Planning for Project ECHO in New Hampshire

Assuring a healthy New Hampshire requires making sure that all of the state’s residents can get the right care in the right place at the right time. Yet, access to timely, effective health care is not always a given in our state, especially for vulnerable populations. Health and community care workforce shortages, long distances to care, and social, economic, and cultural barriers make accessing care challenging for many. The Project ECHO Model™ is an evidence-based method using web-based teleconferencing to link specialist teams with community-based sites to help community providers improve their ability to manage complex conditions. It has been proven to improve health care outcomes for vulnerable populations with limited access to care because of socioeconomic factors or geography. The New Hampshire Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) Planning for Implementation and Business Sustainability Project (Planning for Project ECHO in NH) undertook a planning process to inform how to best to develop Project ECHO at UNH to serve New Hampshire health and community care providers and ultimately improve access to effective, timely care. Planning for Project ECHO in NH also developed a business and sustainability plan for long-term success of the UNH Project ECHO Hub and an evaluation plan for measuring efficacy. Planning for Project ECHO in NH included: A Project ECHO Needs Assessment and Prioritization Process, including review of existing needs assessments in the field; a stakeholder survey of health and community care providers conducted by the New Hampshire Citizens Health Initiative (Initiative); and analysis of data from the NH Comprehensive Health Information System (NH CHIS), NH’s all-payer claims database (APCD). A business and sustainability plan including Key Informant Interviews, an environmental scan, and a template for business sustainability planning to identify funding sources and structures to sustain Project ECHO in NH. A framework for Project ECHO evaluation

Honey bee foraging distance depends on month and forage type

To investigate the distances at which honey bee foragers collect nectar and pollen, we analysed 5,484 decoded waggle dances made to natural forage sites to determine monthly foraging distance for each forage type. Firstly, we found significantly fewer overall dances made for pollen (16.8 %) than for non-pollen, presumably nectar (83.2 %; P < 2.2 × 10−23). When we analysed distance against month and forage type, there was a significant interaction between the two factors, which demonstrates that in some months, one forage type is collected at farther distances, but this would reverse in other months. Overall, these data suggest that distance, as a proxy for forage availability, is not significantly and consistently driven by need for one type of forage over the other

Nanostructures Technology, Research, and Applications

Contains reports on seventeen research projects and a list of publications.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001Joint Services Electronics Program Grant DAAH04-95-1-0038Semiconductor Research Corporation Contract 94-MJ-550National Science Foundation Grant ECS 94-07078U.S. Army Research Office Contract DAAL03-92-G-0291Advanced Research Projects Agency/Naval Air Systems Command Contract N00019-92-K-0021National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract NAS8-36748National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NAGW-2003IBM Corporation Contract 1622U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAH04-94-G-0377U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F-49-620-92-J-006

Neuron to Astrocyte Communication via Cannabinoid Receptors Is Necessary for Sustained Epileptiform Activity in Rat Hippocampus

Astrocytes are integral functional components of synapses, regulating transmission and plasticity. They have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of epilepsy, although their precise roles have not been comprehensively characterized. Astrocytes integrate activity from neighboring synapses by responding to neuronally released neurotransmitters such as glutamate and ATP. Strong activation of astrocytes mediated by these neurotransmitters can promote seizure-like activity by initiating a positive feedback loop that induces excessive neuronal discharge. Recent work has demonstrated that astrocytes express cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors, which are sensitive to endocannabinoids released by nearby pyramidal cells. In this study, we tested whether this mechanism also contributes to epileptiform activity. In a model of 4-aminopyridine induced epileptic-like activity in hippocampal slice cultures, we show that pharmacological blockade of astrocyte CB1 receptors did not modify the initiation, but significantly reduced the maintenance of epileptiform discharge. When communication in astrocytic networks was disrupted by chelating astrocytic calcium, this CB1 receptor-mediated modulation of epileptiform activity was no longer observed. Thus, endocannabinoid signaling from neurons to astrocytes represents an additional significant factor in the maintenance of epileptiform activity in the hippocampus

Nanostructures, Technology, Research, and Applications

Contains reports on the nanostructures laboratory, eighteen research projects and a list of publications.Joint Services Electronics Program Grant DAAH04-95-1-0038Semiconductor Research Corporation Contract 95-LJ-550National Science Foundation Grant ECS 94-07078U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAH04-95-1-0564Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Naval Air Systems Command Contract N00019-95-K-0131National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract NAS8-38249National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NAGW-2003IBM Corporation Contract 1622U.S. Navy- Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-95-1-1297U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAH04-94-G-0377U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F-49-620-92-J-0064U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F-49-620-95-1-031

Nanostructures Technology, Research, and Applications

Contains reports on twenty research projects and a list of publications.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-92-C-0001Semiconductor Research Corporation Contract 94-MJ-550U.S. Army Research Office Grant DAAL03-92-G-0291Advanced Research Projects Agency/Naval Air Systems Command Contract N00019-92-K-0021National Science Foundation Grant ECS 90-16437National Science Foundation Grant ECS 90-16737IBM Corporation Contract 1622U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F-49-62-92-J-0064National Science Foundation Grant DMR 87-19217National Science Foundation Grant DMR 90-22933National Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract NAS8-3674

Measuring the predictability of life outcomes with a scientific mass collaboration.

How predictable are life trajectories? We investigated this question with a scientific mass collaboration using the common task method; 160 teams built predictive models for six life outcomes using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a high-quality birth cohort study. Despite using a rich dataset and applying machine-learning methods optimized for prediction, the best predictions were not very accurate and were only slightly better than those from a simple benchmark model. Within each outcome, prediction error was strongly associated with the family being predicted and weakly associated with the technique used to generate the prediction. Overall, these results suggest practical limits to the predictability of life outcomes in some settings and illustrate the value of mass collaborations in the social sciences