The Turmoil the Quail Hath Wrought

A poem describing domestic emotional abuse through the lens of a meal\u27s preparation

Metacognition and Academic Achievement in Middle School Students

Metacognition, knowing how to use certain strategies for learning, has been the focus of numerous research studies in an attempt to discover methods for improving student performance. While metacognitive strategy use has been shown to lead to academic success, there is little consensus regarding the best way to measure metacognition. This study aimed to find a solution to the problems of low school performance and inaccurate metacognition measures by leading an intervention at Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy and develop a new, valid measure of metacognition for adolescents. We are working with four sections of Ms. Avery’s social studies students; two are assigned to the treatment group and two are assigned to the control. The study will evaluate the effects of a ten session metacognitive and cognitive strategy intervention on the academic performance of eighth grade social studies students. The intervention will include direct instruction of cognitive and metacognitive strategies and opportunities to practice these strategies within the context of the students’ social studies curriculum. The control will include lessons on influential American presidents. Before and after the intervention, measures are given to the students, consisting of metacognitive, motivational, and performance measures. These measures include our newly developed measure, the MC5, which is based on the self-regulated cycle of learning. The measure has five to seven questions for each step of the cycle, and is informed by the activities and curriculum of Ms. Avery’s class. This measure is an improvement over current measures because it is specific for adolescents. That data combined with the students’ change in grades is our ultimate measurement of success. Specifically, the goal of the study is to determine if a metacognitive intervention will lead to more metacognitive strategy use, higher academic performance, and higher academic performance for particular tasks. Another important goal is to develop a valid measure of metacognition that captures adolescents’ use of metacognition

Vignette 07: Stormwater Effluent Exerts a Key Pressure on the Salish Sea

One of the primary terrestrial pressures on the Salish Sea estuarine and marine environment is urban stormwater runoff. When rainfall runs across hard, impervious surfaces, rather than soaking into the soil, it picks up and delivers toxic contaminants directly to nearby streams, rivers, and eventually the Salish Sea. In fact, for most toxic substances, surface runoff is the largest contributing source of loading to Puget Sound. Unfortunately, the Salish Sea’s relationship with stormwater effluent is no outlier; stormwater is the fastest growing cause of surface water impairment in the United States as urbanization transitions forested and other natural landscapes to hard, impervious surfaces. Given that the Salish Sea is expected to house another 5 million people by 2040, stormwater interventions will be necessary in order to break the relationship between urbanization and stormwater-caused ecological degradation

Road Work: Destabilizing National Myth in North American Narratives of Mobility

This dissertation examines the historical contexts of the American road narrative and the way that those contexts, as well as the genre more broadly, have been incorporated into Canadian road texts. Canadian road narratives often draw on the nation building that many American texts are invested in producing. Nation building, however, is not as central to those journeys undertaken by people of colour and Indigenous and Native American travellers. Accordingly, I will be making a conceptual distinction between the road narrative and what I call narratives of mobility. I make this distinction because often in these texts, Indigenous and Native American peoples as well as people of colour are forced to travel as a means of claiming space. Space, of course, conceptualized broadly and reaching beyond just the physical and inclusive of social and cultural as well. The claiming of space in these texts is also accompanied by a reckoning with constructions of nation and the traveller’s place within constructs of national identity. In examining these narratives, I will also be drawing on the emerging field of mobility studies to create a more nuanced discussion of the unique experience of movement in relation to the narrative myth of nation. Additionally, the narrative of mobility offers a fruitful genre through which to employ transnational study because it is tied to the process of nation-building, and yet the experiences presented within the texts often unsettle national narratives. I examine On the Road by Jack Kerouac and This is My Country Too by John A. Williams to situate the road narrative genre’s American influences. I then turn to Volkswagen Blues by Jacques Poulin to demonstrate the way that those American influences permeate borders and represent the cross-cultural exchange that is central to North American transnationalism. I also use The Motorcyclist by George Elliot Clarke and Days by Moonlight by André Alexis to further investigate the way that narratives of mobility are always engaged in the process of destabilizing national myth, particularly when the traveler is a person of colour. Finally, I examine Slash by Jeanette Armstrong, Green Grass Running Water by Thomas King, and Four Souls by Louise Erdrich which engage with questions of nation, sovereignty, and borders through mobility. I argue that these are narratives of mobility in which the traveller reflects on their identity and relationship to nation. As they move through the varied landscapes and encounter an array of people and experiences, they begin to disentangle and destabilize prescribed narratives about national history and identity

Nutrition in Early Childcare Programs: The Benefits and Barriers

Introduction: 1 in 5 Vermont children experience food insecurity. Inadequate nutrition threatens cognitive, social, and emotional development in the first years of life. 49.1% of Vermont children arrive at kindergarten underprepared. It has been shown that undernourished children have reduced activity levels and withdraw from their environment, removing them from critical learning opportunities and social interactions. Supporting the provision of healthy food in early childcare programs may help address the issue of food insecurity and promote healthy childhood development. Currently, there are no existing data on both Vermont childcare providers and parents of these children on their perceptions of the importance of providing food in early childcare programs as well as the associated benefits and barriers to do so.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1228/thumbnail.jp

Promoting Optimism: An Interprofessional Approach to Treating Long Covid-19 via Telehealth

A poster entitled: Promoting Optimism: An Interprofessional Approach to Treating Long Covid-19 via Telehealth The objective is to approach a case of chronic illness using an interprofessional team in order to collaboratively and positively address the holistic needs of a patient as a result of long-haul COVID-19https://dune.une.edu/cecespring2022/1008/thumbnail.jp

Proton pump inhibitors and 180-day mortality in the elderly after Clostridium difficile treatment

Background: There is a reported association between proton pump inhibitor (PPI) exposure and increased risk of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), but less is known about how this class of medications taken during treatment might influence mortality after CDI. Here we examine 180-day mortality rates in a cohort of CDI elders and its association with exposure to PPIs. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of elderly patients ( \u3e 65 years of age) diagnosed and treated for CDI in the years 2014-2016 (n = 874) in the Umass Memorial Health Care system, which represents both academic and community healthcare. Patient characteristics and medication use was extracted from the electronic medical record (EMR) and 6 month mortality data was obtained via the Center for Disease Control National Death Index. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate hazard ratios associated with medication exposures and other relevant variables. Results: Of the 874 elderly adults treated for CDI, 180-day all-cause mortality was 12.4%. Exposure to a PPI was associated with a 55% reduced risk of mortality (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 0.45; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.28-0.72). In our Cox model, increasing age (aHR 1.45; 95% CI 1.14-1.84), those with severe CDI infections (aHR 1.87; 95% CI 1.22-2.88), and those with hospital acquired CDI (aHR 3.01; 95% CI 1.81-4.99) also had increased 180 day mortality risk. There were similar associations noted with both 90 day and 1-year mortality. Conclusion: Use of PPIs during CDI treatment in elderly patients is associated with decreased 180-day mortality. Although use of PPIs has been associated with an increased risk of CDI, it appears to be protective against mortality when used during the treatment phase

Healing Through History: a qualitative evaluation of a social medicine consultation curriculum for internal medicine residents

Background: Social context guides care; stories sustain meaning; neither is routinely prioritized in residency training. Healing Through History (HTH) is a social medicine consultation curriculum integrating social determinants of health narrative into clinical care for medically and socially complex patients. The curriculum is part of an internal medicine (IM) residency outpatient clinical rotation at a Veterans Health Administration hospital. Our aim was to explore how in-depth social medicine consultations may impact resident clinical practice and foster meaning in work. Methods: From 2017 to 2019, 49 categorical and preliminary residents in their first year of IM training were given two half-day sessions to identify and interview a patient; develop a co-produced social medicine narrative; review it with patient and faculty; and share it in the electronic health record (EHR). Medical anthropologists conducted separate 90-min focus groups of first- and second-year IM residents in 2019, 1–15 months from the experience. Results: 46 (94%) completed HTH consultations, of which 40 (87%) were approved by patients and published in the EHR. 12 (46%) categorical IM residents participated in focus groups; 6 PGY1, and 6 PGY2. Qualitative analysis yielded 3 themes: patient connection, insight, and clinical impact; clinical skill development; and structural barriers to the practice of social medicine. Conclusions: HTH offers a model for teaching co-production through social and narrative medicine consultation in complex clinical care, while fostering meaning in work. Integration throughout training may further enhance impact

Effects of Strength Training on Postpubertal Adolescent Distance Runners

**Purpose** Strength training activities have consistently been shown to improve running economy (RE) and neuromuscular characteristics, such as force producing ability and maximal speed, in adult distance runners. However the effects on adolescent (<18 years) runners remains elusive. This randomized control trial aimed to examine the effect of strength training on several important physiological and neuromuscular qualities associated with distance running performance. **Methods** Participants (n=25, 13 female, 17.2 ±1.2 years) were paired according to their sex and RE and randomly assigned to a ten week strength training group (STG), or a control group (CG) who continued their regular training. The STG performed twice weekly sessions of plyometric, sprint and resistance training in addition to their normal running. Outcome measures included body mass, maximal oxygen uptake (V˙O2max), speed at V˙O2max, running economy (quantified as energy cost), speed at fixed blood lactate concentrations (sFBLC), 20 m sprint, and maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) during an isometric quarter-squat. **Results** Eighteen participants (STG, n=9, 16.1 ±1.1 years; CG, n=9, 17.6 ±1.2 years) completed the study. The STG displayed small improvements (3.2-3.7%, ES: 0.31-0.51) in running economy that were inferred as ‘possibly beneficial’ for an average of three submaximal speeds. Trivial or small changes were observed for body composition variables, V˙O2max and sV˙O2max, however the training period provided likely benefits to sFBLC in both groups. Strength training elicited a very likely benefit and a possible benefit to sprint time (ES: 0.32) and MVC (ES: 0.86) respectively. **Conclusion** Ten weeks of strength training added to the programme of a post-pubertal distance runner was highly likely to improve maximal speed, and enhances running economy by a small extent, without deleterious effects on body composition or other aerobic parameters

Microorganisms of food ice cubes and their transfer to drinks

The present work was carried out to investigate the microbiological characteristics of the ice cubes produced at different levels: 1) home-made (HM) from domestic freezers; 2) produced by ice machines in bars and pubs (BP); 3) produced by ice industries (IN). BP samples were collected from the box stocks. HM and BP samples were transferred into sterile stomacher bags. IN samples were provided in the manufacturers\u2019 plastic bags. Samples were transported into thermal insulated boxes. Five samples per each production level, forming a total of 15 samples (HM1-HM5, BP1-BP5, IN1-IN5), were collected in duplicate in two consecutive months. Each ice sample was thawed in 1 L sterile Dhuram\u2019s bottle at room temperature and subjected to the membrane filtration analyses. Total mesophilic microorganisms (TMM), total psychrotrophic microorganisms (TPM), pseudomonads, members of the Enterobacteriaceae family, coliforms, enterococci, yeasts and moulds were investigated. When the amounts of colonies were uncountable, 1 mL of sample was directly inoculated into agar media. All results were expressed as colony forming units (CFU)/100 mL of thawed ice. TMM were in the range 100-9600, 312-6300 and 130-4000 for HM, BP and IN samples, respectively. Three HM and two IN samples were negative for the presence of TPM. The highest concentration (960) was found for IN2. Pseudomonads were detected in all HM samples but the highest levels were registered for BP1 (390) and IN2 (384). Except IN4, Enterobacteriaceae were found in all samples. All INs and 4 HM samples did not displayed coliforms. By contrast, they were hosted in all BP samples, ranging from 1 to 184. Enterococci were never found in HM samples, but detected in two INs and 3 BPs. Except IN1, moulds were always registered, while yeasts developed from the majority of HM and IN samples and two BP samples. The colonies representative for the different morphologies were randomly picked up from plates, purified to homogeneity and subjected to a phenotypic grouping. Yeasts and bacteria were subjected to the genetic identification by sequencing of D1/D2 domains of 26S rRNA gene and partial sequencing of 16S rRNA gene, respectively, while moulds were identified phenotypically. So far, the species mostly represented among bacteria, as evaluated only by the forward 16S rRNA gene sequence, were Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Pantoea spp., Pantoea agglomerans, Enterococcus faecium, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Candida intermedia and Pichia guillermondii were identified among yeasts and Penicillium spp. among moulds. The work was also aimed to monitor the microbial transfer from ice to humans through drinks. To this purpose, each microorganism was inoculated singly in sterile mineral water to produce contaminated ice cubes using disposable ice cube trays. Inoculums occurred at the highest concentrations found in the ice cubes analysed. The concentrations of the microorganisms were followed in six different types of drinks, including alcoholic (vodka and whiskey), moderate alcoholic (Martini), sparkling (tonic water), sugary (peach tea) and sugary sparkling (coke) drinks. In order to simulate the contamination of drinks by ice during consumption, six ice cubes (corresponding to 60 mL) containing each microorganism were added to 100 mL of each drink (simulating a bar administration) in sterile cups and, after 1 h, the entire volume was analysed by membrane filtration. A physiological solution was used as control. So far, the tests were performed with Penicillium spp. and P. agglomerans. Penicillium was not influenced by the different drinks, since, after 1 h, its level did not change. Regarding P. agglomerans, which is an opportunistic pathogen causing urinary tract infections, its concentration in peach tea was superimposable to that found in physiological solution, while it decreased in all other drinks. In particular, the concentration of this bacterium almost halved in vodka, coke and tonic water, diminished consistently in Martini and completely disappeared in whiskey. Experimentations are in progress to determine the behaviour of the other microorganisms in these systems. These data evidenced that the worst hygienic characteristics were found in BP samples, while the majority of ice cubes produced in specialized industries were characterized by acceptable microbiological parameters. This work indicated that the concentration of P. agglomerans is reduced by alcohol and CO2, but further in vivo assays are necessary to better clarify their role on the other ice microorganisms