Search

Roads can result in negative effects on wildlife including habitat loss, behavioral avoidance, reduced survival, reproduction and gene flow. These road effects are especially pronounced for large mammals given their large home‐range requirements and low reproductive rates. To counteract these negative effects, road mitigation measures, such as underpasses and overpasses, are promoted; however, future landscape changes are rarely considered when selecting mitigation locations. We used GPS telemetry data on female American black bears Ursus americanus to examine their response to roads in Massachusetts, US. We compared bear road crossing frequency with a null crossing model derived from a correlated random walk, estimated road crossing movement speeds, and fit a road‐crossing resource selection function. We found that, though black bears crossed roads less than expected based on the null model, 10% of their observed steps, on average, crossed roads. We also found bears crossed roads at higher movement speeds than during other home‐range behaviors, and that bears preferred to cross smaller, less trafficked roads in areas with lower speed limits, less human development and more forest. We used the resource selection model to identify road segments for potential mitigation efforts and then used future human development projections to forecast future changes in these segments. We found a decrease of 15% in the length of suitable mitigation segments from 2019 to 2050. Given the sizeable investment in wildlife crossing structures and their longevity on the landscape, we recommend incorporating future projections into crossing site selection to ensure the long‐term viability of road mitigation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundTelehealth has potential to help individuals in rural areas overcome geographical barriers and to improve access to care. The factors that influence the implementation and use of telehealth in critical access hospitals are in need of exploration. ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to understand the factors that influenced telehealth uptake and use in a set of frontier critical access hospitals in the United States. MethodsThis work was conducted as part of a larger evaluation of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services–funded demonstration program to expand cost-based reimbursement for services for Medicare beneficiaries for frontier critical access hospitals. Our sample was 8 critical access hospitals in Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota that implemented the telehealth aspect of that demonstration. We reviewed applications and progress reports for the demonstration program and conducted in-person site visits. We used a semistructured discussion guide to facilitate conversations with clinical, administrative, and information technology staff. Using NVivo software (QSR International), we coded the notes from the interviews and then analyzed the themes. ResultsSeveral factors influenced the implementation and use of telehealth in critical access hospitals, including making changes to workflow and infrastructure as well as practitioner acceptance and availability. Participants also cited technical assistance and support for implementation as supportive factors. ConclusionsFrontier critical access hospitals may adopt telehealth to overcome challenges such as distance from specialty practitioners and workforce challenges. Telehealth can be used for provider-to-patient and provider-to-provider interactions to improve access to care, remove barriers, and improve quality. However, the ability of telehealth to improve outcomes is limited by factors such as workflow and infrastructure changes, practitioner acceptance and availability, and financing.

Objectives: College athletes are at elevated risk for sexual violence, yet few formally report it and screening for sexual violence is uncommon. This study aimed to evaluate the nature of screening occurring among college athletes and collect athletes' opinions on how best to screen for sexual violence., Methods: This was a mixed-methods study combining a cross-sectional survey with small group interviews. Intercollegiate and club athletes 18 years and older at a division I institution were recruited to complete an online, anonymous survey. Those who completed the survey were invited to participate in follow-up interviews. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were analysed inductively using thematic analysis., Results: 165 athletes completed the survey. Only 25% of respondents reported past screening for any type of interpersonal violence, and only 22% reported past screening for sexual abuse and 21% for sexual harassment. 12 student-athletes participated in follow-up interviews. Athletes suggested several best practices including normalising conversation about sexual violence, empowering athletes to maintain a sense of control around disclosure, building trust and providing multiple opportunities for discussion and disclosure., Conclusion: Less than one-quarter of athletes in this study have been screened for sexual violence. Sensitive and effective screening practices should include providing safe environments, initiating the conversation, offering multiple opportunities for disclosure, and ensuring personnel completing screening are knowledgeable on what to do in case of a disclosure. These can inform screening and educational practices to decrease stigma, support those affected and ultimately decrease the incidence of sexual violence victimisation., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background and Objectives: A recognized gap exists between primary care physicians' training in musculoskeletal (MSK) medicine and the burden of MSK complaints in primary care. Family medicine interns often lack adequate baseline MSK physical exam skills, which prompted a proposal to introduce a fourth-year preceptorship to reinforce MSK education. The aim of this study was to prioritize the most important elements to include in this new clinical rotation., Methods: We employed a three-round, modified Delphi method to derive consensus. Eleven panelists with experience and expertise in MSK training, medical education, or both generated a list of 118 elements. Each panelist then ranked each element by level of importance, and we reviewed the results. The ranking process was repeated two more times with a goal of achieving consensus., Results: Seventy-seven curricular elements (topics, skills, experiences) achieved consensus recommendation by being ranked either "fairly important" or "very important" for inclusion in the curriculum. Twenty-eight items were unanimously ranked "very important," 42 received a mix of "very important" and "fairly important" rankings, and seven received unanimous ranking of "fairly important." Three items were unanimously ranked "neither important nor unimportant.", Conclusions: Longitudinal repetition of physical exam skills, reinforcement of relevant anatomy, and incorporation of specific frameworks for approaching MSK care are important components. Physical examination of the shoulder, knee, back, and hip are especially meaningful clinically.

Upon implantation into a patient, any biomaterial induces a cascade of immune responses that influences the outcome of that device. This cascade depends upon several factors, including the composition of the material itself and the location in which the material is implanted. There is still significant uncertainty around the role of different tissue microenvironments in the immune response to biomaterials and how that may alter downstream scaffold remodeling and integration. In this study, we present a study evaluating the immune response to decellularized extracellular matrix materials within the intraperitoneal cavity, the subcutaneous space, and in a traumatic skeletal muscle injury microenvironment. All different locations induced robust cellular recruitment, specifically of macrophages and eosinophils. The latter was most prominent in the subcutaneous space. Intraperitoneal implants uniquely recruited B cells that may alter downstream reactivity as adaptive immunity has been strongly implicated in the outcome of scaffold remodeling. These data suggest that the location of tissue implants should be taken together with the composition of the material itself when designing devices for downline therapeutics. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Different tissue locations have unique immune microenvironments, which can influence the immune response to biomaterial implants. By considering the specific immune profiles of the target tissue, researchers can develop implant materials that promote better integration, reduce complications, and improve the overall outcome of the implantation process., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: R.L., T.B.N., and K.S. are inventors on the provisional patent application #US63/367,994 related to the information discussed in this manuscript. All other authors have nothing to declare., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Bioengineering and drug delivery technologies play an important role in bridging the gap between basic scientific discovery and clinical application of therapeutics. To identify the optimal treatment, the most critical stage is to diagnose the problem. Often these two may occur simultaneously or in parallel, but in this review, we focus on bottom-up approaches in understanding basic immunologic phenomena to develop targeted therapeutics. This can be observed in several fields; here, we will focus on one of the original immunotherapy targets-cancer-and one of the more recent targets-regenerative medicine. By understanding how our immune system responds in processes such as malignancies, wound healing, and medical device implantation, we can isolate therapeutic targets for pharmacologic and bioengineered interventions., (Published 2024. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Pharmacology Research & Perspectives published by British Pharmacological Society and American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Due to the limited capacity of mammals to regenerate complex tissues, researchers have worked to understand the mechanisms of tissue regeneration in organisms that maintain that capacity. One example is the MRL/MpJ mouse strain with unique regenerative capacity in ear pinnae that is absent from other strains, such as the common C57BL/6 strain. The MRL/MpJ mouse has also been associated with an autoimmune phenotype even in the absence of the mutant Fas gene described in its parent strain MRL/lpr. Due to these findings, the differences between the responses of MRL/MpJ versus C57BL/6 strain are evaluated in volumetric muscle injury and subsequent material implantation. One salient feature of the MRL/MpJ response to injury is robust adipogenesis within the muscle. This is associated with a decrease in M2-like polarization in response to biologically derived extracellular matrix scaffolds. In pro-fibrotic materials, such as polyethylene, there are fewer foreign body giant cells in the MRL/MpJ mice. As there are reports of both positive and negative influences of adipose tissue and adipogenesis on wound healing, this model can provide an important lens to investigate the interplay between stem cells, adipose tissue, and immune responses in trauma and material implantation., (Published 2023. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

During wound healing and surgical implantation, the body establishes a delicate balance between immune activation to fight off infection and clear debris and immune tolerance to control reactivity against self-tissue. Nonetheless, how such a balance is achieved is not well understood. Here we describe that pro-regenerative biomaterials for muscle injury treatment promote the proliferation of a BATF3-dependent CD103 + XCR1 + CD206 + CD301b + dendritic cell population associated with cross-presentation and self-tolerance. Upregulation of E-cadherin, the ligand for CD103, and XCL-1 in injured tissue suggests a mechanism for cell recruitment to trauma. Muscle injury recruited natural killer cells that produced Xcl1 when stimulated with fragmented extracellular matrix. Without cross-presenting cells, T-cell activation increases, pro-regenerative macrophage polarization decreases and there are alterations in myogenesis, adipogenesis, fibrosis and increased muscle calcification. These results, previously observed in cancer progression, suggest a fundamental mechanism of immune regulation in trauma and material implantation with implications for both short- and long-term injury recovery., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Background and Objectives: Accurate and reliable seizure data are essential for evaluating treatment strategies and tracking the quality of care in epilepsy clinics. This quality improvement project aimed to increase seizure documentation (i.e., documentation of seizure frequency from 80% to 100%, date of last seizure from 35% to 50%, and International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) seizure classification from 35% to at least 50%) over 6 months., Methods: We surveyed 7 epileptologists to determine their perceived seizure frequency, ILAE classification, and date of last seizure documentation habits. Baseline data were collected weekly from September to December 2021. Subsequently, we implemented a newly created flowsheet in our Electronic Health Record (EHR) based on the Epilepsy Learning Healthcare System (ELHS) Case Report Forms to increase seizure documentation in a standardized way. Two epileptologists tested this flowsheet tool in their epilepsy clinics between February 2022 and July 2022. Data were collected weekly and compared with documentation from other epileptologists within the same group., Results: Epileptologists at our center believed they documented seizure frequency for 84%-87% of clinic visits, which aligned with baseline data collection, showing they recorded seizure frequency for 83% of clinic visits. Epileptologists believed they documented ILAE classification for 47%-52% of clinic visits, and baseline data showed this was documented in 33% of clinic visits. They also reported documenting the date of the last seizure for 52%-63% of clinic visits, but this occurred in only 35% of clinic visits. After implementing the new flowsheet, documentation increased to nearly 100% for all fields being completed by the providers who tested the flowsheet., Discussion: We demonstrated that by implementing an easy-to-use standardized EHR documentation tool, our documentation of critical metrics, as defined by the ELHS, improved dramatically. This shows that simple and practical interventions can substantially improve clinically meaningful documentation., Competing Interests: P. Nuthalapati, M.A. Donahue, S. DeStefano: have no conflict of interest to disclose. L.M.V.R.M.: support from the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (U48DP006377), the NIH (NIH-NIA 5K08AG053380-02, NIH-NIA 5R01AG062282-02, NIH-NIA 2P01AG032952-11, NIH- NIA 3R01AG062282-03S1), and the Epilepsy Foundation of America and reports no conflict of interest. J. Pellinen has no conflicts of interest directly related to this work. In the past 2 years, he has received research support from the Department of Neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute by way of NIH/NCATS Colorado CTSA Grant Number UL1 TR002535, the NIH/NINDS in the form of a Clinical Research LRP, and from the American Epilepsy Society. He serves as chair of the professional advisory board for the Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado and Wyoming (unpaid), serves as the Epilepsy Section Editor for Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports, and has received salary support for advisory board work for SK Life Science. Full disclosure form information provided by the authors is available with the full text of this article at Neurology.org/cp., (© 2023 American Academy of Neurology.)

Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Most LBP is non-specific or idiopathic, which is defined as symptoms of unknown origin without a clear specific cause or pathology. Current guidelines for clinical evaluation are based on ruling out underlying serious medical conditions, but not on addressing underlying potential contributors to pain. Although efforts have been made to identify subgroups within this population based on response to treatment, a comprehensive framework to guide assessment is still lacking. In this paper, we propose a model for a personalized mechanism-based assessment based on the available evidence that seeks to identify the underlying pathologies that may initiate and perpetuate central sensitization associated with chronic non-specific low back pain (nsLBP). We propose that central sensitization can have downstream effects on the "myofascial unit", defined as an integrated anatomical and functional structure that includes muscle fibers, fascia (including endomysium, perimysium and epimysium) and its associated innervations (free nerve endings, muscle spindles), lymphatics, and blood vessels. The tissue-level abnormalities can be perpetuated through a vicious cycle of neurogenic inflammation, impaired fascial gliding, and interstitial inflammatory stasis that manifest as the clinical findings for nsLBP. We postulate that our proposed model offers biological plausibility for the complex spectrum of clinical findings, including tissue-level abnormalities, biomechanical dysfunction and postural asymmetry, ecological and psychosocial factors, associated with nsLBP. The model suggests a multi-domain evaluation that is personalized, feasible and helps rule out specific causes for back pain guiding clinically relevant management. It may also provide a roadmap for future research to elucidate mechanisms underlying this ubiquitous and complex problem., Competing Interests: SD was employed by Optimal Motion Inc. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Sikdar, Srbely, Shah, Assefa, Stecco, DeStefano, Imamura and Gerber.)

Background: Frontier areas are sparsely populated counties in states where 65% of the counties have 6 or fewer residents per square mile. Residents access primary care at critical access hospitals (CAHs) located in these rural communities but must travel great distances for specialty care. Telehealth could address access challenges; however, there are barriers to broader use, including reimbursement and the need for practical implementation support. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services implemented the Frontier Community Health Integration Project (FCHIP) Demonstration to assess the impact of telehealth payment change and technical assistance to adopt and sustainably use telehealth for CAHs treating Medicare fee-for-service patients in frontier regions., Objective: We evaluated the impact of the FCHIP Demonstration telehealth payment change and technical assistance on telehealth adoption and ongoing use using a mixed methods approach., Methods: We conducted a mixed methods evaluation of the 8 CAHs in Montana, Nevada, and North Dakota that participated in the FCHIP program. Key informant interviews and FCHIP program document review were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis to understand how CAHs implemented their telehealth programs and the facilitators of program adoption and maintenance. Medicare fee-for-service claims were analyzed from August 2013 to July 2019 relative to a group of CAHs that did not participate in the demonstration project to understand the frequency of telehealth use for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries receiving care at the participating CAHs before and during the Demonstration program., Results: CAH staff noted several key factors for establishing and sustaining a telehealth program: clinical and administrative staff champions, infrastructure changes, training on telehealth processes, and establishing strong relationships with specialists at distant facilities to deliver telehealth services to patients of CAH. There was a modest increase in telehealth services billed to Medicare during the FCHIP Demonstration that were limited to a handful of CAHs., Conclusions: The frontier setting is characterized by a low population; and thus, the volumes of telehealth services provided in both the CAHs and comparison sites are low. Overall, CAHs reported that patient satisfaction was high and expressed the desire for more virtual services. Telehealth service selection was informed by perceived community needs and specialist availability. CAHs made infrastructure changes to support telehealth and expressed the desire for more virtual services. Implementation support services helped CAHs integrate telehealth into clinical and operational workflows. There was some increase in telehealth services billed to Medicare, but the volume billed was low and not enough to substantially improve hospital revenue. Future work to inform policy and practice could include standardized, formal community need assessments and assistance finding distant providers to meet those needs and further technical assistance around billing, service selection, and ongoing use to support sustainability., (©Saira Haque, Sydney DeStefano, Alison Banger, Regina Rutledge, Melissa Romaire. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 20.09.2023.)

Background: Myofascial Pain Syndrome (MPS) is a common pain disorder. Diagnostic criteria include physical findings which are often unreliable or not universally accepted. A precise biosignature may improve diagnosis and treatment effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to assess whether microanalytic assays significantly correlate with characteristic clinical findings in people with MPS., Methods: This descriptive, prospective study included 38 participants (25 women) with greater than 3 months of myofascial pain in the upper trapezius. Assessments were performed at a university laboratory. The main outcome measures were the Beighton Index, shoulder range of motion, strength asymmetries and microanalytes: DHEA, Kynurenine, VEGF, interleukins (IL-1b, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-7, IL-8, IL-13), growth factors (IGF-1, IGF2, G-CSF, GM-CSF), MCP-1, MIP-1b, BDNF, Dopamine, Noradrenaline, NPY, and Acetylcholine. Mann-Whitney test and Spearman's multivariate correlation were applied for all variables. The Spearman's analysis results were used to generate a standard correlation matrix and heat map matrix., Results: Mean age of participants was 32 years (20-61). Eight (21%) had widespread pain (Widespread Pain Index ≥ 7). Thirteen (34%) had MPS for 1-3 years, 14 (37%) 3-10 years, and 11 (29%) for > 10 years. The following showed strong correlations: IL1b,2,4,5,7,8; GM-CSF and IL 2,4,5,7; between DHEA and BDNF and between BDNF and Kynurenine, NPY and acetylcholine. The heat map analysis demonstrated strong correlations between the Beighton Index and IL 5,7, GM-CSF, DHEA. Asymmetries of shoulder and cervical spine motion and strength associated with select microanalytes., Conclusion: Cytokine levels significantly correlate with selected clinical assessments. This indirectly suggests possible biological relevance for understanding MPS. Correlations among some cytokine clusters; and DHEA, BDNF kynurenine, NPY, and acetylcholine may act together in MPS. These findings should be further investigated for confirmation that link these microanalytes with select clinical findings in people with MPS., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Tissue clearing of whole intact organs has enhanced imaging by enabling the exploration of tissue structure at a subcellular level in three-dimensional space. Although clearing and imaging of the whole organ have been used to study tissue biology, the microenvironment in which cells evolve to adapt to biomaterial implants or allografts in the body is poorly understood. Obtaining high-resolution information from complex cell-biomaterial interactions with volumetric landscapes represents a key challenge in the fields of biomaterials and regenerative medicine. To provide a new approach to examine how tissue responds to biomaterial implants, we apply cleared tissue light-sheet microscopy and three-dimensional reconstruction to utilize the wealth of autofluorescence information for visualizing and contrasting anatomical structures. This study demonstrates the adaptability of the clearing and imaging technique to provide sub-cellular resolution (0.6 μm isotropic) 3D maps of various tissue types, using samples from fully intact peritoneal organs to volumetric muscle loss injury specimens. Specifically, in the volumetric muscle loss injury model, we provide 3D visualization of the implanted extracellular matrix biomaterial in the wound bed of the quadricep muscle groups and further apply computational-driven image classification to analyze the autofluorescence spectrum at multiple emission wavelengths to categorize tissue types at the injured site interacting with the biomaterial scaffolds., (Published 2023. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

A single population of interferon-regulatory factor 8 (Irf8)-dependent conventional dendritic cell (cDC type1) is considered to be responsible for both immunogenic and tolerogenic responses depending on the surrounding cytokine milieu . Here, we challenge this concept of an omnipotent single Irf8-dependent cDC1 cluster through analysis of pulmonary cDCs at single cell resolution. We report existence of a pulmonary cDC1 cluster lacking Xcr1 with an immunogenic signature that clearly differs from the Xcr1 positive cDC1 cluster. The Irf8 + Batf3 + Xcr1 - cluster expresses high levels of pro-inflammatory genes associated with antigen presentation, migration and co-stimulation such as Ccr7 , Cd74 , MHC-II , Ccl5 , Il12b and Relb while, the Xcr1 + cDC1 cluster expresses genes corresponding to immune tolerance mechanisms like Clec9a , Pbx1 , Cadm1 , Btla and Clec12a . In concordance with their pro-inflammatory gene expression profile, the ratio of Xcr1 - cDC1s but not Xcr1 + cDC1 is increased in the lungs of allergen-treated mice compared to the control group, in which both cDC1 clusters are present in comparable ratios. The existence of two distinct Xcr1 + and Xcr1 - cDC1 clusters is furthermore supported by velocity analysis showing markedly different temporal patterns of Xcr1 - and Xcr1 + cDC1s. In summary, we present evidence for the existence of two different cDC1 clusters with distinct immunogenic profiles in vivo . Our findings have important implications for DC-targeting immunomodulatory therapies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Jirmo, Grychtol, Gaedcke, Liu, DeStefano, Happle, Halle, Monteiro, Habener, Breiholz, DeLuca and Hansen.)

The analysis of functional upper extremity (UE) movement kinematics has implications across domains such as rehabilitation and evaluating job-related skills. Using movement kinematics to quantify movement quality and skill is a promising area of research but is currently not being used widely due to issues associated with cost and the need for further methodological validation. Recent developments by computationally-oriented research communities have resulted in potentially useful methods for evaluating UE function that may make kinematic analyses easier to perform, generally more accessible, and provide more objective information about movement quality, the importance of which has been highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This narrative review provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the current state of computer-assisted methods for analyzing UE kinematics with a specific focus on how to make kinematic analyses more accessible to domain experts. We find that a variety of methods exist to more easily measure and segment functional UE movement, with a subset of those methods being validated for specific applications. Future directions include developing more robust methods for measurement and segmentation, validating these methods in conjunction with proposed kinematic outcome measures, and studying how to integrate kinematic analyses into domain expert workflows in a way that improves outcomes., Competing Interests: This study received funding from the MITRE Corporation. The funder had the following involvement with the study: none; funding was to support K. Jacksons time doing research as part of graduate school and was not directly involved in this study. Author K. Jackson was employed by the MITRE Corporation during the writing of this paper, author A. Santago is currently employed by the MITRE Corporation, S. DeStefano is employed by Optimal Motion, and L. Gerber is employed by the Inova Health System. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Jackson, Durić, Engdahl, Santago, DeStefano and Gerber.)

The rat model is an important resource in biomedical research due to its similarities to the human immune system and its use for functional studies. However, because of the preponderance of mouse models in foundational and mechanistic immunological studies, there is a relative lack of diverse, commercially available flow cytometry antibodies for immunological profiling in the rat model. Available antibodies are often conjugated to common fluorophores with similar peak emission wavelengths, making them hard to distinguish on conventional flow cytometers and restricting more comprehensive immune analysis. This can become a limitation when designing immunological studies in rat injury models to investigate the immune response to tissue injury. In addition, this lack of available antibodies limits the number of studies that can be done on the immune populations in lymphoid organs in other research areas. To address this critical unmet need, we designed a spectral flow cytometry panel for rat models. Spectral cytometry distinguishes between different fluorophores by capturing their full emission spectra instead of their peak emission wavelengths. This flow cytometry panel includes 24 distinct immune cell markers to analyze the innate and adaptive immune response. Importantly, this panel identifies different immune phenotypes, including tolerogenic, Type 1, and Type 2 immune responses. We show that this panel can identify unique immune populations and phenotypes in a rat muscle trauma model. We further validated that the panel can identify distinct adaptive and innate immune populations and their unique phenotypes in lymphoid organs. This panel expands the scope of previous rat panels providing a tool for scientists to examine the immune system in homeostasis and injury while pairing mechanistic immunological studies with functional studies., (© 2022 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Background and Objectives: Musculoskeletal (MSK) concerns constitute up to 40% of primary care outpatient visits. Despite Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) family medicine program requirements for musculoskeletal medicine and sports medicine training, previous studies have shown that family medicine residency graduates do not have adequate training to manage common musculoskeletal conditions. Factors for this may include deficiencies in education at both the undergraduate and graduate medical education training levels., Methods: A Council of Academic Family Medicine Educational Research Alliance survey of 287 family medicine program directors assessed the current state of the delivery of musculoskeletal medicine education. Opinions were gathered on the scope and delivery of training requirements as well as potential areas for further curricular attention., Results: Two hundred eighty-seven program directors responded to the survey (response rate 41.53%). Most (72.60%) were in university based or affiliated programs and had a fellowship-trained primary care sports medicine physician (59.85%) curricular lead. A majority (77.4%) did not feel that PGY-1 residents enter residency with the physical exam skills needed to evaluate common musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions , and most (81.15%) did not feel that there should be changes to the current ACGME requirements. An area highlighted for further investment is faculty development in point-of-care ultrasound (39.85%)., Conclusions: Although program directors believe that current ACGME MSK curricular requirements are likely appropriate, they do not feel residents arrive with the examination skills needed to evaluate common MSK conditions.Therefore, further attention can be given to medical student education in musculoskeletal exam skills prior to residency. Future research should develop objective measures using multiple assessors-students, residents, teaching faculty, and patients-to assess both the baseline and graduating competency in MSK medicine of our residents.

Objective: We sought to improve seizure response times in the epilepsy monitoring unit, improve the accuracy and reliability of seizure response time data collection, and develop a standardized and automated approach for seizure response data collection in the EMU., Methods: We used Quality Improvement (QI) methodology to understand the EMU workflow involved in responding to seizures (a process map); to create a theory of change that stated the desired aim, potential drivers/barriers and interventions (i.e., key driver diagram) and perform iterative interventions to address some of the drivers plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles. We performed three PDSA cycles with a focus on improving the seizure alert system in our EMU. Adjustments were made to the methodology as it became clear that this was a systems issue, and our project would need to focus on improving the system rather than iteratively improving a functioning (stable) system., Results: Over a 6-month period, 252 seizure response times were recorded and analyzed. We performed 3 interventions. The first was initiating twice monthly meetings with nursing and EEG techs to discuss the project and provide feedback on response times. The second was the implementation of a new Hill-Rom seizure alert system to reduce alert times and automate data tracking. The third was implementing a new alert deactivation system to reduce variability in the data. Following these 3 interventions, variation, and data collection methods were improved while also maintaining improvements in seizure response times., Significance: We identified and implemented an alert system in our EMU which led to more efficient and accurate data collection while maintaining improved response times that resulted from the first intervention. This lays the groundwork for future QI initiatives and has created a framework for standardizing seizure response time recording and data collection that can be replicated at other centers with similar infrastructure, personnel and workflows., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)