Hope Project Research Articles

Identifying and predicting the impact of functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human CAV-3 gene

Genetic mutations, such as Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are known to be the most reported type of genetic variations in individuals and thought to have a crucial impact on the understanding of many genetic related diseases. One of the major challenges is to find the deleterious SNPs in disease-associated genes. In the current study, computational methods were used to analyze the SNPs which may effect the expression and function of CAV 3 gene. Of the total 377 SNPs, 288(76.8%) were found to be non-coding SNPs, while 53 (14.1%) were non synonymous (ns)SNPs and 4(1.1%) were in the mRNA UTRs. Forty nine nsSNPs encoding missense mutation were tested for the parable effect on protein structure and functions using SIFT, I-Mutant 2, PolyPhen 2 and PANTHER soft wares. Moreover, one nsSNP (R27Q) was further analyzed using HOPE project, and this mutation predicted to substantially affect the structure along with the function of caveolin 3 protein.

Social Equity and Access to a Philippine STEM School

Like most developing countries in the world, there is a huge gap in opportunities to access quality science education between students from the high- and low-socioeconomic strata of Philippine society. In establishing its own science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) high school, despite limited public funding in 1964, the government embarked on a hopeful project for continuously building up its scientific and technological work force to support modern economic development. The initial focus on elite talent development, however, eventually had to give way to legislative reforms that address issues of social equity. Greater accessibility for scholarships by underprivileged students in the provinces was accomplished, first, through the regionalization of its admission system and then, later, through its transformation into a network of science high schools across the nation. In my home country, sustaining equitable access to STEM education also means enhancing school participation through partnerships with community constituents and the private sector.

Abstract ADV20: For constructing an open society to cancer recognition.

Abstract Our mission: Getting a better understanding of cancer survivorship in Japan. Our vision: Constructing an open society to cancer recognition. HOPE Project started as a campaign of survivorship in Japan. We target cancer survivors including child cancer their and families. We have approximately 100 members. Cancer patients face three kinds of problems; physical, emotional and social situations. In Japan, cancer survivors have to go through many misunderstandings and prejudices. HOPE Project focuses on these issues and problems cancer survivors face that are difficult to solve in Japan. Citation Format: Naomi Sakurai. For constructing an open society to cancer recognition. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr ADV20. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-ADV20

Exploring the Impacts of a Community-Based HIV/AIDS Prevention Intervention in South Mississippi: The HOPE Project

Community-based HIV/AIDS prevention interventions have become popular forms of preventive healthcare initiatives in the past several years. The authors examined the development of a new community-based HIV/AIDS prevention intervention and its impact on participants' HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, condom-use intentions, sexual behavior, and HIV testing status. Results indicated that the intervention had a significant impact regarding increased HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, decreased instances of unprotected sex, and increased likelihood of getting tested for HIV. Policy implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

The vine trust's amazon hope boats – providing a dental service on the amazon

The Vine Trust's Amazon Hope Project is a medical and dental programme providing healthcare to communities along the Amazon River in Peru. Volunteers from the UK and other countries work alongside Peruvian staff employed by their partner organization, Union Biblica del Peru, to provide a health service from a boat which serves communities on several tributaries who otherwise would have no other access to care. The dental programme involves a basic restorative and extraction service, with scope to develop a preventive programme. Dentists'and DCPs' skills are transferable globally: this article illustrates how one volunteer dental project is working to provide relevant and sustainable dental health care in the Amazon jungle.

Parents’ Participation in a Work-Based Anti-Poverty Program Can Enhance Their Children’s Future Orientation: Understanding Pathways of Influence

Planning and preparing for life after high school is a central developmental task of American adolescents, and may be even more critical for low-income youth who are less likely to attend a four year college. This study investigates factors that led to the effects of the New Hope Project, a work-based, anti-poverty program directed at parents on youths' career-related thoughts and planning. The New Hope project was implemented in Milwaukee, WI, during the mid-1990s. 745 families participated (52% male children; 56% African American; 30% Latino, and 15% White non-Hispanic) and half were randomly selected to receive New Hope benefits, which included earnings supplements, job search assistance, and child and health care subsidies for 3 years. Importantly, effects on youths' future orientation were found 8 years after the program began (5 years after benefits ended). The present study investigates what factors sustained these positive impacts over time. Results indicate that parental perceptions of reading performance mediate the effects of New Hope on youths' cynicism about work. Additionally, parental perceptions of reading performance and youths' educational expectations mediate the effects of New Hope on boys' pessimism about future employment. These findings highlight the importance of youths' educational development to their career-related thoughts and planning.

Innovations in Recovery Management for People Experiencing Prolonged Homelessness in the City of Philadelphia: “I wanted a new beginning”

Substance use disorders and related conditions play significant roles in urban homelessness and its personal and social costs. Traditional addiction treatment programs have failed to attract, engage, retain, and effectively treat this population, leaving homeless persons excluded from addiction treatment or constituting a chronically recycling segment of the treatment population. This article describes the design and outcomes of the Journey of Hope Project—a special homeless initiative that was part of a broader “recovery-focused systems transformation process” in the city of Philadelphia. New approaches to outreach, treatment, and continuing recovery management demonstrated the ability to recruit, retain, and enhance long-term recovery outcomes for individuals with histories of severe substance use and related disorders and chronic homelessness. The service designs described and the service outcomes reported underscore the need to radically alter traditional service models to achieve enhanced long-term recovery outcomes with this population.

The Contribution to Labor Studies of the Oral History Method : Focused on the Hope Project Research of Kamaishi Iron and Steel Works

The Contribution to Labor Studies of the Oral History Method : Focused on the Hope Project Research of Kamaishi Iron and Steel Works

Grassroots project shines hope on Nairobi slum life

Grassroots project shines hope on Nairobi slum life

Abstract LB-85: Advocacy in Indian Country

Abstract Native People's Circle of Hope (NPCOH) aims to help cancer survivors, their family members and caregivers understand they are not alone. Advocating for quality health care for native people is NPCOH's primary goal. NPCOH projects include the Medicine Bag Project, which gifts newly diagnosed cancer survivors items they may need during treatment; the Native Hope Project, which promotes wearing yellow (the color of hope) in traditional regalia to show solidarity with cancer survivors; the Roots of Strength Annual Conference; the Speaker's Bureau; and the educational training session titled, “How to Start Your Own Cancer Support Group.” Local chapters are the basis of community support and advocacy. NPCOH's AACR poster features the activities of the local chapters and provides examples of their personalized projects. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-85. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-LB-85

O'Connor and Spencer in the Shadow of 9/11

O'Connor and Spencer in the Shadow of 9/11 Andrew Silver (bio) Flannery O'Connor in the Age of Terrorism: Essays on Violence and Grace. Ed. Avis Hewitt and Robert Donahoo. Knoxville: U of Tennessee P, 2010. xvii + 217 pp. $45.00 cloth. Elizabeth Spencer's Complicated Cartographies: Reimagining Home, the South, and Southern Literary Production. By Catherine Seltzer. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Ix + 207 pp. $85.00 cloth. Avis Hewitt and Robert Donahoo begin their diverse new collection of essays, Flannery O'Connor in the Age of Terrorism: Essays on Violence and Grace, with the urgent hope that a contemporary meditation on O'Connor's violent aesthetics might help lead us from tragedy to grace after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. "Never in recent times," Avis Hewitt writes in his introduction, has O'Connor's violent artistry "seemed more apt than as our nation stood stunned in the aftermath of 9/11." Anthony Di Renzo promptly offers an unorthodox challenge to this hopeful project in the first chapter, arguing in his fine essay on apocalyptic violence that O'Connor's aesthetic might in fact share something in common with the fundamentalism of the 9/11 bombers. If the field of O'Connor studies "is to remain vital, relevant, and honest," he argues, "it must rethink fundamental questions about the violent fundamentalism at the heart of O'Connor's work. To do so, we must confront the shadow of orthodox Christianity and the potential madness in [End Page 147] apocalyptic mysticism—two things we have denied or explained away for the past forty years." Di Renzo's provocative plea that O'Connor scholars not "remain blind to or blasé about the horrific underside of O'Connor's traditional Christian symbolism" is, unfortunately, not taken up by the theologically oriented essays in the first (and strongest) third of the book. There's a generosity about these essays that comes from a deep, undisguised, and entirely refreshing love of O'Connor's craft, often wedded to a thoughtful and capacious spirituality. But this abiding love sometimes stiffens into apologia in the wake of 9/11: disturbing questions are occasionally acknowledged, unearthed, and promptly side-stepped in the interest of salvaging and defending the power of O'Connor's stories and the saving grace of her violence. Ralph C. Wood, for instance, in an otherwise compelling reading of O'Connor's work, dismisses unspecified criticism of its extreme violence by favorably comparing her work to that of Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, where a little girl is "made to spend a subzero night in an outdoor privy, weeping and pleading for mercy from 'dear kind God.'" O'Connor's fiction is more humane by comparison, Wood improbably argues, because "almost no one in her work goes to death unwillingly." Unlike the open and unanswerable theological wounds of the despairing Ivan in Dostoevsky's "Rebellion," violence here is cleansing, metaphorical, and, as Di Renzo notes, packed with holy meaning. "A lot of people get killed in my stories," O'Connor famously wrote, "but nobody gets hurt." J. Ramsay Michaels similarly argues that "violence in O'Connor—and in the Bible—is a problem for some, not because it is gratuitous but because it is not. It has a definite purpose." The purpose of O'Connor's violence, of course, is to bring her characters to the mystery of grace—each tragedy a winnowing, a passion, a "covert rescue operation," as John D. Sykes Jr. puts it. The implications here for 9/11 and the "age of terrorism" are a little unnerving. The attack on New York's World Trade Center, Hewitt suggests, is the "large and startling figure" reminding us "that we are never safe." We would have been a better country, this logic suggests, if there had been somebody to bomb us every day of our nation's life. The defense of violence in this first section tends to ref lect O'Connor's own quarrel with her culture: we need to be knocked into grace because, as Christina Bieber suggests, "contemporary Western culture has devalued human life." Michaels argues that secularists flinch at O'Connor's violence "because of...

School‐based interventions promoting both physical activity and healthy eating in Europe: a systematic review within the HOPE project

It is the purpose of this study to systematically review the evidence of school-based interventions targeting dietary and physical activity behaviour in primary (6-12 years old) and secondary school (12-18 years old) children in Europe. Eleven studies (reported in 27 articles) met the inclusion criteria, six in primary school and five in secondary school children. Interventions were evaluated in terms of behavioural determinants, behaviour (diet and physical activity) and weight-related outcomes (body mass index [BMI] or other indicators of obesity). The results suggest that combining educational and environmental components that focus on both sides of the energy balance give better and more relevant effects. Furthermore, computer-tailored personalized education in the classroom showed better results than a generic classroom curriculum. Environmental interventions might include organized physical activities during breaks, or before and after school; improved availability of physical activity opportunities in and around the school environment; increased physical education lesson time; improved availability or accessibility of healthy food options; and restricted availability and accessibility of unhealthy food options. More high-quality studies are needed to assess obesity-related interventions in Europe.

Race and the Project of Hope: Complications of Antiracist Curriculum

Hope, as a noun or a verb, is difficult to situate and define. While the concept of hope carries deep personal, spiritual, and emotional meaning for people, there remains an aspect of hope that is ...

Worksite Physical Activity Interventions and Obesity: A Review of European Studies (the HOPE Project)

Objective: Our aim was to review the effectiveness of physical activity promotion interventions in the worksite setting in Europe in order to identify those studies that had measured obesity-related outcomes and to evaluate how external validity of the findings had been assessed. Methods: We conducted a review of studies conducted in Europe, published up to December 2009. We assessed levels of evidence regarding effectiveness and analysed external validity using the RE-AIM framework. Results: Studies included (n = 33) were divided in 6 intervention categories. Moderate evidence of effectiveness was found for physical fitness outcomes with exercise training interventions and for physical activity outcomes with active commuting interventions. There was no or inconclusive evidence for obesity-related outcomes for all intervention categories. For external validity, elements receiving the least attention (<20%) were representativeness of participants, setting-level inclusion/exclusion criteria and representativeness, characteristics regarding intervention staff, implementation of intervention, costs, long-term effects and programme sustainability. Conclusions: Active commuting and exercise training appear as promising approaches to promote physical activity or fitness in the workplace. The effect of interventions on obesity-related outcomes remains to be further investigated. There is a need to better report elements of generalizability and dissemination for translation into practice of worksite physical activity interventions.

Comfort of workers in office buildings: The European HOPE project

Previous studies have shown that building, social and personal factors can influence one’s perceived health and comfort. The aim of the underlying study was to get a better understanding of the relationships between these factors and perceived comfort. Self-administered questionnaires from 5732 respondents in 59 office buildings and building-specific data from the European Health Optimisation Protocol for Energy-efficient buildings (HOPE) study were used. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), reliability analyses, and linear regression analysis were performed. The outcome showed that perceived comfort is strongly influenced by several personal, social and building factors and that their relationships are complex. Results showed that perceived comfort is much more than the average of perceived indoor air quality, noise, lighting and thermal comfort responses. Perceived comfort is a phenomenon that deserves more research.

Adolescent Street Boy Urchins and Vocational Training in Northern Nigeria

In northern Nigeria, over 80% of the unskilled and uneducated adolescent street boys, or Almajiris, are from the ethnic Hausa-Fulani tribes. They depend on street begging and menial jobs for daily survival. In dealing with the situation, state vocational centers were established as the Millennium Hope Project (MHP) to provide the boys with trades and skills for self-reliance and socioeconomic transformations. This article presents findings from an educational policy evaluation research study of the MHP implementation and outcomes. The research was based on an ethnographic approach using multimodal data derived from interviews and observations and data analysis-involved transcription, categorization, and coding. Major themes include the cultural identities and statuses of the boys, curriculum implementation and management of the project, socioeconomic transformation of learning outcome, and the challenges and positive impacts of the MHP on the boys. The themes are discussed using the boys' “voices” and pertinent literature. The conclusion includes educational policy remedies for future reforms and modification of the project.

Wheel of Hope project: addressing disparities in complementary services for women with breast cancer in an underserved community.

Abstract Abstract #1121 Introduction For low-income women, unsafe housing, difficulty accessing quality health care, and economic insecurity only compound the stress of breast cancer. Use of yoga, reiki, and meditation practices by women with breast cancer has been linked with increased quality of life and decreased presence of stress hormones.1-3 Feelings of hope may improve psychological health.4 Yet for women in poor neighborhoods, geographic, transportation, language, cultural, and financial barriers exist to accessing complementary and support services.&amp;#x2028; In the Bronx, a majority Latino New York City borough containing the poorest Congressional District in the US, these services are rarely available. While numerous free services exist in higher SES neighborhoods in Manhattan, their location and monolingual nature limit the ability of Bronx women with breast cancer to access them. Other complementary services are too expensive.&amp;#x2028; Methods To address this disparity of greater need and decreased access, The Wheel of Hope project, funded through a STEP grant of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, offered a full-day bilingual program including a “sharing circle” for psycho-social support, gentle chair yoga, nutritious food, and reiki in a “Day of Healing” for women with breast cancer residing in the Bronx. Participants received both a meditation CD and an information packet in their language of choice. Women shared experiences, encouragement, and fears, relaxed, received reiki and learned complementary self-care and healing skills which could be continued at home. The events reflected our core values with bilingual/bicultural yoga instructors, reiki practitioners, group facilitators and educational information. At the end of each session an evaluation form was given to each participant.&amp;#x2028; Results A total of 86 women, heterogeneous in age, ethnicity, dominant language, and type and stage of breast cancer participated. 43.1% identified as Latina, 26.4% African American, 22.2% West Indian, 5.6% White, and 2.8% Asian.&amp;#x2028; Of 80 survey respondents, 98.7% indicated the day helped them in some way. 77% reported reduced stress, 78.4% felt more peaceful and encouraged by sharing with women with similar problems. 60.8% had increased feelings of hope. 71.2% planned to continue meditation techniques at home. 67.1% to continue yoga, 58.9% to continue breathing techniques, and 47.9% to change their cooking or eating habits as a result of nutritional information they received.&amp;#x2028; Conclusions Low-income Bronx women were eager to participate and were positive about their experience, demonstrating the value of such programs. We plan to continue to provide these services, to encourage similar efforts in other communities, and to promote the training of peer cancer survivors to lead healing and support circles.&amp;#x2028; References&amp;#x2028; (1) Cohen, L.et.al.Journal of Clinical Oncology.2006;24(18S):8505.&amp;#x2028; (2) Miles, P.Advances.2007;22(2):20-26.&amp;#x2028; (3) Carlson, L. Speca, M. Patel, K. and Goodey, E.Psychosomatic Medicine.2003;65: 571-581.&amp;#x2028; (4) Stanton, A. Danoff-burg, S. and Huggins, M. Psycho-Oncology.2002;11(2):93-102. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 1121.

Postdevelopment, Professionalism, and the Politics of Participation

Development is a project of hope, guided by the aspiration for greater social justice and emancipation of the poor and disadvantaged in the world. Over the past decade postdevelopment critics have argued that this project of hope has failed, and, instead of creating a fairer world, development can only serve to perpetuate uneven power relationships. Emerging work by postdevelopment authors reinvigorates the positive promise of development as a project toward emancipation and social justice. Discursive practices of development professionals in northern Thailand illustrate how one might conceive of a postdevelopment practice in which aspirations toward social justice and emancipation can coexist alongside the messy realities of development work. Drawing on contemporary discourse theory, Ernesto Laclau's conceptualization of hegemonic struggle provides conceptual tools for thinking beyond the bind of development-as-power. Using hegemony to reimagine development as first and foremost a form of political engagement it becomes possible to imagine viable postdevelopment approaches and strategies.

Effects of a Poverty Intervention Policy Demonstration on Parenting and Child Behavior: A Test of the Direction of Effects*

Objectives. This study compares two explanations for the effects of an employment‐based anti‐poverty intervention, the New Hope project, on parenting and child behavior. (1) Did the New Hope intervention directly affect child behavior and, if it did, is this the result of New Hope effects on earlier parenting practices? (2) Did the New Hope intervention directly affect parenting practices and, if it did, is this the result of New Hope effects on earlier child behavior?Methods. Assessments were collected two and five years after parents were randomly assigned to participate in New Hope or in a control group. The two models were tested using Baron and Kenny's (1986) recommendations for regression to test mediation.Results. The results support the second research question, but only for boys; neither model was supported for girls. New Hope led to increased positive behavior and reduced behavior problems for boys after two years; children's behavior accounted for experimental effects on parents' reports of their parenting behaviors after five years.Conclusions. Employment‐based interventions designed for low‐income parents can affect children directly; expanding such programs may help improve children's life chances.

Working nonstandard schedules and variable shifts in low-income families: Associations with parental psychological well-being, family functioning, and child well-being.

Longitudinal data from the New Hope Project--an experimental evaluation of a work-based antipoverty program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin--was used to explore concurrent and lagged associations of nonstandard schedules and variable shifts with parental psychological well-being, regularity of family mealtimes, and child well-being among low-income families. Working a combination of variable shifts and nonstandard hours was associated concurrently with lower teacher-reported school performance and engagement and higher levels of externalizing behavior problems. Fixed nonstandard schedules were associated with lagged decreases in parent-reported school performance, whereas working variable shifts was associated with lagged increases in parent-reported school performance.