54 research outputs found

    Challenged academy: Engagement after neoliberalism

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    Market-driven educational policies and advances in information technology may assure greater accountability in public universities; however, the trend toward increased standardization strengthens the “machine’s” ability to appropriate the task of teaching. The challenge for college faculty is to sustain student-centered teaching and learning methods in the face of neoliberal reforms.Market-driven educational policies and advances in information technology may assure greater accountability in public universities; however, the trend toward increased standardization strengthens the “machine’s” ability to appropriate the task of teaching. The challenge for college faculty is to sustain student-centered teaching and learning methods in the face of neoliberal reforms

    From Systematic Reviews to Clinical Recommendations for Evidence-Based Health Care: Validation of Revised Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (R-AMSTAR) for Grading of Clinical Relevance

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    Research synthesis seeks to gather, examine and evaluate systematically research reports that converge toward answering a carefully crafted research question, which states the problem patient population, the intervention under consideration, and the clinical outcome of interest. The product of the process of systematically reviewing the research literature pertinent to the research question thusly stated is the “systematic review”

    Development of toolkits for detecting dental caries and caries experience among children using self-report and parent report.

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    ObjectivesTo develop child- and parent-reported toolkits for active caries and caries experience in children and adolescents, ages 8-17.MethodsA sample of 398 child/parent dyads recruited from 12 dental practices in Los Angeles County completed a computer-assisted survey that assessed oral health perceptions. In addition, children received a dental examination that identified the presence or absence of active caries and caries experience. A Multiple Adaptive Regression Splines model was used to identify a subset of survey items associated with active caries and caries experience. The splines and coefficients were refined by generalized cross-validation. Sensitivity and specificity for both dependent variables were evaluated.ResultsEleven child self-reported items were identified that had sensitivity of 0.82 and specificity of 0.45 relative to active caries. Twelve parent-reported items had a sensitivity of 0.86 and specificity of 0.50. Seven child self-reported items had a sensitivity of 0.86 and specificity of 0.34, and 11 parent-reported items had a sensitivity of 0.86 and specificity of 0.47 for caries experience.ConclusionsThe survey items identified here are useful in distinguishing children with and without active caries and with and without caries experience. This research presents a path towards using children's and their parents' reports about oral health to screen for clinically determined caries and caries exposure. The items identified in this study can be useful when clinical information is unavailable

    Patient-Reported oral health outcome measurement for children and adolescents

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    BACKGROUND: Oral health is an important component of daily functioning and well-being. A comprehensive patient-reported oral health measure is needed to gauge the impact of oral health status on children and adolescents. This study aims to develop oral health item banks and associated short-form surveys for children and adolescents 2–17 year olds. METHODS: Using children and adolescents, ages 2–17 years, selected from diverse dental sites in Greater Los Angeles Area, we propose to develop state-of-the-science methods to create oral health item banks to effectively measure oral health outcomes for children and adolescents. Methods include a literature review of existing measures, focus groups, cognitive interviews, drafting and field testing of survey items, and evaluation of the psychometric properties of the measures. RESULTS: Based on the systematic literature search and focus groups, we identified core (physical health, mental health, and social function domains) and peripheral (e.g., need and access) oral health domains. We then drafted survey items and revised them based on 66 cognitive interviews (27 children/adolescents and 39 parents) with 39 families. The revised items will be administered in a field test of 500 children and adolescents ages 2–17, and their parents. CONCLUSIONS: The qualitative methods used in the initial phases of the project (focus group and cognitive interviews) are the initial steps in the development of oral health item banks and associated short-form surveys for children and adolescents. The oral health items can potentially be used to create effective computerized adaptive test and/or create ad hoc short forms targeting specific areas of oral health to survey large populations of children with much less cost compared with traditional clinical oral health examination

    Ebola: translational science considerations

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    We are currently in the midst of the most aggressive and fulminating outbreak of Ebola-related disease, commonly referred to as “Ebola”, ever recorded. In less than a year, the Ebola virus (EBOV, Zaire ebolavirus species) has infected over 10,000 people, indiscriminately of gender or age, with a fatality rate of about 50%. Whereas at its onset this Ebola outbreak was limited to three countries in West Africa (Guinea, where it was first reported in late March 2014, Liberia, where it has been most rampant in its capital city, Monrovia and other metropolitan cities, and Sierra Leone), cases were later reported in Nigeria, Mali and Senegal, as well as in Western Europe (i.e., Madrid, Spain) and the US (i.e., Dallas, Texas; New York City) by late October 2014. World and US health agencies declared that the current Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak has a strong likelihood of growing exponentially across the world before an effective vaccine, treatment or cure can be developed, tested, validated and distributed widely. In the meantime, the spread of the disease may rapidly evolve from an epidemics to a full-blown pandemic. The scientific and healthcare communities actively research and define an emerging kaleidoscope of knowledge about critical translational research parameters, including the virology of EBOV, the molecular biomarkers of the pathological manifestations of EVD, putative central nervous system involvement in EVD, and the cellular immune surveillance to EBOV, patient-centered anthropological and societal parameters of EVD, as well as translational effectiveness about novel putative patient-targeted vaccine and pharmaceutical interventions, which hold strong promise, if not hope, to curb this and future Ebola outbreaks. This work reviews and discusses the principal known facts about EBOV and EVD, and certain among the most interesting ongoing or future avenues of research in the field, including vaccination programs for the wild animal vectors of the virus and the disease from global translational science perspective

    Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

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    This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

    Global injury morbidity and mortality from 1990 to 2017 : results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

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    Correction:Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. Methods We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Findings In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). Interpretation Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care.Peer reviewe
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