Visual and auditory emotion recognition problems as familial cross-disorder phenomenon in ASD and ADHD

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are frequently comorbid disorders. Emotion recognition problems are considered an important familial deficit in ASD, but this is unknown in ADHD. Very few studies have directly compared emotion recognition performance of youth with ASD and/or ADHD and of their unaffected siblings across age to quantify the contribution of emotion recognition problems to the ADHD phenotype. We therefore devised a study of 64 ASD+ADHD participants, 89 ASD-only participants, 111 ADHD-only participants, 122 unaffected ASD(+ADHD) siblings, 69 unaffected ADHD-only siblings and 220 controls aged 7–18 years, who had completed two tasks assessing auditory and visual emotion recognition. Factor analysis was used to detect underlying dimensions of emotion recognition capacity. Linear mixed models were used to compare performance across groups and to assess age effects. The factor-analysis revealed four factors separating speed and accuracy regarding visual and auditory emotion recognition. ASD+ADHD, ASD-only, and ADHD-only participants all performed worse than controls. ASD+ADHD, ASD-only, and ADHD-only participants did not differ in the severity of their emotion recognition problems. Both unaffected sibling groups performed intermediate between patients and controls. For ASD+ADHD and ADHD-only participants, group differences were more marked in adolescence than childhood, whereas in ASD participants this was not observed. We conclude that emotion recognition problems are a familial deficit in ADHD to a similar extent as in ASD. Emotion recognition problems specifically - and social cognition problems more generally - should be assessed in clinical practice for ADHD.     

Student learning outcomes,perceptions and beliefs in the context of strengthening research integration into the first year of medical school

Research integrated into undergraduate education is important in order for medical students to understand and value research for later clinical practice. Therefore, attempts are being made to strengthen the integration of research into teaching from the first year onwards. First-year students may interpret attempts made to strengthen research integration differently than intended by teachers. This might be explained by student beliefs about learning and research as well as student perceptions of the learning environment. In general, student perceptions of the learning environment play a pivotal role in fostering student learning outcomes. This study aims to determine whether a curriculum change intended to promote research integration fosters student learning outcomes and student perceptions of research integrated into teaching. To serve this purpose, three subsequent cohorts of first-year students were compared, one before and two after a curriculum change. Learning outcomes of these students were measured using scores on a national progress test of 921 students and assessments of a sample of 100 research reports of a first-year student research project. 746 Students filled out the Student Perceptions of Research Integration Questionnaire. The findings suggest that learning outcomes of these students, that is, scores on research related test items of the progress test and the quality of research reports, were better than those of students before the curriculum change.     

Operations research in intensive care unit management: a literature review

The intensive care unit (ICU) is a crucial and expensive resource largely affected by uncertainty and variability. Insufficient ICU capacity causes many negative effects not only in the ICU itself, but also in other connected departments along the patient care path. Operations research/management science (OR/MS) plays an important role in identifying ways to manage ICU capacities efficiently and in ensuring desired levels of service quality. As a consequence, numerous papers on the topic exist. The goal of this paper is to provide the first structured literature review on how OR/MS may support ICU management. We start our review by illustrating the important role the ICU plays in the hospital patient flow. Then we focus on the ICU management problem (single department management problem) and classify the literature from multiple angles, including decision horizons, problem settings, and modeling and solution techniques. Based on the classification logic, research gaps and opportunities are highlighted, e.g., combining bed capacity planning and personnel scheduling, modeling uncertainty with non-homogenous distribution functions, and exploring more efficient solution approaches.     

Hearing Loss: Why Does It Matter for Nursing Homes?

Over the past decade, hearing loss has emerged as a key issue for aging and health. We describe why hearing loss may be especially disabling in nursing home settings and provide an estimate of prevalence using the Minimum Data Set (MDS v.3.0). We outline steps to mitigate hearing loss. Many solutions are inexpensive and low-tech, but require significant awareness and institutional commitment.     

Socioeconomic Status and Glycemic Index Among Punjabis in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia: Possible Association with Metabolic Syndrome

There are only limited reports on Punjabi’s health status in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study assessed the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (Mets) and its risk factors among 277 subjects recruited from the Malaysian Punjabi community. Overall prevalence of Mets was 43%, but 61% among females. Subjects classified with Mets had significantly (p?<?0.05) higher body mass index, visceral fat and percentage of body fat. Daily carbohydrate and glycemic index (GI) were also higher among Mets subjects (p?<?0.05). Logistics regression analysis showed that primary level of education (OR 5.57, CI 1.29–23.97, p?=?0.021) was a factor associated with Mets, followed by middle household income (OR 2.30, CI 1.01–5.20, p?=?0.046), GI (OR 1.03, CI 1.00–1.06, p?=?0.026), and age (OR 1.03, CI 1.00–1.05, p?=?0.023). Mets shows high prevalence among the studied Punjabi population, prompting the consideration of adequate preventive measures, primarily among lower socioeconomic groups.     

Recent advances in bacteriophage-based methods for bacteria detection

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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.