Outreach Resources Research Articles

Processing and preservation technologies to enhance indigenous food sovereignty, nutrition security and health equity in North America.

Indigenous foods are carriers of traditional native North American food culture and living philosophy. They are featured by the wide varieties in fresh and processed forms, richness in nutrition, flavor, health benefits and diversity in origins, but are usually misunderstood or underrepresented in the modern food systems. Conventional processing and cooking methods are sometimes labor-intensive, less efficient and lack science-based guidelines to prevent unseen safety risks and food loss. Global and regional climate change have caused additional challenges to conventional cooking/processing, and increased native communities' reliance on externally produced foods, which have resulted in increasing nutritional unbalance and prevalence of diet-related health issues. Current and emerging technologies, such as storage and packaging, drying, safety processing, canning, pickling, and fermentation, which treat foods under optimized conditions to improve the safety and extend the shelf-life, are increasingly used in current food systems. Therefore, exploring these technologies for indigenous foods offers opportunities to better preserve their nutrition, safety, and accessibility, and is critical for the sovereignty and independence of indigenous food systems, and sustainability of indigenous food culture. This mini-review focuses on identifying adoptable processing and preservation technologies for selected traditional indigenous foods in North America, summarizing education, extension, and outreach resources and discussing the current challenges and future needs critical to expanding knowledge about indigenous foods and improving food sovereignty, nutrition security, and health equity.

Online toolkits for collaborative and inclusive global research in urban evolutionary ecology.

Urban evolutionary ecology is inherently interdisciplinary. Moreover, it is a field with global significance. However, bringing researchers and resources together across fields and countries is challenging. Therefore, an online collaborative research hub, where common methods and best practices are shared among scientists from diverse geographic, ethnic, and career backgrounds would make research focused on urban evolutionary ecology more inclusive. Here, we describe a freely available online research hub for toolkits that facilitate global research in urban evolutionary ecology. We provide rationales and descriptions of toolkits for: (1) decolonizing urban evolutionary ecology; (2) identifying and fostering international collaborative partnerships; (3) common methods and freely-available datasets for trait mapping across cities; (4) common methods and freely-available datasets for cross-city evolutionary ecology experiments; and (5) best practices and freely available resources for public outreach and communication of research findings in urban evolutionary ecology. We outline how the toolkits can be accessed, archived, and modified over time in order to sustain long-term global research that will advance our understanding of urban evolutionary ecology.

Study protocol for measuring stigmatization in persistent tic disorders: development and validation of the Tourette discrimination-stigmatization scale.

Persistent Tic Disorders such as Tourette Syndrome are common neurodevelopmental disorders that are highly stigmatized. Many individuals with Persistent Tic Disorders experience peer rejection, loneliness, and self-stigma. Experiencing stigmatization during childhood can influence the persistence of moderate-to-severe tics later in life. Additionally, these factors have been associated with increased suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and psychiatric symptom severity. There is a need for interventions to reduce stigma and stigmatization in Persistent Tic Disorders. Before developing cost-effective interventions to mitigate stigma's profound downstream health impacts, a reliable measure of stigmatization must be created. The overarching goal of this research is to develop and validate the Tourette Discrimination-Stigmatization (TD-STIGMA) Scale. This paper presents the study protocol for developing and validating the TD-STIGMA Scale. The study is designed as a mixed methods study to develop the TD-STIGMA scale and evaluate its psychometric properties. The study uses a phased approach: (1) collection of narrative and thematic content data through in-depth qualitative interviews of stakeholders, (2) development of a novel TD-STIGMA self-report scale using the Delphi Method based on these results, and (3) completion of analyses to determine the scale's psychometric properties (confirmatory factor analysis, convergent, known-group, criterion validity, and test-retest reliability). This project will result in a personalized approach to stigma measurement about youth and young adults with Persistent Tic Disorders, which to date does not exist. There are several limitations. Comorbidities or spiritual or cultural beliefs may affect perceptions of stigma and are not directly assessed in this study. We will utilize institutional resources for community outreach to purposefully sample underrepresented minorities who may be at disproportionate risk of adverse outcomes. However, this may not be fully representative of the generalized tic population. The study team will be purposeful in maintaining participant engagement for study retention. Lastly, participants from a tertiary referral center may not fully represent the generalized tic community. However, we hope our broad recruitment strategy and virtual study visits will facilitate a diverse and inclusive sampling of the patient population.

“There Are Not Enough Lawyers, and There Are Not Enough Financial Resources”: Canadian and American Intimate Partner Violence Service Providers’ Perspectives for Better Supporting Immigrant Women Survivors

Immigrant women are at a high risk of intimate partner violence (IPV) and experience many challenges to help-seeking. Currently, little is known about IPV service providers’ perspectives for better supporting immigrant women within their agencies. Drawing on an intersectional framework, constructivist grounded theory (CGT) with a modified written vignette technique was employed. Online surveys were used to gather service providers’ perspectives on the vignette, which described an immigrant woman experiencing IPV. Responses from over 50 IPV service providers in the U.S. and Canada indicated the need for enhanced training to aid immigrant survivors. Further, several respondents recommended changes to the immigration/legal systems, as well as more resources for community outreach and language, legal, and housing support.

Speak up & reach out: In defense of biomedical research

Scientists face challenges in communicating about their careers in biomedical research to the public, despite the importance of doing so. Here, we discuss tools and resources for outreach, such as posters, videos, and presentations that can be leveraged by scientists to help educate communities about the pivotal role of animals in medical progress.

Designing an accessible and equitable conference and the evaluation of the barriers to research inclusion for rare disease communities

Introduction: The United Kingdom Rare Diseases Framework, published in 2021, addresses the lack of diversity in rare disease research, particularly in clinical trials, due to intersecting issues related to rare disease symptoms and health inequalities. The framework outlines the government's commitment to improving the lives of the 3.5 million people living with rare conditions in the United Kingdom.Objective: The primary objective is to advance equality, diversity, and inclusion in research by developing innovative methods to engage with communities, establish trust, and enhance the participation and voices of underrepresented and underserved communities.Methods: The conference was held in May 2023, bringing together voices with lived experiences from rare and diverse communities to meet and discuss with established researchers, policy influencers and advocates. The evaluation design was developed using the Program Logic Model and utilised a conference evaluation form on barriers to inclusion.Results: The Rare Disease Community identifies disability as the primary obstacle to inclusion. Social Care and Public Health Communities and Clinical Research Communities identified a need for more cultural competency. The Diverse Community selected psychosocial issues, and the Academic Community identified funding as the most significant barrier.Conclusions: The Community of Practice workshops showed the variety of lived experiences and potential barriers people confront for inclusion in research. Listening to individual viewpoints was crucial to creating or repairing community trust. The Academic Community felt that research funders and ethics review boards must adapt their institutional practices to include financial resources for outreach and participation in research design.

FlyBase: updates to the Drosophila genes and genomes database.

FlyBase (flybase.org) is a model organism database and knowledge base about Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly. Researchers from around the world rely on the genetic, genomic, and functional information available in FlyBase, as well as its tools to view and interrogate these data. In this article, we describe the latest developments and updates to FlyBase. These include the introduction of single-cell RNA sequencing data, improved content and display of functional information, updated orthology pipelines, new chemical reports, and enhancements to our outreach resources.

The GEOTRACES Intermediate Data Products: Rich Resources for Research, Education, and Outreach

By mid-2023, the international GEOTRACES program had released three intermediate data products (IDP2014, IDP2017, and IDP2021), and in July 2023, an update of the latest product, IDP2021v2, was issued. All IDPs consist of two parts: (1) a compilation of digital data for large numbers of trace elements and isotopes (TEIs), and (2) the eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas containing almost 1,500 pre-​created section plots and 269 animated three-dimensional scenes that can be browsed via an interactive web interface. GEOTRACES IDPs are used extensively and have proven to be rich resources for research, education, and outreach. Here, we demonstrate how these resources can be used efficiently and effectively via online services. Data browsing, analysis, and visualization occur in the user’s web browser, with the IDP data remaining on a dedicated server. Users simply visit specific resource URLs to access eGEOTRACES visuals and the GEOTRACES digital data directly. We first demonstrate how to navigate the eGEOTRACES Electronic Atlas to view TEI sections and three-dimensional animations. We then focus on two research use cases and provide detailed hands-on instructions for creating publication-ready figures related to the marine Zn cycle.

The Value of Collaboration with Patient Advocacy Organizations to Enhance Initiatives Focused on Patient-Centered Care and Improve Outcomes in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Introduction: Collaborative efforts in medical education that include patient organizations have been shown to be instrumental in enhancing clinical outcomes and exposing professional and patient learners to practice-changing evidence. Here we describe the educational and practical impact of a strategic partnership between PeerView Institute for Medical Education (PeerView) and CLL Society that has led to successful outcomes across six educational initiatives on management of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) developed for a variety of professional audiences. Methods: Six educational initiatives targeted healthcare professionals, including hematologist-oncologists, oncology nurses, pharmacists, and other relevant professionals, involved in the management of patients with CLL; patients with CLL also engaged in these activities, which included in-person and virtual live satellite symposia, in-person and virtual live regional workshops, and online self-study activities. Influenced by the partner's participation and accessibility of its patient outreach resources, the instructional design of the interventions was chosen for its ability to deliver skills-based education and comprised case-based content, concise scientific lectures, and expert guidance on using CLL Society tools/resources to engage with patients and encourage them to participate in their own care. Designed to meet the needs of the target audience, the learning objectives addressed knowledge of the science supporting the use of targeted therapies, such as BTKi and BCL2i platforms, in the CLL setting, as well as ability to manage safety concerns, personalize treatment plans, and counsel patients. Furthermore, each initiative emphasized the patient voice through the integration of patient testimonials developed in collaboration with CLL Society or sharing of existing partner tools and resources (eg, Expert Access™ program, Patient Education ToolKIT, Test Before Treat™ biomarker educational program). These resources were made available for download to aid in retention and facilitate implementation of the education into practice, helping providers improve their ability to work in a collaborative, patient-centric manner. Outcomes measurements included pre- and post-assessment questions designed to quantify the impact of the educational content on learners' knowledge, skills, and clinical practice intentions. Results of these assessments were compared with baseline audience findings to determine the effect of the education. Results: To date, these activities have actively engaged 16,855 learners.* Pre- to post-participation score changes across all initiatives demonstrated gains of up to 69% in knowledge and 68% in skills and strategies over baseline. These substantial gains were consistent across all initiatives, highlighting the effectiveness of the educational content. Notable improvements in knowledge and skills were seen in treatment selection, identification and management of safety considerations, and ability to counsel patients with CLL. Additionally, these data demonstrated an increase in the participants' ability to incorporate evidence-based protocols and creation of personalized treatment plans into practice. Hundreds of learners, including patients with CLL, have downloaded the provided tools and resources. *Outcomes data as of 7/26/2023. Conclusions: As shown with these outcomes, the initiatives led to significant improvements in healthcare professionals' knowledge, skills, and intentions regarding CLL patient care and enabled participants to achieve their specific learning objectives and make positive behavior changes that can lead to improved patient outcomes. Furthermore, the outcomes from this collaboration between PeerView and CLL Society demonstrated that incorporation of patient perspectives and tactics proven to enhance gains in knowledge and skills into medical education increases the ability of participants to effectively manage patients with CLL. Overall, these data suggest that collaborative educational initiatives with patient support groups enhance healthcare professionals' ability to deliver effective, compassionate, and modern CLL care, resulting in a positive impact on the lives of patients.

How environments can promote active aging: results from a case study of two municipalities in Quebec, Canada.

To address global aging, a paradigm shift is needed from disease prevention and treatment towards active aging, i.e., optimizing opportunities for health, participation, and security as people age. Little is known about how age-friendly environments promote active aging. This study thus aimed to explore how (through which mechanisms and in what contexts) environments can promote active aging and, specifically, positive health, social participation, and health equity. Using a realist approach and semi-structured focus groups, a case study was used in two Quebec municipalities known for best fostering active aging. Data also included participants' logbooks, sociodemographic questionnaires, municipalities' sociodemographic profiles, and policy documents. A conceptual framework and thematic content analysis were carried out. A total of 24 participants (9 older adults, 4 health professionals, 3 community-based actors, 5 municipal employees, and 3 elected officials) took part in 5 focus groups. Regarding contexts, both cases were midsize municipalities having an income and education level higher to Quebec's averages with supportive active aging policies. Two main themes explained how the environments promoted active aging: (1) by ensuring proximity through built (urban planning), social (network structures), services (variety and availability of local and outreach resources), and organizational (active listening to older adults' needs for active aging) environments; and (2) by fostering transversality through built (universal accessibility, intergenerational spaces), social (intergenerational opportunities for social participation), and political/organizational (unified and complementary policies) environments. To better promote active aging through age-friendly environments, practices should focus on fostering proximity and transversality, and act simultaneously on multiple environments.

Trends in Alzheimer Disease Mortality Among American Indian and Alaska Native People Between 2011 and 2019.

The number of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people living with dementia is expected to increase 5-fold by 2060. Social determinants of health may explain disparities in the incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) but remain largely overlooked. We examined the time trend of AD mortality rates and associations of the percentage of AI/ANs, density of primary care physicians and neurologists, area deprivation index, rurality, and Indian Health Service region with AD mortality in 646 purchased/referred care delivery area counties. AD mortality rates significantly increased over time. Counties with higher concentrations of AI/AN people had lower AD mortality. More deprived counties had 34% higher AD mortality compared with less deprived counties. AD mortality was 20% lower in nonmetro counties than in metro counties. Findings have implications for prioritizing areas where more resources for AD care, education, or outreach are needed.

Soil Microbes for Agriculture: Enhancing Resources for Farmer Outreach

Soil Microbes for Agriculture: Enhancing Resources for Farmer Outreach

Why Do Patients in the United States Seek Care from Dermatologists?

IntroductionWhile the diagnoses made at visits to the dermatologist are well characterized, the reasons patients visit the dermatologists are not well described. Understanding why patients present to dermatologists could be helpful in identifying patients’ unmet needs and developing outreach programs to improve patients’ access to care. The purpose of this study is to characterize the reasons why US patients sought medical attention from dermatologists.MethodsWe evaluated the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) between 2007 and 2018, the most recent years available, to characterize the most common reasons patients visit the dermatologist.ResultsSixty-four thousand records were identified in the NAMCS estimating 1.55 billion visits to the dermatologist in the US during the study period. The most common reasons for visits were skin examination (7.8%), skin lesion (7.5%), and discoloration/abnormal pigmentation (7.3%). For patients ≤ 18 years, the most common reasons for visits were acne (28%), warts (7.7%), and skin rash (6.4%). For patients 19–65 years and ≥ 66 years, skin examinations (7.7%) and skin lesions (10%) were the most common reasons for visits to dermatologists, respectively.ConclusionBy identifying the most common reasons for visits to the dermatologist, we can improve our understanding of a patient’s needs and appropriate health outreach resources to improve patients’ access to care.

Magnetic to the Core – communicating palaeomagnetism with hands-on activities

Abstract. Palaeomagnetism is a relatively unknown part of Earth sciences that is not well integrated into the school curriculum in the UK. Throughout recent years, there has been a decline in the number of Earth science students in the UK. In 2018 and 2019, we developed outreach activities and resources to introduce the scientifically engaged general public to palaeomagnetism and raise awareness of how geomagnetism affects society today, thus putting palaeomagnetism, and Earth sciences, in the spotlight. We tested our ideas at local events that were visited mostly by families with small children, with tens to hundreds of participants. Our project culminated in the Magnetic to the Core stand at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in 2019, which is visited by members of the general public, students and teachers, scientists, policymakers and the media. At this event, we communicated the fundamentals of palaeomagnetism through hands-on activities and presented our recent research advances in a fun and family- friendly way. To test the impact of our exhibit on knowledge of palaeomagnetism and Earth's magnetic field on visitors, we designed an interactive quiz and collected results from 382 participants over 8 d. The results show a significant increase in median quiz score of 22.2 % between those who had not yet visited the stand and those who had visited for more than 10 min. The results from school-aged respondents alone show a larger increase in the median score of 33.5 % between those who had not yet visited and those who had spent more than 10 min at the stand. These findings demonstrate that this outreach event was successful in impacting visitors' learning. We hope our Magnetic to the Core project can serve as an inspiration for other Earth science laboratories looking to engage a wide audience and measure the success and impact of their outreach activities.

Looking for the Brain Inside the Initial Teacher Training and Outreach Books in Portugal.

The fascination with brain research is widespread, and school teachers are no exception. This growing interest, usually noticed by the increased supply of short-term training or books on how to turn the brain more efficient, leads us to think about their basic training and outreach resources available. Little is known about what the official Initial Teacher Training (ITT) offers concerning the brain literature and if it meets scientific standards. Also, what are the science communication materials that teachers can access to learn about the developing brain remain undiscussed. First, we examined the ITT courses taught in Portuguese Higher Education, both in public and private institutions, to identify the syllabus with updated neuroscientific knowledge. Second, we searched for the neuroscience-related books published in the last 6 years through the National Library of Portugal database. Thirty ITT courses and 35 outreach publications were reviewed through a rapid review methodology. Our results showed an absence of curricular units indicating in their programs that brain research, and its relationship with learning, would be taught in a representative and updated way. In contrast, the number of brain-related books for educators increased in Portugal, corroborating the demand for this field of study by these professionals. Based on the literature that shows how misunderstandings about the brain have increased in school contexts, our discussion recognizes that science outreach could be a way to increase the scientific literacy of school teachers with the research community working more in this direction, but, since a previous problem seems to be unsolved, there is an urgent need for specialized attention to the development of training curricula for future kindergarten and elementary school teachers.

Leveraging library technology resources for internal projects, outreach, and engagement: A case study of Overleaf, LaTeX, and the KiltHub Institutional Repository Service at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries

Academic libraries offer educational outreach surrounding their technology services available to users. When using those same technology services for internal projects, librarians can better understand the mechanisms behind these technologies, allowing for meaningful outreach efforts in which librarians serve as both primary users and facilitators of use. This paper highlights a case study of leveraging an institutional license to Overleaf, a collaborative LaTeX editor, to rebuild documentation on the use of KiltHub, an institutional repository. This requires a complex mix of text, images, tables, and even videos, and presented a tremendous challenge to format in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. In leveraging the library’s own technologies, the KiltHub team gained a greater understanding of how to use and teach with these platforms, ultimately better serving campus users.

Hepatitis C Treatment at a Rural Navajo Health Clinic Using Project ECHO

Purpose: Hepatitis C incidence is higher among American Indian/Alaskan Native populations than any other racial or ethnic group in the United States. Chronic Hepatitis C complications include cirrhosis of the liver, end stage liver disease, and hepatocellular cancer. Direct acting antiviral treatment taken orally results in > 90% cure, yet rural primary care providers lack the training and confidence to treat and monitor patients with chronic Hepatitis C. Rural patients are reluctant to travel to urban areas for Hepatitis C treatment. Project ECHO is an innovative tele-mentoring program where specialists mentor primary care providers via videoconferencing to treat diseases they would otherwise be unable to manage. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to increase Hepatitis C treatment at a rural Navajo health clinic through partnership with Project ECHO specialists.
 Methods: This quality improvement project was guided by Lippitt’s Phases of Change Theory. The systematic process plan included a protocol for roles and expectations of all members of the healthcare team, a documentation and communication plan, and a tracking system for monitoring patient progress through the plan of care. Outcomes were analyzed by descriptive statistics.
 Findings: Following partnership with Project ECHO, six patients (31.6%) consented to receiving Hepatitis C treatment at the rural Navajo health clinic. All six were contacted by outreach staff at multiple points during the project. Five (26.3%) completed the full course of drug therapy. Four (21.1%) completed follow-up lab work, of which three (15.8%) had a documented cure by sustained virologic response.
 Conclusions: Hepatitis C care via Project ECHO-rural clinic partnership was affordable, feasible and not excessively time consuming for a facility with substantial patient outreach resources.
 Key words: Rural health clinic, Hepatitis C, Project ECHO, tele-mentoring, Native American

Allocating outreach resources for disease control in a dynamic population with information spread

Infected individuals must be aware of disease symptoms to seek care, so outreach and education programs are critical to disease control. However, public health organizations often only have limited resources for outreach and must carefully design campaigns to maximize effectiveness, potentially leveraging word-of-mouth information spread. We show how classic epidemiological models can be reformulated such that identifying an efficient disease control resource allocation policy in the context of information spread becomes a submodular maximization problem. This means that our framework can simultaneously handle multiple, interacting dynamic processes coupled through the likelihood of disease clearance, allowing our framework to provide insight into optimal resource allocation while considering social dynamics in addition to disease dynamics (e.g., knowledge spread and disease spread). We then demonstrate that this problem can be algorithmically solved and can handle stochasticity in input parameters by examining a numerical example of tuberculosis control in India.

Ensuring equity for people living with disabilities in the age of COVID-19

People with disabilities are at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. They may also suffer from lack of accessible emergency preparedness plans, communication and healthcare. Protective measures for people with disabilities should be endorsed and prioritized at a community level to adjust for social distancing. Repositories of local resources for emergency outreach in this time are also crucial. Telemedicine offers an innovative and safe way for health providers to care for people with disabilities to access many critical services without placing themselves or their caregivers at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. Communication strategies for critical information about resources for people with disabilities should be accessible. United States hospitals and government agencies should make allocation guideline proposals accessible to people with disabilities and incorporate bias training.

De-exoticizing Cambodia’s archaeology through community engagement

ABSTRACT French colonizers introduced archaeology to Cambodia with the emphasis on the restoration of Angkor monuments. The Cambodian public’s perception of archaeology as a field of the exotic, populated exclusively with international researchers, is fuelled by misconceptions of the discipline. Public awareness is hindered by the lack of heritage education outreach and human resources, and the excessive focus on Angkor. In this paper we argue that the recent increase in the visibility of archaeology through its expansion beyond the Angkor region, public outreach efforts, the rise of social media, and dedicated community engagement has helped de-exoticize Cambodian archaeology and make it meaningful to communities beyond other archaeologists, looters, or hired labourers for international research. Community members participating in archaeological research can serve as valuable mediators who convey the objectives of archaeological research and its raisons d'être to their communities as part of the process.