Speech-language pathology practice guidelines recommend competency in counselling to support psychological adjustment and well-being in people with communication disability. However, there is limited ...information about what counselling education speech-language pathology students need or receive to attain this competency. Speech-language pathologists report that they frequently use counselling to support psychological well-being in people with post-stroke aphasia, a patient group particularly vulnerable to mood disorders, but they also report low knowledge, skill, and confidence in this practice. We aimed to describe the content, methods, duration, and evaluation of counselling education currently offered to Australian speech-language pathology students, including education specifically aimed at supporting the psychological well-being of people with post-stroke aphasia.
Directors of all accredited speech-language pathology programs (N = 21) across 15 eligible Australian Universities were invited to participate in an online survey.
Responses from 12 of the 21 eligible (57%) programs were obtained. Ten programs (83%) reported offering counselling education with four programs (33%) offering this specifically for people affected by post-stroke aphasia. Most programs provided over 10 hours of counselling coursework but provided less than 3 hours of counselling observation and practicum. Teaching on a variety of counselling topics was reported, most commonly general principles of counselling, while specific approaches included motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy. Counselling was taught using a range of methods, most frequently problem-based learning and role-play. Student counselling knowledge, skills, and competence were evaluated by written assignment, review of video/written transcripts of role-play, oral presentation, and problem-based learning (case studies) group discussion. Academics had mixed opinions on graduate competency for counselling.
While the majority of university programs reported providing counselling education, few offered education to support the psychological needs of people specifically affected by post-stroke aphasia. Some courses offered no counselling education. Minimum standards of counselling education for speech-language pathology students are required to ensure graduates are competent to provide counselling to support adjustment and well-being in people with communication disabilities.
The efficacy of non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure-pulsed dielectric barrier discharge (cold plasma)-treated mist in disinfecting baby kale leaves, and its effect on color values and cuticle ...composition were evaluated. UV-treated baby kale leaves were spot-inoculated (0.04-mL of 106 CFU/mL) with rifampicin-resistant strain E. coli O157:H7 ATCC 700728 incubated (0–4 °C) overnight and treated with plasma mist at 60, 120, 180, 240 or 300 s. Treated and untreated leaves were analyzed for change in color values (L*, a*, b*, chroma, hue, and browning index (BI)) using a Chroma meter. Functional groups (alcohols, esters, aldehydes, and ketones) were determined in the cuticle using FTIR. Color stability of treated leaves was also evaluated after refrigerated storage (4 °C) for 12 days. Levels of E. coli O157:H7 on the kale leaves were reduced below the detection limit of 5.5 × 103 CFU/mL after plasma treatment for 300 s with no significant change in color values. Visible change in color (browning or leaf damage) was observed after 600 s of plasma treatment. Color stability of plasma-treated leaves was enhanced during refrigerated storage (4 °C), indicated by a lower BI value of 34.4 ± 5.4 at 120-s plasma treatment compared to untreated leaves after 12 days of storage. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis concluded that plasma treatment of kale did not negatively affect functional groups in the cuticle. This study demonstrated that cold plasma mist has the potential to reduce E. coli on the surface of baby kale leaves with no significant change in the color values.
Kale leaves are consumed worldwide owing to their health-promoting and nutritional benefits. However, in the past two decades there has been an increase in foodborne diseases outbreaks caused by microorganisms associated with leafy vegetables. The food industry faces challenges in improving food safety while maintaining quality of the food. Chemicals in wash water or heat treatment (70–121 °C), commonly used methods for killing microorganisms, can have negative effect on the aesthetic (color) and nutritional quality of the product. Cold plasma treatment of fresh produce, an emerging food preservation technology, is an efficient, quick, and environmentally-friendly method of disinfecting the product at low temperature (30–40 °C). This study demonstrated that treatment of baby kale with cold plasma mist not only inactivated E. coli, but also enhanced its color stability during refrigerated storage. Hence, cold plasma mist has a potential application as an efficient disinfection technology, thus enhancing shelf-life of fresh leafy greens.
•Disinfection and quality of spot-inoculated kale leaves by cold plasma was evaluated.•Plasma treatment resulted in inactivation (0 CFU/mL) of E. coli O157:H7 on kale leaves.•No significant color change was observed in leaves treated with plasma for 300 s.•Refrigerated storage of treated leaves showed lower Browning Index values than untreated leaves.
Aims:
Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening reduces mortality, but variation exists in uptake. Ethnicity is suggested to play a role; however, there is no high-level evidence to support this. We aim to ...clarify the impact of Ethnicity on CRC screening uptake and our barriers to its understanding.
Methods:
A systematic review to identify studies reporting on the participation of ethnic minorities in CRC screening worldwide was performed. MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus and Google Scholar databases up until 31 May 2019 were searched. Compliance with screening according to ethnic groups and screening modality was evaluated compared to the ‘White’ control group.
Results:
Twenty-two studies were included in the review reporting on 2,084,213 patients. Substantial variation in categorisation of ethnicities (40 sub-categories), screening modality studied and confounding factors accounted for was observed. 8/15 studies for ‘Blacks’, 10/13 for ‘Hispanics’, 2/2 for ‘Asians’ and 1/1 for ‘South East Asians’ suggest a less likely or significantly decreased compliance with screening for all screening modalities (p < .05) compared to ‘Whites’. Interestingly ‘Japanese’, ‘Vietnamese’ and ‘Filipino’ groups consistently show no difference in the uptake of CRC screening compared to the ‘White’ majority.
Conclusion:
This is the only systematic review on this topic. It highlights the inconsistency in screening uptake behaviour in different ethnic minority groups and identifies barriers like variation in ethnicity categorisation, screening modality and study design utilised to understanding the intricacies of this relationship. Further collaboration and action needs to be undertaken internationally to clarify and improve inequity in the uptake of screening.
A study was conducted to investigate the effect of feed moisture (18–24%), extrusion temperature (130–170
°C) and level of pea grits (0–30%) on the extrusion behaviour and extrudate properties of ...rice grits. The extruder die pressure, specific energy consumption, expansion ratio, density, water absorption index, and water solubility index were studied. Second-order polynomials were compared for extruder parameters and product characteristics as a function of feed moisture, extrusion temperature and pea grit level.
To compare the PF-PCO
equation-partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO
)/fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO
) minus partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO
)-to three other tools for postnatal ...prediction of survival in infants with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH).
A retrospective analysis of 203 infants with CDH from 1 January 2003 to 30 June 2018. Area under the curve (AUC) analysis was performed for survival and secondary outcomes of survival without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support (ECMO) and death despite ECMO. Predictive scores were calculated to determine cutoff for PF-PCO
score.
The PF-PCO
tool had the highest AUC (0.84 for survival, 0.92 for survival without ECMO, and 0.83 for death despite ECMO). PF-PCO
best predicted survival when >-60 and survival without ECMO when >+80. There was no optimal cutoff score for death despite ECMO.
The PF-PCO
tool best predicted postnatal survival in infants with CDH.
Summary
Background
Several risk scoring systems exist for upper gastrointestinal bleed (UGIB). We hypothesised that a modified Glasgow Blatchford Score (mGBS) that eliminates the subjective ...components of the GBS might perform as well as current scoring systems.
Aim
To compare the performance of the mGBS to the most widely reported scoring systems for prediction of clinical outcomes in patients presenting with UGIB.
Methods
Prospective cohort study from 9/2010 to 9/2011. Accuracy of the mGBS was compared with the full GBS, full Rockall Score (RS) and clinical RS using area under the receiver operating characterstics‐curve (AUC). Primary outcome was need for clinical intervention: blood transfusion, endoscopic, radiological or surgical intervention. Secondary outcome was repeat bleeding or mortality.
Results
One hundred and ninety‐nine patients were included. Median age was 56 with 40% women. Thirty‐two per cent patients required blood transfusion, 24% endoscopic interventions, 0.5% radiological intervention, 0 surgical interventions, 5% had repeat bleeding and 0.5% mortality. Primary outcome: the mGBS (AUC 0.85) performed as well as the GBS (AUC = 0.86, P = 0.81), and outperformed the full RS (AUC 0.75, P = 0.005) and clinical RS (AUC 0.66, P < 0.0001). Secondary outcome: the mGBS (AUC 0.83) performed as well as the GBS (AUC 0.81, P = 0.38) and full RS (AUC 0.69, and outperformed the clinical RS (AUC 0.59, P = 0.0007).
Conclusions
The modified Glasgow Blatchford Score performed as well as the full Glasgow Blatchford Score while outperforming both Rockall Scores for prediction of clinical outcomes in American patients with upper gastrointestinal bleed. By eliminating the subjective components of the Glasgow Blatchford Score, the modified Glasgow Blatchford Score may be easier to use and therefore more easily implemented into routine clinical practice.
A field experiment was conducted to study the influence of boron (B) application on yield and B uptake of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in B-deficient calcareous soil of south-west Punjab. The ...treatments comprise six levels of soil-applied B (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 mg B kg
−1
soil) and two levels of foliar-applied B (0.1% and 0.2% borax and granubor solution) along with the common control (no B application). The experiment was laid out in RBD factorial design with three replications. The seed cotton yield and its attributing characters (plant height, number of sympodial and monopodial branches, boll weight, and number of boll per plant) and root biomass increased significantly with increasing levels of boron up to 1.0 mg B kg
−1
level over the control and then remained nonsignificant with further higher levels of soil-applied boron. Among foliar-applied boron levels, 0.1% borax solution was better than 0.2% borax solution. Soil-applied boron was at par with foliar-applied boron. The efficiency of borax and granubor was found to be equal in both sources of boron. The mean B content and its uptake by seed cotton and roots increased significantly up to 1.0 mg B kg
−1
soil-applied B level and then recorded nonsignificant with further higher levels of boron. For the foliar method of B application, the mean B content and its uptake by seed cotton increased significantly over the control. The mean available B content in soils (0-15 cm) at 45, 75, 105, and 145 days after sowing increased significantly over the control for all soil-applied B levels, while it remained nonsignificant over the control for all growth stages of cotton in foliar method of B application. Further, it was positively correlated with root biomass (r = 0.91), boron uptake by root (r = 0.98), and sympodial branch per plant (r = 0.81). The interaction of B application levels and sources was not significant for all studied traits. Regardless of B sources, B application had a significant effect on yield, yield attributes, and B uptake up to 1.0 mg B kg
−1
level for soil-applied B and 0.1% borax or granubor solution for foliar-applied B.
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious complication of prematurity. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of an umbilical cord milking protocol (UCM) and pasteurized donor human milk (PDHM) ...on NEC rates in infants less than 30 weeks gestational age from January 1, 2010 to September 30, 2016. We hypothesized an incremental decrease in NEC after each intervention.
We performed a retrospective review of 638 infants born less than 30 weeks gestational age. Infants were grouped into three epochs: pre-UCM/pre-PDHM (Epoch 1, n = 159), post-UCM/pre-PDHM (Epoch 2, n = 133), and post-UCM/post-PDHM (Epoch 3, n = 252). The incidence of NEC, surgical NEC, and NEC/death were compared. Logistic regression was used to determine independent significance of time epoch, gestational age, birth weight, and patent ductus arteriosus for NEC, surgical NEC, and death/NEC.
At birth, infants in Epoch 1 were younger than Epoch 2 and 3 (26.8 weeks versus 27.3 and 27.2, respectively, P = 0.036) and smaller (910 g versus 1012 and 983, respectively, P = 0.012). Across epochs, there was a significant correlation between patent ductus arteriosus treatment and NEC rate (P < 0.001, Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel). There was a significant decrease in rates of NEC, surgical NEC, and NEC/death between groups. Logistic regression showed this as significant for rates of NEC and surgical NEC between Epoch 1 and 3. Patent ductus arteriosus was a significant variable affecting the incidence of NEC, but not surgical NEC or death/NEC.
An umbilical cord milking protocol and pasteurized donor human milk availability was associated with decreased rates of NEC and surgical NEC. This suggests an additive effect of these interventions in preventing NEC.
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