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Students in high school or secondary school face challenges that too often lead them to drop out of school. Administrators and staff in many of these schools have attempted to address this challenge by adopting a framework of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) that offers graduated tiers of intervention suited to students' needs. One such intervention that has been used in some parts of the US, was developed by the School of Life Foundation (SOLF). The intervention consists of a life-skills curriculum that supports students by addressing factors related to increased probability of dropping out of school. This article provides a case report, from the United States, of the SOLF intervention in the context of a PBIS framework.

Despite recent socially positive progression in the view and treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals in the USA, the LGBT population continues to face complicated circumstances and significant hindrances in many societal institutions. One of the most challenging and complex arena is the educational system (Biegel 2010). The present qualitative study explored the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of LGBT-identified school psychologists. Based on data gathered via interviews with LGBT-identified school psychologists and analyzed using the consensual qualitative research (CQR) method, several themes emerged: impact on professional role, the presence of heterosexism in schools, the role of relationships, individual resiliency, and advocacy. These insights help to better understand the successes, challenges, and potential negative outcomes LGBT school psychologists face on the job and how these issues can affect the students they serve. Finally, the implications for policy development, education, and training are outlined.

Modifications to Fried's frailty phenotype (FFP) are common. We evaluated a self-reported modified frailty phenotype (Mod-FP) used among people with HIV (PWH). Among 522 PWH engaged in two longitudinal studies, we assessed validity of the four-item Mod-FP compared with the five-item FFP. We compared the phenotypes via receiver operator characteristic curves, agreement in classifying frailty, and criterion validity via association with having experienced falls. Mod-FP classified 8% of PWH as frail, whereas FFP classified 9%. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for Mod-FP classifying frailty was 0.93 (95% CI = 0.91–0.96). We observed kappa ranging from 0.64 (unweighted) to 0.75 (weighted) for categorizing frailty status. Both definitions found frailty associated with a greater odds of experiencing a fall; FFP estimated a slightly greater magnitude (i.e., OR) for the association than Mod-FP. The Mod-FP has good performance in measuring frailty among PWH and is reasonable to use when the gold standards of observed assessments (i.e., weakness and slowness) are not feasible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of Gury's sources for his two principles governing the indirect voluntary both illuminates its historical development and raises questions about its meaning. The historical review reveals not only that Gury relied far more on later theologians than on Thomas Aquinas in formulating his principles, but also that two critical changes in the understanding of the indirect voluntary have created a deceptive appearance of historical continuity regarding double-effect reasoning., MORE THAN A CENTURY AFTER Catholic ethicists first began to debate its effectiveness, the principle of double effect continues to be a bone of contention in moral theology, with periodic [...]

Early Modern theologians Francisco de Vitoria and Leonardus Lessius analyzed the nature and limits of the obligation to preserve one's life through the use of food. Vitoria described the ethical foundations of and the circumstances that might limit such an obligation, while Lessius argued for a virtuous approach to nutrition that eschewed both indifference and excessive concern. Their analyses raise significant questions for contemporary moral theology concerning the scope and difficulties of nutritional ethics., ROMAN CATHOLIC MORAL THEOLOGIANS commonly acknowledge that their 16th- and 17th-century predecessors devoted significant attention to the ethics of preserving human life, and that these early modern analyses eventually gave [...]

Contemporary historians of Western lynching point out that the influential frontier justice interpretation has many weaknesses, especially its inattention to the role of race and ethnicity. Selected Jesuit incidental references both reflect the influence of this paradigm and support its contemporary critique by identifying frontier lynching as an Anglo-American practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: FROM CONFESSING SINS TO LIBERATING CONSCIENCES. By James F. Keenan, S.J. New York: Continuum, 2010. Pp. viii + 248. $85; $29.95. [...]

The Teachings of Modern Roman Catholicism on Law, Politics, & Human Nature. Edited by John Witte, Jr. and Frank S. Alexander; introduction by Russell Hittinger. New York: Columbia University Press, [...]

Persons with HIV (PWH) are aging. The impact of aging on healthcare utilization is unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate hospitalization rates and reasons stratified by age among PWH in longitudinal HIV care. Hospitalization data from 2014–2015 was obtained on all adults receiving HIV care at 14 diverse sites within the HIV Research Network in the United States. Modified clinical classification software from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality assigned primary ICD-9 codes into diagnostic categories. Analysis performed with multivariate negative binomial regression. Among 20,608 subjects during 2014–2015, all cause hospitalization rate was 201/1000PY. Non-AIDS defining infection (non-ADI) was the leading cause for admission (44.2/1000PY), followed by cardiovascular disease (CVD) (21.2/1000PY). In multivariate analysis of all-cause admissions, the incidence rate ratio (aIRR) increased with older age (age 18–29 reference): age 30–39 aIRR 1.09 (0.90,1.32), age 40–49 1.38 (1.16,1.63), age 50–59 1.58 (1.33,1.87), and age ≥ 60 2.14 (1.77,2.59). Hospitalization rates increased significantly with age for CVD, endocrine, renal, pulmonary, and oncology. All cause hospitalization rates increased with older age, especially among non-communicable diseases (NCDs), while non-ADIs remained the leading cause for hospitalization. HIV providers should be comfortable screening for and treating NCDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vainglory: The Forgotten Vice. By Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung. Grand Rapids, Ml: Eerdmans, 2014. Pp. x + 157. $14. In her aptly titled work, philosopher DeYoung draws upon Aquinas, Augustine, and [...]

Background: Randomized clinical trials examining the optimal time to initiate combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in HIV-infected adults with sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) disease have demonstrated improved survival among those who initiate cART earlier during TB treatment. Since these trials incorporated rigorous diagnostic criteria, it is unclear whether these results are generalizable to the vast majority of HIV-infected patients with TB, for whom standard diagnostic tools are unavailable. We aimed to examine whether early cART initiation improved survival among HIV-infected adults who were diagnosed with TB in a clinical setting. Methods and Findings: We retrospectively reviewed charts for 308 HIV-infected adults in Rwanda with a CD4 count ≤ 350 cells/µl and a TB diagnosis. We estimated the effect of cART on survival using marginal structural models and simulated 2-y survival curves for the cohort under different cART strategies:start cART 15, 30, 60, or 180 d after TB treatment or never start cART. We conducted secondary analyses with composite endpoints of (1) death, default, or lost to follow-up and (2) death, hospitalization, or serious opportunistic infection. Early cART initiation led to a survival benefit that was most marked for individuals with low CD4 counts. For individuals with CD4 counts of 50 or 100 cells/µl, cART initiation at day 15 yielded 2-y survival probabilities of 0.82 (95% confidence interval: [0.76, 0.89]) and 0.86 (95% confidence interval: [0.80, 0.92]), respectively. These were significantly higher than the probabilities computed under later start times. Results were similar for the endpoint of death, hospitalization, or serious opportunistic infection. cART initiation at day 15 versus later times was protective against death, default, or loss to follow-up, regardless of CD4 count. As with any observational study, the validity of these findings assumes that biases from residual confounding by unmeasured factors and from model misspecification are small. Conclusions: Early cART reduced mortality among individuals with low CD4 counts and improved retention in care, regardless of CD4 count., Introduction Until recently, there was a paucity of high-quality scientific evidence regarding the optimal time to initiate combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in adults with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) disease. This [...]

The Edge of Words: God and the Habits of Language. By Rowan Williams. London: Bloomsbury, 2014. Pp. xiii + 204. $23.99. This product of Williams's 2013 Gifford Lectures approaches natural [...]

CATHOLIC MORAL THEOLOGY IN THE UNITED STATES: A HISTORY. By Charles E. Curran. Moral Traditions Series. Washington: Georgetown University, 2008. Pp. xiii + 353. $59.95; $26.95. 'The United States,' writes [...]

The article discusses the casuistry regarding persons with disabilities in the 17th century, focusing on the tract of Theatine casuist Antonino Diana about the mute, deaf and blind in his volume "Resolutiones morales." Topics include the status based on specified disabilities in the Church and in civil societies, the meaning and historical situation of the Roman Catholic casuistry, and the acknowledgment of the capacities and responsibilities of persons with disabilities.

Objective: Middle-aged and older people living with HIV (PWH) are at higher risk for cognitive impairment and engage in lower levels of physical activity (PA) than seronegative counterparts. Though some studies have examined self-reported PA and cognitive outcomes in PWH, research examining the association between objectively-measured PA and cognitive function in this population is scarce. This cross-sectional study examined the association between accelerometry-measured PA and cognitive functioning in PWH. Method: In this study of 75 PWH (mean age 55.63) we collected accelerometry-measured PA indices and cognitive functioning from a comprehensive cognitive assessment. Cognitive outcomes included continuous demographically-adjusted T scores for global cognition and individual cognition domains, as well as a binary cognitive impairment variable. Results: Significant associations were found between PA variables and cognitive domains, including higher bouted (in bouts of ≥10 minutes) light PA minutes per week with better executive function, working memory/attention, and speed of processing performance, adjusted for age and current CD4 count. No significant associations were found between PA variables and the binary cognitive impairment variable, nor were associations found between cognitive functioning variables and a binary variable indicating whether participants met CDC recommendations for PA (i.e. at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous PA). Conclusions: Findings suggest that although middle-aged and older PWH engage in more light than moderate-to-vigorous PA, light PA may be beneficial to cognition. Longitudinal studies are needed to understand PA dose–response associations with cognitive trajectories, cognitive domain specificity of PA effects, and underlying neural mechanisms of PA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]