OER Textbooks versus Commercial Textbooks: Quality of Student Learning in Psychological Statistics

In response to demands for educational materials to be more accessible and affordable, Open Educational Resources (OERs) have become increasingly popular for their ability to provide free, easily obtained, open licensed resources for both students and faculty to use---especially within higher education environments. Since the introduction of OERs is relatively new, research regarding their efficacy as measured by student learning is lacking. To address this gap, I sought to isolate subjects’ content acquisition after reading excerpts on measures of central tendency from either an OER or commercial textbook. While the power was too small to firmly conclude whether students assigned to OER performed better or worse than subjects assigned to commercial texts, there is evidence to suggest that with more data collection, commercial groups will outperform the OER groups on the quiz

Biochemisches Monitoring nach Meniskektomie

Fragestellung Die Schädigung des Kollagennetzwerks ist ein frühes Ereignis der Arthrose (OA). Wir untersuchten ein Kollagen Typ II -Neoepitop (CTX) in der Synovialflüssigkeit (SF) nach kompletter medialer Meniskektomie (ME). Methoden 32 NZW-Kaninchen hatten eine ME des rechten Kniegelenks. Kontrolle: 11 shamoperierte, 8 unoperierte Kaninchen. Die ME-Kaninchen wurden nach 2 (n = 8), 4 (n = 8) , 8 (n = 8) und 12 (n = 8) Wochen getötet, SF-lavagen beider Kniegelenke durchgeführt. Der ELISA misst ein Kollagen Typ II - Neoepitop, das nach Spaltung der C-telopeptide cross-linking Domaine entsteht. Makroskopisch: Grading beider Kniegelenke mit einem 9 Felder-Schema: Einzelflächen und Gesamtsummen von Tibia, Femur (jeweils medial und lateral) und Patella Histologisch: Grading mit H&E und Safranin O Schnitten (u.a. Proteoglykangehalt, Matrixstruktur, Zellularität, Tidemark und Osteophyten) Statistik: Wilcoxon - und Mann - Whitney U Test. Ergebnisse Makroskopisch: signifikante Veränderungen von medialer Tibia und Femur ab 2 Wochen nach ME, im Vergleich mit Gegenseite und mit nichtoperierten Kaninchen. Histologisch: beginnende OA zu allen Zeitpunkten. ME Knie: CTX Werte in der SF deutlich erhöht, zum kontralateralen Knie für 2, 4, 8 und 12 Wochen signifikant. Nichtoperierte Tiere: keine Unterschiede linkes vs. rechtes Knie, im Vergleich zur ME zu allen Zeitpunkten signifikant niedriger. Schlussfolgerungen Knorpelmarker sind Parameter der OA. Die Metalloproteinasen 1, 8 und 13 erzeugen ein Kollagen Typ II - Neoepitop, das zum Monitoring der arthrotischen Veränderungen geeignet erscheint

Opioid Education Program

Pain management has become a challenging field both for the patients, their families, and providers. The rise of the opioid crisis has made the availability of opioids limited, even for those patients who truly need the life changing medications. Nurses, physicians, and administrators play a vital role in patient education and the education regarding the importance of using opioids safely. Lack of patient education regarding the use, misuse, and side effects of opioids can lead to potential injuries, overdose, and even death. Providing patients with an educational program would greatly decrease their risk of misuse and abuse of opioids. During the educational program, information regarding the potentially dangerous medications they are prescribed would be discussed as well as information regarding how to identify overdose signs, symptoms, and what to do in case of overdose. Furthermore, patients would have the opportunity to ask questions they would have otherwise not asked in the clinical setting. This would result in higher compliance, safer consumption, and increase in knowledge regarding the opioid medications which would mitigate the patient\u27s risk, decrease the nurses risk, and the risk to the organization. Effectiveness would be determined by written pre and post-tests provided to patients during the program. Additionally, this data would be collected and weighed against cost, time spent on the project, and patient knowledge to determine if sustainability is appropriate

The Spoken Word Project: Using Poetry in Community Dialogue and Mobilization for HIV Prevention

Spoken word, a form of performance poetry, is a promising approach to HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, as it has the potential to encourage dialogue among and within communities and address concerns regarding the social stigma present in rural communities. The purpose of this study is to describe the development and implementation of the Spoken Word Project (SWP), an HIV/AIDS pilot intervention in rural North Carolina designed to improve HIV-related attitudes and self-efficacy and decrease stigma through the use of performance poetry. Spoken word is a collaborative effort between residents of two rural counties in North Carolina and Project GRACE (Growing, Reaching, Advocating for Change and Empowerment), a community-based participatory research collaboration aimed at reducing health disparities in African American communities. The project included 15 adult and youth participants. Results indicated that spoken word has the ability to build upon local resources, generate community reflection, and engage a broad spectrum of performers and audiences. Our findings also showed that the effect of stigma and limited community conversations about HIV in rural communities can be abated through the use of spoken word

Evaluating Teach One Reach One - An STI/HIV Risk-Reduction Intervention to Enhance Adult-Youth Communication About Sex and Reduce the Burden of HIV/STI

Purpose: Parents and caregivers play an important role in sexual socialization of youth, often serving as the primary source of information about sex. For African American rural youth who experience disparate rates of HIV/sexually transmitted infection, improving caregiver-youth communication about sexual topics may help to reduce risky behaviors. This study assessed the impact of an intervention to improve sexual topic communication. Design: A Preintervention-postintervention, quasi-experimental, controlled, and community-based trial. Setting: Intervention was in 2 rural North Carolina counties with comparison group in 3 adjacent counties. Subjects: Participants (n = 249) were parents, caregivers, or parental figures for African American youth aged 10 to 14. Intervention: Twelve-session curriculum for participating dyads. Measures: Audio computer-assisted self-interview to assess changes at 9 months from baseline in communication about general and sensitive sex topics and overall communication about sex. Analysis: Multivariable models were used to examine the differences between the changes in mean of scores for intervention and comparison groups. Results: Statistically significant differences in changes in mean scores for communication about general sex topics (P <.0001), communication about sensitive sex topics (P <.0001), and overall communication about sex (P <.0001) existed. Differences in change in mean scores remained significant after adjusting baseline scores and other variables in the multivariate models. Conclusions: In Teach One Reach One intervention, adult participants reported improved communication about sex, an important element to support risk reduction among youth in high-prevalence areas

A randomised, open-label, parallel group phase 2 study of antisense oligonucleotide therapy in acromegaly

Objective: ATL1103 is a second-generation antisense oligomer targeting the human growth hormone (GH) receptor. This phase 2 randomised, open-label, parallel-group study assessed the potential of ATL1103 as a treatment for acromegaly. Design: Twenty-six patients with active acromegaly (IGF-I >130% upper limit of normal) were randomised to subcutaneous ATL1103 200mg either once or twice weekly for 13 weeks and monitored for a further 8-week washout period. Methods: The primary efficacy measures were change in IGF-I at week 14, compared to baseline and between cohorts. For secondary endpoints (IGFBP3, acid labile subunit (ALS), GH, growth hormone-binding protein (GHBP)), comparison was between baseline and week 14. Safety was assessed by reported adverse events. Results and conclusions: Baseline median IGF-I was 447 and 649 ng/mL in the once- and twice-weekly groups respectively. Compared to baseline, at week 14, twice-weekly ATL1103 resulted in a median fall in IGF-I of 27.8% (P = 0.0002). Between cohort comparison at week 14 demonstrated the median fall in IGF-I to be 25.8% (P = 0.0012) greater with twice-weekly dosing. In the twice-weekly cohort, IGF-I was still declining at week 14, and remained lower at week 21 than at baseline by a median of 18.7% (P = 0.0005). Compared to baseline, by week 14, IGFBP3 and ALS had declined by a median of 8.9% (P = 0.027) and 16.7% (P = 0.017) with twice-weekly ATL1103; GH had increased by a median of 46% at week 14 (P = 0.001). IGFBP3, ALS and GH did not change with weekly ATL1103. GHBP fell by a median of 23.6% and 48.8% in the once- and twice-weekly cohorts (P = 0.027 and P = 0.005) respectively. ATL1103 was well tolerated, although 84.6% of patients experienced mild-to-moderate injection-site reactions. This study provides proof of concept that ATL1103 is able to significantly lower IGF-I in patients with acromegaly

The music for dessus de viole of Louis Heudelinne (fl. c. 1700-1710)

Louis Heudelinne"s two volumes, "Trois Suites de pieces" (Paris: Christophe Ballard, 1701) and "Second livre de pieces" (Paris: Foucault, 1705) contain the earliest published music for solo dessus de viole (treble viola da gamba). They are also among the very little solo literature for the instrument. Heudelinne's music not only reflects the highly developed French basse de viole style of violistes such as Marin Marais (1656-1728), but also shows influence of the Italian style that penetrated French compositions at the turn of the eighteenth century. The use of dessus and basse de violes, the organization of highly stylized dance movements into suites, and the frequent marks and ornament signs in Heudelinne's music are clear indications of the French tradition. The designation of the violin as an alternate instrument, certain elements of Italian melodic style, and the inclusion of sonates for the first time in a French publication show Heudelinne's interest in the Italian style. This thesis is concerned with bibliographical aspects of the books as well as musical and historical significance of their contents. In Chapter I, there is historical background on the viola da gamba family in France and the development of solo styles for the dessus and basse de violes. Chapter II deals with the influence of the Italian sonata on French instrumental music from 1690 to 1725. Chapter III contains what little biographical information is known about Heudelinne and summarizes significant aspects of the bibliographical study presented in Appendix II. Chapter IV is an analytical study focusing on form and style in Heudelinne's music with reference to the selection of facsimile examples included in Appendix III. The remaining appendices, I and IV, include facsimile examples of Louis Couperin's music for viol ensemble and translations of prefatory and other verbal material in Heudelinne's volumes. Many new elements were introduced into French music in the years following Lully's death in 1687 and Heudelinne's music reflects the upheaval during this period. His music follows the basse de viole style, showing particular influence by Marais, but also adapts some of the Italian violin style to the dessus de viole. Although Heudelinne does not succeed as brilliantly as Francois Couperin and other major composers of his day in this early attempt to unite the French and Italian styles, his two books nevertheless add a good deal of interesting music to the limited solo repetoire of the dessus de viole.Arts, Faculty ofMusic, School ofGraduat