Poster Session - STREAMS: Improving Student Success in STEM at Bridgewater State University

STREAMS, an NSF-STEP grant held by Bridgewater State University, implements best-practice approaches to increasing the number of STEM graduates. STREAMS interventions include a summer bridge program, a mentoring program, curricular changes promoting inquiry-based teaching, Structured Learning Assistance in gateway courses, a Residential Learning Community, and better transfer student advising and articulation. This presentation will focus on the assessment strategies that encourage curricular change and evidence of increased student success in science and math at Bridgewater

Helicopter EMS Transport Outcomes Literature: Annotated Review of Articles Published 2007–2011

Helicopter EMS (HEMS) and its possible association with outcomes improvement continues to be a subject of discussion. As is the case with other scientific discourse, debate over HEMS usefulness should be framed around an evidence-based assessment of the relevant literature. In an effort to facilitate the academic pursuit of assessment of HEMS utility, in late 2000 the National Association of EMS Physicians' (NAEMSP) Air Medical Task Force prepared annotated bibliographies of the HEMS-related outcomes literature. As a result of that work, two review articles, one covering HEMS use in nontrauma and the other in trauma, published in 2002 in Prehospital Emergency Care surveyed HEMS outcomes-related literature published between 1980 and mid-2000. The project was extended with two subsequent reviews covering the literature through 2006. This review continues the series, outlining outcomes-associated HEMS literature for the three-year period 2007 through the first half of 2011

Cardiovascular risk assessments at occupational health services: employee experiences

Background: Across England in the UK, population screening for cardiovascular disease (CVD) primarily takes place within general practice in the form of the National Health Service Health Check. Additional screening sites such as occupational health are advocated to improve the population impact. Aims: To investigate participant experiences with cardiovascular and type 2 diabetes risk assessment (RA) at occupational health and subsequent support-seeking at general practice. Methods: Face-to-face interviews were conducted for this qualitative study. Participants were recruited at three workplaces; a steel works and two hospital sites. Using interpretive phenomenological analyses, themes were drawn from salient narratives and categorically organized. Results: There were 29 participants. Themes (n = 16) were organized into two domains; factors that facilitated (n = 9) or thwarted (n = 7) participant engagement with the RA and general practice. All participants described the RA as worthwhile and strongly valued RA at occupational health. Those with obesity and high CVD risk highlighted their difficulties in making lifestyle changes. Participants reported confusion and anxiety when GP advice about medication appeared to contradict what participants had interpreted during RA at occupational health. Conclusions: This study highlights factors that facilitate or thwart engagement in cardiovascular RA at occupational health services and general practice follow-up. Stakeholders can integrate these factors into standard operating procedures to enhance participant engagement and enable safeguards that minimize potential harm to participants

Full-Length, Glycosylated NSP4 is Localized to Plasma Membrane Caveolae by a Novel Raft Isolation Technique

Rotavirus NSP4, initially characterized as an endoplasmic reticulum intracellular receptor, is a multifunctional viral enterotoxin that induces diarrhea in murine pups. There have been recent reports of the secretion of a cleaved NSP4 fragment (residues 112 to 175) and of the association of NSP4 with LC3-positive autophagosomes, raft membranes, and microtubules. To determine if NSP4 traffics to a specific subset of rafts at the plasma membrane, we isolated caveolae from plasma membrane-enriched material that yielded caveola membranes free of endoplasmic reticulum and nonraft plasma membrane markers. Analyses of the newly isolated caveolae from rotavirus-infected MDCK cells revealed full-length, high-mannose glycosylated NSP4. The lack of Golgi network-specific processing of the caveolar NSP4 glycans supports studies showing that NSP4 bypasses the Golgi apparatus. Confocal imaging showed the colocalization of NSP4 with caveolin-1 early and late in infection, elucidating the temporal and spatial NSP4-caveolin-1 association during infection. These data were extended with fluorescent resonance energy transfer analyses that confirmed the NSP4 and caveolin-1 interaction in that the specific fluorescently tagged antibodies were within 10 nm of each other during infection. Cells transfected with NSP4 showed patterns of staining and colocalization with caveolin-1 similar to those of infected cells. This study presents an endoplasmic reticulum contaminant-free caveola isolation protocol; describes the presence of full-length, endoglycosidase H-sensitive NSP4 in plasma membrane caveolae; provides confirmation of the NSP4-caveolin interaction in the presence and absence of other viral proteins; and provides a final plasma membrane destination for Golgi network-bypassing NSP4 transport

Assessment of the impact of the scanner-related factors on brain morphometry analysis with Brainvisa.

BACKGROUND: Brain morphometry is extensively used in cross-sectional studies. However, the difference in the estimated values of the morphometric measures between patients and healthy subjects may be small and hence overshadowed by the scanner-related variability, especially with multicentre and longitudinal studies. It is important therefore to investigate the variability and reliability of morphometric measurements between different scanners and different sessions of the same scanner. METHODS: We assessed the variability and reliability for the grey matter, white matter, cerebrospinal fluid and cerebral hemisphere volumes as well as the global sulcal index, sulcal surface and mean geodesic depth using Brainvisa. We used datasets obtained across multiple MR scanners at 1.5 T and 3 T from the same groups of 13 and 11 healthy volunteers, respectively. For each morphometric measure, we conducted ANOVA analysis and verified whether the estimated values were significantly different across different scanners or different sessions of the same scanner. The between-centre and between-visit reliabilities were estimated from their contribution to the total variance, using a random-effects ANOVA model. To estimate the main processes responsible for low reliability, the results of brain segmentation were compared to those obtained using FAST within FSL. RESULTS: In a considerable number of cases, the main effects of both centre and visit factors were found to be significant. Moreover, both between-centre and between-visit reliabilities ranged from poor to excellent for most morphometric measures. A comparison between segmentation using Brainvisa and FAST revealed that FAST improved the reliabilities for most cases, suggesting that morphometry could benefit from improving the bias correction. However, the results were still significantly different across different scanners or different visits. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that for morphometry analysis with the current version of Brainvisa using data from multicentre or longitudinal studies, the scanner-related variability must be taken into account and where possible should be corrected for. We also suggest providing some flexibility to Brainvisa for a step-by-step analysis of the robustness of this package in terms of reproducibility of the results by allowing the bias corrected images to be imported from other packages and bias correction step be skipped, for example.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Sound Coiled-Tubing Drilling Practices

This Coiled-Tubing Drilling (CTD) Sound Practices Manual provides tools needed by CTD engineers and supervisors to plan, design and perform safe, successful CTD operations. As emphasized throughout, both careful planning and attention to detail are mandatory for success. A bibliography of many useful CTD references is presented in Chapter 6. This manual is organized according to three processes: 1) Pre-Job Planning Process, 2) Operations Execution Process, and 3) Post-Job Review Process. Each is discussed in a logical and sequential format

Predicted 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease is influenced by the risk equation adopted: a cross-sectional analysis

Background Validated risk equations are currently recommended to assess individuals to determine those at ‘high risk’ of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, there is no longer a risk ‘equation of choice’. Aim This study examined the differences between four commonly-used CVD risk equations. Design and setting Cross-sectional analysis of individuals who participated in a workplace-based risk assessment in Carmarthenshire, south Wales. Method Analysis of 790 individuals (474 females, 316 males) with no prior diagnosis of CVD or diabetes. Ten-year CVD risk was predicted by entering the relevant variables into the QRISK2, Framingham Lipids, Framingham BMI, and JBS2 risk equations. Results The Framingham BMI and JBS2 risk equations predicted a higher absolute risk than the QRISK2 and Framingham Lipids equations, and CVD risk increased concomitantly with age irrespective of which risk equation was adopted. Only a small proportion of females (0–2.1%) were predicted to be at high risk of developing CVD using any of the risk algorithms. The proportion of males predicted at high risk ranged from 5.4% (QRISK2) to 20.3% (JBS2). After age stratification, few differences between isolated risk factors were observed in males, although a greater proportion of males aged ≥50 years were predicted to be at ‘high risk’ independent of risk equation used. Conclusions Different risk equations can influence the predicted 10-year CVD risk of individuals. More males were predicted at ‘high risk’ using the JBS2 or Framingham BMI equations. Consideration should also be given to the number of isolated risk factors, especially in younger adults when evaluating CVD risk

Improving patient experiences of mental health inpatient care : a randomised controlled trial

Poorer patient views of mental health inpatient treatment predict both further admissions and, for those admitted involuntarily, longer admissions. As advocated in the UK Francis report, we investigated the hypothesis that improving staff training improves patients’ views of ward care.Cluster randomised trial with stepped wedge design in 16 acute mental health wards randomised (using the ralloc procedure in Stata) by an independent statistician in three waves to staff training. A psychologist trained ward staff on evidence-based group interventions and then supported their introduction to each ward. The main outcome was blind self-report of perceptions of care (VOICE) before or up to 2 years after staff training between November 2008 and January 2013.In total, 1108 inpatients took part (616 admitted involuntarily under the English Mental Health Act). On average 51.6 staff training sessions were provided per ward. Involuntary patient's perceptions of, and satisfaction with, mental health wards improved after staff training (N582, standardised effect −0·35, 95% CI −0·57 to −0·12, p = 0·002; interaction p value 0·006) but no benefit to those admitted voluntarily (N469, −0.01, 95% CI −0.23 to 0.22, p = 0.955) and no strong evidence of an overall effect (N1058, standardised effect −0.18 s.d., 95% CI −0.38 to 0.01, p = 0.062). The training costs around £10 per patient per week. Resource allocation changed towards patient perceived meaningful contacts by an average of £12 (95% CI −£76 to £98, p = 0.774).Staff training improved the perceptions of the therapeutic environment in those least likely to want an inpatient admission, those formally detained. This change might enhance future engagement with all mental health services and prevent the more costly admissions

Helicopter EMS beyond Trauma: Utilization of Air Transport for Non-Trauma Conditions

ABSTRACT Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) use in civilian medical transport has its roots in the use of rotor-wing trauma transport in the military setting. Much of the literature and evidence based on the use of HEMS is therefore related to scene and interfacility transport of injured patients. Regionalization of care and increased understanding of timecriticality of various non-trauma conditions has contributed to growing utilization of HEMS for non-trauma conditions over recent decades. It is common for HEMS to be utilized for a variety of non-trauma situations ranging from neonatal and obstetrics transports to cardiac and stroke transports. The purpose of this review is to overview the use of HEMS for non-trauma, focusing on situations in which there is evidence addressing possible HEMS utility

A Pilot Study to Evaluate Haemostatic Function, following Shock Wave Lithotripsy (SWL) for the Treatment of Solitary Kidney Stones

Original Research ArticlePurpose: The number of patients undergoing shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) in the UK for solitary unilateral kidney stones is increasing annually. The development of postoperative complications such as haematuria and sepsis following SWL is likely to increase. Comparing a range of biological markers with the aim of monitoring or predicting postoperative complications following SWL has not been extensively researched. The main purpose of this pilot-study was to test the hypothesis that SWL results in changes to haemostatic function. Subsequently, this pilot-study would form a sound basis to undertake future investigations involving larger cohorts. Methods: Twelve patients undergoing SWL for solitary unilateral kidney stones were recruited. From patients (8 male and 4 females) aged between 31–72 years (median—43 years), venous blood samples were collected pre-operatively (baseline), at 30, 120 and 240 minutes postoperatively. Specific haemostatic biomarkers [platelet counts, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), fibrinogen, D-dimer, von Willebrand Factor (vWF), sE-selectin and plasma viscosity (PV)] were measured. Results: Platelet counts and fibrinogen concentration were significantly decreased following SWL (p = 0.027 and p = 0.014 respectively), while D-dimer and vWF levels significantly increased following SWL (p = 0.019 and p = 0.001 respectively). PT, APTT, sE-selectin and PV parameters were not significantly changed following SWL (p>0.05). Conclusions: Changes to specific biomarkers such as plasma fibrinogen and vWF suggest that these represent a more clinically relevant assessment of the extent of haemostatic involvement following SWL. Analysis of such markers, in the future, may potentially provide valuable data on “normal” response after lithotripsy, and could be expanded to identify or predict those patients at risk of coagulopathy following SWL. The validation and reliability will be assessed through the assessment of larger cohorts.The authors would like to acknowledge the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) and the University of Chester (Research & Knowledge Transfer Office) for their financial support