A Behavioral Safety Model for Clinical Settings: Coaching for Institutionalization.

Decades of research in the field of behavior analysis has offered a framework to assess behavior-environment interactions across any population and setting that involves behavior. This foundation makes a behavior-analytic perspective of safety systems a vital area of applied behavior analysis and one that can have a tremendous impact on the tens of thousands of behavior analysts working in frontline and leadership positions in clinical settings. Given the important work being done by clinicians and the growing need for behavioral services worldwide, organizations should create systems that are measured by more than just outcomes.

Evaluating the Quality of Behavior Analytic Practitioner Training Programs.

Dixon and colleagues (2015) asserted that faculty research productivity is a key indicator of the quality of university programs that train future practitioners of behavior analysis. Based on their analysis of publications in select journals, the authors concluded that many faculty in such programs have published little to no research. Some alternative measures of both faculty research productivity and the quality of practitioner training programs are suggested here.

Using task clarification, graphic feedback, and verbal feedback to increase closing-task completion in a privately owned restaurant.

An informant functional assessment was used to evaluate closing-task completion by servers and dishwashers at a restaurant. Based on the functional assessment results, an intervention consisting of task clarification, posted graphic feedback, and verbal feedback was implemented and evaluated with a multiple baseline design across two groups of employees. Results showed an increase of 15% and 38% in task completion for the two groups.

Plasmodium falciparum: induction of resistance to mefloquine in cloned strains by continuous drug exposure in vitro.

A genetically homogeneous population of Plasmodium falciparum prepared by a single erythrocyte micromanipulation technique was used to produce lines of P. falciparum resistant to mefloquine hydrochloride in vitro. Parasites were maintained in a culture medium containing gradually increased concentrations of mefloquine hydrochloride (CMP-mef) starting with 2 ng/ml.

Plasmodium falciparum: cloning by single-erythrocyte micromanipulation and heterogeneity in vitro.

Natural isolates of Plasmodium falciparum represent a genetically heterogeneous population of parasites. To obtain stable strains of the parasites for long term experiments, a rapid and definitive method of cloning was developed using micropipets and a micromanipulator. Homogeneous parasite clones prepared by this technique were characterized and compared with the parent isolates during 4 years of continuous culture.

In vitro activities of and mechanisms of resistance to antifol antimalarial drugs.

Certain drugs that interfere with folate metabolism (sulfones, sulfonamides, and inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductase) play an important role in the chemotherapy and prophylaxis of malaria. The activities and mechanisms of action of these drugs are regarded as similar in most respects to their activities against procaryotic microorganisms. Believed incapable of utilizing intact exogenous folates, plasmodia have been regarded as dependent on de novo synthesis of required folate cofactors.

Use of non-human plasma for in vitro cultivation and antimalarial drug susceptibility testing of Plasmodium falciparum.

Viability, growth rate, and chemotherapeutic susceptibility of the CDC/Indochina III, CDC/Sierra Leone I, and FCR-3 (Subline F-86) isolates of Plasmodium falciparum grown continuously in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with goat, horse, porcine, bovine, or ovine plasma were evaluated. Results were compared to those obtained from parallel cultures maintained in medium supplemented with non-immune human plasma. Only media supplemented with goat or horse plasma supported significant continuous multiplication of the isolates.

A clinical study of Laotian refugees infected with Clonorchis sinensis or Opisthorchis viverrini.

Twenty-six Laotian refugees infected with Clonorchis or Opisthorchis liver flukes, and 15 uninfected controls, were assessed clinically by history, physical examination, serum 5'nucleotidase level, and serum immunoglobulin E level. Ultrasound studies of the biliary tract were also done on a subset of six infected subjects. The results showed no differences between subjects and controls with respect to clinical symptoms, physical findings, 5'nucleotidase, or biliary ultrasound.

Two cases of dipylidiasis (dog tapeworm infection) in children: update on an old problem.

Children in households with dogs and cats may become infected with the dog tapeworm more frequently than suspected. Because of age-appropriate hand-to-mouth exploration, young infants and toddlers, through contact with fleas on pets, floors, and furnishings, are particularly susceptible. Knowledge of the life cycle of this animal parasite and the manner in which children acquire and demonstrate infection can lead to early diagnosis and effective treatment.

Medusa cells: cytostructure and cytochemistry of amoeboid eosinophils with pseudopod-like processes.

Eosinophils having one or more pseudopod-like processes of various lengths are observed in bone marrow, peripheral blood, sputum, nasal smears, and in other exfoliative cytology and tissue specimens after fixation and staining for histochemical study; they are called medusa cells. Although the conformations and lengths of the processes vary, they resemble protozoal pseudopodia. The form which first called our attention to these cells is a conical determinate projection that tapers to a fine tip, much like a protozoal axopod.

Phospholipase B in the brains and meninges of nonsensitized and sensitized rats after challenge with Angiostrongylus cantonensis.

After a primary infection with 100 Angiostrongylus cantonensis larvae, infected rats showed elevated phospholipase B activity in meningeal and brain homogenates beginning with the first week and continuing through the first month of infection. The rise in phospholipase B values through the first 4 weeks, with a prolonged peak spanning days 30 to 31, coincided with the invasion and maturation of the parasites in the brain, and the ensuing sharp decline in phospholipase B levels, shown by the readings on day 45, coincided in turn with the known migration of the worms from the brain to the lungs, which begins about 5 weeks after infection. In the meninges, the pattern of enzyme elevation was generally similar to that in the brain samples except that the highest activity was seen earlier at days 8 to 9, followed by a gradual decline by days 30 to 31 and a sharper drop by day 45.

Phospholipase B levels in fecal pellets from mice infected with Trichinella spiralis, Hymenolepis nana, and Schistosoma mansoni.

Fecal pellets of mice infected with Trichinella spiralis, Hymenolepis nana, and Schistosoma mansoni have been found to contain high levels of phospholipase B activity. The rise, time course and decline of the enzymatic content of the pellets correlate with the known patterns of intestinal injury and reaction due to the parasites or their eggs. Treatment with drugs (thiabendazole, niclosamide, niridazole) which are effective in suppressing the infection also prevents the rise, or causes an early decline, in the titers of phospholipase B appearing in the excreta.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis: phospholipase in nonsensitized and sensitized rats after challenge.

Rats given an initial infection with Angiostrongylus cantonensis had moderately elevated phospholipase B activity in the lungs at 8 and 15 days after challenge, and greatly elevated levels were evident at 35, 43, and 49 days. In the brain, the values were elevated at 15 through 35 days. These periods of increased activity in the lungs and brain coincided with the migration patterns of the third stage larvae and the adult worms in this host.