Identifying Food Insecurity in a Rural Vermont Primary Care Setting

Recent years have shown an emergence of interest in social determinants of health by healthcare providers, community leaders, and social service organizations alike. Among the social determinants of health, food insecurity has been associated with higher incidences of chronic disease and poor health outcomes as compared to rates among individuals not screening positive for food insecurity. This project aims to compare the effectiveness of screening patients for food insecurity via formal paper questionnaires versus the traditional approach of an open patient-provider dialog guided by provider intuition in identifying food insecure individuals in a primary care setting.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/1623/thumbnail.jp

Engineering of Ancient Greece

STEP Category: Education AbroadFor my STEP project I chose a study abroad program called Engineering of Ancient Greece through the Office of International Affairs at The Ohio State University. This trip required me to be on campus from May 6th-May 10th,2019 to research an assigned historical landmark within Greece, the Meteaora Monasteries, that we later visited while in Greece. When in Greece, it was then my job to present the information I learned about the Meteaora Monasteries to the members within the group when visiting this site. Once the week long class is completed, we traveled to Greece from May 12th to May 23rd. Within these eleven days we traveled to six different cities and visit 26 different historical sites within Greece. By traveling to all these different historical sites, I learned and examined all the different engineering processes that went into the construction of these sites that explains how the buildings/landmarks have withstood so many years of weathering. In addition to this educational aspect of the trip, this trip transformed me culturally and professionally by expanding my cultural awareness, introducing me to fellow engineering students from The Ohio State, and teaching me how to travel to another country without the assistance of my parents. The gained skills and confidence obtained by traveling to Greece on this trip will be beneficial to me when finishing my engineering degree within the College of Engineering. By learning how to navigate another country and communicate with people who speak a different language than me, it was a very transformational experience that I am very fortunate for to having the opportunity to go on.The Ohio State University Second-year Transformational Experience Program (STEP)Academic Major: Materials Science and Engineerin

Silver Saddles: An Equestrian Intervention for Older Adults with Dementia

Educational Objectives 1. Demonstrate the encouraging outcomes therapeutic horseback riding programs can have for older adults with memory loss. 2. Describe the importance of trained volunteers and staff at both the riding center and the long-term care community for aiding older adults with memory loss during the therapeutic riding program. 3. Showcase the research process and pilot results. 4. Highlight lessons learned and future directions for Silver Saddles

High Spatial and Temporal Resolution Census Data Reveals Communities at Risk Along the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) in California, USA

We tracked census tract level population change along California\u27s wild land-urban interface (WUI) during the past decade (2010-2019), an ecological sensitive region transitioning from developed land to wilderness. Our results from Mann-Kendall analysis, a method employed for monotonic trend detection showed that about one-third (29.1%) of census tracts in California’s WUI have seen a significant population increase from 2010 to 2019, affecting 12.7% population in California. The population increase along WUI is largely driven by the sixteen counties in the San Francisco Bay Area (10) and Southern California (6). We also found that higher proportion of WUI residents in Bay Area and larger number of WUI residents in Southern California. Bay Area counties in general have a higher proportion of population living in WUI tracts with significant population increase than Southern California counties. However, the lower proportion of residents living in WUI in Southern California counties account for a much larger population. Riverside is the county with the highest number of residents living in WUI tracts that have experienced significant population increase during the past decade. These residents also account for a high proportion (29.2%) of total population in Riverside. Preliminary results showed that the increase of population along WUI is driven by the house affordability and house ownership in 16 counties of Bay Area and Southern California. These factors can still explain a significant amount of the spatial pattern if extended to all counties in California

The Effect of Food Insecurity Training on Knowledge, Awareness, Screening, and Intervention Practices within Two Pediatric Wards at an Academic Medical Center

Background and Introduction • Food insecurity is a major driver of preventable disease. Providers can screen to identify patients at risk for food insecurity using a two-question survey tool called “The Hunger Vital Sign”. Screening barriers identified in the literature include lack of provider knowledge, comfort, and capacity for effective intervention. Addressing this provider knowledge gap through training is essential for implementing robust and sustainable clinical food insecurity screening practices. • This study aims to evaluate the effect of food insecurity education on providers’ knowledge and awareness of food insecurity and their likelihood to screen and make referrals for at-risk patients, as well as to encourage healthcare providers to foster a culture of food insecurity screening and intervention in their practices. Objectives 1. To determine providers’ knowledge of food insecurity and awareness of referral practices and resources to help patients experiencing food insecurity. 2. To determine if providers’ participation in formal food insecurity training influences their likelihood of incorporating food insecurity screening into their patient interviews. 3. To determine if providers’ action following a positive screen is affected by participating in food insecurity training.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1285/thumbnail.jp

Responsible Development of Autonomous Robots in Agriculture

Despite the potential contributions of autonomous robots to agricultural sustainability, social, legal and ethical issues threaten adoption. We discuss how responsible innovation principles can be embedded into the user-centred design of autonomous robots and identify areas for further empirical research

Co-designing the environmental land management scheme in England: the why, who, and how of engaging ‘harder to reach’ stakeholders

1. Agriculture around the world needs to become more environmentally sustainable to limit further environmental degradation and impacts of climate change. 2. Many governments try to achieve this through enrolling farmers in agri-environment schemes (AES) that encourage them to undertake conservation activities. 3. Studies show that AES can suffer from low uptake, meaning their environmental objectives remain unattained. To succeed for people and nature, policy-makers are increasingly adopting multi-actor approaches in the “co-design” of AES to make them more attractive and inclusive of a full range of stakeholders, including ‘harder to reach’ farmers. 4. To address why some land managers (principally farmers) may be harder to reach in the context of co-designing England’s new Environmental Land Management (ELM) approach, we undertook a quick scoping review of the literature, conducted 23 first-round and 24 second-round interviews with key informants, and held a workshop with 11 practitioners. 5. We outline why farming stakeholders may be harder to reach and how policy-makers can adjust the engagement process to make co-design more inclusive. 6. Based on the results, we make recommendations that could help policy-makers to design better, more inclusive AES that would attract greater uptake and increase their chances of success

Safety and Reactogenicity of an MSP-1 Malaria Vaccine Candidate: A Randomized Phase Ib Dose-Escalation Trial in Kenyan Children

OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of an investigational malaria vaccine. DESIGN: This was an age-stratified phase Ib, double-blind, randomized, controlled, dose-escalation trial. Children were recruited into one of three cohorts (dosage groups) and randomized in 2:1 fashion to receive either the test product or a comparator. SETTING: The study was conducted in a rural population in Kombewa Division, western Kenya. PARTICIPANTS: Subjects were 135 children, aged 12–47 mo. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects received 10, 25, or 50 μg of falciparum malaria protein 1 (FMP1) formulated in 100, 250, and 500 μL, respectively, of AS02A, or they received a comparator (Imovax® rabies vaccine). OUTCOME MEASURES: We performed safety and reactogenicity parameters and assessment of adverse events during solicited (7 d) and unsolicited (30 d) periods after each vaccination. Serious adverse events were monitored for 6 mo after the last vaccination. RESULTS: Both vaccines were safe and well tolerated. FMP1/AS02A recipients experienced significantly more pain and injection-site swelling with a dose-effect relationship. Systemic reactogenicity was low at all dose levels. Hemoglobin levels remained stable and similar across arms. Baseline geometric mean titers were comparable in all groups. Anti-FMP1 antibody titers increased in a dose-dependent manner in subjects receiving FMP1/AS02A; no increase in anti-FMP1 titers occurred in subjects who received the comparator. By study end, subjects who received either 25 or 50 μg of FMP1 had similar antibody levels, which remained significantly higher than that of those who received the comparator or 10 μg of FMP1. A longitudinal mixed effects model showed a statistically significant effect of dosage level on immune response (F(3,1047) = 10.78, or F(3, 995) = 11.22, p < 0.001); however, the comparison of 25 μg and 50 μg recipients indicated no significant difference (F(1,1047) = 0.05; p = 0.82). CONCLUSIONS: The FMP1/AS02A vaccine was safe and immunogenic in malaria-exposed 12- to 47-mo-old children and the magnitude of immune response of the 25 and 50 μg doses was superior to that of the 10 μg dose

The cancer patient and cardiology

Advances in cancer treatments have improved clinical outcomes, leading to an increasing population of cancer survivors. However, this success is associated with high rates of short- and long-term cardiovascular (CV) toxicities. The number and variety of cancer drugs and CV toxicity types make long-term care a complex undertaking. This requires a multidisciplinary approach that includes expertise in oncology, cardiology and other related specialties, and has led to the development of the cardio-oncology subspecialty. This paper aims to provide an overview of the main adverse events, risk assessment and risk mitigation strategies, early diagnosis, medical and complementary strategies for prevention and management, and long-term follow-up strategies for patients at risk of cancer therapy-related cardiotoxicities. Research to better define strategies for early identification, follow-up and management is highly necessary. Although the academic cardio-oncology community may be the best vehicle to foster awareness and research in this field, additional stakeholders (industry, government agencies and patient organizations) must be involved to facilitate cross-discipline interactions and help in the design and funding of cardio-oncology trials. The overarching goals of cardio-oncology are to assist clinicians in providing optimal care for patients with cancer and cancer survivors, to provide insight into future areas of research and to search for collaborations with industry, funding bodies and patient advocates. However, many unmet needs remain. This document is the product of brainstorming presentations and active discussions held at the Cardiovascular Round Table workshop organized in January 2020 by the European Society of Cardiology.</p