Search

Diversification of the scientific workforce usually focuses on recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities but often overlooks deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) persons. Usually classified as a disability group, such persons are often members of their own sociocultural linguistic minority and deserve unique support. For them, access to technical and social information is often hindered by communication- and/or language-centered barriers, but securing and using communication access services is just a start. Critical aspects of training D/HH scientists as part of a diversified workforce necessitates: (a) educating hearing persons in cross-cultural dynamics pertaining to deafness, sign language, and Deaf culture; (b) ensuring access to formal and incidental information to support development of professional soft skills; and (c) understanding that institutional infrastructure change may be necessary to ensure success. Mentorship and training programs that implement these criteria are now creating a new generation of D/HH scientists.

Ocean models, such as the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM), rely on ocean observations through data assimilation to predict the evolution of ocean phenomena accurately. The accuracy is highly dependent on the type and quantity of observations available. This work attempts to examine the impact of spatially dense in-situ profile observations on the forecasts of mixed layer depth (MLD) and thermocline depth (TD), using a three-dimensional variational data assimilation algorithm. To do this, a twin data assimilation experiment is used to simulate the impact of float deployments on the forecast of MLD and TD in a specific area of interest (AOI) of the North Atlantic. It is found that during the northern hemisphere summer the model MLD is sensitive to the sea surface temperature (SST) observations rather than the profiling floats. TD is more strongly impacted by the assimilation of float observations, and the experiment with the most floats produces the best results. During the northern hemisphere winter the profiling floats have a greater impact on the model simulation of MLD. Finally, the overall lack of substantial improvement in the winter months for the highest density of profiling floats is determined to be due to the data assimilation methodology itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Children acquire language without instruction as long as they are regularly and meaningfully engaged with an accessible human language. Today, 80% of children born deaf in the developed world are implanted with cochlear devices that allow some of them access to sound in their early years, which helps them to develop speech. However, because of brain plasticity changes during early childhood, children who have not acquired a first language in the early years might never be completely fluent in any language. If they miss this critical period for exposure to a natural language, their subsequent development of the cognitive activities that rely on a solid first language might be underdeveloped, such as literacy, memory organization, and number manipulation. An alternative to speech-exclusive approaches to language acquisition exists in the use of sign languages such as American Sign Language (ASL), where acquiring a sign language is subject to the same time constraints of spoken language development. Unfortunately, so far, these alternatives are caught up in an "either - or" dilemma, leading to a highly polarized conflict about which system families should choose for their children, with little tolerance for alternatives by either side of the debate and widespread misinformation about the evidence and implications for or against either approach. The success rate with cochlear implants is highly variable. This issue is still debated, and as far as we know, there are no reliable predictors for success with implants. Yet families are often advised not to expose their child to sign language. Here absolute positions based on ideology create pressures for parents that might jeopardize the real developmental needs of deaf children. What we do know is that cochlear implants do not offer accessible language to many deaf children. By the time it is clear that the deaf child is not acquiring spoken language with cochlear devices, it might already be past the critical period, and the child runs the risk of becoming linguistically deprived. Linguistic deprivation constitutes multiple personal harms as well as harms to society (in terms of costs to our medical systems and in loss of potential productive societal participation).

This report presents an analysis of the wholesale Californai natural gas market during the time period from 2008 to 2020 with an emphasis on the role - current and future - of natural gas storage.

Deaf individuals have more cardiovascular risks than the general population that are believed to be related to their cardiovascular health knowledge disparities. This phenomenological study describes where 20 deaf sign language-using adolescents from Rochester, New York, many who possess many positive characteristics to support their health literacy, learn cardiovascular health information and their lived experiences accessing health information. The goal is to ultimately use this information to improve the delivery of cardiovascular health education to this population and other deaf adolescents at a higher risk for weak health literacy. Deaf bilingual researchers interviewed deaf adolescents, transcribed and coded the data, and described the findings. Five major sources of cardiovascular health information were identified including family, health education teachers, healthcare providers, printed materials, and informal sources. Despite possessing advantageous characteristics contributing to stronger health literacy, study participants described significant challenges with accessing health information from each source. They also demonstrated inconsistencies in their cardiovascular health knowledge, especially regarding heart attack, stroke, and cholesterol. These findings suggest a great need for additional public funding to research deaf adolescents' informal health-related learning, develop accessible and culturally appropriate health surveys and health education programming, improve interpreter education, and disseminate information through social media.

The expansion of the Medicare program through the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) (1) to include an outpatient prescription drug benefit begins an important new chapter in national health [...]

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) adherence rates of 90%-95% or more are required to be effective at treating the virus and preventing drug resistance. From both a medical and public health perspective, it is essential that HIV-positive clients strictly adhere to antiretroviral treatment regimens. One promising approach to promoting optimal adherence rates among HIV-positive individuals is training and reimbursing case managers to provide adherence coordination services to HIV-positive clients. In this study, a sample of 16 HIV/ AIDS case managers from agencies across North Carolina participated in a Case Management Adherence Training and Coordination Program for a 3-month period. After case manager training, case managers enrolled 1-4 of their existing clients, who met eligibility criteria, to receive the adherence coordination program. Data were analyzed from focus group interviews and individual interviews conducted with case manager participants; their respective client care plans were also analyzed to identify primary barriers and strategies reported by case managers. Although case managers perceived themselves to be well positioned to provide adherence coordination services for their HIV-positive clients, they also identified barriers that they face in providing these services, including lack of reimbursement for their time, inadequate training, and insufficient knowledge of HIV/AIDS and medications. The findings of this study suggest that, with appropriate training and reimbursement, HIV/AIDS case managers can play a pivotal role in promoting and improving client adherence to antiretroviral medications.

The primary objective of this study was to examine the adherence-related practices and attitudes of HIV/AIDS case managers in North Carolina. All North Carolina HIV/AIDS case managers (n = 111) employed by agencies that were state certified to provide HIV case management were sent an adherence counseling survey. Negative binomial regression was used to examine the relationship of case managers' characteristics and attitudes with their medication adherence counseling practices. Of the 94 HIV/AIDS case managers who responded to the survey, the majority (65%) reported discussing medications with almost every client. The adherence-related behaviors that case managers most frequently provided were related to monitoring medication usage rather than providing medication instruction. Most case managers believed that medication adherence counseling is part of their role (77%); however, a substantial minority, (36%) did not believe that their adherence counseling skills were adequate. Multivariate analysis revealed that case managers who provided more adherence counseling services reported greater confidence in their adherence counseling skills, believed that adherence counseling is a HIV/AIDS case management role, and had a higher proportion of substance-abusing clients in their caseload. The adherence counseling activities of HIV/AIDS case managers can potentially supplement the counseling provided by other health professionals and promote greater adherence to medications. However, variability in perceived skills and adherence-related activities suggests that the role of case managers in medication adherence counseling needs to be better defined and appropriate training provided to meet the expectations of this role.

The authors discuss a study done to determine the effect of changes in insurance coverage on the use of medication among HIV patients. They found that loss of insurance was less than half as frequent as gaining insurance, but that both led to a decrease in use of antiretrovirals and other drugs.