Enhancing resilience through seed system plurality and diversity: challenges and barriers to seed sourcing during (and in spite of) a global pandemic.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have rippled across the United States' (US) agri-food system, illuminating considerable issues. US seed systems, which form the foundation of food production, were particularly marked by panic-buying and heightened safety precautions in seed fulfillment facilities which precipitated a commercial seed sector overwhelmed and unprepared to meet consumer demand for seed, especially for non-commercial growers. In response, prominent scholars have emphasized the need to support both formal (commercial) and informal (farmer- and gardener-managed) seed systems to holistically aid growers across various contexts. However, limited attention to non-commercial seed systems in the US, coupled with a lack of consensus surrounding what exactly a resilient seed system looks like, first warrants an exploration into the strengths and vulnerabilities of existing seed systems. This paper seeks to examine how growers navigated challenges in seed sourcing and how this may reflect the resilience of the seed systems to which they belong. Using a mixed-methods approach which includes data from online surveys (n = 158) and semi-structured interviews (n = 31) with farmers and gardeners in Vermont, findings suggest that growers were able to adapt - albeit through different mechanisms depending on their positionality (commercial or non-commercial) within the agri-food system. However, systemic challenges emerged including a lack of access to diverse, locally adapted, and organic seeds. Insights from this study illuminate the importance of creating linkages between formal and informal seed systems in the US to help growers respond to manifold challenges, as well as promote a robust and sustainable stock of planting material.

The experience of Vermont local food businesses during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the resilience of food system actors at all levels and across all geographies. This study focuses on the experience of Vermont local food businesses by combining two surveys conducted in the first half of 2021: one of foodservice operations that procure food locally and one of Vermont farms that sell directly to consumers. We analyzed descriptive statistics, open responses, and conducted Kruskal-Wallis rank sum tests to assess which factors were related to businesses' financial statuses before and since the pandemic. Pre-pandemic financial status was related with business type, whether the business went on to receive emergency funds, and financial status since the pandemic. The only significant factor for financial status since the pandemic was prepandemic financial status. We close with recommendations for policy and future research.

Time to return to school following ACL reconstruction: influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: ACL reconstruction is commonly performed in school-aged patients for whom missed time from school can have an impact on their education. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to different ways of accessing school content. We sought to determine how many days of school school-aged patients should expect to miss following ACL reconstruction and how the availability of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic affected this. METHODS: We evaluated 53 ACL reconstruction patients in grades 7-12 undergoing surgery during the school year. Demographic, medical, and educational information were collected. Patients were placed into 1 of 2 cohorts: Group A (surgery before the COVID-19 pandemic) or Group B (surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic). We calculated days missed from school after surgery until return to either virtual or in-person school. RESULTS: Overall, patients returned to school after missing an average of 4.4 (SD, 3.0) days of school after ACL reconstruction surgery. Patients in Group A missed an average of 5.5 (SD, 2.9) school days, while patients in Group B missed an average of 2.3 (SD, 1.4) school days (p <.001). Eighty-nine percent of Group B patients first returned to school utilizing a virtual option. Among those returning virtually, these patients missed an average of 1.9 (SD, 0.9) school days. CONCLUSIONS: A virtual distance learning option results in fewer missed days of school post ACL reconstruction. When given this option, school-aged patients can expect to return to school within two days post-op. Otherwise, patients should expect to miss about one week of in-person schooling. In this regard, the COVID-19 pandemic has positively impacted educational opportunities for students post-surgery, and physicians should advocate for continuing virtual options for students receiving medical treatment.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Faculty Technological Knowledge Development at an Academic Medical Center

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the learning environments of 1.3 billion students worldwide, particularly as many traditional, in-person classes moved to virtual learning. This mixed-methods study surveyed and interviewed faculty within a US academic medical center to determine whether the pandemic stimulated technological knowledge growth. While the study collected both quantitative and qualitative data, priority was given to qualitative interview data to control for a small sample size and to gather in-depth insights. Data collection began approximately 18 months after the onset of the pandemic that occurred in spring 2020. Qualitative results garnered five major themes: collective decision-making and individual autonomy, flexible learning in the new normal, challenges with student engagement in the long-distance relationship, faculty well-being in the age of COVID-19, and opportunities evolved from challenges. Quantitative results indicated that significant differences existed between faculty self-rated competency levels of performing technology-related tasks in the pre-pandemic period and in the current period, suggesting technology knowledge gains from the forced transition to online teaching. Future research is needed to survey a broader audience and to determine whether faculty will continue to utilize technological resources learned during this pandemic to supplement in-person teaching as well as to establish a future contingency plan.

Mental models, meaning, & games: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of player meaning making in a complex STEM themed video game

This research addressed increasing understanding of how players make meaning during play of a complex STEM game and explores to what extent player mental models of STEM concepts shift as a result of interacting with the game simulation. Game based learning is attracting increased attention and interest as a novel platform for experiential learning, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The affordances of real-time interactive simulations in video games are being leveraged to create complex games for learning, designed with components arranged to reflect models of real-world systems in physical, biological, and social sciences. To build these models, designers use the complex multimedia nature of video games to encode and represent information in an array of game components with key attributes and relationships with one another, to provide a system that players can interact with to achieve game goals. Much work has been done to study outcomes of learning games in terms of post-intervention knowledge assessments, but relatively little has been done to explore the process of player mental model construction and adaptation at the level of specific interactions with components over time. This research aims to expand understanding of how players make meaning during gameplay in the STEM themed game Oxygen not Included, specifically through their interaction with game objects and their relationships. Using the approach of interpretative phenomenological analysis, in conjunction with formal analysis of gameplay and continuous think-aloud interview techniques, this work endeavored to collect rich qualitative data on player meaning-making processes during gameplay to address the following research questions: What major themes of interpretation can be identified for youth meaning making of knowledge structures in games for learning? To what extent do player mental models of STEM phenomena that are modeled in game shift during play? What are design implications and recommendations for learning game designers based on these results? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Cardiac arrest: An interdisciplinary scoping review of clinical literature from 2020.

Objectives: The Interdisciplinary Cardiac Arrest Research Review (ICARE) group was formed in 2018 to conduct an annual search of peer-reviewed literature relevant to cardiac arrest. Now in its third year, the goals of the review are to highlight annual updates in the interdisciplinary world of clinical cardiac arrest research with a focus on clinically relevant and impactful clinical and population-level studies from 2020. Methods: A search of PubMed using keywords related to clinical research in cardiac arrest was conducted. Titles and abstracts were screened for relevance and sorted into 7 categories: Epidemiology & Public Health Initiatives; Prehospital Resuscitation, Technology & Care; In-Hospital Resuscitation & Post-Arrest Care; Prognostication & Outcomes; Pediatrics; Interdisciplinary Guidelines & Reviews; and a new section dedicated to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Screened manuscripts underwent standardized scoring of methodological quality and impact on the respective fields by reviewer teams lead by a subject matter expert editor. Articles scoring higher than 99 percentiles by category were selected for full critique. Systematic differences between editors' and reviewers' scores were assessed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: A total of 3594 articles were identified on initial search; of these, 1026 were scored after screening for relevance and deduplication, and 51 underwent full critique. The leading category was Prehospital Resuscitation, Technology & Care representing 35% (18/51) of fully reviewed articles. Four COVID-19 related articles were included for formal review that was attributed to a relative lack of high-quality data concerning cardiac arrest and COVID-19 specifically by the end of the 2020 calendar year. No significant differences between editor and reviewer scoring were found among review articles (P = 0.697). Among original research articles, section editors scored a median 1 point (interquartile range, 0-3; P < 0.01) less than reviewers. Conclusions: Several clinically relevant studies have added to the evidence base for the management of cardiac arrest patients including methods for prognostication of neurologic outcome following arrest, airway management strategy, timing of coronary intervention, and methods to improve expeditious performance of key components of resuscitation such as chest compressions in adults and children.

Sensors, Students, and Self: Exploring Knowledge, Self-Efficacy, and Interest Impact of Ocean Sensor Learning on High School Marine Science Students.

This study examined the effect of online technical lessons of how ocean sensors function on student interest in ocean science technology, as well as knowledge gain outcomes. Additionally, the study contributes novel findings to sensor-based learning literature by measuring changes to self-efficacy and confidence gains stemming from sensor-based learning, as well as changes in interest in ocean careers. The area of educational focus was also novel-focusing on how the sensors themselves function, not just what they do. Precipitated by COVID-19 pandemic constraints, the team used a remote learning approach to provide lessons on sensors at a distance, providing an additional opportunity to contrast this approach with previously studied hands-on learning modes. A sample of students from four high school marine science classes completed two assessments both before and after a series of lessons on ocean sensors. This included a self-reported survey (N = 48), and an open-ended knowledge assessment (N = 40). Results showed modest gains in knowledge assessments, and students experienced statistically significant gains in confidence in their ability to explain what sensors are, confidence in their ability to use sensors and understand resulting data, and confidence in accuracy of sensor data (p < 0.05). No changes were observed for several measures of interest in ocean technology, nor were there changes in an already high belief that understanding these sensors is important to marine science careers. Notably, these findings measure a positive shift in several measures of self-efficacy and confidence, which is a new finding for sensor-based learning. The findings also contrast with prior related work that included hands-on activities with sensors, which reported an increase in interest after working with sensors, whereas this intervention did not. This suggests a hands-on component is key to increasing interest in ocean technology.

Families Playing Animal Crossing Together: Coping With Video Games During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic was stressful for everyone, particularly for families who had to supervise and support children, facilitate remote schooling, and manage work and home life. We consider how families coped with pandemic-related stress using the video game Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Combining a family coping framework with theorizing about media as a coping tool, this interview study of 27 families (33 parents and 37 children) found that parents and children individual coped with pandemic-related stress with media. Parents engaged in protective buffering of their children with media, taking on individual responsibility to cope with a collective problem. Families engaged in communal coping, whereby media helped the family cope with a collective problem, taking on shared ownership and responsibility. We provide evidence for video games as coping tools, but with the novel consideration of family coping with media.

Comparison of Estimated Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Seroprevalence Through Commercial Laboratory Residual Sera Testing and a Community Survey.

We compared severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 seroprevalence estimated from commercial laboratory residual sera and a community household survey in metropolitan Atlanta during April and May 2020 and found these 2 estimates to be similar (4.94% vs 3.18%). Compared with more representative surveys, commercial sera can provide an approximate measure of seroprevalence.

COVID-19 tele-mental health: Innovative use in rural behavioral health and criminal justice settings

Tele-mental health (tele-MH) is an important asset in rural areas across the United States where in-person service access can be limited. This resource is even more critical now during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased demand for a virtual alternative to community-based mental health and substance use disorder services. Many individuals are seeking behavioral health services due to distress related to COVID-19, in addition to a new group of individuals in need of these services who have been released from jails and prisons to prevent transmission of the virus within the facilities. Jurisdictions around the country have rapidly implemented and/or expanded tele-MH to continue vital service provision. The authors conducted semistructured phone interviews with five senior-level professionals involved in tele-MH provision across four rural U.S. regions (a six-county region of western Montana;Cumberland County, Maine;Polk County, Iowa;and a 10-county region of western South Dakota) concerning tele-MH services before and since COVID-19, benefits of the expanded technology, challenges to implementation, and any data collected thus far regarding satisfaction and effectiveness of tele-MH. These examples of rural communities that have accelerated policy and programmatic changes around tele-MH may be beneficial for other communities considering tele-MH as well as serve as valuable opportunities for additional evaluation and sustainability post-COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement <strong xmlns:lang="en">Public Significance Statement-This article provides an overview of the particular challenges in rural community behavioral health service delivery since the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as how tele-mental health can assist with addressing these significant needs. The discussion includes program descriptions of four rural areas of the United States that have implemented or expanded tele-mental health in behavioral health and criminal justice system services since the outbreak, which may serve as guidance for other rural communities around the United States. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Seroprevalence of Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in Six Sites in the United States, March 23-May 3, 2020 (preprint)

ImportanceReported cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection likely underestimate the prevalence of infection in affected communities. Large-scale seroprevalence studies provide better estimates of the proportion of the population previously infected. ObjectiveTo estimate prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in convenience samples from several geographic sites in the United States. DesignSerologic testing of convenience samples using residual sera obtained for routine clinical testing by two commercial laboratory companies. SettingConnecticut (CT), south Florida (FL), Missouri (MO), New York City metro region (NYC), Utah (UT), and Washington States (WA) Puget Sound region. ParticipantsPersons of all ages with serum collected during intervals from March 23 through May 3, 2020. ExposureSARS-CoV-2 virus infection. Main outcomes and measuresWe estimated the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using an ELISA assay. We standardized estimates to the site populations by age and sex. Estimates were adjusted for test performance characteristics (96.0% sensitivity and 99.3% specificity). We estimated the number of infections in each site by extrapolating seroprevalence to site populations. We compared estimated infections to number of reported COVID-19 cases as of last specimen collection date. ResultsWe tested sera from 11,933 persons. Adjusted estimates of the proportion of persons seroreactive to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein ranged from 1.13% (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70-1.94) in WA to 6.93% (95% CI 5.02-8.92) in NYC (collected March 23-April 1). For sites with later collection dates, estimates ranged from 1.85% (95% CI 1.00-3.23, collected April 6-10) for FL to 4.94% (95% CI 3.61-6.52) for CT (April 26-May 3). The estimated number of infections ranged from 6 to 24 times the number of reported cases in each site. Conclusions and relevanceOur seroprevalence estimates suggest that for five of six U.S. sites, from late March to early May 2020, >10 times more SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred than the number of reported cases. Seroprevalence and under-ascertainment varied by site and specimen collection period. Most specimens from each site had no evidence of antibody to SARS-CoV-2. Tracking population seroprevalence serially, in a variety of specific geographic sites, will inform models of transmission dynamics and guide future community-wide public health measures. Key findingsO_ST_ABSQuestionC_ST_ABSWhat proportion of persons in six U.S. sites had detectable antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, March 23-May 3, 2020? FindingsWe tested 11,933 residual clinical specimens. We estimate that from 1.1% of persons in the Puget Sound to 6.9% in New York City (collected March 23-April 1) had detectable antibodies. Estimates ranged from 1.9% in south Florida to 4.9% in Connecticut with specimens collected during intervals from April 6-May 3. Six to 24 times more infections were estimated per site with seroprevalence than with case report data. MeaningFor most sites, evidence suggests >10 times more SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred than reported cases. Most persons in each site likely had no detectable SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.