148 research outputs found
Parent perceptions of person-centered care: A randomized controlled trial of the Childhood Hearing Loss Question Prompt List for Parents
Objective: When children are identified with hearing loss, parents are often unsure about what they need to know. A Childhood Hearing Loss Question Prompt List for Parents (CHLQPL) was recently developed to help parents and providers address questions. This exploratory study investigated if parents who used the CHLQPL in their audiology appointment perceived their appointment as more person-centered than parents who received treatment as usual. Parent perceptions regarding use of the CHLQPL during the audiology appointment was also sought.
Design: Randomized control trial.
Study sample: Parents of children with permanent hearing loss (N=50).
Results: There were no statistically significant differences found between the intervention and control groups in parent perception of person-centeredness. Parents who used the CHLQPL found it useful and would recommend itâs use to others.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to explore other factors and benefits of including the CHLQPL in supporting parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Audiologists can incorporate the CHLQPL to facilitate communication on topics of importance to parents and to facilitate parent engagement in a shared process
Satisfiability, sequence niches, and molecular codes in cellular signaling
Biological information processing as implemented by regulatory and signaling
networks in living cells requires sufficient specificity of molecular
interaction to distinguish signals from one another, but much of regulation and
signaling involves somewhat fuzzy and promiscuous recognition of molecular
sequences and structures, which can leave systems vulnerable to crosstalk. This
paper examines a simple computational model of protein-protein interactions
which reveals both a sharp onset of crosstalk and a fragmentation of the
neutral network of viable solutions as more proteins compete for regions of
sequence space, revealing intrinsic limits to reliable signaling in the face of
promiscuity. These results suggest connections to both phase transitions in
constraint satisfaction problems and coding theory bounds on the size of
communication codes
Modified scoping review of the enablers and barriers to implementing primary health care in the COVID-19 context
Since the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978, countries have varied in their progress towards establishing and sustaining comprehensive primary health care (PHC) and realizing its associated vision of âHealth for Allâ. International health emergencies such as the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic underscore the importance of PHC in underpinning health equity, including via access to routine essential services and emergency responsiveness. This review synthesizes the current state of knowledge about PHC impacts, implementation enablers and barriers, and knowledge gaps across the three main PHC components as conceptualized in the 2018 Astana Framework. A scoping review design was adopted to summarize evidence from a diverse body of literature with a modification to accommodate four discrete phases of searching, screening and eligibility assessment: a database search in PubMed for PHC-related literature reviews and multi-country analyses (Phase 1); a website search for key global PHC synthesis reports (Phase 2); targeted searches for peer-reviewed literature relating to specific components of PHC (Phase 3) and searches for emerging insights relating to PHC in the COVID-19 context (Phase 4). Evidence from 96 included papers were analysed across deductive themes corresponding to the three main components of PHC. Findings affirm that investments in PHC improve equity and access, healthcare performance, accountability of health systems and health outcomes. Key enablers of PHC implementation include equity-informed financing models, health system and governance frameworks that differentiate multi-sectoral PHC from more discrete service-focussed primary care, and governance mechanisms that strengthen linkages between policymakers, civil society, non-governmental organizations, community-based organizations and private sector entities. Although knowledge about, and experience in, PHC implementation continues to grow, critical knowledge gaps are evident, particularly relating to country-level, context-specific governance, financing, workforce, accountability and service coordination mechanisms. An agenda to guide future country-specific PHC research is outlined
Immunoglobulin variable-region gene mutational lineage tree analysis: application to autoimmune diseases
Lineage trees have frequently been drawn to illustrate diversification, via somatic hypermutation (SHM), of immunoglobulin variable-region (IGV) genes. In order to extract more information from IGV sequences, we developed a novel mathematical method for analyzing the graphical properties of IgV gene lineage trees, allowing quantification of the differences between the dynamics of SHM and antigen-driven selection in different lymphoid tissues, species, and disease situations. Here, we investigated trees generated from published IGV sequence data from B cell clones participating in autoimmune responses in patients with Myasthenia Gravis (MG), Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), and Sjögren's Syndrome (SS). At present, as no standards exist for cell sampling and sequence extraction methods, data obtained by different research groups from two studies of the same disease often vary considerably. Nevertheless, based on comparisons of data groups within individual studies, we show here that lineage trees from different individual patients are often similar and can be grouped together, as can trees from two different tissues in the same patient, and even from IgG- and IgA-expressing B cell clones. Additionally, lineage trees from most studies reflect the chronic character of autoimmune diseases
Contribute a Verse
In response to the Affordable Learning Georgia initiative, Dr. Tanya Bennett and ten colleagues from the University of North Georgia have written Contribute a Verse: A Guide to First Year Composition. This peer reviewed textbook, published by the University of North Georgia Press, combines a composition rhetoric manual with grammar and documentation instruction and resources, components that can be flexibly arranged to fit instructorsâ classroom plans. It includes a standard rhetoric instruction, information and practice for Standard English Grammar, and guidelines for the four most common documentation styles. Its reader compiles essays compiled for English 1101, focused for thematic discussion and selected for use in rhetorical analysis. The textbook also includes a glossary of pertinent terms and ancillary instructor resources.
Its contents include Reading Critically/Engaging the Material; Rhetorical Situations; Effective Argument; Introductions and Conclusions; Logic of Assertion, Evidence, and Interpretation; Documentation; Visual Rhetoric; Multi-Modality; Inter-disciplinary Writing; and Grammar.
A print version of this book is available for $29.99
Contact the University of North Georgia Press for details and ordering information. [email protected] | 706-864-1556https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/books/1002/thumbnail.jp
"Meaning" as a sociological concept: A review of the modeling, mapping, and simulation of the communication of knowledge and meaning
The development of discursive knowledge presumes the communication of meaning
as analytically different from the communication of information. Knowledge can
then be considered as a meaning which makes a difference. Whereas the
communication of information is studied in the information sciences and
scientometrics, the communication of meaning has been central to Luhmann's
attempts to make the theory of autopoiesis relevant for sociology. Analytical
techniques such as semantic maps and the simulation of anticipatory systems
enable us to operationalize the distinctions which Luhmann proposed as relevant
to the elaboration of Husserl's "horizons of meaning" in empirical research:
interactions among communications, the organization of meaning in
instantiations, and the self-organization of interhuman communication in terms
of symbolically generalized media such as truth, love, and power. Horizons of
meaning, however, remain uncertain orders of expectations, and one should
caution against reification from the meta-biological perspective of systems
theory
Visual masking: past accomplishments, present status, future developments
Visual masking, throughout its history, has been used as an investigative tool in
exploring the temporal dynamics of visual perception, beginning with retinal
processes and ending in cortical processes concerned with the conscious
registration of stimuli. However, visual masking also has been a phenomenon
deemed worthy of study in its own right. Most of the recent uses of visual
masking have focused on the study of central processes, particularly those
involved in feature, object and scene representations, in attentional control
mechanisms, and in phenomenal awareness. In recent years our understanding of
the phenomenon and cortical mechanisms of visual masking also has benefited from
several brain imaging techniques and from a number of sophisticated and
neurophysiologically plausible neural network models. Key issues and problems
are discussed with the aim of guiding future empirical and theoretical
research
Mind the gap: An attempt to bridge computational and neuroscientific approaches to study creativity
Creativity is the hallmark of human cognition and is behind every innovation, scientific discovery, piece of music, artwork, and idea that have shaped our lives, from ancient times till today. Yet scientific understanding of creative processes is quite limited, mostly due to the traditional belief that considers creativity as a mysterious puzzle, a paradox, defying empirical enquiry. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in revealing the neural correlates of human creativity. Though many of these studies, pioneering in nature, help demystification of creativity, but the field is still dominated by popular beliefs in associating creativity with âright brain thinkingâ, âdivergent thinkingâ, âaltered statesâ and so on (Dietrich and Kanso, 2010). In this article, we discuss a computational framework for creativity based on Baarsâ Global Workspace Theory (GWT; Baars, 1988) enhanced with mechanisms based on information theory. Next we propose a neurocognitive architecture of creativity with a strong focus on various facets (i.e., unconscious thought theory, mind wandering, spontaneous brain states) of un/pre-conscious brain responses. Our principal argument is that pre-conscious creativity happens prior to conscious creativity and the proposed computational model may provide a mechanism by which this transition is managed. This integrative approach, albeit unconventional, will hopefully stimulate future neuroscientific studies of the inscrutable phenomenon of creativity
Narrowband Searches for Continuous and Long-duration Transient Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars in the LIGO-Virgo Third Observing Run
Isolated neutron stars that are asymmetric with respect to their spin axis are possible sources of detectable continuous gravitational waves. This paper presents a fully coherent search for such signals from eighteen pulsars in data from LIGO and Virgo's third observing run (O3). For known pulsars, efficient and sensitive matched-filter searches can be carried out if one assumes the gravitational radiation is phase-locked to the electromagnetic emission. In the search presented here, we relax this assumption and allow both the frequency and the time derivative of the frequency of the gravitational waves to vary in a small range around those inferred from electromagnetic observations. We find no evidence for continuous gravitational waves, and set upper limits on the strain amplitude for each target. These limits are more constraining for seven of the targets than the spin-down limit defined by ascribing all rotational energy loss to gravitational radiation. In an additional search, we look in O3 data for long-duration (hours-months) transient gravitational waves in the aftermath of pulsar glitches for six targets with a total of nine glitches. We report two marginal outliers from this search, but find no clear evidence for such emission either. The resulting duration-dependent strain upper limits do not surpass indirect energy constraints for any of these targets. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society
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