Making a Case for Multimodal IPE: Developing a Competency-Based Interprofessional Curriculum for Health Professions Learners at Rural Campuses.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this 4-year study was to explore the efficacy of a multimodal interprofessional education (IPE) curriculum that was developed for learners at rural campuses. METHODS: Over the study period, participants included 113 learners and 7 faculty facilitators from 4 degree programs: Physician Assistant Studies, Social Work, Imaging Sciences, and Medicine. The study used a mixed-methods design, which included a combination of rating scale items (quantitative) and open response items (qualitative). RESULTS: The results demonstrated statistically significant gains in the development of interprofessional competencies and a medium-large effect size for practical significance. The overall program evaluation ratings demonstrated learner satisfaction at or above the midpoint (benchmark) for each of the 4 years evaluated. The faculty facilitation was also rated highly. CONCLUSION: The results of this 4-year study indicate that the Rural IPE program curriculum effectively employed technology to meaningfully engage rural learners in the acquisition and application of interprofessional competencies.

Neurotoxicity and Chemoreception: A Systematic Review of Neurotoxicity Effects on Smell and Taste.

Several different types of exposure have the potential to produce olfactory and gustatory deficits related to neurotoxicity. Although the literature contains relatively few studies of such chemoreceptive dysfunction in the context of toxic exposure, this review explores the strength of such published associations. Several studies collectively demonstrated moderately strong evidence for an association between manganese dust exposure and olfactory deficits. Evidence of associations between individual chemicals, therapeutics, and composites, such as World Trade Center debris, and olfactory and gustatory deficits remains limited or mixed. Further need for controlled studies for clinical management, exposure limits, and policy development is identified.

Encoding the Odor of Cigarette Smoke.

The encoding of odors is believed to begin as a combinatorial code consisting of distinct patterns of responses from odorant receptors (ORs), trace-amine associated receptors (TAARs), or both. To determine how specific response patterns arise requires detecting patterns in vivo and understanding how the components of an odor, which are nearly always mixtures of odorants, give rise to parts of the pattern. Cigarette smoke, a common and clinically relevant odor consisting of >400 odorants, evokes responses from 144 ORs and 3 TAARs in freely behaving male and female mice, the first example of in vivo responses of both ORs and TAARs to an odor. As expected, a simplified artificial mimic of cigarette smoke odor tested at low concentration to identify highly sensitive receptors evokes responses from four ORs, all also responsive to cigarette smoke. Human subjects of either sex identify 1-pentanethiol as the odorant most critical for perception of the artificial mimic; and in mice the OR response patterns to these two odors are significantly similar. Fifty-eight ORs respond to the headspace above 25% 1-pentanethiol, including 9 ORs responsive to cigarette smoke. The response patterns to both cigarette smoke and 1-pentanethiol have strongly responsive ORs spread widely across OR sequence diversity, consistent with most other combinatorial codes previously measured in vivo The encoding of cigarette smoke is accomplished by a broad receptor response pattern, and 1-pentanethiol is responsible for a small subset of the responsive ORs in this combinatorial code.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Complex odors are usually perceived as distinct odor objects. Cigarette smoke is the first complex odor whose in vivo receptor response pattern has been measured. It is also the first pattern shown to include responses from both odorant receptors and trace-amine associated receptors, confirming that the encoding of complex odors can be enriched by signals coming through both families of receptors. Measures of human perception and mouse receptor physiology agree that 1-pentanethiol is a critical component of a simplified odorant mixture designed to mimic cigarette smoke odor. Its receptor response pattern helps to link those of the artificial mimic and real cigarette smoke, consistent with expectations about perceptual similarity arising from shared elements in receptor response patterns.

Virtual reality gaming as a neurorehabilitation tool for brain injuries in adults: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Evidence of the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) in motor and cognitive rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury (TBI) continues to be mixed. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review in accordance with PRISMA guidelines to strategically evaluate the strength of evidence supporting the use of VR as a rehabilitation tool for motor function and cognition in patients with TBI. METHOD: The van Tulder criteria were modified to determine the quality of the outcomes of studies deemed eligible for inclusion in the review. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Twelve studies were considered eligible for inclusion in the systematic review. These studies utilized methods of varying quality such as case and quasi-experimental studies and found moderately positive support for the effectiveness of VR-enhanced rehabilitation for both motor skills and cognitive deficits. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The varying quality of the included studies provides moderate support for use of VR-enhanced rehabilitation techniques per the van Tulder criteria. This highlights the continued gap in the literature for robust studies that enable providers, policy makers, and the public to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of VR-enhanced rehabilitation for traumatic brain injury. Continued pursuit of analyses in the context of newer immersive VR-enhanced rehabilitation is recommended.

Opiate overdose in an adolescent after a dental procedure: a case report.

Oxycodone/acetaminophen is a combination of acetaminophen and the opiate oxycodone. It is an effective analgesic that is commonly prescribed postoperatively. The potential for misuse, diversion, abuse, and overdose with opiates in general is an area of increasing concern to all prescribing clinicians. This case report illustrates the possibility of a severe or potentially fatal outcome to a common prescribing practice. Caution is emphasized when prescribing opiates, and screening for substance misuse and suicide risk factors is recommended.