A Comparison of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation and Acupuncture to Traditional Dysphagia Therapy In Stroke Patients

A comparison of neuromuscular electrical stimulation and acupuncture to traditional dysphagia therapy in reducing dysphagia in individuals who suffered a stroke

Preparing the Next Generation of Sustainability Scientists

Graduate programs emerging in universities over recent decades support the advanced study of sustainability issues in complex socio-environmental systems. Constructing the problem-scope to address these issues requires graduate students to integrate across disciplines and synthesize the social and natural dimensions of sustainability. Graduate programs that are designed to foster inter- and transdisciplinary research acknowledge the importance of training students to use integrative research approaches. However, this training is not available in all graduate programs that support integrative research, often requiring students to seek external training opportunities. We present perspectives from a group of doctoral students with diverse disciplinary backgrounds conducting integrative research in universities across the United States who participated in a 10-day, National Science Foundation-funded integrative research training workshop to learn and develop socio-environmental research skills. Following the workshop, students conducted a collaborative autoethnographic study to share pre- and postworkshop research experiences and discuss ways to increase integrative research training opportunities. Results reveal that students, regardless of disciplinary background, face common barriers conducting integrative research that include: (1) lack of exposure to epistemological frameworks and team-science skills, (2) challenges to effectively include stakeholder perspectives in his/her research, and (3) variable levels of committee support to conduct integrative research. To overcome the identified barriers and advance integrative research, students recommend how training opportunities can be embedded within existing graduate programs. Students advocate that both internal and external training opportunities are necessary to support the next generation of sustainability scientists

Important factors in predicting mortality outcome from stroke: Findings from the Anglia Stroke Clinical Network Evaluation Study

Background: although variation in stroke service provision and outcomes have been previously investigated, it is less well known what service characteristics are associated with reduced short- and medium-term mortality. Methods: data from a prospective multicentre study (2009–12) in eight acute regional NHS trusts with a catchment population of about 2.6 million were used to examine the prognostic value of patient-related factors and service characteristics on stroke mortality outcome at 7, 30 and 365 days post stroke, and time to death within 1 year. Results: a total of 2,388 acute stroke patients (mean (standard deviation) 76.9 (12.7) years; 47.3% men, 87% ischaemic stroke) were included in the study. Among patients characteristics examined increasing age, haemorrhagic stroke, total anterior circulation stroke type, higher prestroke frailty, history of hypertension and ischaemic heart disease and admission hyperglycaemia predicted 1-year mortality. Additional inclusion of stroke service characteristics controlling for patient and service level characteristics showed varying prognostic impact of service characteristics on stroke mortality over the disease course during first year after stroke at different time points. The most consistent finding was the benefit of higher nursing levels; an increase in one trained nurses per 10 beds was associated with reductions in 30-day mortality of 11–28% (P < 0.0001) and in 1-year mortality of 8–12% (P < 0.001). Conclusions: there appears to be consistent and robust evidence of direct clinical benefit on mortality up to 1 year after acute stroke of higher numbers of trained nursing staff over and above that of other recognised mortality risk factors

Creating research-ready partnerships: The initial development of seven implementation laboratories to advance cancer control

BACKGROUND: In 2019-2020, with National Cancer Institute funding, seven implementation laboratory (I-Lab) partnerships between scientists and stakeholders in \u27real-world\u27 settings working to implement evidence-based interventions were developed within the Implementation Science Centers in Cancer Control (ISC3) consortium. This paper describes and compares approaches to the initial development of seven I-Labs in order to gain an understanding of the development of research partnerships representing various implementation science designs. METHODS: In April-June 2021, members of the ISC3 Implementation Laboratories workgroup interviewed research teams involved in I-Lab development in each center. This cross-sectional study used semi-structured interviews and case-study-based methods to collect and analyze data about I-Lab designs and activities. Interview notes were analyzed to identify a set of comparable domains across sites. These domains served as the framework for seven case descriptions summarizing design decisions and partnership elements across sites. RESULTS: Domains identified from interviews as comparable across sites included engagement of community and clinical I-Lab members in research activities, data sources, engagement methods, dissemination strategies, and health equity. The I-Labs use a variety of research partnership designs to support engagement including participatory research, community-engaged research, and learning health systems of embedded research. Regarding data, I-Labs in which members use common electronic health records (EHRs) leverage these both as a data source and a digital implementation strategy. I-Labs without a shared EHR among partners also leverage other sources for research or surveillance, most commonly qualitative data, surveys, and public health data systems. All seven I-Labs use advisory boards or partnership meetings to engage with members; six use stakeholder interviews and regular communications. Most (70%) tools or methods used to engage I-Lab members such as advisory groups, coalitions, or regular communications, were pre-existing. Think tanks, which two I-Labs developed, represented novel engagement approaches. To disseminate research results, all centers developed web-based products, and most (n = 6) use publications, learning collaboratives, and community forums. Important variations emerged in approaches to health equity, ranging from partnering with members serving historically marginalized populations to the development of novel methods. CONCLUSIONS: The development of the ISC3 implementation laboratories, which represented a variety of research partnership designs, offers the opportunity to advance understanding of how researchers developed and built partnerships to effectively engage stakeholders throughout the cancer control research lifecycle. In future years, we will be able to share lessons learned for the development and sustainment of implementation laboratories

In Vitro Cell Culture Infectivity Assay for Human Noroviruses

A 3-dimensional organoid human small intestinal epithelium model was used

Evaluation of stroke services in Anglia Stroke Clinical Network to examine the variation in acute services and stroke outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in developed countries and the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. A series of national stroke audits in the UK highlighted the differences in stroke care between hospitals. The study aims to describe variation in outcomes following stroke and to identify the characteristics of services that are associated with better outcomes, after accounting for case mix differences and individual prognostic factors. METHODS/DESIGN: We will conduct a cohort study in eight acute NHS trusts within East of England, with at least one year of follow-up after stroke. The study population will be a systematically selected representative sample of patients admitted with stroke during the study period, recruited within each hospital. We will collect individual patient data on prognostic characteristics, health care received, outcomes and costs of care and we will also record relevant characteristics of each provider organisation. The determinants of one year outcome including patient reported outcome will be assessed statistically with proportional hazards regression models. Self (or proxy) completed EuroQol (EQ-5D) questionnaires will measure quality of life at baseline and follow-up for cost utility analyses. DISCUSSION: This study will provide observational data about health service factors associated with variations in patient outcomes and health care costs following hospital admission for acute stroke. This will form the basis for future RCTs by identifying promising health service interventions, assessing the feasibility of recruiting and following up trial patients, and provide evidence about frequency and variances in outcomes, and intra-cluster correlation of outcomes, for sample size calculations. The results will inform clinicians, public, service providers, commissioners and policy makers to drive further improvement in health services which will bring direct benefit to the patients.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

The Early Ultraviolet Light-Curves of Type II Supernovae and the Radii of Their Progenitor Stars

We present a sample of 34 normal SNe II detected with the Zwicky Transient Facility, with multi-band UV light-curves starting at $t \leq 4$ days after explosion, as well as X-ray detections and upper limits. We characterize the early UV-optical colors and provide prescriptions for empirical host-extinction corrections. We show that the $t > 2\,$days UV-optical colors and the blackbody evolution of the sample are consistent with the predictions of spherical phase shock-cooling (SC), independently of the presence of `flash ionization" features. We present a framework for fitting SC models which can reproduce the parameters of a set of multi-group simulations without a significant bias up to 20% in radius and velocity. Observations of about half of the SNe II in the sample are well-fit by models with breakout radii $<10^{14}\,$cm. The other half are typically more luminous, with observations from day 1 onward that are better fit by a model with a large $>10^{14}\,$cm breakout radius. However, these fits predict an early rise during the first day that is too slow. We suggest these large-breakout events are explosions of stars with an inflated envelope or a confined CSM with a steep density profile, at which breakout occurs. Using the X-ray data, we derive constraints on the extended ($\sim10^{15}$ cm) CSM density independent of spectral modeling, and find most SNe II progenitors lose $<10^{-4} M_{\odot}\, \rm yr^{-1}$ a few years before explosion. This provides independent evidence the CSM around many SNe II progenitors is confined. We show that the overall observed breakout radius distribution is skewed to higher radii due to a luminosity bias. We argue that the $66^{+11}_{-22}\%$ of red supergiants (RSG) explode as SNe II with breakout radii consistent with the observed distribution of field RSG, with a tail extending to large radii, likely due to the presence of CSM.Comment: Submitted to ApJ. Comments are welcome at [email protected] or [email protected]

Volume 02

Introduction from Dean Dr. Charles Ross Mike\u27s Nite: New Jazz for an Old Instrument by Joseph A. Mann Investigation of the use of Cucumis Sativus for Remediation Of Chromium from Contaminated Environmental Matrices: An Interdisciplinary Instrumental Analysis Project by Kathryn J. Greenly, Scott E. Jenkins, and Andrew E. Puckette Development of GC-MS and Chemometric Methods for the Analysis of Accelerants in Arson Cases by Scott Jenkins Building and Measuring Scalable Computing Systems by Daniel M. Honey and Jeffery P. Ravenhorst Nomini Hall: A Case Study in the Use of Archival Resources as Guides for Excavation at An Archaeological Site by Jamie Elizabeth Mesrobian Two Stories: In Ohio and How to Stay Out of the Brazilian Army by Thomas Scott Forgerson des Hommes/Stealing the Steel in Zola\u27s Men by Jay Crowell Paul Gauguin\u27s Escape into Primitivism by Sarah Spangenberg Lee Krasner, Abstract Expressionist by Amy S. Eason Artist Book “Paris” by Kenny Wolfe Artist Book “Sequence of Every Day” by Liz Hale Artist Book “Apple Tree” by Rachel Bouchard Artist Book “Not so Pretty in Pink” by Will Semonco Artist Book “Look into the Moon” by Carley York Artist Books “Extra” and “Green” by Ryan Higgenbothom Artist Book “Re-growing Appalachia” by Adrienne Heinbaugh Artist Books “Cheeziest”, “Uh-oh” and “The Girl with the Glasses” by Melissa Dorton “Self-Reflection” by Madeline Hunter Artist Book “The Princess and the Frog” by June Ashmore “Hunter’s Niche” and “The Wild” by Clark Barkley “To Thine Own Self be True” by Jay Haley “Not Funny” Ten-Minute Play Festiva