Maine 4-H Afterschool Academy—A Professional Development Opportunity for Out-of-School-Time Providers

The Maine 4-H Afterschool Academy trained 369 after-school and out of school time providers in 2011. This easy-to-adapt professional development opportunity used blended learning, a combination of in-person and Web-based opportunities. Providers successfully learned concepts and practical knowledge regarding 4-H, specifically 4-H Science. In post-training evaluations, 86% of participants reported feeling more confident in incorporating science, engineering, and technology in their afterschool program. This blended learning approach eliminated some barriers Extension faculty face when designing programing for afterschool providers

Hurricane Wilma’s impact on overall soil elevation and zones within the soil profile in a mangrove forest

Soil elevation affects tidal inundation period, inundation frequency, and overall hydroperiod, all of which are important ecological factors affecting species recruitment, composition, and survival in wetlands. Hurricanes can dramatically affect a site’s soil elevation. We assessed the impact of Hurricane Wilma (2005) on soil elevation at a mangrove forest location along the Shark River in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA. Using multiple depth surface elevation tables (SETs) and marker horizons we measured soil accretion, erosion, and soil elevation. We partitioned the effect of Hurricane Wilma’s storm deposit into four constituent soil zones: surface (accretion) zone, shallow zone (0–0.35 m), middle zone (0.35–4 m), and deep zone (4–6 m). We report expansion and contraction of each soil zone. Hurricane Wilma deposited 37.0 (±3.0 SE) mm of material; however, the absolute soil elevation change was + 42.8 mm due to expansion in the shallow soil zone. One year post-hurricane, the soil profile had lost 10.0 mm in soil elevation, with 8.5 mm of the loss due to erosion. The remaining soil elevation loss was due to compaction from shallow subsidence. We found prolific growth of new fine rootlets (209 ± 34 SE g m−2) in the storm deposited material suggesting that deposits may become more stable in the near future (i.e., erosion rate will decrease). Surficial erosion and belowground processes both played an important role in determining the overall soil elevation. Expansion and contraction in the shallow soil zone may be due to hydrology, and in the middle and bottom soil zones due to shallow subsidence. Findings thus far indicate that soil elevation has made substantial gains compared to site specific relative sea-level rise, but data trends suggest that belowground processes, which differ by soil zone, may come to dominate the long term ecological impact of storm deposit

Medication use evaluation of intravenous promethazine

Introduction: Intravenous (IV) promethazine is FDA approved for treatment, prevention, and control of nausea and vomiting. It is a vesicant. Some complications of administration can include burning, erythema, tissue necrosis, and gangrene. Some cases require surgical intervention. The manufacturer recommends concentrations no greater than 25 mg/ml and infusing no faster than 25 mg/minute. In September 2009, the FDA required manufacturers add black box warning for the risk of IV promethazine administration causing serious tissue injury. In 2007, IV promethazine was added to ISMP List of High Alert Medications in Acute Settings, and in 2018-2019 ISMP Best practice recommends to remove all injectable promethazine from the hospital and to classify as non-formulary. ASHP issues policy position IV promethazine may used when clinically warranted, despite recognized risks. Research Question or Hypothesis: When dosed and administered as recommended, IV promethazine has reduced risk for infusion-related adverse effects. The primary endpoint is the frequency of adverse reactions with IV promethazine. Study Design: Retrospective chart review using descriptive statistics for results. Methods: Subjects at Emory Saint Joseph\u27s Hospital were randomly selected from a promethazine drug utilization report from January 1st to December 31 st of 2017. Data collected includes patient age, gender, weight, dose and indication for promethazine, date and time administered, administration site, infusion duration, additional antiemetics, antiemetic allergies, length of stay, adverse reactions, and outcome of adverse reaction. Results: 157 patients were randomly selected for analysis from 848 patients. 987 doses were analyzed for these patients, promethazine was the second antiemetic administered for 123 Of 157 patients analyzed. One patient had an adverse drug reaction with a possible link to intravenous promethazine (\u3c1%). The reaction was edema and erythema at the site of injection, which subsided without further incident after the site of injection was changed. Conclusion: IV promethazine is a reasonable alternative for preventing or managing nausea and vomiting

Pattern

The word “pattern” is a very complex term. Generally, it refers to “an arrange- ment that reveals an order, or design, which is meaningful” (cf. Thaker 1999: 427). But a quick look at many of its different domains of application (e.g. theoretical biology, mathematics, aesthetics, linguistics, etc., etc.) proves that “pattern” has a semantic potential richer than one usually expressed by such a definition. For instance, in the framework of the so-called combinatorics on words (cf. at least Lothaire 2012), a pattern is “a word over an alphabet of variables and is meant to describe some kind of repetitive structures” (cf. Rampersard 2017: 98). Therefore, in this first theoretical approach, “the pattern XX over the single variable X is meant to describe the repetition of the same word twice in succession” (cf. Rampersard 2017: 98)