Discrimination is not only a human and civil rights offense, but also a detrimental influence on the health outcomes of affected populations. The Muslim population in the United States is a growing religious minority increasingly encountered by health care professionals in the clinical setting. This group has been subject to heightened discrimination since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and often is misunderstood within the context of American society today. While research has been conducted on discrimination against Muslims in the employment and educational segments of society, more studies are needed which quantify the extent and type of discrimination faced by this group in the health care setting. This inquiry focused on the crossover of anti-Muslim discrimination from society to the health care setting. A newly developed tool to measure anti-Muslim discrimination in health care and an established perceived discrimination scale were used to create the questionnaire employed in this investigation. The items of this newly created tool addressed culturally congruent care practices based on principles of cultural safety within the nurse-patient relationship and the cultural care beliefs of the Muslim patient/family to ascertain discriminatory occurrences in the health care setting. Ray's (2010)

Caring science has been identified and examined in the discipline of nursing for over 40 years. Within this period, the topic has been analyzed and studied resulting in theories, models, books, and articles published nationally and internationally. Although advancements have been made in caring knowledge development, opportunities to integrate caring science into all aspects of nursing abound, including the specialty of nursing professional development. The focus of this article is to present ways in which nursing professional development specialists may incorporate caring science into practice, using Ray's (2010) Transcultural Caring Dynamics in Nursing and Health Care model as an exceptional exemplar for understanding, awareness, and choice for nurses and patients.

Introduction: The past decade in the United States has been marked by an unprecedented expansion of unconventional oil and gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing (i.e., fracking). Concerns have arisen regarding potential health and environmental risks associated with the use of the fracking process. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine community perceptions, concerns, and knowledge of environmental health issues related to fracking in three Texas counties near one of the most active shale plays in South Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale. Methods: A convenience sample of 153 adults over the age of 18 years in three rural South Texas counties completed a 46-question survey. Demographic information, perceptions of environmental health risks, and knowledge of potential environmental health effects related to fracking were obtained. A validated health literacy measure was also used to assess participants' health literacy. Results: Participants were predominantly female (61%), white (75%), and Hispanic (62%). A majority owned land (53.6%) and had lived in their respective county for over 21 years (54%). Only 32% percent of participants had marginal or inadequate health literacy though a larger percentage of participants had limited knowledge of potential environmental health risks related to fracking.Conclusions: Approximately one third of participants had less than adequate health literacy as measured by the BRIEF. A high percentage of the population demonstrated limited knowledge regarding the potential environmental health impacts of fracking, suggesting limited environmental health literacy. Findings point to the need for environmental health specific assessments and focused environmental health promotion strategies.

This paper presents the design and development of a web-based social networking system for selfmanagement of diabetes mellitus. The objectives of this development are twofold. First is to enable diabetic patients to record and monitor their blood glucose levels by using short message service (SMS) or through a website. Second is to provide social networking functionalities for diabetic patients, healthcare workers, and other related parties to form online communities for information sharing, support, and collaboration.With responsive design, the website aims to provide the best possible user experience across devices from desktops and notebooks to tablets and smart phones.