BERST Academy Poster - 2019

BERST Academy (Baystate Education Research and Scholarship of Teaching) Poster 2019https://scholarlycommons.libraryinfo.bhs.org/research_education/1001/thumbnail.jp

Do nest boxes in restored woodlands promote the conservation of hollow-dependent fauna?

Vegetation restoration is considered an important strategy for reversing biodiversity decline in agricultural areas. However, revegetated areas often lack key vegetation attributes like large old hollow-bearing trees. As these trees take a long time to develop, artificial cavities such as nest boxes are sometimes provided to address lag effects. We conducted a 3-year experiment using 150 nest boxes with four designs to quantify patterns of occupancy within 16 replanted areas and 14 patches of remnant old growth eucalypt woodland. We quantified patterns of occupancy of nest boxes in physically connected versus isolated remnants and plantings, and multiple covariate effects on nest box occupancy at the nest box, tree, patch and landscape levels. Our analyses revealed a lower probability of nest box occupancy within remnants (versus plantings) for two of the six response variables examined: any species, and the Feral Honeybee. Nest boxes in connected remnants and plantings were more likely to be occupied than those in isolated plantings and remnants by any mammal and the Common Brushtail Possum. Nest boxes in restored woodlands are used by some hollow-dependent fauna, but principally already common species, and not taxa of conservation concern. Nest boxes also were used by pest species. A key management consideration must be to create connected habitat to facilitate colonization of nest boxes by mammals. Approximately 15% of the cavity-dependent vertebrates within the study area used next boxes, possibly because the diverse requirements of the array of other species were not met by the range of nest boxes deployed

The Influence of Ambient Lighting Levels on Postural Sway in Healthy Children Ages 9 to 11

The purpose of this study was to determine whether postural sway in healthy children varied in different levels of ambient lighting. Twelve boys and 26 girls with a mean age of 118 months stood on a force platform under three conditions: eyes closed, eyes opened in regular light (200 lx) and eyes opened in dim light (3 lx). Analysis of variance and pairwise comparisons revealed significantly more postural sway with the eyes closed condition compared to the regular and dim light conditions but no differences between the regular and dim light conditions. While our results on postural sway during the eyes closed condition are consistent with current findings in the pediatric and adult literature, our findings comparing postural sway during regular and dim light conditions differ from those found in older adults. It appears that the visual system of children is efficient in dim light conditions, adding support to the view that quiet standing is more dependent on vision in older adults than in younger individuals

A Collaborative Distance Approach Using the Evidence to Build a Model for Medical Education Mentorship

Background/Purpose: Medical education scholarship (MES) is meaningful work that not only benefits the faculty but also the learners and their institutions. Clinical teaching faculty who engage in Medical Education Research can ensure that their scholarship is directly applied to practice.3 While clinical research skills may be taught directly the adaptation of clinical research skills to MES is limited, lacking in fundamental skills related to terminology, measurement, and literature.1, 2 Inevitably, success depends on good mentorship. Negotiating the terrain of medical education scholarship requires consistent and effective mentorship.3 Unfortunately, effective mentorship for medical education scholarship is lacking.3 Our aim was to conduct a systematized review of the literature as the first part of an award funded by the NEGEA designed to identify the elements of a model for effective MES mentorship. What is unique about this process is that we conducted this review by collaboration among 6 different medical institutions and 9 individuals. Methods: To develop and further refine an interview protocol that will be used with medical education mentors and mentees, we identified, with the assistance of the two reference librarians on our team, articles focused on basic and clinical science research mentorship in medicine. All meetings were held via conference call. Technologies used included EndNote, Dropbox, Excel, and Qualtrics. Article inclusion criteria were: 1) English language articles published between 1990 and the present, and 2) articles focused on mentorship for scholarship in medicine. Studies were excluded if they focus on other mentorship domains (clinical leadership, career development not related to scholarship). We planned to include research studies, reviews, and opinion pieces/perspectives. Results/Educational Outcomes: In the initial meeting, team members were asked to identify relevant terms and phrases, such as mentoring, mentorship, role modeling, research, scholarship, medicine, medical education). The librarians used the suggested terms to identify additional synonyms and categories and created a table of possible search terms. The table prompted a rich discussion at the next team meeting, which included both a common definition of mentorship, and a narrowing of the focus of the literature search. As a result, the team revised the criteria to exclude articles about biomedical research. The librarians developed search strategies for PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Next the librarians assigned sets of articles to pairs of researchers to review based on titles, or on titles and abstracts when necessary. All articles deemed relevant by the pairs were retained and groups were assigned of articles for identification of factors that mentors and mentees use to positively impact mentorship in scholarship/research. These key factors will then be used to modify the interview protocol for mentor and mentee interviews. Conclusions/Strength of Innovation: This process was successful in using an evidence based process for developing the mentorship in medical education scholarship themes which will be further validated as the project continues. Elements of the process that were critical to the success of a geographically 31 dispersed interdisciplinary team included regularly scheduled phone meetings with agenda items sent well in advance of the meetings, minutes and action items sent following the meeting, discussion time at each meeting to resolve questions, raise new issues, good use of technology available at participating institutions, common understanding of the goals of the project. Having a diverse group of professionals (clinicians, librarians, and medical educators) brought forth the complementary skill sets to the process with different experts leading the process as needed. Issues arose largely regarding understanding and agreement of terminology, including, what is considered “scholarship” and “mentorship.” References: 1. Scott K, Caldwell P, Schuwirth L. Ten steps to conducting health professional education research. Clin Teach. 2015; 12:272-276. 2. Blanchard RD, Artino AR, Visintainer PF. Applying clinical research skills to education research: Important recommendations for success. J Grad Med Educ. 2014;6(4):619-622. 3. Blanchard RD, Visintainer PF, La Rochelle J. Cultivating medical education research mentorship as a pathway towards high quality medical education research. JGIM. 2015; 30(9): 1359-62

Sulfotransferase (SULT) 1A1 polymorphic variants ∗1, ∗2, and ∗3 are associated with altered enzymatic activity, cellular phenotype, and protein

ABSTRACT The superfamily of sulfotransferase (SULT) enzymes catalyzes the sulfate conjugation of several pharmacologically important endo-and xenobiotics

Developing a Literature-Based Interview Script to Explore Mentorship Models in Medical Education Scholarship: A Collaboration Among Six Medical Institutions

Purpose Medical education scholarship (MES), including medical education research, is meaningful work that benefits faculty, as well as learners and their institutions. Negotiating the terrain of MES – which often includes new languages, systems, and thought processes – requires consistent and effective mentorship. Unfortunately, effective mentorship for MES is lacking and an effective mentorship model has not been identified. The purpose of this project was to conduct a literature search to inform and refine an interview script as the first part of a larger project that will identify elements of a model for MES. This abstract describes the systematic search process and recurring themes that emerged. Methods This project is funded by the Northeastern Group on Educational Affairs (NEGEA) and is a collaborative effort among 6 different medical institutions and 9 individuals with diverse professional backgrounds (physicians, librarians, educators). The librarians created a search strategy using the grant proposal’s research question and inclusion/exclusion criteria, as well as additional terms provided by the team. Articles initially identified as focusing on basic and clinical science research mentorship in medicine also guided the creation of the strategy. PubMed, PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews were searched. Results Search results were divided up among the 9 individuals and have gone through two stages of screening. After the second screening, a form was used to extract recurring themes. The final analysis of the themes was conducted by 2 members of the team and discussed by the whole team. The result includes an interview script grounded in evidence based practice. Conclusion The overall efforts of this project will provide a model for mentorship in MES. The model will enhance faculty development efforts in scholarship. Aside from the project’s purpose, this collaborative experience provided a unique faculty development opportunity for the researchers

Long-term forest soil warming alters microbial communities in temperate forest soils

Soil microbes are major drivers of soil carbon cycling, yet we lack an understanding of how climate warming will affect microbial communities. Three ongoing field studies at the Harvard Forest Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) site (Petersham, MA) have warmed soils 5°C above ambient temperatures for 5, 8, and 20 years. We used this chronosequence to test the hypothesis that soil microbial communities have changed in response to chronic warming. Bacterial community composition was studied using Illumina sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene, and bacterial and fungal abundance were assessed using quantitative PCR. Only the 20-year warmed site exhibited significant change in bacterial community structure in the organic soil horizon, with no significant changes in the mineral soil. The dominant taxa, abundant at 0.1% or greater, represented 0.3% of the richness but nearly 50% of the observations (sequences). Individual members of the Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Acidobacteria showed strong warming responses, with one Actinomycete decreasing from 4.5 to 1% relative abundance with warming. Ribosomal RNA copy number can obfuscate community profiles, but is also correlated with maximum growth rate or trophic strategy among bacteria. Ribosomal RNA copy number correction did not affect community profiles, but rRNA copy number was significantly decreased in warming plots compared to controls. Increased bacterial evenness, shifting beta diversity, decreased fungal abundance and increased abundance of bacteria with low rRNA operon copy number, including Alphaproteobacteria and Acidobacteria, together suggest that more or alternative niche space is being created over the course of long-term warming