Aspects of Global Health Issues: Diseases, Natural Disasters, and Pharmaceutical Corporations and Medical Research.

Global health issues are concerns of all public health officials throughout the world. This entails reviewing aspects such as the impact of poverty and the lack of access to quality health care, ignored global killers such as Diseases (Infectious diseases-Malaria, HIV/AIDS), Natural Disasters (Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Floods, and Armed Conflict), Health in the Media, and the Involvement of Pharmaceutical Corporations and Medical Research. These issues are challenges to many needless deaths. Global initiatives are not advancing as they should, such as access to drugs and medications, which some are political.

Protecting an endangered species: the contribution and constraints of nurses working in a specialist role.

AIM: The project aims to assess current specialist practice in relation to the new and ever-changing healthcare climate and explore some of the issues that specialist nurses encounter. BACKGROUND: The current financial recession is driving a range of economic policy changes and consequently service provision, in particular the work and impact of nurses working in a specialist role, being examined. This has resulted in many specialist nurses feeling very vulnerable. METHOD: A cross sectional survey was completed by nurses working in specialist roles (n = 96) in a large health and social care setting in the United Kingdom. FINDINGS: A response rate of 62% was achieved: 44% provide nurse led clinics and 42% are nurse prescribers. The mean length of time qualified as a registered nurse was 27 years. Less than a third felt that the current computer system for activity recording reflected their current workload and 65% needed administrative support. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the insufficient resources available to specialist nurses resulting in inappropriate but necessary, use of time and restricted opportunities for learning and development.

Visiting the Republic of Cuba: An Experience to Remember.

A few years ago, I was privileged to visit the Republic of Cuba as a summer vacation. Officially, this Spanish island is the largest island in the Caribbean, with more than 12 million people. It is only second as being most populous after Hispaniola with its people, culture and customs. Havana is the capital and Cuba's largest city. The United States lies to the immediate north only about 95 miles away, and the Bahamas and Mexico to the west, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica are on the southern end, and Haiti and the Dominion Republic are in the southeastern area. The history of this island is truly amazing. I was able to vist a hospital, and ride public transportation (bus). The trip was made at the time when Cuba was not open to travelers coming direct from the United States. I traveled to Montreal, Canada to board Cabana Arlines to Havana, Cuba.

Ethical and Moral Courage is Distress among Professional Nurses: A Workplace Issue.

Ethics and moral issues do impact the manner in which professional nurses perform their major duties. Moral distress often conflict with an ethical appropriate course of action that is known, but cannot be implemented. This distress has been associated with job dissatisfaction, burnout, early retirement, withdrawal from the moral dimensions of direct patient care, and others just leaving the profession altogether. In the workplace, institutions must make an assertive effort in providing resources and addressing situations that cause personal anxiety and depression that adversely affects total patient care. The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) has addressed ethical issues and moral distress in practices that support nurses with moral courage, when encountering ethical conflicts. Ask, Affirm, Assess and Act are the 4 A's that AACN believes should be a part of an organization's strategic plan to create a healthy workplace environment.

RNA-seq transcriptome profiling of equine inner cell mass and trophectoderm.

Formation of the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) marks the first differentiation event in mammalian development. These two cell types have completely divergent fates for the remainder of the developmental process. The molecular mechanisms that regulate ICM and TE formation are poorly characterized in horses. The objective of this study was to establish the transcriptome profiles of ICM and TE cells from horse blastocysts using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). A total of 12 270 genes were found to be expressed in either lineage. Global analysis of the transcriptome profiles by unsupervised clustering indicated that ICM and TE samples presented different gene expression patterns. Statistical analysis indicated that 1662 genes were differentially expressed (adjusted P < 0.05 and fold change > 2) between ICM and TE. Genes known to be specific to the ICM and TE were expressed primarily in their respective tissue. Transcript abundance for genes related to biological processes important for horse blastocyst formation and function is presented and discussed. Collectively, our data and analysis serve as a valuable resource for gene discovery and unraveling the fundamental mechanisms of early horse development.

A personal experience in the presence of a man who transformed a nation and changed the world: Nelson Mandela.

At this time in history, I consider myself very privileged to have spent some three hours in the presence of President Nelson Mandela as a Howard University faculty member in the late 1990s. Then, President of Howard University, H. Patrick Swygert bestowed upon President Nelson Mandela, Esquire an Honorary Doctorate of Human Letters. I can only equate this experience to my four mile walk up the Bedaling Wall (Great Wall) in China (a magnificent ancient wonder of the world), and trying to relate this event to something only fortunate souls have had the chance to enjoy. I also treasure the once in a lifetime visit to the Republic of South Africa in 1998 when the Association of Black Nursing Faculty, Inc., Chi Eta Phi Nursing Sorority, Inc., and the Department of Nursing (University of Botswana) sponsored the trip as an attempt to establish partnerships, share common interests and discussion in how to meet health needs of emerging majority and disadvantaged populations in the world, including mainly, the continent of Africa, in the 21st century. This short memoir can only piggy-back the massive coverage in the media that began almost instantly as a long anticipated event (death of Nelson Mandela), but startled upon its occurrence.

A journey to the bible lands: a call from the past to the present in astonishing ways.

I traveled to the Middle East six times between 1978 and 200. These trips will always remain among my most precious memories. These trips included visiting Tele Aviv, Jerusalem (Old and New), Bethlehem, Haifa, Galilee, Golan Heights, Tiberius, Temple Mount, Ein Gedi Beach (Dead Sea), the Masada, Sinai, Caesarea, and Megiddo (Armageddon). The Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Inc. (New York City) was the Host Church, with Dr. Robert Spellman (a Senior Professor at Essex County College (New Jersey), Bishop/Pastor of the Macedonia Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Newark, NJ), and Bible Seminar Teacher, was the Tour Leader. During these travels, many airlines were used, including British Airways, El Al, Olympia, Lufthansa, and Alitalia. Side trips included Egypt, Jordan (Petra), and Europe (Greece, London, Paris, Rome). This tour in my own words, hopefully will entice and enlighten others to plan a trip to the most sacred ground on earth. I trust there will be as much enjoyment as I have had and am still having in sharing the biblical knowledge as it relates to the Bible lessons I learned over the years in Sunday School and actually comparing them today with the Holy Land itself.

Visiting the USSR: a trip of a lifetime.

To Russia, who me? That is actually how it all began. A decade or more ago, I had the opportunity to visit what was then known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Russia. Although, this place held high priority on my list of places to go, I never thought such a trip was within my reach. This idea was quite fascinating to me because of the events that did happen there, including the Russian space ship Sputnik and the dog, the high stepping military officers, Red Square and the St. Basil's Cathedral. After reading a lot about Russia, I thought it would be great to see a clean place, where it was unlawful to throw paper on the streets, and ride in public transportation such as the buses, taxis and the subway system, which were immaculately clean. It was an exciting trip, one, I will always remember, but would be a difficult adjustment to make, to live.

Student disruption in a global college classroom: multicultural issues as predisposing factors.

University and college faculty members may face inappropriate student behavior in a global classroom. This situation can complicate the maintenance of a positive effective learning environment. Student disruption is seen as disturbing behavior that interferes with the faculty member's academic or administrative ability to conduct class, or the ability of other students to profit from the class instruction. Disruptive behavior may threaten or endanger the physical or psychological health, safety or welfare of others. Various types of disruptive behavior and disrespect that university or college faculty are likely to experience include: grandstanding (use the classroom for themselves by monopolizing class discussion with no regard to relevancy to the discussion); prolonged chattering (small cliques of students who engage in private conversations or passing notes to each other); noisy electric devices (cell phones ringing in class, or students talking or text messaging during class time); leaving and entering class (frequently in the absence of notice to professor of illness or other extenuating circumstances); and disputing the professor's authority or expertise (students may be disappointed or unhappy over a grade and may debunk or devalue the professor's judgment, authority and expertise). This action may be in the form of comments in the class or memos to department chair or dean. Persistent speaking without permission and verbal or physical threats to faculty members or other students are also disruptive mannerisms. Working with a diverse student population can present unique challenges. Multicultural issues related to race, ethnicity, gender, physical, emotional or socioeconomic status and sexual orientation might require increased sensitivity, knowledge and self-exploration.