Perfecting the Interview Process Making Yourself Employable

This project reviewed the literature of the interview in the hiring for employment process, and presents a handbook of tips for the candidate on the interview process. Few tips for the candidate on best practices for interviewing were found in this review in the scholarly literature. (Abstract provided by OPUS staff

Chain duality for categories over complexes

We show that the additive category of chain complexes parametrized by a finite simplicial complex $K$ forms a category with chain duality. This fact, never fully proven in the original reference, is fundamental for Ranicki's algebraic formulation of the surgery exact sequence of Sullivan and Wall, and his interpretation of the surgery obstruction map as the passage from local Poincar\'e duality to global Poincar\'e duality. Our paper also gives a new, conceptual, and geometric treatment of chain duality on $K$-based chain complexes.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figures, comments welcome

Platform Synthetic Lectins for Divalent Carbohydrate Recognition in Water

Biomimetic carbohydrate receptors (“synthetic lectins”) have potential as agents for biological research and medicine. However, although effective strategies are available for “all‐equatorial” carbohydrates (glucose, etc.), the recognition of other types of saccharide under natural (aqueous) conditions is less well developed. Herein we report a new approach based on a pyrene platform with polar arches extending from aryl substituents. The receptors are compatible with axially substituted carbohydrates, and also feature two identical binding sites, thus mimicking the multivalency observed for natural lectins. A variant with negative charges forms 1:2 host/guest complexes with aminosugars, with K (1)>3000 m (−1) for axially substituted mannosamine, whereas a positively charged version binds the important α‐sialyl unit with K (1)≈1300 m (−1)

Urinary Management With an External Female Collection Device

Strategies to decrease use of female indwelling urinary catheters and catheter-associated urinary tract infections are challenging due to the limited availability of proper fitting external collection devices. Female urinary incontinence predisposes the skin to potential pain, itching, burning, infection, or pressure injuries. CASE STUDIES: This article discusses 3 patients' trajectory of care with use of an external female urinary collection device. All of these females were incontinent of urine after the indwelling urinary catheter was removed and managed with an external female urinary collection device. CONCLUSIONS: The use of an external female urinary collection device is a feasible alternative to an indwelling urinary catheter as well as managing urinary incontinence

Reflective Pedagogy Community of Practice: Engaging Faculty and Staff in Reflective Pedagogy to Prepare for Eportfolio Launch

To prepare faculty and staff for using eportfolios in classes and with co-curricular experiences, we engaged faculty and staff in a Reflective Pedagogy Community of Practice. Participants reviewed and discussed the literature on reflective pedagogy, particularly related to using eportfolios. Participants documented their learning about reflective pedagogy in an eportfolio and shared their eportfolio with other participants for review and feedback. Materials and discussion prompts used during the community of practice sessions are provided. The assessment indicated that participants felt that the amount of work and the number of sessions that the group met were reasonable and that they learned a lot from the readings, discussions, eportfolio creation, and peer review of others’ eportfolios. This model to prepare faculty for using reflective pedagogy with eportfolios can be adopted by other institutions

Aggressive blood pressure control for chronic kidney disease unmasks moyamoya!

Hypertensive crises in children or adolescents are rare, but chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major risk factor for occurrence. Vesicoureteral reflux nephropathy is a common cause of pediatric renal failure and is associated with hypertension. Aggressive blood pressure (BP) control has been shown to delay progression of CKD and treatment is targeted for the 50th percentile for height when compared with a target below the 90th percentile for the general pediatric hypertensive patient. We present a case of an adolescent presenting with seizures and renal failure due to a hypertensive crisis. Hypertension was thought to be secondary to CKD as she had scarred echogenic kidneys due to known reflux nephropathy. However, aggressive BP treatment improved kidney function which is inconsistent with CKD from reflux nephropathy. Secondly, aggressive BP control caused transient neurological symptoms. Further imaging identified moyamoya disease. We present this case to highlight the consideration of moyamoya as a diagnosis in the setting of renal failure and hypertensive crisis

Implementation of a Collaborative HIV and Hepatitis C Screening Program in Appalachian Urgent Care Settings

Introduction: With the current hepatitis C (HCV) epidemic in the Appalachian region and the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection, there is a need for increased secondary prevention efforts. The purpose of this study was to implement routine HIV and HCV screenings in the urgent care setting through the use of an electronic medical record (EMR) to increase a provider’s likelihood of testing eligible patients. Methods: From June 2017 through May 2018, EMR-based HIV and HCV screenings were implemented in three emergency department-affiliated urgent care settings: a local urgent care walk-in clinic; a university-based student health services center; and an urgent care setting located within a multi-specialty clinic. EMR best practice alerts (BPA) were developed based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines and populated on registered patients who qualified to receive HIV and/or HCV testing. Patients were excluded from the study if they chose to opt out from testing or the provider deemed it clinically inappropriate. Upon notification of a positive HIV and/or HCV test result through the EMR, patient navigators (PNs) were responsible for linking patients to their first medical appointment. Results: From June 2017 through May 2018, 48,531 patients presented to the three urgent care clinics. Out of 27,230 eligible patients, 1,972 patients (7.2%) agreed to be screened for HIV; for HCV, out of 6,509 eligible patients, 1,895 (29.1%) agreed to be screened. Thirty-one patients (1.6%) screened antibody-positive for HCV, with three being ribonucleic acid confirmed positives. No patients in either setting were confirmed positive for HIV; however, two initially screened HIV- positive. PNs were able to link 17 HCV antibody-positive patients (55%) to their first appointment, with the remainder having a scheduled future appointment. Conclusion: Introducing an EMR-based screening program is an effective method to identify and screen eligible patients for HIV and HCV in Appalachian urgent care settings where universal screenings are not routinely implemented. [West J Emerg Med. 2018;19(6)1057–1064.

A Church-based Diabetes Self-management Education Program for African Americans With Type 2 Diabetes

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes self-management education interventions in community gathering places have been moderately effective, but very few studies of intervention effectiveness have been conducted among African Americans with type 2 diabetes. This paper describes a church-based diabetes self-management education intervention for African Americans, a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the intervention, and baseline characteristics of study participants. METHODS: A New DAWN: Diabetes Awareness & Wellness Network was conducted among 24 churches of varying size in North Carolina. Each church recruited congregants with type 2 diabetes and designated a diabetes advisor, or peer counselor, to be part of the intervention team. Participants were enrolled at each church and randomized as a unit to either the special intervention or the minimal intervention. The special intervention included one individual counseling visit, twelve group sessions, three postcard messages from the participant's diabetes care provider, and twelve monthly telephone calls from a diabetes advisor. Baseline data included measures of weight, hemoglobin A1c, blood pressure, physical activity, dietary and diabetes self-care practices, and psychosocial factors. The study to evaluate the intervention (from enrollment visit to last follow-up) began in February 2001 and ended in August 2003. RESULTS: Twenty-four churches (with 201 total participants) were randomized. Sixty-four percent of the participants were women. On average, the participants were aged 59 years and sedentary. They had an average of 12 years of education, had been diagnosed with diabetes for 9 years, had a body mass index of 35, had a hemoglobin A1c level of 7.8%, and had a reported dietary intake of 39% of calories from fat. CONCLUSION: A New DAWN is a culturally sensitive, church-based diabetes self-management education program for African Americans with type 2 diabetes that is being evaluated for effectiveness in a randomized controlled trial. The outcomes of A New DAWN will contribute to the literature on community-based interventions for minority populations and help to inform the selection of approaches to improve diabetes care in this population