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 Shortages of nurses, nursing aides, and other staff, and shortages of face masks and gowns continue to be a problem in more than 20 percent of facilities caring for older Americans, according to a new study of responses from 98 percent of US nursing homes to a federal database. (Illustrations from Centers for Disease Control)
Nursing homes continue to report staff and PPE shortagesNearly half of all COVID-19 deaths in the United States have occurred among nursing home residents, whose age, chronic medical conditions, and congregate living quarters place them and their caregivers at high risk of contracting the disease.
And yet, six months into the pandemic, more than 20 percent of nursing homes in the US continue to report severe shortages of staff and personal protective equipment (PPE), according to a new study.
“Twenty percent is a lot, given where we are in the course of this pandemic. I would have hoped by month six we would be close to zero percent,” says Brian E. McGarry, assistant professor of geriatrics/aging and public health sciences at the Medical Center. He is lead author of a paper released as a fast track ahead of print article by the journal Health Affairs. “While there has been some shifting in which nursing homes have been reporting these problems, from a national level, we’re still not on the right trajectory.”
The study, conducted in collaboration with David C. Grabowski, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, and Michael L. Barnett, assistant professor of health policy and management at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is among the first to report results from a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) COVID-19 Nursing Home Database.
Read more here.
Elad leads review of best practices for treating mucositisUpdated clinical practice guidelines for managing mucositis, a very common and often debilitating complication of cancer therapy, was recently published in the journal Cancer. Patients experiencing mucositis often require enteral or parenteral nutrition, consume more opioids, and experience more interruptions to cancer therapy than patients who do not experience mucositis.
The new guidelines summary is the result of literature review and clinical interpretation by the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology — which charged its Mucositis Study Group, comprised of 250 experts from 33 countries and led by Sharon Elad, professor at the Eastman Institute for Oral Health, to conduct the systematic review.
Highlights from this newly published summary paper include additional recommendations for the use of photobiomodulation therapy and benzydamine, as well as a stronger guideline statement for cryotherapy. Each of these guidelines is defined for a specific setting and cancer patient population.
Mucositis affects the inner lining of the oral and gastrointestinal tract. Oral mucositis often leads to difficulty eating and swallowing. Gastrointestinal mucositis is associated with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bloating, intestinal cramping, and anal pain. For patients who are immunosuppressed, oral mucositis is associated with greater risk for bacteremia, which has possible systemic implications.
Read more here.
Two new faculty members join Eastman music theory department Benjamin Baker and Sarah Marlowe join a diverse team of internationally known teacher-researchers in the Music Theory Department at the Eastman School of Music.
Baker is a University of Rochester Sproull Fellow in music theory, with a BA in music and mathematics from St. Olaf College and a MM in jazz piano performance from New York University. His research focuses on intersections between jazz and popular music, intertextuality and improvisation in jazz performance, and analysis of music by jazz pianist Robert Glasper.
“I’m elated and humbled to be joining the Theory faculty,” says Baker. “Teaching at Eastman affords a rare and tremendous opportunity to work with talented students and brilliant colleagues, all within a community marked by exceptional warmth and collegiality. I am blessed indeed, and I look forward to a wonderful first semester this fall.”
Marlowe comes to Eastman from New York University, where she was an assistant professor and received the NYU Steinhardt Teaching Excellence Award. She holds degrees in piano performance and music theory from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and in music theory from Eastman. Her research centers on fugue and counterpoint, Russian music theory, the music of J. S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich, and music theory and aural skills pedagogy.
“It is a true honor to join the Eastman theory faculty,” says Marlowe. “I am continually inspired by the outstanding scholarship and musicianship of Eastman’s faculty and students, and I am thrilled to return to this wonderful and nurturing community of scholars and performers.”
While studying at Eastman, both received the Teaching Assistant Prize, and the University’s Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Read more about other new Eastman faculty here.
Popular preprints recommended by University of Rochester LibrariesIn addition to increasing visibility and access to important research, preprints allow for immediate access to time-sensitive research. University of Rochester Libraries’ Sustainable Scholarship Team monitors preprint articles that are trending and offers a curated list. This month we selected the most popular–according to downloads–July preprint articles from Preprints.org for a variety of disciplines. We used Preprints.org since it allows for filtering by subject category and sorting most downloaded.
Arts and Humanities – Impact of COVID-19 on Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
Engineering – Human Attribute Recognition: A Comprehensive Survey This paper examines the progress of Human Attribute Recognition over the past decade.
Mathematics and Computer Science – Past, Present, and Future of Face Recognition: A Review This article discusses Facial Recognition research with a focus on recent 2D and 3D recognition methods.
Have any questions or want to share what you have been reading? Get in touch with Lindsay Cronk, head of Collection Strategies & Scholarly Communications.
National defense fellowship program accepting applications
The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Program is now accepting applications for 2021. Candidates must be U.S. citizens or U.S nationals who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in a discipline relevant to the Department of Defense. Applications are due November 2, 2020.
Applications are encouraged from women, persons with disabilities, and minorities, including members of ethnic minority groups.
The NDSEG Fellowship lasts for 3 years and pays for full tuition and all mandatory fees; a monthly stipend ($38,400 annually); a $5,000 travel budget over the Fellow’s tenure for professional development; and up to $1,200 a year in health insurance.
Read more here.
XR symposium at RIT invites submissionsThe 5th annual Frameless Symposium, to be held November 19-20, is an interdisciplinary symposium focused on research, innovation, and artistic creation in the fields of virtual and augmented reality, held by RIT’s Magic Spell Studios.
University researchers are invited to contribute submissions; proposals will be accepted through Monday, August 31.
Posters sought for CRoFT annual meetingThe Center for Research on Flavored Tobacco (CRoFT) will hold its annual meeting via zoom on September 10 with a virtual poster session from 3-3:45 p.m.
All faculty and students are invited to submit scientific posters in the area of Tobacco Regulatory Science, including posters that were submitted for previous and/or future conferences.
Additionally, all accepted posters will be featured on our website (www.flavoredtobacco.org), where meeting attendees and guests can comment and rate each poster ahead of the virtual poster session.
Participants will be able to showcase their work, invite others to visit their roundtable discussions, as well as initiate new network connections and potential research collaborations.
Please submit all posters as a PDF document via REDCap (https://is.gd/CRoFT_AM2020_Poster) by August 31, 2020.
Contact WNY_CRoFT@urmc.rochester.edu if you have any questions regarding the poster submission process.
Webinar: A buffet of online teaching practicesA webinar from 3-4 p.m., September 2, supported by the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute, is recommended for University of Rochester faculty and/or those assisting faculty with the design and teaching of their online courses.
Facilitators will provide research-based and experience-tested effective practices for establishing a more inclusive online presence with students and adapting course-specific policies for online use. Register now.
Keeping abreast of the University's response to COVID-19
Here are important links for researchers:
COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Trials Are Ongoing, Despite
EUA Hold: The FDA recently decided to hold on an emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy. The decision was made with urging from a group of federal health officials including NIH Director Francis S. Collins and Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), who argued that more data is needed before this treatment can be used more widely. The EUA hold does not affect the URMC’s COVID-19 convalescent plasma clinical trials, which are still seeking volunteers. Healthy individuals who are at high risk for contracting COVID-19 and those who have recently been diagnosed with COVID-19 can call (585) 273-1926 or email Susanne_Heininger@URMC.Rochester.edu to learn more about participating in the trials.
New Funding Opportunities from the NIH:
Expiring funding opportunities:
Updated quarantine requirements for international travelers: Effective immediately, there is a change to the quarantine guidance for all University students, faculty, and staff arriving in Rochester from an international location. Replacing the University’s current guidance, the Monroe County Health Department has informed the University that New York State is requiring individuals arriving from international locations, including Canada, to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in New York state. This requirement went into effect beginning with international arrivals to the University on Sunday, August 23. Learn more about quarantine options.
StudyZone enrolling for in-person and virtual services: Located within the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, the StudyZone offers a quiet study location and accountability to meet your studying goals. Students commit to spending at least three hours a week in the StudyZone and benefit from peer support in planning effective study sessions. Those three hours can include in-person socially distanced hours in the physical space, remote hours in the Virtual StudyZone Zoom room, and 15-minute accountability appointments to fit any schedule or time zone. The StudyZone will open on Sunday, September 13, and enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis. Enroll online.
Dates for spring semester set: The dates for the start of the spring semester across the University have been set.
For undergraduates and graduate students in Arts, Sciences & Engineering, the Eastman School of Music, and for students in the Warner School of Education, classes will begin Monday, February 1, and end on May 7. Final exams will be completed by May 14. There will be no spring break.
Students in other units will follow the academic calendars as originally scheduled for the semester:
Commencement ceremonies for all units are scheduled to take place May 21 to 23.
The graduate programs in the medical school will work to accommodate students in AS&E if they have classes in the School of Medicine and Dentistry this spring.
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