Effects of first aid training in the kindergarten - a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>Children can be the only persons present in an emergency situation. Aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of a first aid course for 4-5-year-old kindergarten children given by a first aid instructor and kindergarten teachers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A mixed methods approach using both quantitative and qualitative methods was used to investigate the effects of teaching first aid in the kindergarten in the present study. 10 kindergarten children at the age of 4-5 years were included in a pilot-study, 5 girls and 5 boys. Three of them were four years and seven were five years old. Two months after completion of the first aid course children were tested in a scenario where the children had to provide first aid to an unconscious victim after a cycle accident. The next seven months the children were followed by participant observation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The findings suggest that 4-5-year-old children are able to learn and apply basic first aid. Tested two months after course completion 70% of the children assessed consciousness correctly and knew the correct emergency telephone number; 60% showed correct assessment of breathing and 40% of the participants accomplished the other tasks (giving correct emergency call information, knowledge of correct recovery position, correct airway management) correctly. Many of the children showed their capabilities to do so in a first aid scenario although some participants showed fear of failure in the test scenario. In an informal group testing most of these children could perform first aid measures, too. Teaching first aid also lead to more active helping behaviour and increased empathy in the children.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Kindergarten children aged 4-5 years can learn basic fist aid. First aid training should start in the kindergarten.</p

The inter- and intrarater reliability and agreement for field-based assessment of scapular control, shoulder range of motion, and shoulder isometric strength in elite adolescent athletes

Objectives To investigate the intra- and interrater reliability and agreement for field-based assessment of scapular control, shoulder range of motion (ROM), and shoulder isometric strength in elite youth athletes. Design Test-retest reliability and agreement study. Setting Eight blinded raters (two for each assessment) assessed players on field during two testing sessions separated by one week. Participants 162 elite youth handball players with or without a history of previous shoulder pain within the preceding six months. Main outcome measures Kappa (κ) and prevalence-adjusted bias-adjusted kappa (PABAK) coefficients for scapular control reliability, and 95% limits of agreement (LOA) for ROM and strength agreement. Results Scapular control demonstrated substantial to almost perfect reliability (κ 0.67 to 0.84, PABAK from 0.68 to 0.88). Mean strength values ranged from 0.9 N/kg to 1.6 N/kg, and LOAs ranged from −0.7 N/kg to 0.8 N/kg. Rotational strength revealed additionally systematic bias between and within rater. No or acceptable systematic bias were evident for ROM and abduction strength measures. Mean values and LOAs for ROM ranged between 39.9° to 52.3°, and from −12.6° to 9.9°, respectively. Conclusions Scapular control and ROM can be assessed on the field with acceptable reliability. The threshold for reliable measurements of isometric strength using handheld-dynamometers is high

Pre-breakup magmatism on the Vøring margin: Insight from new sub-basalt imaging and results from Ocean Drilling program hole 642E

Highlights • Sub-basalt imaging improvement on the Vøring Margin • Definition of a new seismic facies unit: the Lower Series Flows • Significant organic carbon content within the melting crustal segment • Apectodinium augustum marker for the PETM is reworked into the Lower Series Flows • The Lower Series Flows, early Eocene in age, predate the Vøring Margin breakup Abstract Improvements in sub-basalt imaging combined with petrological and geochemical observations from the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Hole 642E core provide new constraints on the initial breakup processes at the Vøring Margin. New and reprocessed high quality seismic data allow us to identify a new seismic facies unit which we define as the Lower Series Flows. This facies unit is seismically characterized by wavy to continuous subparallel reflections with an internal disrupted and hummocky shape. Drilled lithologies, which we correlate to this facies unit, have been interpreted as subaqueous flows extruding and intruding into wet sediments. Locally, the top boundary of this facies unit is defined as a negative in polarity reflection, and referred as the K-Reflection. This reflection can be correlated with the spatial extent of pyroclastic deposits, emplaced during transitional shallow marine to subaerial volcanic activities during the rift to drift transition. The drilled Lower Series Flows consist of peraluminous, cordierite bearing peperitic basaltic andesitic to dacitic flows interbedded with thick volcano-sedimentary deposits and intruded sills. The peraluminous geochemistry combined with available C (from calcite which fills vesicles and fractures), Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopes data point towards upper crustal rock-mantle magma interactions with a significant contribution of organic carbon rich pelagic sedimentary material during crustal anatexis. From biostratigraphic analyses, Apectodinium augustum was found in the The Lower Series Flows. This species is a marker for the Paleocene – Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). However, the absence of very low carbon isotope values (from bulk organic matter), that characterize the PETM, imply that A.augustum was reworked into the early Eocene sediments of this facies unit which predate the breakup time of the Vøring Margin. Finally, a plausible conceptual emplacement model for the Lower Series Flows facies unit is proposed. This model comprises several stages: (1) the emplacement of subaqueous peperitic basaltic andesitic flows intruding and/or extruding wet sediments; (2) a subaerial to shallow marine volcanism and extrusion of dacitic flows; (3) a proto-breakup phase with intense shallow marine to subaerial explosive volcanism responsible for pyroclastic flow deposits which can be correlated with the seismic K-Reflection and (4) the main breakup stage with intense transitional tholeiitic MORB-type volcanism and large subsidence concomitant with the buildup of the Seaward Dipping Reflector wedge

Invasive Electrical Impedance Tomography for Blood Vessel Detection

We present a novel method for localization of large blood vessels using a bioimpedance based needle positioning system on an array of ten monopolar needle electrodes. The purpose of the study is to develop a portable, low cost tool for rapid vascular access for cooling and controlled reperfusion of cardiac arrest patients. Preliminary results show that localization of blood vessels is feasible with this method, but larger studies are necessary to improve the technology

Expression of cyclin D1a and D1b as predictive factors for treatment response in colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of the cyclin D1 isoforms D1a and D1b as prognostic factors and their relevance as predictors of response to adjuvant chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil and levamisole (5-FU/LEV) in colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Protein expression of nuclear cyclin D1a and D1b was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 335 CRC patients treated with surgery alone or with adjuvant therapy using 5-FU/LEV. The prognostic and predictive value of these two molecular markers and clinicopathological factors were evaluated statistically in univariate and multivariate survival analyses. RESULTS: Neither cyclin D1a nor D1b showed any prognostic value in CRC or colon cancer patients. However, high cyclin D1a predicted benefit from adjuvant therapy measured in 5-year relapse-free survival (RFS) and CRC-specific survival (CSS) compared to surgery alone in colon cancer (P=0.012 and P=0.038, respectively) and especially in colon cancer stage III patients (P=0.005 and P=0.019, respectively) in univariate analyses. An interaction between treatment group and cyclin D1a could be shown for RFS (P=0.004) and CSS (P=0.025) in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Our study identifies high cyclin D1a protein expression as a positive predictive factor for the benefit of adjuvant 5-FU/LEV treatment in colon cancer, particularly in stage III colon cancer