A way to learn : the service learning between Indonesia (SCU) and Taiwan (FJU)

Gills and Maclellan (2010) conducted a 1999-2009 systemic literature review service learning in nursing education, outcomes suggest that students who participate in international programs having an increase in self-perceived cultural competency, encouraging lifelong commitment to continue serving, developing students into a positive force of change in healthcare abroad and within their own communities. The purpose of this study is in depth to analyze nursing students\u27 learning process through the service learning. Design: Action research method was used and a total number of 6 nursing students were participated in this study. One Taiwanese and one Indonesia students as a team shared a bed and lived with Indonesia family for 11 days. During this period students logs, field notes, reflection sheets and team working records as raw materials together to be used as content analysis, the reliability and validity is based on Lincoln and Guba (1985) proposed vetting reliability and validity of qualitative research methods. Results: After intensively living and working with Indonesia students and family in this international service learning program, the results come up as an agricultural process. It is improving students\u27 cross-culture communication in spread period. Follow by cultivated period that participants established cross-cultural sensitivities and culture respect. In the final harvest period, through the serving activities, participant fulfilled the role as givers and receivers among Indonesia partners and families and able to understand the meaning of love. In conclusion, this study confirmed the previous studies outcomes and showed the dynamic interaction amongst nursing students who joined service learning, and enhanced students understanding among the cultures, with the respect on inner or outer levels

The Relationship between Brown Adipose Tissue Activity and Neoplastic Status: an 18F-FDG PET/CT Study in the Tropics

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Brown adipose tissue (BAT) has thermogenic potential. For its activation, cold exposure is considered a critical factor though other determinants have also been reported. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between neoplastic status and BAT activity by 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose (¹⁸F-FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) in people living in the tropics, where the influence of outdoor temperature was low.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scans were reviewed and the total metabolic activity (TMA) of identified activated BAT quantified. The distribution and TMA of activated BAT were compared between patients with and without a cancer history. The neoplastic status of patients was scored according to their cancer history and ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT findings. We evaluated the relationships between the TMA of BAT and neoplastic status along with other factors: age, body mass index, fasting blood sugar, gender, and outdoor temperature.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty of 1740 patients had activated BAT. Those with a cancer history had wider BAT distribution (<it>p </it>= 0.043) and a higher TMA (<it>p </it>= 0.028) than those without. A higher neoplastic status score was associated with a higher average TMA. Multivariate analyses showed that neoplastic status was the only factor significantly associated with the TMA of activated BAT (<it>p </it>= 0.016).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Neoplastic status is a critical determinant of BAT activity in patients living in the tropics. More active neoplastic status was associated with more vigorous TMA of BAT.</p

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

More Birds in the Hand -Medical Image Segmentation using a Multi-Model Ensemble Framework

In this paper, we introduce a multi-model ensemble framework for medical image segmentation. We first collect a set of state-of-the-art models in this field and further improve them through a series of architecture refinement moves and a set of specific training skills. We then integrate these fine-tuned models into a more powerful ensemble framework. Preliminary experiment results show that the proposed multi-model ensemble framework performs well under the given polyp and instrument datasets.In this paper, we introduce a multi-model ensemble framework for medical image segmentation. We first collect a set of state-of-the-art models in this field and further improve them through a series of architecture refinement moves and a set of specific training skills. We then integrate these fine-tuned models into a more powerful ensemble framework. Preliminary experiment results show that the proposed multi-model ensemble framework performs well under the given polyp and instrument datasets

The Effectiveness of Group-Based Core Stability Exercise and Educational Booklet for Hospital Workers in Taiwan with Nonspecific Low Back Pain: A Preliminary Study

To investigate the effectiveness of health promotion strategies for nonspecific low back pain in hospital workers, we compared the therapeutic effects of group-based core stability exercises and an educational booklet. Subjects participated in a 60-min core stability exercise on a weekly basis for 8 weeks (N = 24) or consulted an educational booklet for advice (N = 22). The numerical rating scale (NRS), Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and the brief version of the World Health Organization&rsquo;s Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) were used as outcome measures. The ODI, as well as the total score and domains of overall, physical, and psychological health in the WHOQOL-BREF were significantly improved in the exercise group (p &lt; 0.05). The NRS score significantly improved in the booklet group (p &lt; 0.05). The total score, psychological domain, and environmental domain of the WHOQOL-BREF improved significantly in the exercise group compared with the booklet group (p &lt; 0.05). Group-based core stability exercises and educational booklets are helpful to hospital workers in different ways for nonspecific low back pain. In contrast to the pain reduction by the educational booklet, more active participation in group-based core stability exercise can provide a better outcome in the overall quality of life, especially in the psychological and environmental domains of hospital workers

Deep-learning-based age estimation from panoramic radiographs : unraveling the learning process

Background: Dental age has been proven to be a good predictor of chronological age, especially in children, for whom the permanent teeth are still developing.1 In adolescents and young adults, the dental age is still useful as a predictor of chronological age, albeit less accurate and precise than it is in children.2 Numerous dental age estimation methods have been described in the literature, both for children, on one hand, and for adolescents and young adults, on the other hand.2 Traditionally, the methods are based on staging dental development, which is done by expert observers. Still, inter-observer variability remains, regardless of the observer’s experience. To overcome the issue of inter-observer variability, automated dental age estimation methods were developed.3-7 Vila-Blanco et al. demonstrated that their Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) for age estimation focused on different parts of the panoramic radiograph, depending on the age category of the studied individual.7 This grossly corresponds with how human observers interpret the panoramic radiograph: by focusing on the developing permanent teeth in children and on the developing third molars in adolescents and young adults. At the same time, Banar and Bertels et al. showed that their CNN for third molar development staging benefited from background removal as a potential compensatory mechanism for having a limited amount of training data.8 Therefore, it can be hypothesized that CNNs for age estimation can be aided by directing their focus inside the panoramic radiograph corresponding to a human observer’s approach. Providing the observer with extra information about where to look may increase accuracy and precision by eliminating redundant information. Purpose: To study the effect of three preprocessing steps of the panoramic radiographs on age estimation performance. Materials and Methods: A set of 3,266 digital panoramic radiographs was collected retrospectively at blinded for review. The study population was between 1 and 24 years old, approximately evenly distributed between both sexes and among all age categories of 1 year. Two preprocessing steps were conducted by a human observer: (1) cropping the panoramic radiographs to display only a rectangle within the third quadrant, and (2) indicating the long axes of the seven permanent teeth and the four third molars on the panoramic radiographs. Based on those long axes, a third preprocessing step was conducted using the Python OpenCV package: (3) masking all redundant information in the panoramic radiographs, keeping rectangles around the seven permanent teeth and the four third molars. Subsequently, the EfficientNet-B7 CNN pretrained on ImageNet was used in combination with an additional global average pooling layer and two dense layers to predict age.9 Age was predicted based either on the original panoramic radiograph or on one of its three preprocessed variants. In each setup, the CNN was tested on the same random subset of 170 subjects. The remainder—for which the number of subjects could vary slightly between the different preprocessing steps because of technical constraints—was used for model fitting, including an internal validation set to monitor convergence. Results: The mean absolute error equaled 0.95 year using the original panoramic radiograph, 1.15 years using the cropped images, 1.08 years using the images with the long axes, and 1.22 years using the masked images. Conclusion: Rather unexpectedly, the CNN benefited from being able to consider the original panoramic radiograph. This suggests that significant tion is present throughout the full panoramic radiograph and/or that directing the CNNs’ focus using prior human experience could be harmful outside the limited data regime

Comparisons of Auditory Performance and Speech Intelligibility after Cochlear Implant Reimplantation in Mandarin-Speaking Users

Objectives. We evaluated the causes, hearing, and speech performance before and after cochlear implant reimplantation in Mandarin-speaking users. Methods. In total, 589 patients who underwent cochlear implantation in our medical center between 1999 and 2014 were reviewed retrospectively. Data related to demographics, etiologies, implant-related information, complications, and hearing and speech performance were collected. Results. In total, 22 (3.74%) cases were found to have major complications. Infection (n=12) and hard failure of the device (n=8) were the most common major complications. Among them, 13 were reimplanted in our hospital. The mean scores of the Categorical Auditory Performance (CAP) and the Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR) obtained before and after reimplantation were 5.5 versus 5.8 and 3.7 versus 4.3, respectively. The SIR score after reimplantation was significantly better than preoperation. Conclusions. Cochlear implantation is a safe procedure with low rates of postsurgical revisions and device failures. The Mandarin-speaking patients in this study who received reimplantation had restored auditory performance and speech intelligibility after surgery. Device soft failure was rare in our series, calling attention to Mandarin-speaking CI users requiring revision of their implants due to undesirable symptoms or decreasing performance of uncertain cause

The Function of the Mutant p53-R175H in Cancer

Wild-type p53 is known as “the guardian of the genome” because of its function of inducing DNA repair, cell-cycle arrest, and apoptosis, preventing the accumulation of gene mutations. TP53 is highly mutated in cancer cells and most TP53 hotspot mutations are missense mutations. Mutant p53 proteins, encoded by these hotspot mutations, lose canonical wild-type p53 functions and gain functions that promote cancer development, including promoting cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion, initiation, metabolic reprogramming, angiogenesis, and conferring drug resistance to cancer cells. Among these hotspot mutations, p53-R175H has the highest occurrence. Although losing the transactivating function of the wild-type p53 and prone to aggregation, p53-R175H gains oncogenic functions by interacting with many proteins. In this review, we summarize the gain of functions of p53-R175H in different cancer types, the interacting proteins of p53-R175H, and the downstream signaling pathways affected by p53-R175H to depict a comprehensive role of p53-R175H in cancer development. We also summarize treatments that target p53-R175H, including reactivating p53-R175H with small molecules that can bind to p53-R175H and alter it into a wild-type-like structure, promoting the degradation of p53-R175H by targeting heat-shock proteins that maintain the stability of p53-R175H, and developing immunotherapies that target the p53-R175H–HLA complex presented by tumor cells

Comparisons of Auditory Performance and Speech Intelligibility after Cochlear Implant Reimplantation in Mandarin-Speaking Users

Objectives. We evaluated the causes, hearing, and speech performance before and after cochlear implant reimplantation in Mandarin-speaking users. Methods. In total, 589 patients who underwent cochlear implantation in our medical center between 1999 and 2014 were reviewed retrospectively. Data related to demographics, etiologies, implant-related information, complications, and hearing and speech performance were collected. Results. In total, 22 (3.74%) cases were found to have major complications. Infection ( = 12) and hard failure of the device ( = 8) were the most common major complications. Among them, 13 were reimplanted in our hospital. The mean scores of the Categorical Auditory Performance (CAP) and the Speech Intelligibility Rating (SIR) obtained before and after reimplantation were 5.5 versus 5.8 and 3.7 versus 4.3, respectively. The SIR score after reimplantation was significantly better than preoperation. Conclusions. Cochlear implantation is a safe procedure with low rates of postsurgical revisions and device failures. The Mandarin-speaking patients in this study who received reimplantation had restored auditory performance and speech intelligibility after surgery. Device soft failure was rare in our series, calling attention to Mandarin-speaking CI users requiring revision of their implants due to undesirable symptoms or decreasing performance of uncertain cause