Postcard: Hand Written Message from a Sister

This black and white printed postcard contains correspondence from one sister to another. Handwriting is on the front and the back of the card.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/tj_postcards/2057/thumbnail.jp

Altered resting state neuromotor connectivity in men with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A MAPP: Research Network Neuroimaging Study.

Brain network activity associated with altered motor control in individuals with chronic pain is not well understood. Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a debilitating condition in which previous studies have revealed altered resting pelvic floor muscle activity in men with CP/CPPS compared to healthy controls. We hypothesized that the brain networks controlling pelvic floor muscles would also show altered resting state function in men with CP/CPPS. Here we describe the results of the first test of this hypothesis focusing on the motor cortical regions, termed pelvic-motor, that can directly activate pelvic floor muscles. A group of men with CP/CPPS (N = 28), as well as group of age-matched healthy male controls (N = 27), had resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans as part of the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network study. Brain maps of the functional connectivity of pelvic-motor were compared between groups. A significant group difference was observed in the functional connectivity between pelvic-motor and the right posterior insula. The effect size of this group difference was among the largest effect sizes in functional connectivity between all pairs of 165 anatomically-defined subregions of the brain. Interestingly, many of the atlas region pairs with large effect sizes also involved other subregions of the insular cortices. We conclude that functional connectivity between motor cortex and the posterior insula may be among the most important markers of altered brain function in men with CP/CPPS, and may represent changes in the integration of viscerosensory and motor processing

Comparison of a nurse initiated insulin infusion protocol for intensive insulin therapy between adult surgical trauma, medical and coronary care intensive care patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sustained hyperglycemia is a known risk factor for adverse outcomes in critically ill patients. The specific aim was to determine if a nurse initiated insulin infusion protocol (IIP) was effective in maintaining blood glucose values (BG) within a target goal of 100–150 mg/dL across different intensive care units (ICUs) and to describe glycemic control during the 48 hours after protocol discontinuation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A descriptive, retrospective review of 366 patients having 28,192 blood glucose values in three intensive care units, Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit (STICU), Medical (MICU) and Coronary Care Unit (CCU) in a quaternary care hospital was conducted. Patients were > 15 years of age, admitted to STICU (n = 162), MICU (n = 110) or CCU (n = 94) over 8 months; October 2003-June 2004 and who had an initial blood glucose level > 150 mg/dL. We summarized the effectiveness and safety of a nurse initiated IIP, and compared these endpoints among STICU, MICU and CCU patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median blood glucose values (mg/dL) at initiation of insulin infusion protocol were lower in STICU (188; IQR, 162–217) than in MICU, (201; IQR, 170–268) and CCU (227; IQR, 178–313); <it>p </it>< 0.0001. Mean time to achieving a target glucose level (100–150 mg/dL) was similar between the three units: 4.6 hours in STICU, 4.7 hours in MICU and 4.9 hours in CCU (<it>p </it>= 0.27). Hypoglycemia (BG < 60 mg/dL) occurred in 7% of STICU, 5% of MICU, and 5% of CCU patients (<it>p </it>= 0.85). Protocol violations were uncommon in all three ICUs. Mean blood glucose 48 hours following IIP discontinuation was significantly different for each population: 142 mg/dL in STICU, 167 mg/dL in MICU, and 160 mg/dL in CCU (<it>p </it>< 0.0001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The safety and effectiveness of nurse initiated IIP was similar across different ICUs in our hospital. Marked variability in glucose control after the protocol discontinuation suggests the need for further research regarding glucose control in patients transitioning out of the ICU.</p

Applying a natural language processing tool to electronic health records to assess performance on colonoscopy quality measures

Gastroenterology specialty societies have advocated that providers routinely assess their performance on colonoscopy quality measures. Such routine measurement has been hampered by the costs and time required to manually review colonoscopy and pathology reports. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field of computer science in which programs are trained to extract relevant information from text reports in an automated fashion

The Intersection of Information Ethics and Policy: Challenges and Opportunities for LIS Educators

The purpose of this session is to 1) present actual strategies and/or resources for addressing ethics and policy in LIS courses, and 2) engage the audience in discussions about the implications of ethics and policy in LIS instruction and research. The presentations in this peerreviewed panel will present diverse perspectives on the nature of information ethics and policy, and the relationship between them. These presentations highlight the role of ethics in policy, including real world examples highly relevant to LIS education and research. They include: • Lucy Santos Green and Melissa Johnston will present Educating Future LIS Scholars and Professionals on Ethical Publishing Policy for Scholarly Research. • A.J. Million and Johanna Bleckman will present Research Data Management and Street Level Bureaucracy. • Lesley Farmer will present Taking Ethical Responsibility for Addressing Fake News. • Michele Villagran and Suliman Hawamdeh will present Information Ethics from a Multicultural Perspective: Content Analysis of Library and Information Science Publications. • Dian Walster will present Using Student Created Scenarios to Teach Professional Ethics. The panel will begin with a brief introduction on the topic (5 minutes), followed by five 15 minute presentations (75 minutes). Panelists will conclude the session with a discussion related to the implications for LIS instruction and research (10 minutes)

Use of a focus group-based cognitive interview methodology to validate a cooking behavior survey among African-American adults

Disparities in diet-related diseases persist among African-Americans despite advances in risk factor identification and evidence-based management strategies. Cooking is a dietary behavior linked to improved dietary quality and cardiometabolic health outcomes. However, epidemiologic studies suggest that African-American adults report a lower frequency of cooking at home when compared to other racial groups, despite reporting on average cooking time. To better understand cooking behavior among African-Americans and reported disparities in behavior, we sought to develop a survey instrument using focus group-based cognitive interviews, a pretesting method that provides insights into a survey respondent’s interpretation and mental processing of survey questions. A comprised survey instrument was developed based on input from a community advisory board, a literature review, and a content review by cooking behavior experts. The cognitive interview pretesting of the instrument involved African-American adults (n = 11) at risk for cardiovascular disease who were recruited from a community-based participatory research study in Washington, D.C., to participate in a focus group-based cognitive interview. Cognitive interview methodologies included the verbal think-aloud protocol and the use of retrospective probes. Thematic analysis and evaluation of verbalized cognitive processes were conducted using verbatim transcripts. Five thematic themes related to the survey were generated: (1) Clarity and relevancy of question items; (2) influence of participants’ perspectives and gender roles; (3) participant social desirability response to questions; (4) concern regarding question intent. Eleven survey items were determined as difficult by participants. Cooking topics for these items were: cooking practices, cooking skills, cooking perception (how one defines cooking), food shopping skills, and socialization around cooking. Question comprehension and interpreting response selections were the most common problems identified. Cognitive interviews are useful for cooking research as they can evaluate survey questions to determine if the meaning of the question as intended by the researcher is communicated to the respondents—specific implications from the results that apply to cooking research include revising questions on cooking practice and skills. Focus-group-based cognitive interviews may provide a feasible method to develop culturally grounded survey instruments to help understand disparities in behavior for culturally relevant diet behaviors such as cooking