Baseline Assessment of Providers\u27 Perspectives on Integrating Community Health Workers into Primary Care Teams to Improve Diabetes Prevention

• Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) affects 11% of U.S. adults • Additional 35% considered pre-diabetic, at-risk for developing T2DM1 • Bellevue Hospital and the VA NY Harbor Hospital disproportionately affected: 2x the prevalence in the general population, and increasing2 • Only 55% of adults receive recommended preventive services3 • Panel management: each care team is responsible for preventive care, disease management, and acute care of a patient panel • Community health worker (CHW): non-clinical frontline public health professional trained in behavioral counseling, care follow-up, program referrals, and health education4-8 • Come from the community that they serve, so they can offer ongoing social support, key to successful behavior change9-12 • CHW interventions have been shown to improve diabetes outcomes and progression to diabetes13 • Lack of literature on integrating CHWs on a larger scale into a clinical care team • CHORD study: Community Health Outreach to Reduce Diabetes • Randomized controlled intervention trial to assess the efficacy of integrating CHWs into primary care teams at Bellevue and the VA to prevent T2DM in pre-diabetic patients • Present study is a baseline assessment in preparation for the CHORD studyhttps://jdc.jefferson.edu/cwicposters/1036/thumbnail.jp

Estimating the spatial and temporal distribution of species richness within Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

Evidence for significant losses of species richness or biodiversity, even within protected natural areas, is mounting. Managers are increasingly being asked to monitor biodiversity, yet estimating biodiversity is often prohibitively expensive. As a cost-effective option, we estimated the spatial and temporal distribution of species richness for four taxonomic groups (birds, mammals, herpetofauna (reptiles and amphibians), and plants) within Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks using only existing biological studies undertaken within the Parks and the Parks' long-term wildlife observation database. We used a rarefaction approach to model species richness for the four taxonomic groups and analyzed those groups by habitat type, elevation zone, and time period. We then mapped the spatial distributions of species richness values for the four taxonomic groups, as well as total species richness, for the Parks. We also estimated changes in species richness for birds, mammals, and herpetofauna since 1980. The modeled patterns of species richness either peaked at mid elevations (mammals, plants, and total species richness) or declined consistently with increasing elevation (herpetofauna and birds). Plants reached maximum species richness values at much higher elevations than did vertebrate taxa, and non-flying mammals reached maximum species richness values at higher elevations than did birds. Alpine plant communities, including sagebrush, had higher species richness values than did subalpine plant communities located below them in elevation. These results are supported by other papers published in the scientific literature. Perhaps reflecting climate change: birds and herpetofauna displayed declines in species richness since 1980 at low and middle elevations and mammals displayed declines in species richness since 1980 at all elevations

History of Lilac Phenological Observations in the USA

The Western Research and Demonstration Farm became a member of the “USA National Phenology Network” in 2008 when a set of cloned lilacs were planted on June 2, 2008. Phenological observations, or the date specific plant growth stages are reached, will be reported to the network and compiled with other observer data from across the nation. These observations will be used for various purposes, some of these uses may include 1) characterize seasonal weather patterns and improve predictions of crop yield, 2) help predict disease or pest outbreaks, and 3) allow the pursuit of more detailed questions of plant responses to global warming at a national scale

Threats and Opportunities to Critical Thinking Development Students Encounter in a Christian College Environment: A Case Study

The purpose of this single unit case study was to describe the efforts of Small Christian University (SCU) to develop critical thinking skills and dispositions amongst its students. The theory guiding this study was Fowler’s stages of faith theory, which explains the role of experiences and crises in developing faith, a process which parallels closely with the process of developing critical thinking skills. This study examined interviews with students, a focus group with faculty and documents recording assessments of completed student assignments to describe how effective SCU’s efforts were in developing students who could think critically and were disposed to do so regularly. Data on these key experiences were then coded to discover common themes that influenced students’ critical thinking skills development. The results support the idea that students do learn to think critically at SCU, although three conditions need to be met for this to take place. First, students should persist until graduation so that they go through the development Fowler predicted was needed to strengthen their faith and develop their critical thinking skills. Second, students should choose to engage with others who hold different viewpoints so they can learn from a diversity of different perspectives. Third, students should risk challenging the long-held beliefs they brought with them to SCU

Blood-knowledge and The plumed serpent

The intent of this paper is to study D. H. Lawrence\u27s theme of blood-knowledge as it is found in a selection of his fictional works. The most outstanding work which concerns itself with this theme is The Plumed Serpent, a novel which centers around the re-birth of the ancient Mexican religion of Quetzalcoatl

Forest structure, stand composition, and climate-growth response in montane forests of Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve, China.

Montane forests of western China provide an opportunity to establish baseline studies for climate change. The region is being impacted by climate change, air pollution, and significant human impacts from tourism. We analyzed forest stand structure and climate-growth relationships from Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve in northwestern Sichuan province, along the eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. We conducted a survey to characterize forest stand diversity and structure in plots occurring between 2050 and 3350 m in elevation. We also evaluated seedling and sapling recruitment and tree-ring data from four conifer species to assess: 1) whether the forest appears in transition toward increased hardwood composition; 2) if conifers appear stressed by recent climate change relative to hardwoods; and 3) how growth of four dominant species responds to recent climate. Our study is complicated by clear evidence of 20(th) century timber extraction. Focusing on regions lacking evidence of logging, we found a diverse suite of conifers (Pinus, Abies, Juniperus, Picea, and Larix) strongly dominate the forest overstory. We found population size structures for most conifer tree species to be consistent with self-replacement and not providing evidence of shifting composition toward hardwoods. Climate-growth analyses indicate increased growth with cool temperatures in summer and fall. Warmer temperatures during the growing season could negatively impact conifer growth, indicating possible seasonal climate water deficit as a constraint on growth. In contrast, however, we found little relationship to seasonal precipitation. Projected warming does not yet have a discernible signal on trends in tree growth rates, but slower growth with warmer growing season climates suggests reduced potential future forest growth

Gas-Grain Simulation Facility: Fundamental studies of particle formation and interactions. Volume 2: Abstracts, candidate experiments and feasibility study

An overview of the Gas-Grain Simulation Facility (GGSF) project and its current status is provided. The proceedings of the Gas-Grain Simulation Facility Experiments Workshop are recorded. The goal of the workshop was to define experiments for the GGSF--a small particle microgravity research facility. The workshop addressed the opportunity for performing, in Earth orbit, a wide variety of experiments that involve single small particles (grains) or clouds of particles. Twenty experiments from the fields of exobiology, planetary science, astrophysics, atmospheric science, biology, physics, and chemistry were described at the workshop and are outlined in Volume 2. Each experiment description included specific scientific objectives, an outline of the experimental procedure, and the anticipated GGSF performance requirements. Since these experiments represent the types of studies that will ultimately be proposed for the facility, they will be used to define the general science requirements of the GGSF. Also included in the second volume is a physics feasibility study and abstracts of example Gas-Grain Simulation Facility experiments and related experiments in progress