Prenatal Cannabinoid Exposure Elicits Memory Deficits Associated with Reduced PSA-NCAM Expression, Altered Glutamatergic Signaling, and Adaptations in Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity.

Cannabis is now one of the most commonly used illicit substances among pregnant women. This is particularly concerning since developmental exposure to cannabinoids can elicit enduring neurofunctional and cognitive alterations. This study investigates the mechanisms of learning and memory deficits resulting from prenatal cannabinoid exposure (PCE) in adolescent offspring.

Interdisciplinary speed dating augments diabetes self-management education and support to improve health outcomes.

Objective: To determine if a novel interdisciplinary "speed-dating" clinic augments Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support (DSMES).

Methods: Adult patients with diabetes attended a DSMES class. Two weeks later patients attended an interdisciplinary clinic utilizing a "speed-dating" format during which they progressed through 5 stations hosted by different healthcare disciplines at 30-minute increments: physician, pharmacist, nurse/dietitian, case manager, and psychologist.

Adiponectin Knockout Mice Display Cognitive and Synaptic Deficits.

Adiponectin is an adipokine that has recently been under investigation for potential neuroprotective effects in various brain disorders including Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and depression. Adiponectin receptors (AdipoR1 and AdipoR2) are found throughout various brain regions, including the hippocampus. However, the role of these receptors in synaptic and cognitive function is not clear.

Rationale of family medicine physicians in effectively identifying patients with chronic hyperglycemia through point-of-care hemoglobin A1C screenings.

Purpose: Many patients are unknowingly living with chronic hyperglycemia, possibly due to low screening rates. We aimed to correlate detection of unidentified chronic hyperglycemia to practitioner reported rationale for conducting diabetes screening.

Methods: Physicians screened patients via a point-of-care A1C tests and recorded corresponding rationales.

Prenatal cannabinoid exposure and altered neurotransmission.

Marijuana is one of the most commonly used illicit drugs worldwide. In addition, use of synthetic cannabinoids is increasing, especially among adolescents and young adults. Although human studies have shown that the use of marijuana during pregnancy leads to adverse behavioral effects, such as deficiencies in attention and executive function in affected offspring, the rate of marijuana use among pregnant women is steadily increasing.

Novel method for quantitative assessment of physical workload of healthcare workers by a tetherless ergonomics workstation.

Healthcare workers are at risk of physical injury. Our laboratory has developed a tetherless ergonomics workstation that is suitable for studying physicians' and nurses' physical workloads in clinical settings. The workstation uses wearable sensors to record multiple channels of body orientation and muscle activity and wirelessly transmits them to a base station laptop computer for display, storage, and analysis.

Tetherless ergonomics workstation to assess nurses' physical workload in a clinical setting.

Nurses are at risk of physical injury when moving immobile patients. This paper describes the development and testing of a tetherless ergonomics workstation that is suitable for studying nurses' physical workload in a clinical setting. The workstation uses wearable sensors to record multiple channels of body orientation and muscle activity and wirelessly transmits them to a base station laptop computer for display, storage, and analysis.

Simulator training to automaticity leads to improved skill transfer compared with traditional proficiency-based training: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: We hypothesized that novices will perform better in the operating room after simulator training to automaticity compared with traditional proficiency based training (current standard training paradigm).

Background: Simulator-acquired skill translates to the operating room, but the skill transfer is incomplete. Secondary task metrics reflect the ability of trainees to multitask (automaticity) and may improve performance assessment on simulators and skill transfer by indicating when learning is complete.

A miniature, wearable activity/fall monitor to assess the efficacy of mobility therapy for children with cerebral palsy during everyday living.

Children with cerebral palsy may have difficulty walking and may fall frequently, resulting in a decrease in their participation in school and community activities. It is desirable to assess the effectiveness of mobility therapies for these children on their functioning during everyday living. Over 50 hours of tri-axial accelerometer and digital video recordings from 35 children with cerebral palsy and 51 typically-developing children were analyzed to develop algorithms for automatic real-time processing of the accelerometer signals to monitor a child's level of activity and to detect falls.

Monitor height affects surgeons' stress level and performance on minimally invasive surgery tasks.

This study investigated the effect of monitor height on surgeons' workload and performance during simulated minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Fourteen volunteer subjects (7 experienced, 7 inexperienced) performed a cutting task in a training box at a standard MIS station with the video monitor positioned in random order at, below (-35 degrees), and above (+15 degrees) the subject's eye level. Task time and error, difficulty and discomfort, head orientation, trapezius and neck muscle activity, and skin conductance were recorded.

A simple virtual instrument to monitor surgeons' workload while they perform minimally invasive surgery tasks.

Monitoring the workload of surgeons while they perform minimally invasive surgery (MIS) tasks can help them learn to reduce effort as they improve performance and can help develop better human-technology interfaces for MIS. To monitor workload, we developed a personal computer based virtual instrument (VI) that uses orientation sensors worn on the surgeon's left and right upper arms to measure upper arm flexion, abduction, and outward rotation angles. From these sensors, we compute indices of effort and integrated effort.

Wireless virtual instrument measurement of surgeons' physical and mental workloads for robotic versus manual minimally invasive surgery.

The human-technology interface in traditional minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is difficult for the surgeon. Efforts to improve this interface include the use of robotic surgery systems. Ergonomics studies are required to help understand and improve the MIS user interface.

A comparison of the physical effort required for laparoscopic and open surgical techniques.

Hypothesis: Performing complex tasks requires greater muscle effort with laparoscopic instruments than with open surgical instruments.

Design: A nonrandomized 2-condition trial.

Setting: A semienclosed ergonomics station in the exhibit hall at the Annual Meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Surgeons.