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At many points within pharmacy education, we collect demographic information about faculty, staff, students, and trainees. Admissions procedures and surveys, for example, typically categorize participants based on various identities such as race and ethnicity as well as gender and sex. In this article, we interrogate the complex nature of capturing participant identities through demographic variables, using race and ethnicity, gender and sex, sexual orientation and identity, and disability status as specific examples.Various approaches to defining demographic characteristics can be seen in pharmacy education research. To help readers understand why certain characteristics and categories are commonly utilized, we describe common influences of demographic variables, such as federal laws and professional guidelines. We also review several common demographic variables to illustrate the complexity of this issue.Seven recommendations for improving demographic data collection and use are provided. Examples include respecting and honoring lived student experiences, defining demographic data more precisely, and channeling institutional resources toward specific student needs.Collecting demographic information more accurately and thoughtfully could help pharmacy education improve its educational practice and research. The provided recommendations provided will help researchers and educators measure and utilize demographic variables more effectively.

The volume of the biomedical literature continues to expand at a substantial rate. The research literature surrounding pharmaceutical services is no different. Due in part to events in the recent past, researchers, consumers, funders, and policymakers have raised concerns about the credibility, transparency, and potential waste in the global research enterprise. Meta-research, or research on research, provides a way to examine the efficiency, quality, and potential bias in the overall research ecosystem. The field of meta-research is a relatively new but rapidly growing field that has seen many applications in biomedical research. Applications in pharmacy research, however, are still developing. The goals of this commentary are to introduce pharmacy researchers to the concept of meta-research, discuss several examples of meta-research in pharmacy, and motivate the importance of sustained meta-research efforts in pharmacy.

Introduction: The implementation of culturally competent healthcare services has been considered a key strategy for the provision of patient-centered care; however, a need remains to address the requirements of teaching cultural competence, including identifying gaps, designing and evaluating curricula, and assessing students' progress toward program objectives. The objective of this study was to explore the applicability of the Self-Assessment of Perceived Level of Cultural Competence (SAPLCC) questionnaire in the identification of improvement areas in cultural competence content in pharmacy curricula. Methods: This study used previously-collected SAPLCC data from student pharmacists at eight United States pharmacy schools. Total and factor-specific SAPLCC scores were calculated based on the 14 factors published previously and grouped into six domains (knowledge, skills, attitudes, encounters, abilities, and awareness). Differences in overall scores by domain and factors across various student characteristics were examined using analysis of variance. Results: The overall mean total SAPLCC score was classified as moderate. Third-year students had significantly higher SAPLCC mean scores than first-year students, and African American students scored significantly higher than their counterparts. At the factor-level, students scored higher in the Attitudes and Awareness domains and scored lower in the Knowledge, Skills, and Encounters domains. Conclusions: The application of the SAPLCC in schools participating in this preliminary study allowed for the identification of content areas that may benefit from revision. The SAPLCC may be a useful tool for mapping cultural competence curricular content by each specific domain and identifying areas of potential improvement regarding cultural competence training within pharmacy curricula. Dr. Margarita Echeverri's contribution was supported in part by funds from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services under grant number (No.) D34HP00006; the Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) grant No. 2U54MD007595; the Xavier's NIMHD funded Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education grant No. 5S21MD0000100, and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences' funded Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center grant No. U54GM104940. The contents and views in this manuscript are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views of the National Institutes of Health and other funders.

The detection and quantification of water droplets dispersed in hydrocarbon liquids is of importance industrially, but most notably for quality assurance of products such as diesel and jet fuel. In the present work, a small-scale prototype capacitance-based zone sensing device for the detection of individual water droplets in immiscible liquids is tested. Hydrocarbon liquids containing dispersed water droplets flow through cylindrical holes (diameter = 680 μm) drilled through a printed circuit board (PCB) containing sensing electronics. The exposed copper laminate layer constitutes the sensing electrodes. Dispersions of water in aviation jet fuel, a forecourt diesel fuel and a conventional crude oil have been used in the evaluation. It was found that water droplets of a detectable size to enable measurements to be made with the device (in the approximate range 100–400 μm) were not sufficiently stable in jet fuels, whereas diesel and crude oil were able to suspend water droplets within a size range suitable to permit a simple analysis based on the volume of the spherical segments of the droplet passing through the sensing zone. The results obtained are consistent with expectation based on water concentration and mixing conditions.

Overuse of computed tomography (CT) is a prevalent problem across multiple disciplines in healthcare and is common in the workup of odontogenic infections. To address this problem, an imaging pathway was created through collaboration of the oral maxillofacial surgery and emergency medicine departments to reduce unnecessary CT orders. A prospective study was implemented to assess the success of the imaging pathway to guide in the selection of the most appropriate radiological imaging modality when managing an odontogenic infection. Subjects included were adults, presenting through the emergency department for confirmed odontogenic infection. The primary outcome was the rate of unnecessary CT scans performed after the introduction of the pathway. Statistics were performed via the t-test, χ2 test, and multiple regression analysis; P

Measurement validity is important when conducting research. This is as true for sociobehavioral research as for clinical research. Although the importance of validity is not new, its conceptualization has changed substantially in the past few decades. In the literature, there is a lack of consistency in how validity is presented. This may stem from a lack of awareness of the relatively recent changes in conceptualization of validity, the continued use of a historical framework in some educational texts, and/or the continued use of a historical framework in some training programs. This article presents a brief history of the conceptualization of validity including the progression from a perspective of related concepts of reliability and validity, to multiple types of validity, to a view of validity as a unitary concept supported by different types of evidence. This article closes by raising some important considerations about promoting use of a contemporary validity framework and associated terminology in current research, as well as in the education of future health-sciences researchers.

Objective To examine the characteristics of studies of pharmacist services registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting and participants ClinicalTrials.gov and MEDLINE databases were searched to identify studies of pharmacist services. Registration information was obtained from the Aggregate Analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov (AACT) database. Studies were excluded if the ClinicalTrials.gov submission date was after December 31, 2018; there were no U.S. study sites; pharmacist services were not mentioned; or pharmacist involvement was limited to medication dispensing, randomization, or measuring study outcomes. Outcome measures Characteristics of registered studies from ClinicalTrials.gov and AACT data, categories of pharmacist services, changes in registration and focus of pharmacist services over time, and relationships between funding source and result availability and between the focus of pharmacist services and types of outcomes and types of pharmacist interventions. Results Overall 401 studies were identified for initial review, with 151 included for detailed review. Pharmacist services were the only intervention in 68 studies (45.0%), a separate intervention in 14 (9.3%), and part of a combined intervention in 40 (26.5%). In 29 studies (19.2%), pharmacist services were not the focus. Registered studies primarily were interventional, randomized, and open-label; included behavioral or "other" interventions; were conducted in the outpatient setting; and were sponsored by "other" sources. The most common health conditions were hypertension and diabetes. Only 29 of the 104 completed studies (27.9%) posted results. Clinical outcomes were the most common primary (80; 53.0%) and secondary outcomes (66; 58.9%). Medication management (69; 45.7%) and patient education or counseling (88; 58.3%) were the most common types of pharmacist interventions. Conclusion This analysis of ClinicalTrials.gov identified 151 studies of pharmacist services in the United States registered through the end of 2018. Given the breadth of the pharmacy services literature, there is room for improvement in the registration of these types of studies.

Dehydrated food powders with poor dissolution or dispersion can dramatically compromise food processing, with consequences for the final product quality and consumer experience. In this study, the reconstitution performance of maltodextrin powders with different moisture content and molecular weight, has been determined by varying the processing conditions, including agitation speed, liquid temperature, powder addition rate and mode of addition to the liquid surface. In particular, the inter-relationship between the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the powder, its moisture content and the liquid temperature (TL) is highlighted. When TL ≥ Tg, the individual maltodextrin granules tend to swell, restricting further dispersion and rehydration. It has been shown that higher liquid temperatures reduce the dispersion of food powders containing high molecular weight carbohydrates. Increasing the rate of powder addition to the liquid surface under low agitation conditions has been shown to result in faster reconstitution of low-molecular weight maltodextrins, whilst, on the other hand, the corresponding reconstitution rates of high-molecular weight maltodextrins are reduced. On the basis of this work and a previous study [X.Y. Ong, S.E. Taylor and M. Ramaioli, Pouring of Grains onto Liquid Surfaces: Dispersion or Lump Formation? Langmuir (2019) 1115011156] an improved, yet simple, approach to improve powder dispersion in a liquid is also demonstrated, by optimizing the distribution of the powder on the liquid surface. This approach avoids powder grains accumulating as heterogeneous lumps on the liquid surface and has been applied herein to a wide range of food powders.

Current blast design practices correlate the flexural performance of reinforced concrete facade panels to empirically developed component response milestones. These milestones were correlated with observed progressions of visual damage from experimental tests. Selection of these performance metrics is based on the component classification and construction type but are not sensitive to variations in cross-section design parameters. This study examines the flexural performance of singly-reinforced solid precast concrete panels (i.e. single wythe, non-insulated) with varying reinforcement indices to evaluate the correlation of mechanical response with the progression of visual damage. Experimental tests are performed using a set of panels designed to similar flexural strengths and the results show that visually graded damage at each flexural milestone is not reliably consistent with visual damage guidelines from previously published design standards. Rather, the experimental results show that the progression of visual damage and component plasticity are dependent on net tensile strain and reinforcement index. The results of experimental testing are used as the basis for a parametric study which highlights the deviations in performance from current state of practice approaches when incorporating realistic material response of the panels.

Cladding systems are conventionally designed to serve an architectural purpose and provide environmental protection for building occupants. Recent research has been conducted to enhance structural resiliency by leveraging cladding systems against man-made and natural hazards. The vast majority of the work includes the use of sacrificial cladding panels and energy dissipating connectors. These passive protection systems, though effective, have typically targeted a single hazard one-at-a-time because of their limited frequency bandwidths. A novel semi-active friction connection has been previously proposed by the authors to leverage the cladding motion for mitigating blast and wind hazards. This semi-active friction device, termed variable friction cladding connection (VFCC), is designed to laterally connect cladding elements to the structural system and dissipate energy via friction. Its variable friction force is generated onto the sliding friction plates upon which a variable normal force is applied via actuated toggles. Because of its semi-active capabilities, the VFCC could be used over wide-band excitation frequencies and is thereby, an ideal candidate for multiple hazard mitigation. The VFCC in its passive in situ mode has been previously designed to mitigate air-blast effects towards the structure and its semi-active scheme has been applied to wind hazard mitigation. In this paper, a motion-based design (MBD) procedure is developed to apply the VFCC to seismic hazard mitigation, completing its application against multiple hazards. The MBD procedure begins with the quantification of seismic load and performance objectives, and afterwards, dynamic parameters of the cladding connection are selected based on non-dimensional analytical solutions. Simulations are conducted on two example buildings to verify and demonstrate the motion-based design methodology. Results show the semi-actively controlled VFCC is capable of mitigating the seismic vibrations of structures, demonstrating the promise of the semi-active cladding system for field applications.

Cladding systems typically serve architectural purposes and protect occupants against the external environment. It is possible to leverage these systems to enhance structural resiliency. A common application is the use of blast resistant panels for enhanced protection against man-made hazards, whereas energy is dissipated through sacrificial elements. However, because these protection systems are passive, their mitigation capabilities are bandwidth limited, therefore targeting single types of hazards. The authors have recently proposed a novel variable friction cladding connection (VFCC), which enables the leveraging of cladding inertia for mitigating blast, wind, and seismic hazards. The variation in the friction force is generated by an actuator applying pressure onto sliding friction plates via a toggle system. Previous work has characterized the dynamic behavior of a VFCC prototype, and established design procedures for blast mitigation applications. Here, work is extended for applications to wind mitigation. An analytical model is developed to characterize the dynamic behavior of the VFCC for wind-induced vibrations. A motion-based design framework is developed to enable an holistic integration of the device within the structural design phase. Numerical simulations are conducted on a 24-story building example to demonstrate the motion-based design methodology. Results show that the semi-active cladding system provides significant reduction in the wind-induced inter-story drift and floor acceleration, therefore demonstrating the promise of the VFCC for field applications.

This paper documents the experimental development of a new spandrel-to-column moment connection detail for progressive collapse resistance in precast concrete building frames. This study focuses on a 10-story prototype precast concrete frame building with perimeter special moment frames (SMF) that are subjected to a ground-floor column removal. The experimental subassembly represents a spandrel-to-column connection on the perimeter SMF near the middle of the building face (i.e. not at the corners). The connection is non-emulative and utilizes unbonded high-strength steel post-tensioning (PT) bars which pass through ducts in the column and are anchored to the spandrels via bearing plates. The proposed design strives for construction simplicity, avoids field welding and/or grouting, and maximizes ductility by allowing the high strength steel bars to act as structural “fuses” when yielding. A full-scale quasi-static pushdown test is performed on two variants of the proposed connection: one with higher moment-rotation capacity and limited ductility, and another with lower capacity and higher ductility. The results show that the connection can reliably achieve its design yield capacity, performs well under service level demands, and can achieve moderate-to-high ductility. The experimental results are then applied to a system-level computational model of the prototype building frame under a column removal scenario. The results of a nonlinear dynamic analysis demonstrate that the system can arrest progressive collapse in the event of a single column loss scenario when either variant of the proposed connection is considered.

Current acellular-pertussis (aP) vaccines appear inadequate for long-term pertussis control because of short-lived efficacy and the increasing prevalence of pertactin-negative isolates which may negatively impact vaccine efficacy. In this study, we added fimbriae (FIM)2 and FIM3 protein to licensed 2-, 3- or 5-component aP vaccines (Pentavac(®), Boostrix(®), Adacel(®), respectively) to assess whether an aP vaccine with enhanced FIM content demonstrates enhanced efficacy. Vaccine-induced protection was assessed in an intranasal mouse challenge model. In addition, potential reactogenicity was measured by biomarkers in a human whole blood assay (WBA) in vitro and benchmarked the responses against licensed whole cell pertussis (wP) and aP vaccines including Easyfive(®), Pentavac(®) and Pentacel(®). The results show that commercial vaccines demonstrated reduced efficacy against pertactin-negative versus pertactin-positive strains. However, addition of higher amounts of FIM2/3 to aP vaccines reduced lung colonization and increased vaccine efficacy against a pertactin-negative strain in a dose- dependent manner. Improvements in efficacy were similar for FIM2 and FIM3-expressing strains. Increasing the amount of FIM2/3 proteins in aP formulations did not alter vaccine- induced biomarkers of potential reactogenicity including prostaglandin E(2), cytokines and chemokines in human newborn cord and adult peripheral blood tested in vitro. These results suggest that increasing the quantity of FIM proteins in current pertussis vaccine formulations may further enhance vaccine efficacy against B. pertussis infection without increasing the reactogenicity of the vaccine.

This paper proposes a new performance-based approach to assess the response of precast concrete wall panels to blast loading. Conventional blast-resistant design and analysis methods currently rely on simplified assumptions of component behavior and limit states that are based on visual observations of damage. The proposed methodology allows for the computation of nonlinear moment-rotation resistance functions, component-specific response criteria and deformation-dependent load-mass transformation factors as a function of the panel’s section mechanics and material properties. Computational modeling is used to examine direct correlations between constitutive behavior and critical panel response milestones. These milestones are used as the basis for calculating performance-based limit states, which vary as a function of panel geometry and material properties. Resistance functions and flexural response obtained from the performance-based approach are compared to those calculated via conventional methods and obtained from experimental test data. Comparisons are made between the proposed performance limits and existing response criteria for a set of concrete wall panels under experimental blast loading. Parametric studies were conducted to assess the relationships between performance-based limit states and variations of the panel’s geometric properties and material behavior. The proposed methodology enables improved blast-resistant design of precast concrete wall panels versus the current state-of-practice without significant sacrifices in analytical efficiency.