Interprofessional Education Checklist

The IPE Checklist is a tool for appraising the quality of interprofessional health professions education resources. This IPE checklist was designed to assist educators as they develop and assess the value, relevance and utility of interprofessional resources and educational materials.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/ipe_tools/1000/thumbnail.jp

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Depression: A Review

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) are frequently present in the general population as patients age with approximately a third of individuals experiencing LUTS during their lifetime. LUTS can be further defined as having any of the following symptoms: urinary hesitancy, straining, nocturia, increased urination frequency, and dysuria. LUTS has the potential for patients to contribute their symptoms to what can normally occur as we age. This can lead to a decrease in patients seeking care and could negatively impact patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQL). In conjunction with LUTS, we obtained from our analysis that LUTS and depression are closely related and worsening depressive symptoms may increase the severity of LUTS. We also discerned three categories of factors that can yield major depression namely adversity, internalizing, and externalizing factors. Within these categories, trauma, social support, genetic factors, and minimal education appeared to increase the risk of depression in patients. With the recent increase in mental health awareness and more access to mental health care amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, further screening, and collaboration between providers to treat both urological and psychiatric symptoms could improve patient outcomes. It is important for providers to have an increased understanding of the mental and physical impact both LUTS and depression can have on patients’ wellbeing. This has the potential to help patients be more open about their symptoms with the aim of better addressing LUTS and depression to positively impact their HRQL

Behavioural and Physiological Responses of Gammarus pulex Exposed to Cadmium and Arsenate at Three Temperatures: Individual and Combined Effects

This study aimed at investigating both the individual and combined effects of cadmium (Cd) and arsenate (AsV) on the physiology and behaviour of the Crustacean Gammarus pulex at three temperatures (5, 10 and15°C). G. pulex was exposed during 96 h to (i) two [Cd] alone, (ii) two [AsV] alone, and (iii) four combinations of [Cd] and [AsV] to obtain a complete factorial plane. After exposure, survival, [AsV] or [Cd] in body tissues, behavioural (ventilatory and locomotor activities) and physiological responses (iono-regulation of [Na+] and [Cl−] in haemolymph) were examined. The interactive effects (antagonistic, additive or synergistic) of binary mixtures were evaluated for each tested temperature using a predictive model for the theoretically expected interactive effect of chemicals. In single metal exposure, both the internal metal concentration in body tissues and the mortality rate increased along metallic gradient concentration. Cd alone significantly impaired both [Na+] and [Cl−] while AsV alone had a weak impact only on [Cl−]. The behavioural responses of G. pulex declined with increasing metal concentration suggesting a reallocation of energy from behavioural responses to maintenance functions. The interaction between AsV and Cd was considered as ‘additive’ for all the tested binary mixtures and temperatures (except for the lowest combination at 10°C considered as “antagonistic”). In binary mixtures, the decrease in both ventilatory and locomotor activities and the decline in haemolymphatic [Cl−] were amplified when respectively compared to those observed with the same concentrations of AsV or Cd alone. However, the presence of AsV decreased the haemolymphatic [Na+] loss when G. pulex was exposed to the lowest Cd concentration. Finally, the observed physiological and behavioural effects (except ventilation) in G. pulex exposed to AsV and/or Cd were exacerbated under the highest temperature. The discussion encompasses both the toxicity mechanisms of these metals and their interaction with rising temperature

Quality indicators of IPE resources: Creation of a checklist for design and evaluation using a modified Delphi process

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) is a required component of training for all major health professions. A variety of instructional methods and activities have been adopted, however there is no widely-accepted review checklist to guide the creation and utilization of high quality and relevant IPE materials. Method: A modified Delphi method was used to generate consensus around specific elements synonymous with high quality and relevant interprofessional education resources and instructional materials. The process included one pre-voting round with a convenience sample of 15 IPE professionals, and 3 subsequent rounds with an 8 member IPE expert panel from 6 institutions. Results: The resulting IPE checklist includes 33 items grouped into categories of Content, Logistics and Assessment considerations. The checklist supports the development of new resources and evaluation of existing activities. Conclusions: The modified Delphi process was a successful means to solicit expert feedback during the construction and iterative refinement of the IPE Checklist. The checklist will be useful in the design of new interprofessional education activities, and also in evaluating the quality of existing activities

Staphylococcus aureus Fur Regulates the Expression of Virulence Factors That Contribute to the Pathogenesis of Pneumonia▿ †

The tremendous success of Staphylococcus aureus as a pathogen is due to the controlled expression of a diverse array of virulence factors. The effects of host environments on the expression of virulence factors and the mechanisms by which S. aureus adapts to colonize distinct host tissues are largely unknown. Vertebrates have evolved to sequester nutrient iron from invading bacteria, and iron availability is a signal that alerts pathogenic microorganisms when they enter the hostile host environment. Consistent with this, we report here that S. aureus senses alterations in the iron status via the ferric uptake regulator (Fur) and alters the abundance of a large number of virulence factors. These Fur-mediated changes protect S. aureus against killing by neutrophils, and Fur is required for full staphylococcal virulence in a murine model of infection. A potential mechanistic explanation for the impact of Fur on virulence is provided by the observation that Fur coordinates the reciprocal expression of cytolysins and a subset of immunomodulatory proteins. More specifically, S. aureus lacking fur exhibits decreased expression of immunomodulatory proteins and increased expression of cytolysins. These findings reveal that Fur is involved in initiating a regulatory program that organizes the expression of virulence factors during the pathogenesis of S. aureus pneumonia

Observations with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument. XI. First Year of Observations from Apache Point Observatory

The Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI) was relocated to the Astrophysical Research Consortium 3.5 m telescope at Apache Point Observatory (APO) in early 2022. Here we present results from the first year of observations along with an updated instrument description for DSSI at APO, including a detailed description of a new internal slit mask assembly used to measure the instrument plate scale from first principles. Astrometric precision for DSSI at APO during this time was measured to be 2.06 ± 0.11 mas, with a photometric precision of 0.14 ± 0.04 mag. Results of 40 resolved binary systems are reported, including two that were previously unknown to be binaries: HIP 7535 and HIP 9603. We also present updated orbital fits for two systems: HIP 93903 and HIP 100714. Finally, we report updated or confirmed dispositions for five Kepler Objects of Interest (KOIs) that were previously explored in Colton et al., using speckle imaging to discern common proper motions pairs from line of sight companions: KOI-270, KOI-959, KOI-1613, KOI-1962, and KOI-3214AB