Yoxas/statistical_literacy huggingface dataset:
For diversity to exist in the medical graduate workforce, students from all backgrounds should have equitable opportunities of employment. Specialties have utilized a minimal threshold for USMLE Step 1 score when screening applicants for residency interviews. The OHSU SOM class of 2021 completed a 14-question voluntary survey on their Step 1 score and the following non-modifiable risk factors: Adverse Childhood Experience score (ACEs), sex, gender, Underrepresented in Medicine status (URiM), family income during adolescence, highest degree held by a guardian, discrimination experience during medical school, federal/state assistance use, and rural versus urban primary home. Descriptive statistics and unadjusted risk ratios were applied to study the relation between Step 1 score and non-modifiable risk factors as well as certain non-modifiable risk factors and ACEs ≥ 3. The mean Step 1 score was 230 (213, 247). Of the students, 28.2% identified ACEs ≥ 3, 13.6% were considered URiM, and 65.4% were female. URiM were 2.34 (1.30, 4.23),females were 2.77 (1.06-7.29), and those who experienced discrimination in medical school were 4.25 (1.85, 9.77) times more likely to have ACEs ≥ 3. Students who had ACEs ≥ 3 were 3.58 (1.75, 7.29) times less likely to meet a minimal threshold for residency interviews of 220. These are the first results to demonstrate a relationship between Step 1 score and ACEs. Those who identified as URiM, females, and those who experienced discrimination in medical school were at a higher risk of ACEs of ≥ 3. Step 1 transitioned to pass/fail in January 2022. However, the first application cycle that residencies will see pass/fail scoring is 2023-2024, and fellowships will continue to see scored Step 1 until, at the earliest, the 2026-2027 application cycle. These data contribute to a foundation of research that could apply to Step 2CK testing scores, and help to inform decisions about the diversity and equity of the residency interview process.
For genetic conditions associated with neurodevelopmental disorder (GCAND), developmental domains such as motor ability, thinking and learning, social abilities, and communication are potential intervention targets. Performance on measures of developmental concepts can be expressed using several types of scores. Norm-referenced scores are intended for the diagnostic context, allowing for the identification of impairment relative to age-based expectations, and can exhibit dramatic floor effects when used in individuals with more significant limitations. Person ability scores, which are derived via Rasch analysis or item response theory, are available on many standardized tests and are intended to measure within-person change. However, they have not been used or evaluated as primary endpoints in GCAND clinical trials. In this study, we simulated a series of parallel-arm clinical trials under several chronological age and impairment conditions, to compare empirically the power and type I error rate of operationalizing test performance using ability scores rather than norm-referenced scores. Using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales as the example, we demonstrated an advantage in statistical power of ability scores over norm-referenced scores at extreme levels of impairment. This advantage was at least partially driven by floor effects in norm-referenced scores. For simulated conditions where impairment was less severe, ability scores outperformed norm-referenced scores, but they were more similar. The type I error rate closely approximated the nominal type I error rate of 5% for both scores. The results of this simulation demonstrate a substantial power and interpretative advantage of ability scores over norm-referenced scores for studies of GCAND that will enroll participants with high levels of impairment. These results are expected to generalize to studies of developmental concepts, regardless of the etiology or specific test. However, the relative advantage of ability scores is expected to be even greater for tests with a higher floor than the Vineland.
For improving health literacy (HL) by national and international public health policy, measuring population HL by a comprehensive instrument is needed. A short instrument, the HLS19-Q12 based on the HLS-EU-Q47, was developed, translated, applied, and validated in 17 countries in the WHO European Region. For factorial validity/dimensionality, Cronbach alphas, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), Rasch model (RM), and Partial Credit Model (PCM) were used. For discriminant validity, correlation analysis, and for concurrent predictive validity, linear regression analysis were carried out. The Cronbach alpha coefficients are above 0.7. The fit indices for the single-factor CFAs indicate a good model fit. Some items show differential item functioning in certain country data sets. The regression analyses demonstrate an association of the HLS19-Q12 score with social determinants and selected consequences of HL. The HLS19-Q12 score correlates sufficiently highly (r ≥ 0.897) with the equivalent score for the HLS19-Q47 long form. The HLS19-Q12, based on a comprehensive understanding of HL, shows acceptable psychometric and validity characteristics for different languages, country contexts, and methods of data collection, and is suitable for measuring HL in general, national, adult populations. There are also indications for further improvement of the instrument.
For many emerging scientists, research experiences for undergraduates (REU) programs are an important gateway to graduate school and a career in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). REUs provide guided mentorship and learning experiences in a summer-long program where students develop research skills, build scientific knowledge, and strengthen their scientific identity. While the benefits of REUs are abundant, the process is not always easy to navigate, especially for students who come from first-generation and/or low-income (FLI) backgrounds. This paper provides two-fold guidance for undergraduate students interested in participating in REUs. Rules 1 to 5 focus on demystifying the application process from beginning to end, and Rules 6 to 10 guide students who are on the other side of the application process. Thus, this paper will be most helpful for undergraduate students who are either considering applying for an REU or have been accepted into one and want to learn more about what to expect. It can also be a shareable resource for faculty, staff, and mentors who work directly with STEM undergraduates.
For many entrants, the initial stages of professional training are a challenge. Demands at work can lead to new physical and psychological stress, as well as new social requirements. These new requirements can influence the health behaviour and the state of health of young employees. In recent years, there have been many studies on health literacy (HL). HL represents resources and potentials that allow individuals to achieve improved control of their health and of factors that influence health. Thus, HL can influence both well-being and health. In the present study, the health of trainees in different branches (health and welfare services, office, sales, technology) is monitored over time ending in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the association between health literacy and health or health behaviour has been examined. In 2017/18, a baseline survey (T0) was performed on trainees in various sectors (office, sales, teaching, nursing and social welfare, engineering, hairdressers), who had been contacted through vocational colleges in four federal states in north Germany. The trainees were surveyed again in the in the first year after training in 2021 (T3). Demographic data were collected, as well as information on health literacy (HLS-EU-16), health behaviour (physical exercise, nutrition, smoking and alcohol) and state of health (BMI, psychological well-being and subjective state of health). Recognition, satisfaction at work and thoughts of leaving the profession were surveyed with the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). Statistical analysis was performed with tests for paired samples and multivariate regression analysis in SPSS 26. 129 data sets were evaluated, with a follow-up rate of 10.2%. 85% of the trainees were female. The mean age at follow-up was 25.6 years. 56% were employed in the health service or social welfare. 35% worked in the office, sales or engineering. At T3, 47% of the employees exhibited limited health literacy, 67% low levels of exercise and 30% risky alcohol use. 42% exhibited overweight and 42% poor psychological well-being. An association between health literacy (HL) and psychological well-being was only observed in cross-section (HL inadequate vs. HL adequate OR: 3.2 95% CI: 1.07-9.49, p = 0.037). The odds ratio relative to subjective state of health was also increased, although the association was not statistically significant (HL inadequate vs. HL adequate OR: 2.7 95% CI: 0.72-9.78, p = 0.143). In the sector for health service and social welfare, there was statistically significant deterioration over time in all COPSOQ variables (recognition, satisfaction at work, thoughts of leaving the profession). For a group of trainees in the first year of work during the covid-19 epidemic, the present findings show that there is a need to prevent risky health behaviour, overweight and poor psychological well-being. Health literacy was shown to be a modifiable parameter, that apparently is associated in cross - but not in longitudinal section with the health of young employees. It would appear to be reasonable to modify developing health literacy in the setting of work and school.
For many infectious diseases, women are at higher risk and have a more severe disease course than men for many reasons, including biological differences, social inequalities, and restrictive cultural norms. The study focuses on infections with human papillomaviruses (HPV) in the form of cervical cancer as a gender-specific disease. The main goal is to evaluate cervical tumour incidence trends in the Czech female population in the HPV vaccination period 2012-2020 in relation to selected demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic indicators. This is a retrospective ecological study. Data from publicly available databases about the incidence and mortality of cervical tumours (C53 Malignant neoplasm of cervix uteri, D06 Carcinoma in situ of cervix uteri according to ICD 10) and HPV vaccination rate were analysed and compared with demographic, socioeconomic and territorial data. Associations were searched using correlation analysis. There was a decreasing trend in the incidence of cervical cancer in the observed period. Regarding cervical tumours (C53, D06) and malignant neoplasm of cervix uteri incidence (C53), the decrease was approximately 11 and 20%, respectively. Differences between regions were observed in incidences and vaccination rates. Based on correlation analysis, indicators connected with urban/rural aspects, such as a share of urban population and population density, were statistically significant. The indicators related to higher cervical cancer incidence are the high unemployment rate of women, the high number of divorces, the high number of abortions, the high share of the urban population, the high number of students, and the high number of women with only primary education. On the other hand, the indicators related to lower cervical cancer incidence are the high gross domestic product (GDP), the high average gross monthly wage per employee, the high employment rate of women, the higher average age of mothers at birth, and the high number of women with tertiary education. Results underline the problem of economically disadvantaged regions and families. Increasing vaccination rates, promoting regular screening for cervical cancer, and supporting awareness in the population, especially in regions with higher incidence rates, should be priorities for public health efforts.
For many intellectual tasks, the people with the least skill overestimate themselves the most, a pattern popularly known as the Dunning-Kruger effect (DKE). The dominant account of this effect depends on the idea that assessing the quality of one's performance (metacognition) requires the same mental resources as task performance itself (cognition). Unskilled people are said to suffer a dual burden: they lack the cognitive resources to perform well, and this deprives them of metacognitive insight into their failings. In this Registered Report, we applied recently developed methods for the measurement of metacognition to a matrix reasoning task, to test the dual-burden account. Metacognitive sensitivity (information exploited by metacognition) tracked performance closely, so less information was exploited by the metacognitive judgements of poor performers; but metacognitive efficiency (quality of metacognitive processing itself) was unrelated to performance. Metacognitive bias (overall tendency towards high or low confidence) was positively associated with performance, so poor performers were appropriately less confident-not more confident-than good performers. Crucially, these metacognitive factors did not cause the DKE pattern, which was driven overwhelmingly by performance scores. These results refute the dual-burden account and suggest that the classic DKE is a statistical regression artefact that tells us nothing much about metacognition.
For many students, learning physics is difficult because of its abstractness. To help students to learn physics, we have developed the Integrated Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Projects Based Learning (STEM-PjBL) method based on principles from neuroscience. We believe that incorporating principles from educational neuroscience would help students learn better. This paper describes our experiments of implementing the integrated STEM-PjBL Module in physics, i.e., classical mechanics, to secondary school students in Malaysia and South Korea. The study consists of two groups of students: the experiment group, 77 in total, comprising those who have undergone the integrated STEM-PjBL, and the control group, again 77 in total, who experienced the traditional approach. The Colorado Learning Attitudes Science Survey (CLASS) was conducted for the two groups on students' beliefs about physics and learning physics before and after the implementation. The paired sample t-test from the pre-survey and post-survey shows that the integrated STEM-PjBL group has a more positive shift in belief about physics and learning physics than the traditional group. The results of the independent samples t-test for students' beliefs about physics and learning physics, compared with the post-survey between the experimental group and the traditional group for both Malaysian and Korean perspectives, show that the experimental group has a higher mean compared to the traditional group. This paper explains why the integrated STEM-PjBL has improved students' beliefs about physics and learning physics, from the neuroscience education perspective. Finally, the paper concludes with guidelines for teachers who wish to implement the integrated STEM-PjBL in the classroom.
For many years, transplantation outcomes were uncertain and not hopeful, until histocompatibility testing spread. Common criteria for histocompatibility assays and communications' improvement allowed an efficient organ sharing system. The possibility of organ exchanges is closely linked to the importance of interlaboratory comparisons for histocompatibility and immunogenetics methods. The external proficiency testing (EPT) systems are the most powerful quality assurance tools. They help achieve harmonization of analyses, set a standard of performance, and a common interpretation. The external quality assurance program for diagnostic immunology laboratories (Garantía Externa de Calidad para Laboratorios de Inmunología Diagnóstica, GECLID) program nowadays runs 13 external quality assurance (EQA) histocompatibility and immunogenetics schemes, with the first of them from 2011 to date: serological and molecular: low- and high-resolution human leukocyte antigen (HLA), human platelet antigen (HPA), and killer inhibitory receptor (KIR) typing(HLA-B*27, HLA-B*57:01, and coeliac disease-related HLA), cell-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) and flow cytometry (FC) crossmatches, anti-HLA and anti-HPA antibodies, and chimerism. A total of 85 laboratories participated in this subprogram in the last 12 years reporting over 1.69 M results: 1.46 M for anti-HLA and anti-HPA antibodies, 203.810 molecular typing data (HLA, HPA, and KIR genes), 2.372 for chimerism analyses, and 39.352 for crossmatches. Based on the European Federation for Immunogenetics (EFI) standards for EPT providers, the mean success rates ranged from 99.2% for molecular typing schemes and antibodies and 94.8% for chimerism, was 96.7% regarding crossmatches, and was 98.9% in serological typing. In 2022, 61.3% of the participating laboratories successfully passed every HLA EQA scheme, although 87.9% annual reports were satisfactory. Most penalties were due to nomenclature errors or misreporting of the risk associated to HLA and disease. This EQA confirms the reliability of HLA and immunogenetics assays in routine care. There is little heterogeneity of results of different assays used by participating laboratories, even when in-house assays are used. Reliability of test results is reasonably granted.
For more than a century, monolayer adsorptions in which adsorbate molecules and adsorbing sites behave ideally have been successfully described by Langmuir's adsorption isotherm. For example, the amount of adsorbed material, as a function of concentration of the material which is not adsorbed, obeys Langmuir's equation. In this paper, we argue that this relation is valid only for macroscopic systems. However, when particle numbers of adsorbate molecules and/or adsorbing sites are small, Langmuir's model fails to describe the chemical equilibrium of the system. This is because the kinetics of forming, or the probability of observing, occupied sites arises from two-body interactions, and as such, ought to include cross-correlations between particle numbers of the adsorbate and adsorbing sites. The effect of these correlations, as reflected by deviations in predicting composition when correlations are ignored, increases with decreasing particle numbers and becomes substantial when only few adsorbate molecules, or adsorbing sites, are present in the system. In addition, any change that augments the fraction of occupied sites at equilibrium (e.g., smaller volume, lower temperature, or stronger adsorption energy) further increases the discrepancy between observed properties of small systems and those predicted by Langmuir's theory. In contrast, for large systems, these cross-correlations become negligible, and therefore when expressing properties involving two-body processes, it is possible to consider independently the concentration of each component. By applying statistical mechanics concepts, we derive a general expression of the equilibrium constant for adsorption. It is also demonstrated that in ensembles in which total numbers of particles are fixed, the magnitudes of fluctuations in particle numbers alone can predict the average chemical composition of the system. Moreover, an alternative adsorption equation, predicting the average fraction of occupied sites from the value of the equilibrium constant, is proposed. All derived relations were tested against results obtained by Monte Carlo simulations.
For patients with chronic pain and persistent physical symptoms, understanding the mechanism of central sensitisation may help in understanding how symptoms persist. This cross-sectional study investigated the association of central sensitisation with depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms. Four hundred and fifteen adults attending an outpatient psychosomatic clinic were evaluated. Participants completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Somatic Symptom Scale 8, and the Central Sensitisation Inventory. The relationships between these factors were examined using descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression analyses. The mean age was 42.3 years, and 59% were female. The disorders included adjustment disorders (n = 70), anxiety disorders (n = 63), depressive disorders (n = 103), feeding and eating disorders (n = 30), sleep-wake disorders (n = 37), somatic symptoms and related disorders (n = 84), and others (n = 28). In multiple logistic regression analyses, higher central sensitisation was associated with more severe anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms after controlling for potential confounders. In the disease-specific analysis, somatic symptoms correlated more positively with central sensitisation than with depression or anxiety. Central sensitisation and depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms were associated with patients attending an outpatient clinic. These findings highlight the importance of evaluating depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms when assessing central sensitisation.
For patients with nonspine bone metastases, short-course radiotherapy (RT) can reduce patient burden without sacrificing clinical benefit. However, there is great variation in uptake of short-course RT across practice settings. To evaluate whether a set of 3 implementation strategies facilitates increased adoption of a consensus recommendation to treat nonspine bone metastases with short-course RT (ie, ≤5 fractions). This prospective, stepped-wedge, cluster randomized quality improvement study was conducted at 3 community-based cancer centers within an existing academic-community partnership. Rollout was initiated in 3-month increments between October 2021 and May 2022. Participants included treating physicians and patients receiving RT for nonspine bone metastases. Data analysis was performed from October 2022 to May 2023. Three implementation strategies-(1) dissemination of published consensus guidelines, (2) personalized audit-and-feedback reports, and (3) an email-based electronic consultation platform (eConsult)-were rolled out to physicians. The primary outcome was adherence to the consensus recommendation of short-course RT for nonspine bone metastases. Mixed-effects logistic regression at the bone metastasis level was used to model associations between the exposure of physicians to the set of strategies (preimplementation vs postimplementation) and short-course RT, while accounting for patient and physician characteristics and calendar time, with a random effect for physician. Physician surveys were administered before implementation and after implementation to assess feasibility, acceptability, and appropriateness of each strategy. Forty-five physicians treated 714 patients (median [IQR] age at treatment start, 67 [59-75] years; 343 women [48%]) with 838 unique nonspine bone metastases during the study period. Implementing the set of strategies was not associated with use of short-course RT (odds ratio, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.45-1.34; P = .40), with unadjusted adherence rates of 53% (444 lesions) preimplementation vs 56% (469 lesions) postimplementation; however, the adjusted odds of adherence increased with calendar time (odds ratio, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.20-2.36; P = .003). All 3 implementation strategies were perceived as being feasible, acceptable, and appropriate; only the perception of audit-and-feedback appropriateness changed before vs after implementation (19 of 29 physicians [66%] vs 27 of 30 physicians [90%]; P = .03, Fisher exact test), with 20 physicians (67%) preferring reports quarterly. In this quality improvement study, a multicomponent set of implementation strategies was not associated with increased use of short-course RT within an academic-community partnership. However, practice improved with time, perhaps owing to secular trends or physician awareness of the study. Audit-and-feedback was more appropriate than anticipated. Findings support the need to investigate optimal approaches for promoting evidence-based radiation practice across settings.