Off-Campus Instruction Via Video Tape

The Continuing Education Via Video Tape Program presents Iowa State University graduate and advanced undergraduate courses to off-campus people at or near their place of employment solely by means of video tapes. Course offerings are primarily in engineering; some non-engineering courses have been and will be taped and shown

Alternate route to tax equity

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Health Misinformation During Epidemiological Crises

Health misinformation is more prevalent than ever in the modern age and poses serious risks for those who believe it. Medical fallacies can become especially harmful during periods of widespread disease when the misinformed respond in ways that increase threats to public health. The purpose of this systematic review is to describe and critically appraise the evidence about how health misinformation during endemics and pandemics can influence behaviors and responses, as well as the implications of interventions affecting these behaviors. A systematic search of the literature with inclusion/exclusion criteria using CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE, and PsychINFO resulted in an analysis of twenty primary sources. In general, researchers have found that health misinformation has been prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic and endemic outbreaks of Ebola, Zika, and measles. A significant proportion of individuals believe misinformation, and evidence supports that the tendency to believe misinformation is related to predictive factors such as the propensity for conspiracy thinking, decreased literacy skills, increased social media usage, younger age, and fear. Implications of findings for interventions include using social media to promote accurate information, building public trust in the government and healthcare system, and ensuring the public has access to accurate information

Injection of photoelectrons into dense argon gas

The injection of photoelectrons in a gaseous or liquid sample is a widespread technique to produce a cold plasma in a weakly--ionized system in order to study the transport properties of electrons in a dense gas or liquid. We report here the experimental results of photoelectron injection into dense argon gas at the temperatureT=142.6 K as a function of the externally applied electric field and gas density. We show that the experimental data can be interpreted in terms of the so called Young-Bradbury model only if multiple scattering effects due to the dense environment are taken into account when computing the scattering properties and the energetics of the electrons.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, figure nr. 10 has been redrawn, to be submitted to Plasma Sources Science and Technolog

An Integrative Approach to Addressing Childhood Overweight: Inclusion of Parenting Information in Nutrition Education Programs

Research indicates that child overweight stems from many sources, including parent-child interactions and parenting styles. Focus groups with nutrition educators were used to explore the need for parenting resources in nutrition education. Results revealed that both parents and educators see parenting and family interaction patterns as barriers to implementing changes in children\u27s eating behaviors. Further, nutrition educators reported feeling unprepared to guide parents when making changes in children\u27s nutrition. Discussion focuses on recommendations for providing parents and educators with researched-based information on child development and effective family interactions related to nutrition and health behaviors

UCCE efforts improve quality of and demand for fresh produce at WIC A-50 stores

In 2005, the Institute of Medicine recommended major revisions in the food packages provided by the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), leading to new regulations that allow participants to purchase a wide variety of fruits and vegetables with their vouchers. In support of this policy change, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources Cooperative Extension (UCCE) developed educational materials to promote fresh produce among WIC participants and offered postharvest handling training at WIC-only stores, known as A-50 vendors, in order to improve produce quality. A survey conducted after the educational sessions found that WIC participants had increased knowledge of produce and A-50 vendors showed improved postharvest handling after the education sessions. This research demonstrates that combining nutrition education with postharvest handling curriculum can lead to a successful educational program that supports increased demand among WIC participants for fresh produce

Differences in Inflammatory Markers between Nulliparous Women Admitted to Hospitals in Preactive vs Active Labor

Objective To determine whether labor-associated inflammatory markers differ between low-risk, nulliparous women in preactive vs active labor at hospital admission and over time. Study Design Prospective comparative study of low-risk, nulliparous women with spontaneous labor onset at term (n = 118) sampled from 2 large Midwestern hospitals. Circulating concentrations of inflammatory markers were measured at admission and again 2 and 4 hours later: namely, neutrophil, and monocyte counts; and serum inflammatory cytokines (interleukin -1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-10) and chemokines (interleukin-8). Biomarker concentrations and their patterns of change over time were compared between preactive (n = 63) and active (n = 55) labor admission groups using Mann-Whitney U tests. Results Concentrations of interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 in the active labor admission group were significantly higher than concentrations in the preactive labor admission group at all 3 time points. Neutrophil levels were significantly higher in the active group at 2 and 4 hours after admission. The rate of increase in neutrophils and interleukin-10 between admission and 2 hours later was faster in the active group (P \u3c .001 and P = .003, respectively). Conclusion Circulating concentrations of several inflammatory biomarkers are higher and their rate of change over time since admission is faster among low-risk, nulliparous women admitted to hospitals in active labor, as compared with those admitted in preactive labor. More research is needed to determine if progressive changes in inflammatory biomarkers might be a useful adjunct to improving the assessment of labor progression and determining the optimal timing of labor admission

Flight Crew Alertness and Sleep Relative to Timing of In-Flight Rest Periods in Long-Haul Flights

BACKGROUND: In-flight breaks are used during augmented long-haul flight operations, allowing pilots a sleep opportunity. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration duty and rest regulations restrict the pilot flying the landing to using the third rest break. It is unclear how effective these restrictions are on pilots’ ability to obtain sleep. We hypothesized there would be no difference in self-reported sleep, alertness, and fatigue between pilots taking the second vs. third rest breaks. METHODS: Pilots flying augmented operations in two U.S.-based commercial airlines were eligible for the study. Volunteers completed a survey at top-of-descent (TOD), including self-reported in-flight sleep duration, and Samn-Perelli fatigue and Karolinska Sleepiness Scale ratings. We compared the second to third rest break using noninferiority analysis. The influence of time of day (home-base time; HBT) was evaluated in 4-h blocks using repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: From 787 flights 500 pilots provided complete data. The second rest break was noninferior to the third break for self-reported sleep duration (1.5 6 0.7 h vs. 1.4 6 0.7 h), fatigue (2.0 6 1.0 vs. 2.9 6 1.3), and sleepiness (2.6 6 1.4 vs. 3.8 6 1.8) at TOD for landing pilots. Measures of sleep duration, fatigue, and sleepiness were influenced by HBT circadian time of day. DISCUSSION: We conclude that self-reported in-flight sleep, fatigue, and sleepiness from landing pilots taking the second in-flight rest break are equivalent to or better than pilots taking the third break. Our findings support providing pilots with choice in taking the second or third in-flight rest break during augmented operations

Decreased Response to Positive Facial Affect in a Depressed Cohort in the Dorsal Striatum During a Working Memory Task—A Preliminary fMRI Study

People with depression have shown alterations in processing emotional information and working memory functionality. There is some evidence that emotional content may interact with working memory update processes, however neurological correlates are current unknown. In this preliminary study we utilized a novel version of the emotional variant of the n-back working memory task in fMRI. We examined BOLD response of 14 healthy controls and 13 depressed participants in response to happy, sad, and neutral displays of facial affect. No accuracy or reaction time differences were found between the two groups. The depressed group showed significantly decreased BOLD response to happy faces compared to the control group areas of the dorsal striatum and anterior cingulate. Significant, moderate, positive associations were found between right caudate activation with anxiety score and anterior cingulate activation with depression score in those with depression. Our novel task was able to elicit group level differences in emotional processing during working memory update. These results suggest those with depression fail to differentiate between positive emotional stimuli and stimuli with no emotional content