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The "All Faculty Deposits" collection contains works deposited by faculty and appointed delegates from the Elements (EFARs) system. For help with Elements, see Frequently Asked Questions on the Provost's website. In general, items can only be deposited if the item is a scholarly article that is covered by Virginia Tech's open access policy, or the item is openly licensed or in the public domain, or the item is permitted to be posted online under the journal/publisher policy, or the depositor owns the copyright. See Right to Deposit on the VTechWorks Help page. If you have questions email us at vtechworks@vt.edu.

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  • Integrating Employability Skills Into Agricultural Courses Using the PDSA Model of Improvement
    Coartney, Jama S.; Kaufman, Eric K.; Westfall-Rudd, Donna M. (2024-06-27)
    More than a decade ago, the National Research Council (2009) challenged agricultural teachers to transform their relationship to the global food and agricultural enterprise. With this in mind, Auger (2019) made an important observation: “Some skills are more lasting. Skills like leadership, collaboration, and communication” (para 4). These employability skills are of critical importance to agriculture’s workforce (Crawford & Fink, 2020), and research suggests they are “more difficult to train for” (D2L, 2019, p. 4). Agricultural educators must find ways to incorporate employability skills into classes so that teaching and learning can take flight, soaring to new heights. To improve agricultural courses, our workshop introduces the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) model for improvement (Langley et al., 2009). It is a strategy to pilot, evaluate, and implement changes to courses. PDSA provides a cyclical process, based on the scientific method, to support data-driven continuous quality improvement. It also provides a strategy for post-secondary teachers of agriculture to improve the scholarship of teaching and learning. This workshop is one of the results of a collaboration between a four-year program, technical program, and community college. Workshop objectives are to improve agricultural courses by (1) providing a simple, effective improvement process tool—PDSA, (2) reviewing PDSA examples that integrate agriculture and employability skills, and (3) practicing the PDSA model. Participants can practice the PDSA process with their own courses. Interactive activities include (1) reviewing examples done by other agriculture educators, (2) sharing ideas on how to blend employability skills into existing courses, (3) drafting an actual PDSA plan, and (4) discussing how this approach might transfer to other agricultural teaching experiences. PDSA provides a simple, powerful tool and strategy to continuously improve teaching and learning. This workshop introduces how to use PDSA to integrate employability skills into the scholarship of teaching and learning. References: Auger, J. (2019, May 6). Soft skills — not technical ones — should be the focus of upskilling initiatives. Training Industry. https://trainingindustry.com/blog/workforce- development/soft-skills-not-technical-ones-should-be-the-focus-of-upskilling-initiatives/ Crawford, P., & Fink, W. (2020). Employability skills and Students critical growth areas. NACTA Journal, 64, 132-141. D2L. (2019). The future of skills: In the age of the 4th industrial revolution. https://www.d2l.com/future-of-work/ Langley, G. J., Moen, R. D., Nolan, K. M., Nolan, T. W., Norman, C. L., & Provost, L. P. (2009). The improvement guide: A practical approach to enhancing organizational performance (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass. National Research Council. (2009). Transforming agricultural education for a changing world. National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/12602
  • Use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures to Assess the Effectiveness of Hybrid Psychiatric Visits
    O'Brien, Virginia C.; Kablinger, Anita S.; Ko, Hayoung; Jones, Sydney B.; McNamara, Robert S.; Phenes, Ashlie R.; Hankey, Maria Stack; Gatto, Alyssa J.; Tenzer, Martha M.; Sharp, Hunter D.; Cooper, Lee D. (American Psychiatric Association, 2024-06-12)
    Objective: Little empirical evidence exists to support the effectiveness of hybrid psychiatric care, defined as care delivered through a combination of telephone, videoconferencing, and in-person visits. The authors aimed to investigate the effectiveness of hybrid psychiatric care compared with outpatient waitlist groups, assessed with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Method: Participants were recruited from an adult psychiatry clinic waitlist on which the most common primary diagnoses were unipolar depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and bipolar disorder. Patients (N=148) were randomly assigned to one of two waitlist groups that completed PROMs once or monthly before treatment initiation. PROMs were used to assess symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 [GAD-7]), and daily psychological functioning (Brief Adjustment Scale-6 [BASE-6]). Patient measures were summarized descriptively with means, medians, and SDs and then compared by using the Kruskal-Wallis test; associated effect sizes were calculated. PROM scores for patients who received hybrid psychiatric treatment during a different period (N=272) were compared with scores of the waitlist groups. Results: PROM assessments of patients who engaged in hybrid care indicated significant improvements in symptom severity compared with the waitlist groups, regardless of the number of PROMs completed while patients were on the waitlist. Between the hybrid care and waitlist groups, the effect size for the PHQ-9 score was moderate (d=0.66); effect sizes were small for the GAD-7 (d=0.46) and BASE-6 (d=0.45) scores. Conclusions: The findings indicate the clinical effectiveness of hybrid care and that PROMs can be used to assess this effectiveness.
  • Psychiatric comorbidities in children with conduct disorder: a descriptive analysis of real-world data
    Brown, Tashalee R.; Kablinger, Anita S.; Trestman, Robert L.; Bath, Eraka; Rogers, Cynthia; Lin, Binx Yezhe; Xu, Kevin Young (BMJ, 2024-04-18)
  • Social network interventions to reduce race disparities in living kidney donation: Design and rationale of the friends and family of kidney transplant patients study (FFKTPS)
    Daw, Jonathan; Verdery, Ashton M.; Ortiz, Selena E.; Reed, Rhiannon Deierhoi; Locke, Jayme E.; Redfield III, Robert R.; Kloda, David; Liu, Michel; Mentsch, Heather; Sawinski, Deirdre; Aguilar, Diego; Porter, Nathaniel D.; Roberts, Mary K.; McIntyre, Katie; Reese, Peter P. (Wiley, 2023-07-03)
    Introduction: Racial/ethnic disparities in living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) are a persistent challenge. Although nearly all directed donations are from members of patients’ social networks, little is known about which social network members take steps toward living kidney donation, which do not, and what mechanisms contribute to racial/ethnic LDKT disparities. Methods: We describe the design and rationale of the Friends and Family of Kidney Transplant Patients Study, a factorial experimental fielding two interventions designed to promote LKD discussions. Participants are kidney transplant candidates at two centers who are interviewed and delivered an intervention by trained center research coordinators. The search intervention advises patients on which social network members are most likely to be LKD contraindication-free; the script intervention advises patients on how to initiate effective LKD discussions. Participants are randomized into four conditions: no intervention, search only, script only, or both search and script. Patients also complete a survey and optionally provide social network member contact information so they can be surveyed directly. This study will seek to enroll 200 transplant candidates. The primary outcome is LDKT receipt. Secondary outcomes include live donor screening and medical evaluations and outcomes. Tertiary outcomes include LDKT self-efficacy, concerns, knowledge, and willingness, measured before and after the interventions. Conclusion: This study will assess the effectiveness of two interventions to promote LKD and ameliorate Black-White disparities. It will also collect unprecedented information on transplant candidates’ social network members, enabling future work to address network member structural barriers to LKD.
  • Do Maryland's Stormwater Management Regulations Protect Channel Stability?
    Thompson, Theresa M.; Sample, David J.; Al-Samdi, Mohammad; Towsif Khan, Sami; Shahed Behrouz, Mina; Miller, Andrew; Butcher, Jon (2024-06-20)
    Webinar for the Maryland Stream Restoration Association. 84 participants
  • Effectiveness of stormwater management practices in protecting stream channel stability
    Thompson, Theresa M.; Sample, David J.; Al-Smadi, Mohammad; Towsif Khan, Sami; Shahed Behrouz, Mina; Miller, Andrew (2024-06-11)
    Presentation made as part of the Stream Restoration Webinar Series: Finding Common Ground. Webinar had 284 participants.
  • Engaging Stakeholders Through Inquiry, Story, & Presence
    Kaufman, Eric K. (2024-06-17)
    A workshop for Virginia Tech's Data Science for the Public Good program.
  • Designing and Implementing Active Learning with Data
    Porter, Nathaniel D. (2024-02-09)
    Slides for a workshop at the Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy 2024.
  • Cyberattacks and public opinion - The effect of uncertainty in guiding preferences
    Jardine, Eric; Porter, Nathaniel D.; Shandler, Ryan (Sage, 2024-01-30)
    When it comes to cybersecurity incidents – public opinion matters. But how do voters form opinions in the aftermath of cyberattacks that are shrouded in ambiguity? How do people account for the uncertainty inherent in cyberspace to forge preferences following attacks? This article seeks to answer these questions by introducing an uncertainty threshold mechanism predicting the level of attributional certainty required for the public to support economic, diplomatic or military responses following cyberattacks. Using a discrete-choice experimental design with 2025 US respondents, we find lower attributional certainty is associated with less support for retaliation, yet this mechanism is contingent on the suspected identity of the attacker and partisan identity. Diplomatic allies possess a reservoir of good will that amplifies the effect of uncertainty, while rivals are less often given the benefit of the doubt. We demonstrate that uncertainty encourages the use of cognitive schemas to overcome ambiguity, and that people fall back upon pre-existing and politically guided views about the suspected country behind an attack. If the ambiguity surrounding cyberattacks has typically been discussed as an operational and strategic concern, this article shifts the focus of attention to the human level and positions the mass public as a forgotten yet important party during cyber conflict.
  • Relationships, race/ethnicity, gender, age, and living kidney donation evaluation willingness
    Daw, Jonathan; Roberts, Mary K.; Salim, Zarmeen; Porter, Nathaniel D.; Verdery, Ashton M.; Ortiz, Selena E. (Elsevier, 2024-04)
    Racial/ethnic and gender disparities in living donor kidney transplantation are large and persistent but incompletely explained. One previously unexplored potential contributor to these disparities is differential willingness to donate to recipients in specific relationships such as children, parents, and friends. We collected and analyzed data from an online sample featuring an experimental vignette in which respondents were asked to rate their willingness to donate to a randomly chosen member of their family or social network. Results show very large differences in respondents' willingness to donate to recipients with different relationships to them, favoring children, spouses/partners, siblings, and parents, and disfavoring friends, aunts/uncles, and coworkers. Evidence suggesting an interactive effect between relationship, respondent race/ethnicity, respondent or recipient gender, was limited to a few cases. At the p < 0.05 level, the parent-recipient gender interaction was statistically significant, favoring mothers over fathers, as was other/multiracial respondents' greater willingness to donate to friends compared to Whites. Additionally, other interactions were significant at the p < 0.10 level, such as Hispanics' and women's higher willingness to donate to parents compared to Whites and men respectively, women's lower willingness to donate to friends compared to men, and Blacks' greater willingness to donate to coworkers than Whites. We also examined differences by age and found that older respondents were less willing to donate to recipients other than their parents. Together these results suggest that differential willingness to donate by relationship group may be a moderately important factor in understanding racial/ethnic and gender disparities in living donor kidney transplantation.
  • Cheesy Nights stickers
    Slowinski, Miliana; Weildling, Morgan (2024-03-25)
    Stickers for Cheesy Nights. Ordered 5,000 stickers
  • Septic arthritis due to Nocardia: Case report and literature review
    Fazili, Tasaduq; Bansal, Ekta N.; Garner, Dorothy; Bajwa, Vijender; Vasudeva, Shikha (Elsevier, 2022-02-13)
    Nocardia is an uncommon cause of septic arthritis. We found only 37 cases reported in the literature thus far. Amongst these, only five involved prosthetic joints. Three cases were caused by N. nova and one each by N. farcinica and asteroides. Septic arthritis due to Nocardia has a favorable outcome with a combination of surgical debridement and prolonged antimicrobial therapy of three to six months. For prosthetic joint infections, removal of hardware seems to carry a better prognosis. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole continues to remain the drug of choice.
  • Alanyl-glutamine Supplementation for Clostridioides difficile Infection Treatment (ACT): A double-blind randomized controlled trial
    Warren, Cirle A.; Shin, Jae Hyun; Bansal, Ekta N.; Costa, Deiziane V. D. S.; Wang, Xin Qun; Wu, Martin; Swann, Jonathan R.; Behm, Brian W.; Targonski, Paul V.; Archbald-Pannone, Laurie (BMJ Journals, 2023-07-19)
    Introduction: Clostridioides difficile is the leading cause of healthcare-associated infections in the USA, with an estimated 1 billion dollars in excess cost to the healthcare system annually. C. difficile infection (CDI) has high recurrence rate, up to 25% after first episode and up to 60% for succeeding episodes. Preliminary in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that alanyl-glutamine (AQ) may be beneficial in treating CDI by its effect on restoring intestinal integrity in the epithelial barrier, ameliorating inflammation and decreasing relapse. Methods and analysis: This study is a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, phase II clinical trial. The trial is designed to determine optimal dose and safety of oral AQ at 4, 24 and 44 g doses administered daily for 10 days concurrent with standard treatment of non-severe or severe uncomplicated CDI in persons age 18 and older. The primary outcome of interest is CDI recurrence during 60 days post-treatment follow-up, with the secondary outcome of mortality during 60 days post-treatment follow-up. Exploratory analysis will be done to determine the impact of AQ supplementation on intestinal and systemic inflammation, as well as intestinal microbial and metabolic profiles. Ethics and dissemination: The study has received University of Virginia Institutional Review Board approval (HSR200046, Protocol v9, April 2023). Findings will be disseminated via conference presentations, lectures and peer-reviewed publications. Trial registration number NCT04305769.
  • Ehrlichia chaffeensis-associated Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: A Case Series and Literature Review
    Fazili, Tasaduz; Bansal, Ekta N.; Garner, Dorothy C.; Bajwa, Vijayendra; Kaur, Harpreet; Schleupner, Charles J. (American Journal of Medical Case Reports, 2021-08-17)
    Introduction: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an uncommon condition characterized by abnormal, excessive immune activation resulting in severe cytopenias from an uncontrolled inflammatory response. It can be primary/ familial or secondary/sporadic. Infections, particularly viral infections are a common cause of secondary HLH. HLH due to Human monocytic ehrlichiosis (HME) is very rare, hence we are reporting our cases. Objective: To review cases of Ehrlichia-associated HLH at our institution and perform a literature review regarding this entity. Methods: We reviewed cases of Ehrlichia-associated HLH for the previous two years at our institution (Carilion Clinic). We then performed a review of the published literature on it, using Pubmed. Results: Over the past two years, five cases of Ehrlichia-associated HLH were diagnosed at our hospital. The average age of the patients was 67 years with predominantly males. All the patients were pancytopenic, and a majority had abnormal liver function tests. Diagnosis of ehrlichiosis was made by serum polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay on blood. Patients had further testing done because of lack of clinical improvement. All patients had significantly elevated ferritin levels. Bone marrow biopsy samples of all patients showed findings of hemophagocytosis. All, but one, patients were treated with doxycycline and a combination of etoposide and dexamethasone. Three patients recovered while two died. On review of medical literature, we found a total of only 36 cases of Ehrlichia-associated HLH, including our five cases. There were 19 adults and 17 children. Both population groups showed varying degrees of pancytopenia. Splenomegaly was relatively uncommon, seen in less than one-third of the patients. Ferritin and triglyceride levels were routinely elevated. Bone marrow biopsy showing hemophagocytosis was the confirmatory test in all patients. A significant number of patients, both adults and children, required a combination of doxycycline and chemotherapy (etoposide and dexamethasone) to achieve clinical cure. Children had a better prognosis than adults, with one child and four adults succumbing to their illness. Conclusions: Ehrlichia-associated HLH is a rare but emerging disease entity. In endemic areas, a high degree of suspicion is required to diagnose ehrlichiosis and HLH resulting from it. Early diagnosis and prompt initiation of treatment for HLH is key to a favorable outcome.
  • Mnemonic Discrimination Deficits in First-Episode Psychosis and a Ketamine Model Suggest Dentate Gyrus Pathology Linked to NMDA Receptor Hypofunction
    Kraguljac, Nina Vanessa; Carle, Matthew; Frolich, Michael A.; Tran, Steve; Yassa, Michael A.; White, David Matthew; Reddy, Abhishek; Lahti, Adrienne Carol (Elsevier, 2021-12)
    Background: Converging evidence from neuroimaging and postmortem studies suggests that hippocampal subfields are differentially affected in schizophrenia. Recent studies report dentate gyrus dysfunction in chronic schizophrenia, but the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Here, we sought to examine if this deficit is already present in first-episode psychosis and if NMDA receptor hypofunction, a putative central pathophysiological mechanism in schizophrenia, experimentally induced by ketamine, would result in a similar abnormality. Methods: We applied a mnemonic discrimination task selectively taxing pattern separation in two experiments: 1) a group of 23 patients with first-episode psychosis and 23 matched healthy volunteers and 2) a group of 19 healthy volunteers before and during a ketamine challenge (0.27 mg/kg over 10 min, then 0.25 mg/kg/hour for 50 min, 0.01 mL/s). We calculated response bias–corrected pattern separation and recognition scores. We also examined the relationships between task performance and symptom severity as well as ketamine levels. Results: We reported a deficit in pattern separation performance in patients with first-episode psychosis compared with healthy volunteers (p = .04) and in volunteers during the ketamine challenge compared with baseline (p = .003). Pattern recognition was lower in patients with first-episode psychosis than in control subjects (p < .01). Exploratory analyses revealed no correlation between task performance and Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status total scores or positive symptoms in patients with first-episode psychosis or with ketamine serum levels. Conclusions: We observed a mnemonic discrimination deficit in both datasets. Our findings suggest a tentative mechanistic link between dentate gyrus dysfunction in first-episode psychosis and NMDA receptor hypofunction.
  • Homicidal ideation and psychiatric comorbidities in the inpatient adolescents aged 12-17
    Sun, Ching-Fang; Mansuri, Zeeshan; Trivedi, Chintan; Vadukapuram, Ramu; Reddy, Abhishek (Frontiers, 2022-11-16)
    Objectives: Adolescents with a homicidal tendency is a growing concern in the United States. Studies in the past have showcased the relationship between homicidal ideation (HI) and psychiatric illnesses, but very limited information is available on the adolescent and inpatient population. We aim to evaluate the prevalence of demographic characteristics and psychiatric disorders in adolescents with and without HI. Materials and methods: Adolescent (age 12–17) population admitted to the hospital with the diagnosis of homicidal ideation was identified from the 2016–2018 National Inpatient Sample Dataset (NISD). Patients without HI were defined as the control group. The prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities between the groups was compared by applying the Rao-Scott adjusted chi-square test. We used multivariable logistic regression to generate odds ratio (OR) of homicidal ideation as an outcome; we adjusted age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, substance use disorders, alcohol use disorders, and psychiatric comorbidities. Results: A total of 18,935 patients (mean age: 14.5) with HI diagnosis were identified in this study. Majority of the patients were male subjects in the HI group compared to the control group (58.7 vs. 41.2%, p < 0.001). Racially, HI was more prevalent in white race (56.0 vs. 52.6%, p < 0.001) and black race (22.3 vs. 17.8%, p < 0.001), compared to Hispanic race (14.9 vs. 21.3%, p < 0.001). Major depression (Odds ratio [OR]: 2.66, p < 0.001), bipolar disorder (OR: 3.52, p < 0.001), anxiety disorder (OR: 1.85, p < 0.001), ADHD, and other conduct disorders (OR: 4.01, p < 0.001), schizophrenia (OR: 4.35, p < 0.001) are strong predictors of HI. Suicidality was prevalent in 66.9% of patients with HI. Conclusion: We found a higher prevalence of psychiatric illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder in adolescents with homicidal ideation in the inpatient setting. White and black races were more prevalent in patients with homicidal ideation. Further large-scale longitudinal research studies are warranted to establish the correlation between psychiatric disorders and homicidal ideation among adolescents.
  • New Frontiers: Opportunities and Gaps in Leadership Professional Development For Medical/Health Sciences Library Directors and Managers
    Hoch, Jackson (2024-05-20)
    Join this enlightening in-person RTI poster session where leadership professional development gaps within libraries are explored! The literature review uncovered key insights, informing a tailored survey for leaders and managers across all levels in health sciences and medical libraries. Leveraging MLA, we invite participation in our survey to pinpoint opportunities and gaps. Using text analysis from the open-ended questions and the other survey results, we'll distill themes and craft actionable recommendations as research continues to address this research gap, fostering the potential growth of current and future leaders in the field.
  • High-risk subgroups were not identified to benefit from thromboprophylaxis after hospitalization for COVID-19
    Baumann Kreuziger, Lisa; Kwon, Taeim; Kasthuri, Raj S.; Wahid, Lana; Miller, Peter J.; Enders, Kimberly; Wahed, Abdus S.; Anstrom, Kevin J.; Wang, Tracy Y.; Ortel, Thomas L. (Elsevier, 2024-05-01)
    Background: The Accelerating COVID-19 Therapeutic Interventions and Vaccines-4c (ACTIV-4c) trial investigated prophylactic apixaban for 30 days following hospitalization for COVID-19. The overall incidence of early postdischarge death or thromboembolism was low, and the trial was closed early. Objectives: To identify a high-risk patient population who might benefit from postdischarge thromboprophylaxis through subgroup analyses stratified by age, race/ethnicity, obesity, D-dimer elevation, World Health Organization score, and modified International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism score on 30-day composite outcome of all-cause death, arterial thromboembolism (ATE), and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Methods: Cumulative incidences of all-cause death, ATE, and VTE within 30 days were described for each subgroup. Time to death, ATE, or VTE by 30 days was analyzed using Cox proportional hazard models with interaction testing for each subgroup. Results: Among 1217 patients randomized to apixaban or placebo group, 32% were >60 years old. Modified International Medical Prevention Registry on Venous Thromboembolism score was ≥4 in 2% and 2 or 3 with an elevated D-dimer in an additional 9% of participants. The overall incidence of the primary endpoint was 2.13% in the apixaban group and 2.31% in the placebo group. At day 30, similar rates of the primary endpoint occurred within subgroups, except for participants aged >60 years. No benefit of thromboprophylaxis was seen in any subgroup. Conclusion: The combined incidence of 30-day death, ATE, and VTE was low in patients who survived COVID-19 hospitalization, except in patients over age 60 years. Due to the limited number of events, the findings remain inconclusive; nonetheless, the study did not identify a high-risk subgroup that would derive benefits from extended thromboprophylaxis.
  • Collaborative Discussion: How Might Artificial Intelligence (AI) Extend Learning, Thinking, & Problem Solving?
    Kaufman, Eric K. (American Association for Agricultural Education, 2024-05-21)
    “Are we asking the wrong questions of ChatGPT?” That was the headline of an April 15, 2024, article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. While many educators have been concerned about policing artificial intelligence (AI), we may be missing key opportunities to leverage AI as a tool for extending learning, thinking, and problem solving. In this collaborative discussion, participants will be invited to share questions, concerns, and ideas for leveraging AI in both formal and nonformal educational settings. The context of agricultural education (broadly defined) will be the focus, placing particular interest on practices and strategies that may allow graduates and communities to better manage, interpret, and share streams of data in ways that foster improved decision-making. Both novice and experienced users of AI will be encouraged to engage in the discussion and exploration.