Feasibility of Mindfulness at Work: A Continuing Education Program for Occupational Therapy Practitioners Experiencing Burnout

Healthcare professionals, including occupational therapy practitioners, are experiencing epidemic levels of burnout. Professional organizations have prioritized research and programming to address burnout. This study evaluated the feasibility of an evidence-based virtual mindfulness continuing education program, Mindfulness at Work, and the mindfulness strategies participants learned and embedded into their workday. This program was developed and facilitated by an occupational therapist who is also a registered advanced yoga teacher. A total of 11 occupational therapy practitioners experiencing burnout met with the facilitator for once-weekly synchronous sessions over three weeks. OT practitioners were taught mindfulness strategies to use throughout their workday. Participants practiced the strategies at work between sessions and discussed their experiences during subsequent sessions. Aspects of the feasibility of both the program and the mindfulness strategies were measured post-only. Participant burnout was measured pre and post. Participants rated the virtual mindfulness continuing education program and mindfulness strategies as acceptable, appropriate, and feasible. There were significant decreases in pre- and post-test burnout scores during this preliminary evaluation. Attendance and retention rates were high. Eligibility criteria challenged recruitment capability

Nutritional evaluation of dried tomato seeds

Two samples of tomato seeds, a by-product of the tomato canning industry were evaluated to determine proximate analysis, amino acid content, and digestibility, TMEn, and protein efficiency ratio. Tomato seeds were also used to replace corn and soybean meal (SBM) in a chick diet on an equal true amino acid digestibility and TMEn basis. Tomato seeds were found to contain 8.5% moisture, 25% CP, 20.0% fat, 3.1% ash, 35.1% total dietary fiber, 0.12% Ca, 0.58% P, and 3,204 kcal/kg of TMEn. The total amounts of methionine, cystine, and lysine in the tomato seeds were 0.39, 0.40, and 1.34%, respectively, and their true digestibility coefficients, determined in cecectomized roosters, were 75, 70, and 54%, respectively. The protein efficiency ratio (weight gain per unit of protein intake) value when fed to chicks at 9% CP was 2.5 compared to 3.6 for SBM (P < or = 0.05). When corn-SBM diets were formulated on an equal true amino acid digestibility and TMEn basis, up to 15% tomato seeds could replace corn and SBM without any adverse affects on chick weight gain, feed intake, or gain:feed ratio from 8 to 21 d posthatch. Tomato seeds at any level in the diet did not significantly affect skin pigmentation. Although the protein quality of tomato seeds may not be as high as SBM, tomato seeds do contain substantial amounts of digestible amino acids and TMEn. When formulating diets on a true digestible amino acid and TMEn basis, tomato seeds can be supplemented into chick rations at up to 15% without any adverse affects on growth performance.Fil: Persia, M.E. University of Illinois. Department of Animal Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Parsons, C.M. University of Illinois. Department of Animal Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Schang, M. University of Illinois. Department of Animal Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Azcona, Jorge. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agrpecuaria Pergamino. Departamento de Aves; Argentin

Regionalization of ports as a strategic leverage to improve competitiveness. A study on central italy ports and related hinterland

Nowadays, the success of a maritime port does not depend anymore on its traditional intrinsic points of strength, such as the internal capacity, but also on its ability to effectively integrate the development of its hinterland into business relations and supply chains. Mediterranean ports can get competitive, if specific "regionalization" processes are launched and supported. Key point for this strategy is the hinterland involvement: logistics and transports integration, railways, realization and development of dryports, terminals, distribution centres. All these are core elements for this purpose. The overall focus has changed from port performances to performance of the entire supply chain in the port-hinterland relationship. This is what it is going to do the Port of Civitavecchia, the most important port in Lazio Region, would like to become the central point into commercial, industrial and infrastructural development of central Italy. The development of railway terminal and of regional road network for the developing of intermodal logistics chain, of the industrial port activities (shipbuilding sector and oil bunkering), of trade relations with Fiumicino Airport and with the roman agroindustrial sector, of logistics relations with the dryport of Orte and with the intermodal terminal (road-railway) of Pomezia Santa Palomba, are some of the activities planned and undertaken by the port for improving the regionalization of Civitavecchia. Aim of this paper is to show and underline how these regionalization processes can increase the development, and so benefit the entire regional hinterland and the competitiveness and attraction of the entire port system. A model to estimate the regionalization effect has been designed by the authors and implemented to make a comparison analysis between Civitavecchia and competing ports. © 2021 Georg Thieme Verlag. All rights reserved

Improving sustainable mobility in university campuses. The case study of Sapienza University

The pursue of sustainable mobility is one of the greatest environmental challenges nowadays. It requires a people mind shift, where the use of private vehicles give way to different modes of public transport like buses, bicycles, car sharing, electric cars, and walking lanes. This new call to make mobility sustainable has already been undertaken by policymakers and public managers in many urban contexts around the world, as well as, more recently, by the managers of university systems. The paper shows the work developed in 2018 for the Sapienza Sustainable University Mobility Plan (SUMP). The study stems from the need to understand and improve, in the sustainability direction, modes of travel for the students and staff of one of the oldest universities in the world, and one of the largest in Europe (112,142 students enrolled and 23,101 between academic staff and no academic staff), with its premises located in a complex and challenging urban context such as the city of Rome. The SUMP has been developed in two phases. The first one investigated travel patterns and the reasons for the modal shift and highlighted the main issues. The second phase defined strategies and interventions to be implemented in the short, medium, and long term to make students and staff's mobility more environmentally sustainable. The methodology used in the fact-finding stage was the online survey that was carried out through the use of a diversified questionnaire for staff and students of the University. The sample of students who participated in the survey amounted to 14,719 units, while the sample of faculty and staff was 9,403. The main questionnaire outcomes showed that the attitudes recorded were largely different between faculty and staff and students. While for the first ones the choice of private vehicles is the first option (36%), for students public transport is the prevailing preference (78%). According to the critical aspects found in this first stage, the SUMP objectives were defined, leading to the identification of macro-areas of intervention and specific actions. At a policy and strategic level, the attention was focused on the guidelines issued by the United Nations, the European Commission, and the Network of Universities for Sustainable Development, of which Sapienza University is a member. For this reason, the identification of strategies and interventions results from the combination of the first phase analysis, the Sapienza Governance objectives, and the national and international context in which the SUMP was drafted. Five macro-areas of intervention have been identified: Smart Strategies, Pedestrian Mobility, Cycling, Local Public Transport, Private Transport, and for each one specific intervention to be implemented in different time frames have been defined

Supplemental lysine sulfate does not negatively affect the performance of broiler chicks fed dietary sulfur from multiple dietary and water sources

Commercial broiler producers and nutritionists have questioned the performance consequences of sulfur (S) from various dietary and water sources combined in current commercial production. The combination of high-S feed ingredients, including dried distillers grains with solubles, and dietary additives that contain S, such as lysine sulfate or copper sulfate, has the potential to create high S exposure, especially when combined with high-S drinking water. The tolerance of growing broiler chicks to S was determined by supplementation of a corn-soybean-5% dried distillers grains with solubles diet with up to 1% lysine sulfate or an equal amount of S from sodium sulfide. An additional diet containing copper and zinc sulfate served as a positive control for the source of S and high-S inclusion. These diets were fed to chicks provided with normal (0.008% or 80 ppm) or high water S (0.113% or 1130 ppm). We hypothesized that the addition of S sources to a commercial diet would not reduce the performance of growing chicks given access to normal or high-S water. Data showed dietary S requirements were met and excess S was easily excreted, hence, under the experimental feeding conditions, supplementation with up to 1% additional lysine sulfate (or a similar product) did not reduce performance in comparison with chicks fed a lower S diet with access to normal or high-S water. The high-S diet from copper and zinc sulfate resulted in reduced water and feed consumption, although there were no effects on chick weight gain