Stop the Potential Killer: Prevention of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)

The risk for hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the ICU is great considering the length of stay and the invasive procedures most patients go through. MRSA infections may lead to death and contribute greatly to the cost of care. The purpose of this study was to examine the evidence for the best possible means of preventing MRSA. The methodology was a review of the current research. Some of the measures that were found to be beneficial included daily bathing with chlorhexidine, environmental decon­tamination, MRSA screenings upon admission, isolation precautions for positive patients, eradication therapy, and strict hand hygiene. Conclusions indicate that hospital acquired MRSA infections can be decreased with strict adherence to the correct regimen and continuous, hospital-wide education and awareness

Best Practices for Outreach and Engagement to Latino Audiences Using Community-Based Programs

The Latino community continues to grow at an increasing rate. Latinos have become the “majority-minority,” and by 2043, minorities will be the majority in the United States with Latinos as the largest ethnic minority group. The lack of targeted programming to ethnically diverse audiences is a growing concern for many organizations. This article describes research-based strategies and best practices for providing culturally appropriate Extension programs to the Latino community through community-based programs. This is illustrated through examples incorporated into three community-based programs offered in Southwest Idaho, Southeast Oregon, and Southwest Washington. The objective is to discuss the value of each key component when providing services to the Latino community; describe what the research indicates; and offer practical applications for educators, staff, and other professionals to expand outreach and engagement efforts to the Latino population. Implications for professionals working with the Latino community are discussed

Fifteen-month-olds accept arbitrary shapes as symbols of familiar kind tokens

Across three experiments, we show that 15-month-old infants understand that arbitrary objects can be used as symbols. Experiment 1 shows that infants map geometric shapes (e.g., a triangle) onto familiar discourse referents (e.g., a duck) based on labeling (e.g., “Look, a duck!”). Experiment 2 shows that infants do not generalize these mappings to a new speaker. This rules out the alternative hypothesis that infants interpret the labeling events literally. Experiment 3 shows that infants are sensitive to the conceptual identity of the discourse referent. After being told that one shape represents an agent (e.g., a duck) and another shape represents a patient (e.g., a cup), infants attend differentially when the agent symbol moves towards the patient symbol than the opposite. This rules out the alternative hypothesis that infants interpret the labeling events as referential pacts. The findings jointly indicate that symbolic relations are easily activated and available early in human development

Early-emerging combinatorial thought:Human infants flexibly combine kind and quantity concepts

Combinatorial thought, or the ability to combine a finite set of concepts into a myriad of complex ideas and knowledge structures, is the key to the productivity of the human mind and underlies communication, science, technology, and art. Despite the importance of combinatorial thought for human cognition and culture, its developmental origins remain unknown. To address this, we tested whether 12-mo-old infants (N = 60), who cannot yet speak and only understand a handful of words, can combine quantity and kind concepts activated by verbal input. We proceeded in two steps: first, we taught infants two novel labels denoting quantity (e.g., “mize” for 1 item; “padu” for 2 items, Experiment 1). Then, we assessed whether they could combine quantity and kind concepts upon hearing complex expressions comprising their labels (e.g., “padu duck”, Experiments 2-3). At test, infants viewed four different sets of objects (e.g., 1 duck, 2 ducks, 1 ball, 2 balls) while being presented with the target phrase (e.g., “padu duck”) naming one of them (e.g., 2 ducks). They successfully retrieved and combined on-line the labeled concepts, as evidenced by increased looking to the named sets but not to distractor sets. Our results suggest that combinatorial processes for building complex representations are available by the end of the first year of life. The infant mind seems geared to integrate concepts in novel productive ways. This ability may be a precondition for deciphering the ambient language(s) and building abstract models of experience that enable fast and flexible learning

Ranchers Feeding Kids: A Multi-Partner Approach to Programming

School districts face challenges to balance budgets and provide healthy meals. Oregon State University Extension agents joined with community partners to form Ranchers Feeding Kids (RFK). The program started with ranchers donating cattle that were harvested and processed for local schools\u27 lunch programs. An educational event taught youth about livestock production, its importance to the local economy, and beef\u27s health benefits. In 4 years, the program has grown to include 32 schools in 13 different school districts, providing over 5,500 students with meals. Forty donated cattle, with a value of over $40,000, have provided 30,000 pounds of beef to schools

An adjustment inventory for primary grades

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

The Balanced Energy Physical Activity (BEPA) Toolkit

The Balanced Energy Physical Activity Toolkit is an evidence-based, behaviorally focused physical activity resource. The BEPA-Toolkit is designed for applications in various educational settings to increase children’s physical activity time, with materials and activity ideas that are applicable for use in and outside of the classroom and before, during, or after school. It includes over 50 activity cards that convey integrated messages about healthy eating and physical activity through movement. This practical resource has been shown to increase children’s physical activity at school

Southern Foresters\u27 Perceptions of Climate Change: Implications for Educational Program Development

An understanding of foresters\u27 perceptions of climate change is important for developing effective educational programs on adaptive forest management. We surveyed 1,398 foresters in the southern United States regarding their perceptions of climate change, observations and concerns about climatic and forest conditions, and knowledge of and interest in resilient forest management techniques and climate science. A majority (61%) agreed that climate change is occurring, and 14% agreed that it is caused by humans. Most respondents were interested in learning more about forest resilience and related concepts. Development of programming focused on managing for forest resilience in a changing climate is a prudent educational approach that builds on familiar risk-management strategies

F1000 Workspace

F1000 Workspace (F1000W) is a relative newcomer to the reference database scene, joining the ranks of EndNote, RefWorks, Mendeley, Papers, and Zotero. In 2015, the London-based Science Navigation Group launched F1000W, the third of a suite of products originally branded as the Faculty of 1000 with the goal of “Changing the way sci-ence is communicated” [1]. The first of this trio of products, F1000 Prime, was released in 2002 to pro-vide expert recommendations about the best research articles in biology and medicine. Following in 2012, F1000 Research is an open access, open science journal that facilitates rapid publication of life sciences findings with transparent post-publication peer review

Dreaming of the Perfect Fit: A Structured Evaluation of Four Reference Management Tools Supporting Collaborative Research

Background: F1000 Workspace, Mendeley, EndNote Basic (without Web of Science), and EndNote Desktop/Online are tools that facilitate building shared libraries of references with attached PDFs for groups such as research labs, medical residents and co-authors. This evaluation compares specific functionality of these tools to help librarians match recommendations with user needs. Methods: The structured evaluation includes these metrics: sharing; access; importing citations, PDFs, and databases; duplicate removal; ability to organize and make notes; ease of installing a word plugin; styles available for bibliography references; ability to upload and track versions of a co-authored article; and product support. Results: Sharing: F1000W and EndNote offer unlimited shared ”projects” and “groups,” respectively, although whole libraries may not be shared with EndNote Basic. EndNote desktop allows syncing one library with an online account. All the references in this library can be shared from the desktop with other EndNote v.7+ users, or by sharing groups within the library via the online account. Desktop users can accept unlimited library sharing invitations. Free Mendeley accounts offer one private group with 3 members. An institutional license provides unlimited groups with 25 members. Access: F1000W and EndNote Basic are entirely web based. Mendeley and EndNote are desktop based with online interfaces. Importing: All programs have browser web importers and import files in a variety of standard formats and, with the exception of EndNote Basic, will create records from PDFs of articles with DOIs. Deduplicating: F1000W merges exact duplicates on import. All products have tools to identify and merge duplicates upon verification. Organizing in shared groups: Mendeley has shared multi-level folders and tags; other products share just folders. Notes: All products, with the exception of EndNote Basic, provide highlighting and notes within stored PDFs. Mendeley and F1000W display PDF notes in the records and notes can be directly added to the records. Citing tool: Word plugins are easy to install for all programs. F1000W has a Google Docs add-in. Styles: EndNote Basic has 21 styles, while the other programs provide hundreds. Editing styles is available via support request in F1000W, in EndNote Desktop but not in EndNote Basic, and in Mendeley for those with scripting skills. Manuscripts: F1000W has a manuscript sharing tool with version tracking. Support: Response time to support requests are shortest in F1000W. Conclusions: The poster details user needs and tool recommendations in 4 cases: medical resident, public health student, systematic review team and research lab