pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
A survey of radiographers' confidence and self-perceived accuracy in frontline image interpretation and their continuing educational preferences

Introduction \ud
\ud
The provision of a written comment on traumatic abnormalities of the musculoskeletal system detected by radiographers can assist referrers and may improve patient management, but the practice has not been widely adopted outside the United Kingdom. The purpose of this study was to investigate Australian radiographers’ perceptions of their readiness for practice in a radiographer commenting system and their educational preferences in relation to two different delivery formats of image interpretation education, intensive and non-intensive. \ud
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Methods \ud
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A cross-sectional web-based questionnaire was implemented between August and September 2012. Participants included radiographers with experience working in emergency settings at four Australian metropolitan hospitals. Conventional descriptive statistics, frequency histograms, and thematic analysis were undertaken. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test examined whether a difference in preference ratings between intensive and non-intensive education delivery was evident. \ud
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Results\ud
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The questionnaire was completed by 73 radiographers (68% response rate). Radiographers reported higher confidence and self-perceived accuracy to detect traumatic abnormalities than to describe traumatic abnormalities of the musculoskeletal system. Radiographers frequently reported high desirability ratings for both the intensive and the non-intensive education delivery, no difference in desirability ratings for these two formats was evident (z = 1.66,P = 0.11). \ud
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Conclusions \ud
\ud
Some Australian radiographers perceive they are not\ud
ready to practise in a frontline radiographer commenting system. Overall, radiographers indicated mixed preferences for image interpretation education delivered via intensive and non-intensive formats. Further research, preferably\ud
randomised trials, investigating the effectiveness of intensive and non-intensive education formats of image interpretation education for radiographers is warranted
A snapshot of radiation therapy techniques and technology in Queensland : an aid to mapping undergraduate curriculum

Introduction:\ud
Undergraduate students studying the Bachelor of Radiation Therapy at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) attend clinical placements in a number of department sites across Queensland. To ensure that the curriculum prepares students for the most common treatments and current techniques in use in these departments, a curriculum matching exercise was performed.\ud
\ud
Methods:\ud
A cross-sectional census was performed on a pre-determined “Snapshot” date in 2012. This was undertaken by the clinical education staff in each department who used a standardized proforma to count the number of patients as well as prescription, equipment, and technique data for a list of tumour site categories. This information was combined into aggregate anonymized data.\ud
\ud
Results:\ud
All 12 Queensland radiation therapy clinical sites participated in the Snapshot data collection exercise to produce a comprehensive overview of clinical practice on the chosen day. A total of 59 different tumour sites were treated on the chosen day and as expected the most common treatment sites were prostate and breast, comprising 46% of patients treated. Data analysis also indicated that intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) use is relatively high with 19.6% of patients receiving IMRT treatment on the chosen day. Both IMRT and image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT) indications matched recommendations from the evidence.\ud
\ud
Conclusion:\ud
The Snapshot method proved to be a feasible and efficient method of gathering usefu
The development and evaluation of a medical imaging training immersive environment

Introduction\ud
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A novel realistic 3D virtual reality (VR) application has been developed to allow medical imaging students at Queensland University of Technology to practice radiographic techniques independently outside the usual radiography laboratory.\ud
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Methods\ud
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A flexible agile development methodology was used to create the software rapidly and effectively. A 3D gaming environment and realistic models were used to engender presence in the software while tutor-determined gold standards enabled students to compare their performance and learn in a problem-based learning pedagogy.\ud
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Results\ud
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Students reported high levels of satisfaction and perceived value and the software enabled up to 40 concurrent users to prepare for clinical practice. Student feedback also indicated that they found 3D to be of limited value in the desktop version compared to the usual 2D approach. A randomised comparison between groups receiving software-based and traditional practice measured performance in a formative role play with real equipment. The results of this work indicated superior performance with the equipment for the VR trained students (P = 0.0366) and confirmed the value of VR for enhancing 3D equipment-based problem-solving skills.\ud
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Conclusions\ud
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Students practising projection techniques virtually performed better at role play assessments than students practising in a traditional radiography laboratory only. The application particularly helped with 3D equipment configuration, suggesting that teaching 3D problem solving is an ideal use of such medical equipment simulators. Ongoing development work aims to establish the role of VR software in preparing students for clinical practice with a range of medical imaging equipment
Action research in radiography: what it is and how it can be conducted

CommentaryAction research is a form of research that investigates and describes a social or work situation with the aim of achieving a change which results in improvement. This article emphasizes the potential for action research to be a useful research method in radiography. A search was conducted to determine the extent to which action research has been utilized in radiography. Although action research has been used in a number of health-care settings, there are no published examples of action research being utilized in a clinical medical imaging department. Action research is discussed in detail, along with an example guide for an action research study. Action research has been identified as a useful way to affect change, to involve radiographers in the research process, and to introduce evidence-based practice to radiography.Zachary Munn, Alan Pearson, Zoe Jordan, Frederick Murphy, Diana Pilkingto
Clinical perceptions of radiation therapy undergraduate competency standards

Introduction\ud
\ud
The multifactorial nature of clinical skills development makes assessment of undergraduate radiation therapist competence level by clinical mentors challenging. A recent overhaul of the clinical assessment strategy at Queensland University of Technology has moved away from the high-stakes Observed Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) to encompass a more continuous measure of competence. This quantitative study aimed to gather stakeholder evidence to inform development of standards by which to measure student competence for a range of levels of progression. \ud
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Methods\ud
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A simple anonymous questionnaire was distributed to all Queensland radiation therapists. The tool asked respondents to assign different levels of competency with a range of clinical tasks to different levels of student. All data were anonymous and was combined for analysis using Microsoft Excel. \ud
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Results\ud
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Feedback indicated good agreement with tasks that specified amount of direction required and this has been incorporated into the new clinical achievements record that the students need to have signed off. Additional puzzling findings suggested higher expectations with planning tasks than with treatment-based tasks. \ud
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Conclusion\ud
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The findings suggest that the amount of direction required by students is a valid indicator of their level and has been adopted into the clinical assessment scheme. Further work will build on this to further define standards of competency for undergraduates
Use of ion-energy distributions for the identification of species and production mechanisms in low-pressure DC discharges

3 pages, 2 figures.-- Printed version published Aug 2008.-- Published in section JMS Letters.Mass spectrometry finds widespread application in the analysis of ion distributions in different kinds of plasmas. In DC discharges,\ud
the ions reaching the cathode are usually collected by means of a sampling orifice and focused with a set of electrostatic lenses onto\ud
the entrance of a mass filter. Mass spectra of ions coming directly from the plasma are not affected by the fragmentation problems at the detector that plague the mass spectrometry of neutrals, but the recorded mass distributions are not entirely free from ambiguity. In particular, ions with the same mass/charge (m/q) ratio, but with different chemical composition, will contribute to the same peak. This can be a problem especially for discharges in gas mixtures that can lead to a variety of different products. Additional insight can be derived from the measurement of ion-energy distributions. These energy distributions are largely determined by the acceleration of the ions in the sheath region between the plasma and the cathode, but they may also carry specific information about ion generation mechanisms within the plasma or about collisional processes in the sheath, which can in turn be of help for the identification of different ions with the same m/q ratio.This work has been funded by the DGI (MEC) of Spain under grants ENE 2006-14577 and FIS 2007-61686.Peer reviewe
Searching for anthropogenic contaminants in human breast adipose tissues using gas chromatography-time-of-ﬂight mass spectrometry

The potential of GC-TOF MS for screening anthropogenic organic contaminants in human breast adipose tissues has been investigated. Initially a target screening was performed for a list of 125 compounds which included persistent halogen pollutants (OC pesticides, PCBs, PBDEs), PAHs, alkylphenols, and a notable number of pesticides from the different fungicide, herbicide and insecticide families. Searching for target pollutants was done by evaluating the presence of up to five representative ions for every analyte, all measured at accurate mass (20 mDa mass window). The experimental ion abundance ratios were then compared to those of reference standards for confirmation. Sample treatment consisted of an extraction with hexane and subsequent normal-phase HPLC or SPE clean-up. The fat-free LC fractions were then investigated by GC-TOF MS.
Full-spectral acquisition and accurate mass data generated by GC-TOF MS also allowed the investigation of non-target compounds using appropriate processing software to manage MS data. Identification was initially based on library fit using commercial nominal mass libraries. This was followed by comparing the experimental accurate masses of the most relevant ions with the theoretical exact masses with calculations made using the elemental composition calculator included in the software.
The application of both target and non-target approaches to around 40 real samples allowed the detection and confirmation of several target pollutants including p,p’- DDE, HCB, and some PCBs and PAHs. Several non-target compounds that could be considered anthropogenic pollutants were also detected. These included 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxy-toluene (BHT) and its metabolite 3,5-di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (BHT-CHO), dibenzylamine, n-butyl benzenesulfonamide, some naphthalene-related compounds and several PCBs isomers not
2included in the target list. As some of the compounds detected are xenoestrogens the methodology developed in this paper could be useful in human breast cancer researc
Multi-component Analysis: Blind Extraction of Pure Components Mass Spectra using Sparse Component Analysis

The paper presents sparse component analysis (SCA)-based blind decomposition of the mixtures of mass spectra into pure components, wherein the number of mixtures is less than number of pure components. Standard solutions of the related blind source separation (BSS) problem that are published in the open literature require the number of mixtures to be greater than or equal to the unknown number of pure components. Specifically, we have demonstrated experimentally the capability of the SCA to blindly extract five pure components mass spectra from two mixtures only. Two approaches to SCA are tested: the first one based on norm minimization implemented through linear programming and the second one implemented through multilayer hierarchical alternating least square nonnegative matrix factorization with sparseness constraints imposed on pure components spectra. In contrast to many existing blind decomposition methods no a priori information about the number of pure components is required. It is estimated from the mixtures using robust data clustering algorithm together with pure components concentration matrix. Proposed methodology can be implemented as a part of software packages used for the analysis of mass spectra and identification of chemical compounds
Determination of the cultivar and aging\ud
of Sicilian olive oils using HPLC-MS and linear discriminant analysis

A large number of certiﬁed samples (84) of Sicilian olive oils arising from the eight cultivars most represented in Sicily (Biancolilla,\ud
Cerasuola, Moresca, Nocellara del Belice, Nocellara Etnea, Oglialora Messinese, Brandoﬁno and Tonda Iblea) have been collected\ud
and analyzed by HPLC/MS using an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source. The sample preparation is very\ud
simple; in fact, the oil samples are diluted without any chemical derivatization. A following statistical data treatment by general\ud
discriminant analysis (GDA) allows the determination of the olive oil cultivar. Furthermore, changes in the composition of\ud
glyceridic components of the olive oils lead to easy discrimination between fresh oils and 1-year-old samples
Non-covalent interactions of alkalimetal cations with singly charged tryptic peptides

The complexes formed by alkali metal cations (Cat+ =Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+) and singly charged tryptic peptides were investigated by combining results from the low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) and ion mobility experiments with molecular dynamics and density functional theory calculations. The structure and reactivity of [M+H+Cat]2+ tryptic peptides is greatly influenced by charge repulsion as well as the ability of the peptide to solvate charge points. Charge separation between fragment ions occurs upon dissociation, i.e. b ions tend to be alkali metal cationised while y ions are protonated, suggesting the location of the cation towards the peptide N-terminus. The low-energy dissociation channels were found to be strongly dependant on the cation size. Complexes containing smaller cations (Li+ or Na+) dissociate predominantly by sequence-specific cleavages, whereas the main process for complexes containing larger cations (Rb+) is cation expulsion and formation of [M + H]+. The obtained structural data might suggest a relationship between the peptide primary structure and the nature of the cation coordination shell. Peptides with a significant number of side chain carbonyl oxygens provide good charge solvation without the need for involving peptide bond carbonyl groups and thus forming a tight globular structure. However, due to the lack of the conformational flexibilitywhich would allow effective solvation of both charges (the cation and the proton) peptides with seven or less amino acids are unable to form sufficiently abundant [M+H+Cat]2+ ion. Finally, the fact that [M+H+Cat]2+ peptides dissociate similarly as [M + H]+ (via sequence-specific cleavages, however, with the additional formation of alkali metal cationised b ions) offers a way for generating the low-energy CID spectra of ‘singly charged’ tryptic peptides
Effects of the net charge on abundance and stability of supramolecular surfactant aggregates in gas phase

Self-assembling of amphiphilic molecules under electrospray ionization (ESI) conditions is characterized by quite unexpected phenomenology. The noticeable differences with respect to the condensed phase are attributable to the absence of the surfactant-solvent interactions, the presence of net charge in the aggregates, and the strong deviation from equilibrium conditions. Aiming to investigate the effects of the net charge on abundance and stability of supramolecular surfactant aggregates, positively and negatively charged aggregates of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate (AOT) and sodium methane sulfonate (MetS), butane sulfonate (ButS) and octane sulfonate (OctS) have been studied by ESI mass spectrometry, energy resolved mass spectrometry and density functional theory calculations. The negatively charged aggregates are found to be less stable than their positive counterparts. The results are consistent with a self-assembling pattern dominated by electrostatic interactions involving the counterions and head groups of the investigated amphiphilic compounds while the alkyl chains point outwards, protecting the aggregates from unlimited growth processes
Proton transfer reactions for improved peptide characterisation

The combination of deprotonation (via ion/molecule and ion/ion reactions) and low-energy collision-induced dissociation (CID) has been explored for the enhanced characterisation of tryptic peptides via access to different precursor charge states. This approach allows instant access to fragmentation properties of singly and doubly protonated precursors (arising from the availability of mobile protons) in a single experiment. Considering both charge states extended our base of structurally informative data (in comparison with considering just a single charge state) due to generation of additional sequence ions and by obtaining supplementary structural information derived from selective cleavages. Roughly 37% of combined data sets (CID spectra of doubly and singly charged precursor) showed a greater database identification confidence than each set alone. Moreover, comparison between a number of sequence ions of the singly charged precursor and the doubly charged precursor provided a mean of distinguishing the two classes of tryptic peptides (arginine or lysine containing)
Fragmentation pathways of drugs of abuse and their metabolites based on QTOF MS/MS and MSE accurate-mass spectra

A study of the fragmentation pathways of several classes of drugs of abuse (cannabinoids, ketamine, amphetamine and amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), cocaine and opiates) and their related substances has been made. The knowledge of the fragmentation is highly useful for specific fragment selection or for recognition of related compounds when developing MS-based analytical methods for the trace-level determination of these compounds in complex matrices. In this work, accurate-mass spectra of selected compounds were obtained using liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, performing both MS/MS and MSE experiments. As regards fragmentation behavior, the mass spectra of both approaches were quite similar and were useful to study the fragmentation of the drugs investigated. Accurate-mass spectra of 37 drugs of abuse and related compounds, including metabolites and deuterated analogues, were studied in this work, and structures of fragment ions were proposed. The accurate-mass data obtained allowed to confirm structures and fragmentation pathways previously proposed based on nominal mass measurements, although new insights and structure proposals were achieved in some particular cases, especially for amphetamine and ATS, 11-nor-9-carboxy-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH) and opiates.This work has been developed under financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (project reference: CTQ2009-12347) and the Generalitat Valenciana, as research group of excellence PROMETEO/2009/05
Modelling of the gas-phase phosphate group loss and rearrangement in phosphorylated peptides

The gas-phase dissociation of phosphorylated peptides was modelled using a combination of quantum mechanics and the Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel–Marcus theory. Potential energy surfaces and unimolecular reaction rates for several low-energy fragmentation and rearrangement pathways were estimated, and a general mechanism was proposed. The neutral loss of the phosphoric acid was mainly an outcome of the intramolecular nucleophilic substitution mechanism. The mechanism involves a nucleophilic attack of the phosphorylated amino acid N-terminal carbonyl oxygen on b-carbon, yielding a cyclic five-membered oxazoline product ion. Regardless of the proton mobility, the pathway was charge directed either by a mobile proton or by a positively charged side chain of some basic residue. Although the mechanistic aspects of the phosphate loss are not influenced by the proton mobility environment, it does affect ion abundances. Results suggest that under the mobile proton environment, the interplay between phosphoric acid neutral loss product ion and backbone cleavage fragments should occur. On the other hand, when proton mobility is limited, neutral loss product ion may predominate. The fragmentation dynamics of phosphoserine versus phosphothreonine containing peptides suggests that H3PO4 neutral loss from phosphothreonine containing peptides is less abundant than that from their phosphoserine containing analogs. During the low-energy CID of phosphorylated peptides in the millisecond time range, typical for ion trap instruments, a phosphate group rearrangement may happen, resulting in an interchange between the phosphorylated and the hydroxylated residues. Unimolecular dissociation rate constants imply the low abundance of such scrambled product ions
LC-DAD/ESI-MS/MS study of phenolic compounds in ash (Fraxinus excelsior L. and F. americana L.) heartwood. Effect of toasting intensity at cooperage

The phenolic composition of heartwood extracts from Fraxinus excelsior L. and F. americana L., both before and after toasting in cooperage, was studied using LC-DAD/ESI-MS/MS. Low-molecular weight (LMW) phenolic compounds, secoiridoids, phenylethanoid glycosides, dilignols and oligolignols compounds were detected, and 48 were identified, or tentatively characterized, on the basis of their retention time, UV/Vis and MS spectra, and MS fragmentation patterns. Some LMW phenolic compounds like protocatechuic acid and aldehyde, hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol, were unlike to those for oak wood, while ellagic and gallic acid were not found. The toasting of wood resulted in a progressive increase in lignin degradation products with regard to toasting intensity. The levels of some of these compounds in medium-toasted ash woods were much higher than those normally detected in toasted oak, highlighting vanillin levels, thus a more pronounced vanilla character can be expected when using toasted ash wood in the aging wines. Moreover, in seasoned wood, we found a great variety of phenolic compounds which had not been found in oak wood, especially oleuropein, ligstroside and olivil, along with verbascoside and isoverbascoside in F. excelsior, and oleoside in F. americana. Toasting mainly provoked their degradation, thus in medium-toasted wood, only four of them were detected. This resulted in a minor differentiation between toasted ash and oak woods. The absence of tannins in ash wood, which are very important in oak wood, is another peculiar characteristic that should be taken into account when considering its use in cooperage. Copyright (C) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovacionMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovacion [INIA-FEDER RTA2009-0046]Spanish GovernmentSpanish GovernmentToneler a Intona, SLToneler a Intona, SLNavarra GovernmentNavarra Governmen