An overview of systematic reviews in medical education and a focused review in prescribing

Background: Tertiary reviews (review of reviews) in medical education tend to focus on doctors, continuing education and professional practice. This paper provides a tertiary review of all areas of medical education at all levels. An in-depth focus on prescribing is included. Methods and results: A systematic search using the keywords ‘medical education’ AND (‘systematic review’ OR ‘meta-analysis’) yielded 187 reviews. Reviews were coded by intervention, curriculum/theme, participants and outcomes, creating a systematic map. The most popular interventions and curriculum were simulation (9%) and prescribing (7%), respectively. Most reviews included multiple participant types (68%) and sought patient/health outcomes (64%). Twelve prescribing reviews included in the in-depth review found active educational strategies more effective than passive strategies. Discussion: The systematic map highlights topics and interventions, but further research should explore the cost-effectiveness of the reviews themselves. Prescribing reviews tend to focus on doctors; more research into the acquisition of prescribing skills by students/junior doctors is required

Girlhood, bride-kidnapping and the postsocialist moment in Mángshān (Blind Mountain) (Li, 2007) and Boz Salkyn (Pure Coolness) (Abdyjaparov, 2007)

China and Kyrgyzstan are at the point of national development where the interplay between a national past and a globalised future are still hotly debated. Both nations are at the crux of the global questions related to the universal dilemmas posed by the collapse of the revolutionary socialist challenge to the hegemony of capitalism (Sakwa 1999). This article will examine the interplay between gender and the vision of postsocialist modernity that is found in two films. Blind Mountain (Li, 2007) and Pure Coolness (Abdyjaparov, 2007) both present the respective stories of teenagers forced into marriage as part of a "tradition" that is supported by the broader local community (as opposed to been the act of an individual male kidnapper). I will explore how the girl simultaneously represents a vision of a localised space while operating as an indicative sign of cultural difference. In short, she is the site of the transmission of ideals of gender and modernity between moments in national development. We, therefore, see the girl caught in the crosshair of modernity, sexuality, tradition, nostalgia and capitalism in communities that, as will be explored, are struggling to find a sense of self in the Asian post-socialist moment

Attitudes and perceptions of next-of-kin/loved ones toward end-of-life HIV cure-related research: A qualitative focus group study in Southern California

As end-of-life (EOL) HIV cure-related research expands, understanding perspectives of participants’ next-of-kin (NOK) is critical to maintaining ethical study conduct. We conducted two small focus groups and two one-on-one interviews using focus group guides with the NOK of Last Gift study participants at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Participating NOK included six individuals (n = 5 male and n = 1 female), including a grandmother, grandfather, partner, spouse, and two close friends. Researchers double-coded the transcripts manually for overarching themes and sub-themes using an inductive approach. We identified six key themes: 1) NOK had an accurate, positive understanding of the Last Gift clinical study; 2) NOK felt the study was conducted ethically; 3) Perceived benefits for NOK included support navigating the dying/grieving process and personal growth; 4) Perceived drawbacks included increased sadness, emotional stress, conflicted wishes between NOK and study participants, and concerns around potential invasiveness of study procedures at the EOL; 5) NOK expressed pride in loved ones’ altruism; and 6) NOK provided suggestions to improve the Last Gift study, including better communication between staff and themselves. These findings provide a framework for ethical implementation of future EOL HIV cure-related research involving NOK

Orientifolds of Matrix theory and Noncommutative Geometry

We study explicit solutions for orientifolds of Matrix theory compactified on noncommutative torus. As quotients of torus, cylinder, Klein bottle and M\"obius strip are applicable as orientifolds. We calculate the solutions using Connes, Douglas and Schwarz's projective module solution, and investigate twisted gauge bundle on quotient spaces as well. They are Yang-Mills theory on noncommutative torus with proper boundary conditions which define the geometry of the dual space.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, minor corrections, two references added, discussions slightly expanded, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Matrix Compactification On Orientifolds

Generalizing previous results for orbifolds, in this paper we describe the compactification of Matrix model on an orientifold which is a quotient space as a Yang-Mills theory living on a quantum space. The information of the compactification is encoded in the action of the discrete symmetry group G on Euclidean space and a projective representation U of G. The choice of Hilbert space on which the algebra of U is realized as an operator algebra corresponds to the choice of a physical background for the compactification. All these data are summarized in the spectral triple of the quantum space.Comment: 28 pages, late

Materiality in information environments: Objects, spaces, and bodies in three outpatient hemodialysis facilities

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152032/1/asi24277.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152032/2/asi24277_am.pd

Cosmic-ray strangelets in the Earth's atmosphere

If strange quark matter is stable in small lumps, we expect to find such lumps, called ``strangelets'', on Earth due to a steady flux in cosmic rays. Following recent astrophysical models, we predict the strangelet flux at the top of the atmosphere, and trace the strangelets' behavior in atmospheric chemistry and circulation. We show that several strangelet species may have large abundances in the atmosphere; that they should respond favorably to laboratory-scale preconcentration techniques; and that they present promising targets for mass spectroscopy experiments.Comment: 28 pages, 4 figures, revtex

What are the impacts of flow regime changes on fish productivity in temperate regions? A systematic map protocol

Background: Ecosystem changes from altered flows can have multiple impacts on fish, including changes to physical habitat, habitat access, food supplies, behaviour, community composition, energy expenditure, and population dynamics. There is growing evidence of the potential negative consequences of altered flow regimes on fluvial ecosystems and the fisheries they support. As such, the scientific and policy communities have acknowledged the need for maintaining or restoring natural flow variability in order to sustain ecological health of fluvial ecosystems. However, for resource managers, making decisions on the potential effects of flow alterations on fish productivity has been problematic because there are still uncertainties regarding flow-fish productivity relationships. Therefore, to ensure the maintenance of healthy and productive aquatic ecosystems and the sustainability of riverine fisheries, a better understanding of the impacts of flow alteration on fish productivity is needed. Due to the wide scope of this review, and the diversity of fish productivity outcomes used to evaluate flow alteration impacts, the set of studies will be quite heterogeneous. Therefore, prior to undertaking a comprehensive and quantitative synthesis, we propose to begin with a systematic map to provide an overview of the available evidence on the impacts of flow regime changes on fish productivity. We will also use this systematic map to identify subtopics that are sufficiently covered by existing studies to allow full systematic reviewing. Methods: This systematic map will compile evidence on the impacts of flow regime changes on fish productivity. All studies that evaluate the effects of flow regime change on direct outcomes of fish productivity, will be included in the review. We will use a broad definition of fish productivity to include any measurement related to: biomass, abundance, density, yield, diversity, growth, survival, individual performance, migration, reproduction, recruitment, or surrogate thereof. Relevant causes of a change in/modification to flow regime can include: (1) anthropogenic causes: dams, reservoirs (impoundments), hydroelectric facilities, locks, levees, water withdrawal (abstraction), water diversion, land-use changes, and road culverts; or (2) natural causes: climate change (possible indirect anthropogenic cause as well), floods, droughts, seasonal changes. Any freshwater or estuarine fish species or species groups in temperate regions will be considered. The review will include a wide range of sources including primary and grey literature and use public databases, search engines and specialist websites. A searchable database containing extracted meta-data from relevant included studies will be developed and provided as a supplementary file to the map report. The final narrative will describe the quantity and key characteristics of the available evidence, identify knowledge gaps for future research and identify subtopics that are sufficiently covered by existing studies to allow full systematic reviewing