The Socialization of Female Hostage Negotiators: Their Voices, Perspectives, & Experiences

In its fifth annual study, the National Center for Women and Policing reported that women continue to face widespread bias in police hiring and are under-represented because of biased selection practices and recruitment policies that keep their number artificially low. Once hired, women face discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and are maliciously thwarted as they move up the ranks. With respect to gender and organizational culture, the NCWP study failed to capture and describe the perceptions and socialization experiences of those who moved up into the specialized units, particularly female hostage negotiators. For this reason, the current study was designed to examine the lived experiences of 24 female hostage negotiators located in south Florida’s tri-county area. Through Moustakas’ transcendental phenomenological methodology, this investigation reveals and explains how women are socialized in hostage negotiations. The principal investigator used comprehensive descriptions and interpretation of the women’s experiences to highlight their socialization process. This investigation provides valuable insight about who these women really are, while providing a channel for their voices, their perceptions, and the feelings they experience as hostage negotiators, thereby proving valuable insight for selecting, training, and retaining future female hostage negotiators. Directions for future research as well as implications of the findings are offered

Standardizing Nurse-to-Nurse Patient Handoffs in a Correctional Healthcare setting: a Quality Improvement Project to improve end-of-shift Nurse-to-Nurse Communication using the SBAR I-5 Handoff Bundle

Background. Ineffective nurse-to-nurse communication at handoffs can result in patient harm, including death. Effective communication addresses key technical and non-technical components including: the comprehensiveness and veracity of information exchanged, as well as the mutual understanding of the information shared. When either of these features is missing, ineffective communication results. In the jail setting communication is often based on patient information that is fractured, poorly accessible, and non-verifiable. Of the jail nurses in the study setting, 57% are foreign born; 55% speak a non-English native language, and 35% trained and practiced in foreign countries. This “internationalization” of nursing with the potential for variations in how nurses interpret and act on information exchanged can severely undermine patient safety. Purpose. The purpose of this DNP project was to utilize evidence-based practice processes to standardize the content and format of the nurse-to-nurse handoff communication at the jail, and to explore whether these structural and process changes would improve the quality of the handoff communication. Design. This project explored the impact of an evidence-based communication protocol, the SBAR I-5 Handoff Bundle, on the quality of the nurse-to-nurse handoff communication using a convenience sample of nurses at a 22-bed acute medical services unit of a jail. The study employed a mixed methods approach utilizing questionnaires, observations, interviews, and retrospective chart reviews to collect and compare pre/post-test data. Methods. The primary investigator observed morning and evening end-of-shift handoffs. Problems identified were: inconsistent handoff start and ending times; wide variability in report content, format and style; the absence of information verification; and failure to validate the mutual understanding of information shared. Differences in nurses’ pre/post-test survey responses, interviews, and handoff observations were analyzed. Nurses’ interview responses were examined for salient themes. Results. Post-intervention, jail nurses reported improved handoff quality. Although a marginal increase in the patient care error rate occurred, a 10-fold increase in the handoff error capture rate improved patient safety overall. Thematic analysis yielded two themes: Improved communication and improved team dynamics. Discussion/Conclusion. This study identifies deficiencies in the jail nurse handoff structure and process that were addressed by the study intervention. The study results indicate that standardization of jail handoff communication combined with information verification and validation features can improve the quality of jail nurses’ handoffs.

BCL11B Drives Human Mammary Stem Cell Self-Renewal In Vitro by Inhibiting Basal Differentiation

The epithelial compartment of the mammary gland contains basal and luminal cell lineages, as well as stem and progenitor cells that reside upstream in the differentiation hierarchy. Stem and progenitor cell differentiation is regulated to maintain adult tissue and mediate expansion during pregnancy and lactation. The genetic factors that regulate the transition of cells between differentiation states remain incompletely understood. Here, we present a genome-scale method to discover genes driving cell-state specification. Applying this method, we identify a transcription factor, BCL11B, which drives stem cell self-renewal in vitro, by inhibiting differentiation into the basal lineage. To validate BCL11B's functional role, we use two-dimensional colony-forming and three-dimensional tissue differentiation assays to assess the lineage differentiation potential and functional abilities of primary human mammary cells. These findings show that BCL11B regulates mammary cell differentiation and demonstrate the utility of our proposed genome-scale strategy for identifying lineage regulators in mammalian tissues. Miller et al. describe a strategy to identify candidate master regulators of cell lineage specification. This approach identified BCL11B as a key regulator of human mammary stem cell self-renewal in in vitro progenitor and differentiation assays. Using a combination of 2D and 3D primary cell culture techniques, they show that BCL11B drives stem cell self-renewal by inhibiting basal lineage commitment.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant 1122374

<i>In situ</i> measurements of micronutrient dynamics in open seawater show that complex dissociation rates may limit diatom growth

In this first in situ study of the dynamic availability of phytoplankton micronutrients, a SeaExplorer glider was combined with Diffusive Gradients in Thin Films and deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. On the basis of their labile metal complex pools, we discovered that Fe and Co can be potentially limiting and Cu co-limiting to diatom growth, contrary to the generally accepted view that phosphorus (phosphate) is the growth limiting element in the Mediterranean Sea. For flagellates and picoplankton, phosphorus remains the main element limiting growth. Our in situ measurements showed that organic complexes of Fe and Cu (>98% of total dissolved concentration), dissociate slower than inorganic complexes of Co, Cd and Ni (>99% of total dissolved concentration being free ions and inorganic complexes). This strengthens the potential growth limiting effect of Fe and Cu versus phosphate, which is present as a free ion and, thus, directly available for plankton

The aesthetics of verticality: a gravitational contribution to aesthetic preference

Verticality plays a fundamental role in the arts, portraying concepts such as power, grandeur, or even morality; however, it is unclear whether people have an aesthetic preference for vertical stimuli. The perception of verticality occurs by integrating vestibular-gravitational input with proprioceptive signals about body posture. Thus, these signals may influence the preference for verticality. Here, we show that people have a genuine aesthetic preference for stimuli aligned with the vertical, and this preference depends on the position of the body relative to the gravitational direction. Observers rated the attractiveness of lines that varied in inclination. Perfectly vertical lines were judged to be more attractive than those inclined clockwise or anticlockwise only when participants held an upright posture. Critically, this preference was not present when their body was tilted away from the gravitational vertical. Our results showed that gravitational signals make a contribution to the perception of attractiveness of environmental objects

Adipocyte ATP-binding cassette G1 promotes triglyceride storage, fat mass growth, and human obesity

The role of ATP-binding Cassette G1 (ABCG1) transporter in human pathophysiology is still largely unknown. Indeed, beyond its role in mediating free cholesterol efflux to HDL, ABCG1 transporter equally promotes lipid accumulation in a triglyceride (TG)-rich environment through regulation of the bioavailability of Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL).As both ABCG1 and LPL are expressed in adipose tissue, we hypothesize that ABCG1 is implicated in adipocyte TG storage and could be then a major actor in adipose tissue fat accumulation.Silencing of Abcg1 expression by RNAi in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes compromised LPL-dependent TG accumulation during initial phase of differentiation. Generation of stable Abcg1 Knockdown 3T3-L1 adipocytes revealed that Abcg1 deficiency reduces TG storage and diminishes lipid droplet size through inhibition of Pparγ expression. Strikingly, local inhibition of adipocyte Abcg1 in adipose tissue from mice fed a high fat diet led to a rapid decrease of adiposity and weight gain. Analysis of two frequent ABCG1 SNPs (rs1893590 (A/C) and rs1378577 (T/G)) in morbidly obese individuals indicated that elevated ABCG1 expression in adipose tissue was associated with an increased PPARγ expression and adiposity concomitant to an increased fat mass and BMI (haplotype AT&gt;GC). The critical role of ABCG1 regarding obesity was further confirmed in independent populations of severe obese and diabetic obese individuals.For the first time, this study identifies a major role of adipocyte ABCG1 in adiposity and fat mass growth and suggests that adipose ABCG1 might represent a potential therapeutic target in obesity

Caribbean Blacks And Acculturative Stress: The Moderating Role of Religious Coping

Prior studies indicate that religion is very important in the lives of Caribbean Black immigrants. This study (N= 146) explored the role of religion in the process of coping and adjustment among Caribbean Blacks as they adjust to life in the United States. More specifically, this study explored the relationship among stress (including acculturative stress), religious coping, and psychological outcomes among Caribbean immigrants. The result showed that religion and spirituality remain important for Caribbean Blacks living in the United States as they were while living in the Caribbean. Religious coping (both positive and negative methods) global stress, and acculturative stress were significant predictors of psychological outcomes. Religious coping moderated the relationship between stress and depression: as expected, negative religious coping exacerbated the effects of acculturative stress on depression. However, a surprisingly similar effect was found for positive religious coping. Implications for mental health service providers as well as limitations of the study are discussed

Nouvelles Voies de Régulation contrôlant l'Homéostasie Lipidique et l'Inflammation dans le Macrophage Humain au cours de l'Athérosclérose

Foam cell accumulation in arterial walls is the critical initiating event of atheroma plaque development. Macrophages acquire this phenotype by cholesterol ester accumulation and pro-inflammatory signaling pathways activation. Oxydized form of cholesterol activates LXR and subsequently atheroprotective cellular cholesterol efflux. In parallel, crystallized cholesterol phagocytosis will impair vesicular traffic, activating NLRP3 and deleterious IL-1 cytokines release. Here we describe further those pathways in human macrophages and to evidence new key factors in atherosclerosis development. First, stimulation of cellular cholesterol efflux to ApoA-I and HDL from human macrophage by LXR agonist is LXRα-dependent. Transcriptional activation of ARL7 increases cholesterol transport from endolysosomal membrane to efflux-prone plasmic membrane pools, lipid rafts. From there, cholesterol will be exported on ApoA-I containing lipoproteins by ABCA1 transporter, whose expression is stimulated by LXRα agonists as well. Cholesterol crystals phagocytose will lead to inflammasome NLRP3 activation, leading to pro-atherogenous IL-1β and IL-18 secretion. We first showed LXR agonist GW3965 role in repressing transcription of NLRP3 partners. Also, we evidenced the importance of cathepsin B and L maturation by asparagin endopeptidase (AEP) in human macrophages, and atheroprotective properties of AEP silencing. Overall, this work demonstrated the necessity of using human models to confirm murine data about molecular mechanisms. Also, it is important to integrate lipid homeostasis and inflammation signaling in foam cells, for there is a strong molecular link between both.L’accumulation de cellules spumeuses dans l’intima des artères est le point critique de l’initiation de l’athérosclérose. L’accumulation de cholestérol et l’activation des voies pro-inflammatoires sont responsables de l’acquisition par les macrophages de ce phénotype délétère. Les dérivés oxydés du cholestérol accumulés vont stimuler les récepteurs nucléaires LXR et incidemment l’efflux de cholestérol athéroprotecteur, tandis que la phagocytose de cholestérol cristallisé dans la lésion causera une perturbation du trafic vésiculaire qui activera l’inflammasome NLRP3, verrou de l’inflammation IL-1. Cette étude a pour but de décrypter ces voies dans le macrophage humain. La stimulation de l’efflux de cholestérol par un agoniste LXR dans le macrophage humain m’a est médiée par l’activation transcriptionnelle LXRα-dépendante d’ARL7 - qui permet le transport du cholestérol libre de la membrane des endosomes et lysosomes aux radeaux lipidiques – et du transporteur ABCA1 – l’exportant vers les HDL, lipoprotéines athéroprotectrices. L’activation du complexe multi-protéique NLRP3 dans le macrophage, et la sécrétion des cytokines délétères IL-1β et IL-18, est également réprimée par l’agoniste LXR. L’activation des cathepsines B et L par l’enzyme AEP est aussi nécessaire pour l’activation de NLRP3 par des cristaux. Inactiver l’AEP protège ainsi contre le développement de l’athérosclérose. Ces travaux ont démontré la nécessité des études chez l’humain pour la mise en évidence des mécanismes moléculaires et la nécessité d’intégrer les signalisations lipidiques et inflammatoires étroitement liées dans la cellule spumeuse