With disasters on the rise, counselors need to increase their cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills to work with affected communities. This study reports outcomes of a four-week immersion experience in southern Africa with six counselor-trainees. Data sources for this qualitative study were: daily journals and demographic forms. Outcomes suggest that sustained contact with community residents and daily supervision experiences served to improve cultural awareness. Recommendations include pushing through students' resistance using a non-linear dynamic model of transformation.

Background. Previous reports describe ethnicity based differences in clinical and laboratory features between Caucasians and African Americans with myasthenia gravis. However, it is not known whether these findings apply to other ethnicities. Methods. Retrospective analysis of all patients treated for myasthenia gravis during a three-year period at a community based medical center. Results. A total of 44 patients were included, including 19 of Hispanic, 16 of African American, 6 of Caucasian, and 3 of Asian ethnicities. Female gender was more common among those with Hispanic, Asian, and African American ethnicities compared to Caucasian ethnicity (p = 0.029). Anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody subtypes demonstrated no significant ethnicity based differences in either generalized or ocular myasthenia gravis. A trend was noted towards greater frequency of blocking antibodies among Hispanics (52.6%) compared to African American (37.5%) and Caucasian (33.3%) patients (p = 0.059). Generalized but not ocular myasthenia patients showed greater frequency of anti-muscle specific kinase antibodies in Asians and Hispanics compared to African Americans and Caucasians (p = 0.041). Conclusions. The results of this study support the existence of ethnicity based differences in clinical and laboratory features of myasthenia gravis. Further study of genetic factors influencing clinical features of myasthenia gravis is indicated.

Abstract:Purpose: The aim of this study was to find the correlation between vertical dimension of occlusion (VDO) with length of fingers and distance from hair line to nasion. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 dentate subjects comprising of 200 males and 200 females. Anthropometric measurements of VDO, length of index finger, length of little finger and distance from hair line to nasion were recorded clinically using digital vernier caliper. Correlation between VDO and length of fingers and distance from hair line to nasion was studied using Pearson"s correlation method. Results: VDO was significantly and positively correlated with all the parameters studied in females but not in males. In females, VDO had strongest correlation for length of little finger (r-0.550, p value<0.001) followed by length of index finger(r-0.413, p value<0.001), measured distance from hairline to nasion (r-0.294, p value<0.001) in the Gujarati populations. In males VDO was correlated with length of little finger(r-0.375, p value<0.001) but not with other 2 parameters studied. Conclusion: In females, pearson"s correlation for little finger is 0.550 and p value is less than 0.001, so length of liitle finger is the best parameter to predict VDO in females. Prediction of VDO through this method is reliable, and reproducible, this method is also simple, economic, and non-invasive; hence, it could be recommended for everyday practice. Abbreviations VDO= vertical dimension at occlusion.

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