Erratum to: A Systematic Review of the Effects of Aromatherapy with Lavender Essential Oil on Depression

The editors of the Central Asian Journal of Global Health regretfully published the article “A Systematic Review of the Effects of Aromatherapy with Lavender Essential Oil on Depression” with a misspelled word in the title. This mistake has been corrected. The original article has been updated to reflect this change.Jafar-Koulaee A, Elyasi F, Taraghi Z, Ilali ES, Moosazadeh M. A systematic review of the effects of aromatherapy with lavender essential oil on depression. Cent Asian J Glob Health. 2020;9(1) doi:10.5195/cajgh.2020.442

NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE QUALITY CONTROL OF EPIDEMIOLOGICAL LECTURES ON THE INTERNET

Finding high quality materials for the preparation of epidemiological lectures is a serious challenge for epidemiologists and public health professionals across the world. The emergence of the Internet in the early 90's offered a way to ease the access to the epidemiological lectures; however it also raised important questions about the quality of the educational lectures which are freely available on the Internet. In this research, we analyzed the quality of epidemiological lectures in the Global Health Network Supercourse lecture library. We selected a random sample of 100 lectures in the Supercourse that accumulated at least 3 reviews from the visitors of the Supercourse sites. We found 7 experts, leading researchers in the field of public health and medicine, who were also very experienced in reviewing papers for journals. These experts evaluated the same set of 100 lectures and gave us their expert opinion on their quality. Overall, the lectures were rated positively by both expert and the Supercourse reviewers. Although t-test indicated that the difference between the means was statistically significant, this difference is not meaningful due to large sample size. Kappa statistic and intraclass correlations indicated that inter rater agreement for experts and non-experts was surprisingly low (less than 0.4). We also observed HALO affect with overall score being a good predictor of other scores. Our findings were consistent with existing research in the area of peer review, demonstrating low inter rater agreement. This poor inter rater agreement was demonstrated for the first time for the Internet lectures. Our findings suggested that questionnaires assessing the quality of the Internet lectures may actually be replaced by one rating, similar to the system utilized in Amazon.com or hotel ratings. This research was significant for the field of public health because it was one of the first efforts to evaluate the quality of epidemiological lectures on the Internet. The quality of lectures on the web has rarely been assessed scientifically for epidemiological and public health lectures. Future research in this area may need to concentrate on alternatives to the peer review system

New directions in building a scientific social network: Experiences in the Supercourse project and application to Central Asia.

Introduction: Networking leaders in the field of public health and medicine is very important for improving health locally and globally, especially in times of disaster. Methods: Fishing can best be defined as using an internet search engine to find the name and email address of the person or organization that is being sought. Results: With over 500 hours of work, the group compiled a list of nearly 2,000 email addresses of Ministers of Health, deans of the 1,800 medical schools and schools of public health, and heads of medical and public health societies

New directions in building a scientific social network: Experiences in the Supercourse project and application to Central Asia

oai:ojs.cajgh.pitt.edu:article/3IntroductionNetworking leaders in the field of public health and medicine is very important for improving health locally and globally, especially in times of disaster.MethodsFishing can best be defined as using an internet search engine to find the name and email address of the person or organization that is being sought.ResultsWith over 500 hours of work, the group compiled a list of nearly 2,000 email addresses of Ministers of Health, deans of the 1,800 medical schools and schools of public health, and heads of medical and public health societies.ConclusionsFishing for deans and others is an important task, albeit just the first step in building a scientific social network.  Upon creation of a database of names, other steps must be taken, such as meeting with others, exchanging information, and forming new collaborations before a scientific social network is successfully completed

Is the Supercourse useful for Latin America?

BACKGROUND: The success of the Supercourse showed that the effort was needed in Latin America. But would a Spanish language version be better for the region? METHODS: Google Analytics was used to determine website usage. A custom evaluation form was created to get user feedback on the usefulness of both the English language and Spanish language Supercouse lectures. RESULTS: Over a year's span from June 2009 to June 2010 there were 257,403 unique visits and 448,939 page views. The overall average rating of lectures was 4.87 with the Spanish language lectures getting even higher ratings. CONCLUSION: Supercourse lectures in Spanish were a great success in Latin America. This success shows the need for this information and similar success could be found in Central Asia

Is the Supercourse useful for Latin America?

BACKGROUND: The success of the Supercourse showed that the effort was needed in Latin America. But would a Spanish language version be better for the region?METHODS: Google Analytics was used to determine website usage. A custom evaluation form was created to get user feedback on the usefulness of both the English language and Spanish language Supercouse lectures.RESULTS: Over a year's span from June 2009 to June 2010 there were 257,403 unique visits and 448,939 page views. The overall average rating of lectures was 4.87 with the Spanish language lectures getting even higher ratings.CONCLUSION: Supercourse lectures in Spanish were a great success in Latin America. This success shows the need for this information and similar success could be found in Central Asia

Total and high-molecular-weight adiponectin levels in relation to insulin resistance among overweight/obese adults.

Objective: To determine whether baseline levels or intervention-associated changes in total and high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin levels were associated with insulin resistance after six months of behavioral treatment for weight loss. Design: An ancillary study to a behavioral weight loss trial; the intervention was delivered in group sessions. Methods: Participants included 143 overweight/obese adults with a mean BMI of 33.7 kg/m2. The sample was 88% female, 67% white, and 44.2 ± 8.5 years old. Circulating adiponectin levels (total and HMW) and the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) of insulin resistance were measured and evaluated. Results: At baseline, there was significant inverse associations between total adiponectin and HOMA (p < 0.001) and between HMW adiponectin and HOMA (p < 0.001) independent of weight. At 6-mo, there was a 17% improvement in HOMA, 8% increase in total adiponectin, 17% increase in HMW adiponectin levels, and 8.72% weight loss (p's for all< 0.001). There was also a significant inverse association between changes in total adiponectin and HOMA (p = 0.04) that was independent of baseline weight and weight loss. In contrast, the association between changes in HMW adiponectin and HOMA was attenuated after adjustment for weight loss. Conclusions: An increased level of total adiponectin was associated with improved insulin sensitivity, regardless of baseline weight and weight loss. However, baseline total and HMW adiponectin levels were more strongly associated with HOMA than changes in these measures at six months. HMW adiponectin level was not related more closely to insulin resistance than total adiponectin level