Analysis of Related Factors of Coping Styles in Infertile Patients in Central China

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the psychosocial factors, including personality characteristics, coping style, social support and alexithymia of infertile patients, and explore the relevant factors regarding the medical coping style choice of infertile patients in central China.

METHODS

Sixty infertile patients in the reproductive medicine centre in our hospital were investigated using a self-made general situation questionnaire; internal control, powerful others and opportunities scale; social support rating scale; and medical coping questionnaire, and the data was analysed.

RESULTS

Of the 60 infertile patients, 57 (95%) were female, with an average age of 27.85 ± 14.52 years old, and 42 (70%) had secondary infertility. The score of the face dimension was lower than the norm (19.17 ± 2.18 vs 19.43 ± 3.82, P = 0.012), and those of the avoidance (15.98 ± 2.43 vs 14.41 ± 2. 94, P = 0.030) and yield (9.48 ± 3.19 vs 8.83 ± 3.19, P = 0.012) dimensions were higher than the norm. The multiple linear regression analysis showed that internal control and the utilisation of support were influencing factors for the coping style (R² = 0.271, adjusted R² = 0.144, F = 9.827, P < 0.001), and internal control was the influencing factor for the avoidance coping style (R² = 0.024, adjusted R² = 0.021, F = 3.363, P = 0.014). The education level, opportunity and utilisation of support factors influenced the yield dimension (R² = 0.087, adjusted R² = 0.076, F = 7.749, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Considering the association between the coping styles and psychosocial factors, it was recommended to formulate targeted intervention strategies based on these influencing factors to guide patients to adopt positive coping styles and achieve good outcomes.

Eye Tracking in Driver Attention Research-How Gaze Data Interpretations Influence What We Learn

Eye tracking (ET) has been used extensively in driver attention research. Amongst other findings, ET data have increased our knowledge about what drivers look at in different traffic environments and how they distribute their glances when interacting with non-driving related tasks. Eye tracking is also the go-to method when determining driver distraction via glance target classification. At the same time, eye trackers are limited in the sense that they can only objectively measure the gaze direction. To learn more about why drivers look where they do, what information they acquire foveally and peripherally, how the road environment and traffic situation affect their behavior, and how their own expertise influences their actions, it is necessary to go beyond counting the targets that the driver foveates. In this perspective paper, we suggest a glance analysis approach that classifies glances based on their purpose. The main idea is to consider not only the intention behind each glance, but to also account for what is relevant in the surrounding scene, regardless of whether the driver has looked there or not. In essence, the old approaches, unaware as they are of the larger context or motivation behind eye movements, have taken us as far as they can. We propose this more integrative approach to gain a better understanding of the complexity of drivers' informational needs and how they satisfy them in the moment.

Defining Anastomotic Leak and the Clinical Relevance of Leaks

Surgeons universally dread gastrointestinal anastomotic leaks, yet the precise definition is not widely agreed on despite international consensus guidelines. Likewise, leaks are not uniformly reported which makes comparisons across studies flawed. Leak rates range from 1 to 3% for ileocolonic, 0.5 to 18% for colorectal, and 5 to 19% for coloanal anastomoses. The sequelae of an anastomotic leak vary but generally correlate with the need for a change in clinical management, from minimal changes to the need for reoperation. Short- and long-term outcomes can be life-altering or life-threatening. Temporary or permanent stomas may be necessary and low pelvic anastomotic leaks may affect bowel function. For cancer patients, leaks can delay treatment and negatively affect oncologic outcomes. In Crohn's patients, leaks are associated with higher recurrence rates. In essence, the lack of agreement on the definition of an anastomotic leak inhibits meaningful understand of its epidemiology, prevention, and treatment.

Effect of Metabolic Syndrome on the Incidence of Dementia Based on National Insurance Data in Korea

Background: To evaluate the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the incidence of dementia using big data from national health claims and health examinations. Methods: This study involved 3,619,388 subjects categorized with MetS of three status based on the results of health examinations conducted in 2009. This was a longitudinal study of the incidence of dementia based on the national health claims from the date of health examinations in 2009 until December 31, 2018. This study was conducted for men and women aged 50 to 69 years living in Korea. A Cox proportional hazard regression was performed to analyze the risk of dementia according to the status of MetS. Results: The cumulative incidence of Alzheimer dementia was 0.41% in the non-Mets group, 0.54% in the pre-MetS group, and 0.67% in the MetS group. The cumulative incidence of vascular dementia was 0.19% in the non-Mets group, 0.27% in the pre-MetS group, and 0.34% in the MetS group. The risk of Alzheimer dementia in the pre-MetS group compared to the non-Mets group was 1.20-fold greater (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.14-1.26) and was 1.39-fold (95% CI: 1.31-1.48) greater in the MetS group. The risk of vascular dementia in the pre-MetS group compared to the non-Mets group was 1.30-fold greater (95% CI: 1.21-1.40) and the risk of vascular dementia was 1.53-fold (95% CI: 1.44 1.71) greater. Conclusions: This study showed that pre-MetS and MetS were related to an increased incidence of Alzheimer dementia and vascular dementia. Also, these results support efforts to decrease the incidence of Alzheimer dementia and vascular dementia through managing the Mets.

Improved Treatment of the Independent Variables for the Deployment of Model Selection Criteria in the Analysis of Complex Systems

Model selection criteria are widely used to identify the model that best represents the data among a set of potential candidates. Amidst the different model selection criteria, the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and the Akaike information criterion (AIC) are the most popular and better understood. In the derivation of these indicators, it was assumed that the model’s dependent variables have already been properly identified and that the entries are not affected by significant uncertainties. These are issues that can become quite serious when investigating complex systems, especially when variables are highly correlated and the measurement uncertainties associated with them are not negligible. More sophisticated versions of this criteria, capable of better detecting spurious relations between variables when non-negligible noise is present, are proposed in this paper. Their derivation is obtained starting from a Bayesian statistics framework and adding an a priori Chi-squared probability distribution function of the model, dependent on a specifically defined information theoretic quantity that takes into account the redundancy between the dependent variables. The performances of the proposed versions of these criteria are assessed through a series of systematic simulations, using synthetic data for various classes of functions and noise levels. The results show that the upgraded formulation of the criteria clearly outperforms the traditional ones in most of the cases reported.

Insular Cortex Mediates Attentional Capture by Behaviorally Relevant Stimuli after Damage to the Right Temporoparietal Junction

The right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) and insula both play a key role for the processing of relevant stimuli. However, while both have been conceived as neural "switches" that detect salient events and redirect the focus of attention, it remains unclear how these brain regions interact to achieve this behavioral goal. Here, we tested human participants with focal left-hemispheric or right-hemispheric lesions in a spatial cuing task that requires participants to react to lateralized stimuli preceded by a distracter that shares or does not share a relevant feature with the target. Using machine learning to identify significant lesion-behavior relationships, we found that rTPJ damage produces distinctive, pathologically increased attentional capture, but only by relevant distracters. Functional connectivity analyses revealed that the degree of capture is positively associated with a functional connection between insula and rTPJ, together with functional isolation of the rTPJ from right dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC). These findings suggest a mechanistic model where the insula-rTPJ connection constitutes a crucial functional unit that breaks attentional focus upon detection of behaviorally relevant events, while the dPFC appears to attune this activity.

Exploring the Relationship Between Professional Identity and Psychological Resilience of Organ Donation Coordinators in Zhejiang Province (China)

Background: An organ donation coordinator plays an important role in the process of organ donation and transplant. Therefore, investigating and analyzing the current situation in organ donation and examining the correlation between professional identity and psychological resilience of human organ donation coordinator, provides a reference for promoting stable development of organ donation. Methods: A total of 48 coordinators of organ donation in Zhejiang Province were recruited for the study by using the method of convenience sampling. The psychological resilience scale and professional identity questionnaire were used to collect data. Results: The results revealed that the total average score of the professional identity of organ donation coordinators was 34.92 ± 8.57. Compared with the median professional identity score of 34.50, the professional identity of the coordinator in this survey was at a moderate level. The total average score of psychological resilience was 64.44 ± 11.91. There was a significant positive correlation between the professional identity of the coordinator and the total score of psychological resilience (r = 0.641, P < 0.01). Conclusion: The professional identity and psychological resilience of the coordinators in Zhejiang Province were found to be in the middle level and the higher the psychological resilience score, the stronger the professional identity of the coordinators. It is important to improve the level of psychological resilience among organ donation coordinators to enhance their professional identity.

Liquid Biopsy in Gliomas- A Review

Background

Are we witnessing the end of the biopsy as we know it? Is this the start of a revolution in cancer diagnostics and treatment where analysis of somatic mutations present in the blood, CSF, or urine followed by targeted therapy replaces the traditional surgery followed by chemo-radiation? Since 2016, molecular markers are an integral part of the 'glioma' treatment decision-making process- diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic. A lot of these somatic mutations that identify and prognosticate tumors are also detected in the adjoining bio-fluids in serum or CSF- the sampling of which is known as liquid biopsy.

Objective

The objective of this study is to review the advancement of scientific techniques that now allows the investigation of these bio-fluids, to diagnose, prognosticate and treat gliomas.

Material and Methods

This review article is an exhaustive review of the literature that summarises the role of the three main liquid biopsy modalities- Circulating Tumor Cells, Cell-free Tumor DNA and Exosomes in the detection of known diagnostic and prognostic markers in gliomas.

Results

The current review highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the diffrerent modalities in use, and their potential use in the clinical setting.

Conclusion

Liquid biopsies hold tremendous potential in the diagnosis and management of gliomas in the future.

Correlation analysis between rim enhancement features of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and lymph node metastasis in breast cancer

OBJECTIVE

To explore the correlation between rim enhancement features of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and lymphatic metastasis, and to provide theoretical support for clinical treatment of breast cancer.

METHODS

387 breast cancer patients (748 axillary lymph nodes in total) treated in our hospital from January 2017 to January 2020 were selected and analyzed by contrast-enhanced ultrasound. Pathological examination showed that 540 axillary lymph nodes showed metastasis whereas 208 axillary lymph nodes did not show metastasis. Univariate analysis and Logistic stepwise regression were used to analyze the correlation between rim enhancement features of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and axillary lymph node metastasis of breast cancer.

RESULTS

Peripheral halo, peripheral convergence, rim enhancement, enhancement mode, enhancement amplitude, enhancement sequence, expansion after enhancement, peak intensity, time to peak, area under curve, thrombolysis in myocardial infarction, perfusion sequence, aspect ratio, and maximum cortical thickness were all related to lymph node metastasis of breast cancer by univariate analysis, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that enhancement mode, enhancement amplitude, extension after enhancement, maximum cortical thickness, peak intensity and time to peak were all related to lymph node metastasis of breast cancer.

CONCLUSION

Rim enhancement features of contrast-enhanced ultrasound of breast cancer are related to lymph node metastasis, which will provide a guidance for clinical treatment of breast cancer.

NCCN resource-stratified and harmonized guidelines: A paradigm for optimizing global cancer care

Clinical practice guidelines in oncology lead to improved outcomes in care. However, the most frequently used guidelines are developed for highly resourced systems. Recognizing the significant and increasing burden of cancer in low- and middle-income countries, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has developed resource-stratified framework and harmonization processes that allow the NCCN Guidelines to be tailored and optimized for specific geographical areas, resource levels, and settings. The critical need for local expertise and involvement in successful development and uptake is emphasized, and the promise of this collaboration for advancement in oncology programs is illustrated.

Medical Students' Attitude and Perception Towards Basic Medical Science Subjects at Wollo University, Northeast Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION

The knowledge of basic medical science could help to remember a fact and be used to understand causal mechanisms of disease process that improve the accuracy of diagnostic formulations.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the perception and attitude of medical students towards basic medical science subjects along with retention rate and clinical relevance in Wollo University.

METHODS

Institutional-based cross-sectional study design was employed in Wollo University from September, 2020 to October, 2020. A pre-tested and structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. All opinions were rated using a positive-point Likert scale, which ranges from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." The data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.

RESULTS

A total of 153 students participated with a 100% response rate. Among them, 45 (29.4%), 38 (24.8%), 39 (25.5%), and 31 (20.3%) were PC-II, C-I, C-II, and Intern students, respectively. Ninety-six (62.7%) of medical students were very much interested in basic medical science subjects. But, 113 (73.9%) of them did not have plans to join the subjects as a future career. The main reasons in more than half 85 (55.7%) of the respondents were less financial growth followed by less chance of promotion 31 (20.3%). There were 66.7% of the students who considered anatomy as clinically relevant, whereas 53.6% and 47.1% considered physiology and biochemistry, respectively, to be clinically relevant. The number of students who could recall anatomy and physiology during relevant clinical discussions was 102 (66.7%) and 85 (55.6%), respectively. This percentage was relatively less for biochemistry (26.8%).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, medical students have a positive attitude towards basic medical science subjects. However, they are hesitant to join the field because it offers them less financial growth and few chances of promotion. Moreover, anatomy and physiology were highly relevant subjects during clinical practice. But, the retention rate of basic medical science knowledge during their clinical year was low.

So Useful as a Good Theory? The Practicality Crisis in (Social) Psychological Theory

Practicality was a valued attribute of academic psychological theory during its initial decades, but usefulness has since faded in importance to the field. Theories are now evaluated mainly on their ability to account for decontextualized laboratory data and not their ability to help solve societal problems. With laudable exceptions in the clinical, intergroup, and health domains, most psychological theories have little relevance to people's everyday lives, poor accessibility to policymakers, or even applicability to the work of other academics who are better positioned to translate the theories to the practical realm. We refer to the lack of relevance, accessibility, and applicability of psychological theory to the rest of society as the practicality crisis. The practicality crisis harms the field in its ability to attract the next generation of scholars and maintain viability at the national level. We describe practical theory and illustrate its use in the field of self-regulation. Psychological theory is historically and scientifically well positioned to become useful should scholars in the field decide to value practicality. We offer a set of incentives to encourage the return of social psychology to the Lewinian vision of a useful science that speaks to pressing social issues.

Finding relevance in the news: The scale of self-reference

According to both professional journalists and news users, news should be relevant. While a great deal of research that treats relevance as co-constructed starts from the text of news stories, this paper asks how news users explicitly construct the (ir)relevance of particular news reports, taking a language-centered lens to open-ended survey responses. This paper makes a methodological argument in favor of a language-centered approach to open-ended survey data. Given the ubiquity of online surveys in many social science disciplines, the present paper provides an example of how this approach can deepen our understanding of survey responses. We find that news users construct relevance at varying scales, using a number of linguistic strategies of self-reference. Those who said they found the story they saw relevant used pronouns with a different distribution than those who did not, and these differences exceeded chance. In general, those who referred to themselves as members of larger collectivities were more likely to say they found a news story relevant, suggesting that relevance is discursively constructed in part through practices of self-reference.

Filtering Statistics on Networks

Compression, filtering, and cryptography, as well as the sampling of complex systems, can be seen as processing information. A large initial configuration or input space is nontrivially mapped to a smaller set of output or final states. We explored the statistics of filtering of simple patterns on a number of deterministic and random graphs as a tractable example of such information processing in complex systems. In this problem, multiple inputs map to the same output, and the statistics of filtering is represented by the distribution of this degeneracy. For a few simple filter patterns on a ring, we obtained an exact solution of the problem and numerically described more difficult filter setups. For each of the filter patterns and networks, we found three key numbers that essentially describe the statistics of filtering and compared them for different networks. Our results for networks with diverse architectures are essentially determined by two factors: whether the graphs structure is deterministic or random and the vertex degree. We find that filtering in random graphs produces much richer statistics than in deterministic graphs, reflecting the greater complexity of such graphs. Increasing the graph's degree reduces this statistical richness, while being at its maximum at the smallest degree not equal to two. A filter pattern with a strong dependence on the neighbourhood of a node is much more sensitive to these effects.

The Influence of Entrepreneurs' Psychological Capital on Their Deviant Innovation Behavior

This study explores the influence of psychological capital on the deviant innovation behavior, with the purpose of realizing the application and development of positive psychology in the field of innovation and creation. First, the data was obtained based on the questionnaire, and the Likert scale was adopted to measure the variables effectively, in which 1 point means “never,” 2 points mean “rarely,” and 5 points mean “always.” Second, the SPSS 26.0 statistical analysis software was adopted, and a statistical analysis was made on the correlation among deviant innovation, psychological capital, work values, and work remodeling. Third, the relationship between psychological capital and deviant innovation behavior was explored using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The results showed that the reliability of each scale is good, Cronbach’s α coefficients are all higher than 0.8, and the fitting effect of the four-factor model is the best, proving that the highest differentiation validity can be achieved using the proposed method. Furthermore, there are significant correlations among entrepreneur’s psychological capital, entrepreneur’s work values, and entrepreneurship work remodeling and deviant innovation behavior, among which the psychological capital and work values are the most correlated with deviant innovation. With the psychological capital of entrepreneurs as the adjustment variable and the interaction added, the explanation rate of the level equation is increased from 17 to 24.2%. Therefore, the psychological capital of entrepreneurs plays a very big role in regulating work values and deviant innovation behavior. In the current environment of innovation and entrepreneurship development, it is necessary for entrepreneurs to give full reign to the regulatory role of their own psychological capital, so as to promote the development of self-active deviant innovation activities and encourage employees to actively innovate and create.

Assessment of anxiety and depression in patients with incidental pulmonary nodules and analysis of its related impact factors

Objectives

To assess anxiety and depression in patients with incidental pulmonary nodules and analyze the related impact factors.

Methods

All patients were assessed by questionnaires for their anxiety and depression after incidentally found pulmonary nodules. Hospital anxiety and depression scale (HAD), generalized anxiety disorder scale‐7 (GAD‐7), and multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) were used to evaluate their anxiety and depression in order to understand the basic information and social support, and to analyze the related factors.

Results

The HAD scale was used in 201 patients with pulmonary nodules. Univariate analysis showed the frequency of visits and social support had significant effects on anxiety (χ² = 9.604, 20.912, P < 0.05). Regression analysis showed that social support (OR = 4.042, 95% CI: 2.1617.558, P < 0.05) was an independent influencing factor of anxiety. Univariate analysis showed that marital status, exposure history and social support had significant effects on depression (χ² = 10.626, 6.005, 3.984, P < 0.05). Regression analysis showed that marital status (OR = 0.375, 95% CI: 0.186–0.754, P < 0.05) and social support (OR = 2.206, 95% CI: 1.016–4.789, P < 0.05) were independent influencing factors of depression. The results of GAD‐7 showed the incidence of anxiety in patients with pulmonary nodules was 59.3% (108/182). Univariate analysis showed that anxiety was correlated with a history of chronic disease, psychological disease and social support (χ² = 9.949, 8.356, 11.872, P < 0.05). Further regression analysis showed that a previous history of psychological disease (OR = 5.088, 95% CI: 1.804–14.339) and social support (OR = 2.768, 95% CI: 1.505–5.094), were independent influencing factors of anxiety.

Conclusions

The results of the study concluded that anxiety was affected by social support and previous psychological factors, while depression was affected by marital status and social support. Doctors should therefore strengthen communication with patients, and alleviate the negative emotions of patients as far as possible.

Improving the validity, relevance and feasibility of the continuum of care framework for maternal health in South Africa: a thematic analysis of experts' perspectives

BACKGROUND

The continuum of care is a key strategy for ensuring comprehensive service delivery for maternal health, while acknowledging the role of the social determinants of health. However, there is little research on the operationalisation of the framework by decision-makers and implementers to address maternal health challenges. The framework should be measurable and feasible for implementation in low- and middle-income country contexts. In this study, we explore experts' perspective on monitoring indicators for continuum of care and key issues related to their use in the South African context.

METHODS

We conducted key informant interviews with a range of experts in decision-making and programme implementation roles in the health system and relevant sectors. Key informants provided their perspectives on systematically selected, nationally representative monitoring indicators in terms of validity, relevance and feasibility. We interviewed 13 key informants and conducted a thematic analysis of their responses using multi-stage coding techniques in Atlas.ti 8.4.

RESULTS

Experts believed that the continuum of care framework and monitoring indicators offer a multisectoral perspective for maternal health intervention missing in current programmes. To improve validity of monitoring indicators, experts suggested reflection on the use of proxy indicators and improvement of data to allow for equity analysis. In terms of relevance and feasibility, experts believe there was potential to foster co-accountability using continuum of care indicators. However, as experts stated, new indicators should be integrated that directly measure intersectoral collaboration for maternal health. In addition, experts recommended that the framework and indicators should evolve over time to reflect evolving policy priorities and public health challenges.

CONCLUSION

Experts, as decision-makers and implementers, helped identify key issues in the application of the continuum of care framework and its indicators. The use of local indicators can bring the continuum of care framework from an under-utilised strategy to a useful tool for action and decision-making in maternal health. Our findings point to measurement issues and systematic changes needed to improve comprehensive monitoring of maternal health interventions in South Africa. Our methods can be applied to other low- and middle-income countries using the continuum of care framework and locally available indicators.

Children's selective information sharing based on the recipient's role

Two experiments investigate whether children ages 5 through 10 (n = 121) take into account an individual's role when choosing what information to share or with whom to share it. In Experiment 1, children heard statements about an unfamiliar animal's behavior and appearance. They then chose one statement to share with each of two characters with different job descriptions. Seven-year-olds consistently shared the information that aligned with each character's role, but 5-year-olds and a subset of 9-year-olds did not. Experiment 2 showed that children's decisions about what to share were not driven by their personal preferences for the information they were sharing. In addition, when children were provided with a single fact and had to choose with whom to share it, 7- and 9-year-olds shared information with the recipient for whom it was most relevant. Together, the findings suggest that by age 7, children can use information about an individual's occupational role in order to infer what information to share.

Relevance Is Socially Rewarded, But Not at the Price of Accuracy

Selecting good sources of information is a critical skill to navigate our highly social world. To evaluate the epistemic reputation of potential sources, the main criterion should be the relevance of the information they provide us. In two online experiments (N = 801), we found that receivers are more thankful toward, deem more competent, and are more likely to request information in the future from sources of more relevant messages-if they know the message to be accurate or deem it plausible. To prevent sources from presenting information as more relevant than it is in order to improve their reputation, receivers lower the reputation of sources sending messages that are more relevant-if-true, if they know the message to be inaccurate. Our research sheds light on the reputational trade-offs involved in choosing what information to communicate and helps explain transmission patterns such as rumors diffusion.

An image-based mapping of significance and relevance of facial skin colour changes of females living in Thailand

Objective

There are methods to evaluate skin colour on defined areas over the face but no approach automatically and accurately evaluates skin colour variations on large facial areas, comparing subjects, treatments and/or time points. We propose such an image‐based approach to visualize quickly the outcome of clinical studies on colour variations.

Methods

Among 54 Asian women, one group applied a vehicle twice daily, during 28 days, and the other group an anti‐ageing emulsion, taking facial images at baseline and after treatment. Changes in L*a*b* values were studied on four pre‐selected facial regions. We also reconstructed average facial images from which the L*a*b* parameters were extracted for every pixel, computing relevance (ΔE) and significance data. Using colour gradients, we mapped these results onto the average facial images.

Results

After treatment, L*a*b* parameters show no statistically relevant colour changes in the vehicle group. In the ‘active’ group, skin was lighter at the upper cheek and, overall, redness decreased. Relevance and significance maps confirmed no visible colour changes in the vehicle group. In the ‘active’ group, the mapping approach revealed colour changes and their location. Skin became lighter below the eye, cheek and forehead. It was less red below the eyes, on the cheek, jawline and forehead, and generally more yellow.

Conclusion

Our image‐based mapping approach proves to be powerful. It enables us to identify precise facial regions of relevant and statistically significant colour changes after a topical treatment, regions that would have otherwise been undetected.

Constructing publics in museums' science communication

This article investigates how scientists at natural history museums construct publics in science communication and identifies four major constructions based on Braun and Schultz's categories: the general public, the pure public, the affected public, and the partisan public. This study draws on data from 17 research scientists at two natural history research museums in Norway who were interviewed about their public outreach activities focusing on practices, settings, designated outcomes, scientists' incentives to communicate science, and, finally, the speaking positions available for the different publics; the aim was to provide an understanding of the four constructed publics in museums' science communication. When scientists construct different publics, they emphasize relevance as an important quality assurance device.

Information Retrieval in Food Science Research II: Accounting for Relevance When Evaluating Database Performance

The impetus for this study is the limited amount of information on performance characteristics of food science-encompassing online bibliographic databases. Database usage is an important element in modern research because a comprehensive understanding of current knowledge is essential for effective, unbiased hypothesis formulation and testing. Six databases commonly recommended by academic libraries for information retrieval in the food sciences (Academic Search Premier [ASP], Agricultural Online Access [AGRICOLA], CAB Direct, Food Science and Technology Abstracts [FSTA], PubMed, and Web of Science [WoS]) were compared in a case study based on the research topic "in vitro bile acid binding properties of dietary lignin." A complex string of search terms was used for citation retrieval, and predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria were used to determine the relevancy of retrieved articles. Searching WoS and CAB Direct returned the greatest number of relevant articles, followed closely by FSTA, PubMed, and AGRICOLA. FSTA and AGRICOLA returned the highest ratios of relevant-to-irrelevant articles, followed closely by CAB Direct. None of the databases, when used alone, recovered all of the relevant articles identified in the study; WoS indexed the highest percentage of relevant articles identified (WoS = 10; total = 19). WoS also had the highest number of relevant articles that were unique to any one database. The thoroughness of searching the complete group of databases was tested by comparison of retrieved citations with those found in relevant review articles, revealing the need for testing overall inclusivity. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Comprehensive online information retrieval is the most efficient means of accessing current knowledge. Awareness of current knowledge is essential for effective, unbiased decision making in private sector and academic/government-based research endeavors. Thus, online database usage is an essential element of modern food science research. This paper provides tangible examples of the performance characteristics of online bibliographic databases commonly recommended for information retrieval in the food sciences. The paper is written so as to aid the reader in making decisions with respect to database usage for the recovery of topic-relevant peer-reviewed articles germane to their area of research.

The Obvious in a Nutshell: Science, Medicine, Knowledge, and History

The scope and mission of the history of science have been constant objects of reflection and debate within the profession. Recently, Lorraine Daston has called for a shift of focus: from the history of science to the history of knowledge. Such a move is an attempt at broadening the field and ridding it of the contradictions deriving from its modernist myth of origin and principle of demarcation. Taking the move from a pluralistic concept of medicine, the present paper explores the actual and possible contributions that a history of knowledge can offer to the history of medicine in particular. As we will argue, the history of medicine has always been a history of knowledge, but for good reasons has always stuck to the concept of medicine as its object and problem throughout the ages, including the modern, scientific one. We argue that, in the history of medicine, the demarcation between scientific and non-scientific represents an accident, but is not foundational as in the case of natural science. Furthermore, the history of medicine programmatically played a role in at least two academic domains (history proper and medical education), adjusting historical narratives of medical knowledge to its audience. Accordingly, we underscore that the history of both science and medicine, as traditionally defined, already provides room for almost the whole spectrum of approaches to history. Moreover, their different myths of origin can, and indeed must, be included in the reflexivity of the historical gaze. We argue that the position towards a history of science, medicine, or knowledge is not a question of narrative or theory, rather, it is a question of relevance and awareness of extant contexts.

Exploring the Implications of a Needs-Based Pharmacy Education Framework Modelled on Population Health: Perspective from a Developing Country

Globally, health education reform is directing efforts to strengthen the health system through collaboration between health education and health services. However, collaborative efforts vary between developed and developing countries as the health needs, economic constraints, and resource availability differs. In developing countries, resource allocation is weighed in favor of interventions that will benefit the majority of the population. The question that emerges is: How could health education, service, and research activities be (re-)aligned to optimize return on investment for the health system and society at large? This paper proposes a needs-based pharmacy educational approach by centralizing population health for a developing country like South Africa. Literature on systems-based approaches to health professional education reform and the global pharmacy education framework was reviewed. A needs-based pharmacy educational approach, the population health model which underpins health outcome measurements to gauge an educational institution’s effectiveness, was contextualized. An evaluation framework to determine the pharmacy school’s effectiveness in strengthening the health system could be applied. A needs-based pharmacy educational approach modeled on population health could: Integrate resources from education, service, and research activities; follow a monitoring and evaluation framework that tracks educational outcomes; and engage with external stakeholders in curricular development and assessment.

Volume of white matter hyperintensities increases with blood pressure in patients with hypertension

Objective

Hypertension is a risk factor for development of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs). However, the relationship between hypertension and WMHs remains obscure. We sought to clarify this relationship using clinical data from different regions of China.

Methods

We analyzed the data of 333 patients with WMHs in this study. All included patients underwent conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination. A primary diagnosis of WMHs was made according to MRI findings. The volume burden of WMHs was investigated using the Fazekas scale, which is widely used to rate the degree of WMHs. We conducted retrospective clinical analysis of the data in this study.

Results

Our findings showed that WMHs in patients with hypertension were associated with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, history of cerebral infarct, and plasma glucose and triglyceride levels. Fazekas scale scores for WMHs increased with increased blood pressure values in patients with hypertension.

Conclusion

This analysis indicates that hypertension is an independent contributor to the prevalence and severity of WMHs.