Farmers' Market Manager's Level of Communication and Influence on Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) Adoption at Midwest Farmers' Markets

Objective

To understand market managers' level of communication and use of technology that might influence decision to adopt Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) at farmers' markets.

Differential item functioning by language on the PROMIS® physical functioning items for children and adolescents

Purpose

To assess the equivalence of self-reports of physical functioning between pediatric respondents to the English- and Spanish-language patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS^®) physical functioning item banks.

Methods

The PROMIS pediatric physical functioning item banks include 29 upper extremity items and 23 mobility items. A sample of 5091 children and adolescents (mean age = 12 years, range 8–17; 49% male) completed the English-language version of the items. A sample of 605 children and adolescents (mean age = 12 years, range 8–17; 55% male; 96% Hispanic) completed the Spanish-language version of the items.

Results

We found language (English versus Spanish) differential item functioning (DIF) for 4 upper extremity items and 7 mobility items. Product-moment correlations between estimated upper extremity and mobility scores using the English versus the equated Spanish item parameters for Spanish-language respondents were 0.98 and 0.99, respectively. After excluding cases with significant person misfit, we found DIF for the same 4 upper extremity items that had DIF in the full sample and for 12 mobility items (including the same 7 mobility items that had DIF in the full sample). The identification of DIF items between English- and Spanish-language respondents was affected slightly by excluding respondents displaying person misfit.

Conclusions

The results of this study provide support for measurement equivalence of self-reports of physical functioning by children and adolescents who completed the English- and Spanish-language surveys. Future analyses are needed to replicate the results of this study in other samples.

     

Stakes in the eye of the beholder: an international study of learners’ perceptions within programmatic assessment

Objectives

Within programmatic assessment, the ambition is to simultaneously optimise the feedback and the decision‐making function of assessment. In this approach, individual assessments are intended to be low stakes. In practice, however, learners often perceive assessments designed to be low stakes as high stakes. In this study, we explored how learners perceive assessment stakes within programmatic assessment and which factors influence these perceptions.

Methods

Twenty‐six learners were interviewed from three different countries and five different programmes, ranging from undergraduate to postgraduate medical education. The interviews explored learners’ experience with and perception of assessment stakes. An open and qualitative approach to data gathering and analyses inspired by the constructivist grounded theory approach was used to analyse the data and reveal underlying mechanisms influencing learners’ perceptions.

Results

Learners’ sense of control emerged from the analysis as key for understanding learners’ perception of assessment stakes. Several design factors of the assessment programme provided or hindered learners’ opportunities to exercise control over the assessment experience, mainly the opportunities to influence assessment outcomes, to collect evidence and to improve. Teacher–learner relationships that were characterised by learners’ autonomy and in which learners feel safe were important for learners’ believed ability to exercise control and to use assessment to support their learning.

Conclusions

Knowledge of the factors that influence the perception of assessment stakes can help design effective assessment programmes in which assessment supports learning. Learners’ opportunities for agency, a supportive programme structure and the role of the teacher are particularly powerful mechanisms to stimulate the learning value of programmatic assessment.     

Proteomic analysis of alternative protein tyrosine phosphorylation in 1,2-dichlorovinyl-cysteine-induced cytotoxicity in primary cultured rat renal proximal tubular cells

Toxicant exposure affects the activity of various protein tyrosine kinases. Using phosphotyrosine proteomics, we identified proteins that were differentially phosphorylated before renal cell detachment and apoptosis. Treatment of primary cultured rat proximal tubular epithelial cells with the model nephrotoxicant S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-L-cysteine (DCVC) resulted in early reorganization of F-actin stress fibers and formation of lamellipodia, which was followed by cell detachment from the matrix and apoptosis. This was prevented by genistein-mediated inhibition of protein tyrosine kinases and enhanced by inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatases using vanadate. Phosphotyrosine proteomics revealed that DCVC-induced renal cell apoptosis was preceded by changes in the tyrosine phosphorylation status of a subset of proteins, as identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization/time of flight-mass spectrometry (MS)/MS including actin-related protein 2 (Arp2), cytokeratin 8, t-complex protein 1 (TCP-1), chaperone containing TCP-1, and gelsolin precursor. The major differentially tyrosine-phosphorylated protein was Arp2, whereas phosphorylation of Arp3 was not affected. Arp2 was located in the lamellipodia that were formed before the onset of apoptosis. Because DCVC-induced cell detachment and apoptosis is regulated by tyrosine kinases, we propose that alterations in tyrosine phosphorylation of a subset of proteins, including Arp2, play a role in the regulation of the F-actin reorganization and lamellipodia formation that precede renal cell apoptosis caused by nephrotoxicants.     

Co-occurring addictive behaviors: an analysis of risk profiles among university students

Objectives: The first goal of this study was to empirically identify, among university students, groups with varying levels of risk based on indicators of gambling and substance use. The second goal was to compare the identified groups on various demographic characteristics.

Methods: The study comprised of 2139 full-time undergraduate students, representative of university students in Montreal, Canada. A 3-step latent class logistic regression analysis was performed to identify groups and compare them on demographic characteristics.

Results: The statistical fit indices of the latent class analysis revealed a four-class solution. Class 1 (30.1% of the sample) included non-gamblers with low probabilities of substance use. Class 2 (11.2% of the sample) grouped non-gamblers with high-risk patterns of consumption. Class 3 (36.42% of the sample) included gamblers who are low-risk substance users, and individuals in Class 4 (22.25% of the sample) reported risky patterns of gambling and substance-using behaviors. Results of the logistic regression suggested that gender, being born in Canada, and working full- or part-time are significant predictors of class membership. Participants in both groups labeled at-risk (with and without gambling) were also more likely to report psychological distress and to live outside the family environment.

Conclusions: This study raises important questions regarding the choice of preventive models and feeds into the long-standing debate around universal versus high-risk approaches.     

Disinfection of contaminated metal implants with an Er:YAG laser

Infections related to orthopedic procedures are considered particularly severe when implantation materials are used, because effective treatments for biofilm removal are lacking. In this study, the relatively new approach for infection control by using an erbium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Er:YAG) laser was tested. This laser vaporizes all water containing cells in a very effective, precise, and predictable manner and results in only minimal thermal damage. For preliminary testing, 42 steel plates and 42 pins were seeded with mixed cultures. First, the minimally necessary laser energy for biofilm removal was determined. Subsequently, the effectiveness of biofilm removal with the Er:YAG laser and the cleansing of the metal implants with octenidine-soaked gauze was compared. Then, we compared the effectiveness of biofilm removal on 207 steel pins from 41 patients directly after explantation. Sonication and scanning electron microscopy were used for analysis. Laser fluences exceeding 2.8 J/cm² caused a complete extinction of all living cells by a single-laser impulse. Cleansing with octenidine-soaked gauze and irradiation with the Er:YAG laser are both thoroughly effective when applied to seeded pins. In contrast, when explanted pins with fully developed biofilms were analyzed, we found a significant advantage of the laser procedure. The Er:YAG laser offers a secure, complete, and nontoxic eradication of all kinds of pathogens from metal implants without damaging the implant and without the possible development of resistance. The precise noncontact removal of adjacent tissue is a decisive advantage over conventional disinfectants. Therefore, laser irradiation could become a valuable method in every debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention procedure.