The Perceived Influence of Case Method on Students’ Performance and Critical Thinking in Business Studies

Business schools have globally applied the case method as an initiative to assimilate real life business knowledge and skills. Researchers have found that the case method, compared to other teaching methods, provides an excellent opportunity for students to participate in the analysis of different business situations, as well as to invent solutions, generating interest and positive motivation towards learning. This study aimed to examine students’ perceptions about the influence of the case method on students’ performance and critical thinking. The sample included 141 freshman undergraduate students from Business Informatics and Economics programs at Epoka University enrolled in a management course that utilizes the case study method. Forty seven q uestionnaires were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Questions were divided in three categories: general perception, performance, and critical thinking. The result showed a positive general perception of the case method. Additionally the study found a positive perception on students’ performance and critical thinking through the case study method

Effects of neostigmine on bronchoconstriction with continuous electrical stimulation in rats.

PURPOSE: When neostigmine is used to reverse muscle relaxants in patients with asthma without signs of airway inflammation, asthma attack is occasionally encountered. It is likely that abnormally increased electrical impulses traveling from the brain through cholinergic nerves to airway smooth muscles may be one of the pathogeneses of asthma attack. We applied continuous electrical field stimulation (c-EFS) or continuous electrical stimulation (c-ES) of low frequency to the vagal nerve of the rat in vitro and in vivo to determine the role of cholinergic nerve activation in inducing airway constriction. METHODS: Fifty-seven male Wistar rats were used. In an in vitro study we examined whether tetrodotoxin (TTX), an Na(+)-channel blocker, 4-DAMP, a muscarinic M(3) receptor antagonist, or neostigmine could affect c-EFS-induced contraction of the tracheal ring. In an in vivo study, we examined whether c-ES of the vagal nerve could increase maximum airway pressure (P (max)) and whether neostigmine could potentiate c-ES-induced P (max). RESULTS: TTX and 4-DAMP completely inhibited c-EFS-induced contraction whereas neostigmine potentiated c-EFS-induced contraction dose-dependently. P (max) was not increased by neostigmine. P (max) was not increased by 2-Hz c-ES, but was increased by the addition of neostigmine. P (max) was increased by 5-Hz c-ES, and further increased by the addition of neostigmine. CONCLUSION: The contractile response of the tracheal ring to c-EFS is potentiated by neostigmine. P (max) is increased by c-ES of the vagal nerve, and is potentiated by neostigmine. These data suggest that increased activity of the cholinergic nerve could be involved in asthma attack

Overview of iDPP@CLEF 2022: The Intelligent Disease Progression Prediction Challenge

ALS is a severe chronic disease characterized by a progressive but variable impairment of neurological functions, characterized by high heterogeneity both in presentation features and rate of disease progression. As a consequence patients’ needs are different, challenging both caregivers and clinicians. Indeed, the time of relevant events is variable, which is associated with uncertainty regarding the opportunity of critical interventions like non-invasive ventilation and gastrostomy, with implications on the quality of life of patients and their caregivers. For this reason, clinicians need tools able to support their decision in all phases of disease progression and underscore personalized therapeutic decisions. The goal of iDPP CLEF is to design and develop an evaluation infrastructure for AI algorithms able to: 1. better indicate intervention time; 2. stratify patients according to their phenotype and rate of disease progression; 3. predict progression rate in a probabilistic, time dependent fashion. The participation in iDPP CLEF was satisfactory, hinting at the interest of the community concerning the task. More so, the solutions identified by participants range over several different techniques and provided valid input to such a highly relevant domain as the prediction of the ALS progression

Intelligent Disease Progression Prediction: Overview of iDPP@CLEF 2022

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a severe chronic disease characterized by progressive or alternate impairment of neurological functions, characterized by high heterogeneity both in symptoms and disease progression. As a consequence its clinical course is highly uncertain, challenging both patients and clinicians. Indeed, patients have to manage alternated periods in hospital with care at home, experiencing a constant uncertainty regarding the timing of the disease acute phases and facing a considerable psychological and economic burden that also involves their caregivers. Clinicians, on the other hand, need tools able to support them in all the phases of the patient treatment, suggest personalized therapeutic decisions, indicate urgently needed interventions. The goal of is to design and develop an evaluation infrastructure for AI algorithms able to: 1.better describe disease mechanisms;2.stratify patients according to their phenotype assessed all over the disease evolution;3.predict disease progression in a probabilistic, time dependent fashion

Lifetime and past-year prevalence of children’s exposure to violence in 9 Balkan countries: the BECAN study

Background Children’s exposure to violence is a major public health issue. The Balkan epidemiological study on Child Abuse and Neglect project aimed to collect internationally comparable data on violence exposures in childhood. Methods A three stage stratified random sample of 42,194 school-attending children (response rate: 66.7%) in three grades (aged 11, 13 and 16 years) was drawn from schools in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Greece, Romania, Serbia and Turkey. Children completed the ICAST-C questionnaire, which measures children’s exposure to violence by any perpetrator. Results Exposure rates for psychological violence were between 64.6% (FYROM) and 83.2% (Greece) for lifetime and 59.62% (Serbia) and 70.0% (Greece) for past-year prevalence. Physical violence exposure varied between 50.6% (FYROM) and 76.3% (Greece) for lifetime and 42.5% (FYROM) and 51.0% (Bosnia) for past-year prevalence. Sexual violence figures were highest for lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (18.6%) and lowest in FYROM (7.6%). Lifetime contact sexual violence was highest in Bosnia (9.8%) and lowest in Romania (3.6%). Past-year sexual violence and contact sexual violence prevalence was lowest in Romania (5.0 and 2.1%) and highest in Bosnia (13.6 and 7.7% respectively). Self-reported neglect was highest for both past-year and lifetime prevalence in Bosnia (48.0 and 20.3%) and lowest in Romania (22.6 and 16.7%). Experiences of positive parental practices were reported by most participating children in all countries. Conclusions Where significant differences in violence exposure by sex were observed, males reported higher exposure to past-year and lifetime sexual violence and females higher exposure to neglect. Children in Balkan countries experience a high burden of violence victimization and national-level programming and child protection policy making is urgently needed to address this

Transcultural Homo- and Transphobia

Negative attitudes toward homosexual and transsexual people are grounded on a number of reasons, ranging from sociocultural to psychological issues. Education, political and religious beliefs, and life experiences undoubtedly play pivotal roles. However, various factors weave together to cause discriminatory behavior toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals, with such discrimination currently identified as homophobia and transphobia. Moreover, those exhibiting sexual and gender variations are often ostracized by various components of society: schools and work places as well as health services. Thus, despite Western media attention often aimed at diminishing homophobia and transphobia, negative attitudes and behaviors toward LGBT people persist, and may have actually increased due to expanded coverage of the issue. Therefore, homophobia and transphobia prevention campaigns need to employ rigorous methods that include assessing possible risk factors that give rise to homophobic and transphobic attitudes and behaviors within culturally defined contexts. In this regard, an accurate and specific sociocultural and transcultural reflection should be undertaken so as to prevent discrimination of sexual minorities worldwide