Genetic Counselor’s Attitudes Toward Continuing Education Options

With various aspects of contemporary clinical practice and the rapidly growing field of genomic medicine, genetic counselors are responsible for meeting ever-changing demands of providing up-to-date healthcare services. Continuing education and recertification play a significant role in this process. This study assessed genetic counselors’ attitudes towards continuing education options. A web-based survey was sent to NSGC members resulting in 358 responses. Respondents rated current continuing education options as “mildly convenient” and “mildly transferable” to daily practice. The three continuing education options can be ranked according to convenience, from most to least, as follows: Category 1; PACs; Category 2. The options can also be ranked from most transferable to least transferable as follows: Category 1; PACs; Category 2. Open-ended responses showed recurrent themes across all credit types including process feedback and content feedback such as convenience, usefulness, and challenges. Another important theme was an underlying lack of knowledge surrounding continuing education options and processes. Providing more accessible information on continuing education options, cost management, and content review were identified as potential mechanisms for supporting effective continuing education. These findings are the first step towards verifying that genetic counselors believe efficient and effective continuing education is available and applicable to their work. We would encourage future research to investigate the impact of continuing education on genetic counselor’s competence and expertise. Potential topics for future investigation include long-term cost management of continuing education fees and efficacy of current options, with a focus on conference-based learning

It's never too late to publish an abandoned trial

It is estimated that half of all trials have never been published which can lead to patients being denied the most effective treatment and being exposed to unnecessary side effects. Furthermore the trial participants have been misinformed since the trial results have not contributed to the care of future patients. However the non-publication of trials is often not due to a deliberate decision to cover up results. Commonly in academia it is due to more understandable reasons such as researchers having busy clinical posts, moving onto other more demanding projects, changing research areas or starting a family. This is called the “file drawer” problem. The examples in this editorial demonstrate that it is possible to go back, even decades later, and make the results available to inform future evidence based medicine. We call on others to look into their “file drawer” for unpublished trials

A strategic framework for effective sketch modeling

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2018.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (page 35).MIT's undergraduate mechanical engineering capstone class titled 2.009: The product Engineering Process introduces students to the process and tools used by designers to successfully design a product. One of the main skills introduced to students is prototyping as a means of learning about and communicating a product vision. Early stage prototypes, called "sketch models" in 2.009, are made and used in the concept selection phase to explore and validate the design teams concepts. At this point students are new to the design process and unsure of how to develop physical models that are not merely physical representation of their concepts but also tools for exploring, answering design questions and validating a concept. To help students arrive at more effective sketch models this framework has been developed to outline a set of actionable steps that allow students to apply key concepts in the design process to their sketch models. The first portion of the framework focuses on guiding students to arriving at a useful and strategic learning objective for the sketch model. Students are first guided to consider four main areas of concern for concept validation: market, feasibility, scope and customer need in order to target major areas of uncertainty in their concept. To focus on questions that directly relate to a physical model, the next level of consideration focuses on appearance, user experience and functionality of the concept. Lastly, students use the criteria of uncertainty, criticalness to concept validation, and learning potential to prioritize questions for the current design phase. The second portion of the framework suggest the use of examples of other sketch models with similar learning objectives to demonstrate how models have answered similar questions to those that the design team has proposed. Grouped by their physical area of exploration and categorization as "looks like" or "works like" models, a set of examples will conceptually demonstrate how to make their sketch models effective in answering similar design questions.by Emma Pearl Willmer-Shiles.S.B

Argonne National Laboratory Reports

Measurements of the optical properties of metallic aluminum are reviewed and available data are analyzed to obtain the bulk values of the optical constants and the complex dielectric function from 0.04 eV to 10 keV. The intra- and interband contributions to the dielectric function are discussed briefly, and recently proposed values for the Drude parameters describing the intraband absorption are critically considered. Factors influencing experimental measurements are discussed with emphasis on sample properties such as surface oxide layers, bulk inclusion of gases, surface roughness, and degree of crystallinity. The results of recent optical measurements are tabulated, along with recommended values of the optical properties resulting from a self-consistent Kramers-Kronig analysis of reflectance, transmission, and electron-energy-loss studies. The tabular data include the complex dielectric function, the complex index of refraction, and the reflectance and phase shift for normal incidence on a smooth, oxide-free surface. Detailed tabulations are given for the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum

Thick film Tl-1223 conductors; processing, microstructure and superconducting properties

Tl-1223 thick films have been fabricated using 2 techniques; electro-phoretic deposition (EPD) of Tl0.78Bi0.22(Sr0.8Ba0.2)(2)Ca2Cu3Ox powder and spray pyrolysis of a precursor film followed by thallination. A partial melt process was used for EPD tapes to improve grain connectivity and increase the grain size and some c-axis alignment was achieved. For spray pyrolised tapes, Sr substitution was found to be essential to stabilize the 1223 phase and good c-axis alignment was observed

Safety and Tolerability of Pharmacological Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: Comprehensive Review of Evidence

Alcohol use disorders (AUD) cause significant morbidity and mortality worldwide, but pharmacological treatments for them are underused, despite evidence of efficacy. Acamprosate, naltrexone, nalmefene and disulfiram are all approved in one or more region for the treatment of alcohol use disorders. Baclofen currently has a temporary indication in France. Safety considerations for using psychopharmacological treatments in this patient group include the impact of concurrent alcohol consumption at high levels, multiple physical comorbidities which may interfere with pharmacological effects, distribution and metabolism, and concomitant medication for the treatment of comorbid physical and psychiatric conditions. The five drugs, including an extended-release injectable suspension of naltrexone, have different safety profiles which need to be balanced with the objective of treatment (initiation or continuation of abstinence, or reduction of drinking), individual patient preferences and comorbid conditions. Appropriate treatment will be based on the unique risk- benefit profile in each case.<br/