Yoxas/statistical_literacy huggingface dataset:
The primary aim of this cross-sectional study is to examine the prevalence of pain phenotypes in breast cancer survivors (BCS). A secondary aim entails examining whether health related quality of life differs between the main pain phenotypes in BCS. BCS who experienced chronic pain were asked to complete the numeric pain rating scale for pain, Margolis pain diagram, and short form 36 (SF-36). Following administration of questionnaires and quantitative sensory examinations were applied. To determine the prevalence of the predominant type of pain, a recently proposed classification system by the Cancer Pain Phenotyping (CANPPHE) Network was used. Of the 86 female participants, 19 (22.09%) had dominant neuropathic pain, 18 (20.93%) had dominant nociceptive pain and 14 (16.28%) had dominant nociplastic pain. 35 participants (40.70%) were classified as having mixed pain. One-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference between the four pain groups for the SF-36 general health (F = 3.205, p = 0.027), social functioning (F = 4.093, p = 0.009), and pain (F = 3.603, p = 0.017) subscale scores. This study found that pain in BCS was mostly of mixed phenotype, followed by predominantly neuropathic and nociplastic pain. Furthermore, it was found that, compared to BCS with predominant neuropathic and nociceptive pain, BCS with predominant nociplastic pain have lower health related quality of life in the areas of bodily pain and social functioning.
The primary goal of quality improvement is to enhance patient outcomes, particularly in the emergency department (ED). Timely and effective care is crucial in these situations. By comprehending the challenges, evaluating current performance and implementing quality improvement projects, areas in need of enhancement can be pinpointed and addressed, resulting in better outcomes. This interventional study explores the implementation of quality improvement in the ED of a quaternary care teaching hospital in South India. It follows the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle guided by the Donabedian model. Descriptive statistics were employed to measure changes in outcomes before and after implementation. To improve processes, Donabedian principles were applied, and a performance audit was conducted based on patient feedback and stakeholder input. Various ED indicators were measured. To address identified issues, formal root cause analysis was performed, leading to the generation of PDCA rapid change cycles. These cycles were implemented over 6 months, with two cycles executed, followed by postimplementation evaluation. Post implementation, improvements were observed in several aspects of ED operations. These included reduced ED average length of stay, decreased time to analgesia, shorter cross-consultation time, faster transfer time from ED and improved investigation turnaround time (TAT). Additionally, there was a reduction in revisits to ED within 72 hours and a decrease in patients who left without being seen. These positive changes demonstrate the effectiveness of the quality improvement intervention using the PDCA cycle. A comprehensive understanding of patient profile in the ED and factors influencing care is essential for the hospital to ensure sufficient resources and skilled emergency medicine physicians are available 24/7. By enhancing services in the ED, reducing patient waiting times and improving TAT, the overall efficiency of services can be improved. This leads to provision of timely quality care to patients and ultimately improves their outcomes.
The primary goal of this study was to investigate the influence of the Mindfulness Education Workbook, a 6-week mindfulness-based tool, on emotion regulation, inhibition, physical self-concept, resources, and connectedness to nature. Furthermore, we explored whether a difference in number of hours of mindfulness practice would affect the outcomes. Ninety-one children from a public elementary school (M age = 9.74 years, SD = 0.76) participated in the study and were divided into three groups according to their respective school classes. The intervention group was divided into two groups that varied by number of hours of mindfulness practice: (a) mindfulness-plus and (b) mindfulness. In addition to biweekly training, the mindfulness-plus group also repeated a daily exercise. The passive control group received the standard school day instruction. The five concepts of emotion regulation, inhibition, physical self-concept, resources, and connectedness to nature were measured before and after the mindfulness intervention. For the measurement of emotion regulation, there was a significant effect in favor of the two mindfulness groups compared with the control group for the adaptive strategies in total as well as for their comprising emotions, anger, fear, and sadness, separately. Solely for the subscale mood elevation, the mindfulness-plus group showed significantly higher scores compared to the control group. Both mindfulness-plus and mindfulness groups varied from the control group on the measure of emotion regulation strategies, however not on the other four domains that were assessed (self-reports of resources, physical self-concept, and connectedness to nature as well as a mental task assessing inhibition). There was no evidence that the additional practice in the mindfulness-plus group significantly added to the intervention's effectiveness. The Mindfulness Education Workbook is a promising tool for elementary schools. Follow-up studies may provide further insights into the various effects of offering mindfulness training in schools. Further research with objective markers may also allow individual aspects under the umbrella term mindfulness to be investigated in more detail. This study was not preregistered. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-023-02084-w.
The primary objective of graphing research data is to communicate key information visually in a rapid, accurate, and concise way. Graphs might be considered visual take-home lessons of the major point(s) of the manuscript. In choosing a graph, it is tempting to concentrate only on ways of illustrating summary statements characterizing the group(s). However, individual patients are unique, and their characteristics or outcomes may not be predicted by a group summary. Consequently, if possible, graphs should demonstrate individual responses as well as group summaries. "Graphical literacy," "graphical excellence," and "graphical acumen" are achievable with work and collaboration. To produce a well-designed graph, a combination of by-subject detail and overall results should be the goal within the same illustration. The practice gap addressed in this article is that little attention from authors, reviewers, editors, and publishers seems to be paid to graphical literacy. The purpose of this article is to present some practical guidelines for choosing or evaluating more appropriate data displays.
The primary objective of science postgraduate education is to foster students' capacity for creative thinking and problem-solving, particularly in the context of scientific research quality. In order to achieve this goal, the "7E" teaching mood has been implemented in the cell biology course for postgraduate students to promote student-centered active inquiry learning instead of breaking away from traditional indoctrination-based teaching methods. This study demonstrates that the implementation of the "7E" teaching mode, through content programming, process design, and effect evaluation, effectively meets the needs of the majority of students, fosters their interest in learning, enhances their performance in comprehensive questioning, and enhances their innovative abilities in scientific research. Consequently, this research offers a theoretical framework and practical foundation for the development of the "7E" teaching mode in postgraduate courses, aiming to cultivate highly skilled scientific professionals.
The primary objective of this study is to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of seas by promoting Ocean Literacy. It investigates the impact of an educational program on Greek primary and secondary public school students' knowledge about coastal lagoons and attitudes towards marine environment conservation. An educational resource titled "Exploring the Coastal Lagoons" was developed to facilitate the non-formal educational intervention. The program involved classroom, fieldwork/outdoor and laboratory activities, focusing on enhancing understanding of coastal lagoons' abiotic and biotic characteristics and human interconnection. Results showed improved knowledge and slightly more positive attitudes after the didactic intervention. The study underlines the effectiveness of targeted educational interventions in marine sciences, suggesting that non-formal educational settings influence student outcomes more than family or informal sources. Younger students appeared more adaptable and responsive to educational stimuli. The study advocates for refined educational strategies integrating cognitive and emotional elements, emphasizing real nature experience.
The primary objective of this study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of Weeknight Supper Savers, a family-based intervention designed to promote meal preparation and food waste reduction. The 4-week program was piloted using a single-arm, prepost design. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, the intervention included a chef-led online cooking class, a food waste toolkit, and 4 text messages/wk. Postintervention surveys were used to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the interventions. Eighteen families (95%) attended their scheduled cooking class. All parents who completed the survey (17 mothers and 12 fathers) reported being satisfied with the overall program, the cooking class, and the toolkit. Approximately 73% of the children (n = 21) reported being satisfied with the overall program, and 77% reported being satisfied with the cooking class and the toolkit. The intervention was feasible and well-received by families. Results could help inform future public health programs focused on reducing household food waste.
The primary objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of nasal colonization of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in medical students in pre-clinical versus clinical courses at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and to describe the epidemiological, clinical and molecular pattern of the MRSA strains obtained. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out on 299 undergraduate and graduate medical students from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, 44 first-year students and 29 second-year students, corresponding to students of courses without regular clinical exposure and 26 sixth-year students, 58 seventh-year and 142 residents, who are daily exposed to hospital environments. A carriage of 0% (0/73) was found in students not exposed to the clinic (pre-clinical courses) and 0.9% (2/226) in students of clinical courses, a difference that was not statistically significant (p-value 0.42). The MRSA nasal carriage found in our medical students was low, finding positive samples only in students with clinical exposure. This prevalence is similar to the one reported in other studies in Chile with similar characteristics.
The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the discriminatory utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), 18F-fluciclovine positron emission tomography (PET), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and combinations of these diagnostic modalities for detecting local prostate cancer recurrence in the setting of rising PSA after radical prostatectomy. Patients were characterised for clinical features such as Gleason score, PSA at surgery, PSA at follow-up, follow-up MRI result, follow-up PET result, follow-up SUVmax, and follow-up disease status. The utility of diagnostic parameters for detecting disease recurrence at the prostatectomy bed was assessed using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis to determine the area under the curve (AUC) for each model. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive/negative predictive values were also calculated. Optimal cut-off points for continuous variables were determined based on maximum Youden's J statistics. The study found that MRI had the highest concordance (96%), sensitivity (100%), specificity (91%), positive predictive value (93%), and negative predictive value (100%) among the diagnostic modalities. The AUC for MRI was 0.9545, indicating a high discriminatory ability for detecting prostate cancer local recurrence. When combined, PET and SUVmax (cut-off value of 2.85) showed an improved performance compared to using them individually, with an AUC of 0.8925. The analysis suggests that MRI is the most effective imaging modality for detecting local prostate cancer recurrence, with 18F-fluciclovine PET and SUVmax also showing promising combined results. PSA has moderate discriminatory utility at follow-up but can still provide valuable information in detecting prostate cancer recurrence. Further research and recent references are needed to support these findings.
The primary objective of this study was to investigate the parenting attitudes towards children with autism spectrum disorders in early childhood in Japan. This study was a cohort study. The participants were enrolled from January 2011 to March 2014. We obtained the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders at 3 years of age, parenting attitudes and other factors from questionnaires. We divided the participants into two groups, an autism spectrum disorders group and a non-autism spectrum disorders group, and compared the parenting attitudes. This study used data from a Japanese birth cohort study: the Japan Environment and Children's Study, conducted across 15 regional centres in Japan. The full dataset of the Japan Environment and Children's Study comprised 104 059 records. We excluded 17 889 records because the answer for the autism spectrum disorders in the questionnaire was blank. As a result, we analysed the remaining 82 411 mother-child pairs. The primary outcome variable was parenting attitudes at 3.5 years of age, which was assessed using a questionnaire. We asked respondents 16 questions related to parenting attitudes, and they answered based on their behaviours. The independent variable was the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders at 3 years of age. Of the 82 411 participants, the children with autism spectrum disorders at 3 years of age were 372 (0.45%). In most questions about parenting attitudes, the autism spectrum disorders group had unfavourable responses. The difference was particularly noticeable when the parents taught their children social discipline. Unfavourable parenting attitudes were 16.6% in the autism spectrum disorders group and 0.8% in the non-autism spectrum disorders group in the question item with the largest difference between the two groups, a significant difference. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders tended to have unfavourable attitudes, suggesting the importance of parental training.
The probability that an observed cancer was caused by radiation exposure is usually estimated using cancer rates and risk models from radioepidemiological cohorts and is called assigned share (AS). This definition implicitly assumes that an ongoing carcinogenic process is unaffected by the studied radiation exposure. However, there is strong evidence that radiation can also accelerate an existing clonal development towards cancer. In this work, we define different association measures that an observed cancer was newly induced, accelerated, or retarded. The measures were quantified exemplarily by Monte Carlo simulations that track the development of individual cells. Three biologically based two-stage clonal expansion (TSCE) models were applied. In the first model, radiation initiates cancer development, while in the other two, radiation has a promoting effect, i.e. radiation accelerates the clonal expansion of pre-cancerous cells. The parameters of the TSCE models were derived from breast cancer data from the atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For exposure at age 30, all three models resulted in similar estimates of AS at age 60. For the initiation model, estimates of association were nearly identical to AS. However, for the promotion models, the cancerous clonal development was frequently accelerated towards younger ages, resulting in associations substantially higher than AS. This work shows that the association between a given cancer and exposure in an affected person depends on the underlying biological mechanism and can be substantially larger than the AS derived from classic radioepidemiology.
The problem of optimal scheduling in a system with parallel queues and a single server has been extensively studied in queueing theory. However, such systems have mostly been analysed by assuming homogeneous attributes of arrival and service processes, or Markov queueing models were usually assumed in heterogeneous cases. The calculation of the optimal scheduling policy in such a queueing system with switching costs and arbitrary inter-arrival and service time distributions is not a trivial task. In this paper, we propose to combine simulation and neural network techniques to solve this problem. The scheduling in this system is performed by means of a neural network informing the controller at a service completion epoch on a queue index which has to be serviced next. We adapt the simulated annealing algorithm to optimize the weights and the biases of the multi-layer neural network initially trained on some arbitrary heuristic control policy with the aim to minimize the average cost function which in turn can be calculated only via simulation. To verify the quality of the obtained optimal solutions, the optimal scheduling policy was calculated by solving a Markov decision problem formulated for the corresponding Markovian counterpart. The results of numerical analysis show the effectiveness of this approach to find the optimal deterministic control policy for the routing, scheduling or resource allocation in general queueing systems. Moreover, a comparison of the results obtained for different distributions illustrates statistical insensitivity of the optimal scheduling policy to the shape of inter-arrival and service time distributions for the same first moments.
The problem-based learning (PBL) model has been widely carried out in many fields of medical colleges and universities. Immunochemistry as a cross-disciplinary science plays a vital role in preventing the occurrence of diseases and bridging the development of Life Science and Medicine. But now the Immunochemistry course still lacks the teaching practice in PBL. To explore the significance of PBL applied in the Immunochemistry course, the effect of the PBL model on the learning of undergraduates majoring in Chemicobiology was systematically evaluated. The teaching objects were the undergraduates majoring in Chemicobiology from Guizhou Medical University. The PBL model was applied in the Immunochemistry course. 62 undergraduates in Grade 2018 were set as the control group and adopted the traditional expository model. 93 undergraduates in Grades 2019-2020 were separately set as the experimental groups, which adopted the PBL model based on traditional lecture-based learning. In the PBL model, six cases related to course contents were designed for the students to complete. The final exams of the undergraduates in Grades 2018-2020 were analyzed by the score ranges (< 60 points, 60-69 points, 70-79 points, and ≥ 80 points) and nonparametric test. Finally, the questionnaire survey about the teaching evaluation was performed in Grades 2019-2020. In Grades 2019 and 2020, the excellent rates (≥ 80 points), pass rates (≥ 60 points), fail rates (< 60 points), and average scores of the undergraduates were separately about 29%, 91.11% and 93.75%, 6.25%, and 8.89%, and 72.55 and 74.45 points. But in Grade 2018, the excellent rate, pass rate, failure rate, and average score of the undergraduates were separately 9.68%, 59.68%, 40.32%, and 62.55 points. By the statistical analysis, it was found that the excellent rates (χ2 = 8.317, P < 0.005) and pass rates (χ2 = 24.52, P < 0.0001) in Grades 2018-2020 were different, of which Grade 2020were the highest (29.17%, 93.75%) and Grade 2018 was the lowest (9.68%, 59.68%). The average score, excellent rate, and pass rate in Grade 2018 had significant differences with Grade 2019 (P < 0.0001, P < 0.0167) and Grade 2020 (P < 0.001, P < 0.0167). The questionnaire survey also showed that the student's learning interests, independent problem-solving ability, knowledge structure system, and scientific thought and teamwork awareness were enhanced. In Grades 2019 and 2020, the ICC (95% CI) of criterion validity and inter-rater reliability were separately 0.42/0.34 and 0.81/0.80 (P < 0.0001). The combination of PBL and traditional expository models played positive roles in the student's learning in the Immunochemistry course.
The process of coping with loss and trauma is inextricably linked with subjective experiences and perceptions of time. The Time Perspective Framework, suggests that temporal frames influence an individual's actions, judgements, and the decisions that they make. Similarly, time perspective has been linked with psychosocial outcomes of trauma and loss (e.g. posttraumatic stress disorder). The aim of this study is to identify factors that may influence survivor's time perspective in order to determine if posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), posttraumatic growth (PTG), and temporal triggers (MIT) influenced different time perspective orientations. Data was collected via Qualtrics survey between July 2019 and July 2020. Measures included basic demographic characteristics, posttraumatic stress disorder checklist, posttraumatic growth inventory, an assessment of temporal triggers, and the Zimbardo time perspective inventory. A series of OLS regression analyses were estimated. PTG was positively associated with future time perspective scores, whereas PTSD was associated with an increase in past negative orientation. The endorsement of temporal triggers like markers in time was negatively associated with present hedonistic scores and positively associated with future time perspective scores. Interestingly, PTSD, PTG and the endorsement of MIT were not associated with present time perspective scores. Identifying the relationship between PTSD, PTG, marker in time, and time perspective may offer important insights into treatment modalities that can improve outcomes for bereaved individuals. We discuss limitations of the current analysis and make recommendations for future research.
The process of teaching and learning mathematics in primary school represents an obstacle for both teachers and pupils. According to the historical-cultural conception of development and education, the way how intellectual concepts are initially introduced may radically affect a student's success in learning. The historical-cultural conception of development, together with activity theory, may serve as the basis for creating a novel methodology for pedagogical work on mathematical concepts with pre-school and school children. The goal of the present study was to show the effects of work with an original program for the initial introduction of mathematical concepts to young school children. The program included reflexive symbolic and logical actions on the materialized and perceptual level, which were introduced and performed collectively by six-year-old children under the guidance and assistance of a teacher. The pupils were tested before and after their work with the program. The results showed important qualitative and quantitative progress by the children in solving the tasks of the assessment, together with an increment of reflection on their intellectual actions. The study points to the necessity for more intensive and extensive research, involving specialists in psychology and pedagogy trained in cultural-historical methodology.