Project is assigned which integrates many of these principles by modeling the human systemic cardiovascular system, using both Matlab computer analysis and assembly of an analogous electrical circuit