De eerste minuten. Attentum, benevolum en docilem parare in de inleiding van toespraken

Contains fulltext : 62004.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, 17 mei 2004Promotores : Hoeken, H., Jansen, C.J.M.565 p

‘Wapper wat meer met je handen’: De invloed van gebaren op retentie en sprekerswaardering bij een informatieve presentatie

To convey information during an oral presentation speakers not only use words, they also gesticulate. Their gestures can be divided into iconic, metaphoric, deictic and beat gestures (McNeill, 1992). Beats (repetitive, short movements) are frowned upon by some presentation skills advisers. Earlier research that focused on short speeches, mostly about concrete topological content, found that gestures help the listener to understand and remember the content. Presentation skills courses, however, focus on longer, more abstract informative speeches. To explore how gestures influence both retention and assessment of the speaker in such longer speeches, an experiment was conducted. Participants (N = 229) were asked to watch a fifteen minute informative presentation accompanied by PowerPoint slides, either (i) without gestures, (ii) with only beat gestures, or (iii) with a mix of iconic, metaphoric, deictic, and beat gestures. Participants were tested on retention and on their assessment of speaker qualities. An ANOVA showed a significant effect for retention. When a speaker accompanied his speech with only beat gestures, this resulted in higher scores than when this speaker remained in a static position. Also, when the speaker used only beat gestures, he was seen as more ‘natural’ than when he remained in a static position. These results do not imply causality. They may, however, temper advisers’ warnings against using beat gestures in presentations.Instituut voor Talen en Academische Vaardighede

Yield of Screening for COVID-19 in Asymptomatic Patients Before Elective or Emergency Surgery Using Chest CT and RT-PCR (SCOUT): Multicenter Study

OBJECTIVE: To determine the yield of preoperative screening for COVID-19 with chest CT and RT-PCR in patients without COVID-19 symptoms. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Many centers are currently screening surgical patients for COVID-19 using either chest CT, RT-PCR or both, due to the risk for worsened surgical outcomes and nosocomial spread. The optimal design and yield of such a strategy are currently unknown. METHODS: This multicenter study included consecutive adult patients without COVID-19 symptoms who underwent preoperative screening using chest CT and RT-PCR before elective or emergency surgery under general anesthesia. RESULTS: A total of 2093 patients without COVID-19 symptoms were included in 14 participating centers; 1224 were screened by CT and RT-PCR and 869 by chest CT only. The positive yield of screening using a combination of chest CT and RT-PCR was 1.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.8-2.1]. Individual yields were 0.7% (95% CI: 0.2-1.1) for chest CT and 1.1% (95% CI: 0.6-1.7) for RT-PCR; the incremental yield of chest CT was 0.4%. In relation to COVID-19 community prevalence, up to approximately 6% positive RT-PCR was found for a daily hospital admission rate >1.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, and around 1.0% for lower prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: One in every 100 patients without COVID-19 symptoms tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 with RT-PCR; this yield increased in conjunction with community prevalence. The added value of chest CT was limited. Preoperative screening allowed us to take adequate precautions for SARS-CoV-2 positive patients in a surgical population, whereas negative patients needed only routine procedures