Health Innovations (United States)

This prospective, observational study examined the overall effectiveness of three online training programs to attenuate mental health concerns, enhance global well-being, and promote workplace wellness. Employees and spouses at a large R1 university self-selected one or more of three interventions. Two included contemplative training and the comparison program did not, allowing us to evaluate the potential contribution of online contemplative training to well-being programming. Validated self-report measures were used to assess outcomes at baseline and 1-month and 1-year follow-up. Among 471 participants who provided baseline and follow-up data, a statistically significant time effect and small and consistent effect sizes were observed for almost all variables. The findings of this real-world study clearly show that online contemplative training programs can enhance mental health, well-being, and, to a small degree, workplace engagement among university employees.

Abstract Background Adult mosquito survival is a critical factor in malaria transmission because Anopheles vectors must live at least 11–14 days before they can transmit. However, there is no direct method to assess age. Traditional methods of mosquito age-grading rely on indirect proxies of reproductive history derived from dissection and observation of ovarian features (Detinova and Polovodova methods). Both approaches are labour-intensive, time-consuming, and demand specialized expertise; with little known about the extent to which are used in malaria surveillance programmes, and why they may be deprioritised. This study assessed current practices, capacity, and constraints related to mosquito age-grading for malaria vector surveillance in Africa, including knowledge and use of existing dissection-based methods and emerging alternatives such as infrared spectroscopy. Methods We conducted an online survey of 285 stakeholders from across Africa, including researchers, entomologists, and National Malaria Programme (NMP) personnel, to assess the practices, priorities, and barriers to mosquito age-grading. This was complemented with a series of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions to collect insights and perspectives from stakeholders regarding their familiarity and use of age-grading methods. Findings: More than 70% of survey respondents reported that malaria vector surveillance was routinely conducted by their institutions or countries, with the highest priority given to vector density, species identification, human biting rate, and insecticide resistance. Familiarity (awareness as opposed to knowledge) of age-grading methods was highest for the Detinova (55%) and Polovodova (44%), and lower for newer approaches, including infrared-spectroscopy. Only 50% of respondents indicated that they regularly assessed mosquito age (mostly Detinova method); with > 1/3 considering age-grading to be a high-priority in vector surveillance. Reported barriers to conducting mosquito-age-grading included insufficient technical expertise, perceived impracticality of ovary dissections for large-scale surveillance, inadequate tools, and limited funding. Conclusions Despite its critical role in malaria transmission, mosquito survival and age are rarely assessed in African vector surveillance programs. There is need for greater acknowledgment of these measures and their implications for disease transmission and control, and investment in tools, training, and funding to overcome current operational barriers. Integrating more practical and scalable age-assessment methods could enhance targeting of interventions.

Silver/Palladium metal traces are commonly deposited as pastes on ceramic substrates to form solderable connections and routing layers. However, in the presence of moisture at levels as low as 10,000 ppm and temperatures greater than 125°C, SAC 305 solder paste (96.5% Tin, 3% Silver, 0.5% Copper) can produce a corrosion assisted non-conductive and brittle inter-metallic alloy within as little as 15 days when soldered to Silver/Palladium metal traces. Studies have shown that 20 - 30% moisture content within a hermetically sealed package will produce electrical ‘opens’ within 20 - 24 hours at 150°C in those regions where the SAC 305 solder comes into contact with the Silver/Palladium traces. In some cases, internal cavity epoxies can sufficiently outgas to create 20 - 30% (200,000 - 300,000 ppm) moisture levels following hermetic sealing. However, if exposed to a proper pre-bake prior to hermetic lid sealing (typically 200°C for 1 hour) this corrosion assisted inter-metallic diffusion can be substantially mitigated by controlling the moisture to levels near 500 - 1000 ppm. This mitigation becomes a necessary step for hermetic systems with Sn/Ag/Cu solder on Ag/Pd traces, and which require higher temperature stabilization bakes (150°C) as part of a reliability screening flow.

This study examines the contributions of exports to economic growth in Uganda. An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modelling framework was employed. Using annual data spanning 35 years, the study first tests for stationarity and integration of variables through Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) tests, revealing that GDP, exports, FDI, and exchange rate are I(1), while inflation is I(0). The ARDL Bounds Test confirms the presence of a significant long-run cointegrating relationship among these variables, justifying the estimation of both long-run coefficients and an Error Correction Model (ECM) for short-run dynamics. Long-run results indicate that FDI positively influences GDP, while exports and currency depreciation exhibit negative coefficients, although these effects are statistically insignificant, suggesting potential model limitations or omitted factors. In contrast, short-run results highlight the immediate positive impacts of lagged exports, FDI, exchange rate depreciation, and inflation on economic growth, with the ECM term confirming adjustment toward long-run equilibrium. Robust diagnostic tests, including Jarque-Bera, Breusch-Godfrey, and Breusch-Pagan-Godfrey, validate the model’s assumptions of normality, absence of serial correlation, and homoskedasticity. The findings suggest that Uganda’s economic growth is influenced more by short-run momentum and lagged macroeconomic factors than by long-run structural effects of agricultural exports, underscoring the need for policies that enhance the efficiency of export sectors, attract FDI, and stabilize macroeconomic conditions.

The aims of this pilot study were to determine whether (1) a modified version of the Robinson-Ho Skin Type Color Bar would identify early, subtle skin tone variations in patients with dark skin tones because of injury, and (2) if the tool was reliable between clinicians. This was a prospective, observational cohort study in a surgical intensive care/acute care unit located in an urban, academic hospital. Patients who were ≥18 years old without a skin injury, but with a confirmed dark skin tone based on the modified Robinson-Ho Skin Type Color Bar, were included in the pilot study. The first aim could not be supported because of the lack of patients who developed subtle skin tone changes indicative of a skin injury. Two patients developed a skin injury (deep tissue pressure injury, trauma). These wounds did not manifest as subtle changes, therefore rendering the tool ineffective for these cases. The second aim was supported as inter-rater reliability of the Robinson-Ho Skin Type Color Bar showed moderate agreement between multiple raters. It was also noted that race/ethnicity was not an objective marker for determining skin tone per the tool. Although the modified Robinson-Ho Skin Type Color Bar was not an effective method to detect subtle skin tone changes indicative of injury because of the 2 wounds that did occur, it was reliable to use between multiple users. The tool also served as an objective marker for determining baseline skin tone.