Evaluating the relationship between serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and A (IgA) anti-cagA antibody and the cagA gene in patients with dyspepsia

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Psychometric analysis of the ambulatory care learning education environment measure (ACLEEM) in Iran

Background: Examining educational environment (academic and clinical) by means of a valid, reliable and comprehensive questionnaire is a major key in achieving a highly qualified student - oriented curricula. The Persian translation of Ambulatory Care Learning Education Environment Measure-ACLEEM questionnaire has been developed to support this goal, and its psychometrics has been explored in this administration in teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive - analytical study involved medical residents in four major clinics. In this study, the ACLEEM Questionnaire was conducted after translating and retranslating the questionnaire and examine the face and content validity, construct validity, test retest reliability and internal consistency coefficient. Results: In this study, 157 out of 192 residents completed the questionnaire (response rate 82). The mean age of the residents was 31.81 years. The final mean of the questionnaire was calculated as 110.91 out of 200 (with 95 confidence interval). Test - retest stability of the questionnaire was between 0.322 and 0.968. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed. The content validity ratio was 0.64; and content validity Index was 0.78. In Exploratory factor analysis, eight factors were confirmatory that changed the orientation of some questions. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the whole questionnaire was 0.936. Conclusion: According to the data, the Persian version of the ACLEEM questionnaire has sufficient psychometric reliability and validity to be used for conducting research, teaching and practicing the educational learning environment in ambulatory care in Iran

An innovative method to assess clinical reasoning skills: Clinical reasoning tests in the second national medical science Olympiad in Iran

BACKGROUND: Clinical reasoning plays a major role in the ability of doctors to make a diagnosis and reach treatment decisions. This paper describes the use of four clinical reasoning tests in the second National Medical Science Olympiad in Iran: key features (KF), script concordance (SCT), clinical reasoning problems (CRP) and comprehensive integrative puzzles (CIP). The purpose of the study was to design a multi instrument for multiple roles approach in clinical reasoning field based on the theoretical framework, KF was used to measure data gathering, CRP was used to measure hypothesis formation, SCT and CIP were used to measure hypothesis evaluation and investigating the combined use of these tests in the Olympiad. A bank of clinical reasoning test items was developed for emergency medicine by a scientific expert committee representing all the medical schools in the country. These items were pretested by a reference group and the results were analyzed to select items that could be omitted. Then 135 top-ranked medical students from 45 medical universities in Iran participated in the clinical domain of the Olympiad. The reliability of each test was calculated by Cronbach's alpha. Item difficulty and the correlation between each item and the total score were measured. The correlation between the students' final grade and each of the clinical reasoning tests was calculated, as was the correlation between final grades and another measure of knowledge, i.e., the students' grade point average. RESULTS: The combined reliability for all four clinical reasoning tests was 0.91. Of the four clinical reasoning tests we compared, reliability was highest for CIP (0.91). The reliability was 0.83 for KF, 0.78 for SCT and 0.71 for CRP. Most of the tests had an acceptable item difficulty level between 0.2 and 0.8. The correlation between the score for each item and the total test score for each of the four tests was positive. The correlations between scores for each test and total score were highest for KF and CIP. The correlation between scores for each test and grade point average was low to intermediate for all four of the tests. CONCLUSION: The combination of these four clinical reasoning tests is a reliable evaluation tool that can be implemented to assess clinical reasoning skills in talented undergraduate medical students, however these data may not generalizable to whole medical students population. The CIP and KF tests showed the greatest potential to measure clinical reasoning skills. Grade point averages did not necessarily predict performance in the clinical domain of the national competitive examination for medical school students

Effect of Maturity on Phenolics (Phenolic Acids and Flavonoids) Profile of Strawberry Cultivars and Mulberry Species from Pakistan

In this study, we investigated how the extent of ripeness affects the yield of extract, total phenolics, total flavonoids, individual flavonols and phenolic acids in strawberry and mulberry cultivars from Pakistan. In strawberry, the yield of extract (%), total phenolics (TPC) and total flavonoids (TFC) ranged from 8.5–53.3%, 491–1884 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/100 g DW and 83–327 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/100 g DW, respectively. For the different species of mulberry the yield of extract (%), total phenolics and total flavonoids of 6.9–54.0%, 201–2287 mg GAE/100 g DW and 110–1021 mg CE/100 g DW, respectively, varied significantly as fruit maturity progressed. The amounts of individual flavonols and phenolic acid in selected berry fruits were analyzed by RP-HPLC. Among the flavonols, the content of myricetin was found to be high in Morus alba (88 mg/100 g DW), the amount of quercetin as high in Morus laevigata (145 mg/100 g DW) while kaempferol was highest in the Korona strawberry (98 mg/100 g DW) at fully ripened stage. Of the six phenolic acids detected, p-hydroxybenzoic and p-coumaric acid were the major compounds in the strawberry. M. laevigata and M. nigra contained p-coumaric acid and vanillic acid while M. macroura and M. alba contained p-hydroxy-benzoic acid and chlorogenic acid as the major phenolic acids. Overall, a trend to an increase in the percentage of extraction yield, TPC, TFC, flavonols and phenolic acids was observed as maturity progressed from un-ripened to fully-ripened stages

Examining the Psychometric Characteristics of Tools for Measuring Intrinsic Motivation Inventory and Perceived Motivational Climate Scale among Medical Students

Introduction: Review of the literature indicates that few researchers have examined the issue of motivation in medical education context. Hence construction of appropriate measurement tools can be a step toward encouraging researchers to address this particular issue. This study examined psychometric characteristics of tools for measuring Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) and Perceived Motivational Climate Scale (EPCM) in medical students. Methods: A sample of 222 Iranian medical students completed Iranian versions of the EPCM, and IMI in a descriptive study. For assessing reliability of instruments, test-retest method and calculating Cronbach's alpha were used. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out to confirm the factorial validity of tools. Results: After modification of the questions in both instruments, acceptable reliability coefficient was found. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that these tools have appropriate goodness of fitting indices. Conclusion: The modified IMI (i11 questions), and EPCM (16 questions) have appropriate reliability and validity for use in medical education

ON THE MODELLING, ANALYSIS, AND DESIGN OF A SUBOPTIMAL CONTROLLER FOR A CLASS OF WIND/PV/BATTERY BASED DC MICROGRID

This study deals with the comprehensive modelling, analysis, and control of a DC microgrid (MG) in islanded mode. The proposed DC MG comprises a wind turbine, a photovoltaic (PV) source, battery storage, DC/DC source, and load side converters with DC loads. To this aim, a circuit-oriented modelling of the whole system is developed. The PV source is modelled with a single-diode electrical circuit. Afterward, a mathematical model of the system with state-space representation was derived. A detailed analysis of PV system design is performed because the parameters of PV are appearing in the dynamic model of DC MG. For the purpose of controller development, the dynamic model of the DC MG, which is modelled by a non-linear-non-affine eight-order system, is linearized around an equilibrium point using the Jacobian matrix framework, while stability using eigenvalue is carried out showing that the stability is guaranteed under operating condition. Finally, for the first time, the state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) technique is proposed to find the optimal regulation problem for the DC MG with non-linear-non-affine dynamics. The numerical simulation studies first confirm the validity of the performed mathematical, then the effectiveness of the proposed non-linear controller is evaluated under illumination and load change