scholarly journals A Report from the NIMBioS/DySoC Investigative Workshop on the Mathematics of Gun Violence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelby Scott

Gun violence is a central public concern in the United States, annually leading to the deaths of 36,000 individuals and the non-fatal injuries of 85,000 others. It has been called an epidemic and a public health crisis. In May of 2019, a diverse group of researchers participated in a workshop at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This workshop was sponsored by the Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity (DySoC) and the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS). The objectives of this workshop were to review the existing approaches on the mathematics and modeling of gun violence, identify and prioritize areas in the field that require further research, develop cross-disciplinary collaborations to gain new perspectives, and suggest research and data collection that could assist evidence-based policy recommendations. The purpose of this report is to present some of the responses to the mentioned objectives and to suggest areas of future research .

Pharmacy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
George Daskalakis ◽  
Ashley Cid ◽  
Kelly Grindrod ◽  
Michael A. Beazely

A recent report found that the number of opioid-related deaths in Ontario in the first 15 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic was 38.2% higher than in the 15 weeks before the pandemic. Our study sought to determine if pharmacy professionals self-reported an increase or decrease in naloxone provision due to the pandemic and to identify adjustments made by pharmacy professionals to dispense naloxone during the pandemic. A total of 231 Ontario community pharmacy professionals completed an online survey. Pharmacy professionals’ barriers, facilitators, and comfort level with dispensing naloxone before and during the pandemic were identified. The sample consisted of mostly pharmacists (99.1%). Over half (51.1%) reported no change in naloxone dispensing, while 22.9% of respondents reported an increase and 24.7% a decrease. The most common adjustments made during the pandemic were training patients how to administer naloxone over video or phone, delivering naloxone kits, and pharmacy technicians offering naloxone at prescription intake. Over half (55%) of participants said the top barrier for dispensing was that patients did not request naloxone. Naloxone distribution through pharmacies could be further optimized to address the increased incidence of overdose deaths during the pandemic. Future research should investigate the reasons for changes in naloxone dispensing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Nor Aisyah Akhwan ◽  
Dharatun Nissa Puad Mohd Kari ◽  
Salleh Amat ◽  
Mohd Izwan Mahmud ◽  
Abu Yazid Abu Bakar ◽  
...  

Every year, thousands of Malaysian students are sent to study abroad by the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) which causes several underestimated stress, especially those faced by the Muslims. This qualitative study aimed to explore the challenges of acculturation among Malaysian Muslim students studying abroad. The researchers adopted a phenomenological design approach to develop in-depth understanding of the topic. The six respondents in the study were former Malaysian students studying in Australia, the United States of America, South Korea, India, Jordan, and the United Kingdom. The respondents were interviewed, and the interview protocol guided the interview until the data reached saturation. The data obtained were analyzed in stages, starting with descriptive coding, topic coding, analytical coding, and themes identification. This process was done using Atlas. ti 8 software. The main findings highlight two research themes: the challenges to expose Islamic identity and practicing the Islamic lifestyle. Findings also suggest that Malaysian Muslim students should consider improving Islamic knowledge as it reflects the impressions of other religions on Muslims as a whole. This study’s findings are important for the student sponsorship and student welfare section of the university in providing an appropriate counselling program for international students dealing with acculturation issues. We also suggest that future research explore acculturation challenges to identify the holistic need of the multicultural counselling service.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Richard Philip Lee ◽  
Caroline Coulson ◽  
Kate Hackett

The on-going rise in demand experienced by voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) providing emergency food aid has been described as a sign of a social and public health crisis in the UK (Loopstra, 2018; Lambie-Mumford, 2019), compounded since 2020 by the impact of (and responses to) Covid 19 (Power et al., 2020). In this article we adopted a social practice approach to understanding the work of food bank volunteering. We identify how ‘helping others’, ‘deploying coping strategies’ and ‘creating atmospheres’ are key specific (and connected) forms of shared social practice. Further, these practices are sometimes suffused by faith-based practice. The analysis offers insights into how such spaces of care and encounter (Williams et al., 2016; Cloke et al., 2017) function, considers the implications for these distinctive organisational forms (the growth of which has been subject to justified critique) and suggests avenues for future research.


2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah I. Duncan ◽  
Pamela Bishop ◽  
Suzanne Lenhart

We describe a unique Research Experience for Undergraduates and Research Experience for Veterinary students summer program at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis on the campus of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. The program focused on interdisciplinary research at the interface of biology and mathematics. Participants were selected to work on projects with a biology mentor and a mathematics mentor in an environment that promoted collaboration outside of the students' respective disciplines. There were four research projects with teams of four participants and two faculty mentors. The participants consisted of a mixture of 10 undergraduates in biology- and mathematics-related disciplines, four veterinary students, and two high-school teachers. The activities included lectures on both the biological and mathematical backgrounds of the projects, tutorials for software, and sessions on ethics, graduate school, and possible career paths for individuals interested in biology and mathematics. The program was designed to give students the ability to actively participate in the scientific research process by working on a project, writing up their results in a final report, and presenting their work orally. We report on the results of our evaluation surveys of the participants.


2017 ◽  
Vol 74 (12) ◽  
pp. 1402
Author(s):  
Howard Bauchner ◽  
Frederick P. Rivara ◽  
Robert O. Bonow ◽  
Neil M. Bressler ◽  
Mary L. (Nora) Disis ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun K. Nalla ◽  
Amanda M. Casto ◽  
Meei-Li W. Huang ◽  
Garrett A. Perchetti ◽  
Reigran Sampoleo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Nearly 400,000 people worldwide are known to have been infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) beginning in December 2019. The virus has now spread to over 168 countries including the United States, where the first cluster of cases was observed in the Seattle metropolitan area in Washington. Given the rapid increase in the number of cases in many localities, the availability of accurate, high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 testing is vital to efforts to manage the current public health crisis. In the course of optimizing SARS-CoV-2 testing performed by the University of Washington Clinical Virology Lab (UW Virology Lab), we evaluated assays using seven different primer-probe sets and one assay kit. We found that the most sensitive assays were those that used the E-gene primer-probe set described by Corman et al. (V. M. Corman, O. Landt, M. Kaiser, R. Molenkamp, et al., Euro Surveill 25:2000045, 2020, https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045) and the N2 set developed by the CDC (Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/rt-pcr-panel-primer-probes.pdf). All assays tested were found to be highly specific for SARS-CoV-2, with no cross-reactivity with other respiratory viruses observed in our analyses regardless of the primer-probe set or kit used. These results will provide valuable information to other clinical laboratories who are actively developing SARS-CoV-2 testing protocols at a time when increased testing capacity is urgently needed worldwide.


2017 ◽  
Vol 135 (12) ◽  
pp. 1293
Author(s):  
Howard Bauchner ◽  
Frederick P. Rivara ◽  
Robert O. Bonow ◽  
Neil M. Bressler ◽  
Mary L. (Nora) Disis ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
pp. 155982762098378
Author(s):  
Michael W. Seward ◽  
Chase C. Marso ◽  
Derek R. Soled ◽  
Logan G. Briggs

Physician burnout is a public health crisis. Although recent studies underscore its prevalence, there are few rigorous studies examining its prevention, especially among medical students and residents. Prior interventions have centered on mindfulness techniques and flexible workload scheduling, yielding limited success. However, interventions that combine fitness with philanthropy and community building may be more effective. The purpose of this report is 2-fold: first, to provide a review of physician burnout and potential prevention mechanisms and, second, to present a case study of how Medicine in Motion (MiM) addresses these issues. MiM facilitates various athletic workouts, competitions, and other events for students and professionals in medicine, dentistry, nursing, and physical therapy to support wellness and charitable initiatives. This analysis identifies 4 barriers to physicians and those in the health care profession from participating in wellness activities: (1) insufficient awareness, (2) logistical challenges, (3) lack of purpose, and (4) absence of perceived support. To overcome these barriers, MiM provides a model toolkit for starting a grassroots movement against physician burnout that other health care institutions may emulate. Institutions should provide financial support for these wellness programs. Future research is needed to evaluate these combined exercise, philanthropic, and community building efforts.


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 967-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Gollust ◽  
Rebekah H. Nagler ◽  
Erika Franklin Fowler

Abstract The coronavirus public health crisis is also a political-communication and health-communication crisis. In this article, the authors describe the key communication-related phenomena and evidence of concerning effects manifested in the United States during the initial response to the pandemic. The authors outline the conditions of communication about coronavirus that contribute to deleterious outcomes, including partisan cueing, conflicting science, downplayed threats, emotional arousal, fragmented media, and Trump's messaging. The authors suggest these have contributed to divergent responses by media sources, partisan leaders, and the public alike, leading to different attitudes and beliefs as well as varying protective actions taken by members of the public to reduce their risk. In turn, these divergent communication phenomena will likely amplify geographic variation in and inequities with COVID-19 disease outcomes. The authors conclude with some suggestions for future research, particularly surrounding communication about health inequity and strategies for reducing partisan divergence in views of public health issues in the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 562-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veerajalandhar Allareddy ◽  
Sankeerth Rampa ◽  
Veerasathpurush Allareddy

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