Thinking styles and academic achievement among Filipino students

The authors' objective in this study was to determine whether the precepts of R. J. Sternberg's (1988, 1997) theory of mental self-government apply to a non-Western culture. They administered R. J. Sternberg and R. K. Wagner's (1992) Thinking Styles Inventory, which is based on the theory of mental self-government, to 429 Filipino university students. The results of item analysis, scale intercorrelations, and factor analysis were consistent with the general provisions of the theory. Correlational analysis between thinking styles and grade point average showed that thinking styles are related to academic achievement. The results are explained with respect to the concepts and practices of Philippine culture and schools and discussed in relation to the developmental assumptions of the theory of mental self-government.published_or_final_versio

Cross-Cultural Validation of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM) in the Asian Setting: Hong Kong and the Philippines

Students’ achievement goals in school have received increasing research attention because they have been shown to be important in predicting important outcomes. As such, there has been a growing interest in measuring and comparing them across different cultural groups. However, these comparisons cannot be made until validity evidence has been attained to support the use of an instrument in the new cultural setting. In this study, we investigated the cross-cultural applicability of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM, McInerney et al. American Educational Research Journal 34:207-236, 1997) in the Hong Kong Chinese and Philippine contexts using both within-network and between-network approaches to construct validation. The ISM measures four types of achievement goals: mastery, performance, social, and extrinsic goals. 1,406 high school students from Hong Kong (n = 697) and the Philippines (n = 709) participated. Results of the within-network test showed that the ISM had good internal consistency reliability and the confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the hypothesized four-factor model. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses supported invariance of factor loadings across the two samples. The between-network test also indicated that these achievement goals correlated systematically with different aspects of students’ self-concepts. These findings support the applicability of the ISM among Hong Kong Chinese and Filipino students

Síndrome do manguito rotador: reabilitação

Iniciamos a elaboraçao desta diretriz com a capacitaçao dos autores por meio da metodologia empregada pelo Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, para elaboraçao de diretrizes clínicas pelo Programa Diretrizes da Associaçao Médica Brasileira (AMB). Foram revisados artigos nas bases de dados do MedLine (PubMed) e outras fontes de pesquisa, sem limite de tempo. A estratégia de busca utilizada baseou-se em perguntas estruturadas na forma P.I.C.O. (das iniciais "Paciente", "Intervençao", "Controle", "Outcome").We began the preparation of this guideline with the training of the authors using the methodology employed by the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, for the development of clinical guidelines for the Programa Diretrizes da Associaçao Médica Brasileira-AMB (Brazilian Medical Association's Guideline Program-BMA). Articles were reviewed from the MEDLINE (PubMed) database and other research sources, on an open-ended basis. The search strategy used was based on structured questions in the P.I.C.O. form (from the initials of "Patient", "Intervention", "Control", and "Outcome")

Generation of left ventricle-like cardiomyocytes with improved structural, functional, and metabolic maturity from human pluripotent stem cells

Decreased left ventricle (LV) function caused by genetic mutations or injury often leads to debilitating and fatal cardiovascular disease. LV cardiomyocytes are, therefore, a potentially valuable therapeutical target. Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hPSC-CMs) are neither homogeneous nor functionally mature, which reduces their utility. Here, we exploit cardiac development knowledge to instruct differentiation of hPSCs specifically toward LV cardiomyocytes. Correct mesoderm patterning and retinoic acid pathway blocking are essential to generate near-homogenous LV-specific hPSC-CMs (hPSC-LV-CMs). These cells transit via first heart field progenitors and display typical ventricular action potentials. Importantly, hPSC-LV-CMs exhibit increased metabolism, reduced proliferation, and improved cytoarchitecture and functional maturity compared with age-matched cardiomyocytes generated using the standard WNT-ON/WNT-OFF protocol. Similarly, engineered heart tissues made from hPSC-LV-CMs are better organized, produce higher force, and beat more slowly but can be paced to physiological levels. Together, we show that functionally matured hPSC-LV-CMs can be obtained rapidly without exposure to current maturation regimes

Impacto da cirurgia bariátrica no prognóstico de pacientes portadores de Diabetes Mellitus tipo 2 / Impact of bariatric surgery on prognosis of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objetivo: avaliar as possíveis alterações que a cirurgia bariátrica pode gerar no prognóstico do diabetes mellitus tipo 2 e, além disso, atuar na diminuição dos fatores de risco cardiovasculares. Revisão Bibliográfica: Após 2 anos de realização da cirurgia bariátrica, foi visto que houve uma remissão do DM2 em 72,3% dos pacientes, enquanto que naqueles que utilizaram apenas a terapia médica intensiva, a remissão ocorreu em 16,4%, de acordo com o estudo SOS 2014. Também houve melhora dos fatores de risco cardiovasculares, incluindo redução da taxa de mortalidade.  A diminuição do peso ocasionada após a realização da cirurgia bariátrica melhora a resistência insulínica presente no DM2. Além disso, o desvio anatômico feito no procedimento culmina com o efeito incretina, secreção de insulina pelo pâncreas e elevação dos hormônios da saciedade. Com isso, há melhora dos índices glicêmicos e manutenção do peso a longo prazo. Considerações finais: A cirurgia bariátrica apresenta melhores resultados em relação ao prognóstico da doença. Também gera benefícios no controle da hipertensão e hiperlipidemia, reduzindo assim os fatores de risco cardiovasculares

Using machine learning to identify important predictors of COVID-19 infection prevention behaviors during the early phase of the pandemic

Before vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) became available, a set of infection-prevention behaviors constituted the primary means to mitigate the virus spread. Our study aimed to identify important predictors of this set of behaviors. Whereas social and health psychological theories suggest a limited set of predictors, machine-learning analyses can identify correlates from a larger pool of candidate predictors. We used random forests to rank 115 candidate correlates of infection-prevention behavior in 56,072 participants across 28 countries, administered in March to May 2020. The machine-learning model predicted 52% of the variance in infection-prevention behavior in a separate test sample—exceeding the performance of psychological models of health behavior. Results indicated the two most important predictors related to individual-level injunctive norms. Illustrating how data-driven methods can complement theory, some of the most important predictors were not derived from theories of health behavior—and some theoretically derived predictors were relatively unimportant

Validity of the learning process questionnaire with students of lower academic attainment

The Learning Process Questionnaire was administered to 692 secondary school students (308 boys, 380 girls, and 4 unspecified) in the Philippines. The ages of the participants ranged from 14 to 22 years, with an average of 15 yr. An exploratory factor-analysis procedure was conducted for the entire sample, for the lower achievers (n = 333), and for higher achievers (n = 359). The factor structure of the Learning Process Questionnaire was uninterpretable with data obtained from students of lower academic achievement.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

What should a social psychology for social change look like in Asia? Reflections on scientific research, aimed at solving social problems and generating new knowledge with 'a theory of culture change at its centre'

In late 2013, the Asian Association of Social Psychology (AASP) signed an agreement with the Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology (JPRP) to annually produce one themed issue in accordance with both organisations’ missions, for a period of 5 years. For AASP, the annual publication of a themed issue on ‘The Social Psychology of Social Change: Science and Practice in Asia’ was the end result of 2 years of member consultation, undertaken by President-Elect James Liu from 2012 to 2013. This resulted in a Mission Statement, and a directive from members to develop a second publications outlet with an SSCI impact factor, but more focused on applied research, to complement AASP's eponymous flagship journal the Asian Journal of Social Psychology (which is more basic in its research orientation).falsePublished onlin