Retrospective Analysis of Graduates’ Outcomes in a Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctorate Program

There are limited studies within occupational therapy literature assessing the outcomes of advanced degrees. Specifically, there is a scarcity of literature about the benefits of completing a post-professional occupational therapy doctorate (POTD) program. The purpose of this study was to retrospectively examine graduates’ professional and personal outcomes at a midwestern university with an established POTD program. A total of 64 graduate exit surveys completed by POTD graduates between the years of 2008 and 2017 were analyzed using a mixed methods research design. Emergent categories from the data included a greater sense of self-empowerment and confidence, expanded career opportunities, and increased professional knowledge and skills. Quantitative data indicated new employment opportunities and increased pay. Overall, graduates reported increased personal and professional growth, however continued research regarding the benefits of completing a POTD is needed to help guide occupational therapists considering an advanced degree

Career Goals and Student Perceptions of a Post-Professional Occupational Therapy Doctoral Experiential Component

Clinical doctoral education for occupational therapy includes the acquisition of advanced clinical reasoning skills, leadership capacity, and opportunities for professional development and career achievement. Post-professional students represent motivated individuals seeking to enhance their education, experiences, and explore professional growth opportunities. While not required, the final semester of a clinical doctoral program typically includes a doctoral experiential component (DEC), or culminating project. The purpose of this retrospective, mixed-methods study was to examine the DEC goals and experiences of post-professional occupational therapy doctoral (POTD) students. A total of 49 student DEC proposals, each including multiple personal goals, were categorized according to one or more POTD program goals. The most frequently selected long-term DEC goals by participants in this study were developing educative roles (n = 37, 27.30%), scholarly activities (n = 31, 22.96%), and advanced clinical skills (n = 31, 22.96). The DEC goals developed by the students were also categorized according to the experience as perceived by the students. Three primary areas of growth experienced by the students during their DEC were: (1) improved self-awareness and confidence through reflection, (2) a challenging, yet fulfilling, experience and (3) translation of new knowledge and skills to practice. The outcomes of this study may offer insight for administrators and prospective students of post-professional programs and align with the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Vision 2025 to produce effective and collaborative leaders capable of implementing evidence-based, client-centered, and cost-effective treatment to influence the complexities of healthcare

Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C virus infection among alcoholic individuals: importance of screening and vaccination

Drug users have been reported to have an increased risk for acquisition of viral hepatitis. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of HBV and HCV infection and usefulness of saliva for HBsAg and anti-HCV detection in alcoholic patients.A total of 90 alcoholic patients were recruited in 2013. HBsAg and anti-HCV were tested in serum and saliva, anti-HBc and anti-HBs were tested in serum using commercial enzyme immunoassays (EIA).Using serum samples, anti-HCV, HBsAg, anti-HBc and anti-HBs prevalences were 5.6%, 0%, 15.7%, and 29.2%. HBsAg detection in saliva showed 100% of specificity and anti-HCV detection demonstrated 100% of sensitivity and 94.7% of specificity. Low prevalence of HBV and high prevalence of anti-HCV were found and reinforced the recommendation of HBV vaccination to avoid the acute and chronic cases and HCV screening in this group to identify cases for antiviral therapy. Saliva samples could be used for anti-HCV detection in this population, what could increase the diagnosis access

Phytoplankton functional types from multi-sensor satellite observations – towards a long-term monitoring (2002-2020)

Phytoplankton in the sunlit layer of the ocean act as the base of the marine food web fueling fisheries, and also regulate key biogeochemical processes such as exporting carbon to the deep ocean. Phytoplankton composition structure varies in ocean biomes and different phytoplankton groups drive differently the marine ecosystem. As one of the algorithms deriving phytoplankton composition from space borne data, within the framework of the EU Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS), OLCI-PFT algorithm was developed using multi-spectral satellite data collocated to an extensive in-situ PFT data set based on HPLC pigments and sea surface temperature data (Xi et al. 2020, 2021). It provides global PFT retrievals including chlorophyll a estimations of diatoms, haptophytes, dinoflagellates, chlorophytes and prokaryotic phytoplankton spanning the period from 2002 until today, by using multi-sensor merged products and OLCI data. These PFT products with per-pixel uncertainty are publicly available on the CMEMS. Due to different lifespans and radiometric characteristics of the ocean color sensors, it is crucial to evaluate the CMEMS PFT products to provide quality-assured data for a consistent long-term monitoring of the phytoplankton community structure. In this study, using in-situ phytoplankton data (HPLC pigment data further evaluated with microscopic, flow cytometry, molecular and hyperspectral optical data) collected from expeditions since 2009 in the tropical, temperate and polar (mainly Fram Strait within the PEBCAO network) regions, we aim to 1) validate the CMEMS PFT products and investigate the continuity of the PFTs data derived from different satellites, and 2) deliver two-decade consistent PFT products for times series analysis. For the latter we determine inter-annual trends and variation of the surface phytoplankton community structure targeting some key sub-regions (e.g.,east Fram Strait) that have been observed being influenced by the changing marine environment

Prevalence of hepatitis B and hepatitis C among diabetes mellitus type 2 individuals

Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) patients have higher risk to be infected with parenterally transmitted viruses, like hepatitis B or C virus. This study aims to determine HBV and HCV infection prevalence in DM2 patients from Northeast and Southeast Brazil. A total of 537 DM2 patients were included, 194 (36.12%) males and 343 (63.87%) females, with mean age of 57.13 +/- 11.49 years. HBV and HCV markers were determined using serological and molecular analysis, and risk factors were evaluated in a subgroup from Southeast (n = 84). Two HBV acute (HBsAg+/anti-HBc-) and one HBV chronic case (HBsAg+/anti-HBc+) were found. Six individuals (1.1%) were isolated anti-HBc, 37 (6.9%) had HBV infection resolved (anti-HBc+/anti-HBs+), 40 (7.4%) were considered HBV vaccinated (anti-HBc-/anti-HBs+). Thirteen patients (2.42%) had anti-HCV and 7 of them were HCV RNA+. In the subgroup, anti-HBc positivity was associated to age and anti-HCV positivity was associated to age, time of diabetes diagnosis, total bilirubin, indirect bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase at bivariate analysis, but none of them was statistically significant at multivariate analysis. As conclusion, low prevalence of HBV and high prevalence HCV was found in DM2 patients142CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPFundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ); Brazilian National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq)National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); Coordination of Improvement of Higher Level Personnel; Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ

Avaliação do potencial embriogênico de doze cultivares de soja (Glycine max (L.) Merril) em dois laboratórios

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DRENAGEM DE EFUSÃO PLEURAL POR DRENO INTRODUZIDO POR TORACOSCOPIA EM CAVALO COM PLEUROPNEUMONIA

 Tendo em vista que afecções do sistema respiratório são grandes responsáveis por perdas de rendimento atlético de equinos, faz-se necessário o diagnóstico e tratamento precoce da doença para que o animal possa retornar à sua rotina sem perder de forma drástica sua performance. O presente artigo tem como objetivo abordar a técnica de toracoscopia como método diagnóstico e auxiliar no tratamento da pleuropneumonia em equinos, bem como relatar o caso de um cavalo com histórico de febre intermitente não responsiva à tratamentos com antibióticos e antipiréticos, sinais clínicos compatíveis com pleuropneumonia e diagnóstico confirmado pela ultrassonografia torácica. O exame toracoscópico bilateral foi essencial para observação e lavagem da cavidade torácica por meio de um dreno de silicone, e é sabido que a colocação de drenos torácicos com auxílio da toracoscopia resulta em alto índice de recuperação atlética dos animais. Desta forma, a toracoscopia vem como uma grande auxiliadora para a clínica de equinos, pois permite que o médico veterinário, além de ter uma visão mais completa da cavidade torácica e detalhes específicos do caso, também possa usar este método de exame complementar no auxílio ao tratamento pela drenagem da efusão pleural e fixação de dreno, garantindo melhora clínica do animal e rápida recuperação.

Complex structural rearrangements are present in high-grade dysplastic Barrett\u27s oesophagus samples

Background: Oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) incidence is increasing and has a poor survival rate. Barrett’s oesophagus (BE) is a precursor condition that is associated with EAC and often occurs in conjunction with chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux, however many individuals diagnosed with BE never progress to cancer. An understanding of the genomic features of BE and EAC may help with the early identification of at-risk individuals. Methods: In this study, we assessed the genomic features of 16 BE samples using whole-genome sequencing. These included non-dysplastic samples collected at two time-points from two BE patients who had not progressed to EAC over several years. Seven other non-dysplastic samples and five dysplastic BE samples with high-grade dysplasia were also examined. We compared the genome profiles of these 16 BE samples with 22 EAC samples. Results: We observed that samples from the two non-progressor individuals had low numbers of somatic single nucleotide variants, indels and structural variation events compared to dysplastic and the remaining non-dysplastic BE. EAC had the highest level of somatic genomic variations. Mutational signature 17, which is common in EAC, was also present in non-dysplastic and dysplastic BE, but was not present in the non-progressors. Many dysplastic samples had mutations in genes previously reported in EAC, whereas only mutations in CDKN2A or in the fragile site genes appeared common in non-dysplastic samples. Rearrangement signatures were used to identify a signature associated with localised complex events such as chromothripsis and breakage fusion-bridge that are characteristic of EACs. Two dysplastic BE samples had a high contribution of this signature and contained evidence of localised rearrangements. Two other dysplastic samples also had regions of localised structural rearrangements. There was no evidence for complex events in non-dysplastic samples. Conclusions: The presence of complex localised rearrangements in dysplastic samples indicates a need for further investigations into the role such events play in the progression from BE to EAC

Poor sensitivity of rapid tests for the detection of antibodies to the hepatitis B virus : implications for field studies

Rapid tests (RTs) can be used as an alternative method for the conventional diagnosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV). This study aims to evaluate antibodies to HBsAg (anti-HBs) and antibodies to HBeAg (anti-HBe) RTs under different Brazilian settings. The following three groups were included: GI: viral hepatitis outpatient services; GII: low resource areas; and GIII: crack users and beauticians. Imuno-rápido anti-HBsAg™ and Imuno-rápido anti-HBeAg™ RTs were evaluated and showed specificities greater than 95% in all groups. The sensitivity values to anti-HBs were 50.38%, 51.05% and 46.73% and the sensitivity values to anti-HBe were 76.99%, 10.34% and 11.76% in the GI, GII and GIII groups, respectively. The assays had a low sensitivity and high specificity, which indicated their use for screening in regions endemic for HBV