Publications by authors named "Shanks L"

Oxidative stress from excess HO activates transcription factors that restore redox balance and repair oxidative damage. Although many transcription factors are activated by HO, it is unclear whether they are activated at the same HO concentration, or time. Dose-dependent activation is likely as oxidative stress is not a singular state and exhibits dose-dependent outcomes including cell-cycle arrest and cell death.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The accuracy of judgments of learning (JOLs) is vital for efficient self-regulated learning. We examined a situation in which participants overutilize their prior knowledge of a topic ("domain familiarity") as a basis for JOLs, resulting in substantial overconfidence in topics they know the most about. College students rank ordered their knowledge across ten different domains and studied, judged, and then completed a test on facts from those domains.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Oxidative stress from excess HO activates transcription factors (TFs) that restore redox balance and repair oxidative damage. Though many TFs are activated by HO, it is unknown whether they are activated at the same HO concentration or time after HO stress. We found TF activation is tightly coordinated over time and dose dependent.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The p53 and FOXO transcription factors (TFs) share many similarities despite their distinct evolutionary origins. Both TFs are activated by a variety of cellular stresses and upregulate genes in similar pathways including cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Oxidative stress from excess HO activates both FOXO1 and p53, yet whether they are activated at the same time is unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

FOXO transcription factors are regulators of cellular homeostasis linked to increased lifespan and tumor suppression. FOXOs are activated by diverse cell stresses including serum starvation and oxidative stress. FOXO activity is regulated through posttranslational modifications that control shuttling of FOXO proteins to the nucleus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Individuals experiencing homelessness face marginalization, dehumanization, and barriers to accessing quality palliative care. Inspired by the 3 Wishes Project, the Good Wishes Project (GWP) facilitates granting wishes to individuals experiencing homelessness and receiving palliative care with a goal of enhancing comfort and personalizing the end-of-life experience. The main objective of this study was to elicit provider perspectives on the utility of the GWP in the delivery of end-of-life care to a population of homeless and vulnerably housed individuals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose/aim: The aim of this study was to explore the perceived quality of sleep and sleep disturbances in hospitalized patients.

Design: A prospective descriptive, exploratory, cross-sectional study was conducted at a 172-bed community hospital in Northeast Ohio. A convenient sample of 100 hospitalized patients was recruited from medical/surgical, progressive care, and intensive care units.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: EpiProtect® is a biosynthetic cellulose dressing indicated for the treatment of superficial burns and the dressing of deep burns. Prior to this study the youngest reported patient treated with EpiProtect® was aged 13 years.

Method: Data were collected prospectively for patients aged < 5 years, presenting to the Children's Burns Unit with ⩾ 2% total body surface area (TBSA) burns sustained by any mechanism.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

It is important for individuals who have suffered a stroke to be able to experience a weight-bearing aerobic workout, if able. For individuals post-stroke who experience genu recurvatum during gait, care should be taken to minimize abnormal forces on the posterior and internal structures of the involved knee. The purpose of this case study was to assess the biomechanics of the involved knee during the stance phase of gait of an individual who, post-stroke, walked with a stiff-knee gait in 9 different orthotic conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of individual counselling on functioning of clients participating in a mental health intervention in a humanitarian setting.

Design: Randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Mental health programme implemented by Médecins Sans Frontières in Grozny, Republic of Chechnya.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: Correlational research shows that belief in a continuum of psychiatric problems predicts decreased public stigma. However, the correlational findings fail to inform the stigma reduction prospects of manipulating continuum beliefs. All extant experimental work has been executed online.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Our objective was to evaluate the performance of HIV testing algorithms based on WHO recommendations, using data from specimens collected at six HIV testing and counseling sites in sub-Saharan Africa (Conakry, Guinea; Kitgum and Arua, Uganda; Homa Bay, Kenya; Douala, Cameroon; Baraka, Democratic Republic of Congo). A total of 2,780 samples, including 1,306 HIV-positive samples, were included in the analysis. HIV testing algorithms were designed using Determine as a first test.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: We evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of HIV testing algorithms at six programmes in five sub-Saharan African countries.

Methods: In this prospective multisite diagnostic evaluation study (Conakry, Guinea; Kitgum, Uganda; Arua, Uganda; Homa Bay, Kenya; Doula, Cameroun and Baraka, Democratic Republic of Congo), samples from clients (greater than equal to five years of age) testing for HIV were collected and compared to a state-of-the-art algorithm from the AIDS reference laboratory at the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium. The reference algorithm consisted of an enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay, a line-immunoassay, a single antigen-enzyme immunoassay and a DNA polymerase chain reaction test.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Although individual HIV rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) show good performance in evaluations conducted by WHO, reports from several African countries highlight potentially significant performance issues. Despite widespread use of RDTs for HIV diagnosis in resource-constrained settings, there has been no systematic, head-to-head evaluation of their accuracy with specimens from diverse settings across sub-Saharan Africa. We conducted a standardized, centralized evaluation of eight HIV RDTs and two simple confirmatory assays at a WHO collaborating centre for evaluation of HIV diagnostics using specimens from six sites in five sub-Saharan African countries.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Existing tools for evaluating psychosocial interventions (un-validated self-reporting questionnaires) are not ideal for use in non-Western conflict settings. We implement a generic method of treatment evaluation, using client and counsellor feedback, in 18 projects in non-Western humanitarian settings. We discuss our findings from the perspective of validity and suggestions for future research.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Globally, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) treats more than 300,000 severely malnourished children annually. Malnutrition is not only caused by lack of food and poor infant and child feeding practices but also by illnesses. Breaking the vicious cycle of illness and malnutrition by providing ill children with nutritional supplementation is a potentially powerful strategy for preventing malnutrition that has not been adequately investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Globally, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) treats more than 300,000 severely malnourished children annually. Malnutrition is not only caused by lack of food but also by illnesses and by poor infant and child feeding practices. Breaking the vicious cycle of illness and malnutrition by providing ill children with nutritional supplementation is a potentially powerful strategy for preventing malnutrition that has not been adequately investigated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To analyse the results from the first 3 years of implementation of a medical error reporting system in Médecins Sans Frontières-Operational Centre Amsterdam (MSF) programs.

Methodology: A medical error reporting policy was developed with input from frontline workers and introduced to the organisation in June 2010. The definition of medical error used was "the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Co-infection with HIV and visceral leishmaniasis is an important consideration in treatment of either disease in endemic areas. Diagnosis of HIV in resource-limited settings relies on rapid diagnostic tests used together in an algorithm. A limitation of the HIV diagnostic algorithm is that it is vulnerable to falsely positive reactions due to cross reactivity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Community consultation is increasingly recommended, and in some cases, required by ethical review boards for research that involves higher levels of ethical risk such as international research and research with vulnerable populations. In designing a randomised control trial of a mental health intervention using a wait list control, we consulted the community where the research would be undertaken prior to finalising the study protocol. The study sites were two conflict-affected locations: Grozny in the Chechen Republic and Kitchanga in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Current WHO testing guidelines for resource limited settings diagnose HIV on the basis of screening tests without a confirmation test due to cost constraints. This leads to a potential risk of false positive HIV diagnosis. In this paper, we evaluate the dilution test, a novel method for confirmation testing, which is simple, rapid, and low cost.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

As patient advocates, nurses are responsible for speaking up against unsafe practices. Nursing students must develop the confidence to speak up for patient safety so that they can hold themselves, as well as their peers and coworkers, accountable for patients' well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a senior practicum course on confidence for speaking up for patient safety in nursing students.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF