University of Central Florida

In this study, the structure and transport properties of two polymorphs, nanoparticles and nanorods, of the iron(II) triazole [Fe(Htrz)2(trz)](BF4) spin crossover complex were compared. Conductive atomic force microscopy was used to map the electrical conductivity of individual nanoparticles and nanorods. The [Fe(Htrz)2(trz)](BF4) nanorods showed significantly higher conductivity compared to nanoparticles. This difference in electrical conductivity is partially associated to the different Fe–N bond lengths in each of the polymorphs, with an inverse relationship between Fe–N bond length and conductivity. Transport measurements were done on the nanorods for both high spin (at 380 K) and low spin (at 320 K) states under dark and illuminated conditions. The conductance is highest for the low spin state under dark conditions. In illumination, the conductance change is much diminished.

A recent study suggests that parent report on the Social Symptom and Prosocial scales of the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale provides useful information about differences in the social development of school-aged autistic children. The current study provides additional psychometric data on the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale regarding the longitudinal stability of its scales, its construct validity, and its sensitivity to differences in the social development of clinical samples of children. The study included 64 autistic children without co-occurring intellectual disability, 27 children with symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and 36 neurotypical children between the ages of 10 and 18 years. Results indicated that scores from parent report on the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale were stable across a 15-month period in middle childhood for the three groups and groups received significantly different Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale scores. Finally, construct validity was supported by the observation of correlations between tester observations of items on Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale-2 Social Affect and subsequent parent report on the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale. These results provide further evidence that the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale provides meaningful and potentially unique information about prosocial and social symptom development of school-aged autistic children. Lay abstract This study tested a measure designed to capture social development in childhood and adolescence called the Childhood Joint Attention Rating Scale. This is important to study as most measures of social behavior are for preschool-aged children. We asked parents of 64 autistic children, 27 children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and 36 neurotypical children to fill out a new parent questionnaire designed to assess social skills. Specifically, our measure asks about both strengths and difficulties their child has with sharing experiences, engaging in cooperative efforts with others, and more. It is important to have strengths included in measures, as many autism measures only take difficulties into account. The findings of this study show that this new measure can assess social skill strengths and difficulties in children and adolescents. This measure may be useful in future research to help us understand how strengths and challenges in social behaviors develop or change throughout childhood and adolescence in autistic people.

This study analyzes 2022 data from SAMHSA’s Mental Health Client-Level Data (MH-CLD) to investigate ADHD prevalence and comorbidity. The findings reveal that 10.70% of the 5,899,698 patients were diagnosed with ADHD, indicating a high demand for targeted resources. ADHD prevalence declines with age, highest in children aged 0–11, and decreases with educational attainment, emphasizing the need for early intervention. Employment challenges are significant, with the highest ADHD prevalence among those not in the labor force. Racial disparities show Black individuals have the highest ADHD rates (9.71%) and Asian individuals the lowest (5.05%). Geographic differences indicate higher prevalence in the Midwest and South. Gender disparities and marital status also influence prevalence, with males and never-married individuals showing higher rates. ADHD shows strong comorbidity with oppositional defiant disorder, pervasive developmental disorder/autism spectrum disorder and conduct disorder. Effective ADHD management requires collaborative efforts from educators, employers, healthcare providers and policymakers to create supportive environments and tailored approaches considering demographic variables, comorbid conditions and socioeconomic factors.

The COVID‐19 pandemic presented unprecedented learning loss for all students. Although researchers have indicated negative impacts across all age and demographic groups, learning loss is most pronounced in elementary school‐aged students and those from low SES backgrounds. Given the disproportionate impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the authors utilise multi‐tiered systems of support to provide targeted support to identified elementary students in an urban school in the south‐east United States. This study explores the efficacy of the tiered intervention (Tier I: social–emotional learning instruction, Tier II: Mentoring, and Tier III: Play Therapy) using third‐person action research design and the authors explore a quantitative analysis of pre‐ and post‐achievement data, as measured by state achievement reading and maths scores. Finally, the authors describe future directions for researchers interested in applying a similar tiered intervention to respond to learning deficits resulting from the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Introduction Medical students have an unprecedented number of study resources available to use. There is a shift in the frequency of student resource use, particularly outside resources not provided by the academic institution, as students progress through the curriculum. This may reflect how individual students develop as self-regulated learners. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate and compare medical student resource use at two institutions. Materials and Methods This is a mixed-methods, cross-sectional study that examines factors that are associated with outside resource use and frequency of resource use for second-year medical students across two institutions. A questionnaire was sent to second-year medical students at ATSU-School of Osteopathic Medicine and Eastern Virginia Medical School. Mann–Whitney tests were used to compare Likert-type responses between institutions. A thematic analysis was used to validate and expand on the qualitative dataset. Results Students across institutions are using outside resources frequently. We observed similar influence of factors for the use of outside resources such as preparing for licensing exams across institutions. EVMS students were more likely to be influenced by academic support staff and to use outside resources to prepare for course exams than ATSU students. Differences were noted when comparing the use of specific resources such as transcripts, self-generated student resources, and online resources generated by peers. Further, EVMS students more frequently used outside resources to study for disciplines such as physiology, microbiology, and pathology compared to ATSU students. Conclusions The observation that students across both institutions are influenced similarly to use outside resources to prepare for licensing exams is expected. However, we did observe some differences which could be explained by variations in curriculum and organizational features or programs at each institution. The results from the current study are consistent with what has been observed in previous studies. Establishing a better understanding of how students use outside resources will enable faculty and institutions to help students develop as self-regulated learners.

Treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP1-RA) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) may attenuate kidney disease progression and cardiovascular events but their real-world impact on healthcare utilization and mortality in this population are not well-defined. Here, we emulate a clinical trial that compares outcomes following initiation of GLP1-RA vs Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4i), as active comparators, in U.S. veterans aged 35 years of older with moderate to advanced CKD during fiscal years 2006 to 2021. Primary outcome was rate of acute healthcare utilization. Secondary outcomes were all-cause mortality and a composite of acute cardiovascular events. After propensity score matching (16,076 pairs) and 2.2 years mean follow-up duration, use of GLP1-RA in patients with moderate to advanced CKD was associated with lower annual rate of acute healthcare utilization and all-cause mortality. There was no significant difference in acute cardiovascular events.

A recent accreditation requirement for medical education calls for innovative approaches to creating a health promotion curriculum (HPC) and interprofessional education. We developed an interprofessional HPC focused on 10 evidence-based interventions (acceptance and commitment, active rest, emotional freedom, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, nutrition, physical activity, psychological detachment, sleep, yoga) that promote peer learning and skill enhancement with active, self-directed learning, practice activities, group interaction, and reflections for medical, nursing, physical therapy, social work, and counseling students. Quality improvement was performed using feedback from students and faculty. HPC was piloted with 552 learners, optimized, and redeployed with 132 learners. This approach and curriculum can be adopted by other institutions.

Firms with higher cash holding levels can undertake investment projects and pay off their obligations without any financial difficulties. However, unused excess cash could be detrimental to firm value because unutilized cash value could significantly depreciate over time. Thus, this paper aims to examine the extent to which macroeconomic factors affect restaurant firms’ cash holdings. We further examine the extent to which the level of financial restraints affects the link between macroeconomic factors and firms’ cash holdings in the US restaurant corporations. The results showed that interest rates affect restaurant firms’ cash holdings, while other macroeconomic factors do not.

Global change drivers such as habitat fragmentation, species invasion, and climate warming can act synergistically upon native systems; however, global change drivers can be neutralized if they induce antagonistic interactions in ecological communities. Deadwood comprises a considerable portion of forest carbon, and it functions as refuge, nesting habitat and nutrient source for plant, animal and microbial communities. We predicted that thermophilic termites would increase wood decomposition with experimental warming and in forest edge habitat. Alternately, given that predatory ants also are thermophilic, they might limit termite-mediated decomposition regardless of warming. In addition, we predicted that a non-native, putative termite-specialist ant species would decrease termite activity, and consequently decomposition, when replacing native ants. We tested these hypotheses using experimental warming plots (~ 2.5 °C above ambient) where termites, and their ant predators, have full access and vary in abundance at microscales. We found that termite activity was the strongest control on decomposition of field wood assays, with mass loss increasing 20% with each doubling of termite activity. However, both native and non-native ant abundance increased with experimental warming and, in turn, appeared to equally limit termite activity and, consequently, reduced wood decomposition rates. As a result, experimental warming had little net effect on the decomposition rates—likely because, although termite activity increased somewhat in warmed plots, ant abundances increased more than five times as much. Our results suggest that, in temperate southern U.S. forests, the negative top-down effects of predatory ants on termites outweighed the potential positive influences of warming on termite-driven wood decomposition rates.

Purpose of Review Text-messaging interventions effectively prevent and manage numerous health conditions. This scoping review evaluates recent literature on text-messaging interventions focused on diabetes prevention, highlighting their development, associated outcomes, reach, and potential sustainability. Recent Findings A total of 28 studies met eligibility criteria and were included in this review. Text-messaging was often used as a primary intervention method, focusing on promoting weight loss through physical activity and dietary changes. Studies also explored hybrid approaches integrating text-messaging with in-person sessions or other digital platforms. Intervention development involved multi-phase content creation, often leveraging established diabetes prevention curricula. Studies generally reported high feasibility and acceptability, although effectiveness was mixed. Cost-effectiveness comparisons favored text-messaging over traditional in-person programs. Implementation strategies aligned interventions with existing healthcare workflows, facilitating scalability and integration into routine care practices. Summary Text-messaging interventions demonstrate considerable promise but require further refinement to ensure their effectiveness, particularly in enhancing participant engagement to ensure effectiveness and sustainability. Future research should focus on refining intervention content, integrating interactive features, and expanding cost-effectiveness evaluations to support broader implementation in real-world settings.