E-mail Address Research Articles

Death as a Hidden Gem in Mircea Eliade’s “The Trenches”

Mircea Eliade’s “The Trenches” (Şanţurile) is a World War Two story in which death is a reintegration into the divine. This Romanian language story is a variant of the legend in which Alexander found a gem that enabled him to see in darkness. In this venture into the fantastic, Romanian mountain villagers search for a hidden treasure at a juncture where legend momentarily demonstrates “the function of the unreal.” Affirming his belief in a Romanian nationalism that coalesces around a mythical Dacian past, Eliade belongs to a literary tradition that includes the poet Mihai Eminexcu and the playwright Vasile Alecsandri. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2023 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]

Know Justice, Know Peace: Reflections from a community-based, action research collective

This article provides an overview of the community-based, action research project called Know Justice, Know Peace: A Transformation & Justice Community Collective, which took place with six local grassroots justice-oriented organizations in Southern California’s Inland Empire region. Together we explored if, how, and where, wellness, healing and trauma-informed practices and transformative organizing exist in the daily operations and strategic vision of these organizations. Through interviews, focus groups, and healing circles, as well as an 8-month, bi-weekly training program, we identified individual and organizational needs, barriers, and facilitators of actualizing healing, wellbeing, and justice values in daily operation and organizational culture. Overall, the findings of this collective echoed what our review of literature in the field found from a diverse range of interdisciplinary scholars and activists; that to thrive individually and organizationally we must transform the relationships and structures we operate in to actualize values to stay grounded and connected while advancing effective strategies that resist toxic and violent structures and replace them with transformative and sustaining ones. This article summarizes community participants’ internal and organizational struggles as well as the assets they build upon. It explores theoretical frameworks deriving from healing justice, transformative movement organizing, trauma-informed and healing-centered methodologies, and emergent strategy that propose critical analysis and applied tools to advance individual and community wellness and healing as well as restorative organizing models and alternative organizational structures for values alignment in the daily operations of social justice-oriented community organizations. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2023 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]

Chandervati

Qudratullah Shahab was a civil servant during the British Raj. After the partition of India, he served as the chief of staff of three heads of state of Pakistan. He also served as the ambassador of Pakistan to the Netherlands and as information secretary and education secretary of Pakistan. He authored many short stories and, in his later years, he opened up about his spiritual journey. "Chandervati," which was included in his memoirs, recounts his coming of age during the thirties, at a time when interreligious marriages were taboo. The author expresses his deep connection to a Brahmin girl named Chandervati. Despite their love for one other, they understood their societal and religious divide. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2023 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]

Violent Crime and Destiny Control: Theorizing a Missing Variable in Criminology

U.S. citizens believe they can control their destinies at rates higher than any other nation. The U.S. is also a world leader in violent crimes. This article argues for correlations between these two trends. A theory is proposed based on three distinct trajectories related to destiny control. One trajectory involves persons modifying their destiny-control beliefs through turning points in the life course. On another trajectory, persons with low destiny-control beliefs are prone to anxiety/depression. The third track is that of high-rate offenders. Due to such things as attachment traumas, feelings of entitlement, internal/external barriers, and substance abuse they do not often modify their adolescent views that they are in complete control of their destinies. For some this translates into violent crimes. Implications for society and research are raised. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2023 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]

Factors associated with receiving results and attending colposcopy in patients with positive HPV screens in Mexico City

We identified patient and healthcare system factors related to receipt of screening results and attendance to colposcopy among patients with positive screening results in a cervical cancer screening program in Mexico City, Mexico. We analyzed data from 1,351 patients with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive results from two screening demonstration studies conducted between 2017 and 2018. Factors associated with receipt of screening results and with adherence to a colposcopy appointment were identified using multivariable logistic regression. Participants had a median age of 40 years (IQR = 32–48), 60% had less than high school education, and 74% had a previous Pap screening in the last 5 years. Fifty-five percent of participants retrieved their screening results at the healthcare facility (HCF) without any reminder. Providing an email address for contact information, attending a HCF with family medicine, and receiving care from experienced nurses were associated with greater adherence to obtaining screening test results. Fifty-seven percent of participants attended their first scheduled colposcopy appointment. Providing a phone number improved adherence to colposcopy, whereas longer travel times between the HCF and the colposcopy clinic was associated with a decrease in colposcopy adherence. Having a Pap test in the last 5 years was positively associated with better compliance with both outcomes. Securing contact information may help to overcome barriers to future follow-up. Additional research is necessary on strategies for obtaining screening test results and scheduling appointments, which may help address barriers to access, such as limited staff availability, distance from the clinic, and travel costs.

Construct validity of the perceived stress scale (PSS-10) in a sample of health professionals in family medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina

BackgroundThe 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) has not been translated into Bosnian, nor has a study been conducted employing a sample of family medicine physicians and nurses to examine the instrument's reliability, validity, and factorial structure. Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate the reliability and construct validity of the Bosnian version of the PSS-10 among family medicine professionals. Study designCross-sectional descriptive study provided among healthcare professionals in family medicine, using Google forms questionnaire (PSS-10) in Bosnian language. MethodsTranslation of PSS-10 in Bosnian is performed according to the proposed set of standardized guidelines. The questionnaire was sent on the email addresses of family physicians and nurses in whole Bosnia and Herzegovina. The collected data were subjected to reliability testing, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, which tested three alternative plausible models suggested by the extant literature: single factor, correlated two-factor and bifactor. ResultsA total of 272 out of 440 (RR = 61.3) nurses and physician working in family medicine in Bosnia and Herzegovina completed the PSS-10 Bosnia and Herzegovina version (BH). Participants were aged 25 to 69, with a mean age of 44.7 (±10.55). Most participants were women (86.8%) and physicians (58.8%) with specialisation in family medicine (43%). The overall Cronbach's alpha was 0.87 and the test–retest reliability coefficient was 0.88. Exploratory Factor Analysis yielded 2 factors with eigenvalues of 4.77 and 1.35, accounting for 61.2% of variance. Factor 1 consisted of 6 items representing ‘’perceived distress'’, whereas Factor 2 consisted of 4 items representing ‘’perceived coping’’. The Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a very good fit of this bifactor model to this sample. ConclusionsOur results implies that the PSS-10-BH, as a bifactor model with good reliability and validity, may accurately measure the stress levels of family medicine physicians and nurses.

Weeding out the Truth: A Survey Experiment on the Role of Scientific Evidence in Shaping Public Opinion on Marijuana Policy

PurposeThis study aims to explore the extent to which different forms of scientific research on the criminogenic effects of marijuana use impact public opinion on marijuana-related policy issues. MethodsWe conducted an experimental priming survey using Qualtrics, targeting heads of households in South Carolina with associated email addresses. Multiple OLS regression models were employed to analyze single-item and aggregate scores of our dependent variables. ResultsOur findings reveal that, except for the policy regarding the immediate release of a convicted offender, scientific research on the criminogenic effects of marijuana use did not significantly or substantively influence public perceptions of cannabis policies. Factors such as perceptions of police legitimacy, legal orientation, trust in law enforcement, and conservative or moderate political inclinations were significantly correlated with various outcomes. ConclusionsRespondents primed with research suggesting a link between marijuana use and an increased likelihood of engaging in violent and property crimes were more inclined to disapprove of releasing non-violent cannabis offenders from incarceration. However, exposure to scientific research generally did not influence participants' support or disapproval of other policies promoting the liberalization of marijuana-related policies. The study also discusses potential research and policy implications.

Variations in low titer group O whole blood practices in the United States

Aims: Blood banking is a strictly monitored industry in the United States (US) with regulatory bodies and accrediting agencies establishing and enforcing standards for the collection, testing, and transfusion of blood products. However, there is a lack of standardization for the increasingly popular blood product low titer group O whole blood (LTOWB). The aims of our survey were to assess the degree of variation in the processes and procedures involved in the collection, manufacture, testing, storage, and transfusion of LTOWB products, which could serve as a resource for establishing future standards. Methods: A survey was written using Qualtrics software. The link to the online survey was sent via email to individuals practicing within blood collection and transfusing facilities in the US. The email addresses were obtained using contact databases from two professional immunohematology and transfusion medicine organizations and one specialist in blood banking (SBB) academic program. Results: A total of 64 responses demonstrates vastly varying practices between facilities among the donor acceptance criteria, antibody titer testing methodology, frequency of donor testing, antibody isotype tested, acceptable titer level, blood component manufacturing process, unit limit per patient, and where and when the units are transfused. Conclusion: The collection and transfusion of LTOWB products continues to increase in the US, but there is notable variability in the manufacture, testing, storage, and transfusion of LTOWB products due to the few defined standards regarding LTOWB including an established acceptable titer threshold. The degree of variation among facilities that collect, test, and transfuse LTOWB is clearly apparent throughout the US.

Dynamics of granular debris flows against slit dams based on the CFD–DEM method: effect of grain size distribution and ambient environments

AbstractEarth surface flows in nature, like debris flows and rock avalanches, have threatened people’s safety and infrastructure during past decades. Though grain size distribution (GSD) has been acknowledged as a crucial characteristic in granular material behaviour, its coupled effects associated with environments on engineering structures such as the slit dam remain unclear. To bridge the gap, this paper reveals the coupled effect of the GSD and ambient environments (i.e. slope angles and saturation conditions) on avalanche/debris flows’ impact on the slit dam using a Computational Fluid Dynamics/Discrete Element Method (CFD–DEM) model. To describe strain-dependent rheological characteristics of debris fluids, the Herschel–Bulkley–Papanastasiou model is implemented in the finite volume method framework. A power grain size distribution law is considered to quantify GSDs, in which a fractal parameter takes charge of GSD types. After model verification with experimental/theoretical results, the impact force against slit dams, granular dynamics and final deposit patterns under a series of ambient circumstances are presented. Taking advantage of the CFD–DEM method, the impact force and kinetic energy induced by fluid and solid phases are discriminated. The contribution of solid and fluid phases to both impact force and dynamics appears to be dependent on GSDs. Accordingly, compared with saturated avalanche flows (i.e. debris flows), slit dams result in higher retaining efficiency when confronted with dry avalanche flows. Regarding a narrow diameter range used in analyses, the grain diameter ratio is then enlarged up to eight to reveal the potential size effect. As for the coupled role of GSDs and slope angles, in contrast to slope angles, the influence of GSD on avalanche flow interaction with slit dams is much smaller. Additionally, provided a narrow diameter range, the effect of GSDs on impact force can be partially attributed to the change in average grain diameter. After presenting the significance of ambience and GSDs to avalanche/debris flows, a series of parametric studies around the effect of fluid grid size, particle shape and the initial porosity of granular samples are discussed, aiming to advance the understanding of their influence in the interactions between debris flows and the slit dam.

Healthcare professionals’ attitude towards and experience with effective leadership: How much progress have we made?

ABSTRACT Background: Leadership is an essential element in creating an effective healthcare system that aims to enhance staff satisfaction, improve the productivity and efficiency of teams, minimize conflicts, and develop an organizational culture committed to quality. Objectives: To investigate the experience of and attitudes about the impact of effective leadership on healthcare organizations among healthcare providers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted among licensed UAE healthcare professionals. A web-based self-administered questionnaire was sent to the email addresses of the potential respondents. Results: A total of 438 healthcare professionals enrolled in the study. The average age of the participant was 31 ± 6.1 SD. The average attitude score about the impact of effective leadership on healthcare organizations was 76.1%, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of [74.6%, 77.6%]. The statistical modeling results revealed that gender, major, and university of graduation were jointly highly associated with attitudes about the impact of effective leadership on healthcare organizations. Conclusions: There is a need for a more thorough investigation into which leadership behaviors and competencies are crucial in healthcare contexts, allowing for more targeted training and interventions. Further, longitudinal research is necessary to determine whether leadership development programs have a sustained effect on care quality and patient outcomes.

The role of conscientiousness and cue utilisation in the detection of phishing emails in controlled and naturalistic settings

ABSTRACT Email phishing is a serious and potentially catastrophic threat to organisations and individuals. Understanding what factors may influence individual susceptibility to phishing attacks is essential to protecting against cybercrime. We investigated the potential interplay between conscientiousness and cue utilisation in individuals’ ability to accurately differentiate between phishing and legitimate emails. University students (N = 255) completed a phishing detection task, the Mini International Personality Item Pool, and the phishing edition of the Expert Intensive Skill Evaluation (2.0) battery. After, they were sent simulated phishing emails to their student email address. A Signal Detection Theory approach revealed that higher cue utilisation was associated with a greater ability to tell whether an e-mail was phishing or not in the detection task. For the simulated phishing emails, participants with lower conscientiousness were more likely to click an embedded link in an unsophisticated phishing email, however cue utilisation had no association with email engagement in a naturalistic setting. The findings provide insight into why some people are more susceptible to phishing scams and reveal important differences in phishing sensitivity as a function of context, which has implications to interventions.

Advancing learning equity through virtual radiology grand rounds

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic rapidly accelerated the adoption of virtual learning in medical education, including departmental grand rounds lectures in radiology. This retrospective study sought to assess the impact of an open access virtual grand rounds program. We tested the hypothesis that virtual grand rounds would advance learning equity by increasing access to learners outside of our institution. MethodsTwenty-two open access virtual grand rounds lectures were presented and recorded using an online videoconferencing platform. After the lecture, registrants received online access to the lecture recording for later on-demand viewing. The email address, geographical location, institutional affiliation, and medical specialty for all virtual registrants and attendees were retrospectively collected from a required online registration form. The primary outcome measure included an assessment of geographical diversity using descriptive statistics. ResultsAttendees of the virtual lectures were from 75 academic institutions and 27 non-academic institutions and located in 32 states, 88 cities, and 9 countries. Twenty-seven medical specialties were represented. ConclusionThe virtual grand rounds program in radiology contributes to free and open access educational content online for learners around the world. To address learning equity and promote international inclusion, we recommend that grand rounds organizers consider including a virtual option that allows free sharing of knowledge.

Awareness of physicians and dentists in Serbia about the association between periodontitis and systemic diseases: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundStrong evidence supports the association between periodontitis and certain systemic diseases. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge of a group of physicians and dentists in Serbia regarding this topic and assess their professional actions to prevent and control both periodontal and systemic diseases.MethodsAn anonymous self-administered structured questionnaire was sent to the available e-mail addresses of randomly selected healthcare providers working in Serbia. According to the inclusion criteria, general practitioners, specialists, general dentists, and specialists working in government hospitals and private practices in various cities in Serbia were recruited in the study. The questionnaire consisted of 17 questions divided into three parts. The first part recorded the sociodemographic characteristics of participants, the second part included questions about the clinical manifestation and etiology of periodontitis, as well as knowledge of the association between periodontitis and systemic diseases, and the third part included questions about professional procedures for the prevention and control of periodontitis and systemic diseases.ResultsA total of 1301 health participants, 739 (57.8%) physicians and 562 (43.2%) dentists, were included in this cross-sectional study. Most respondents (94.7%) were aware of the association between periodontitis and general health. The highest percentage of respondents associated diabetes mellitus and periodontitis. Factors significantly associated with higher knowledge were female sex (odds ratio [OR], 1.86; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37–2.52; p < 0.001) and dental profession (OR, 5.86; 95% CI], 4.03–8.53; p < 0.001). Participants who had higher knowledge score were more likely to ask their patients about gum/systematic health (p < 0.001) and refer them to dentists/physicians (p < 0.001).ConclusionsIt was concluded that compared to the group of dentists, the group of physicians had less knowledge of the relationship between periodontitis and systemic diseases. The female gender was significantly associated with better knowledge. A better understanding of this topic is associated with better clinical practice.

Necessity and time interval of regional lymph node dissection for malignant melanoma with positive sentinel lymph node biopsy: Does the time interval between sentinel lymph node biopsy and completion of lymph node dissection affect outcome in malignant melanoma? A retrospective cohort study - a commentary.

aDepartment of Dermatologic Surgery DivisionI, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 200443, China bDepartment of Anorectal Surgery, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 201203, Shanghai, China Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article. Published online ■ ■ *Corresponding author. Address: Department of Dermatologic Surgery DivisionI, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, Shanghai 200443, China; Department of Anorectal Surgery, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine; Shanghai, China. E-mail address: [email protected] (Z. Mei). *Corresponding author. Address: Department of Dermatologic Surgery DivisionI, Shanghai Skin Disease Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, No. 1278, Baode Road, Jing’an District, Shanghai, 200443, China. E-mail address: [email protected].(Y. Chen). This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work, even for commercial purposes, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Challenges of brain white matter imaging: proceed with caution.

aCentre for Multimodal Sensorimotor and Pain Research, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada bUniversity of Toronto Centre for the Study of Pain, Toronto, ON, Canada cKrembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada dDepartment of Dentistry, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada *E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Moayedi) Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.

Abstracts

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Health Physics Society Abstracts: 68th Annual Meeting.

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Factorizing 2FA: Forensic analysis of two-factor authentication applications

Many sectors such as banking, academia, health care, and others have made Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) mandatory for all their registered users. The growth in the usage of 2FA technology demonstrates the need to understand how 2FA applications operate, the kind of information they store about their users, and the implications, if any, that may arise if malicious actors exploit them. Our work focuses on the forensic analysis of 15 2FA applications used by millions of people. Our analysis includes popular applications such as FreeOTP, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Twilio Authy, and more. The applications were tested on different operating systems (Android, iOS and Windows 10) and used with applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our methodology focused on not just forensically analyzing the devices’ storage, but also the network traffic of all devices and the memory of the Windows machine. Results revealed that the majority of analyzed applications store encrypted/encoded and plain text information, such as secret keys, timestamps, account names, e-mail addresses, the application locking pin, and more. Consequently, we believe that the critical discovery of secret keys allows for the 2FA functionally to be bypassed and it is demonstrated in this work. Our results revealed that 14 of 15 applications stored the name of the social media application/account information, and 14 of 15 applications stored either plain text, or encoded/encrypted secret keys. Finally, 2 of 15 applications stored a pin in plain text used to lock the application and/or encrypt all information on the disk.

Reply to Moulton et al.

Department of Ophthalmology, Visual and Anatomical Sciences, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, United States *E-mail address: [email protected] (N. Gao) Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.

Author Correction: Association between hormone replacement therapy and sex hormones in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Correction to: Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2023; 27 (11): 5264-5279. DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_202306_32646-PMID:37318501-published online on June 13, 2023. After publication, the authors applied a correction in the Funding section. The section has been amended as follows: This study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81671421). Moreover, the corresponding author's name was wrong. Therefore, in accordance with the email address, the correct corresponding author has been corrected from D.-H. LU to L.-Z. XU. There are amendments to this paper. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. https://www.europeanreview.org/article/32646.