On Pediatric Vaccines and Catholic Social Teaching

Determining whether, and when, to get one\u27s children vaccinated has become an increasingly controversial decision, often leaving parents fearful of making the “wrong” choice. Part of the challenge stems from the fact that what is rationally optimal for an individual is inherently at odds with the best outcome for the community, meaning that if everyone acted out of self-interest with respect to pediatric vaccines, communal health would suffer significantly. Given these tensions, the issue of pediatric vaccines benefits greatly from the nuanced assessment of Catholic social teaching. Specifically, the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace\u27s “four permanent principles” of human dignity, the common good, subsidiarity, and solidarity highlight the issues involved and help parents navigate this significant medical choice with a more informed conscience and a greater sense of their moral responsibilities. The end result is a fruitful alignment between Catholic social teaching and ethics in ordinary life

AN EXAMINATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN ETHANOL CONSUMPTION BY LOW ALCOHOL-CONSUMING RAT LINES

poster abstractIn the United States, alcohol use and dependence is a major health issue affecting 4-5% of the population (Hasin et al., 2007). Research indicates ad-olescents ages 12-20 drink 11% of all alcohol consumed nationally, with more than 90% consumed in the form of binge drinking (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Similar to the human condition, adolescent rodents generally consume more ethanol than their adult counterparts. Current rat animal model studies on alcoholism remain weighted toward examining Family History Positive (FHP), selectively bred, alcohol-preferring lines. Also, research has generally been focused on ethanol consumption be-havior of male rodents. However, female rodents tend to consume more al-cohol than male rodents (e.g., Adams et al., 1991). In addition, existing re-search on adolescent vs. adult alcohol abuse using “FHP” rats is not paral-leled by research with “Family History Negative” (FHN) rats, which might re-veal factors that prevent/protect an individual from excessive ethanol intake during this crucial stage of development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate ethanol consumption by male and female FHN, selectively bred, alcohol-nonpreferring rats during adoles-cence and adulthood. Studying adolescent vs. adult behavior may reveal de-velopmentally-specific, protective factors. Also, examining male versus fe-male behavior may reveal sex-by-development factors guarding against al-cohol abuse. Animals were placed in cages and assigned to experimental conditions defined by the following independent variables: line of rodent, rodent’s sex and age of ethanol exposure. The following dependent measures were exam-ined: changes in body weight as well as water and ethanol consumption. These measures were taken at least 5 days per week. We hypothesized that there would be elevated levels of ethanol con-sumption (g ethanol/kg body weight/day) in (a) adolescent vs. adult rats and (b) female vs. male rats. Future research might focus on gene and/or protein expression differences within certain nuclei of the brain’s reward neurocircuit between the FHP and FHN lines of rats. Currently, some data has been collected and statistically analyzed. Upon completion the study re-sults will be prepared for presentation and manuscript submission. Funded in part by the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Undergraduate Re-search Opportunities Program (UROP

Research Participation by Low‐Income and Racial/Ethnic Minority Groups: How Payment May Change the Balance

Minorities are underenrolled in clinical research trials, and one‐third of trials are underenrolled overall. The role of payment has not been studied at the national level as an explanation for enrollment patterns. Our objective was to examine the distribution of self‐reported previous research participation across different sociodemographic groups; to assess the public's perception of fair payment for a low‐risk medicine trial and the association between requested payment and sociodemographic characteristics; to estimate the amount of payment for a medication trial to achieve proportional representation of minorities and different socioeconomic groups. This was a cross‐sectional study with nationally representative data collected in 2011 by the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health. To determine the relationship between perceived fair payment and individual‐level characteristics, we used multivariable linear regression. With 60% participation rate, in a sample of 2,150 respondents 11% ( n = 221) of the sample had previously participated in medical research. Requested payment differed significantly by racial/ethnic group with Hispanics requesting more payment than non‐Hispanic whites (0.37 [95%CI 0.02, 0.72]) In contrast to payment at $49,$149, and $249, payment at$349 yielded proportional representation of racial/ethnic minority groups. Hispanics requested higher payment for research participation, suggesting a possible explanation for their underenrollment.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100336/1/cts12084.pd

Preservice Teacher Development through Math Camp Involvement

This research study investigated the role that involvement in Math Camp had on the development of preservice math teachers at Bowling Green State University. The research question was, In what ways do preservice teachers perceive their development through math camp involvement and how do they plan to use this development in their future classrooms? Since 2013, there have been 134 BGSU preservice teachers that have participated in Math Camp. All of these individuals were solicited to participate in the research study. Fifteen responded to the solicitation and participated in the study. Each participant completed a brief survey as well as a semi-structured interview which was transcribed. The coding and analysis was structured in accordance with a framework that was adapted from Knowles and Cole’s (1996) to fit the specific context of Math Camp: inquiry into self in relation to prior experience, inquiry into contexts and personnel roles, and inquiry into relationships. This research study yielded N=308 codes that were grouped into N=13 categories which all showed connections preservice teachers made between their Math Camp involvement and their development as teachers