Faculty development courses related to acquiring clinical teaching skills in the health professions are limited. Consequently, the Department of Dental Hygiene at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio conducted a series of clinical teaching workshops to address clinical teaching methodology. The goal of these workshops was to promote a problemsolving learning atmosphere for dental hygiene faculty to acquire and share sound clinical teaching strategies. To determine the value of the annual workshops on clinical teaching and evaluation, a web-based qualitative program assessment was developed using software by Survey Tracker. Four open-ended questions were designed to elicit perceptions regarding what significant changes in teaching strategies were achieved, what barriers or challenges were encountered in making these changes, and what strategies were used to overcome the barriers. The assessment was sent to dental hygiene educators representing thirty-eight dental hygiene programs who had participated in two or more of these workshops. Twenty-eight programs provided collective responses to the questions, and the narrative data were analyzed, using a qualitative methodology. Responses revealed that programs had made productive changes to their clinical education curricula and the information gained from the workshops had a positive effect on clinical teaching.

A citizen-science study was conducted in two low-income, flood-prone communities in Atlanta, Georgia, in order to document environmental exposures and the prevalence of occupant asthma. Teams consisting of a public-health graduate student and a resident from one of the two communities administered a questionnaire, inspected residences for mold growth, and collected a dust sample for quantifying mold contamination. The dust samples were analyzed for the 36 molds that make up the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI). Most residents (76%) were renters. The median duration of residence was 2.5 years. Although only 12% of occupants reported a history of flooding, 46% reported at least one water leak. Homes with visible mold (35%) had significantly (P < 0.05) higher mean ERMI values compared to homes without (14.0 versus 9.6). The prevalence of self-reported, current asthma among participants was 14%. In logistic regression models controlling for indoor smoking, among participants residing at their current residence for two years or less, a positive association was observed between asthma and the homes' ERMI values (adjusted odds ratio per unit increase in ERMI = 1.12, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.01–1.25; two-tailed P = 0.04). Documentation of the exposures and asthma prevalence has been presented to the communities and public officials. Community-based organizations have taken responsibility for planning and implementing activities in response to the study findings.

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This paper describes experience over an 18-month period of a new preparation of factor VIII, cryoprecipitate, prepared by the Regional Blood Transfusion Service from human plasma. This relatively simple and inexpensive method selectively extracts the factor VIII leaving behind the other blood products for use in other ways. Replacement therapy in the treatment of haemophilia has been generally regarded as inadequate due to the difficulty in obtaining potent antihaemophilic globulin in sufficient amounts, and cryoprecipitate represents a useful advance. Bleeding episodes in 25 patients with factor VIII deficiency have been treated with cryoprecipitate on 41 occasions and an assessment of the haemostatic effect of this material has been made in treating haemarthrosis, muscle haematomata and the management of major and minor surgical operations. Routine follow-up over a 6 month period was undertaken to determine the incidence of side effects. Two cases of hepatitis were found, possibly resulting from cryoprecipitate therapy. However, both patients had also received blood or fresh frozen plasma and the source of the hepatitis virus must remain in doubt. No factor VIII inhibitors were found despite repeated courses of therapy in several patients. The advantages and disadvantages of cryoprecipitate are set out and its encouraging place in the management of haemophilic bleeding assessed.

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