Reconstructing Ancient Foodways at the Jones Mill Site (3HS28), Hot Spring County, Arkansas

Analyses of botanical and faunal samples and a new radiocarbon date provide a detailed picture of Indian foodways at the Jones Mill site on the Ouachita River in Arkansas. Hunting, plant processing, and fishing with nets is seen from Middle Archaic artifacts and features. Burned hickory nutshell found among clusters of fire-cracked rock shows the importance of nut masts as food between 6000-4300 B.C. By 1450 A.D., a more substantial community of people lived at Jones Mill. Refuse associated with traces of a Caddo period house provided direct evidence for the cultivation of maize and native Eastern Complex starchy seed crops and procurement of select wild plants and animals for food

Mapping the Impacts of COVID-19 on the Work-Life Balance of Academic Librarians Who Are Parents of School-Aged Children

Objective: Academic librarians at three public universities in the Southern United States who are parents of school-aged children have experienced changes in their work, parenting, and the balance between them during the lockdowns, quarantines, and closures necessitated by the current pandemic. Many librarians have been affected by these conditions, and there are variations in the support and guidance provided by institutions, and the impact of governmental policies. Methods: To begin, we selected a purposive sample of 11 public, SACS-accredited universities from the 11 states in the Southeastern U.S. We compiled university policies related to the Federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and other institutional support made available to librarians and other faculty and staff. Since leave policies have been updated since FFCRA provisions ended on December 31, 2020, we compared archived policies with policies in effect in 2021. We reviewed the text of these policies to determine how FFCRA was applied, and whether any other provisions were made for working parents after FFCRA ended. In order to see how these policies were applied in practice, we surveyed librarians at the selected institutions. Results: Our results from the policy review are presented as an interactive table with links to available policy sites. For each institution, it shows whether a guidance page on FFCRA was available in 2020, whether there was an extension of leave after the federal act expired, information on leave specifically related to school closures; and whether policies applied to parents who chose to keep children out of school. As of May 2021, we have received survey responses from seven states. Themes have been drawn from the open-ended answers we have received so far, and several relevant quotes have been broken out to authentically express the experiences of the participants. Discussion: There have been positive and negative impacts resulting from the leave policies, and remote and flexible work arrangements that were implemented in response to the pandemic. Many participants observed a breakdown of boundaries between work and family time, and frequent interruptions to their work. However, most participants were not concerned that promotion or tenure would be impacted, due to policies implemented by their institutions. Participants also indicated that flexible leave policies are well received and have made it possible for them to learn new skills and remain productive

Person-centered approach to examining emergent literacy risks in children with specific language impairment

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are at increased risk for reading difficulties, and some studies suggest that these problems are evident even with pre-reading skills, such as alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. To date, most studies asserting these emergent literacy difficulties have relied on mean score differences between children with SLI and children who are typically developing. However, work concerning children with SLI also reports considerable heterogeneity, such that some children perform as well as typically developing peers. The present study utilizes a person-centered approach to examine whether the actual proportion of preschool children with SLI (n = 62) who might be identified as “at risk” on measures of emergent literacy differs significantly from the proportion of age-matched typically developing peers (n = 40), and whether a subset of children with concomitant speech impairment would exhibit greatest risk. Results showed that a significantly greater percentage of children with SLI were classified as at risk on all three emergent literacy measures, and the percentage of children at risk for each measure was similar. Children with concomitant speech and language impairment performed more poorly on the alphabet knowledge measure, as compared to those with LI-only, but had similar scores on the other two measures (rhyme awareness and print knowledge). Implications of these findings with respect to assessing emergent literacy in children with language disorders are discussed

Parents of Children with Disabilities in the Early Months of COVID-19: Knowledge, Beliefs and Needs

COVID-19 has impacted families across the world. Besides the huge task of keeping their children and themselves healthy, families had more responsibilities such as supporting their children’s learning at home when they could not go to school. We asked 457 parents of children with disabilities about their knowledge, beliefs, and needs during the first few months of the pandemic. The parents reported a decrease in formal supports available to them. They also reported a decrease in being able to access informal supports. The parents stated concerns about the health and well-being of their families, the loss of jobs and income, delays and changes in special education services, and lack of technology to access special education from home. Their highest need was education for their children, followed by a need for family supports. High anxiety levels were also reported by most parents

Ouachita Mountains Foodways: Preliminary Results from 2013-2014 Excavations at 3MN298

New excavations in the Ouachita National Forest in west-central Arkansas, co-directed by Meeks Etchieson and Mary Beth Trubitt, are resulting in significant information about foodways of ancestral Caddo Indians living in the Ouachita Mountains region. This work has focused on the Dragover site (3MN298), located on a floodplain of the upper Ouachita River. Artifacts from this extensive archeological site indicate use from about 6000 B.C. to the A.D. 1900s, but it was its potential for well-preserved organic material – animal bone, mussel shell, and charred plant seeds – that drew our research attention. Initial site testing in the 1980s uncovered several pit features with pottery sherds, chipped stone, animal bone, and mussel shells. Later analysis of ceramics from those features indicated a Buckville phase Caddo occupation estimated to fall in the sixteenth century A.D. Planting pine trees caused some damage to the site; one motivation for this project was the need for a current site evaluation so the Ouachita National Forest could better manage this historical location

Bezlotoxumab for prevention of recurrent Clostridium difficile infection in patients at increased risk for recurrence

Background: Bezlotoxumab is a human monoclonal antibody against Clostridium difficile toxin B indicated to prevent C. difficile infection (CDI) recurrence (rCDI) in adults at high risk for rCDI. This post hoc analysis of pooled monocolonal antibodies for C.difficile therapy (MODIFY) I/II data assessed bezlotoxumab efficacy in participants with characteristics associated with increased risk for rCDI. Methods: The analysis population was the modified intent-to-treat population who received bezlotoxumab or placebo (n = 1554) by risk factors for rCDI that were prespecified in the statistical analysis plan: age ≥65 years, history of CDI, compromised immunity, severe CDI, and ribotype 027/078/244. The proportion of participants with rCDI in 12 weeks, fecal microbiota transplant procedures, 30-day all cause and CDI-associated hospital readmissions, and mortality at 30 and 90 days after randomization were presented. Results: The majority of enrolled participants (75.6%) had ≥1 risk factor; these participants were older and a higher proportion had comorbidities compared with participants with no risk factors. The proportion of placebo participants who experienced rCDI exceeded 30% for each risk factor compared with 20.9% among those without a risk factor, and the rCDI rate increased with the number of risk factors (1 risk factor: 31.3%; ≥3 risk factors: 46.1%). Bezlotoxumab reduced rCDI, fecal microbiota transplants, and CDI-associated 30-day readmissions in participants with risk factors for rCDI. Conclusions: The risk factors prespecified in the MODIFY statistical analysis plan are appropriate to identify patients at high risk for rCDI. While participants with ≥3 risk factors had the greatest reduction of rCDI with bezlotoxumab, those with 1 or 2 risk factors may also benefit. Clinical Trials Registration: NCT01241552 (MODIFY I) and NCT01513239 (MODIFY II)

Fertilization and Tree Species Influence on Stable Aggregates in Forest Soil

Abstract: Background and objectives: aggregation and structure play key roles in the water-holding capacity and stability of soils and are important for the physical protection and storage of soil carbon (C). Forest soils are an important sink of ecosystem C, though the capacity to store C may be disrupted by the elevated atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) compounds by dispersion of soil aggregates via acidification or altered microbial activity. Furthermore, dominant tree species and the lability of litter they produce can influence aggregation processes. Materials and methods: we measured water-stable aggregate size distribution and aggregate-associated organic matter (OM) content in soils from two watersheds and beneath four hardwood species at the USDA Forest Service Fernow Experimental Forest in West Virginia, USA, where one watershed has received (NH4)2SO4 fertilizer since 1989 and one is a reference/control of similar stand age. Bulk soil OM, pH, and permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC) were also measured. Research highlights: fertilized soil exhibited decreased macro-aggregate formation and a greater proportion of smaller micro-aggregates or unassociated clay minerals, particularly in the B-horizon. This shift in aggregation to soil more dominated by the smallest (\u3c53 μm) fraction is associated with both acidification (soil pH) and increased microbially processed C (POXC) in fertilized soil. Intra-aggregate OM was also depleted in the fertilized soil (52% less OM in the 53–2000 μm fractions), most strongly in subsurface B-horizon soil. We also document that tree species can influence soil aggregation, as soil beneath species with more labile litter contained more OM in the micro-aggregate size class (\u3c250 μm), especially in the fertilized watershed, while species with more recalcitrant litter promoted more OM in the macro- aggregate size classes (500–2000 μm) in the reference watershed. Conclusions: long-term fertilization, and likely historic atmospheric deposition, of forest soils has weakened macro-aggregation formation, with implications for soil stability, hydrology, and storage of belowground C

Use of a Webinar to Assess Fieldwork Educator Readiness to Provide Occupational Therapy Services and Supervise Students Through Telehealth

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, many school-based occupational therapy practitioners experienced intensified job demands including a rapid shift to telehealth service delivery. Additionally, academic fieldwork coordinators sought to find effective methods of delivering fieldwork education and supporting those involved, including the occupational therapy fieldwork educators and students, as they navigated the new context imposed by the pandemic. A study was completed using a synchronous webinar format and post-webinar survey to explore school-based occupational therapy practitioners’ perceptions of readiness to provide occupational therapy services through telehealth, the perception of preparedness of potential, current, and past fieldwork educators to supervise students during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of using a webinar format to deliver this education. Email invitations were sent to a list generated by academic fieldwork coordinators that included former, current, and potential occupational therapy fieldwork educators. Four hundred thirty-three international participants attended the 122 minute educational webinar presented through the Zoom video conference platform, with 80% of participants being school-based occupational therapists. The webinar contained three parts: two occupational therapists who addressed telehealth in practice, academic fieldwork coordinators who presented on the supervision of fieldwork students during telehealth service provision, and a panel discussion led by an active fieldwork educator and student who worked together during the time of initial COVID-19 restrictions. An electronic survey was administered through email at two weeks and three weeks post-webinar to measure participant telehealth webinar outcomes and assess the webinar impact on perceptions of feeling supported and future participation as a fieldwork educator. Forty-six participants returned the survey and descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze survey results. Based on the results, participants agreed most with the telehealth service statements “I understand some of the barriers of providing telehealth services” (96%); “I better understand the process of providing telehealth services” (91%); and “I can identify what type of client would benefit from telehealth services” (85%). Survey results also indicated that 11% of participants strongly agreed or agreed to consider taking their first fieldwork students, 54% felt more supported as a fieldwork educator, and 57% strongly agreed or agreed that they could identify effective ways for fieldwork students to help support their clinical practice. Results also showed that a synchronous virtual webinar was perceived by participants as an effective method to deliver this education

Efficacy of bezlotoxumab in participants receiving metronidazole, vancomycin, or fidaxomicin for treatment of Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile infection

Background: In phase 3 MODIFY I/II trials, bezlotoxumab significantly reduced recurrence of Methods: In MODIFY I/II (NCT01241552/NCT01513239), participants received a single infusion of bezlotoxumab (10 mg/kg) or placebo during anti-CDI treatment. Using pooled data from MODIFY I/II, initial clinical cure (ICC) and rCDI were assessed in metronidazole-, vancomycin-, and fidaxomicin-treated subgroups. Results: Of 1554 participants in MODIFY I/II, 753 (48.5%) received metronidazole, 745 (47.9%) vancomycin, and 56 (3.6%) fidaxomicin. Fewer participants receiving metronidazole had a prior CDI episode in the previous 6 months (12.9%) or ≥1 risk factor for rCDI (66.0%) vs participants receiving vancomycin (41.2% and 83.6%, respectively) and fidaxomicin (55.4% and 89.3%, respectively). ICC rates were similar in the bezlotoxumab (metronidazole, 81.0%; vancomycin, 78.5%; fidaxomicin, 86.7%) and placebo groups (metronidazole, 81.3%; vancomycin, 79.6%; fidaxomicin, 76.9%). In placebo-treated participants, the rCDI was lower in the metronidazole subgroup vs the vancomycin and fidaxomicin subgroups (metronidazole, 28.0%; vancomycin, 38.4%; fidaxomicin, 35.0%). When analyzed by subsets based on history of CDI, rCDI rates were similar in the metronidazole and vancomycin groups. rCDI rates were lower in all antibiotic subgroups for bezlotoxumab vs placebo (metronidazole: rate difference [RD], -9.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI], -16.4% to -3.1%; vancomycin: RD, -15.4%; 95% CI, -22.7% to -8.0%; fidaxomicin: RD, -11.9%; 95% CI, -38.1% to 14.3%). Conclusion: Bezlotoxumab reduces rCDI vs placebo in participants receiving metronidazole and vancomycin, with a similar effect size in participants receiving fidaxomicin