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Service-learning models serve as noteworthy curriculum paradigms that can help students engage with their communities while continuously learning. This article recounts the implementation of a service-learning model within a student initiative aimed to help combat vaccine hesitancy and promote the uptake of vaccinations within the Rhode Island community. Through a collaborative effort between students, faculty, and the university, the student initiative was able to construct a credit-bearing course to help assess and alleviate vaccine hesitancy within Rhode Island. This article highlights the journey the organization took to develop a service-learning model within the course, the project details, and the impact of their project on the community. A detailed analysis of the service-learning model's impact on students as well as key takeaways of the project are also highlighted below.

In this paper we report the design, synthesis and assessment of the first examples of self-immolative systems triggered by non-acidic electrophilic agents such as methyl, allyl or benzylic halides. These systems provide a visual colorimetric disclosure response upon exposure to these electrophilic reagents under mild, basic conditions without the need for the use of analytical instrumentation.

The postoperative period of cystic echinococcosis was studied in 13 children. Demographic, epidemiological, clinical diagnosis, treatment, number location, and development of cysts and serologic data were analyzed. Age of children at diagnosis range 5 to 17 years. All patients with cystic echinococcosis had abdominal cysts. The liver was the main organ involved in ten patients (76,9%) - they had cysts located in the liver, two patients (15,4%) had lung cyst, one patient had concomitant lung and liver cysts. Twelve patients had single cysts and one had more than one abdominal cysts. Surgical treatment was performed in 23,1% cases. Ultrasound studies (US) were performed during the monitoring period. Evaluation of cysts was assessed by monitoring US changes. Positive dynamics was revealed in all patients; relapse of the disease was not noticed. Proceeding from the fact that in all patients echoarchitectonics of the hepatic tissue was lumped with a non-uniform structure and uneven ultrasound distribution, it is assumed that these changes are indicative of the development of connective tissue in the liver.

Background: Alemtuzumab (CD52-specific humanized monoclonal antibody) was found to be an effective therapy for treatment-naive patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis., Objective: Evaluate alemtuzumab's effects in patients with treatment-refractory relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis., Methods: Forty-five relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients who experienced ≥2 relapses during 2 years prior to the study entry whilst receiving interferon therapy were administered 24 mg i.v. alemtuzumab/day for 5 days at baseline and 3 days 12 months later. Patients received premedication with 1 g i.v. methylprednisolone on days 1-3 at both times., Results: After 2-year follow-up, the annualized relapse rate was reduced by 94% compared to pre-treatment levels, from 1.6 (2 years prior to treatment) to 0.17 for the 2 years following (P<0.0001). Moreover, 86% of patients showed stable or improved scores on the Expanded Disability Status Scale, and only 1 experienced an increase in disability lasting ≥6 months. The majority (70-88%) showed stable or improved leg, arm and cognitive function as measured by the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite. Serious adverse events observed in single patients were transient neutropenia and pneumonia, pulmonary emboli and deep vein thrombosis. Five patients developed clinical thyroid disorders but no opportunistic infections or cases of immune thrombocytopenic purpura were observed., Conclusions: Alemtuzumab effectively reduced relapse rates and improved clinical scores in patients with active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis not controlled by interferon therapy., (© 2011 The Author(s). European Journal of Neurology © 2011 EFNS.)

Recent studies have shown high rates of premilitary trauma exposure among U.S. military enlistees. Given the association of trauma with later stressor vulnerability, it is important to examine the role of premilitary stress and trauma in adaptation to the stress of recruit training. U.S. Marine Corps recruits (N = 1,530) were surveyed for premilitary histories of interpersonal trauma to examine the relationship between premilitary trauma and attrition from recruit training. The majority of the recruits (47.5% of men and 68.1% of women) reported experiencing at least one interpersonal trauma before entering the Marine Corps. Individuals with a history of interpersonal trauma were at significantly greater risk for attrition; they were 1.5 times more likely to drop out of recruit training than were individuals without a trauma history. These findings suggest that developing interventions to bolster recruits' coping skills may improve adaptation to the recruit training environment and thus decrease attrition.

During reproductive maturation, characteristic changes occur in the morphology of the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) cell population within the hypothalamus. In the early stages of development, GnRH neurons are bipolar cells; however, just before pubertal onset, the majority of these neurons transform into unipolar cells. Our laboratory has reported that valproic acid (VPA), an antiepileptic medication that has previously been shown to slow the velocity of pubertal development in both humans and seizure-prone mice, is capable of delaying the normal process of GnRH morphological differentiation. As VPA is primarily believed to act via a GABAergic mechanism, the present study investigated potential influences of VPA on GnRH-GABA interactions within the medial preoptic area (mPOA) across pubertal development (experiment 1), as well as in adult animals (experiment 2). The results from experiment 1 revealed the expected drug effects on GnRH cell morphology. For VPA animals, there was a greater percentage of bipolar neurons at every time period except for the 24-day sample. Additionally, VPA animals had greater numbers of bipolar and unipolar GnRH neurons with GABA associations across all ages. However, experiment 2 showed a lack of drug effects on GnRH-GABA interactions in adulthood. These results suggest that VPA may delay GnRH cell morphological maturation by altering the density of GABAergic inputs to GnRH neurons. These inputs may normally play a role in timing the activation of the GnRH pulse generator. However, any neuroendocrine effects of VPA in adulthood are most likely due to the actions of VPA at another level of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis.

The traditional guidance to researchers conducting interviews in the field is that the researcher should say as little as possible and encourage the respondents to talk in an untramelled way about the issues under discussion. But is this approach appropriate in all circumstances? Keith Melia examines the issues by focusing on research carried out in an intensive care unit.

In the present study the influence of imipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, on the expression and function of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in dopaminergic rat brain regions was examined. Chronic administration of imipramine (18 days) decreased levels of TH enzyme activity in ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SN), dopaminergic cell body regions, as well as in caudate-putamen (CP), nucleus accumbens (ACB), prefrontal cortex (PFC), and olfactory tubercle (OT), dopaminergic terminal fields. These effects were dependent on chronic drug treatment, as imipramine administration for 1 or 7 days did not significantly influence levels of TH activity in either SN or VTA. In contrast to drug regulation of enzyme activity, chronic imipramine treatment did not decrease levels of TH immunoreactivity in any of the dopaminergic cell body or terminal field regions studied, although levels of TH immunoreactivity were decreased in locus coeruleus (LC) as previously reported. However, imipramine treatment increased levels of TH back phosphorylation in VTA, suggesting that the antidepressant-induced decrease in levels of TH activity is a result of decreased phosphorylation of the enzyme. These results demonstrate that imipramine treatment regulates levels of TH enzyme activity in dopaminergic brain regions, and may account for some of the previously observed effects of these drugs on dopaminergic function. Finally, imipramine regulation of TH enzyme activity in VTA and immunoreactivity in LC was observed in Sprague Dawley, but not Wistar rats, demonstrating that different rat strains exhibit different biochemical responses to antidepressant treatment.

The teamwork approach to admitting new residents used at St. Joseph Home of Chicago, Inc., is based on the philosophy that proper admission of new residents can help lessen the apprehensions as elderly people open the "forbidding" door to a long-term care facility. The team approach begins before an applicant is accepted and continues through the new resident's initial period of adjusting to a new home.