Promoting RAPID Vaccine Science Education at the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

At the onset of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, it was clear that we needed to support public education on the science of vaccines. This project was born of that need and led to the development of comprehensive educational materials that addressed the process of science, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 biology, vaccine development, and science communication and outreach. Called the “Online Vaccine Science Resources for COVID-19 Education,” the materials generated were designed to be implemented by educators and community groups in various contexts. They took the form of four modules and general audience informational videos available on a YouTube channel. Each module was assembled as a toolkit with instructional videos, assessments, discussion questions, assignments, synthesis activities, and guides for constructing infographics and dual poster (science and general public audience) presentations. The materials were piloted and tested in various educational settings, including 2-year and 4-year colleges. Data gathered from surveys of faculty and student participants suggested that exposure to the materials promoted student trust in vaccination and the scientific process of vaccine development, and increased the likelihood of their getting a freely available vaccine. Assessment data indicated that the materials were successful in helping students achieve the learning objectives for the modules. Our results underscored the continued need for science education strategies that address the critical problem of vaccine hesitancy as we continue to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic

Virtual Canine Lameness: the development of a training tool

Lameness is commonly encountered in veterinary practice, however precise visual lameness detection requires experience. This skill is challenging to teach: exposure of students to many patients is needed to learn the necessary perceptual skills; however patients might not be readily available. Video recordings of patients can be useful, but depend on the quality of recording and variety of cases available. They are limited to two dimensional views which don’t fully replicate a real-life three dimensional examination. Following on the success of an equine lameness training tool (www.lamenesstrainer.com) developed at the Royal Veterinary College; a 3D virtual canine lameness tool is being developed to teach students to reliably recognize canine lameness. We collected 3D motion capture data from 10 non-lame Labrador retrievers at walk and trot on a treadmill. Data were captured using eight Oqus7 cameras (Qualisys, Sweden). The movement of these dogs was recorded based on 32 reflective markers positioned over key anatomical locations. Marker positions for twenty steady strides for one dog were averaged to drive the skeleton movement of a matching 3D dog model in Autodesk MotionBuilder. The final clips were rendered to show a realistic-looking shaded wireframe of the dog model at normal walk and trot. Varying types and degrees of lameness were then introduced to this animation based on previous kinematic studies. Next stages of work will involve the inclusion of this model in a tool to enable it to be used for veterinary education; once validated it will be released as an Open Educational Resource

Pennsylvania Folklife Vol. 34, No. 2

• A Fiddler\u27s Life • An Interpretation of Some Ritual and Food Elements of the Brethren Love Feast • Pottery Making in Quakertown: 1800-1879 • Teddy Bears: An Enduring Folk Tradition • Lucia Day • Dippy, Son of Puddin\u27 • Persecution and Genocide: The General Problem as Illustrated by the Anabaptist Experiencehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/pafolklifemag/1106/thumbnail.jp

An approach to address probabilistic assumptions on the availability of safety systems for deterministic safety analysis

[EN] There is an attempt nowadays to provide a more comprehensive and realistic safety assessment of design and operation of Nuclear Power Plants. In this context, innovative approaches are being proposed for safety assessment of nuclear power plants design including both design basis conditions and design extension conditions. An area of research aims at developing methods for combining insights from probabilistic and deterministic safety analyses in Option 4, also called realistic approach, from the International Atomic Energy Agency specific safety guide. The development of Option 4 or realistic approach involves the adoption of best estimate computer codes, best estimate assumptions on systems availability and best estimate of initial and boundary conditions for the safety analysis. This paper focusses on providing the fundamentals and practical implementation of an approach to integrate PSA-based probabilistic models and data, which incorporate best estimate assumptions on the availability of safety systems, into Option 4. It is presented a practical approach to identify relevant, i.e. most probable, configurations of safety systems and to assess the associated occurrence probability of each configuration using PSA models and data of a NPP, which is based on the use of a Pure Monte Carlo method. An example of application is provided to demonstrate how this approach performs. The case study focusses on an accident scenario corresponding to the initiating event Loss Of Feed Water (LOFW) for a typical three-loops Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) NPP.Authors are grateful to the Spanish CSN (Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear) for the financial support of this research (Research Project SIN/4078/2013/640; MASA Project).Martorell Alsina, SS.; Martorell-Aygues, P.; Martón Lluch, I.; Sánchez Galdón, AI.; Carlos Alberola, S. (2017). An approach to address probabilistic assumptions on the availability of safety systems for deterministic safety analysis. Reliability Engineering & System Safety. 160:136-150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2016.12.009S13615016

Using smart meters to estimate low voltage losses

Losses on low voltage networks are often substantial. For example, in the UK they have been estimated as being 4% of the energy supplied by low voltage networks. However, the breakdown of the losses to individual conductors and their split over time are poorly understood as generally only the peak demands and average loads over several months have been recorded. The introduction of domestic smart meters has the potential to change this. How domestic smart meter readings can be used to estimate the actual losses is analysed. In particular, the accuracy of using 30 minute readings compared with 1 minute readings, and how this accuracy could be improved, were investigated. This was achieved by assigning the data recorded by 100 smart meters with a time resolution of 1 minute to three test networks. Smart meter data from three sources were used in the investigation. It was found that 30 minute resolution data underestimated the losses by between 9% and 24%. By fitting an appropriate model to the data, it was possible to reduce the inaccuracy by approximately 50%. Having a smart meter time resolution of 10 minutes rather than 30 gave little improvement to the accuracy

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae dispersal from sinks is linked to drain position and drainage rates in a laboratory model system.

BACKGROUND: Hospital sinks, waste traps and drains can harbour carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). AIM: To investigate the dispersal of CRE from sinks in which water delivered from the tap flows directly into the drain and from clinical handwash basins with the drain at the rear. The effect of fast and slow drainage rates was also assessed. METHODS: Waste traps, known to be colonized with CRE, were taken from a hospital and installed within a model laboratory system. New waste traps were also installed and artificially inoculated with CRE. The potential for bacteria to be dispersed from sinks was assessed using cyclone air samplers and/or settle plates. FINDINGS: When the waste traps were artificially contaminated and CRE colonization was confined to the waste trap water, significantly fewer bacteria were dispersed from sinks that drained quickly (P = 0.004) and/or from rear-draining sinks (P = 0.002). When the waste traps were naturally contaminated and CRE colonized the trap, pipework and drain, there was significant interaction between sink drainage and position of the drain (P < 0.001). When drainage was slow, dispersal from rear-draining sinks was almost 30-fold less than from sinks with the drain underneath the tap (P < 0.001). When drainage was fast, rear-draining sinks again released comparatively fewer CRE, although, in this case, the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.7). Contaminated splashes travelled up to 1 m from the sink. CONCLUSION: Slow drainage rates and sink designs with the drain directly underneath the tap increase the risk of CRE present in waste traps and drains contaminating the ward environment

Prediction of poor clinical outcome in vascular cognitive impairment: TRACE-VCI study

INTRODUCTION: Prognostication in memory clinic patients with vascular brain injury (eg possible vascular cognitive impairment [VCI]) is often uncertain. We created a risk score to predict poor clinical outcome. METHODS: Using data from two longitudinal cohorts of memory clinic patients with vascular brain injury without advanced dementia, we created (n = 707) and validated (n = 235) the risk score. Poor clinical outcome was defined as substantial cognitive decline (change of Clinical Dementia Rating ≥1 or institutionalization) or major vascular events or death. Twenty‐four candidate predictors were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard models. RESULTS: Age, clinical syndrome diagnosis, Disability Assessment for Dementia, Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and medial temporal lobe atrophy most strongly predicted poor outcome and constituted the risk score (C‐statistic 0.71; validation cohort 0.78). Of note, none of the vascular predictors were retained in this model. The 2‐year risk of poor outcome was 6.5% for the lowest (0‐5) and 55.4% for the highest sum scores (10‐13). DISCUSSION: This is the first, validated, prediction score for 2‐year clinical outcome of patients with possible VCI

Development of a measure of the patient-provider relationship in antenatal care and its importance in PMTCT

The prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) is a complex challenge in heavily affected and resource-limited settings such as South Africa. Management of PMTCT requires a cascade of interventions that need to be addressed to effectively decrease the risk of HIV transmission to infants. This PMTCT cascade includes incremental components that can be shaped and influenced by the patient provider relationship. The relationship that a pregnant woman has with her care providers may possibly affect decisions that she makes concerning her antenatal care and may, in turn, influence the quality of the care provided. A patient provider relationship scale (PPRS) was developed in Pretoria, South Africa with two aims: first, to quantify the patient provider relationship in an antenatal population in a resource-limited setting and provide preliminary evidence of its reliability and validity; and second, to determine whether the patient provider relationship has an effect on PMTCT. The instrument was administrated in a cross-sectional pilot study to a group of women at discharge after delivery (n 192) at two major hospitals in South West Tshwane. Statistical analysis of the instrument showed high reliability (a 0.91) and preliminary evidence of its validity including significant associations with participants’ attitudes regarding the functioning of the clinics and a single statement (the clinic staff ‘‘know me as a person,’’ R 0.47, pB0.001) that has been shown previously to have a significant association with adherence to antiretroviral treatment. For HIV-positive participants, the PPRS was significantly associated with statements related to important components of the PMTCT cascade. In addition, those with substantially inadequate antenatal care (52 visits) and those who did not initiate highly active antiretroviral therapy, although eligible, had significantly poorer PPRS scores. The PPRS is a potentially useful, context-appropriate instrument that could have an important role in future research focused on improving PMTCT and decreasing the risk of HIV infection in children.The Wilbur G. Downs International Health Student Travel Fellowship and Yale School of Medicine Office of Student Research grants.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/caic2

The impact of group prenatal care on pregnancy and postpartum weight trajectories

The objective of the study was to investigate whether group prenatal care (Centering Pregnancy Plus [CP+]) has an impact on pregnancy weight gain and postpartum weight loss trajectories and to determine whether prenatal depression and distress might moderate these trajectories