Process Evaluation of an Academic Dissemination and Implementation Science Capacity Building Program

The UC San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute Dissemination and Implementation Science Center (DISC) launched in 2020 to provide dissemination and implementation science (DIS) training, technical assistance, community engagement, and research advancement. DISC developed a program-wide logic model to inform a process evaluation of member engagement and impact related to DISC services. The DISC Logic Model (DLM) served as the framework for a process evaluation capturing quantitative and qualitative information about scientific activities, outputs, and outcomes. The evaluation involved a multimethod approach with surveys, attendance tracking, feedback forms, documentation of grant outcomes, and promotions metrics (e.g., Twitter engagement). There were 540 DISC Members at the end of year 2 of the DISC. Engagement in the DISC was high with nearly all members endorsing at least one scientific activity. Technical assistance offerings such as DISC Journal Club and consultation were most frequently used. The most common scientific outputs were grant submission (65, 39%), formal mentoring for career award (40, 24%), and paper submission (34, 21%). The DLM facilitated a comprehensive process evaluation of our center. Actionable steps include prioritizing technical assistance, strengthening networking opportunities, identifying streamlined approaches to facilitate DIS grant writing through writing workshops, as well as office hours or organized writing leagues

The lure of lacquer : examining the mania for Japan in France and England during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

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Risk and protective factors for adolescent substance use

The objective of this study was to assess the degree to which a set of 17 psychosocial variables could predict group membership of adolescent substance users versus adolescent non-users of substances. Past research has shown each of these 17 variables in isolation to be related to adolescent substance use. However, they have not been studied collectively in a manner allowing prioritization of their predictive strength. Variables that accurately predict substance use are labeled "risk factors", whereas variables that accurately predict non-use are labeled "protective factors". The total sample consisted of 429 central-Saskatchewan adolescents in Grades 8-12. A subgroup of the total sample consisted of youth tested in a Saskatoon residential addictions clinic; this subgroup (Group 3) constituted the clinical sample. Youth who were tested in their schools comprised the non-clinical sample; this sample was split into subgroups of substance users (Group 2) and non-users (Group 1), dependent upon participant responses to questions assessing substance use behaviors. A series of discriminant function analyses (DFAs) were conducted, in an attempt: (1) to predict group membership of non-users (Group 1) versus all users (Groups 2 and 3); and (2) to predict group membership of non-clinical users (Group 2) versus clinical users (Group 3). For the first classification (Group 1 versus Groups 2/3), a set of variables emerged which yielded excellent predictive accuracy, both within and across the groups. Conversely, for the second classification (Group 2 versus Group 3), none of the variables demonstrated predictive strength from either a statistical or clinical perspective. Subsequent to these classifications, two sets of post-hoc DFAs were conducted, in an attempt: (1) to predict group membership of non-users (Group 1) versus non-clinical users (Group 2); and (2) to predict group membership of non-users (Group 1) versus clinical users (Group 3). Both sets of post-hoc DFAs yielded good to excellent correct classification rates. All results are discussed both in terms of susceptibility to problematic substance use, and practical implications for addressing this issue

Testosterone administration inhibits gonadotropin secretion by an effect directly on the human pituitary

Testosterone (T) administration slows LH pulse frequency in man, presumably by an effect on the hypothalamic GnRH pulse generator, but it also may have a direct action on the pituitary. To determine if T does indeed affect gonadotropin secretion by acting directly on the pituitary, we studied the effect of T on GnRH-stimulated gonadotropin secretion. Six men with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism were treated with physiological doses of GnRH (5 micrograms every 2 h, sc by automatic infusion pump) for 6 weeks. Once their gonadotropin levels were normal, the men received a supraphysiological dosage of T enanthate (200 mg, im, weekly for 8 weeks) in addition to GnRH. They then received GnRH alone for a final 8-week period. Blood sampling was performed every 10 min for 8 h at the end of each of the three study periods. T administration suppressed the mean serum LH level to about 50% of the value during GnRH alone [18 +/- 2 (+/- SE) vs. 37 +/- 2 micrograms/L; P less than 0.05] and suppressed the mean serum FSH level to about 30% of the value during GnRH alone (39 +/- 6 vs. 128 +/- 28 micrograms/L; P less than 0.05). Eight weeks after stopping T, while continuing GnRH alone, serum LH and FSH levels were similar to those at the end of the first period of GnRH administration. The mean LH response to GnRH was reduced during T administration (17 +/- 3 micrograms/L) compared to that during the initial period of GnRH alone (31 +/- 4 micrograms/L; P less than 0.05). Serum T and estradiol levels were in the low normal range after GnRH alone before T administration (11 +/- 2 nmol/L and 105 +/- 17 pmol/L, respectively) and increased to just above the normal adult ranges after 8 weeks of T administration (36 +/- 5 nmol/L and 264 +/- 49 pmol/L, respectively). These results demonstrate that T and/or its metabolites inhibit LH and FSH secretion by a GnRH-independent mechanism, probably directly on the pituitary gland, in man