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Australasian Emergency Care Dec 2023This article explores the impact of mental health issues on paramedics in Australia, particularly Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, caused by their exposure to high levels... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
This article explores the impact of mental health issues on paramedics in Australia, particularly Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, caused by their exposure to high levels of stress. The prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is higher among paramedics than any other occupation, and this could be a cause for concern, especially for undergraduate student paramedics. The article examines the need to build resilience among student paramedics to help them handle the trauma they may experience during clinical placement.
METHODS
This study conducted a two-step process to review literature and university handbooks to determine the level of education provided to paramedic students on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and resilience during clinical placement, due to the lack of research in this area. The first step involved a search for relevant articles, while the second step involved a search of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency website to identify paramedicine programs and a manual evaluation of each undergraduate pre-registration paramedicine curriculum in Australia.
RESULTS
This study conducted a systematic search of national and international literature and Australian undergraduate pre-registration paramedicine programs to identify any studies pertaining to the education of paramedic students in resilience and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The search found that only 15 (5.95 %) of the 252 reviewed subjects had reference to mental health, resilience or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, with only 4 (1.59 %) of them discussing these topics in preparation for clinical practice. The study highlights the lack of emphasis on student paramedic self-care as an essential underpinning for clinical placement preparation in the curriculum.
CONCLUSION
This literature review concludes that appropriate training and support, teaching resilience, and promoting self-care are crucial in preparing paramedic students for the emotional and psychological demands of their work. Equipping students with these tools and resources can improve their mental health and well-being and enhance their ability to provide high-quality care to patients. Promoting self-care as a core value in the profession is essential in creating a culture that supports paramedics in maintaining their own mental health and well-being.
Topics: Humans; Paramedics; Mental Health; Australia; Emergency Medical Technicians; Students
PubMed: 37208241
DOI: 10.1016/j.auec.2023.05.002 -
Marine Pollution Bulletin Jul 2023Miri River is a tropical river in Borneo that drains on flat terrain and urbanised area and debauches into the South China Sea. This paper documents the environmental...
Miri River is a tropical river in Borneo that drains on flat terrain and urbanised area and debauches into the South China Sea. This paper documents the environmental status of this river, and provides an insight into the provenance using bulk chemistry of the sediments, and brings out the geochemical mobility, bioavailability, and potential toxicity of some critical elements based on BCR sequential extraction. The sediments are intense to moderately weathered and recycled products of Neogene sedimentary rocks. The hydrodynamic characteristics of the river favoured an upstream section dominated by fine sand, while the downstream sediments are medium silt. Based on the bulk geochemistry, the Miri River sediments are moderate to considerably contaminated by Cu, Mo, and As in the upstream and by Sb, As and Cu in the downstream. The potential ecological risk values are low except Cu and a significant biological impact is expected in downstream due to Cu, As, Zn and Cr. The mobility, bioavailability and Risk Assessment Code values for Zn and Mn are higher and thus may pose moderate to very high risk to aquatic organisms. Though a high bulk concentration of Cu is observed, the association of Cu with the bioavailable fraction is low.
Topics: Metals, Heavy; Borneo; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Environmental Monitoring; Geologic Sediments; Risk Assessment; China
PubMed: 37263028
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115090 -
Resources, Conservation, and Recycling Sep 2023Chemical flow analysis (CFA) can be used for collecting life-cycle inventory (LCI), estimating environmental releases, and identifying potential exposure scenarios for...
Chemical flow analysis (CFA) can be used for collecting life-cycle inventory (LCI), estimating environmental releases, and identifying potential exposure scenarios for chemicals of concern at the end-of-life (EoL) stage. Nonetheless, the demand for comprehensive data and the epistemic uncertainties about the pathway taken by the chemical flows make CFA, LCI, and exposure assessment time-consuming and challenging tasks. Due to the continuous growth of computer power and the appearance of more robust algorithms, data-driven modelling represents an attractive tool for streamlining these tasks. However, a data ingestion pipeline is required for the deployment of serving data-driven models in the real world. Hence, this work moves forward by contributing a chemical-centric and data-centric approach to extract, transform, and load comprehensive data for CFA at the EoL, integrating cross-year and country data and its provenance as part of the data lifecycle. The framework is scalable and adaptable to production-level machine learning operations. The framework can supply data at an annual rate, making it possible to deal with changes in the statistical distributions of model predictors like transferred amount and target variables (e.g., EoL activity identification) to avoid potential data-driven model performance decay over time. For instance, it can detect that recycling transfers of 643 chemicals over the reporting years (1988 to 2020) are 29.87%, 17.79%, and 20.56% for Canada, Australia, and the U.S. Finally, the developed approach enables research advancements on data-driven modelling to easily connect with other data sources for economic information on industry sectors, the economic value of chemicals, and the environmental regulatory implications that may affect the occurrence of an EoL transfer class or activity like recycling of a chemical over years and countries. Finally, stakeholders gain more context about environmental regulation stringency and economic affairs that could affect environmental decision-making and EoL chemical exposure predictions.
PubMed: 37476199
DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.107031 -
Pharmaceutics Jul 2023Infection with (liver fluke) causes fasciolosis (or fascioliasis) and poses a considerable economic as well as welfare burden to both the agricultural and animal health...
Infection with (liver fluke) causes fasciolosis (or fascioliasis) and poses a considerable economic as well as welfare burden to both the agricultural and animal health sectors. Here, we explore the ex vivo anthelmintic potential of synthetic derivatives of hederagenin, isolated in bulk from . Thirty-six compounds were initially screened against newly excysted juveniles (NEJs) of the Italian strain. Eleven of these compounds were active against NEJs and were selected for further study, using adult derived from a local abattoir (provenance unknown). From these eleven compounds, six demonstrated activity and were further assessed against immature liver flukes of the Italian strain. Subsequently, the most active compounds (n = 5) were further evaluated in ex vivo dose response experiments against adult Italian strain liver flukes. Overall, MC042 was identified as the most active molecule and the EC obtained from immature and adult liver fluke assays (at 24 h post co-culture) are estimated as 1.07 μM and 13.02 μM, respectively. When compared to the in vitro cytotoxicity of MDBK bovine cell line, MC042 demonstrated the highest anthelmintic selectivity (44.37 for immature and 3.64 for adult flukes). These data indicate that modified hederagenins display properties suitable for further investigations as candidate flukicides.
PubMed: 37514055
DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15071869 -
Scientific Data Oct 2023Cement producers and their investors are navigating evolving risks and opportunities as the sector's climate and sustainability implications become more prominent. While...
Cement producers and their investors are navigating evolving risks and opportunities as the sector's climate and sustainability implications become more prominent. While many companies now disclose greenhouse gas emissions, the majority from carbon-intensive industries appear to delegate emissions to less efficient suppliers. Recognizing this, we underscore the necessity for a globally consolidated asset-level dataset, which acknowledges production inputs provenance. Our approach not only consolidates data from established sources like development banks and governments but innovatively integrates the age of plants and the sourcing patterns of raw materials as two foundational variables of the asset-level data. These variables are instrumental in modeling cement production utilization rates, which in turn, critically influence a company's greenhouse emissions. Our method successfully combines geospatial computer vision and Large Language Modelling techniques to ensure a comprehensive and holistic understanding of global cement production dynamics.
PubMed: 37833339
DOI: 10.1038/s41597-023-02599-w -
Biology Oct 2023Salinity is a pressing and widespread abiotic stress, adversely affecting agriculture productivity and plant growth worldwide. Seed germination is the most critical...
Salinity is a pressing and widespread abiotic stress, adversely affecting agriculture productivity and plant growth worldwide. Seed germination is the most critical stage to seedling growth and establishing plant species in harsh environments, including saline stress. However, seed germination characteristics and stress tolerance may vary among geographical locations, such as various provenances. (Linn.) Pall. () is a halophytic plant that exhibits high salt tolerance and is often considered a pioneer species for the restoration of grasslands. Understanding the germination characteristics and stress tolerance of the species could be helpful in the vegetation restoration of saline-alkali land. In this study, we collected seeds from seven different saline-alkali habitats (S1-S7) in the Songnen Plain region to assess the germination and seedling growth responses to NaCl, NaCO and NaHCO, and to observe the recovery of seed germination after relieving the salt stress. We observed significant differences in germination and seedling growth under three salt stresses and among seven provenances. Resistance to NaCO and NaHCO stress was considerably higher during seedling growth than seed germination, while the opposite responses were observed for NaCl resistance. Seeds from S1 and S7 showed the highest tolerance to all three salt stress treatments, while S6 exhibited the lowest tolerance. Seeds from S2 exhibited low germination under control conditions, while low NaCl concentration and pretreatment improved germination. Ungerminated seeds under high salt concentrations germinated after relieving the salt stress. Germination of ungerminated seeds after the abatement of salt stress is an important adaptation strategy for black seeds. While seeds from most provenances regerminated under NaCl, under NaCO and NaHCO, only seeds from S4 and S7 regerminated. These findings highlight the importance of soil salinity in the maternal environment for successful seed germination and seedling growth under various salinity-alkali stresses. Therefore, seed sources and provenance should be considered for vegetation restoration.
PubMed: 37887053
DOI: 10.3390/biology12101343 -
Genes Sep 2023var. is a well-known medicinal plant that is mainly distributed in Southwest China; however, its genetic diversity and biodiversity processes are poorly understood. In...
var. is a well-known medicinal plant that is mainly distributed in Southwest China; however, its genetic diversity and biodiversity processes are poorly understood. In this study, the sequences of cpDNA L-F fragments of 15 wild populations and 17 cultivated populations of var. were amplified, sequenced, and aligned to study the population genetics of this species. Genetic diversity was analyzed based on nucleotide diversity, haplotype diversity, Watterson diversity, population-level diversity, and species-level genetic diversity. Genetic structure and genetic differentiation were explored using haplotype distribution maps and genetic distance matrices. A total of 15 haplotypes were identified in the 32 populations of var. . Five unique haplotypes were identified from the fourteen haplotypes of the cultivated populations, while only one unique haplotype was identified from the ten haplotypes of the wild populations. The haplotype richness and genetic diversity of the cultivated populations were higher than those of the wild populations ( = 0.900 vs. 0.861). In addition, there were no statistically significant correlations between geographic distance and genetic distance in the cultivated populations (r = 0.16, > 0.05), whereas there was a significant correlation between geographical distance and genetic structure in the wild populations (r = 0.32, > 0.05), indicating that there was a geographical and genetic connection between the wild populations. There was only 2.5% genetic variation between the wild populations and cultivated populations, indicating no obvious genetic differentiation between the wild and cultivated populations. Overall, the genetic background of the cultivated populations was complex, and it was hypothesized that the unique haplotypes and higher diversity of the cultivated populations were caused by the mixed provenance of the cultivated populations.
Topics: Animals; Ascomycota; Biodiversity; China; Coleoptera; DNA, Chloroplast; Liliaceae
PubMed: 37761894
DOI: 10.3390/genes14091754 -
Frontiers in Plant Science 2023() is a popular medicinal fungus that has been used in traditional medicine for decades, with its provenance influencing its medicinal and commercial worth. The amount...
RATIONALE
() is a popular medicinal fungus that has been used in traditional medicine for decades, with its provenance influencing its medicinal and commercial worth. The amount of active ingredients and the price of from different origins vary significantly; hence, fraudulent labeling is common. Reliable techniques for geographic verification are urgently required to safeguard the interests of consumers, producers, and honest dealers. A stable isotope is widely acknowledged as a useful traceability technique and could be developed to confirm the geographical origin of .
METHODS
samples from various sources and in varying stages were identified by using C, D, O, N, C, and N contents combined with chemometric tools. Chemometric approaches, including PCA, OPLS-DA, PLS, and FLDA models, were applied to the obtained data. The established models were used to trace the origin of from various sources or track various stages of .
RESULTS
In the stage model, the C, D, O, N, C, and N contents were considered meaningful variables to identify various stages of (bud development, growth, and maturing) using PCA and OPLS-DA and the findings were validated by the PLS model rather than by only four variables ( C, D, O, and N). In the origin model, only four variables, namely C, D, O, and N, were used. PCA divided samples into four clusters: A (Zhejiang), B (Anhui), C (Jilin), and D (Fujian). The OPLS-DA model could be used to classify the origin of . The model was validated by other test samples (), and the external test () by PLS and FLDA models demonstrated external verification accuracy of up to 100%.
CONCLUSION
C, H, O, and N stable isotopes and C and N contents combined with chemometric techniques demonstrated considerable potential in the geographic authentication of , providing a promising method to identify stages of .
PubMed: 37885663
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1234729 -
Neurologia Oct 2023New technologies are increasingly widespread in biomedicine. Using the consensus definition of new technologies established by the New Technologies Ad-Hoc Committee of... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
New technologies are increasingly widespread in biomedicine. Using the consensus definition of new technologies established by the New Technologies Ad-Hoc Committee of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), we evaluated the impact of these technologies on Spanish neurology, based on communications presented at Annual Meetings of the SEN.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
We defined the concept of new technology in neurology as a novel technology or novel application of an existing technology, characterised by a certain degree of coherence persisting over time, with the potential to have an impact on the present and/or future of neurology. We conducted a descriptive study of scientific communications presented at the SEN's annual meetings from 2012 to 2018, analysing the type of technology, the field of neurology, and the geographical provenance of the studies.
RESULTS
We identified 299 communications related with new technologies from a total of 8139 (3.7%), including 120 posters and 179 oral communications, ranging from 1.6% of all communications in 2012 to 6.8% in 2018. The technologies most commonly addressed were advanced neuroimaging (24.7%), biosensors (17.1%), electrophysiology and neurostimulation (14.7%), and telemedicine (13.7%). The neurological fields where new technologies were most widely employed were movement disorders (18.4%), cerebrovascular diseases (15.7%), and dementia (13.4%). Madrid was the region presenting the highest number of communications related to new technologies (32.8%), followed by Catalonia (26.8%) and Andalusia (9.0%).
CONCLUSIONS
The number of communications addressing new technologies follows an upward trend. The number of technologies used in neurology has increased in parallel with their availability. We found scientific communications in all neurological subspecialties, with a heterogeneous geographical distribution.
Topics: Humans; Spain; Neurology; Societies; Cerebrovascular Disorders; Movement Disorders
PubMed: 35842132
DOI: 10.1016/j.nrleng.2020.10.011 -
Journal of the American Medical... Jul 2023Social determinants of health (SDOH) are nonclinical, socioeconomic conditions that influence patient health and quality of life. Identifying SDOH may help clinicians...
OBJECTIVE
Social determinants of health (SDOH) are nonclinical, socioeconomic conditions that influence patient health and quality of life. Identifying SDOH may help clinicians target interventions. However, SDOH are more frequently available in narrative notes compared to structured electronic health records. The 2022 n2c2 Track 2 competition released clinical notes annotated for SDOH to promote development of NLP systems for extracting SDOH. We developed a system addressing 3 limitations in state-of-the-art SDOH extraction: the inability to identify multiple SDOH events of the same type per sentence, overlapping SDOH attributes within text spans, and SDOH spanning multiple sentences.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We developed and evaluated a 2-stage architecture. In stage 1, we trained a BioClinical-BERT-based named entity recognition system to extract SDOH event triggers, that is, text spans indicating substance use, employment, or living status. In stage 2, we trained a multitask, multilabel NER to extract arguments (eg, alcohol "type") for events extracted in stage 1. Evaluation was performed across 3 subtasks differing by provenance of training and validation data using precision, recall, and F1 scores.
RESULTS
When trained and validated on data from the same site, we achieved 0.87 precision, 0.89 recall, and 0.88 F1. Across all subtasks, we ranked between second and fourth place in the competition and always within 0.02 F1 from first.
CONCLUSIONS
Our 2-stage, deep-learning-based NLP system effectively extracted SDOH events from clinical notes. This was achieved with a novel classification framework that leveraged simpler architectures compared to state-of-the-art systems. Improved SDOH extraction may help clinicians improve health outcomes.
Topics: Humans; Quality of Life; Social Determinants of Health; Electronic Health Records; Ethanol; Narration; Natural Language Processing
PubMed: 37002953
DOI: 10.1093/jamia/ocad046