Assessment done write : using collaboration to reculture teacher learning

This study examined the impact that collaborative learning had on the assessment and evaluation of writing practices of a group of teachers as they engaged in a community of learners. The study explored the development of teacher knowledge and perceptions as well as the implementation of effective assessment strategies in writing for students in grades 4 to 8 that could be achieved through collaboration. Teachers' perceptions of the value of collaboration were also embedded within the study. Multiple methods of data collection were used to gather rich and descriptive data. Those methods included interviews, observation, and documentation of meetings and of participants' perceptions of their assessment and evaluation practices. Five preexisting themes describing desired outcomes of change were used to analyze the data. These themes included: knowledge, attitude, skill, aspiration, and behaviour. While it was difficult to identify definitively the degree oflearning achieved by the participants, conclusions can be drawn that the participants experienced learning and some change in the areas of knowledge and skill, attitude, aspiration, and behaviour. What was notable was the continued belief on the part of the participants of the value of collaboration as a means of learning

Genomic Data Analysis of SARS-Cov-2 Variants and Trends

The objective of this study was to analyze SARS-Cov-2 sequence variants and trends during the pandemic. This study was done using SARS-Cov-2 positive patient samples from Boise State University and the surrounding community. For variant analysis, Next Generation Sequencing was performed and the sequences were analyzed using the DRAGEN COVID Lineage (version 3s) pipeline on Illumina’s BaceSpace software. Any sequences with low-quality control were removed from the data. Some of the factors that were analyzed included symptoms by clade, campus positivity rates and the amount of campus and community tests run each semester. Individuals from the Boise State campus were identified as off-campus students, on-campus students, or faculty/staff members. The COVID sequencing data was also analyzed against key demographics such as an individual’s gender, age, race, ethnicity, and location. Sequences were also organized by the phylogeny of clades found from 2020-2024

Multimorbidity and quality of life in primary care: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Many patients with several concurrent medical conditions (multimorbidity) are seen in the primary care setting. A thorough understanding of outcomes associated with multimorbidity would benefit primary care workers of all disciplines. The purpose of this systematic review was to clarify the relationship between the presence of multimorbidity and the quality of life (QOL) or health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients seen, or likely to be seen, in the primary care setting. METHODS: Medline and Embase electronic databases were screened using the following search terms for the reference period 1990 to 2003: multimorbidity, comorbidity, chronic disease, and their spelling variations, along with quality of life and health-related quality of life. Only descriptive studies relevant to primary care were selected. RESULTS: Of 753 articles screened, 108 were critically assessed for compliance with study inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty of these studies were ultimately selected for this review, including 7 in which the relationship between multimorbidity or comorbidity and QOL or HRQOL was the main outcome measure. Major limitations of these studies include the lack of a uniform definition for multimorbidity or comorbidity and the absence of assessment of disease severity. The use of self-reported diagnoses may also be a weakness. The frequent exclusion of psychiatric diagnoses and presence of potential confounding variables are other limitations. Nonetheless, we did find an inverse relationship between the number of medical conditions and QOL related to physical domains. For social and psychological dimensions of QOL, some studies reveal a similar inverse relationship in patients with 4 or more diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings confirm the existence of an inverse relationship between multimorbidity or comorbidy and QOL. However, additional studies are needed to clarify this relationship, including the various dimensions of QOL affected. Those studies must employ a clear definition of multimorbidity or comorbidity and valid ways to measure these concepts in a primary care setting. Pursuit of this research will help to better understand the impact of chronic diseases on patients

The Canada France Redshift Survey VIII: Evolution of the clustering of galaxies from z~1

We have used the projected two-point correlation function, $w(r_p)$, to investigate the spatial distribution of the 591 galaxies with secure redshifts between $0 \leq z \leq 1.3$ in the five CFRS fields. The slope of the two-point correlation function for the sample as a whole is $\gamma=1.64\pm0.05$, very similar to the local slope, and $\gamma$ is therefore not strongly evolving with redshift. However, the amplitude of the correlation function decreases strongly with increasing redshift, so that at $z\approx0.6$ it is a factor of 10 lower (for $q_0=0.5$) than for a similarly-selected local galaxy population, on scales $0.1<r<2h^{-1}$ Mpc ($q_0=0.5$). As a whole, the CFRS data is adequately represented by $r_0(z=0.53)=1.33 \pm 0.09 h^{-1}$Mpc for $q_0=0.5$, and $r_0(z=0.53)=1.57 \pm 0.09 h^{-1}$Mpc for $q_0=0$. Unless the galaxy population at high redshift is quite different from any population seen locally, an unlikely possibility, then this implies growth of clustering as described by the evolutionary parameter $\epsilon$ to be between $0 < \epsilon < +2$. No difference in the clustering of red and blue galaxies is seen at $z \geq 0.5$, although at lower redshifts, $0.2 \leq z \leq 0.5$, blue galaxies are somewhat less strongly correlated than the redder galaxies, as seen in local samples. This effect could be the equivalent for field galaxies to the Butcher-Oemler effect seen in clusters of galaxies. The cross-correlation functions between red and blue samples have comparable amplitudes to the auto-correlation functions of each. The distribution and power spectrum of pair separations does not indicateComment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Family physician involvement in cancer care follow-up: the experience of a cohort of patients with lung cancer.

PURPOSE There has been little research describing the involvement of family physicians in the follow up of patients with cancer especially during the primary treatment phase We undertook a prospective longitudinal study of patients with lung cancer to assess their family physician s involvement in their follow up at the different phases of cancer METHODS In 5 hospitals in the province of Quebec Canada patients with a recent diagnosis of lung cancer were surveyed every 3 to 6 months whether they had metastasis or not, for a maximum of 18 months to assess aspects of their family physician s involvement in cancer care RESULTS Of the 395 participating patients 92% had a regular family physician but only 60% had been referred to a specialist by him/her or a colleague for the diagnosis of their lung cancer A majority of patients identified the oncology team or oncologists as mainly responsible for their cancer care throughout their cancer journey except at the advanced phase where a majority attributed this role to their family physician At baseline only 16% of patients perceived a shared care pattern between their family physician and oncologists but this pro portion increased with cancer progression Most patients would have liked their family physician to be more involved in all aspects of cancer care CONCLUSIONS Although patients perceive that the oncology team is the main party responsible for the follow up of their lung cancer they also wish their family physicians to be involved Better communication and collaboration between family physicians and the oncology team are needed to facilitate shared care in cancer follow u

Mental State Inferences Abilities Contribution to Verbal Irony Comprehension in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Objective. The present study examined mentalizing capacities as well as the relative implication of mentalizing in the comprehension of ironic and sincere assertions among 30 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 30 healthy control (HC) subjects. Method. Subjects were administered a task evaluating mentalizing by means of short stories. A verbal irony comprehension task, in which participants had to identify ironic or sincere statements within short stories, was also administered; the design of the task allowed uniform implication of mentalizing across the conditions. Results. Findings indicated that participants with MCI have second-order mentalizing difficulties compared to HC subjects. Moreover, MCI participants were impaired compared to the HC group in identifying ironic or sincere stories, both requiring mental inference capacities. Conclusion. This study suggests that, in individuals with MCI, difficulties in the comprehension of ironic and sincere assertions are closely related to second-order mentalizing deficits. These findings support previous data suggesting a strong relationship between irony comprehension and mentalizing

Patterns of multimorbidity in working Australians

Background: Multimorbidity is becoming more prevalent. Previously-used methods of assessing multimorbidity relied on counting the number of health conditions, often in relation to an index condition (comorbidity), or grouping conditions based on body or organ systems. Recent refinements in statistical approaches have resulted in improved methods to capture patterns of multimorbidity, allowing for the identification of nonrandomly occurring clusters of multimorbid health conditions. This paper aims to identify nonrandom clusters of multimorbidity.Methods: The Australian Work Outcomes Research Cost-benefit (WORC) study cross-sectional screening dataset (approximately 78,000 working Australians) was used to explore patterns of multimorbidity. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify nonrandomly occurring clusters of multimorbid health conditions.Results: Six clinically-meaningful groups of multimorbid health conditions were identified. These were: factor 1: arthritis, osteoporosis, other chronic pain, bladder problems, and irritable bowel; factor 2: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and allergies; factor 3: back/neck pain, migraine, other chronic pain, and arthritis; factor 4: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, and fatigue; factor 5: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, fatigue, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and arthritis; and factor 6: irritable bowel, ulcer, heartburn, and other chronic pain. These clusters do not fall neatly into organ or body systems, and some conditions appear in more than one cluster.Conclusions: Considerably more research is needed with large population-based datasets and a comprehensive set of reliable health diagnoses to better understand the complex nature and composition of multimorbid health conditions

Wake up, wake up! It's me! It's my life! patient narratives on person-centeredness in the integrated care context: a qualitative study

Person-centered care emphasizes a holistic, humanistic approach that puts patients first, at the center of medical care. Person-centeredness is also considered a core element of integrated care. Yet typologies of integrated care mainly describe how patients fit within integrated services, rather than how services fit into the patient's world. Patient-centeredness has been commonly defined through physician's behaviors aimed at delivering patient-centered care. Yet, it is unclear how 'person-centeredness' is realized in integrated care through the patient voice. We aimed to explore patient narratives of person-centeredness in the integrated care context

Place des nouveaux traitements médicaux dans l’endométriose douloureuse, RPC Endométriose CNGOF-HAS

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this work is to evaluate the place of new treatments in the management of endometriosis outside the context of infertility. METHODS: A review of the literature was conducted by consulting Medline data until July 2017. RESULTS: Dienogest is effective compared to placebo in short term (NP2) and long term (NP4) for the treatment of painful endometriosis. In comparison with GnRH agonists, dienogest is also effective in terms of decreased pain and improved quality of life in non-operated patients (NP2) as well as for recurrence of lesions and symptomatology postoperatively (NP2). Data on GnRH antagonists, selective progesterone receptor modulators as well as selective inhibitors (anti-TNF-α, matrix metalloprotease inhibitors, angiogenesis growth factor inhibitors) are insufficient to provide evidence of interest in clinical practice for the management of painful endometriosis (NP3). CONCLUSION: Dienogest is recommended as second-line therapy for the management of painful endometriosis (Grade B). Because of lack of evidence, aromatase inhibitors, elagolix, SERM, SPRM and anti-TNF-α are not recommended for the management of painful endometriosis (Grade C)

The modified patient enablement instrument: a Portuguese cross-cultural adaptation, validity and reliability study

"Article number: 16087"Enabling patients with asthma to obtain the knowledge, confidence and skills they need in order to assume a major role in the management of their disease is cost effective. It should be an integral part of any plan for long-term control of asthma. The modified Patient Enablement Instrument (mPEI) is an easily administered questionnaire that was adapted in the United Kingdom to measure patient enablement in asthma, but its applicability in Portugal is not known. Validity and reliability of questionnaires should be tested before use in settings different from those of the original version. The purpose of this study was to test the applicability of the mPEI to Portuguese asthma patients after translation and cross-cultural adaptation, and to verify the structural validity, internal consistency and reproducibility of the instrument. The mPEI was translated to Portuguese and back translated to English. Its content validity was assessed by a debriefing interview with 10 asthma patients. The translated instrument was then administered to a random sample of 142 patients with persistent asthma. Structural validity and internal consistency were assessed. For reproducibility analysis, 86 patients completed the instrument again 7 days later. Item-scale correlations and exploratory factor analysis were used to assess structural validity. Cronbach's alpha was used to test internal consistency, and the intra-class correlation coefficient was used for the analysis of reproducibility. All items of the Portuguese version of the mPEI were found to be equivalent to the original English version. There were strong item-scale correlations that confirmed construct validity, with a one component structure and good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >0.8) as well as high test-retest reliability (ICC=0.85). The mPEI showed sound psychometric properties for the evaluation of enablement in patients with asthma making it a reliable instrument for use in research and clinical practice in Portugal. Further studies are needed to confirm its responsiveness.Financial support for this work was provided by FEDER funds through the Operational Programme Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and National Funds through FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology under the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007038, and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio