A Comparison of Public versus Private Academic Library Web Sites in Alabama for Accessibility and Web 2.0 Applications

The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare Alabama’s academic library Web sites to determine how accessible they are for persons with disabilities and what kind of useful links such as tutorials and Web 2.0 applications can be found on the home pages. The importance of this study is to determine the accessibility and readability of academic library Web site home pages based off of the current WCAG 2.0 guidelines, as well as the availability of Web 2.0 tools and tutorials on library home pages. By studying the results of the Web site accessibility software, college and university libraries will be able to better accommodate and serve all students. Looking at the results for the Web 2.0 tools and tutorials will give an overall idea of the advancements and changes academic library Web sites are making to bring more information, in a variety of ways to their students

Hirata Family: Toshiye Hirata (Elder)

Toshiye Hirata holds in her hands a valuable letter. Its value doesn’t come from the fame of the writer or from historical significance—but rather from the intense depth of its personal meaning for her. The letter is a Namu Amida Butsu, a Buddhist expression of sincerest, heartfelt gratitude. It was written to her by her husband, Roy Ko Hirata. In the letter he thanks her from the bottom of his heart for how she raised two daughters and a son with him, diligently and lovingly, and how she worked side by side with him through the many hardships of their lives.https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/ss-ja/1000/thumbnail.jp

Lo Family: Shoua Lo (Middle)

Coming-of-age can happen abruptly, through a single experience—or it can be a process. For Shoua Lo, a cheerful man who laughs easily, the process began at age 19, when he decided to marry and start a family of his own. For Americans of all ethnicities, starting a family is a rite of passage that can open the door of adulthood. When you have children of your own, it is harder to continue to think of yourself as a child. Shoua, born the second oldest in a family of seven sons and three daughters, knew very well what sort of responsibilities he was taking on…https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/ss-ha/1001/thumbnail.jp

Lo Family: Teng Lo (Elder)

“If you work like a slave first—eventually, you’ll get to eat and live like a leader. If you eat and live like a leader first—eventually, you’ll have to eat and live like a slave.” These are words of wisdom, words that anyone can learn from. They’re words that Teng Lo has never forgotten. Now seventy years old, he has learned many things in life—but those words, spoken by his Hmong elders, are as meaningful today as when he first heard them, years ago and in a very different place, as a twelve-year-old boy.https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/ss-ha/1003/thumbnail.jp

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy for the treatment of lower limb intermittent claudication: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (the SHOCKWAVE 1 trial)

© 2017 The Author(s). Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) has a population prevalence of 4.6% with intermittent claudication (IC) presenting as one of the earliest and most common symptoms. PAD has detrimental effects on patients' walking ability in terms of maximum walking distance (MWD) and pain-free walking distance (PFWD). Research has suggested extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) may induce angiogenesis in treated tissue; therefore, our objective is to assess the tolerability and efficacy of ESWT as a novel treatment of intermittent claudication. Methods/design: Patients with unilateral claudication will be randomised to receive either ESWT (PiezoWave 2 shockwave system) or sham treatment to the calf muscle bulk three times per week for 3 weeks. All patients are blinded to treatment group, and all assessments will be performed by a masked assessor. Treatment tolerability using a visual analogue scale, ankle-brachial pressure index, MWD, PFWD and safety will all be formally assessed as outcome measures at baseline and at 4, 8 and 12 weeks follow-up. Discussion: This trial will be the first of its kind in terms of methodology in relation to ESWT for intermittent claudication. A double-masked randomised controlled trial will provide useful information about the potential for the use of ESWT as a non-invasive treatment option and the need for further robust research. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02652078. Registered on 17 October 2014

A Systematic Review of the Uptake and Adherence Rates to Supervised Exercise Programs in Patients with Intermittent Claudication

Background Intermittent claudication (IC) is a common and debilitating symptom of peripheral arterial disease and is associated with a significant reduction in a sufferer's quality of life. Guidelines recommend a supervised exercise program (SEP) as the primary treatment option; however, anecdotally there is a low participation rate for exercise in this group of patients. We undertook a systematic review of the uptake and adherence rates to SEPs for individuals with IC. Methods The MEDLINE, Embase, and PubMed databases were searched up to January 2015 for terms related to supervised exercise in peripheral arterial disease. The review had 3 aims: first, to establish the rates of uptake to SEPs, second, the rates of adherence to programs, and finally to determine the reasons reported for poor uptake and adherence. Separate inclusion and/or exclusion criteria were applied in selecting reports for each aim of the review. Results Only 23 of the 53 potentially eligible articles for uptake analysis identified on literature searches reported any details of screened patients (n = 7,517) with only 24.2% of patients subsequently recruited to SEPs. Forty-five percent of screen failures had no reason for exclusion reported. Sixty-seven articles with 4,012 patients were included for analysis of SEP adherence. Overall, 75.1% of patients reportedly completed an SEP; however, only one article defined a minimal attendance required for SEP completion. Overall, 54.1% of incomplete adherence was due to patient withdrawal and no reason for incomplete adherence was reported for 16% of cases. Conclusions Reporting of SEP trials was poor with regard to the numbers of subjects screened and reasons for exclusions. Only approximately 1 in 3 screened IC patients was suitable for and willing to undertake SEP. Levels of adherence to SEPs and definitions of satisfactory adherence were also lacking in most the current literature. Current clinical guidelines based on this evidence base may not be applicable to most IC patients and changes to SEPs may be needed to encourage and/or retain participants

A systematic review and meta-analysis of systemic intraoperative anticoagulation during arteriovenous access formation for dialysis

Purpose: Surgical arteriovenous fistula (AVF) or graft (AVG) is preferred to a central venous catheter for dialysis access. Surgical access may suffer thrombosis early after placement and systemic anticoagulation during surgical access formation may increase patency rates but would be expected to increase bleeding-related complications. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials was conducted to examine the impact of systemic anticoagulation on access surgery perioperative bleeding and patency rates. Methods: We included randomised controlled trials testing systemic anticoagulation during access formation versus a control group without systemic anticoagulation reporting bleeding complications and access patency. Medline, Embase, CENTRAL and CINAHL were searched up to March 2015. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and the Jadad score. Meta-analysis was performed using Cochrane Revman ® software. Results: Searches identified 445 reports of which four randomised studies involving 411 participants were included. Three studies pertained to AVF only and one included both AVF and AVG. Systemic anticoagulation led to increased bleeding events in all access [four trials; risk ratio (RR) 7.18; confidence interval (CI), 2.41 to 21.38; p < 0.001]. Patency was not improved for all access (four trials; RR, 0.64; CI, 0.37 to 1.09; p = 0.10) but was improved when AVF analysed alone (three trials; RR, 0.57; CI, 0.33 to 0.97; p = 0.04). Conclusions: The use of intraoperative systemic anticoagulation during access formation is associated with a highly significant increased risk of bleeding-related complications. A significant improvement in AVF patency was seen, though not when AVF and AVG were analysed together

Epidemiology of soccer‐related head injury in children 5–14 years in Victoria, Australia

Aim: Our aim was to use epidemiological data to determine the incidence of soccer‐related head injuries in children aged 5–14 years who presented at emergency departments (EDs) or were admitted in hospitals in Victoria, Australia. Methods: ED presentation and hospital admission de‐identified aggregate data were from the Victorian Injury Surveillance Unit. Soccer participation data were compared with the soccer‐related head injury data to determine the incidence of this injury among these children. Results: The incidence of ED presentations was 0.17% of children participating in soccer during the study period (financial years 2011–2012 to 2015–2016). The 10–14‐years age group presented with more head injuries than the 5–9‐years age group. For the admissions data, soccer had a significantly lower (P = 0.0379) incidence of head injury when compared with ‘sport as a whole’. Conclusions: The low incidence of soccer‐related head injuries presenting to an ED or admission to hospital is consistent with international findings

Local Connections: Electoral Institutions, Social Networks, and Local Politicians in a Developing Democracy

This paper explores the impacts of electoral institutions on citizens’ social networks and political engagement, using the case of Brazil. Brazil’s combination of open-list proportional representation and extreme multipartism leads to high numbers of connections between citizens and local politicians and activists. Survey data from a 2008 city council race reveal that a very high percentage of respondents know both politicians and activists. Such connections serve as an important source of political socialization and mobilization. Using coarsened exact matching, I show that these ties affect campaign learning, turnout, and clientelistic dispositions, and that they often have a more powerful effect than do respondents’ closest discussants. This paper thus illuminates a hitherto unrecognized consequence of Brazil’s much-studied and distinctive institutional arrangements, while at the same time developing a new framework for theorizing and measuring the ways in which citizens’ networks incorporate politicians