The benefits and limitations of establishing the PA profession globally: A systematic review and mixed-methods study.

Objective: Physician associates/assistants (PAs) and their equivalents offer a solution to the supply and demand crisis to alleviate global healthcare needs. This study investigated how PA and PA equivalents address global healthcare needs across different healthcare systems, revealing recommendations for their use. The study also sought to catalog the global healthcare needs that PAs and equivalents are successfully alleviating, the roles in which they function, and the barriers facing implementation.

Exploring Potential Challenges in Implementing a Standardized Curriculum for the Physician Associate Program in India: Insights From Stakeholder Discussions.

Introduction: This article explores the potential challenges in implementing a national-level standardized curriculum for physician associate (PA) programs in India, an initiative under the directions of the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professionals Act of 2021.

Methods: Initiated in August 2023, a multistage process began with emailing a draft curriculum for review to key stakeholders, followed by a virtual meeting on September 3. Key stakeholders, including faculty from various universities, participated in focus group discussions (FGDs) at the International Association of Physician Associate Educators and the Indian Association of Physician Assistants annual conference on September 21, 2023, in Gandhinagar.

Investigation of the diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging within the undergraduate student population within the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University.

Iowa State University (ISU) provides resources for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI-B) to provide students with a comfortable academic home regardless of their demographics or prior experiences. The objective of this study was to investigate undergraduate students' DEI-B perspectives in the Department of Animal Science at ISU. One survey instrument was developed containing 14 questions that covered demographics, feelings of inclusion, comfort-seeking tools, and ways to improve DEI-B.

Systems Thinking and Sustainable Food Systems in Dietetics Education: A Survey of Directors.

Background: Systems thinking is recommended, but not required, for teaching food and water system sustainability in nutrition and dietetics education.

Objective: This study investigated systems thinking and sustainable, resilient, and healthy food and water systems (SRHFWS) in nutrition and dietetics programs. It examined program directors' practices, values, attitudes, confidence levels, and the relationships between systems thinking, teaching SRHFWS topics, confidence levels, and years of experience as a dietitian and program director.

Emerging therapeutic drug monitoring technologies: considerations and opportunities in precision medicine.

In recent years, the development of sensor and wearable technologies have led to their increased adoption in clinical and health monitoring settings. One area that is in early, but promising, stages of development is the use of biosensors for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). Traditionally, TDM could only be performed in certified laboratories and was used in specific scenarios to optimize drug dosage based on measurement of plasma/blood drug concentrations.

South Africa celebrates 15 years of clinical associates.

Clinical associates (ClinAs) in South Africa are modeled after physician associates in the United States and the Netherlands and clinical officers elsewhere in Africa. The first ClinAs began their education in 2008 and started working in 2011. Three universities offer a 3-year bachelor of clinical medical practice degree.

Curricula Mapping of Physician Associate/Physician Assistant-Comparable Professions Worldwide Using the Learning Opportunities, Objectives, and Outcomes Platform.

Given the international growth of physician associate/physician assistant (PA) and PA-comparable professions, it is crucial to understand the educational curricula of PA/PA-comparable professions worldwide. This article provides an overview of the process and development of the PA/PA-comparable curricula mapping design applying an international framework. It uses an innovative web-based tool, the Learning Opportunities, Objectives, and Outcomes Platform (LOOOP), to map and evaluate course content, teaching strategies, assessment formats, and learning outcomes.

Exploring human biology with N-of-1 clinical trials.

Studies on humans that exploit contemporary data-intensive, high-throughput 'omic' assay technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics, have unequivocally revealed that humans differ greatly at the molecular level. These differences, which are compounded by each individual's distinct behavioral and environmental exposures, impact individual responses to health interventions such as diet and drugs. Questions about the best way to tailor health interventions to individuals based on their nuanced genomic, physiologic, behavioral, etc.

Plants Gain Improved Salt-Stress Tolerance and Increased Storage Oil Biosynthesis by Interfering with CRL3 Activities.

Generating new strategies to improve plant performance and yield in crop plants becomes increasingly relevant with ongoing and predicted global climate changes. E3 ligases that function as key regulators within the ubiquitin proteasome pathway often are involved in abiotic stress responses, development, and metabolism in plants. The aim of this research was to transiently downregulate an E3 ligase that uses BTB/POZ-MATH proteins as substrate adaptors in a tissue-specific manner.

Assessing Youth Safety Knowledge through the Agriculture Experience Tracker (AET).

The purpose of this study was to assess high school agricultural education youth safety knowledge. The target population consisted of high school agricultural education youth, ages 14-19 years, who were enrolled in School Based Agricultural Education programs that utilized the AET agricultural safety exam feature between the dates of May 2019 and June 2020 (N=1478). The safety knowledge questions were randomly generated from the National Safe Tractor and Machinery Operation Program instructor curriculum resources.

Review: Exploring possible approaches using ubiquitylation and sumoylation pathways in modifying plant stress tolerance.

Ubiquitin and similar proteins, such as SUMO, are utilized by plants to modify target proteins to rapidly change their stability and activity in cells. This review will provide an overview of these crucial protein interactions with a focus on ubiquitylation and sumoylation in plants and how they contribute to stress tolerance. The work will also explore possibilities to use these highly conserved pathways for novel approaches to generate more robust crop plants better fit to cope with abiotic and biotic stress situations.

Does Modulation of an Epigenetic Clock Define a Geroprotector?

There is growing interest in the development of interventions (e.g., drugs, diets, dietary supplements, behavioral therapies, etc.

Psychometric Properties of a New Stress-Related Personality Scale: The Virtual Inventory of Behavior and Emotions (VIBE).

Background: Personality traits are important factors with regard to the tendency to experience and response to stress. This study introduces and tests a new stress-related personality scale called the Virtual Inventory of Behavior and Emotions (VIBE).

Methods: Two samples totaling 5512 individuals (with 66% between the ages of 18 and 34) completed the VIBE along with other measures of personality, stress, mood, and well-being.

Effectiveness of Utilizing an Evidence Based Safety Curriculum to Increase Student Knowledge.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of utilizing an evidence based, "Train the Trainer" approach to increase the safety knowledge and awareness of secondary students. Participating teachers attended a 10-hour, inquiry-based summer training workshop utilizing National Safe Tractor and Machinery Operations Program (NSTMOP) materials focusing on roll-over protection structures, mini-tilt table construction, and on-farm tractor risk assessments. Teachers incorporated workshop lessons into existing curricula.

Opinions of supervisors of clinical associates in South African district hospitals.

Objective: To determine the opinions of supervising physicians about the introduction of clinical associates at South African district hospitals in 2012.

Methods: Twenty-four healthcare professionals in Gauteng and North West provinces were selected to participate in cross-sectional qualitative interviews exploring their opinions on the clinical practice of clinical associates, the effect of the new cadre, their achievements, and the concerns of the supervisors. The inductive content analysis process generated several themes.

Assessment of dextrose 50 bolus versus dextrose 10 infusion in the management of hyperkalemia in the ED.

Introduction: Hypoglycemia is a common adverse effect when intravenous (IV) insulin is administered for hyperkalemia. A prolonged infusion of dextrose 10% (D10) may mitigate hypoglycemia compared to dextrose 50% (D50) bolus. Our objective was to evaluate whether D10 infusion is a safe and effective alternative to D50 bolus for hypoglycemia prevention in hyperkalemic patients receiving IV insulin.

Dalbavancin Use in the Emergency Department Setting.

Although dalbavancin's (DBV's) long half-life and one-time dosing strategy confer ideal administration in the ambulatory setting, the optimal role of DBV in the management of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) remains to be elucidated. The primary objective of this study was to compare treatment outcomes of ABSSSI between patients who received DBV in the emergency department (ED) as part of standard care versus patients who received DBV as part of a telehealth program. This was a retrospective cohort study evaluating patients who received DBV at 3 urban EDs.

Association Between Improvement in Baseline Mood and Long-Term Use of a Mindfulness and Meditation App: Observational Study.

Background: The use of smartphone apps to monitor and deliver health care guidance and interventions has received considerable attention recently, particularly with regard to behavioral disorders, stress relief, negative emotional state, and poor mood in general. Unfortunately, there is little research investigating the long-term and repeated effects of apps meant to impact mood and emotional state.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the effects of both immediate point-of-intervention and long-term use (ie, at least 10 engagements) of a guided meditation and mindfulness smartphone app on users' emotional states.

Agricultural Safety Education: Formative Assessment of a Curriculum Integration Strategy.

The purpose of this study was to assess an agricultural tractor and machinery safety curriculum for teacher training that focused on hands-on integration activities to assist with training youth in machinery safety skills. Teachers attended a single ten-hour summer training seminar hosted in Montana, South Dakota, or Utah during 2017. Teachers completed the National Tractor and Machinery Safe Operation (NSTMOP) exam to measure their existing knowledge prior to beginning the training.

Pathologist's health-care value in the triage of Oncotype DX testing: a value-based pathology study of tumour biology with outcomes.

Aims: Pathologists provide expert tissue assessment of breast cancer, yet their value to guide the appropriate use of breast cancer gene expression profile tests (GEPT) is underutilised. The specific aims of this study are to report morpho-immunohistological characteristics of breast tumours with Oncotype DX (ODx) recurrence scores (RS) of 10 or fewer (ultra-low risk) and 25 or fewer (low risk) in order to determine if pathologists can identify prospectively patient tumours that do not require ODx testing.

Methods And Results: Oncotype DX cases with RS < 10 from 2005 to 2010 comprised 441 of 2594 (17%) of clinical cases; this cohort had 5 years' follow-up and was treated with endocrine therapy alone.

Development of a highly sensitive liquid biopsy platform to detect clinically-relevant cancer mutations at low allele fractions in cell-free DNA.

Introduction: Detection and monitoring of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is rapidly becoming a diagnostic, prognostic and predictive tool in cancer patient care. A growing number of gene targets have been identified as diagnostic or actionable, requiring the development of reliable technology that provides analysis of multiple genes in parallel. We have developed the InVision™ liquid biopsy platform which utilizes enhanced TAm-Seq™ (eTAm-Seq™) technology, an amplicon-based next generation sequencing method for the identification of clinically-relevant somatic alterations at low frequency in ctDNA across a panel of 35 cancer-related genes.