Escape and connection : a phenomenological investigation into the meaning of an after-school program for adolescent boys

The purpos e of this phenomenological research is to explore the meaning of a YMCA-sponsored after-school recreation program in the lives of four adolescent boys. Listening to youth voice is impor t ant to the ability of othe r s to design, implement and evaluate high-quality programs tha t facilitate learning opportunities tha t a r e meaningful to participants. Within the context of interviews, task-based activities we r e used to ga the r data. Guided by Creswell's analytic spiral (1998), data wa s analyzed according to van Manen's (1990) thematic analysis and Caeilli's (2000) creative narrative analysis. It wa s found tha t this after-school progr am provided the s e adolescents with the opportunity to escape from the i r monotonous after-school activities and the instability of the i r home and school environments. Also, they we r e connected wi th positive peers, caring adults and the wide r community, opportunities tha t we r e limited in othe r aspects of the i r lives. Methodological issues a r e also discussed.

A Study of One Living School Partnership

Abstract The purpose of this paper was to explore the ways one partnership evaluated its partners and relationships using Gray‟s model of collaboration (2000). The model consists of five approaches that are made up of: problem-focused, relational, cognitive, structural, and political. These approaches were tested at one „Living School‟ partnership that was constituted by a school, a public health department, the City‟s Park and Recreation Department, commercial enterprises, and organizations from the non-profit sector. Eight pre-arranged interviews were conducted using conversational interview technique, with three additional interviews on-site. The results of the research revealed that based on Gray‟s five approaches, this one Living School partnership was found to be successful. Consistent with partnership research, trust, social capital and structure were found to be key ingredients, as well as new themes of leadership, role clarity, and a shared vision were also found to be vital.

Research Methods courses run in the University of Southampton

A listing from Banner of all courses (listed by School and level) run in the university that relate to research and inquiry. There is a crude attempt to cluster these courses thematically.

Community Health Managers: A Pilot Pedagogic Experience in the University of Rosario

The “Grupo de Estudios en Sistemas Tradicionales de Salud” from the School of Medicine of Universidad del Rosario, in agreement with the “Instituto de Etnobiología”, has designed a training course for a new health agent (the community health manager) meant to consider in its curriculum the difficulties, deficiencies and successes of the Primary Health Care Program. In particular, we have attended OMS suggestions in terms of adequate training of local leaders who should look for self-responsibility and selfdetermination in health care coverage. This training proposal is meant to take into account diverse cultures and traditions in order to offer health care models able to consider cultural particularities, epidemiological profiles, and contextual possibilities, with an intercultural point of view. Hence, the training course’s objective is to offer working tools so that community leaders be able to value and promote traditional health knowledge and practices; seek for food security by means of recovery of traditional productive systems or adaptation of appropriate technologies; environment conservation; use of medicinal plants especially in self-care, and stimulation of community and institutional health promotion activities. Preliminary evaluation suggests that this new health agent will be able to set bridges between communities and health care offers available, always looking for healthy ways of life, culturally and environmentally friendly.

Occupational therapy and its relevance in social projects. relationships, learning and opportunities: collection of experiences of University of Alberta Mscot students in Bogotá, Colombia

Occupational therapists are equipped to promote wellbeing through occupation and to enable participation and meaningful engagement of people in their social and physical environments (WFOT, 2012). As such, the role of the occupational therapists is profoundly linked to the social, cultural and environmental characteristics of the contexts in which occupations take place. The central role that context plays in occupational performance creates an interesting dichotomy for the occupational therapist: on one hand, a profound understanding of cultural and social factors is required from the Occupational Therapy (OT) in order to develop a meaningful and successful collaboration with the person; on the other hand, the ability of the occupational therapists to recognize and explore the contextual factor of an occupation-person dyad transcends cultural and spatial barriers. As a result, occupational therapists are equipped to engage in international collaboration and practice, and as such face unique and enriching challenges. International fieldwork experiences have become a tool through which occupational therapists in training can develop the critical skills for understanding the impact of cultural and social factors on occupation. An OT student in an international fieldwork experience faces numerous challenges in leading a process that is both relevant and respectful to the characteristics of the local context: language, cultural perceptions of occupation and personhood, religious backgrounds, health care access, etc. These challenges stand out as ethical considerations that must be considered when navigating an international fieldwork experience (AOTA, 2009). For more than five years now, the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (FRM) of the University of Alberta (UoFA) and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Universidad del Rosario (UR), Bogota, Colombia, have sustained a productive and meaningful international collaboration. This collaboration includes a visit by Dr. Albert Cook, professor of the FRM and former dean, to the UR as the main guest speaker in the International Congress of Technologies for Disability Support (IBERDISCAP) in 2008. Furthermore, Dr. Cook was a speaker in the research seminar of the Assistive Technology Research Group of the Universidad del Rosario. Following Dr. Cook’s visit, Professors Liliana Álvarez and Adriana Ríos travelled to Edmonton and initiated collaboration with the FRM, resulting in the signing of an agreement between the FRM and the UR in 2009, agreement that has been maintained to this day. The main goal of this agreement is to increase academic and cultural cooperation between the UR and the UofA. Other activities have included the cooperation between Dr. Kim Adams (who has largely maintained interest and effort in supporting the capacity building of the UR rehabilitation programs in coordinating the provision of research placement opportunities for UR students at the UofA), an Assistive Technology course for clinicians and students led by Dr. Adams, and a research project that researched the use of basic cell phones to provide social interaction and health information access for people with disabilities in a low-income community in Colombia (led by Tim Barlott, OT, MSc, under the supervision of Dr. Adams). Since the beginning, the occupational therapy programs of the Universidad del Rosario and the University of Alberta have promoted this collaboration and have strived to engage in interactions that provide further development opportunities for students and staff. As part of this process, the international placement experience of UofA OT students was born under the leadership of: Claudia Rozo, OT program director at UR, placement and academic leadership of Elvis Castro and Angélica Monsalve, professors of the occupational therapy program at UR; and Dr. Lili Liu, OT department director at UofA, Cori Schmitz, Academic coordinator of clinical education at the UofA; and Tim Barlott and Liliana Álvarez leading the international and cross-cultural aspect of this collaboration.This publication summarizes and illustrates the process of international placement in community settings in Colombia, undertaken by occupational therapy students of the University of Alberta. It is our hope that this document can provide and document the ethical considerations of international fieldwork experience, the special characteristics of communities and the ways in which cultural and social competences are developed and help international students navigate the international setting. We also hope that this document will stimulate discussion among professional and academic communities about the importance and richness of international placement experiences and encourage staff and students to articulate their daily efforts with the global occupational therapy agenda.

A case study of the Tatweer school system in Saudi Arabia: the perceptions of leaders and teachers

School reform is a major concern in many countries that seek to improve their educational systems and enhance their performances. In consequence, many global schemes, theories, studies, attempts, and programmes have been introduced to promote education in recent years. Saudi Arabia is one of these countries that implemented educational change by introducing many initiatives. The Tatweer Programme is one of these initiatives and is considered as a major recent reform. The main purpose of this study is to investigate this reform in depth by examining the perceptions and experiences of the Tatweer leaders and teachers to find out which extent they have been enabled to be innovative, and to examine the types of leadership and decision-making that have been undertaken by such schools. This study adopted a qualitative case study that employed interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis. The design of the study has been divided into two phases; the first phase was the feasibility study and the second phase was the main study. The research sample of the feasibility study was head teachers, educational experts and Tatweer Unit’s members. The sample of the main study was three Tatweer schools, Tatweer Unit members and one official of Tatweer Project in Riyadh. The findings of this study identified the level of autonomy in managing the school; the Tatweer schools’ system is semi-autonomous when it comes to the internal management, but it lacks autonomy when it comes to staff appointment, student assessment, and curriculum development. In addition, the managerial work has been distributed through teams and members; the Excellence Team plays a critical role in school effectiveness leading an efficient change. Moreover, Professional Learning Communities have been used to enhance the work within Tatweer schools. Finally the findings show that there have been major shifts in the Tatweer schools’ system; the shifting from centralisation to semi-decentralisation; from the culture of the individual to the culture of community; from the traditional school to one focused on self-evaluation and planning; from management to leadership; and from an isolated school being open to society. These shifts have impacted positively on the attitudes of students, parents and staff.

Differential Antitumor Effects of IgG and IgM Monoclonal Antibodies and Their Synthetic Complementarity-Determining Regions Directed to New Targets of B16F10-Nex2 Melanoma Cells

Malignant melanoma has increased incidence worldwide and causes most skin cancer-related deaths. A few cell surface antigens that can be targets of antitumor immunotherapy have been characterized in melanoma. This is an expanding field because of the ineffectiveness of conventional cancer therapy for the metastatic form of melanoma. In the present work, antimelanoma monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were raised against B16F10 cells (subclone Nex4, grown in murine serum), with novel specificities and antitumor effects in vitro and in vivo. MAb A4 (IgG2ak) recognizes a surface antigen on B16F10-Nex2 cells identified as protocadherin beta(13). It is cytotoxic in vitro and in vivo to B16F10-Nex2 cells as well as in vitro to human melanoma cell lines. MAb A4M (IgM) strongly reacted with nuclei of permeabilized murine tumor cells, recognizing histone 1. Although it is not cytotoxic in vitro, similarly with mAb A4, mAb A4M significantly reduced the number of lung nodules in mice challenged intravenously with B16F10-Nex2 cells. The V(H) CDR3 peptide from mAb A4 and V(L) CDR1 and CDR2 from mAb A4M showed significant cytotoxic activities in vitro, leading tumor cells to apoptosis. A cyclic peptide representing A4 CDR H3 competed with mAb A4 for binding to melanoma cells. MAb A4M CDRs L1 and L2 in addition to the antitumor effect also inhibited angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells in vitro. As shown in the present work, mAbs A4 and A4M and selected CDR peptides are strong candidates to be developed as drugs for antitumor therapy for invasive melanoma.

"Magistrander" teachers linking schools and university : experiences from the University of Dalarna, Sweden

For some time, a debate has been going on in Sweden on how to link schools and universities to create more efficient and mutually beneficial co-operation. A pilot scheme at the University of Dalarna, financed by the State and local authorities, has created special posts for teachers allowing them to work part time in school and part time at the university. The teachers involved become “magistrander”, post-graduate students working towards a Master’s degree. Initiatives of this type raise some important questions:• What impact, if any, does this type of programme have on teachers’ skills and on activities taking place in schools?• Does it affect courses and research at the university taking part in this co-operation?The purpose of this paper is to discuss expectations and results based on experiences from the University of Dalarna.

Detection of SPM and IMP metallo-beta-lactamases in clinical specimens of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from a Brazilian public tertiary hospital

Phenotypic and genotypic SPM and IMP metallo-beta-lactamases (MBL) detection and also the determination of minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) to imipenem, meropenem and ceftazidime were evaluated in 47 multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from clinical specimens. Polymerase chain reaction detected 14 positive samples to either bla(SPM) or bla(IMP) genes, while the best phenotypic assay (ceftazidime substrate and mercaptopropionic acid inhibitor) detected 13 of these samples. Imipenem, meropenem and ceftazidime MICs were higher for MBL positive compared to MBL negative isolates. We describe here the SPM and IMP MBL findings in clinical specimens of P. aeruginosa from the University Hospital of Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil, that reinforce local studies showing the high spreading of bla(SPM) and bla(IMP) genes among Brazilian clinical isolates.

Design and validity of a questionnaire to assess sexuality in pregnant women

Background. A review of validated methods for assessing female sexual dysfunction and a review of male and female sexual dysfunction did not refer to any specific questionnaire for evaluating sexuality during pregnancy. A study was performed at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo State University, Brazil to design and validate a pregnancy sexuality questionnaire, the Pregnancy Sexual Response Inventory (PSRI). Methods. Women with a singleton pregnancy between 10 and 35 weeks of gestation were randomly recruited. There were five phases in the development of the PSRI: (1) item selection; (2) item development; (3) determination of internal consistency, reliability and convergence; (4) content validity; and (5) determination of inter-interviewer reliability. Internal consistency and reliability were evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. Inter-interviewer reliability was assessed by evaluating the responses of 18 academics at various institutions, using Kappa Index and Student t test. Results. Good internal consistency and reliability were obtained (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.79). Among the 18 academics, 13 totally agreed (K = 1.0), three partially agreed (K = 0.67) and two disagreed (K = 0.33) with the proposed questions. Comparisons of the mean PSRI domain scores made between the primary investigators and the other interviewers showed no significant differences in all domains (p > 0.05). Conclusion. PSRI is a new validated instrument for evaluating sexuality and sexual activity and related health concerns during pregnancy. © 2009 Rudge et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Detection of SPM and IMP metallo-β-lactamases in clinical specimens of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from a Brazilian public tertiary hospital

Phenotypic and genotypic SPM and IMP metallo-β-lactamases (MBL) detection and also the determination of minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) to imipenem, meropenem and ceftazidime were evaluated in 47 multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from clinical specimens. Polymerase chain reaction detected 14 positive samples to either blaSPM or blaIMP genes, while the best phenotypic assay (ceftazidime substrate and mercaptopropionic acid inhibitor) detected 13 of these samples. Imipenem, meropenem and ceftazidime MICs were higher for MBL positive compared to MBL negative isolates. We describe here the SPM and IMP MBL findings in clinical specimens of P. aeruginosa from the University Hospital of Botucatu Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil, that reinforce local studies showing the high spreading of blaSPM and blaIMP genes among Brazilian clinical isolates. © 2011 Elsevier Editora Ltda.

Moral judgment competence of medical students: a transcultural study

The authors conducted a cross-sectional short-term study using Lind's Moral Judgment Test (MJT) to compare moral judgment competence (C-score) among students from a medical school in the Northeast region of Brazil and a medical school in the Northern region of Portugal. This study compares the C-scores of groups in the first and eighth semesters of study within each medical school and groups from corresponding semesters between the two medical schools. This study also evaluates the influence of such factors as age and gender on moral competence. A regression of moral judgment competence among the students in their eighth semester versus the students in the first semester of Brazilian medical school (p < 0.001) and a stagnation of moral competence among students in their eighth semester versus the first semester students in the Portuguese medical school (p = 0.06) were observed. For both the first semester and eighth semester groups, the students in the Portuguese medical school had higher C-scores than the students in the Brazilian medical school. In the analysis of the students' performances in terms of MJT dilemmas, the phenomenon of moral segmentation was observed in all of the groups, and the students performed better on the worker's dilemma than on the doctor's dilemma. Among students in the same semester of study, older students had lower C-scores. There was generally no significant difference between men's and women's C-scores. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.