Assessing the Unassessed: Incorporating Evaluation into the North Carolina State University Curriculum Integration Program

Curriculum Integration (CI) is the incorporation of study abroad into existing academic curricula through faculty and staff collaboration. The North Carolina State University (NCSU) CI program was initiated in 2008. Currently the NCSU Study Abroad Office (SAO) is working to update, define, and enhance the direction of this program. NCSU recently updated its strategic plans to include goals regarding campus internationalization and global engagement. The NCSU CI program is viewed as a means to accomplish these goals. However, four years after its inception, there is still no evaluation of any of the CI program initiatives. Assessment and evaluation are important practices to perform in order to determine the effectiveness and value of a program. To address the NCSU SAO need to develop a CI assessment plan, this paper outlines an evaluation plan for the current CI program, beginning with the history of CI at other universities. This evaluation plan focuses on three facets of the CI program: (1) student engagement, (2) program reach, and (3) curricular alignment. Student engagement encompasses the barriers preventing students from studying abroad. Program reach is the ability of CI efforts reach individuals across the NCSU campus. Curricular alignment addresses the quality of classes abroad compared to those offered at NCSU and the preparedness of returned study abroad participants for their next semester of classes at NCSU. This CI assessment plan is designed to determine the effectiveness and legitimacy of the NCSU SAO CI program efforts and to measure the value of the study abroad programs promoted through CI efforts for students in specific majors. The hope is that this evaluation design will be transferable to all NCSU academic departments and colleges that participate in the CI program as well as to other universities across the United States

Using Social Marketing to Plan a Nutrition Education Program Targeting Teens

Using focus group interviews, information was gathered from teens describing their perceptions about the benefits and barriers of consuming select nutrient-dense foods, such as dark-green leafy and deep-yellow vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy foods, and whole grains, and their preferences for learning about foods and nutrition. The article demonstrates how social marketing was used to gather, assess, and use descriptive information to plan a nutrition education program targeting teens. While the content was specific to nutrition education and teens, the concepts presented are appropriate for Extension Educators, and applicable to a broad range of health behaviors

Population-Based Fish Consumption Survey and Probabilistic Methylmercury Risk Assessment

A fish consumption survey was developed and administered by telephone to 820 Wyoming fishing license holders. Survey respondents provided the frequency, species, and quantity of Wyoming-caught and store-bought fish consumed for license holder and household members. Deterministic and probabilistic methylmercury exposure distributions were estimated by multiplying fish consumption by species-specific mercury concentrations for each household member. Risk assessments were conducted for children, women of childbearing age, and the rest of the population by comparing methylmercury exposure distributions to levels of concern. The results indicate that probabilistic risk assessment likely provides a more realistic view of the risk to the study population. The results of this study clearly indicate that: (1) there is no level of fish consumption that is without risk of methylmercury exposure, (2) fish advisories may be warranted for children and women of childbearing age, and (3) that store-bought fish generally contribute more to methylmercury exposure than do Wyoming-caught fish

Population-Based Fish Consumption Survey and Probabilistic Methylmercury Risk Assessment

A fish consumption survey was developed and administered by telephone to 820 Wyoming fishing license holders. Survey respondents provided the frequency, species, and quantity of Wyoming-caught and store-bought fish consumed for license holder and household members. Deterministic and probabilistic methylmercury exposure distributions were estimated by multiplying fish consumption by species-specific mercury concentrations for each household member. Risk assessments were conducted for children, women of childbearing age, and the rest of the population by comparing methylmercury exposure distributions to levels of concern. The results indicate that probabilistic risk assessment likely provides a more realistic view of the risk to the study population. The results of this study clearly indicate that: (1) there is no level of fish consumption that is without risk of methylmercury exposure, (2) fish advisories may be warranted for children and women of childbearing age, and (3) that store-bought fish generally contribute more to methylmercury exposure than do Wyoming-caught fish

Alligators as West Nile Virus Amplifiers

Recent evidence suggests that American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) may be capable of transmitting West Nile virus (WNV) to other alligators. We experimentally exposed 24 juvenile alligators to WNV parenterally or orally. All became infected, and all but three sustained viremia titers \u3e5.0 log10 PFU/mL (a threshold considered infectious for Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes) for 1 to 8 days. Noninoculated tankmates also became infected. The viremia profiles and multiple routes of infection suggest alligators may play an important role in WNV transmission in areas with high population densities of juvenile alligators

Creating a Pilot Educational Psychiatry Website: Opportunities, Barriers, and Next Steps

Background: While medical students and residents may be utilizing websites as online learning resources, medical trainees and educators now have the opportunity to create such educational websites and digital tools on their own. However, the process and theory of building educational websites for medical education have not yet been fully explored. Objective: To understand the opportunities, barriers, and process of creating a novel medical educational website. Methods: We created a pilot psychiatric educational website to better understand the options, opportunities, challenges, and processes involved in the creation of a psychiatric educational website. We sought to integrate visual and interactive Web design elements to underscore the potential of such Web technology. Results: A pilot website (PsychOnCall) was created to demonstrate the potential of Web technology in medical and psychiatric education. Conclusions: Creating an educational website is now technically easier than ever before, and the primary challenge no longer is technology but rather the creation, validation, and maintenance of information for such websites as well as translating text-based didactics into visual and interactive tools. Medical educators can influence the design and implementation of online educational resources through creating their own websites and engaging medical students and residents in the process

The Great Escape: The Role of Self-esteem and Self-related Cognition in Terror Management

Integrating terror management theory and objective self-awareness theory, we propose the existential escape hypothesis, which states that people with low self-esteem should be especially prone to escaping self-awareness as a distal response to thoughts of death. This is because they lack the means to bolster the self as a defense, and the propensity to bolster the self reduces the motivation to escape from self-awareness. Five studies supported this hypothesis. Individuals low, but not high, in self-esteem scored lower on a measure of private self-awareness (Study 1), showed less implicit self-activation (Studies 2 & 3), were more likely to choose to write about others than themselves (Study 4), and consumed more alcohol in a field study at a nightclub (Study 5) in response to mortality reminders. Implications for terror management theory (highlighting an additional route to defend against mortality awareness), self-regulation, physical health and well-being are discussed

Alligators as West Nile Virus Amplifiers

Juvenile alligators may help transmit West Nile virus in some areas

Uric Acid Is a Mediator of the Plasmodium falciparum-Induced Inflammatory Response

Malaria triggers a high inflammatory response in the host that mediates most of the associated pathologies and contributes to death. The identification of pro-inflammatory molecules derived from Plasmodium is essential to understand the mechanisms of pathogenesis and to develop targeted interventions. Uric acid derived from hypoxanthine accumulated in infected erythrocytes has been recently proposed as a mediator of inflammation in rodent malaria.We found that human erythrocytes infected with Plasmodium falciparum gradually accumulate hypoxanthine in their late stages of development. To analyze the role of hypoxanthine-derived uric acid induced by P. falciparum on the inflammatory cytokine response from human blood mononuclear cells, cultures were treated with allopurinol, to inhibit uric acid formation from hypoxanthine, or with uricase, to degrade uric acid. Both treatments significantly reduce the secretion of TNF, IL-6, IL-1beta and IL-10 from human cells.Uric acid is a major contributor of the inflammatory response triggered by P. falciparum in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Since the inflammatory reaction induced by P. falciparum is considered a major cause of malaria pathogenesis, identifying the mechanisms used by the parasite to induce the host inflammatory response is essential to develop urgently needed therapies against this disease

Hitting Hotspots: Spatial Targeting of Malaria for Control and Elimination

Teun Bousema and colleagues argue that targeting malaria “hotspots” is a highly efficient way to reduce malaria transmission at all levels of transmission intensity