Analysing engagement in an online management programme and implications for course design

We analyse engagement and performance data arising from participants’ interactions with an in-house LMS at Imperial College London while a cohort of students follow two courses on a new online postgraduate degree in Management. We identify and investigate two main questions relating to the relationships between engagement and performance, drawing recommendations for improved guidelines to inform the design of such courses

EPIDEMIOLOGY OF TRACK & FIELD INJURIES: A ONE YEAR EXPERIENCE IN ATHLETIC SCHOOLS

The purpose of this study was to record injuries in track & field events that were sustained by students who attended the athletic schools during a one-year period. From September 2009 to May 2010, the researchers observed 2045 students (883 males and 1163 females), who were participating in track and field events at the mentioned schools. During the study period 150 injuries were recorded, which accounted for 13.3% of all injuries sustained by students. Most of the injuries (34%) according to the diagnosis were sprains and strains and occurred during the months of February, December and January. A large percentage of the injuries (45.4%) were sustained by students who attended the Athletic Schools, which operated in the urban region. Students who attended the second class sustained more injuries than the other classes (first and third). Students who were practising or competing on a tartan playing surface were more likely to sustain an injury. Knee and ankle were the most frequent anatomical sites in which injuries (43.9%) occurred. Additionally, 80.0% of injuries occurred in students who were practising or competing in running events. No statistical differences were observed in all above mentioned parameters amongst male and female students. Physical education (P.E.) teachers should place more emphasis on prevention measures. These measures should include proper supervision of students during training, warming up and cooling down sessions with stretching techniques. By following these suggestions students will compete in a safe and healthy environment

More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science.

Stress can influence health throughout the lifespan, yet there is little agreement about what types and aspects of stress matter most for human health and disease. This is in part because "stress" is not a monolithic concept but rather, an emergent process that involves interactions between individual and environmental factors, historical and current events, allostatic states, and psychological and physiological reactivity. Many of these processes alone have been labeled as "stress." Stress science would be further advanced if researchers adopted a common conceptual model that incorporates epidemiological, affective, and psychophysiological perspectives, with more precise language for describing stress measures. We articulate an integrative working model, highlighting how stressor exposures across the life course influence habitual responding and stress reactivity, and how health behaviors interact with stress. We offer a Stress Typology articulating timescales for stress measurement - acute, event-based, daily, and chronic - and more precise language for dimensions of stress measurement

Design and evaluation of adaptive feedback to foster ICT information processing skills in young adults

This paper explores the provision of adaptive hints based on attainment levels in the context of supporting the development of young adults' ICT information processing skills. We describe the design of the LIBE VLE, particularly its personalisation and adaptation features, and a User Study undertaken with young adults at a vocational education centre. Using data collected through the LIBE VLE, we analyse the relationships between learners' accessing of hints, motivation, and performance. Results point to a positive effect of accessing of hints on students' perception of the LIBE VLE and their likelihood of using it again for further learning; and also a positive effect of students' interest in the course subject on their engagement and performance in course activities. These findings have important implications for supporting young adults in developing key competences necessary for integration into the workforce and for fostering self-regulated lifelong learning

Redevelopment of the Predict: Breast Cancer website and recommendations for developing interfaces to support decision-making.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a new interface for the widely used prognostic breast cancer tool: Predict: Breast Cancer. To facilitate decision-making around post-surgery breast cancer treatments. To derive recommendations for communicating the outputs of prognostic models to patients and their clinicians. METHOD: We employed a user-centred design process comprised of background research and iterative testing of prototypes with clinicians and patients. Methods included surveys, focus groups and usability testing. RESULTS: The updated interface now caters to the needs of a wider audience through the addition of new visualisations, instantaneous updating of results, enhanced explanatory information and the addition of new predictors and outputs. A programme of future research was identified and is now underway, including the provision of quantitative data on the adverse effects of adjuvant breast cancer treatments. Based on our user-centred design process, we identify six recommendations for communicating the outputs of prognostic models including the need to contextualise statistics, identify and address gaps in knowledge, and the critical importance of engaging with prospective users when designing communications. CONCLUSIONS: For prognostic algorithms to fulfil their potential to assist with decision-making they need carefully designed interfaces. User-centred design puts patients and clinicians needs at the forefront, allowing them to derive the maximum benefit from prognostic models

Transepithelial Phototherapeutic Keratectomy Using a 213-nm Solid-State Laser System Followed by Corneal Collagen Cross-Linking with Riboflavin and UVA Irradiation

Purpose. To present a case of a keratoconic patient who underwent epithelial removal with transepithelial phototherapeutic keratectomy (t-PTK) using a 213-nm solid-state laser system followed by corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) with riboflavin and ultraviolet-A (UVA) irradiation. Methods. Case report. Results. A twenty-four-year-old male with keratoconus underwent CXL treatment after epithelial removal with t-PTK using a solid-state laser system. No intra- or early postoperative complications were found. One month postoperatively, uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) improved from 20/63 to 20/32 while best spectacle- corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) improved from 20/40 to 20/25. Corneal topography revealed a significant improvement which remained stable during the six-month followup period. Conclusions. Epithelial removal with t-PTK before CXL could improve patient's visual outcome

Frailty index of deficit accumulation and falls: data from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) Hamilton cohort

BACKGROUND: To investigate the association between frailty index (FI) of deficit accumulation and risk of falls, fractures, death and overnight hospitalizations in women aged 55 years and older. METHODS: The data were from the Global Longitudinal Study of Osteoporosis in Women (GLOW) Hamilton Cohort. In this 3-year longitudinal, observational cohort study, women (N=3,985) aged ≥ 55 years were enrolled between May 2008 and March 2009 in Hamilton, Canada. A FI including co-morbidities, activities of daily living, symptoms and signs, and healthcare utilization was constructed using 34 health deficits at baseline. Relationship between the FI and falls, fractures, death and overnight hospitalizations was examined. RESULTS: The FI was significantly associated with age, with a mean rate of deficit accumulation across baseline age of 0.004 or 0.021 (on a log scale) per year. During the third year of follow-up, 1,068 (31.89%) women reported at least one fall. Each increment of 0.01 on the FI was associated with a significantly increased risk of falls during the third year of follow-up (odds ratio [OR]: 1.02, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.02-1.03). The area under the curve (AUC) of the predictive model was 0.69 (95% CI: 0.67-0.71). Results of subgroup and sensitivity analyses indicated the relationship between the FI and risk of falls was robust, while bootstrap analysis judged its internal validation. The FI was significantly related to fractures (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.01-1.03), death (OR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.03-1.06) during the 3-year follow-up period and overnight hospitalizations (incidence rate ratio [IRR]: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.02-1.03) for an increase of 0.01 on the FI during the third year of follow-up. Measured by per standard deviation (SD) increment of the FI, the ORs were 1.21 and 1.40 for falls and death respectively, while the HR was 1.17 for fractures and the IRR was 1.18 for overnight hospitalizations respectively. CONCLUSION: The FI of deficit accumulation increased with chronological age significantly. The FI was associated with and predicted increased risk of falls, fractures, death and overnight hospitalizations significantly

Estimating osteoporotic fracture risk following a wrist fracture: a tale of two systems

© 2015, The Author(s). Summary: The WHO fracture risk assessment (FRAX) and Canadian Association of Radiologists and Osteoporosis Canada (CAROC) tools can both be used to determine an individual’s 10-year risk of osteoporotic fracture. However, these tools differ in their risk calculation. For participants fracture, FRAX provides a lower fracture risk estimate than CAROC resulting in fewer decisions to initiate therapy.Purpose: The purpose of the current report is to compare fracture risk prediction rates using the CAROC and the FRAX® tools.Methods: Individuals ≥50 years with a distal radius fracture resulting from a fall from standing height or less were recruited from a single orthopedic clinic. Participants underwent a DXA scan of their lumbar spine and hip. Femoral neck (FN) bone mineral density (BMD) and fracture risk factors were used to determine each participant’s 10-year fracture risk using both fracture risk assessment tools. Participants were categorized as low (\u3c10 \u3e%), moderate (10–20 %), or high (\u3e20 %) risk. Stratified by age (\u3c65 \u3eyears, \u3e65 years), the proportion of participants in each category was compared between the tools.Results: Analyses included 60 participants (mean age 65.7 ± 9.6 years). In those (n = 26), the proportion of individuals at low, moderate, and high risk differed between the FRAX and CAROC tools (p \u3c 0.0001). FRAX categorized 69 % as low (CAROC 0 %) and 3 % as high (CAROC 12 %) risk. For individuals \u3e65 years, almost all were at least at moderate risk (FRAX 79 %, CAROC 53 %), but fewer were at high risk using FRAX (18 vs. 47 %, p \u3c 0.0003).Conclusion: For participants 65 years were at moderate or high risk under both FRAX and CAROC and should at least be considered for pharmacotherapy

Everything is not everywhere: can marine compartments shape phytoplankton assemblages?

The idea that ‘everything is everywhere, but the environment selects' has been seminal in microbial biogeography, and marine phytoplankton is one of the prototypical groups used to illustrate this. The typical argument has been that phytoplankton is ubiquitous, but that distinct assemblages form under environmental selection. It is well established that phytoplankton assemblages vary considerably between coastal ecosystems. However, the relative roles of compartmentalization of regional seas and site-specific environmental conditions in shaping assemblage structures have not been specifically examined. We collected data from coastal embayments that fall within two different water compartments within the same regional sea and are characterized by highly localized environmental pressures. We used principal coordinates of neighbour matrices (PCNM) and asymmetric eigenvector maps (AEM) models to partition the effects that spatial structures, environmental conditions and their overlap had on the variation in assemblage composition. Our models explained a high percentage of variation in assemblage composition (59–65%) and showed that spatial structure consistent with marine compartmentalization played a more important role than local environmental conditions. At least during the study period, surface currents connecting sites within the two compartments failed to generate sufficient dispersal to offset the impact of differences due to compartmentalization. In other words, our findings suggest that, even for a prototypical cosmopolitan group, everything is not everywhere

Mapping cortical activations underlying covert and overt language production using high-density diffuse optical tomography

Gold standard neuroimaging modalities such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and more recently electrocorticography (ECoG) have provided profound insights regarding the neural mechanisms underlying the processing of language, but they are limited in applications involving naturalistic language production especially in developing brains, during face-to-face dialogues, or as a brain-computer interface. High-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) provides high-fidelity mapping of human brain function with comparable spatial resolution to that of fMRI but in a silent and open scanning environment similar to real-life social scenarios. Therefore, HD-DOT has potential to be used in naturalistic settings where other neuroimaging modalities are limited. While HD-DOT has been previously validated against fMRI for mapping the neural correlates underlying language comprehension and covert (i.e., silent ) language production, HD-DOT has not yet been established for mapping the cortical responses to overt (i.e., out loud ) language production. In this study, we assessed the brain regions supporting a simple hierarchy of language tasks: silent reading of single words, covert production of verbs, and overt production of verbs in normal hearing right-handed native English speakers (n = 33). First, we found that HD-DOT brain mapping is resilient to movement associated with overt speaking. Second, we observed that HD-DOT is sensitive to key activations and deactivations in brain function underlying the perception and naturalistic production of language. Specifically, statistically significant results were observed that show recruitment of regions in occipital, temporal, motor, and prefrontal cortices across all three tasks after performing stringent cluster-extent based thresholding. Our findings lay the foundation for future HD-DOT studies of imaging naturalistic language comprehension and production during real-life social interactions and for broader applications such as presurgical language assessment and brain-machine interfaces