Yoxas/statistical_literacy huggingface dataset:
While the acute effects of high-load resistance training on the force generating capacity of muscles have been widely examined, limited data exist on the relationship with the force-velocity profile (FV). Evidence suggests high sensitivity of the vertical FV profile to monitor changes in the muscle's mechanical properties according to the type of the exercise protocol. However, the interpretation of the findings seems not as straightforward. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a high-load resistance training protocol on the muscle's mechanical properties during loaded jumps and on the vertical force-velocity profile (FV) in relation to maximal strength. 29 resistance-trained male (mean age±SD: 35.4 ± 7.8 years) and 29 female athletes (mean age±SD: 32.5 ± 7.0 years) participated in the study. Five-repetition maximum (5RM) in back squat, unloaded countermovement jump (CMJ) and FV profile were assessed. Loaded jumps were performed against 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent of body mass. Participants performed exercise protocols corresponding to their 5RM. Immediately after, unloaded CMJ and FV profile measurements were repeated. A significant decrease in CMJ height (∼5-6%) and in average power (∼4%) was recorded for both men and women. The FV profile did not change after the exercise protocol; however, there was a significant decrease in theoretical maximal power (from 4 to 5%) and in theoretical maximal velocity (∼3%). Maximal strength was not associated with the changes in FV profile. Findings suggest that an acute high-load exercise decreased vertical jump performance and maximal power output, but without a concomitant change in FV profile. The large interindividual variability in FV measures indicates a less straightforward connection of the applied exercise with the acute response in the FV profile, highlighting the complexity of the FV profile to monitor changes in response to an acute training load.
While the association between coeliac disease and type 1 diabetes is well documented, the association of coeliac disease with type 2 diabetes risk remains undetermined. We conducted a nationwide cohort and Mendelian randomisation analysis to investigate this link. This nationwide matched cohort used data from the Swedish ESPRESSO cohort including 46,150 individuals with coeliac disease and 219,763 matched individuals in the comparator group selected from the general population, followed up from 1969 to 2021. Data from 9053 individuals with coeliac disease who underwent a second biopsy were used to examine the association between persistent villous atrophy and type 2 diabetes. Multivariable Cox regression was employed to estimate the associations. In Mendelian randomisation analysis, 37 independent genetic variants associated with clinically diagnosed coeliac disease at p<5×10-8 were used to proxy genetic liability to coeliac disease. Summary-level data for type 2 diabetes were obtained from the DIAGRAM consortium (80,154 cases) and the FinnGen study (42,593 cases). Over a median 15.7 years' follow-up, there were 6132 (13.3%) and 30,138 (13.7%) incident cases of type 2 diabetes in people with coeliac disease and comparator individuals, respectively. Those with coeliac disease were not at increased risk of incident type 2 diabetes with an HR of 1.00 (95% CI 0.97, 1.03) compared with comparator individuals. Persistent villous atrophy was not associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes compared with mucosal healing among participants with coeliac disease (HR 1.02, 95% CI 0.90, 1.16). Genetic liability to coeliac disease was not associated with type 2 diabetes in DIAGRAM (OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.99, 1.03) or in FinnGen (OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.99-1.04). Coeliac disease was not associated with type 2 diabetes risk.
While the gender/sex differences in neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementia population are well described, gender/sex differences in mild behavioral impairment (MBI) in dementia-free populations and the relationship to cognitive performance and to subsequent cognitive decline have not been studied. We aimed to explore gender/sex differences in the association of MBI with the level of cognitive performance and its rate of decline in a dementia-free cohort. We studied 8,181 older adults enrolled in the online PROTECT UK Study. MBI was assessed using the MBI Checklist and cognition was measured by digit span, paired associate learning, spatial working memory, and verbal reasoning. Statistical analysis was conducted using linear regression models and linear mixed-effects models. Out of 8,181 individuals (median age 63 years, 73% females), 11% of females and 14% of males had MBI syndrome. Females exhibited less often symptoms of decreased motivation (45% versus 36% in males), impulse dyscontrol (40% versus 44% in males; p = 0.001) and social inappropriateness (12% versus 15%; p < 0.001), while they showed more often symptoms of emotional dysregulation (45% versus 36%; p < 0.001). The associations of MBI domains with some measures of cognitive performance and decline were stronger in males than females, with the exception of the association of emotional dysregulation with the rate of cognitive decline in verbal reasoning, which was present exclusively in females. MBI may influence cognition to a greater extent in males than in females. We propose that predictors and biomarkers of dementia should consider gender/sex as an effect modifier.
While the internet provides accessible medical information, often times it does not cater to the average patient's ability to understand medical text at a 6th and 8th grade reading level, per American Medical Association (AMA)/National Institute of Health (NIH) recommendations. This study looks to analyze current online materials relating to posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) surgery and their readability, understandability, and actionability. The top 100 Google searchs for "PCL surgery" were compiled. Research papers, procedural protocols, advertisements, and videos were excluded from the data collection. The readability was examined using 7 algorithms: the Flesch Reading Ease Score, Gunning Fog, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Coleman-Liau Index, SMOG index, Automated Readability Index and the Linsear Write Formula. Two evaluators assessed Understandability and Actionability of the results with the Patient Educational Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). Outcome measures included Reading Grade Level, Reader's age minimum and maximum, Understandability, and Actionability. Of the 100 results, 16 were excluded based on the exclusion criteria. There was a statistically significant difference between the readability of the results from all algorithms and the current recommendation by AMA and NIH. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that there was no difference in readability as it pertained to which page they appeared on Google search. There was also no difference in readability between individual websites versus organizational websites (hospital and non-hospital educational websites). Three articles were at the 8th grade recommended reading level, and all three were from healthcare institutes. There is a discrepancy in readability between the recommendation of AMA/NIH and online educational materials regarding PCL surgeries, regardless of where they appear on Google and across different forums. The understandability and actionability were equally poor. Future research can focus on the readability and validity of video and social media as they are becoming increasingly popular sources of medical information.
While the musical instrument classification task is well-studied, there remains a gap in identifying non-pitched percussion instruments which have greater overlaps in frequency bands and variation in sound quality and play style than pitched instruments. In this paper, we present a musical instrument classifier for detecting tambourines, maracas and castanets, instruments that are often used in early childhood music education. We generated a dataset with diverse instruments (e.g., brand, materials, construction) played in different locations with varying background noise and play styles. We conducted sensitivity analyses to optimize feature selection, windowing time, and model selection. We deployed and evaluated our best model in a mixed reality music application with 12 families in a home setting. Our dataset was comprised of over 369,000 samples recorded in-lab and 35,361 samples recorded with families in a home setting. We observed the Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM) model to perform best using an approximate 93 ms window with only 12 mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and signal entropy. Our best LGBM model was observed to perform with over 84% accuracy across all three instrument families in-lab and over 73% accuracy when deployed to the home. To our knowledge, the dataset compiled of 369,000 samples of non-pitched instruments is first of its kind. This work also suggests that a low feature space is sufficient for the recognition of non-pitched instruments. Lastly, real-world deployment and testing of the algorithms created with participants of diverse physical and cognitive abilities was also an important contribution towards more inclusive design practices. This paper lays the technological groundwork for a mixed reality music application that can detect children's use of non-pitched, percussion instruments to support early childhood music education and play.
While the National Institutes of Health and American Medical Association recommend patient education materials (PEMs) should be written at the sixth-grade reading level or below, many patient education materials related to traumatic orthopaedic injuries do not meet these recommendations. The purpose of this study is to create a standardised method for enhancing the readability of trauma-related orthopaedic PEMs by reducing the use of ≥ three syllable words and reducing the use of sentences >15 words in length. We hypothesise that applying this standardized method will significantly improve the objective readability of orthopaedic trauma PEMs. A patient education website was queried for PEMs relevant to traumatic orthopaedic injuries. Orthopaedic trauma PEMs included (N = 40) were unique, written in a prose format, and <3500 words. PEM statistics, including scores for seven independent readability formulae, were determined for each PEM before and after applying this standard method. All PEMs had significantly different readability scores when comparing original and edited PEMs (p < 0.01). The mean Flesch Kincaid Grade Level of the original PEMs (10.0 ± 1.0) was significantly higher than that of edited PEMs (5.8 ± 1.1) (p < 0.01). None of the original PEMs met recommendations of a sixth-grade reading level compared with 31 (77.5%) of edited PEMs. This standard method that reduces the use of ≥ three syllable words and <15 word sentences has been shown to significantly reduce the reading-grade level of PEMs for traumatic orthopaedic injuries. Improving the readability of PEMs may lead to enhanced health literacy and improved health outcomes.
While the rapid digitalization in higher education, accelerated by the COVID-19 pan- demic, has restructured the landscape of teaching and learning, a comprehensive under- standing of its implications on students' academic outcomes across various academic disciplines remains unexplored. This study, therefore, aims to fill this gap by providing an in-depth examination of the effects of crisis-driven digitalization on student performance, specifically the shift to emergency remote education during the COVID-19 crisis. Lever- aging a panel dataset encompassing 82,694 individual student course grades over a span of six years, we explore the effects of digitalization across nationalities, educational levels, genders, and crucially, academic disciplines. Our findings are threefold: (i) firstly, we note that crisis-driven digitalization significantly impacted students' chances of passing a course and achieving higher course grades in comparison to the pre-crisis period. (ii) Secondly, we found the effect to be heterogeneous across disciplines. Notably, practical disciplines, such as nursing, experienced a negative impact from this sudden shift, in contrast to more theoretical disciplines such as business administration or mathematics, which saw a positive effect. (iii) Lastly, our results highlight significant variations in the impact based on educational levels and nationalities. Master's students had a harder time adapting to the digital shift than their bachelor counterparts, while international students faced greater challenges in less international academic environments. These insights underscore the need for strategic interventions tailored to maximize the potential of digital learning across all disciplines and student demographics. The study aims to guide educators and policymakers in creating robust digital learning environments that promote equitable outcomes and enhance students' learning experiences in the digital age.
While the scientific community widely recognizes the benefits of physical activity (PA) in oncology supportive care, cancer survivors who have undergone chemo- or radio-immunotherapy treatments struggle to meet PA recommendations. This underscores the importance of identifying factors influencing active lifestyle adoption and maintenance and proposing a multilevel model (micro-, meso-, and macrolevel) to better understand facilitators and barriers. Currently, no socioecological model explains an active lifestyle in the posttreatment phase of breast, colorectal, prostate, and lung cancers. The objective is to identify factors influencing an active lifestyle in cancer survivorship and assess the feasibility of an individualized program targeting an active lifestyle. The objectives will be addressed in 3 stages. Stage 1 aims to elucidate factors associated with the active lifestyle of cancer survivors. Stage 2 involves developing an explanatory model based on previously identified factors to create a tailored health education program for an active lifestyle after oncology treatments. Stage 3 aims to evaluate the feasibility and potential effects of this personalized health education program after its national implementation. First, the exploration of factors influencing PA (stage 1) will be based on a mixed methods approach, using an explanatory sequential design and multilevel analysis. The quantitative phase involves completing a questionnaire from a socioecological perspective. Subsequently, a subset of respondents will engage in semistructured interviews to aid in interpreting the quantitative results. This phase aims to construct a model of the factors influencing an active lifestyle and develop an individualized 12-week program based on our earlier findings (stage 2). In stage 3, we will implement our multicenter, multimodal program for 150 physically inactive and sedentary cancer survivors across metropolitan France. Program feasibility will be evaluated. Measured PA level by connected device and multidimensional variables such as declared PA and sedentary behaviors, PA readiness, motivation, PA preferences, PA knowledge and skills, and barriers and facilitators will be assessed before and during the program and 52 weeks afterward. The institutional review board approved the mixed methods study (phase 1) in April 2020, and the intervention (phase 3) was approved in March 2022. Recruitment and data collection commenced in April 2022, with intervention implementation concluded in May 2023. Data collection and full analysis are expected to be finalized by July 2024. The Determinants and Factors of Physical Activity After Oncology Treatments (DEFACTO) study seeks to enhance our understanding, within our socioecological model, of factors influencing an active lifestyle among cancer survivors and to assess whether a tailored intervention based on this model can support an active lifestyle. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05354882; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05354882. DERR1-10.2196/52274.
While the social determinants of health (SDOH) have a greater impact on individual health outcomes than the healthcare services a person receives, healthcare providers face barriers to addressing these factors in clinical settings. Previous studies have shown that providers often lack the necessary knowledge and resources to adequately screen for and otherwise assist patients with unmet social needs. This study explores the perceptions and behaviors related to SDOH among healthcare providers in the United States (US). This cross-sectional study analyzed data from a 22-item online survey using Reaction Data's research platform of healthcare professionals in the US. Survey items included demographic questions as well as Likert scale questions about healthcare providers' perceptions and behaviors related to SDOH. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and further analyses were conducted using t-tests and analysis of variance. A total of 563 respondents completed the survey, with the majority being male (72.6%), White (81%), and located in urban areas (82.2%). In terms of perceptions, most providers agreed or strongly agreed that SDOH affect the health outcomes of all patients (68.5%), while only 24.1% agreed or strongly agreed that their healthcare setting was set up to address SDOH. In terms of behavior, fewer than half currently screened for SDOH (48.6%) or addressed (42.7%) SDOH in other ways. Most providers (55.7%) wanted additional resources to focus on SDOH. Statistical analyses showed significant differences by gender, with females being more likely than males to prioritize SDOH, and by specialty, with psychiatrists, pediatricians, and family/general medicine practitioners being more likely to prioritize SDOH. Most healthcare providers understand the connection between unmet social needs and their patients' health, but they also feel limited in their ability to address these issues. Ongoing efforts to improve medical education and shift the healthcare system to allow for payment and delivery of more holistic care that considers SDOH will likely provide new opportunities for healthcare providers. In addition to what they can do at the institutional and patient levels, providers have the potential to advocate for policy and system changes at the societal level that can better address the root causes of social issues.
While the traditional method of teaching consists of repetition and memorization, the constructivist theory proposes independent discovery and free play. The cultural-historical approach, on the other hand, does not insist on the early introduction of formal mathematics as implicit or explicit knowledge. According to this outlook, important psychological developmental is necessary for the child before he/she can learn mathematics in primary school. To present a methodology for organizing the play activity of children of preschool age by introducing symbolic means on the materialized and perceptual levels as an essential aspect of preparation for learning mathematical concepts in primary school. The experiment consisted in pedagogical work in the online modality by the authors at a private college in the city of Puebla, Mexico. Eighteen children from three levels of preschool education (from three to six years old) participated in 45-minute sessions three times per week. There were six children from each preschool level. It was shown that playing with roles online allows children at least partially to include different symbolic means in their activity. This allows the children not only to satisfy their curiosity and be positively engaged in the topic of the play, but also to develop symbolic functions as preparation for intellectual actions with numerical content in primary school. The article shows a feasible way to organize preschool play with roles online and thus to scaffold the formation of children's imagination and ability to use symbolic means, which is important for future learning. The cultural-historical approach offers useful guidelines here, although more research is needed to support the development of children's symbolic function within math-specific activity, based on activity theory applied to learning.
While the use of virtual manipulatives (VM) is rising in classrooms, there is still limited research. regarding teacher experiences with and perceptions of virtual manipulatives. Most of the research regarding teacher perceptions of VM has focused only on short-term uses following professional development sessions and none has highlighted the experiences of teachers using them during emergency remote teaching during COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher perceptions and. experiences with virtual manipulatives following emergency remote teaching during COVID-19. To achieve this, the researchers conducted an online survey to gather data on educator's (n = 103) experiences, perceptions, and usage of virtual manipulatives. The qualitative and quantitative data show that educators feel that VM are a valid and feasible support of mathematics instruction when physical manipulatives are not available. Results regarding usage of virtual manipulatives including frequency of use, standards taught, and types used are presented and discussed. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11528-022-00796-9.
While there are many teacher training programs for health professional students, few are interprofessional, and few integrate assessment and feedback prior to participation as peer teachers. In 2021, The Student Interprofessional Facilitator Training (SIFT) program was developed to allow senior students, already trained in peer teaching, to revise, build on, and practice their newly acquired skills in an interprofessional context. The aim of this study was to explore participant perception and performance, and the contextual factors that influence student aspirations as clinical teachers. Alumni of the 2021 Peer Teacher Training program (n = 74) were invited to participate in the SIFT program. Those who participated were invited to attend individual semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to code and categorise data into themes, using Communities of Practice as a conceptual framework. Skills in interprofessional facilitation were observed, assessed and students were provided with individual feedback. Assessment data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Sixteen students from six disciplines joined the SIFT program, and 13/16 (81%) completed. Students were from medicine, nursing, diagnostic radiography, medical imaging, dentistry and speech pathology. Students reported an increased recognition of teaching as a learned skill, development of clinician identity formation as educators, development of interprofessional communication skills, increased awareness of the roles of other health professions, and an increased understanding of leadership. Participants expressed a desire for additional opportunities for interprofessional networking and peer teaching. A good level of competence in facilitation skills was reached by participants. The SIFT program provided a sustainable framework for health professional students to develop and evidence their teaching and leadership skills in an interprofessional context. This study highlighted the important role of observation, assessment and feedback in student teacher training programs. The process of clear assessment guidelines, direct observation with feedback from supervisors provided a way to ensure quality improvement in peer teaching. The SIFT program will help to build capacity of interprofessional programs where large numbers of teachers are required for small group teaching. The next step will be to ensure a variety of opportunities within interprofessional contexts, and with face-to-face engagement.