The critical elements of effective academic-practice partnerships: a framework derived from the Department of Veterans Affairs Nursing Academy.

BackgroundThe nursing profession is exploring how academic-practice partnerships should be structured to maximize the potential benefits for each partner. As part of an evaluation of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Nursing Academy (VANA) program, we sought to identify indicators of successful partnerships during the crucial first year.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative analysis of 142 individual interviews and 23 focus groups with stakeholders from 15 partnerships across the nation. Interview respondents typically included the nursing school Dean, the VA chief nurse, both VANA Program Directors (VA-based and nursing school-based), and select VANA faculty members. The focus groups included a total of 222 VANA students and the nursing unit managers and staff from units where VANA students were placed. An ethnographic approach was utilized to identify emergent themes from these data that underscored indicators of and influences on Launch Year achievement.ResultsWe emphasize five key themes: the criticality of inter-organizational collaboration; challenges arising from blending different cultures; challenges associated with recruiting nurses to take on faculty roles; the importance of structuring the partnership to promote evidence-based practice and simulation-based learning in the clinical setting; and recognizing that stable relationships must be based on long-term commitments rather than short-term changes in the demand for nursing care.ConclusionsDeveloping an academic-clinical partnership requires identifying how organizations with different leadership and management structures, different responsibilities, goals and priorities, different cultures, and different financial models and accountability systems can bridge these differences to develop joint programs integrating activities across the organizations. The experience of the VANA sites in implementing academic-clinical partnerships provides a broad set of experiences from which to learn about how such partnerships can be effectively implemented, the barriers and challenges that will be encountered, and strategies and factors to overcome challenges and build an effective, sustainable partnership. This framework provides actionable guidelines for structuring and implementing effective academic-practice partnerships that support undergraduate nursing education

Measuring Global Similarity between Texts

We propose a new similarity measure between texts which, contrary to the current state-of-the-art approaches, takes a global view of the texts to be compared. We have implemented a tool to compute our textual distance and conducted experiments on several corpuses of texts. The experiments show that our methods can reliably identify different global types of texts.Comment: Submitted to SLSP 201

Neurological and Behavioral Consequences of Childhood Lead Exposure

David Bellinger discusses two new cohort studies showing that childhood lead exposure is associated with brain volume reduction and criminal arrests in adulthood

Redetermination of (d-penicillaminato)lead(II)

In the title coordination polymer, [Pb(C5H9NO2S)]n {systematic name: catena-poly[(μ-2-amino-3-methyl-3-sulfido­butano­ato)lead(II)]}, the d-penicillaminate ligand coordin­ates to the metal ion in an N,S,O-tridentate mode. The S atom acts as a bridge to two neighbouring PbII ions, thereby forming a double thiol­ate chain. Moreover, the coordinating carboxyl­ate O atom forms bridges to the PbII ions in the adjacent chain. The overall coordination sphere of the PbII ion can be described as a highly distorted penta­gonal bipyramid with a void in the equatorial plane between the long Pb—S bonds probably occupied by the stereochemically active inert electron pair. The amino H atoms form N—H⋯S and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, resulting in a cluster of four complex units, giving rise to an R 4 4(16) ring lying in the ab plane. The crystal structure of the title compound has been reported previously [Freeman et al. (1974 ▶). Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun. pp. 366–367] but the atomic coordinates have not been deposited in the Cambridge Structural Database (refcode DPENPB). Additional details of the hydrogen bonding are presented here

Methods of exposure assessment: lead-contaminated dust in Philadelphia schools.

This study was conducted to develop a method that would accurately assess children's exposure to lead in schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We examined three wipe sample protocols: one included accessible surfaces such as desktops and windowsills, the second included inaccessible surfaces such as the top of filing cabinets and light fixtures, and the third included hand wipes of the study participants. Surface wipes were collected at 10 locations from accessible and inaccessible classroom surfaces (n = 11 at each location) and from the palms of student subjects in the same locations (n = 168). We found a significant difference in lead dust concentrations determined by the three protocols (F = 4.619; 2,27 degrees of freedom; p = 0.019). Lead dust concentrations were significantly elevated at the inaccessible surfaces yet they were uniformly low on the accessible surfaces and the children's palms. These findings were consistent with observed changes in blood lead levels of study participants: after 6 months of exposure to the study locations, 156 of 168 children experienced no change in blood lead level, whereas 12 experienced only a minimal change of 1-2 microg/dL. The mere presence of lead in inaccessible dust in the school environment does not automatically constitute a health hazard because there may not be a completed exposure pathway

Orofacial conditions and oral health behavior of young athletes: A comparison of amateur and competitive sports

Purpose This retrospective cross‐sectional study aimed to evaluate oral health status (dental, periodontal, and functional) and oral health behavior in young German athletes including the comparison of competitive (CA) and amateur sports (AA). Methods Data of CA (German national teams, perspective, and youth squads) and AA aged between 18 and 30 years with an available oral examination in 2019 were included. Clinical examination: caries experience (DMF‐T), non‐carious wear (erosion, BEWE), partially erupted wisdom teeth, gingival inflammation (PBI), plaque index, periodontal screening (PSI), and temporomandibular dysfunction (TMD) screening. Questionnaires: oral health behavior and periodontal symptoms. Results 88 CA (w = 51%, 20.6 ± 3.5 years) of endurance sports and 57 AA (w = 51%, 22.2 ± 2.1 years) were included. DMF‐T was comparable (CA: 2.7 ± 2.2, AA: 2.3 ± 2.2; p = 0.275) with more D‐T in CA (0.6 ± 1.0) than AA (0.3 ± 0.7; p = 0.046; caries prevalence: CA: 34%, AA: 19%; p = 0.06). Both groups had low severity of erosion (BEWE about 3.5). CA had more positive TMD screenings (43% vs. 25%; p = 0.014). In both groups, all athletes showed signs of gingival inflammation, but on average of low severity (PBI 70%). Conclusions Young German athletes (CA and AA) generally showed signs of gingival inflammation and needed to improve their oral health behavior. CA showed slightly increased oral findings (more D‐T, periodontal and TMD screening findings) than AA, but similar oral health behavior. This may imply an increased dental care need in competitive sports.Leipzig University http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008678Peer Reviewe

Generalized Interpolation Material Point Approach to High Melting Explosive with Cavities Under Shock

Criterion for contacting is critically important for the Generalized Interpolation Material Point(GIMP) method. We present an improved criterion by adding a switching function. With the method dynamical response of high melting explosive(HMX) with cavities under shock is investigated. The physical model used in the present work is an elastic-to-plastic and thermal-dynamical model with Mie-Gr\"uneissen equation of state. We mainly concern the influence of various parameters, including the impacting velocity $v$, cavity size $R$, etc, to the dynamical and thermodynamical behaviors of the material. For the colliding of two bodies with a cavity in each, a secondary impacting is observed. Correspondingly, the separation distance $D$ of the two bodies has a maximum value $D_{\max}$ in between the initial and second impacts. When the initial impacting velocity $v$ is not large enough, the cavity collapses in a nearly symmetric fashion, the maximum separation distance $D_{\max}$ increases with $v$. When the initial shock wave is strong enough to collapse the cavity asymmetrically along the shock direction, the variation of $D_{\max}$ with $v$ does not show monotonic behavior. Our numerical results show clear indication that the existence of cavities in explosive helps the creation of ``hot spots''.Comment: Figs.2,4,7,11 in JPG format; Accepted for publication in J. Phys. D: Applied Physic

Poor oral health including active caries in 187 UK professional male football players: clinical dental examination performed by dentists

The few studies that have assessed oral health in professional/elite football suggest poor oral health with minimal data on impact on performance. The aim of this research was to determine oral health in a representative sample of professional footballers in the UK and investigate possible determinants of oral health and self-reported impact on well-being, training and performance

Periodontal diagnosis in the context of the 2017 classification system of periodontal diseases and conditions: Presentation of a middle-aged patient with localised periodontitis

The objective of this case report is to illustrate the diagnosis and classification of periodontitis according to the 2017 classification system as recommended in the British Society of Periodontology (BSP) implementation plan. We describe a case of a patient who was diagnosed with 'localised periodontitis; stage II, grade B; currently unstable'. The present case report presents an example for the application of the new classification system and illustrates how the new classification system captures disease severity, extent and disease susceptibility by staging and grading periodontitis