bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identifying developmental language disorders in bilingual children: a pilot study for developing an Estonian sentence repetition task
Authors: Padrik Marika , Vihman Virve-Anneli , Fil Olga
Published: October 2022

Keelepuude märkamine kakskeelsetel lastel on keeruline: lapse raskusi põhjendatakse kakskeelsusega või kakskeelsele lapsele omast arengut peetakse keelepuudeks. Vaja on objektiivseid hindamisvahendeid. Uuringu eesmärk on selgitada välja lausemallid ja laused laste keeletöötlusvõimet hindava lausete järelekordamistesti jaoks. Testis sisalduvad laused peavad olema jõukohased kakskeelsetele lastele ning arvestama keelepuudega lastel eesti keeles avalduvaid eripäraseid raskusi. Valimi moodustasid 76 last vanuses 5.0–6.11, kes jagunesid nelja rühma: eakohase arenguga ükskeelsed (29), vene-eesti kakskeelsed (20), keelepuudega ükskeelsed (20), keelepuudega kakskeelsed (7). Prooviuuringu tulemusel valiti testi loomise järgmisse etappi 14 mallist 10 (igas 3–4 lauset). Lisaks annab artikkel õpetajatele kasulikku teavet 5–6aastaste kakskeelsete laste süntaktiliste oskuste kohta.

 Summary
Kriitiline ja refleksiivne vaade interkultuurilisele haridusele
Authors: Trasberg Karmen
Published: October 2022

Andreas Jacobssoni ja Fred Dervini Teacher Education for Critical and Reflexive Interculturality (2021) raamatus avatakse mitmekultuurilise hariduse rahvusvaheline kontekst. Autorid kutsuvad üles vaatama mitmetähenduslikku ja poliitiliselt laetud mõistet kriitiliselt ja analüüsivalt. Nad soovitavad vältida sisutühje loosungeid ja häid praktikaid edastavaid valmis retsepte ja rõhutavad allikakriitilisust, et seista vastu desinformatsioonile või infomanipulatsioonidele. Tänase Ukraina sõja foonil on autorite selline käsitlusviis äärmiselt aktuaalne.
"Kuidas iseseisvalt keelt õppida?" Sissejuhatus raamatusse
Authors: Klaas-Lang Birute
Published: October 2022

Helena Metslangi käsiraamatu Juhend iseseisvaks keeleõppeks. Õpioskused ja keelekeskkond (2021) eesmärk on kujundada uut tüüpi keeleõppijat – aktiivset ja ennast juhtivat, vähendada alustavate keeleõppijate ärevust ja õpetada keeleõppijat motivatsiooni looma ja hoidma. Raamatust leiavad tuge mistahes keele õppijad, keda ahistavad hirmud, ebakindlus või kes on jäänud keele õppimise teekonnal toppama.
Mitmekeelne erivajadusega õpilane koolis. Sissejuhatus käsiraamatusse
Authors: Hallap Merit , Padrik Marika
Published: October 2022

Käsiraamatu sihtrühmaks on õpetajad, kelle klassis  või rühmas õpib laps, kes omandab eesti keelt teise keelena, kuid vajab kaaslastega võrreldes suuremat tuge. Raamat aitab õpetajal paremini mõista keele omandamise raskuste põhjusi erinevat laadi erivajadustega õpilastel ja märgata keelepuuet mitmekeelsel lapsel. Autorid tutvustavad eripedagoogilisi võtteid selliste õpilaste toetamiseks praktiliste näidete ja juhtumite toel.
Tożsamość (w) przestrzeni: Studia dedykowane Profesorowi Wasilijowi Szczukinowi
Authors: Dubiel Ksenia , Duć-Fajfer Helena
Published: October 2022

Tom jubileuszowy, który oddajemy do rąk czytelnika, stanowi wyraz najwyższego uznania wobec imponującego dorobku naukowego oraz wdzięczności za lata działalności dydaktycznej Pana Profesora Wasilija Szczukina. Publikacja jest próbą odzwierciedlenia szerokiego spektrum zainteresowań badawczych Jubilata, oscylujących wokół historii literatury i kultury rosyjskiej, metodologii badań literackich, poetyki sztuki totalitarnej, a także szeroko rozumianej geografii humanistycznej; osadza jednocześnie te pojęcia w kontekście macierzystym badacza – to jest fenomenów przestrzeni i tożsamości. Z wielką radością pragniemy podkreślić, że niniejsza księga, na którą złożyły się teksty wielu wybitnych badaczy literatury, sztuki i kultury, pragnących uhonorować Profesora Szczukina, stanowi platformę do wymiany myśli naukowców reprezentujących ośrodki naukowo-akademickie między innymi w Polsce, Izraelu, Bułgarii, Kanadzie, Stanach Zjednoczonych, Rosji, na Litwie i Białorusi, co należy uznać za jawne świadectwo swoistej niezależności nauki i jej niepodlegania różnorakim ograniczeniom, które w danym czasie i danej przestrzeni mogą hamować kontakty i zaburzać procesy konsolidacyjne na bazie twórczej wymiany.
K istorii russkoj menʹšinstvennoj idei v mežvoennoj Polʹše (ROM, 1934)
Authors: Skrunda Viktor
Published: October 2022

In Poland in the 1930s Russian minority activists („menshinstvenniki”), unlike emigrants waiting to return to their homeland after the overthrow of the Bolsheviks Government, tried to ensure the possibility of permanent presence of the Russian community in the Polish state (regardless of political developments in the USSR). They therefore sought official recognition of the Russian national minority by Polish authorities, hoping to create their own provincial version of Russian non-Soviet culture. The issue is analysed through the example of the crisis in the All-Polish organisation of Russian minority activists (1934). Overcoming the crisis was perceived as a serious success of the „Russian cause”.
„Schody w pustkę” – przestrzeń i sen w opowiadaniu Szatniarz Jeleny Dołgopiat
Authors: Trojanowska Urszula
Published: October 2022

The article deals with the considerations and category of space, which are connected with the theme of dream in the story Cloakroom Attendant by Jelena Dolgopiat. There is a classic contrast between the city (alien, dangerous and unfit for life) and the village, ensuring peace and security, in this work. The protagonist of the story leads a lonely, half-sleepy existence, lives as if she is out of time. When unexpectedly she becomes the heiress of a cloakroom attendant, other people’s dreams enter her life and open up new dimensions of existence for her. The line between waking and dreaming becomes blurred. The events in the protagonist’s life turn out to be part of dreams of the people she does not know. The past, present and future intertwine into one substance, which is characteristic of a dream and is reflected in the structure of the piece. In the story both the space and dreams are “mapped”, which is to tame them and subordinate them to man. However, while the space put on the map becomes “familiar” and friendly to the protagonist, the issue of dreams is more complicated and it is not known whose dreams are in each of the presented events.
Psihologičeskoe prostranstvo «podpolʹâ» v povesti F.M. Dostoevskogo. Zapiski iz podpolʹâ
Authors: Kasatkina Kseniâ
Published: October 2022

The article examines the metaphorical spiritual space of the “underground”, where the narrator of the Notes from the underground is “diving”. The most important concepts that make up this psychological locus are pride, self-humiliation, shame, loneliness, and relationship with society and himself. In this paper the author attempts to show the reasons for the formation of the “underground” as a conceptual space and to reveal the correlation of some psychological aspects of the character.
Obezvelvolpal A.M. Remizova kak modelʹ «vnutrennej èmigracii»
Authors: Dotsenko Sergei
Published: October 2022

Remizov’s mystification Obezvelvopal became an alternative to political and social reality during the years of the Russian revolution. At the same time, it can be considered as a model of “internal emigration”. After A. Remizov’s real emigration in 1921, this mystification to an even greater extent received the function of “internal emigration” as an alternative to “external emigration”.
Ègo – Geo. Prostranstvo ličnosti ili ličnostʹ prostranstva? Zametki o rannih stihah Geo Škurupiâ
Authors: Dubiel Ksenia
Published: October 2022

The article deals with the analysis of the selected poems of Ukrainian futurist Geo Shkurupi from the poet’s debut book entitled Psychetozy. The aim of the study is to show that in his poems there is coexistence of physical space, regarding typically futuristic images of a city, continent or planet, and inner space, referring to the mental, often pathological states of a man. The article also briefly introduces the main points of panfuturism, a local branch of the movement, co-created and consistently promoted by the poet.
Pamięć i tożsamość w utworze Pavla Amnuela Spowiedź
Authors: Malewska Maria
Published: October 2022

In the article some aspects of a short story Confession by Pavel Amnuél are analysed. The story is written in the form of a monologue by Volodia Dubinin delivered during a confession just before his death. The storyline is based on multiverse theory: the main character dies twelve times, but he continues his life in different universes keeping memories of other existences. The author of the article tries to answer the question if it is possible to maintain identity by living so many different lives and what is the role of memory in it.
Èkfrasis kak sposob formirovaniâ prostranstva smysla
Authors: Avtuhovič Tatâna
Published: October 2022

The article considers the function of ekphrastic descriptions and references to works of art in the stories of I.S. Turgenev. The question is raised whether ekphrasis, along with literary intertext, participates in the formation of the space of meaning, reflecting the writer’s attitude to the expression of the invisible and the image of the inexpressible, defining the principles of Turgenev’s poetics of understatement and hint. The dialogue with culture, which is realized through ekphrastic inclusions, testifies to the hidden polyphonism of Turgenev’s prose and the direction of the writer’s creative evolution.
Topos Rzymu jako element „mitu Husowskiego” Uładzimira Arłoua (na materiale powieści Czasy dżumy)
Authors: Kliabanau Dzmitry
Published: October 2022

The subject of the article is the topos of Rome as one of the key elements which determines the method of creating a realistic and mythological image of Mikałaj Husoŭski, the poet from the 16th century and the main character of the novel Times of the Plague by Uladzimir Arlou. The action of the piece takes place in 16th century Rome, and is strongly attached to individual Roman locations. The category of space is presented in the physical, mythological and symbolic dimensions. Urban space has a complex structure and is marked by a specific chronotope, as it becomes a place of collision and accumulation of various social, historical and cultural phenomena. It has the ability to record history and all kind of traumas, and becomes a symbol of changeability, passing, as well as preserving memory. Additionaly, in his novel Uladzimir Arlou creates the “Husouski myth” as a part of a new general Belarusian historical and literary narrative, based on Christian values and Western European cultural tradition. This myth becomes a form of communication between generations of Belarusians.
Vilʹnûsskie dvoriki kak osobennyj gorodskoj lokus
Authors: Brio Valentina
Published: October 2022

Courtyards of Vilnius Old City were portrayed in literature in different languages, painted by artists and photographed by photography masters. They are an important locus of a real city, an interesting fragment of its literary definition, an element of the poetics of city space. The current paper analyzes courtyard portrayals of houses remaining from the Baroque period in the Old City center as well as descriptions of labyrinths of the courtyards of Vilnius University. This study is based on the following texts: works of writers Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Czesław Miłosz, Tomas Venclova, artists and art critics Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Vladas Drėma and others.
Topos «goroda greha» v literaturnoj urbanistike bolgarskoj «ottepeli» Predvaritelʹnye zametki
Authors: Nâgolova Nataliâ
Published: October 2022

The article deals with the presence of the topos of the “Sin city” in Pavel Vezhinov’s Taste of Almonds, Bogomil Rainov’s Roads to Nowhere and Vassil Popov’s The Time of the Hero. The author reconstructs the genesis of the presented topos in the tradition of Bulgarian urban literary fiction from the 1920s to the 1940s and analyzes the influence of mass literature. A group of semantic features typical for the poetics of this topos in the considered works can be distinguished. They are: destruction and fragmentation; incompleteness and deformation of the interior; semiotization of sounds and aromas; provincialism and cosmopolitanism. The confrontation of the topos with the basic postulates of socialist realism as well as the productivity of the given model in the Bulgarian literary fiction of the 1970s are pointed out.
Čto delaet naši landšafty takimi raznymi, takimi privlekatelʹnymi? (Anglijskij industrialʹnyj pejzaž XVIII-XX vekov)
Authors: Timofeev Mihail
Published: October 2022

The article is devoted to the formation of an industrial narrative in English Fine Arts of the 18th-20th centuries. They emerged as a result of the industrial revolution in the North East of England. The author describes examples of the representation of rural and urban industrial landscapes. The article examines the role of Fine Arts in the formation of local and nationality identity. The works of such English artists as Joseph Wright of Derby (1734-1797), William Wyld (1806-1889), Pierre Adolphe Valette (1876-1942), Lawrence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) were used as examples of industrial landscapes.
Podróż do źródeł tożsamości. Wschód Andrzeja Stasiuka
Authors: Chrząszcz Matylda
Published: October 2022

The article depicts the issue of the relationship between broadly defined landscape and the identity formation. The subject of the analysis is the book The East published in 2014 by Andrzej Stasiuk. The writer’s journey through the East (from the eastern regions of Poland across Russia to China and Mongolia) becomes a journey back in time into his childhood. It gives him an unique opportunity to analyze the factors that shaped his personality from the perspective of a mature man. It has been Russia that played a crucial role in the formation of his identity. The author of the article brings to readers’ attention the change in writer’s attitude towards Russia that has been taking place over the years – starting from a sense of superiority and contempt ending in fascination and admiration. According to it, Stasiuk’s story about the East can be interpreted as an attempt to regain the narrator’s childhood as well as the childhood of the nation to which he belongs.
Wyspa Gołowanowa albo o poszukiwaniu sensu w Arktyce
Authors: Milczarek Michał
Published: October 2022

The article is devoted to Vasily Golovanov’s essay The Island. The search for the sense of life leads author to the arctic island of Kolguyev; and we follow his journey in the article. As a result, it turns out that only the empty space of the island has a sense-creating power. The author tries to prove that Golovanov sometimes had a lack of language to describe his experience of this space. It could be the Nenets language, reflecting the nomadic culture of the local people, but the author does not know it. The article shows that in key moments the content of the essay corresponds with the late thought of Martin Heidegger. In this context, an interpretation of the Greek term “aletheia”, space, and the figure of the “last Gods” was proposed.
Putʹ kak sudʹba. Povestʹ Viktora Astafʹeva Pereval
Authors: Wawrzynczak Aleksander
Published: October 2022

The early works of Viktor Astafyev are characterized by a strongly pronounced autobiographism, which is also clearly expressed in his novel Pereval. The fate of the hero of this work is considered in a metaphorical reading of the motif of his journey along the Siberian river with a team of rafters, in which a certain stage in the process of becoming a hero is realized. The author also points out the plot-forming role of nature in the story – communicating with the natural world, the hero develops the main positive traits of his character. At the same time, he passes a symbolic path from the anti-house to the house, symbolizing comfort, calmness and stability in life. The analysis of the work reveals the connection of its plot not only with the writer’s past, but also with the success of this novel itself. It can be considered as the beginning of an important stage in the author’s life, the final point of which was the writer’s return to his native village of Ovsyanka in 1980.
Социальные пространства в динамике сюжета. Анализ драматургии современного фильма
Authors: Marievskaya Natalia
Published: October 2022

The world of poverty and the world of wealth form absolutely different spaces that are deeply separated from each other. It is difficult to overcome their dividing line. This statement seems to be almost evident. What is less evident is that these spaces actively interact with each other forming networks of the whole through multiple communication channels. For example, for such interaction channel current media can become provoking and sustaining example of the concept of “ressentiment” introduced by Nietzsche. The research focuses on the dynamics of social spaces within film structure. Particularly, the author analyses the situation when money investment in information processing for those people who exist within the space of poverty triggers an unpredictable response which changes the space of wealth. It is spacial dynamics that has been reproduced in such films as Joker (2019) by Todd Phillips, Parasites (2019) by Pon Joon-Ho, Once upon a time... in Hollywood (2019) by Quentin Tarantino. Is it possible nowadays to talk about the response of the humiliated and the insulted to the world wealth’s massive impact aimed at jeopardizing the current social system based on the inequality of people?
Türkiye ve Seçilmiş Avrupa Ülkelerinin Göçmen Entegrasyon Politikalarının Karşılaştırmalı Olarak İncelenmesi
Authors: USTABULUT Mete Yusuf , BOYLU Emrah , BAŞAR Umut
Published: October 2022

2000’li yıllardan itibaren bölgesel krizler sebebiyle Orta Doğu’da en çok göç alan ülkelerden biri olan Türkiye’nin göçmen entegrasyon politikası da göç alan diğer ülkeler gibi “Göçmen Entegrasyon

Politikası Endeksi” (MIPEX) kapsamında değerlendirilmektedir. Söz konusu endeks ülkeleri; iş gücü piyasası hareketliliği, aile birleşimi, eğitim, sağlık, siyasi katılım, daimî ikamet, uyruğa erişim ve ayrımcılıkla mücadele olmak üzere sekiz ana başlıkta puanlandırmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, söz konusu endeksin 2015 ve 2020 çıktıları doğrultusunda Türkiye’nin göçmen politikası puanlamasındaki değişimi, altı Avrupa ülkesiyle (Almanya, Belçika, Fransa, Norveç, Finlandiya, İsveç) karşılaştırmalı bir şekilde incelenmiştir. İncelemede, 2015 MIPEX raporunda Türkiye ile söz konusu Avrupa ülkeleri arasında endeks puanı açısından ciddi fark bulunmaktayken 2020 raporunda farkın azaldığı tespit edilmiştir. 2020 raporuna göre Türkiye, göçmen entegrasyon politika puanlarında ciddi artış (+17) yapmış ve bunun sonucunda “Biraz Olumsuz”’ olan politika göstergesi “Yarı Olumlu”ya yükselmiştir. Bu puan ve yükseliş, her ne kadar istenilen düzeyde olmasa da bir sonraki raporda Türkiye’nin entegrasyon politikalarında çok kapsamlı iyileşmelerin görüleceğine işaret olarak algılanabilir.
Radiological malunion after ankle fractures in older adults
Authors: Knight Ruth , Keene David J. , Dutton Susan J. , Handley Robert , Willett Keith
Published: October 2022

Aims

The rationale for exacting restoration of skeletal anatomy after unstable ankle fracture is to improve outcomes by reducing complications from malunion; however, current definitions of malunion lack confirmatory clinical evidence.

Methods

Radiological (absolute radiological measurements aided by computer software) and clinical (clinical interpretation of radiographs) definitions of malunion were compared within the Ankle Injury Management (AIM) trial cohort, including people aged ≥ 60 years with an unstable ankle fracture. Linear regressions were used to explore the relationship between radiological malunion (RM) at six months and changes in function at three years. Function was assessed with the Olerud-Molander Ankle Score (OMAS), with a minimal clinically important difference set as six points, as per the AIM trial. Piecewise linear models were used to investigate new radiological thresholds which better explain symptom impact on ankle function.

Results

Previously described measures of RM and surgeon opinion of clinically significant malunion (CSM) were shown to be related but with important differences. CSM was more strongly related to outcome (-13.9 points on the OMAS; 95% confidence interval (CI) -21.9 to -5.4) than RM (-5.5 points; 95% CI -9.8 to -1.2). Existing malunion thresholds for talar tilt and tibiofibular clear space were shown to be slightly conservative; new thresholds which better explain function were identified (talar tilt > 2.4°; tibiofibular clear space > 6 mm). Based on this new definition the presence of RM had an impact on function, which was statistically significant, but the clinical significance was uncertain (-9.1 points; 95% CI -13.8 to -4.4). In subsequent analysis, RM of a posterior malleolar fracture was shown to have a statistically significant impact on OMAS change scores, but the clinical significance was uncertain (-11.6 points; 95% CI -21.9 to -0.6).

Conclusion

These results provide clinical evidence which supports the previously accepted definitions. Further research to investigate more conservative clinical thresholds for malunion is indicated. Cite this article: Bone Jt Open 2022;3(10):841–849.
Repeated automatic sleep scoring based on ear-EEG is a valuable alternative to manually scored polysomnography
Authors: Kjaer Troels Wesenberg , Rank Mike Lind , Hemmsen Martin Christian , Kidmose Preben , Mikkelsen Kaare
Published: October 2022

While polysomnography (PSG) is the gold standard to quantify sleep, modern technology allows for new alternatives. PSG is obtrusive, affects the sleep it is set out to measure and requires technical assistance for mounting. A number of less obtrusive solutions based on alternative methods have been introduced, but few have been clinically validated. Here we validate one of these solutions, the ear-EEG method, against concurrently recorded PSG in twenty healthy subjects each measured for four nights. Two trained technicians scored the 80 nights of PSG independently, while an automatic algorithm scored the ear-EEG. The sleep stages and eight sleep metrics (Total Sleep Time (TST), Sleep Onset Latency, Sleep Efficiency, Wake After Sleep Onset, REM latency, REM fraction of TST, N2 fraction of TST, and N3 fraction of TST) were used in the further analysis. We found the sleep metrics: Total Sleep Time, Sleep Onset Latency, Sleep Efficiency, Wake After Sleep Onset were estimated with high accuracy and precision between automatic sleep scoring and manual sleep scoring. However, the REM latency and REM fraction of sleep showed high accuracy but low precision. Further, the automatic sleep scoring systematically overestimated the N2 fraction of sleep and slightly underestimated the N3 fraction of sleep. We demonstrate that sleep metrics estimated from automatic sleep scoring based on repeated ear-EEG in some cases are more reliably estimated with repeated nights of automatically scored ear-EEG than with a single night of manually scored PSG. Thus, given the obtrusiveness and cost of PSG, ear-EEG seems to be a useful alternative for sleep staging for the single night recording and an advantageous choice for several nights of sleep monitoring.
Patient preferences for HIV service delivery models; a Discrete Choice Experiment in Kisumu, Kenya
Authors: Mando Raphael Onyango , Moghadassi Michelle , Juma Eric , Ogollah Cirilus , Packel Laura , Kulzer Jayne Lewis , Kadima Julie , Odhiambo Francesca , Eshun-Wilson Ingrid , Kim Hae-Young , Cohen Craig R. , Bukusi Elizabeth A. , Geng Elvin
Published: October 2022

Novel “differentiated service delivery” models for HIV treatment that reduce clinic visit frequency, minimize waiting time, and deliver treatment in the community promise retention improvement for HIV treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa. Quantitative assessments of differentiated service delivery (DSD) feature most preferred by patient populations do not widely exist but could inform selection and prioritization of different DSD models. We used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to elicit patient preferences of HIV treatment services and how they differ across DSD models. We surveyed 18+year-olds, enrolled in HIV care for ≥6 months between February-March, 2019 at four facilities in Kisumu County, Kenya. DCE offered patients a series of comparisons between three treatment models, each varying across seven attributes: ART refill location, quantity of dispensed ART at each refill, medication pick-up hours, type of adherence support, clinical visit frequency, staff attitude, and professional cadre of person providing ART refills. We used hierarchical Bayesian model to estimate attribute importance and relative desirability of care characteristics, latent class analysis (LCA) for groups of preferences and mixed logit model for willingness to trade analysis. Of 242 patients, 128 (53.8%) were females and 150 (62.8%) lived in rural areas. Patients placed greatest importance on ART refill location [19.5% (95% CI 18.4, 10.6) and adherence support [19.5% (95% CI 18.17, 20.3)], followed by staff attitude [16.1% (95% CI 15.1, 17.2)]. In the mixed logit, patients preferred nice attitude of staff (coefficient = 1.60), refill ART health center (Coeff = 1.58) and individual adherence support (Coeff = 1.54), 3 or 6 months for ART refill (Coeff = 0.95 and 0.80, respectively) and pharmacists (instead of lay health workers) providing ART refill (Coeff = 0.64). No differences were observed by gender or urbanicity. LCA revealed two distinct groups (59.5% vs. 40.5%). Participants preferred 3 to 6-month refill interval or clinic visit spacing, which DSD offers stable patients. While DSD has encouraged community ART group options, our results suggest strong preferences for ART refills from health-centers or pharmacists over lay-caregivers or community members. These preferences held across gender&urban/rural subpopulations.
S.M.A.R.T. F.U.S: Surrogate Model of Attenuation and Refraction in Transcranial Focused Ultrasound
Authors: Cain Joshua A. , Visagan Shakthi , Monti Martin M.
Published: October 2022

Low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) is an increasingly applied method for achieving non-invasive brain stimulation. However, transmission of ultrasound through the human skull can substantially affect focal point characteristics of LIFU, including dramatic attenuation in intensity and refraction of focal point location. These effects depend on a high-dimensional parameter space, making these effects difficult to estimate from previous work. Instead, focal point properties of LIFU experiments are often estimated using numerical simulation of LIFU sonication through skull. However, this procedure presents many entry barriers to even computationally savvy investigators and often requires expensive computational hardware, impeding LIFU research. We present a novel MATLAB toolbox (data: doi:10.5068/D1QD60; Matlab Scripts: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5811122) for rapidly estimating beam properties of LIFU transmitted through bone. Users provide specific values for frequency of LIFU, bone thickness, angle at which LIFU is applied, depth of the LIFU focal point, and diameter of the transducer used and receive an estimation of the degree of refraction/attenuation expected for the given parameters.
An analysis of the causes of exhaustion among physicians working in family physician teams during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania
Authors: Budrevičiūtė Aida , Raila Gediminas , Paukštaitienė Renata , Valius Leonas
Published: October 2022

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on public life around the world, influencing medicine and health, the economy, employment, science, and education. Health care specialists are key workers who faced extreme challenges posed by the pandemic, including threats to their own lives due to the rapid spread of the virus, a huge increase in workload, and professional burnout syndrome. Analysis of the factors that physicians found most exhausting during the pandemic could lay the groundwork for the effective management of future crises.

Objective

To identify the factors that physicians working in family physician (family and internal medicine) teams found most exhausting during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania and assess their causes.

Methods

An anonymous survey of physicians (n = 191) working in family physician teams was carried out from 21 June 2021 to 17 September 2021. Physicians signed an informed consent form prior to completion of the questionnaire. Mixed data analysis was performed, consisting of statistical analysis using the SPSS 27 software and a qualitative causal analysis.

Results

During the pandemic, physicians were most exhausted by: chaotic vaccination priorities (44.5%); unsatisfied patients (52.4%); constantly changing legislation (71.7%); the large workload (75.9%); and the malfunctioning of online systems (81.2%).

Conclusions

Physicians in family physician teams indicated the following aspects that require improvement: service provision; effective work organization for physicians; and the satisfaction of patients with decisions made during the pandemic.
Attitudes of university hospital staff towards in-house assisted suicide
Authors: Gamondi Claudia , Gayet-Ageron Angèle , Borasio Gian Domenico , Hurst Samia , Jox Ralf J. , Ricou Bara
Published: October 2022

Objective

To investigate staff attitudes toward assisted suicide in the hospital setting in Switzerland.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Two University Hospitals in French speaking regions of Switzerland.

Participants

13’834 health care professionals, including all personnel caring for patients, were invited to participate.

Main outcome measures and other variables

Attitudes towards the participation of hospital health care professionals in assisted suicide were investigated with an online questionnaire.

Results

Among all invited professionals, 5’127 responded by filling in the survey at least partially (response rate 37.0%), and 3’683 completed the entire survey (26.6%). 73.0% of participants approved that this practice should be authorized in their hospital and saw more positive than negative effects. 57.6% would consider assisted suicide for themselves. Non-medical professionals were 1.28 to 5.25 times more likely to approve assisted suicide than physicians (p<0.001). 70.7% of respondents indicated that each professional should have the choice of whether to assist in suicide.

Conclusions

This multiprofessional survey sheds light on hospital staff perceptions of assisted suicide happening within hospital walls, which may inform the development of rules considering their wishes but also their reluctances. Further research using a mixed-methods approach could help reach an in-depth understanding of staff’s attitudes and considerations towards assisted suicide practices.
Assessment of health staff’s proficiency and quality of key malaria indicators in rural district of Ghana
Authors: Okyere Boadu Richard , Karimeni Karimu Hor , Okyere Boadu Kwame Adu , Uwumbornyi Lasim Obed , Agyei Boatemaa Lady , Abotiba Atinbire Solomon , Kumasenu Mensah Nathan
Published: October 2022

Background

Routine Health Information Systems (RHIS) are important for not just sure enough control of malaria, but its elimination as well. If these systems are working, they can extensively provide accurate data on reported malaria cases instead of presenting modelled approximations of malaria burden. Queries are raised on both the quality and use of generated malaria data. Some issues of concern include inaccurate reporting of malaria cases as well as treatment plans, wrongly categorizing malaria cases in registers used to collate data and misplacing data or registers for reporting. This study analyses data quality concerning health staff’s proficiency, timeliness, availability and data accuracy in the Sissala East Municipal Health Directorate (MHD).

Methods

A cross-sectional design was used to collect data from 15 facilities and 50 health staff members who offered clinical related care for malaria cases in the Sissala East MHD from 24th August 2020 to 17th September 2020. Fifteen health facilities were randomly selected from the 56 health facilities in the municipality that were implementing the malarial control programme, and they were included in the study.

Results

On the question of when did staff receive any training on malaria-related health information management in the past six months prior to the survey, as minimal as 13 out of 50(26%) claimed to have been trained, whereas the majority 37 out of 50 (74%) had no training. In terms of proficiency in malaria indicators (MI), the majority (68% - 82%) of the respondents could not demonstrate the correct calculations of the indicators. Nevertheless, the MHD recorded monthly average timeliness of the 5th day [range: 4.7–5.7] within the reporting year. However, the MHD had a worse average performance of 5.4th and 5.7th days in July and September respectively. Furthermore, results indicated that 14 out of 15(93.3%) facilities exceeded the target to accomplish report availability (> = 90%) and data completeness (> = 90%). However, the verification factor (VF) of the overall malaria indicator showed that the MHD neither over-reported nor under-reported actual cases, with the corresponding level of data quality as Good (+/-5%).

Conclusions

The Majority of staff had not received any training on malaria-related RHIS. Some staff members did not know the correct definitions of some of MI used in the malaria programme, while the majority of them could not demonstrate the correct calculations of MI. Timeliness of reporting was below the target, nevertheless, copies of data that were submitted were available and completed. There should be training, supervision and monitoring to enhance staff proficiency and improve the quality of MI.
Measuring how motivation affects information quality assessment: A gamification approach
Authors: Poženel Marko , Zrnec Aljaž , Lavbič Dejan
Published: October 2022

Purpose

Existing research on the measurability of information quality (IQ) has delivered poor results and demonstrated low inter-rater agreement measured by Intra-Class Correlation (ICC) in evaluating IQ dimensions. Low ICC could result in a questionable interpretation of IQ. The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether assessors’ motivation can facilitate ICC.

Methodology

To acquire the participants’ views of IQ, we designed a survey as a gamified process. Additionally, we selected Web study to reach a broader audience. We increased the validity of the research by including a diverse set of participants (i.e. individuals with different education, demographic and social backgrounds).

Findings

The study results indicate that motivation improved the ICC of IQ on average by 0.27, demonstrating an increase in measurability from poor (0.29) to moderate (0.56). The results reveal a positive correlation between motivation level and ICC, with a significant overall increase in ICC relative to previous studies. The research also identified trends in ICC for different dimensions of IQ with the best results achieved for completeness and accuracy.

Practical implications

The work has important practical implications for future IQ research and suggests valuable guidelines. The results of this study imply that considering raters’ motivation improves the measurability of IQ substantially.

Originality

Previous studies addressed ICC in IQ dimension evaluation. However, assessors’ motivation has been neglected. This study investigates the impact of assessors’ motivation on the measurability of IQ. Compared to the results in related work, the level of agreement achieved with the most motivated group of participants was superior.
Suicide capability within the ideation-to-action framework: A systematic scoping review
Authors: Bayliss Luke T. , Christensen Steven , Lamont-Mills Andrea , du Plessis Carol
Published: October 2022

Suicide capability is theorised to facilitate the movement from suicidal ideation to suicide attempt. Three types of contributors are posited to comprise suicide capability: acquired, dispositional, and practical. Despite suicide capability being critical in the movement from ideation-to-attempt, there has been no systematic synthesis of empirical evidence relating to suicide capability that would enable further development and refinement of the concept. This study sought to address this synthesis gap. A scoping review was conducted on suicide capability studies published January 2005 to January 2022. Eleven electronic databases and grey literature sources were searched returning 5,212 potential studies. After exclusion criteria application, 90 studies were included for final analysis. Results synthesis followed a textual narrative approach allocating studies based on contributors of suicide capability. Most studies focused on investigating only one factor within contributors. Painful and provocative events appear to contribute to acquired capability more so than fearlessness about death. Whilst emerging evidence for dispositional and practical contributors is promising, the small number of studies prevents further conclusions from being drawn. An unexpected additional cognitive contributor was identified. The focus of a single factor from most studies and the limited number of studies on contributors other than acquired capability limits the theoretical development and practical application of suicide capability knowledge. Given that suicide is a complex and multifaceted behaviour, future research that incorporates a combination of contributors is more likely to advance our understandings of suicide capability.
Intra-individual impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and sleep in young adults
Authors: Knickerbocker Kelly J. , Cox Evelyn A. , Dhawka Luvna , Woods Kerri , Ingram Krista K.
Published: October 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unique academic, social, financial, and health-related challenges for young adults. While numerous studies have documented average increases in reported mental health issues in the general population, few have measured the magnitude of changes in mental health symptoms and sleep difficulties within individuals. Here, we measure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and sleep of university students pre- and mid-pandemic. Prior to the pandemic (Fall 2019), individuals (n = 23) were recruited to participate in an eight-day, comprehensive sleep study using Fitbit® actigraphy. Participants also completed detailed mental health and sleep surveys, including depression (BDI-II), anxiety (STAI), and sleep disturbance (PROMIS) surveys. One year later, these individuals repeated the study during the pandemic (Fall 2020); participants completed the original surveys and sleep study, in addition to a targeted survey on mental and sleep health due to the pandemic. Self-reported levels of anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbance, and sleep parameters, measured by actigraphy, were compared within the same individuals pre- and mid-pandemic. Self-report survey data revealed that three-quarters of participants experienced an increase in stress and anxiety due to the pandemic. In addition, intra-individual depression and anxiety symptoms increased to clinically significant levels within individuals from pre- to mid-pandemic. Over two-thirds of participants reported sleeping less, and more than half reported that their sleep health had worsened during the pandemic. Changes in sleep disturbance were positively associated with changes in depression and anxiety, reinforcing the robust relationship between poor sleep quality and mental health. Furthermore, individuals who reported greater sleep disturbance during the pandemic experienced lower relative proportions of both REM and deep sleep. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students is multi-faceted—mental health, sleep quality, and the amount of restorative sleep are negatively affected by the pandemic environment. These compounded effects exacerbate the health consequences of the pandemic and highlight a need for increased attention to the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders, particularly in vulnerable populations of young adults.
Embodied time: Effect of reading expertise on the spatial representation of past and future
Authors: Grasso Camille L. , Ziegler Johannes C. , Coull Jennifer T. , Montant Marie
Published: October 2022

How do people grasp the abstract concept of time? It has been argued that abstract concepts, such as future and past, are grounded in sensorimotor experience. When responses to words that refer to the past or the future are either spatially compatible or incompatible with a left-to-right timeline, a space-time congruency effect is observed. In the present study, we investigated whether reading expertise determines the strength of the space-time congruency effect, which would suggest that learning to read and write drives the effect. Using a temporal categorization task, we compared two types of space-time congruency effects, one where spatial incongruency was generated by the location of the stimuli on the screen and one where it was generated by the location of the responses on the keyboard. While the first type of incongruency was visuo-spatial only, the second involved the motor system. Results showed stronger space-time congruency effects for the second type of incongruency (i.e., when the motor system was involved) than for the first type (visuo-spatial). Crucially, reading expertise, as measured by a standardized reading test, predicted the size of the space-time congruency effects. Altogether, these results reinforce the claim that the spatial representation of time is partially mediated by the motor system and partially grounded in spatially-directed movement, such as reading or writing.
A CNN-transformer fusion network for COVID-19 CXR image classification
Authors: Cao Kai , Deng Tao , Zhang Chuanlin , Lu Limeng , Li Lin
Published: October 2022

The global health crisis due to the fast spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has caused great danger to all aspects of healthcare, economy, and other aspects. The highly infectious and insidious nature of the new coronavirus greatly increases the difficulty of outbreak prevention and control. The early and rapid detection of Covid-19 is an effective way to reduce the spread of Covid-19. However, detecting Covid-19 accurately and quickly in large populations remains to be a major challenge worldwide. In this study, A CNN-transformer fusion framework is proposed for the automatic classification of pneumonia on chest X-ray. This framework includes two parts: data processing and image classification. The data processing stage is to eliminate the differences between data from different medical institutions so that they have the same storage format; in the image classification stage, we use a multi-branch network with a custom convolution module and a transformer module, including feature extraction, feature focus, and feature classification sub-networks. Feature extraction subnetworks extract the shallow features of the image and interact with the information through the convolution and transformer modules. Both the local and global features are extracted by the convolution module and transformer module of feature-focus subnetworks, and are classified by the feature classification subnetworks. The proposed network could decide whether or not a patient has pneumonia, and differentiate between Covid-19 and bacterial pneumonia. This network was implemented on the collected benchmark datasets and the result shows that accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score are 97.09%, 97.16%, 96.93%, and 97.04%, respectively. Our network was compared with other researchers’ proposed methods and achieved better results in terms of accuracy, precision, and F1 score, proving that it is superior for Covid-19 detection. With further improvements to this network, we hope that it will provide doctors with an effective tool for diagnosing Covid-19.
Prior antibiotics and risk of subsequent Herpes zoster: A population-based case control study
Authors: Armstrong David , Dregan Alex , Ashworth Mark , White Patrick
Published: October 2022

Background

The effect of antibiotics on the human microbiome is now well established, but their indirect effect on the related immune response is less clear. The possible association of Herpes zoster, which involves a reactivation of a previous varicella zoster virus infection, with prior antibiotic exposure might indicate a potential link with the immune response.

Methods

A case-control study was carried out using a clinical database, the UK’s Clinical Practice Research Datalink. A total of 163,754 patients with varicella zoster virus infection and 331,559 age/sex matched controls were identified and their antibiotic exposure over the previous 10 years, and longer when data permitted, was identified. Conditional logistic regression was used to identify the association between antibiotic exposure and subsequent infection in terms of volume and timing.

Results

The study found an association of antibiotic prescription and subsequent risk of varicella zoster virus infection (adjusted odds ratio of 1.50; 95%CIs: 1.42–1.58). The strongest association was with a first antibiotic over 10 years ago (aOR: 1.92; 95%CIs: 1.88–1.96) which was particularly pronounced in the younger age group of 18 to 50 (aOR 2.77; 95%CIs: 1.95–3.92).

Conclusions

By finding an association between prior antibiotics and Herpes zoster this study has shown that antibiotics may be involved in the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus. That effect, moreover, may be relatively long term. This indirect effect of antibiotics on viruses, possibly mediated through their effect on the microbiome and immune system, merits further study.
Associations of fundamental motor skill competence, isometric plank, and modified pull-ups in 5-year old children: An observational analysis of 2012 NHANES NYFS
Authors: Pitchford E. Andrew , Leung Willie , Webster E. Kipling
Published: October 2022

There are purported relationships between fundamental motor skills (FMS), health-related physical fitness, physical activity, and obesity among children. The purpose of this observational, secondary data analysis was to further examine these associations in children from the 2012 National Youth Fitness Survey (NYFS). 121 five-year old children (51% female) from the NYFS database completed the Test of Gross Motor Development, 2nd edition (TGMD-2), muscular fitness measures of plank and modified pull-ups, and weight status based on body mass index (BMI) percentile. Significant positive correlations were identified between TGMD-2 scores and both pull-ups and plank. Linear regression models, controlling for sex, weight status, and Hispanic ethnicity also identified both modified pull-ups completed and plank time as significant predictors of TGMD-2 total raw score. No demographic factors were significant factors in any of the models. This secondary data analysis identified associations between FMS and health-related physical fitness (i.e., muscular fitness), with both modified pull-ups and plank performance, in five-year old children. Results underscored the importance of different facets of health-related physical fitness contributing significantly to FMS performance and the need for more work related to physical fitness in preschool-age children.