Language acquisition by Roma-Slovak bilingual children over time and by three types of Roma communities

This research aims to determine the significance of the progress in the first and second language acquisition by Roma-Slovak bilingual children in their first year of schooling, differentiated by three types of Roma communities (type 1, type 2 and type 3) at the beginning of the school year (test) and the end of the school year (post-test). The partial aim is to analyze the context and relationships of the progress in the first and second language acquisition by Roma children, determined by the type of Roma community in which individual children live. The research set as a whole (n = 68) consists of Roma-Slovak bilingual children with Romani as their native language and Slovak as their second language in their first year of schooling. Subsequently, the research set is differentiated into three groups by the type of Roma community in which the children live, namely: type 1 - municipal and urban concentrations (n = 22); type 2 - settlements located on the outskirts of a city or municipality (n = 23); and type 3 - settlements spatially remote or separated by a natural or artificial barrier (n = 23). We used a standardized research tool, OOS Test - image-vocabulary test (Kondáš, 2010). We conducted the research in two phases, at the beginning of the school year (test) and the end of the school year (post-test). To analyze the data statistically, we used the SPSS 20.0 statistical program. As one of the important findings, this study has shown statistically significant differences between Roma-Slovak bilingual children from type 1, type 2 and type 3 Roma communities in L1 and L2 at the beginning and the end of the school year. Moreover, the research has shown statistically significant differences in the acquisition progress in L1 and L2 between children from the type 1, type 2 and type 3 communities at the given time. The main research problem arising from the findings is that the progress in the first and second language acquisition by Roma-Slovak bilingual children is determined by the type of Roma community in which the Roma children live. Furthermore, the findings show a relationship and connection between the first and second language acquisition development and the type of Roma community in which the children live. Acknowledgments This paper is an output of the research project "Language and Communication Problems in Slovakia and their Management" funded by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-17-0254 (2018 – ). It is the continuation of the research project "Language competence of the Romani pupils in the first grade of primary schol" funded by the same agency under the contract No. VEGA 1/0845/15 (2015–2017). Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. * Corresponding author: Milan Samko  0000-0002-1574-0672 [email protected]

Influence of Weekday and Seasonal Trends on Urgency and In-hospital Mortality of Emergency Department Patients

Background: Given the scarcity of resources, the increasing use of emergency departments (ED) represents a major challenge for the care of emergency patients. Current health policy interventions focus on restructuring emergency care with the help of patient re-direction into outpatient treatment structures. A precise analysis of ED utilization, taking into account treatment urgency, is essential for demand-oriented adjustments of emergency care structures. Methods: Temporal and seasonal trends in the use of EDs were investigated, considering treatment urgency and hospital mortality. Secondary data of 287,119 ED visits between 2015 and 2017 of the two EDs of Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte and Campus Virchow Klinikum were analyzed. Result: EDs were used significantly more frequently on weekends than on weekdays (Mdn = 290 vs. 245 visits/day; p < 0.001). The proportion of less urgent, outpatient emergency visits on weekends was above average. Holiday periods were characterized by at least 6, and at most 176 additional ED visits. In a comparison of different holidays, most ED visits were observed at New Year (+68% above average). In addition, a significant increase in in-hospital mortality on holidays was evident among inpatients admitted to hospital via the ED (3.0 vs. 3.2%; p < 0.001), with New Year's Day being particularly striking (5.4%). Conclusion: These results suggest that, in particular, the resource planning of outpatient emergency treatment capacities on weekends and holidays should be adapted to the increased volume of non-urgent visits in EDs. Nevertheless, treatment capacities for the care of urgent, inpatient emergencies should not be disregarded and further research projects are necessary to investigate the causes of increased mortality during holiday periods

A distinct metabolic signature predicts development of fasting plasma glucose

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: High blood glucose and diabetes are amongst the conditions causing the greatest losses in years of healthy life worldwide. Therefore, numerous studies aim to identify reliable risk markers for development of impaired glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes. However, the molecular basis of impaired glucose metabolism is so far insufficiently understood. The development of so called `omics' approaches in the recent years promises to identify molecular markers and to further understand the molecular basis of impaired glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes. Although univariate statistical approaches are often applied, we demonstrate here that the application of multivariate statistical approaches is highly recommended to fully capture the complexity of data gained using high-throughput methods. METHODS: We took blood plasma samples from 172 subjects who participated in the prospective Metabolic Syndrome Berlin Potsdam follow-up study (MESY-BEPO Follow-up). We analysed these samples using Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and measured 286 metabolites. Furthermore, fasting glucose levels were measured using standard methods at baseline, and after an average of six years. We did correlation analysis and built linear regression models as well as Random Forest regression models to identify metabolites that predict the development of fasting glucose in our cohort. RESULTS: We found a metabolic pattern consisting of nine metabolites that predicted fasting glucose development with an accuracy of 0.47 in tenfold cross-validation using Random Forest regression. We also showed that adding established risk markers did not improve the model accuracy. However, external validation is eventually desirable. Although not all metabolites belonging to the final pattern are identified yet, the pattern directs attention to amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism and redox homeostasis. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that metabolites identified using a high-throughput method (GC-MS) perform well in predicting the development of fasting plasma glucose over several years. Notably, not single, but a complex pattern of metabolites propels the prediction and therefore reflects the complexity of the underlying molecular mechanisms. This result could only be captured by application of multivariate statistical approaches. Therefore, we highly recommend the usage of statistical methods that seize the complexity of the information given by high-throughput methods

Erfahrungen, Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze aus der Extraktion pseudonymer Daten für das Projekt INDEED

Background: In Germany there is currently no health reporting on cross-sectoral care patterns in the context of an emergency department care treatment. The INDEED project (Utilization and trans-sectoral patterns of care for patients admitted to emergency departments in Germany) collects routine data from 16 emergency departments, which are later merged with outpatient billing data from 2014 to 2017 on an individual level. Aim: The methodological challenges in planning of the internal merging of routine clinical and administrative data from emergency departments in Germany up to the final data extraction are presented together with possible solution approaches. Methods: Data were selected in an iterative process according to the research questions, medical relevance, and assumed data availability. After a preparatory phase to clarify formalities (including data protection, ethics), review test data and correct if necessary, the encrypted and pseudonymous data extraction was performed. Results: Data from the 16 cooperating emergency departments came mostly from the emergency department and hospital information systems. There was considerable heterogeneity in the data. Not all variables were available in every emergency department because, for example, they were not standardized and digitally available or the extraction effort was judged to be too high. Conclusion: Relevant data from emergency departments are stored in different structures and in several IT systems. Thus, the creation of a harmonized data set requires considerable resources on the part of the hospital as well as the data processing unit. This needs to be generously calculated for future projects

Transverse momentum spectra of charged particles in proton-proton collisions at s=900\sqrt{s} = 900 GeV with ALICE at the LHC

The inclusive charged particle transverse momentum distribution is measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 900$ GeV at the LHC using the ALICE detector. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region $(|\eta|<0.8)$ over the transverse momentum range $0.15<p_{\rm T}<10$ GeV/$c$. The correlation between transverse momentum and particle multiplicity is also studied. Results are presented for inelastic (INEL) and non-single-diffractive (NSD) events. The average transverse momentum for $|\eta|<0.8$ is $\left<p_{\rm T}\right>_{\rm INEL}=0.483\pm0.001$ (stat.) $\pm0.007$ (syst.) GeV/$c$ and \left_{\rm NSD}=0.489\pm0.001 (stat.) $\pm0.007$ (syst.) GeV/$c$, respectively. The data exhibit a slightly larger $\left<p_{\rm T}\right>$ than measurements in wider pseudorapidity intervals. The results are compared to simulations with the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA and PHOJET.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/390

What Do Pupils’ Parents Think About School Segregation?

W słowackim systemie edukacji segregacja jest dość powszechnym zjawiskiem zarówno w szkołach podstawowych, jak i w przedszkolach. Mimo powtarzających się ostrzeżeń ze strony Unii Europejskiej, szkoły w pobliżu społeczności romskich wykorzystują taką separację. Dyrekcje twierdzą, że edukacja ta wspiera „indywidualne podejście” do uczniów romskich, ponieważ tzw. klasy romskie są mniejsze, a przy tym ważnym argumentem jest nacisk rodziców nieromskich, którzy preferują etnicznie jednorodne klasy i wybierają szkoły dla swoich dzieci (nie są zainteresowani szkołami o większej liczbie uczniów romskich). W artykule przedstawiono opinie rodziców dzieci romskich i nieromskich na temat segregowanej edukacji, które uzyskano w wywiadach i badaniach grup fokusowych poprzez analizę projektów i programów zintegrowanej edukacji.  In the Slovak practice, separated (segregated) education is rather common at primary schools as well as in preschool facilities. Despite the repeated warnings by the EU, the schools near Roma communities use such separation. They argue that this education supports an “individual approach” to Roma pupils because “Roma” classes are smaller, and an important argument is the pressure from non-Roma parents. According to schools, they prefer ethnically homogenous classes and they choose schools for their children based on this (they are not interested in schools with a higher proportion of Roma pupils). The paper states the opinions of parents of Roma and non-Roma children on separated education which were obtained in the interviews and focus groups in the study focused on analysis of inclusive education projects and programmes.

Identification of low-acuity attendances in routine clinical information documented in German Emergency Departments

Abstract Introduction It has not yet been possible to ascertain the exact proportion, characterization or impact of low-acuity emergency department (ED) attendances on the German Health Care System since valid and robust definitions to be applied in German ED routine data are missing. Methods Internationally used methods and parameters to identify low-acuity ED attendances were identified, analyzed and then applied to routine ED data from two EDs of the tertiary care hospitals Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte (CCM) and Campus Virchow (CVK). Results Based on the three routinely available parameters `disposition´, `transport to the ED´ and `triage´ 33.2% (n = 30 676) out of 92 477 presentations to the two EDs of Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin (CVK, CCM) in 2016 could be classified as low-acuity presentations. Conclusion This study provides a reliable and replicable means of retrospective identification and quantification of low-acuity attendances in German ED routine data. This enables both intra-national and international comparisons of figures across future studies and health care monitoring