Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trainee teachers’ perceptions of the Nature of Science and implications for pre-service teacher training in England

This paper is an English perspective on the Liang study (2006) into educational contexts for schooling in science; the linkage between teachers’ understanding of the Nature of Science (NoS) and their effectiveness as educators. The work reflects on the basic training received by pre-service teachers in secondary science at the University of London (UEL), and a number of interventions introduced to enhance their awareness and discrimination of NoS. The study is a three-year longitudinal design and intended to probe trainee teachers’ perceptions of NoS. It explores how these notions may be affected by the training experienced in both the university and school placement in the context of the new Science National Curriculum for Schools (England).
Phase II trials of tyrosine kinase inhibitors in the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia

Introduction: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a disease in which outstanding discoveries and achievements have been made over the past two decades. The use of targeted BCR-ABL protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) has revolutionized the treatment of this disease and drastically improved its outcomes. Areas covered: Imatinib was the first TKI to be studied and results from the initial IRIS study continues to show major improvement over the historical IFN treatment. More recently, second-generation TKIs, such as dasatinib and nilotinib, and more recently bosutinib proved to be superior to imatinib: higher rates of remission and faster responses. Recently, ponatinib has shown significant efficacy against the most resistant cases of CML, including those who carry the highly resistant T315I mutations. The purpose of this article is to review the data available on different TKIs in the treatment of CML, as well as the emerging data for the treatment of resistant disease. Expert opinion: Early identification of resistant cases and enrollment in clinical trials with new drugs continue to be warranted in the appropriate setting. The use of new therapeutic strategies in an attempt to eradicate the disease will be the main focus of clinical trials in the next decade.
Radiation-induced brain damage, impact of Michael Robbins’ work and the need for predictive biomarkers

Abstract Purpose: To review the literature on radiation-induced normal tissue injury in the context of treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors with a focus on Michael Robbins’ work on mechanisms of injury and approaches to mitigation, and also to identify other potential opportunities to improve treatment outcome and quality of life (QOL). Background: Brain tumors remain a significant challenge for patients, their families, the physicians treating them, and researchers seeking more effective treatments. Current treatment of brain tumors involves combinations of radiotherapy with surgery, chemotherapy, and molecularly targeted agents. As patient survival improves with advances in treatment there is an increasing concern for the cognitive deficits that may become apparent months or years after treatment some of which are related to radiation-induced brain damage. One area of Michael Robbins’ research was unraveling the mechanisms of radiation-induced cognitive deficits, which formed the basis for the development of some mitigators of radiation injury. Extrapolating from this, new opportunities to identify and develop putative predictive biomarkers of radiation-induced brain damage can be explored. Conclusions: Predictive biomarkers of radiation-induced brain injury may enable stratifying patients for customization of treatment and thus aid in improving the QOL and possibly prolonging survival. Here we discuss the challenges involved in leveraging recent advances in radiation-specific biomarker research and translating them to radiotherapy, which for the foreseeable future is likely to remain a cornerstone of the treatment of brain tumors.
Continuous Assessment of Back Stress (CABS): A New Method to Quantify Low-Back Stress in Jobs with Variable Biomechanical Demands

Jobs with a high degree of variability in manual materials handling requirements expose limitations in current low-back injury risk assessment tools and emphasize the need for a probabilistic representation of the biomechanical stress in order to quantify both acute and cumulative trauma risk. We developed a hybrid assessment methodology that employs established assessment tools and then represents their evaluations in a way that emphasizes the distributions of biomechanical stress. Construction work activities in the home building industry were evaluated because of the high degree of variability in the manual material handling requirements. Each task was evaluated using the Revised NIOSH Lifting Equation, The University of Michigan Three- Dimensional Static Strength Prediction Program™, and the Ohio State University Lumbar Motion Monitor Model. The output from each model was presented as time-weighted histograms of low-back stress, and the assessments were compared. The results showed considerable differences in what were considered high-risk activities, indicating that these 3 assessment tools consider the risk of low-back injury from different perspectives. The time-weighted distribution aspect of this methodology also contributed vital information toward the identification of high-risk activities. These results illustrate the necessity for more advanced low-back injury risk assessment techniques for jobs with highly variable manual materials handling requirements.
Implementation of evidence‐based practice: confessions of an enthusiastic amateur

Purpose – The article aims to examine the process and challenges of setting up and implementing evidence‐based programmes in regular service systems.Design/methodology/approach – The article offers a first‐hand account of a service manager seeking to implement Multisystemic Therapy and Triple P.Findings – The process of setting up and implementing evidence‐based programmes involved significant challenges, including securing funding, managing stakeholders, finding suitable staff, arranging training, and managing supply and demand. Various relational, cultural and systemic issues need to be addressed if the professional system is to embrace evidence‐based programmes.Originality/value – Few evidence‐based programmes in the UK have been implemented extensively in regular service systems. This is a first‐hand account of a rare attempt to do so.
Effects of Image Scale and System Time Delay on Simulator Sickness within Head-Coupled Virtual Environments

Novel patterns of visual-vestibular intersensory stimulation often result in symptoms of simulator sickness, raising health and safety concerns regarding virtual environment exposure. Two experiments investigated the effect of conflicting visual-vestibular cues on subjective reports of simulator sickness during and after a 30-min exposure to a head-coupled virtual interface. Virtual image scale factors (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 magnification, generated by varying geometric field of view angle) were investigated in Experiment 1, and additional system time delays (125, 250 ms) were investigated in Experiment 2. Simulator sickness metrics included spoken self-reports during exposure and simulator sickness questionnaires (pre-exposure, immediate postexposure, and 20 min postexposure). Head yaw angular position data were also recorded. Reports of simulator sickness symptoms were significantly greater in the minification (0.5) and magnification (2.0) image scale factor conditions than in the neutral condition (1.0). Simulator sickness did not vary with changes in time delay, however. Furthermore, a comparison across experiments suggests no appreciable increase in simulator sickness with increasing time delays above the nominal value (48 ms). Head angular position data exhibited certain systematic variations across conditions. Actual or potential applications of this research include virtual environment training, simulation, and entertainment systems.
Effect of a Concurrent Auditory Task on Visual Search Performance in a Driving-Related Image-Flicker Task

The effect of a concurrent auditory task on visual search was investigated using an image-flicker technique. Participants were undergraduate university students with normal or corrected-to-normal vision who searched for changes in images of driving scenes that involved either driving-related (e.g., traffic light) or driving-unrelated (e.g., mailbox) scene elements. The results indicated that response times were significantly slower if the search was accompanied by a concurrent auditory task. In addition, slower overall responses to scenes involving driving-unrelated changes suggest that the underlying process affected by the concurrent auditory task is strategic in nature. These results were interpreted in terms of their implications for using a cellular telephone while driving. Actual or potential applications of this research include the development of safer in-vehicle communication devices.
Perception-Action Icons: An Interface Design Strategy for Intermediate Domains

Objective: A prototype interface was developed to support decision making during tactical operations; a laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the capability of this interface to support a critical activity (i.e., obtaining the status of friendly combat resources). Background: Effective interface design strategies have been developed for domains that have primarily law-driven (e.g., process control) or intent-driven (e.g., information retrieval) constraints. However, design strategies for intermediate domains in which both types of constraints are equally critical, such as military command and control, have not been explored as extensively. The principles of direct perception, direct manipulation, and perception-action loops were used to develop a hybrid interface design strategy (“perception-action icons”) that was incorporated into the prototype interface. Methods: A qualitative tactical simulation and an alternative interface (an experimental version of an existing U.S. Army interface) were developed. Participants used both interfaces to provide estimates of friendly combat resources for three different categories of information at three different echelon levels. Results: The results were unequivocal, indicating that the interface with perception-action icons produced significantly better performance. Conclusion: The perception-action icon design strategy was very effective in this experimental context. The potential for this design strategy to be useful for other intermediate domains is explored. Application: Actual or potential applications of this research include both specific interface design strategies for military command and control and general interface design principles for intermediate work domains.
The social meaning and function of humour in physiotherapy practice: An ethnography

ABSTRACT An ethnographic study was undertaken over a period of 8 months to explore the social meaning and function of humour in the practice of a team of physiotherapists in a UK National Health Service hospital. Interviews were carried out following the observations to gain the therapists' perspectives in an open critical exploration of assumptions and ideas. The analysis was iterative and followed a systematic recognised ethnographic approach. The findings revealed explicit and implicit meanings of the team's humorous interactions. Explicitly, they appeared light-hearted and enhanced camaraderie but implicitly they demonstrated the team leadership and management skills of the most senior member of the team who had an authoritative influence on the other members, and facilitated this explicit marker of membership. By hiding their concerns in humour, the team members were able to avoid a real confrontation with issues of authority and hierarchy that underscored these activities. Humour, in this instance, was used as a stabilising force to give the team a sense of certainty juxtaposed by the prevailing unpredictability of their daily activities; it was part of their professional culture to allow them to handle stressful situations and to build up a socialisation process. By creating a collective identity, the individual members came to understand the team's underlying philosophy of practice. As a resource, humour was seen to be used as a vehicle of negotiation and a catalyst for change.
Temporal Limitations in Multiple Target Detection in a Dynamic Monitoring Task

Objective: Two experiments examined the detectability of multiple transient changes within a cluttered and dynamic display (a simulated sonar display). Background: Research suggests that there are severe limitations when multiple targets must be detected within close temporal proximity. The present research explored whether these limitations influence performance in a dynamic monitoring task. Method: Participants monitored a cluttered and dynamic display and reported the number of new objects that appeared (one to four objects). The time between onset events was varied. A blinking cue sometimes accompanied each new object, giving observers multiple opportunities to detect it. Results: A large decrease in performance was observed when participants were asked to detect multiple targets within a short period of time. Performance was worse than predicted based on the attention literature. Performance suffered when observers were asked to detect more than two or three targets. The blinking cue greatly attenuated this performance deficit, even for short-duration blinking cues (one blink). Conclusion: Operators can easily become overwhelmed when asked to respond to even a small number of events when these events occur close in time. Extending transient events in time improves performance, but some attentional limitations may be difficult or impossible to overcome. Application: These results have important implications for systems in which important events may occur within close temporal proximity (e.g., when a sonar operator is tasked with detecting threats in the battle space). Situations in which these limitations may or may not influence performance are discussed.
Effects of Age and Illumination on Night Driving: A Road Test

Objective: This study investigated the effects of drivers' age and low light on speed, lane keeping, and visual recognition of typical roadway stimuli. Background: Poor visibility, which is exacerbated by age-related changes in vision, is a leading contributor to fatal nighttime crashes. There is little evidence, however, concerning the extent to which drivers recognize and compensate for their visual limitations at night. Method: Young, middle-aged, and elder participants drove on a closed road course in day and night conditions at a “comfortable” speed without speedometer information. During night tests, headlight intensity was varied over a range of 1.5 log units using neutral density filters. Results: Average speed and recognition of road signs decreased significantly as functions of increased age and reduced illumination. Recognition of pedestrians at night was significantly enhanced by retroreflective markings of limb joints as compared with markings of the torso, and this benefit was greater for middle-aged and elder drivers. Lane keeping showed nonlinear effects of lighting, which interacted with task conditions and drivers' lateral bias, indicating that older drivers drove more cautiously in low light. Conclusion: Consistent with the hypothesis that drivers misjudge their visual abilities at night, participants of all age groups failed to compensate fully for diminished visual recognition abilities in low light, although older drivers behaved more cautiously than the younger groups. Application: These findings highlight the importance of educating all road users about the limitations of night vision and provide new evidence that retroreflective markings of the limbs can be of great benefit to pedestrians' safety at night.
Hand dermatitis in a prospectively‐followed cohort of hairdressing apprentices:nal results of the POSH study

The incidence of hand dermatitis is high in the hairdressing trade; the individual disease burden is substantial, as are the costs of treatment, workers compensation and retraining programs. To evaluate the risk of developing occupational irritant hand dermatitis associated with several potential risk factors, namely constitution (atopy) and occupational exposure, an observational prospective population‐based cohort study set in vocational training schools in northwest Germany, recruiting 2352 hairdressing apprentices, was performed. Unprotected wet work of more than 2 h per day is the major signicant risk factor; low ambient absolute humidity is equally associated with a signicantly increased risk. Compared to the youngest age group, risk diminishes with increasing age. Constitutional risk factors are difcult to evaluate because of selective dropout of atopic participants. For primary prevention, a population approach, improving working conditions and skin protection for all exposed, appears to be the most beneficial.
A computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) program to reduce fall risk in a community dwelling older adult with chronic stroke: A case report

A systematic review by Barclay-Goddard et al (2004) reported that force platform feedback improved stance symmetry but not sway, clinical balance outcomes, or measures of independence in adults with stroke. However, the role of computerized dynamic posturography (CDP) systems was not explored. The purpose of this case report was to describe a CDP training program to improve balance and reduce fall risk in a patient with a diagnosis of chronic stroke. A 61-year-old patient 8 years poststroke participated in 1 hour of CDP training, three times a week over a period of 6 weeks. Examination was conducted before and after intervention using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT), Limits of Stability (LOS) test, and Weight Bearing/Squat Symmetry test on a CDP system, and clinical testing with the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up and Go (TUG), Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale, 30-second Chair Stand (CS), and range of motion of the ankle joints. The patient improved in sensory integration abilities on the SOT for conditions 4, 5, and 6, and maximum excursion abilities improved by a range of 23–103% on the LOS test. Scores on the BBS increased from 37/56 to 47/56, which indicated reduced fall risk and her ABC score improved from 50% to 70%. Ankle ROM improved bilaterally by 6 to 8 degrees. This CDP training program showed promise as a systematic, objective method to reduce fall risk with improved overground performance of balance tasks in an individual with chronic stroke.
Review of: Genetic variation at the CYP19A1 locus predicts circulating estrogen levels but not breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women

Citation of original article: C. A. Haiman, L. Dossus, V. W. Setiawan, D. O. Stram, A. M. Dunning, G. Thomas, M. J. Thun, D. Albanes, D. Altshuler, E. Ardanaz, H. Boeing, J. Buring, N. Burtt, E. E. Calle, S. Chanock, F. Clavel-Chapelon, G. A. Colditz, D. G. Cox, H. S. Feigelson, S. E. Hankinson, R. B. Hayes, B. E. Henderson, J. N. Hirschhorn, R. Hoover, D. J. Hunter, R. Kaaks, L. N. Kolonel, L. Le Marchand, P. Lenner, E. Lund, S. Panico, P. H. Peeters, M. C. Pike, E. Riboli, A. Tjonneland, R. Travis, D. Trichopoulos, S. Wacholder, R. G. Ziegler. Cancer Research 2007; 67 (5): 1893–1897. Abstract of the original article: The CYP19A1 gene encodes the enzyme aromatase, which is responsible for the final step in the biosynthesis of estrogens. In this study, we used a systematic two-step approach that included gene resequencing and a haplotype-based analysis to comprehensively survey common genetic variation across the CYP19A1 locus in relation to circulating postmenopausal steroid hormone levels and breast cancer risk. This study was conducted among 5,356 invasive breast cancer cases and 7,129 controls comprised primarily of White women of European descent drawn from five large prospective cohorts within the National Cancer Institute Breast and Prostate Cancer Cohort Consortium. A high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) map of 103 common SNPs (⩾5% frequency) was used to identify the linkage disequilibrium and haplotype patterns across the CYP19A1 locus, and 19 haplotype-tagging SNPs were selected to provide high predictability of the common haplotype patterns. We found haplotype-tagging SNPs and common haplotypes spanning the coding and proximal 5′ region of CYP19A1 to be significantly associated with a 10% to 20% increase in endogenous estrogen levels in postmenopausal women [effect per copy of the two-SNP haplotype rs749292-rs727479 (A-A) versus noncarriers; P = 4.4 × 10(−15)]. No significant associations were observed, however, with these SNPs or common haplotypes and breast cancer risk. Thus, although genetic variation in CYP19A1 produces measurable differences in estrogen levels among postmenopausal women, the magnitude of the change was insufficient to contribute detectably to breast cancer.
A Comparison of Methods for Promoting Geographic Knowledge in Simulated Aircraft Navigation

In two experiments we evaluated different techniques for flight rehearsal to develop navigational knowledge about a region. In Experiment 1 different groups of pilots studied a map of a region, actively flew an IRIS simulator through the same region, or passively viewed the same dynamic screen as flown by the active participants. The latter two groups were subdivided into those that trained with high and low levels of scene detail. All pilots then transferred to a high-image-fidelity simulation to fly the same route. The transfer results indicated no effect of scene detail and that the active group performed best, the passive group worst, and the map group at an intermediate level. In Experiment 2 the workload of training was increased, and half the participants were required to train with a north-up map. These changes degraded the transfer performance of the active training group relative to the other two. The implications of the results for workload during rehearsal flights and the kinds of geographical knowledge acquired are discussed.
Evaluation of signalment, clinical, and laboratory variables as prognostic indicators in dogs with acute abdominal syndrome

The aim of the study was to identify predictors of mortality and to propose a new severity scoring system in dogs with acute abdominal syndrome. A retrospective study was carried out on 58 dogs presented with acute abdominal syndrome with American Society of Anesthesiologists grades III-IV and treated surgically by exploratory laparotomy. Medical records were reviewed and information regarding dog signalment, history, clinical, and laboratory data; surgical findings; and outcome was collected. Multiple easily measurable variables were found to be mortality predictors in dogs with acute abdominal syndrome, but the most relevant were the presence of neoplastic process, organ rupture, abdominal distention, and solid organ involvement. Based on the acute abdomen scoring system, animals that received 14 points had a 50% chance of survival, with a sensitivity of 90.48%, specificity of 97.3%, and positive and negative predictive values of 95% and 94.7%, respectively, at this cut-point. According to the receiver operator curve (ROC) analysis, this scoring system classified 94.83% of the cases correctly with the area under the ROC curve (AUC) = 0.965 (P = 0.0001). The presented severity scoring system could reliably assess the severity and probability of death in dogs with acute abdomen and could be used in small animal clinical practice.