Baptist College of Health Sciences

Professionalism in medicine has been historically difficult to define, teach, assess, and remediate. While professionalism is vital to the practice of medicine, the lack of consistency across training and disciplines, combined with the often generalized nature of its description, has caused challenges in academic medicine and has led to the weaponization of its use. It is clear that change in this essential competency in medicine is needed, and change has to begin with an honest self-assessment. The purpose of this report is to present an evidence-based rubric for the assessment of professionalism at the institutional level. The literature on professionalism emphasizes the importance of creating and maintaining a culture of professionalism within an educational community that guides expected behaviors and ensures accountability. This rubric presents expected behaviors within the major areas of the academic enterprise through an osteopathic lens, emphasizing the distinctive wisdom of osteopathic philosophy and the guidance it provides for a new landscape of medical professionalism. Through the Senior Leadership Development Program (SLDP) of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM), the authors identified six key areas in which to define osteopathic medical professionalism at the institutional level. These are: Definition and Culture; Prematriculation and Matriculation; Preclinical Curriculum; Clinical Curriculum; Student Affairs, Disciplinary Procedure, and Code of Conduct; Patient Care; and Research. Within each area, five clusters of professionalism were utilized to capture the multi-dimensional nature of cultivating a culture of professionalism within a community: Ethics and Integrity, Respect, Teamwork, Accountability, and Self-Management. A four-tier scale was developed to evaluate participants' performance in theseareas. The result of this report is a multi-dimensional and comprehensive rubric that can be utilized by colleges of osteopathic medicine (COMs) to perform self-assessments of how professionalism is conceptualized at their institution. In addition, the rubric can be utilized by segments of the academic enterprise in focused self-assessment and for change efforts at the programmaticlevel. Osteopathic medical professionalism has the potential to carve a new pathway for the future of professionalism in academic medicine. This institutional self-assessment rubric for COMs is the first step in a change process that can clarify and specify how professionalism is defined, so that appropriate and meaningful teaching, assessment, and remediation can follow. Future research on this rubric will be to conduct formal validation analysis in order to standardize its application in an effort to broaden its use and potential impact.

Abstract Though the methodology and significance of rhetorical criticism for New Testament studies is heavily debated, it has cemented itself as an integral part of the discipline. The role of alliteration as a form of micro-rhetoric, however, has been underappreciated. The purpose of this paper is to justify and develop a methodology for studying alliteration, initiate a discussion of alliteration’s rhetorical significance, and examine the role of alliteration in two key texts in 2 Peter, noting how such micro-rhetoric fits within the macro-rhetorical structure of that epistle as laid out by Duane F. Watson’s influential work.

The plate heat exchanger is one of the smallest and most efficient heat exchangers on the market. This experiment aims to assess the performance of eutectic solvent-water as a base fluid in a plate heat exchanger. For this study, silicon oxide (SiO2) nanoparticles are synthesized from sugar bagasse and rice husk, using the sol-gel method. SiO2 nanoparticles were used in various ratios (0.15 vol.%, 0.3 vol.%, 0.45 vol.%, 0.6 vol.%, and 0.75 vol.%) in a base fluid (15 vol.% eutectic solvent and 85 vol.% water) to prepare a nanofluid. At three different temperatures, such as 323 and 343 K, with varying flow rates (2-8 L/min) and varying nanoparticle concentrations (0.15 % to 0.75 %), heat transfer studies were performed, and the results are presented. There was a notable enhancement in the overall heat transfer coefficient by the combination of SiO2 nanoparticles and an eutectic solvent-water-based fluid. It was noted that utilizing the SiO2/eutectic solvent-water nanofluid could significantly reduce the temperature gradient in the heat exchanger and improve its performance. The maximum overall heat transfer coefficient noted was 3162.5 W/m?K at 0.6 % volume fraction of nanoparticles, with a flow rate of 8 L/min at a temperature of 343 K.

Abstract This research presents the impactful findings of the “Enhancing Cross-Cultural Intergenerational Capacity in Social Capital” project, which successfully connected university students with older South Asians in Hong Kong, addressing critical issues of social isolation and cultural misunderstanding. Older South Asians often encounter barriers to community engagement and resource access. This initiative aimed to enhance students’ cultural competency while empowering older adults, fostering stronger community ties and promoting inclusivity. The project sought to cultivate cross-cultural communication skills among students, facilitate meaningful intergenerational interactions, and co-create culturally relevant services tailored to the unique needs of older South Asians. Through cultural competency training and collaborative co-creation workshops, students worked alongside community partners and older adults to design services that resonate with the community. Engaging over 50 participants, the project led to transformative outcomes: participants reported a 30% increase in cultural understanding and improved social connectivity, while students experienced a 40% boost in confidence in their service delivery. Qualitative feedback highlighted powerful personal stories of connection and growth, illustrating the profound impact on both students and older adults. These findings underscore the essential role of inclusive service-learning initiatives in fostering social capital and intergenerational solidarity, offering valuable insights for future community engagement practices and research.

Review ofAlasdair Black, The Courage to Speak: Sex, Sexuality and the Church (Stirling: Extremis Publishing, 2025), pp. xi + 218, ISBN 978-1739484583. £13.00

Introduction Preclinical animal experiments and initial feasibility studies in humans have shown encouraging outcomes using the novel Saccular Endovascular Aneurysm Lattice (SEAL™) system for the treatment of both ruptured and unruptured wide‐neck intracranial aneurysms (IAs). The SEAL™ Interventional Pivotal IDE PMA Trial (SEAL™ IT) is designed to assess the safety and efficacy of the SEAL™ in patients with saccular IAs. This ongoing, prospective, multicenter trial includes three study arms and will enroll a total of 279 participants with wide‐neck bifurcation (WNBA), sidewall (SW), or acutely ruptured IAs across 50 U.S. sites. Methods Eligibility requirements include patients aged 20‐80 years with a wide‐neck saccular intracranial aneurysm (2‐19 mm) deemed suitable for treatment with the SEAL™ Intrasaccular Device (SID). Participants receive treatment using the SEAL™ device (Galaxy Therapeutics Inc.) and are monitored at discharge, and again at 3, 6, and 12 months, followed by yearly assessments for up to 5 years. The primary efficacy outcome is defined as complete aneurysm occlusion at 12 months without evidence of parent vessel stenosis or the need for retreatment, as determined by an independent core laboratory. Key safety outcomes include neurological death within 12 months, stroke occurring within the first 30 days, and ipsilateral stroke between 30 days and 1 year. Results As of submission, 163 WNBA, 58 WNSW, and 33 ruptured for a total of 254 patients (76.3% female; mean age 61.7 ± 11.3) have been enrolled at 50 sites. Mean aneurysm width was 5.2 ± 2.1, neck size of 3.7 ± 1.4, and neck‐to‐dome ratio of 1.4 ± 0.32. SEAL Arc was used in 63.6% and SEAL Base in 36.4%. Technical device success rate is 100% for WNBA, 94.8% WNSW, and 97.0% ruptured. The interim complete occlusion rate for the primary group is 84.5% at most recent date based on available imaging. Conclusion Preliminary data for the SEAL™ intrasaccular device is promising; Safety and effectiveness updates will be presented at the SVIN Conference.

More than 80% of US maternal deaths are preventable yet maternity care in the United States (US) is becoming increasingly difficult to access. Recent years have seen the rise of maternity care deserts, defined as an area with no hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care and without any obstetric providers. The number of counties without a birthing facility continues to grow, and 1/3 of US counties lack an obstetric clinician. The US has a maternal mortality rate that is 2-3 times greater than similar high-income countries, a steady rise in severe maternal morbidity, and markedly high infant mortality rates compared to similar countries. Traveling long distances to obtain obstetric care can impact whether a woman and infant survive an obstetric emergency such as hemorrhage. Nearly 2/3 of maternity care deserts are in rural areas, with the greatest need for maternity care located in the southern US. Maternity care deserts disproportionately impact rural, low-income, and Black women. The reasons for maternity closures are multifactorial, but are driven by hospital financial pressures and staff shortages. Government interventions are necessary to expand access to care and to keep critical obstetric units open. These interventions include increasing Medicaid reimbursements, expanding Medicaid access, expanding the perinatal workforce, setting standards for what constitutes safe distances between maternity units, and exploring mechanisms to leverage/reimagine existing programs to keep units open in critical areas. We call for urgent action given the serious public health threat to women and infants. We draw from diverse sources not commonly cited to comprehensively summarize the issues related to obstetric closures, outline the drawbacks of many previously proposed solutions, and propose some novel solutions.

Undergraduate medical education, especially in the United States, is being shaped by an environment that is changing at an unprecedented pace, creating new challenges for institutions, faculty, and students. For medical education to adapt to the changing environment, influencing factors must be identified and categorized, allowing for the development of strategies that work within the new landscape. Volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) is a method to analyze the factors driving change. Here, we apply the VUCA framework to undergraduate medical education, highlighting key influencing factors including artificial intelligence, decentralized approaches to learning, expansion of medical schools, and new demands on faculty and students. The goal is to identify how these influences are impacting medical education allowing for creative and innovative strategies to be employed that mitigate disruptive forces and take advantage of new opportunities to the benefit all stakeholders.

Ultra-endurance sports challenge athlete health, with these risks exacerbated by environmental extremes and/or remoteness of competition. Therefore, this study aimed to use real-time monitoring technology to characterise and monitor physiological/biomechanical responses during SAMLA 2023, a 200-km multidiscipline (swim, run, bike, and kayak) ultra-endurance race, encompassing cool and warm desert environmental conditions (16°C-28°C). Within a cross-sectional observational study design, 18 males (total entrants: 318) were instrumented with wearable/ingestible sensors measuring physiological [heart rate and core (Tc)/skin (Tsk) temperature], biomechanical [gait] and location-based [Global Positioning System (GPS)] metrics. Sensors connected to a smartphone application via Bluetooth, which saved and transmitted data to a cloud-based dashboard in real-time. Participants were on-course for an accumulated ∼668 h. ∼662 h of GPS data were displayed in real-time with the longest individual data capture of ∼57 h. Physiological/biomechanical data were acquired for x̄: ∼42% (range: ∼38%-∼49%) of the participant on-course time. Hypo/hyperthermic Tc's were seen (x̄: 37.8°C range: 35.7°C-39.2°C). Tsk (28°C: 11.7°C-38.4°C) in response to the varied in-race environmental challenges (16°C-28°C ambient temperature) and heart rate (111 b·min-1: 37 b·min-1-179 b·min-1) varied markedly. One participant was hospitalised without presentation in physiological data. Biomechanical data had significant data loss and quality issues and are not presented. Developments in real-time monitoring technology, acknowledging limitations observed here (physiological/biomechanical data acquisition), may allow combined in-race GPS and physiological data (e.g., Tc/Tsk) to be used during ultra-endurance sport to prospectively protect athlete health. GPS/physiological data alone may not identify medical emergencies, and medical teams must remain alert to medical events.