Blended versus face-to-face: comparing student performance in a therapeutics class

Therapeutics is a very complex subject for every pharmacy student, since it requires the application of knowledge from several other disciplines. The study of therapeutics is often done in case-based learning in order to promote reflective thinking and give a scenario as real as possible. The objective of this study was to compare student performance between faceto-face (n = 54) and blended learning (n = 56) approaches to the teaching of therapeutics. They can confirm that there are statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between the final exam scores from both groups, being that the b learning group achieved higher scores. Blended learning seems to be an effective way to teach therapeutics, following pre established teaching methods, and above all, does not negatively affect student performance. It also provides new learning environments and strategies, and promotes the development of new skills such as learning and collaborating online, which may be relevant in a networked knowledge society.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evaluation of malnutrition, as a possible cause of persistence of goiter despite iodine supplementation

Background: Iodine deficiency is the most common cause of endemic goiter. Frequency of goiter has remained >5% despite iodide supplementation and sufficient iodide intake. Other causes have to be investigated. This study was conducted to assess influences of malnutrition on persistence of goiter frequency while iodine intake is sufficient. Methods: 1504 school age children (8-10 year) were selected randomly and examined in south of Iran – Firoozabad. 102 cases with goiter grade 2 and 3 were found. 100 completely normal children regarding thyroid examination were also selected randomly as control. Growth parameters (Weight for age, Height for age and Body Mass Index) and urinary iodine as an indicator of iodine intake were assessed in both groups. Findings: Median of urinary iodine was 21 μg/dL in patients. (>10μg/dL indicates sufficiency of iodine intake.) Regarding growth indicators there was not statistically significant difference between the two groups, which rules out malnutrition as a cause of persistence of goiter. On the other hand our study may show that malnutrition (several nutritional deficiencies) could be as a cause of goiter just in the presence of iodine deficiency. Larger studies in iodine sufficient but with more severe malnutrition or comparison of frequency of goiter before and after nutritional improvement in a population with malnutrition and iodine sufficiency may be more helpful. Conclusions: Malnutrition per se could not be considered as a cause of goiter when iodine intake is sufficient

Evaluation of peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus by bedside scoring procedure

Background: Foot ulceration and lower limb amputation are still common complications of Diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetic foot problems account for more hospitalization days than any other diabetic problem. The main etiologic factors are diabetic neuropathy and peripheral vascular disease. An easy, simple to use and low cost method for screening of diabetic peripheral neuropathy will be very useful. Methods: From May 2003 to May 2004, all diabetic patients (type 1) referred to endocrine clinic of Namazi Hospital were evaluated for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), using the bedside scoring procedure. A score of 3-5 indicated mild, 6-8 moderate, and 9- 10 severe DPN. The perception of vibration, temperature, pinprick and ankle reflex was examined. Tuning fork (128 Hz), neuropen, cold and warm water and reflex hammer were used for evaluation. Findings: In this study we evaluated 80 patients (34 male and 46 female) with type 1 DM, with the age range of 6-31 years (Mean± SD 18.16± 5.22 yr). The overall prevalence of DPN was 13.75%: mild in 7.5%, moderate in 5% and severe in 1.25% of the patients. The most common physical finding was the absence of ankle reflex. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on the presence of DPN. The prevalence of DPN was significantly associated with age, duration of DM and BMI (P<0.05). There was no significant correlation with sex, HbAlc, puberty, parental consanguinity and family history of DM. Conclusions: Bedside scoring procedure is a simple, low cost and easy method for screening of DPN in patients with type 1 DM in outpatient clinic. Examination of ankle reflex is very important. It is concluded that the diabetic patients need better follow-up and more education

Taxonomy of filtering based illumination normalization for face recognition

Presently, the difficulty in managing illumination over the face recognition techniques and smooth filters has emerged as one of the biggest challenges. This is due to differences between face images created by illuminations which are always bigger than the inter-person that usually be used for identities' recognition. No doubt, the use of illumination technique for face recognition is much more popular with a greater number of users in various applications in these days. It is able to make applications that come with face recognition as a non-intrusive biometric feature becoming executable and utilizable. There are tremendous efforts put in developing the illumination and face recognition by which numerous methods had already been introduced. However, further considerations are required such as the deficiencies in comprehending the sub-spaces in illuminations pictures, intractability in face modelling as well as the tedious mechanisms of face surface reflections as far as face recognition and illumination concerned. In this study, few illuminations have been analyzed in order to construct the taxonomy. This covers the background and previous studies in illumination techniques as well the image-based face recognition over illumination. Data was obtained from the year of 1996 through 2014 out of books, journals as well as electronic sources that would share more on the advantageous and disadvantageous, the current technique's performance as well as future plan

Serum Zinc Levels in Children and Adolescents With Type-1 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: There have been very few studies, with contradictory results, on the zinc status of children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine zinc status based on the serum zinc concentration in type-1 diabetic children and adolescents and compare it with that of healthy controls.Methods: Thirty children and adolescents with type-1 diabetes mellitus, aged 6 to 18 years, and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy controls participated in the study. Serum zinc, fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c and serum albumin were meas&shy;ured by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, enzymatic colorimetry, ion-exchange chromatography and colorimetry using bromocresol green methods, respectively.Results: No statistically significant difference was found in the mean serum zinc concentration between diabetic patients and healthy controls (111.0 &plusmn; 3.1 and 107.1 &plusmn; 3.8 mg/dl respectively, P= 0.4). No correlations were found between the serum zinc levels and fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, or the duration of the disease in the patients.Conclusion: The zinc levels of diabetic children and adolescents are not noticeably different compared to those of healthy controls and are independent of glycemic control and the duration of the disease