Reducing Stigma-Driven Health Disparities in People Living with HIV (PLWH): A Literature Review

Introduction: Research has found that HIV-related stigma has numerous negative impacts on the lives of people living with HIV (PLWH). Although there are more resources than ever dedicated to HIV/AIDS efforts, stigma continues to be a major factor challenging the prevention and treatment of HIV today. Understanding the impacts of stigma on health outcomes and quality of life in PLWH is essential to address the global HIV epidemic and reduce health disparities. Search Strategy: We conducted a secondary meta-analysis of existing research that discussed and evaluated the impacts of HIV-related stigma and discrimination on PLWH. We searched the following databases for peerreviewed articles: EBSCO Host, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and PubMed. We also obtained reports from Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), World Health Organization (WHO), and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Results: Our review of the literature revealed that HIV-related stigma is a socially constructed global phenomenon that reflects social and cultural tradition. Most current stigma-reduction interventions are designed to address individual-level stigma (symbolic stigma). While this has contributed to improvements in individual attitudes towards PLWH, interventions at the individual level alone do not address the macro-level attitudes and societal norms that influence individual ideals and behaviors. Conclusion: Findings in the literature review suggest that because of the pervasiveness of HIV-related stigma globally, addressing stigma is imperative to the HIV response. It also suggests that interventions that address stigma at the structural level and target multiple domains might have a more profound impact on HIV-related health outcomes

Are We Insane? The Quest for Proportionality in the Discovery Rules of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Atrial fibrillation is a common heart arrhythmia which is characterized by a missing or irregular contraction of the atria. The disease is a risk factor for other more serious diseases and the total medical costs in society are extensive. Therefore it would be beneficial to improve and optimize the prevention and detection of the disease.   Pulse palpation and heart auscultation can facilitate the detection of atrial fibrillation clinically, but the diagnosis is generally confirmed by an ECG examination. Today there are several algorithms that detect atrial fibrillation by analysing an ECG. A common method is to study the heart rate variability (HRV) and by different types of statistical calculations find episodes of atrial fibrillation which deviates from normal sinus rhythm.   Two algorithms for detection of atrial fibrillation have been evaluated in Matlab. One is based on the coefficient of variation and the other uses a logistic regression model. Training and testing of the algorithms were done with data from the Physionet MIT database. Several steps of signal processing were used to remove different types of noise and artefacts before the data could be used.   When testing the algorithms, the CV algorithm performed with a sensitivity of 91,38%, a specificity of 93,93% and accuracy of 92,92%, and the results of the logistic regression algorithm was a sensitivity of 97,23%, specificity of 93,79% and accuracy of 95,39%. The logistic regression algorithm performed better and was chosen for implementation in Java, where it achieved a sensitivity of 97,31%, specificity of 93,47% and accuracy of 95,25%.Förmaksflimmer är en vanlig hjärtrytmrubbning som kännetecknas av en avsaknad eller oregelbunden kontraktion av förmaken. Sjukdomen är en riskfaktor för andra allvarligare sjukdomar och de totala kostnaderna för samhället är betydande. Det skulle därför vara fördelaktigt att effektivisera och förbättra prevention samt diagnostisering av förmaksflimmer.   Kliniskt diagnostiseras förmaksflimmer med hjälp av till exempel pulspalpation och auskultation av hjärtat, men diagnosen brukar fastställas med en EKG-undersökning. Det finns idag flertalet algoritmer för att detektera arytmin genom att analysera ett EKG. En av de vanligaste metoderna är att undersöka variabiliteten av hjärtrytmen (HRV) och utföra olika sorters statistiska beräkningar som kan upptäcka episoder av förmaksflimmer som avviker från en normal sinusrytm.   I detta projekt har två metoder för att detektera förmaksflimmer utvärderats i Matlab, en baseras på beräkningar av variationskoefficienten och den andra använder sig av logistisk regression. EKG som kommer från databasen Physionet MIT används för att träna och testa modeller av algoritmerna. Innan EKG-signalen kan användas måste den behandlas för att ta bort olika typer av brus och artefakter.   Vid test av algoritmen med variationskoefficienten blev resultatet en sensitivitet på 91,38%, en specificitet på 93,93% och en noggrannhet på 92,92%. För logistisk regression blev sensitiviteten 97,23%, specificiteten 93,79% och noggrannheten 95,39%. Algoritmen med logistisk regression presterade bättre och valdes därför för att implementeras i Java, där uppnåddes en sensitivitet på 91,31%, en specificitet på 93,47% och en noggrannhet på 95,25%

Determining the Antibacterial Efficacy of Ylang Ylang (Cananga odorata) Plant Extract on Staphylococcus Aureus

The Ylang Ylang (Cananga odorata) plant extract is highly popular among the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) and is frequently used in local medicine. This can be attributed to its properties as an antiseptic, antidepressant, antiseborrheic, hypotensive, sedative, and nervine substance. It is also used in aromatherapy treatments, perfume, and cosmetic products all over the world. The key chemical constituents of the Ylang Ylang are linalool, germacrene, geranyl acetate, methyl benzoate, and p-cresyl methyl ether, which all contribute to its medicinal effects. With the presence of antibacterial properties, it may be used as an alternative to conventional medicine, but it has yet to be tested. The purpose of this research project is to determine whether the Yang Ylang plant extract does have an effect on the selected bacteria, Staphylococcus Aureus. We hypothesize that the extract will have an effect on the bacteria. In order to test our hypothesis, we will grow Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria in petri dishes. We will test different concentrations of the extract from steam distillation, upon bacterial strains to determine its efficacy, in comparison to a control group. Further research is necessary to discover the benefits of local medicine and suggest an alternative to regular antibiotics

Evidence from Strandings for Geomagnetic Sensitivity in Cetaceans

We tested the hypothesis that cetaceans use weak anomalies in the geomagnetic field as cues for orientation, navigation and/or piloting. Using the positions of 212 stranding events of live animals in the Smith sonian compilation which fall within the boundaries of the USGS East-Coast Aeromagnetic Survey, we found that there are highly significant tendencies for cetaceans to beach themselves near coastal locations with local magnetic minima. Monte-Carlo simulations confirm the significance of these effects. These results suggest that cetaceans have a magnetic sensory systemcomparable to that in other migratory and homing animals, and predict that the magnetic topography and in particular the marine magnetic lineations may play an important role in guiding long-distance migration. The ‘map’ sense of migratoryanimals may therefore be largely based on a simple strategy of following paths of local magnetic minima and avoiding magnetic gradients

AN EXPLORATION OF PARENT-ADOLESCENT RELATIONSHIP PROFILES IN THE SUMMER PRIOR TO COLLEGE AND THEIR ASSOCIATIONS WITH ALCOHOL USE AMONG INCOMING FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS

Purpose: Alcohol use among college students continues to be an important public health concern, with first-year college students being at significant risk for engaging in harmful patterns of use. Interventions aimed at leveraging parental influence offer one possible avenue toward the prevention of risky alcohol at this critical developmental window, but studies evaluating the effectiveness of current parent-based interventions indicate that they may not be equally effective for all. The heterogeneity within parent-adolescent relationships is one possible rationale for the variation in intervention effects among diverse parent-adolescent dyads, yet little empirical research has been conducted that examines the multifaceted nature of parent-adolescent relationships in the transition to college. The current study aims to fill this gap by exploring the number and characteristics of unique parent-adolescent relationship subgroups in the transition to college so that those most at risk may be identified. Method: Data were collected from a sample of 121 incoming first-year students during the summer before matriculation at a large public university. Through an online survey, incoming first-year college students responded to questions about the perceptions of their parent's monitoring and knowledge, the quality of their relationship with their parents, and their own past 30-day alcohol use, binge drinking, and intentions to drink while in college. Latent Class Analyses were used to identify the number and characteristics of unique parent-adolescent relationship profiles. Each alcohol-related variable was then entered as a covariate in the final latent class model to examine whether any significantly predicted latent class membership. Results: Four parent-adolescent relationship profiles emerged: Low-Moderate Risk (38%), Low Parental Monitoring and Knowledge (15%), Poor Relationship Quality (15%), and High Parental Dominance (33%). Additionally, all three alcohol-related variables were found to be significant predictors of latent class membership. Incoming students in the Low Parental Monitoring and Knowledge profile were more likely to report any alcohol use in the past 30 days, any binge drinking in the past 2 weeks, and high intentions to drink in the first year of college relative to students in the High Parental Dominance profile. Incoming students in the Low Parental Monitoring and Knowledge profile were also more likely to report binge drinking relative to the Low-Moderate Risk profile, and they were more likely to report high intentions to drink when in college relative to the Poor Relationship Quality profile. Conclusions and Implications: Findings indicate that incoming first-year college students’ reports of their parents’ monitoring and knowledge, in tandem with their perceptions of the quality of their relationship, form complex patterns that can be interpreted as qualitatively distinct profiles. Of the four profiles identified, those in the Low Parental Monitoring and Knowledge profile were at the greatest risk for engaging in risky alcohol use. These findings further our understanding of parent-adolescent relationships during a critical time of transition and may be used to enhance the effectiveness of parent-based interventions aimed at reducing risky substance use among incoming college students

Evaluating intelligent personal assistants for L2 listening and speaking development

While the use of intelligent personal assistants (IPAs) has exploded in recent years, little is known about their use to promote English as a foreign language (EFL) development. Thus, this study addresses this gap in the literature by examining the in-class use of the IPA, Alexa, among second language (L2) English students to support improvements in listening comprehension and speaking proficiency. The study utilized a quasi-experimental design with an experimental group (n = 13) which took part in a 10-week treatment of student-IPA interaction and a control group (n = 15) which did not. Results from the Mann-Whitney U test found that the experimental group was able to make more significant gains in L2 speaking proficiency. However, a significant difference was not found when comparing improvements in L2 listening comprehension. These findings suggest that IPAs may be a useful tool to promote L2 speaking skills and underscore the necessity for additional research on the emerging technology for language learning