Nursing needs assessment scale for women with infertility: development and validation

Purpose High-quality nursing care must be provided for women with infertility, and their nursing care needs must be identified. Although scales have been developed to assess infertility-related stress, quality of life, and psychosocial status, there is a lack of scales that assess the nursing care needs of women with infertility. The purpose of this study was to develop a needs assessment scale for nursing care in women with infertility and to verify its reliability and validity. Methods The 250 subjects in this study were women with infertility recruited from four hospitals. The scale was developed following the framework of DeVellis, through a literature review, in-depth interviews, development of preliminary items, verification of content validity, development of secondary items, verification of construct validity, and extraction of the final items. Date were analyzed using item analysis, factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficients, and Cronbach’s alpha. Reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha, and validity was evaluated using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and criterion validity. Results The final version of the nursing needs assessment scale for woman with infertility consisted of 18 items. Four factors (physical and psychological nursing needs, needs for information regarding treatment, needs for infertility-related understanding and concern, and supportive needs) explained 66.0% of the total variance. Cronbach’s alpha was .92 for the overall instrument and ranged from .88 to .91 for the subscales. Conclusion These results suggest that this needs assessment scale for nursing care in women with infertility demonstrated acceptable validity and reliability and contained items suitable for assessing the level of nursing care needed by women with infertility

Systematic review of specialist selection methods with implications for diversity in the medical workforce

Purpose: There is growing concern that inequities in methods of selection into medical specialties reduce specialist cohort diversity, particularly where measures designed for another purpose are adapted for specialist selection, prioritising reliability over validity. This review examined how empirical measures affect the diversity of specialist selection. The goals were to summarise the groups for which evidence is available, evaluate evidence that measures prioritising reliability over validity contribute to under-representation, and identify novel measures or processes that address under-representation, in order to make recommendations on selection into medical specialties and research required to support diversity. Method: In 2020–1, the authors implemented a comprehensive search strategy across 4 electronic databases (Medline, PsychINFO, Scopus, ERIC) covering years 2000–2020, supplemented with hand-search of key journals and reference lists from identified studies. Articles were screened using explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria designed to focus on empirical measures used in medical specialty selection decisions. Results: Thirty-five articles were included from 1344 retrieved from databases and hand-searches. In order of prevalence these papers addressed the under-representation of women (21/35), international medical graduates (10/35), and race/ethnicity (9/35). Apart from well-powered studies of selection into general practice training in the UK, the literature was exploratory, retrospective, and relied upon convenience samples with limited follow-up. There was preliminary evidence that bias in the measures used for selection into training might contribute to under-representation of some groups. Conclusions: The review did not find convincing evidence that measures prioritising reliability drive under-representation of some groups in medical specialties, although this may be due to limited power analyses. In addition, the review did not identify novel specialist selection methods likely to improve diversity. Nevertheless, significant and divergent efforts are being made to promote the evolution of selection processes that draw on all the diverse qualities required for specialist practice serving diverse populations. More rigorous prospective research across different national frameworks will be needed to clarify whether eliminating or reducing the weighting of reliable pre-selection academic results in selection decisions will increase or decrease diversity, and whether drawing on a broader range of assessments can achieve both reliable and socially desirable outcomes

Identifying emerging topics in the peer‑reviewed literature to facilitate curriculum renewal and development

This article reports a bibliometric analysis of emerging topics in the psychiatric literature indexed in the MEDLINE database as a technique for renewal of clinical training curricula. Summary data of English-language articles indexed in the MEDLINE database between 1971-2018 were downloaded. Emerging topics in nine demi-decades between 1972-1976 and 2012-2016 were identified by the incremental incidence of individual Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) compared with previous years. Co-word analysis was used to investigate and visualise the relationships between emerging topics in each demi-decade. Summaries of 18 million articles annotated with psychiatric/psychological MeSH were retrieved and used to identify emerging topics. Peaks in the number of articles annotated by the top 20 emerging topics in 9 demi-decades coincided with release of the third and fourth editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual which codifies psychiatric diagnoses. Themes emerging from network visualisations of the most common emerging MeSH in each demi-decade were consistent with movements in psychiatric/psychological theory and practice since the 1970s, including the recent focus on psychological and social factors implicated in suicide and suicide prevention. The identification of emerging topics within the published medical literature is a viable technique for use in curriculum renewal projects as a counterweight to biases driven by expert judgement. While indices like MEDLINE make the published literature an appealing initial step in building an empirical basis for curriculum development, it also demonstrates the potential value of less public and less structured data, such as health service electronic medical record

Pedigree reconstruction and spatial analysis for genetic testing and selection in a Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carrière plantation

Larix kaempferi is one of the major timber species in Northeast Asia. Demand for the reforestation of the species is rising in South Korea due to an increase in large timber production and utilization. However, progeny trials for the species have not been explored, making it challenging to foster advanced generations of tree improvement. In the present study, genetic testing and selection for diameter growth were conducted using pedigree reconstruction and phenotypic spatial distribution analysis in a plantation of L. kaempferi. The aim of the present study was to select the superior larch individuals using the pedigree reconstruction and phenotypic spatial distribution to substitute progeny trials. The plantation of seed orchard crops was established in 1990 and one-hundred and eighty-eight trees were selected as the study material. Genetic variation was investigated first to validate its adequacy as breeding material. Genetic testing was carried out using a model considering pedigree information and spatial autoregression of the phenotypes. The expected heterozygosity of the mother trees and offspring were 0.672 and 0.681 presenting the corresponding level of genetic variation between two groups. The pedigree reconstruction using maternity analysis assigned one to six progenies to ninety-two candidate mothers. The accuracy of genetic testing was exceedingly increased with the animal model considering AR1 ⊗ AR1 structure compared to the animal model only. The estimated genetic variance of the former was 9.086 whereas that of the latter was 4.9E-5 for DBH. The predicted breeding values of the offspring for DBH were ranged from -5.937cm to 5.655cm and the estimated heritability of diameter growth was 0.344. The genetic testing approach based on pedigree reconstruction and phenotypic spatial distribution analysis was considered a useful analytical scheme that could replace or supplement progeny trials.K L and I-S K have a grant from the National Institute of Forest Science (NIFoS), Korea and K-S has a fnancial support (2020182B10-2022-BB01) from the Korea Forest Service

Reduced radiation exposure to circulating blood cells in proton therapy compared with X-ray therapy in locally advanced lung cancer: Computational simulation based on circulating blood cells

BackgroundWe estimated the dose of circulating blood cells (CBCs) in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer for predicting severe radiation-induced lymphopenia (SRIL) and compared pencil-beam scanning proton therapy (PBSPT) and intensity-modulated (photon) radiotherapy (IMRT).Materials and methodsAfter reviewing 325 patients who received definitive chemoradiotherapy with PBSPT (n = 37) or IMRT (n = 164). SRIL was diagnosed when two or more events of an absolute lymphocyte count < 200 µL occurred during the treatment course. Dose information for the heart and lungs was utilized for the time-dependent computational dose calculation of CBCs.ResultsThe dose distribution of CBCs was significantly lesser in the PBSPT group than that in the IMRT group. Overall, 75 (37.3%) patients experienced SRIL during the treatment course; 72 and 3 patients were treated with IMRT and PBSPT, respectively. SRIL was associated with poor progression-free and overall survival outcomes. Upon incorporating the dose information of CBCs for predicting SRIL, CBC D90% > 2.6 GyE was associated with the development of SRIL with the baseline lymphocyte count and target volume. Furthermore, PBSPT significantly reduced the dose of CBC D90% (odds ratio = 0.11; p = 0.004) compared with IMRT.ConclusionThe results of this study demonstrate the significance of the dose distribution of CBCs in predicting SRIL. Furthermore, reducing the dose of CBCs after PBSPT minimized the risk of SRIL. Lymphocyte-sparing radiotherapy in PBSPT could improve outcomes, particularly in the setting of maintenance immunotherapy

Clinical Features of Probable Cluster Headache: A Prospective, Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study

Background: Epidemiological data of probable cluster headaches (CH) are scarce in the relevant literature. Here, we sought to assess the prevalence and clinical characteristics of probable CH in comparison with definite CH.Methods: Data used in this study were obtained from the Korean Cluster Headache Registry (KCHR), a prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter headache registry that collected data from consecutive patients diagnosed with CH.Results: In total, 159 patients were enrolled in this study; 20 (12.6%) were diagnosed with probable CH. The most common unfulfilled criterion in patients with probable CH was the duration of attack, which was found in 40% of patients with probable CH. Among clinical characteristics, the number of autonomic symptoms tended to be lower in probable CH than in definite CH (1.7 ± 1.2 vs. 2.4 ± 1.5, p = 0.051) and conjunctival injection and lacrimation showed an increased odds ratio (OR) [OR = 3.03; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.03–8.33] in definite CH. The groups did not differ with regard to baseline demographic characteristics, disability, impact on life, or treatment response.Conclusions: Probable CH is relatively common among CH disorders, with a clinical impact similar to that of definite CH

Feature extraction schemes for ultrasonic signal processing

Signals are a popular mean of representing information, and signal processing is of great importance. Feature extraction plays a critical role in signal processing, and many approaches have been studies. This article critically reviews these signal feature extraction approaches to provide an overview of feature extraction approaches, to critically address important issues, and compare and contract reported techniques