Barriers to Smoking Cessation in Patients Enrolled in Suboxone Treatment Programs

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, accounting for more than 480,000 deaths every year. The prevalence of tobacco use among substance abuse treatment program enrollees is substantially higher than that of the general population, with recent estimates ranging between 75-97%. The aim of this project was to identify specific barriers to smoking cessation in patients enrolled in suboxone treatment programs in Franklin County, VT. The most commonly cited barriers among survey responders were related to fear of the effects of tobacco withdrawl, while the most important barrier was related to fear of increased desire to use drugs following smoking cessation.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1493/thumbnail.jp

Design of a composter

Este proyecto trata del diseño y desarrollo de un contenedor para hacer compost. El compostador ha sido diseñado en colaboración con la empresa MiljöCenter de Malmo, Suecia. Dado que se realizó en el programa de intercambio, el report se encuentra en inglés, por lo que a continuaciòn se muestra un breve resumen en español sobre el proyecto. El proyecto consiste en el diseño de un contenedor para exteriores que pueda superar altas temperaturas y que sirva para reciclar desechos orgánicos que darán lugar a compost al estar bajo unas temperaturas y condiciones determinadas, las cuales aparecen especificadas en el informe. El diseño se ha basado en mejorar las cualidades estéticas y logísticas de los diseños que la empresa fabrica actualmente. La logística, entendiendo por ello el montaje, desmontaje, almacenamiento y transporte del producto ha sido una de las piezas claves a la hora de resolver la fase de diseño. La otra parte definitiva fue la relación usuario - producto con la idea de facilitar el uso del contenedor, desde que se compra, transporta y monta en casa, hasta que se usa para hacer del proceso de reciclado de materia orgánica y compostaje, un proceso más ameno y para toda la familia. En el informe aparecen todas las fases de diseño. Esto incluye la primera fase análisis del mercado, así como las reuniones con la empresa. A continuación los resultados y valoraciones que se tuvieron en cuenta para la fase creativa y de resolución de problemas. Seguido de la conceptualización y últimos detalles del producto final hasta dejar el producto totalmente definido. Como resultado del proyecto se obtuvo un contenedor de plástico resistente a los agentes exteriores y a altas temperaturas gracias a su insulación. El diseño se basa en una forma sencilla formada por la base, la tapa y cuatro paredes hechas con un mismo molde. Tiene un sistema de ventilación que favorece a las condiciones necesarias para la realización de compost así como un diseño amable, fácil de fabricar, transportar, almacenar, montar y usar. Su forma permite desmontarlo y montarlo e una manera sencilla además de ocupando muy poco espacio para su transporte y almacenamiento. Esto produce grandes ventajas económicas para la empresa en la parte de fabricación y logística así como ventajas para el usuario. En caso de interés o alguna duda sobre el proyecto, no dude en consultarme a través de mi correo electrónico. ([email protected]) SUMMARY IN ENGLISH BELOW: The report describes the process of product development and industrial design done to get a composter as a final result. The new design of the container for compost was ordered by the company MiljöCenter in order to improve the ones that the company already has. The main goal of this project was to develop a new product that improves the design, the assembly, the logistics and the economy of the composter comparing with the ones of the company and also the ones of the competitors. In order to get this goal, the design process has been based in different methodology and methods divided in several steps like research, ideation, functional analysis, visualization…etc. All the process is detailed in this paper, and also the result that consists in a complete design of a composter made for outdoor. Resistant to all kind of weather and with a simple form that helps to make an easy assembly, disassembly and transport If you are interested or you have any doubt, don´t hesitate in contact me by email. ([email protected]

Role of the Dental Community in HPV Vaccination Promotion

Introduction. With increasing awareness that human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause oropharyngeal cancer (OPC), dental providers may play an important role in promoting HPV vaccination and preventing cancer. Our goal was to assess knowledge and current HPV vaccine counseling practices among Vermont dentists and dental hygienists to identify potential targets for state-level interventions to increase vaccine coverage. Methods. We developed a survey to assess knowledge, beliefs, practices and barriers regarding HPV vaccination, and distributed it via email to practicing Vermont dentists and dental hygienists. Free responses were analyzed using a coding framework generated from three key informant interviews. Results. 90% of providers believe it is important for them to play an “active role” in their patients’ general medical care, yet only 50% believe it is their responsibility to recommend HPV vaccine. Only 50% feel knowledgeable enough to recommend the vaccine. 78.6% of providers rarely discuss HPV vaccination with their age-appropriate patients, and 82% rarely recommend the vaccine. When asked to name the biggest barrier against recommending vaccination, providers named the following factors most frequently: “not responsibility of dental provider” (27%); lack of confidence in knowledge (19%); time constraints (14%); and parent philosophical/religious opposition (11%). Discussion. Because dentists and dental hygienists care for a broad pediatric population across the state, dental communities may be poised to play an expanded role in Vermont’s efforts to improve its HPV vaccination coverage. Our study identifies several potential areas for provider-focused interventions, which include educating providers about the HPV vaccine and reducing significant barriers against recommending.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1266/thumbnail.jp

Pattern scaling using ClimGen: monthly-resolution future climate scenarios including changes in the variability of precipitation

Development, testing and example applications of the pattern-scaling approach for generating future climate change projections are reported here, with a focus on a particular software application called “ClimGen”. A number of innovations have been implemented, including using exponential and logistic functions of global-mean temperature to represent changes in local precipitation and cloud cover, and interpolation from climate model grids to a finer grid while taking into account land-sea contrasts in the climate change patterns. Of particular significance is a new approach for incorporating changes in the inter-annual variability of monthly precipitation simulated by climate models. This is achieved by diagnosing simulated changes in the shape of the gamma distribution of monthly precipitation totals, applying the pattern-scaling approach to estimate changes in the shape parameter under a future scenario, and then perturbing sequences of observed precipitation anomalies so that their distribution changes according to the projected change in the shape parameter. The approach cannot represent changes to the structure of climate timeseries (e.g. changed autocorrelation or teleconnection patterns) were they to occur, but is shown here to be more successful at representing changes in low precipitation extremes than previous pattern-scaling methods

Neutrophil-derived reactive agents induce a transient SpeB negative phenotype in Streptococcus pyogenes

Background Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococci; GAS) is the main causative pathogen of monomicrobial necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs). To resist immuno-clearance, GAS adapt their genetic information and/or phenotype to the surrounding environment. Hyper-virulent streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B (SpeB) negative variants caused by covRS mutations are enriched during infection. A key driving force for this process is the bacterial Sda1 DNase. Methods Bacterial infiltration, immune cell influx, tissue necrosis and inflammation in patient´s biopsies were determined using immunohistochemistry. SpeB secretion and activity by GAS post infections or challenges with reactive agents were determined via Western blot or casein agar and proteolytic activity assays, respectively. Proteome of GAS single colonies and neutrophil secretome were profiled, using mass spectrometry. Results Here, we identify another strategy resulting in SpeB-negative variants, namely reversible abrogation of SpeB secretion triggered by neutrophil effector molecules. Analysis of NSTI patient tissue biopsies revealed that tissue inflammation, neutrophil influx, and degranulation positively correlate with increasing frequency of SpeB-negative GAS clones. Using single colony proteomics, we show that GAS isolated directly from tissue express but do not secrete SpeB. Once the tissue pressure is lifted, GAS regain SpeB secreting function. Neutrophils were identified as the main immune cells responsible for the observed phenotype. Subsequent analyses identified hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorous acid as reactive agents driving this phenotypic GAS adaptation to the tissue environment. SpeB-negative GAS show improved survival within neutrophils and induce increased degranulation. Conclusions Our findings provide new information about GAS fitness and heterogeneity in the soft tissue milieu and provide new potential targets for therapeutic intervention in NSTIs.publishedVersio

The absence of an auditory-visual attentional blink is not due to echoic memory.

Als binnen een halve seconde twee visuele items in een serieel aangeboden stroom moeten worden geselecteerd, is de prestatie voor het tweede item vaak relatief slecht (er treedt een “attentional blink” op); wanneer het eerste echter item auditief wordt aangeboden, verdwijnt de blink meestal. We hebben aangetoond dat dit laatste niet wordt veroorzaakt doordat proefpersonen hun echoïsch geheugen gebruiken om de verwerking van het auditieve item uit te stellen tot na het einde van de visuele stroom

Emotion Modulation of Visual Attention: Categorical and Temporal Characteristics

Background: Experimental research has shown that emotional stimuli can either enhance or impair attentional performance. However, the relative effects of specific emotional stimuli and the specific time course of these differential effects are unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the present study, participants (n = 50) searched for a single target within a rapid serial visual presentation of images. Irrelevant fear, disgust, erotic or neutral images preceded the target by two, four, six, or eight items. At lag 2, erotic images induced the greatest deficits in subsequent target processing compared to other images, consistent with a large emotional attentional blink. Fear and disgust images also produced a larger attentional blinks at lag 2 than neutral images. Erotic, fear, and disgust images continued to induce greater deficits than neutral images at lag 4 and 6. However, target processing deficits induced by erotic, fear, and disgust images at intermediate lags (lag 4 and 6) did not consistently differ from each other. In contrast to performance at lag 2, 4, and 6, enhancement in target processing for emotional stimuli was observed in comparison to neutral stimuli at lag 8. Conclusions/Significance: These findings suggest that task-irrelevant emotion information, particularly erotica, impairs intentional allocation of attention at early temporal stages, but at later temporal stages, emotional stimuli can have an enhancing effect on directed attention. These data suggest that the effects of emotional stimuli on attention can be bot