An Innovative Approach to Deliver Student-Directed Livestream Simulations During a Pandemic.

ABSTRACT: University and facility closures because of COVID-19 required nursing programs to develop innovative ways to ensure students met clinical hour requirements, standards, and expectations. One rural university utilized student-directed livestream virtual simulation sessions that included synchronous prebriefing, student-directed simulation activity, and immediate debriefing. Students were anonymously surveyed for feedback and evaluation of the activities. Students reported the sessions were helpful for learning and required use of prioritization, clinical judgment, and communication/collaboration skills. Other responses included communication issues, audiovisual issues, and low realism, which prompted future recommendations.

PCR Testing of Media Placed in Soiled Bedding as a Method for Mouse Colony Health Surveillance.

Rodent colony health surveillance has traditionally been accomplished by testing sentinel animals that have been exposed to soiled bedding from colony animals. Collecting samples from exhaust plenums on ventilated caging systems, followed by PCR analysis, has emerged as another promising method for health surveillance. However, environmental testing at the rack level is not effective for all ventilated rack designs. In this study, we tested whether media placed in soiled bedding is effective in detecting 3 adventitious agents: mouse norovirus (MNV), Helicobacter spp., and fur mites. Soiled bedding was collected from pathogen-positive colony mice and distributed to traditional sentinel mouse cages and mouse-free experimental cages every 1 to 2 wk for static and ventilated cages, respectively. Experimental cages contained 10 flocked swabs ('passive swabs') and 1 piece of filter media. After 90 d, fresh feces, pelage swabs, and blood were collected from the sentinel cages, and the passive swabs and filter media were collected from the experimental cages. Concurrently, 10 additional flocked swabs ('active swabs') were stirred through the cumulated soiled bedding of each experimental cage. Sentinel mice were positive for MNV and Helicobacter spp., but negative for fur mites by pelage swab PCR. All samples from experimental cages were positive for Helicobacter spp. and fur mites in both caging types. For MNV, passive swabs were most effective at detection (100%), followed by active swabs (80% to 100%) and filter media (60% to 80%). These findings suggest that testing media in pooled soiled bedding samples is more effective than traditional sentinel methods for colony health surveillance and is a viable option when sampling at the rack level is ineffective.

Outcome assessment of a triangular clinic as a harm reduction intervention in Rajaee-Shahr Prison, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among incarcerated injection drug users (IDU) is a health epidemic in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Triangular clinics (TCs) were established in prisons as a harm reduction measure to decrease the risk of HIV transmission and other blood-borne infections. The objective of this study was to assess the immediate outcomes of one TC among male IDUs in Iran's Rajaee-Shahr prison. METHODS: This study was conducted in two stages between 2003 and 2005. In the preparatory stage, focus group data was collected to update the prison's TC education and medical interventions and construct the self-report questionnaire. In stage two, 150 male IDUs were recruited in a closed cohort study design to assess the immediate outcome of the TC. Participants were measured at baseline and followed up to six months to measure their drug use, attitude toward and knowledge of high risk behaviours, serological conversion for HIV, HBV and HCV, and engagement in risky behaviors. The TC outcomes were determined through random urine analysis testing, a self-administered questionnaire and behaviour report cards, and viral infection testing. RESULTS: The findings of the urine analyses indicated a minimal yet consistent decrease in drug use over the six months. The pre and post- self-administered questionnaire data relayed a modest change in IDU risky behaviours associated with sexual practices; this was greater in comparison to the knowledge and attitude measures. It was determined that age may have a detrimental effect as may viral infections (HIV and HBV) on knowledge, attitude and behavior change. Both education and employment may have a protective effect. Data collected from the self-report behaviour cards similarly showed a modest reduction in high risk practices. At the six month follow-up, only one case became HIV positive, 9 HCV and 17 HBV. CONCLUSIONS: Considering that HIV is concentrated among Iranian prisoners who inject drugs at a high level, the results of this study indicate that TCs are a possible effective intervention. However, many prisoners continued with risky behaviors even if they were participating in harm reduction measures, such as methadone maintenance therapy.

Researching Prescription Drug Misuse among First Nations in Canada: Starting from a Health Promotion Framework.

The intentional misuse of psychotropic drugs is recognized as a significant public health concern in Canada, although there is a lack of empirical research detailing this. Even less research has been documented on the misuse of prescription drugs among First Nations in Canada. In the past, Western biomedical and individual-based approaches to researching Indigenous health have been applied, whereas First Nations' understandings of health are founded on a holistic view of wellbeing. Recognition of this disjuncture, alongside the protective influence of First Nations traditional culture, is foundational to establishing an empirical understanding of and comprehensive response to prescription drug misuse. We propose health promotion as a framework from which to begin to explore this. Our work with a health promotion framework has conveyed its potential to support the consideration of Western and Indigenous worldviews together in an 'ethical space', with illustrations provided. Health promotion also allots for the consideration of Canada's colonial history of knowledge production in public health and supports First Nations' self-determination. Based on this, we recommend three immediate ways in which a health promotion framework can advance research on prescription drug misuse among First Nations in Canada.

Tests enhance the transfer of learning.

Numerous learning studies have shown that if the period of time devoted to studying information (e.g., casa-house) includes at least 1 test (casa-?), performance on a final test is improved-a finding known as the testing effect. In most of these studies, however, the final test is identical to the initial test. If the final test requires a novel demonstration of learning (i.e., transfer), prior studies suggest that a greater degree of transfer reduces the size of the testing effect. The authors tested this conjecture. In 2 experiments, 4th- or 5th-grade students learned to assign regions or cities to map locations and returned 1 day later for 2 kinds of final tests. One final test required exactly the same task seen during the learning session, and the other final test consisted of novel, more challenging questions. In both experiments, testing effects were found for both kinds of final tests, and the testing effect was no smaller, and actually slightly larger, for the final test requiring transfer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Hypothalamic and hindbrain NPY, AGRP and NE increase consummatory feeding responses.

Feeding behavior is comprised of both appetitive and consummatory responses to food. Appetitive responses include the motivated acquisition of food. Consummatory responses, including swallowing, are those that move the food from the mouth to the stomach. Intraoral delivery of liquid food bypasses the requirement for appetitive responses and has been used to examine consummatory responses directly in intact rats. In the present study, we administered neuropeptide Y (NPY), agouti-related protein (AGRP) and norepinephrine (NE), into the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) or into the fourth cerebral ventricle to examine their effects on the consummatory component of feeding behavior in the rat. To measure consummatory responses, milk (40% lactose free cow's milk diluted with water) was infused intraorally through a chronic cheek fistula (1 ml/min), using an alternating 5 min on -1 min off schedule, until rejection occurred. We found that both hypothalamic and fourth ventricle injections of NPY, AGRP and NE significantly increased consumption of the intraorally-delivered milk. Our results indicate that the circuitry for modulation of consummatory ingestive responses includes NE, NPY and AGRP receptors operating in both hypothalamic and hindbrain sites.

Socialization of coping with community violence: influences of caregiver coaching, modeling, and family context.

A socialization model of coping with community violence was tested in 101 African American adolescents (55% male, ages 9-13) and their maternal caregivers living in high-violence areas of a mid-sized, southeastern city. Participants completed interviews assessing caregiver coping, family context, and child adjustment. Caregiver-child dyads also discussed a film clip depicting community violence. Parental coaching (caregivers' strategies suggesting how to cope) and child-reported coping were coded from the discussion. Coaching, modeling (caregivers' own coping), and family context each contributed to children's coping with violence. Children's problem-focused coping in response to violence had the strongest associations with changes in their adjustment 6 months later. Implications for interventions with youth and families are discussed.

Violence exposure and adjustment in inner-city youth: child and caregiver emotion regulation skill, caregiver-child relationship quality, and neighborhood cohesion as protective factor.

This short-term, longitudinal interview study used an ecological framework to explore protective factors within the child, the caregiver, the caregiver-child relationship, and the community that might moderate relations between community violence exposure and subsequent internalizing and externalizing adjustment problems and the different patterns of protection they might confer. Participants included 101 pairs of African American female caregivers and one of their children (56% male, M = 11.15 yrs, SD = 1.28) living in high-violence areas of a mid-sized southeastern city. Child emotion regulation skill, felt acceptance from caregiver, observed quality of caregiver-child interaction, and caregiver regulation of emotion each were protective, but the pattern of protection differed across level of the child's ecology and form of adjustment. Implications for prevention are discussed.