A Patient Engaged: Examining the Benefits of Formal Patient Engagement

Patient engagement studio models exist to create a platform for patients to offer input on research projects at health systems and academic health centers. While these models are gaining popularity, little research exists that captures the benefits for participants. In this ethnographic study, I examined the benefits of patient engagement for participants at a large Southeastern academic health center. Through individual interviews and field observation, I sought to understand the experiences of patients and what they gained, and how those benefits could be applied to other health care settings. Patients’ responses in interviews and actions in each studio indicated that the following benefits exist: education, empathy, and empowerment. These benefits often worked in relation with each other, as well as offered additional insight on positive patient-physician communication models and effective communication channels in health care

Dissolution control on planktonic foraminiferal micro-scale distributions: two case studies from the NW Pacific Paleocene deposits

Abstrac

High resolution planktonic foraminifera analyses across the Paleocene/Eocene boundary at Shatsky Rise, Pacific Ocean

Abstrac

Big Bud Disease in Tomatoes and Peppers

This fact sheet provides information on the symptoms of big bud on tomatoes and peppers. It reviews the disease cycle and recommendations on controlling beet leafhopper and managing big bud disease in Utah

La red de Matrix : ¿En los límites de lo posible?

The Matrix trilogy offers a powerful metaphor about the man-machine convergence. This duality is efficiently represented by the the internet search engines (as Matrix centinels) and the social software applications. Both of them use widely the network representation of data. Departing from the Social Network Analysis as a theoretical and methodological framework this paper explores the ways in which the (a) standardization of visual methods of representation, (b) community mapping, (c) global personal networks, (d) strategies for network navigation and (e) network change monitorization could be improved.La trilogía de Matrix ofrece una poderosa metáfora sobre la convergencia hombremáquina. Los resquicios de esa interface llevan implícita una dualidad que permite presentar el viejo tópico de la confusión entre fantasía y realidad en términos de "espejismos virtuales", como es propio de la era de la Inteligencia Artificial. Pero la navegación en estructuras paralelas a la realidad, así como la íntima conexión entre el hombre y los computadores, tienen referencias reales. Los buscadores de Internet rastrean la información sobre una trama de hipertexto, al modo de los Centinelas de Matrix. Las aplicaciones informáticas de networking permiten reproducir y ampliar las redes personales a través de la comunicación mediada por ordenador. En este artículo evaluamos (a) algunos de los buscadores de Internet y (b) de las herramientas de contactos más difundidos en la actualidad. Para ello utilizamos como referencia teórica y metodológica el análisis de redes sociales (ARS). Tanto los buscadores como los sitios Web de contactos hacen un uso predominantemente metafórico de la idea de red, con algunas aplicaciones de la representación visual. Sin embargo, algunos desarrollos como Touchgraph (entre los buscadores) y Visible Path (para el networking de ventas) ilustran los beneficios que pueden derivarse de la aplicación sistemática del ARS en este ámbito. Como conclusión, sugerimos algunas líneas de investigación del análisis de redes que pueden resultar beneficiosas en este campo: (a) la sistematización de los procedimientos de representación visual de las redes, con fines descriptivos; (b) la identificación de comunidades; (c) la construcción de redes globales a partir de redes personales; (d) el estudio de las estrategias con las que los actores individuales hacen uso de las redes complejas, y (e) la monitorización del crecimiento de la red. Con este bagaje, las técnicas del ARS pueden contribuir a mejorar la adecuación del diseño tecnológico a los usos sociales

PLANKTONIC FORAMINIFERAL BIOSTRATIGRAPHY OF LATE ALBIAN-CENOMANIAN PELAGIC SEQUENCES FROM THE UMBRIA-MARCHE BASIN (CENTRAL ITALY) AND THE MAZAGAN PLATEAU (NORTHEAST ATLANTIC OCEAN)

Planktonic foraminifera were studied in the upper Albian to Cenomanian sedimentary sequence of the Monte Petrano and Le Brecce stratigraphic sections located in the Umbria-Marche Basin (central Italy), and of Hole 547A and Site 545 drilled by the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) on the Mazagan Plateau (offshore Morocco, northeast Atlantic Ocean). Biostratigraphic results allow the identification of a stratigraphically ordered sequence of bioevents that have proved to be reliable for regional and interregional correlations, from older to younger: the lowest occurrences (LOs) of Th. appenninica, Pl. buxtorfi, Pa. libyca, Th. brotzeni in the Albian, and the LOs of Th. globotruncanoides, Th. greenhornensis and Rt. cushmani in the Cenomanian sediments. We remark the difficulty in the identification of the Th. reicheli Zone used in the Tethyan biozonation because of the rarity and absence of the species in many low to mid- latitude pelagic sequences. To overcome the problem, we use the Th. greenhornensis Zone defined as the stratigraphic interval between the lowest occurrence (LO) of Th. greenhornensis and the LO of Rt. cushmani. The LO of Th. greenhornensis is a solid bioevent with the nominal species characterized by a wide geographic distribution and occurring close to the LO of Th. reicheli where the latter species is present. The studied stratigraphic sections are compared with the coeval Mont Risou section in the Vocontian Basin and the record from Blake Nose in the western North Atlantic to verify the correlation and synchronicity of biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic events including the Oceanic Anoxic Events 1d (OAE1d) and the Mid Cenomanian Event (MCE)

SYNSEDIMENTARY TECTONICS AND SEDIMENTATION IN THE TERTIARY PIEDMONT BASIN, NORTHWESTERN ITALY

The Late Oligocene/Early Miocene tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the eastern sector of the Langhe Sub-Basin (Teriary Piedmont Basin) is proposed and discussed. The area is located between the villages of Roccaverano and Mombaldone, along the western side of the Bormida di Spigno River Valley (see attached geologic map). Synsedimentary tectonics strongly influenced the geologic evolution of the region during the time span examined, being particularly evident at three specific "times" that were chosen as models. During "Time 1" (Late Oligocene) gentle anticlines, aligned WNW-ESE and NW-SE, started to form, affecting only hemipelagic mudstones and creating structural highs that controlled the areal distribution of both turbidites (i.e.T. Ovrano High) and a thick pelitic slump sheet (i.e.M. Pisone High). During "Time 2"(Aquitanian) the C. Mazzurini Half-Graben developed, separated by W-E and WNW-ESE growth faults from the M. Ovrano High to the north and gradually connecting, through a gently sloping ramp, with the Rocchetta High to the south. Turbidity currents and debris flows were channeled into the half-graben, while hemipelagic limestones were deposited onto the adjacent higher areas. During "Time 3" (Early Burdigalian) the depocenter of the depression shifted southward, while the half-graben evolved into a wide trough (Piantivello Trough) characterized by turbidites. Subsequently, the strongly irregular topography was progressively leveled to the quite homogeneous landscape on which the Cortemilia Formation (Late Burdigalian) was deposited.

Preparing Faculty For Overseas Assignments

With increased globalization, more colleges and universities are establishing faculty exchanges, study abroad programs, collaborative research efforts, and technical assistance programs with counterparts overseas resulting in enhanced faculty development, increased learning for students, revenue generation and prestige for the partnering institutions. If faculty are inadequately prepared and supported for overseas assignments valuable time and resources are wasted, student learning is impacted, and the image of the institution and faculty member may suffer. The purpose of this research was to determine how institutions can better prepare faculty for overseas assignments. To study this problem, faculty with international teaching experience and overseas country coordinators were surveyed and a literature review was conducted. Data were compiled to identify actions which can be taken to ensure greater success in overseas assignments. The researchers will share results exploring why educational institutions are expanding operations overseas, the negative impact of failing to adequately prepare and support faculty for overseas assignments, and actions which can be taken to ensure faculty are adequately prepared and supported for their overseas assignment.https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014/1021/thumbnail.jp

Drosophila dyskerin is cell-autonomously required for formation of the larval intestinal stem cell niche

Loss of function mutations of human DKC1 gene cause Dyskeratosis Congenita X-linked (X-DC), a multisystemic syndrome accompanied by telomerase defects, premature aging, increased cancer susceptibility and stem cell dysfunction. The protein encoded by DKC1, called dyskerin, is a pseudouridine synthase belonging to a highly evolutively conserved family. Dyskerin participates to the formation of the H/ACA snoRNP complexes involved in a variety of cellular functions, including pseudouridylation and processing of rRNAs, transcriptional control and telomere elongation. The striking evolutive conservation of snoRNP functions, coupled with a highly divergent mechanism of telomere lenghthening, makes Drosophila a suitable system in which to assess the mechanisms by which pseudouridine synthases regulate stemness maintenance. Since Drosophila midgut has recently emerged as an ideal model for the study of the molecular mechanisms underlying somatic stem cell maintenance, it provides an useful system to evaluate the effects caused by loss of function of genes involved in this process. I thus used the GAL4/UAS system to silence in vivo Nop60b/mfl, the Drosophila ortholog of DKC1, and investigate in detail the effects triggered by gene silencing on the formation of larval Adult Midgut Precursor (AMPs) cells. I found that mfl silencing totally disrupts the formation of larval imaginal islands, the typical stem niches in which AMPs are organized. MFL-depleted AMPs are strongly reduced in their number and appear dispersed into the epithelium, but they still retain the expression of stemness markers as escargot (a member of the Snail/Slug superfamily of Zinc finger proteins), Delta and Arm