Video Didactic Preparation Augments Problem-Based Learning for First Year Medical Students.

Problem-based learning (PBL) utilizes a self-directed strategy. This process relies on group participation to succeed. Students without a background in biology or medicine can feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the subject matter and unable to participate in the group learning process. We incorporated curated educational videos in the PBL curriculum to help address this situation. First year medical students participated in this study in the form of a typical PBL session. They were then assessed on basic and clinical science knowledge and their learning experience. Student basic science and clinical knowledge were similar between the student groups. However, the students given a list of suggested videos scored higher in their learning experience, perception of feeling prepared, and participating in the group PBL experience than students who were not given the video list. Results from this study indicate that videos can be utilized to enhance the PBL process

Making a home, finding a job: investigating early housing and employment outcomes for young people leaving care

This paper presents findings from a new study of outcomes for young people leaving care funded by the Department for Education and Skills. It reports findings for a sample of 106 young people in relation to progress made in housing and employment some 12-15 months after leaving care. The generally poor employment outcomes of care leavers are acknowledged, but ingredients that make for success are also highlighted, including the value of settled care and post-care careers, sound career planning and, significantly, the value of delaying young people's transitions from care. Early career paths also interconnect with how young people fare in housing, in developing life skills and with other problems in their lives after leaving care. Housing outcomes were more encouraging and predominantly shaped by events after leaving care, and faring well in housing was the factor most closely associated with positive mental well-being in young people. Some groups that are at risk of faring badly are identified, including young people with mental-health problems, young people with persistent offending or substance misuse problems and, in some respects, young disabled people. The implications of these findings for leaving care services are considered

Cost-effectiveness of HBV and HCV screening strategies:a systematic review of existing modelling techniques

Introduction: Studies evaluating the cost-effectiveness of screening for Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) are generally heterogeneous in terms of risk groups, settings, screening intervention, outcomes and the economic modelling framework. It is therefore difficult to compare cost-effectiveness results between studies. This systematic review aims to summarise and critically assess existing economic models for HBV and HCV in order to identify the main methodological differences in modelling approaches. Methods: A structured search strategy was developed and a systematic review carried out. A critical assessment of the decision-analytic models was carried out according to the guidelines and framework developed for assessment of decision-analytic models in Health Technology Assessment of health care interventions. Results: The overall approach to analysing the cost-effectiveness of screening strategies was found to be broadly consistent for HBV and HCV. However, modelling parameters and related structure differed between models, producing different results. More recent publications performed better against a performance matrix, evaluating model components and methodology. Conclusion: When assessing screening strategies for HBV and HCV infection, the focus should be on more recent studies, which applied the latest treatment regimes, test methods and had better and more complete data on which to base their models. In addition to parameter selection and associated assumptions, careful consideration of dynamic versus static modelling is recommended. Future research may want to focus on these methodological issues. In addition, the ability to evaluate screening strategies for multiple infectious diseases, (HCV and HIV at the same time) might prove important for decision makers

Production of volatile fatty acids from slaughterhouse blood by mixed-culture fermentation

The volatile fatty acids (VFA) production potential from animal blood and the factors affecting this process were investigated in this study. In order to simulate an industrial process different operation modes, batch, fed batch and semi-continuous, were also evaluated. Due to high ammonia concentration in fermentation broth, VFA concentration up to 100 g L-1 was achieved without addition of buffer and methanogen inhibitor. In general, acetic, n-butyric and iso-valeric acids were the most predominant species, although different operational conditions affected the VFA concentration, profile, production rate and yield. The microbial community analysis was conducted on the reactors with the best performance, revealing that 70-90% of the microbial population was from the Clostridiales order with a strong presence from the Sporanaerobacter genus. These results demonstrated the feasibility of a VFA-platform bio-refinery using high-protein wastes as substrate via mixed-culture fermentation under non-sterilised conditions

Q^2 Evolution of the Neutron Spin Structure Moments using a He-3 Target

We have measured the spin structure functions $g_1$ and $g_2$ of $^3$He in a double-spin experiment by inclusively scattering polarized electrons at energies ranging from 0.862 to 5.07 GeV off a polarized $^3$He target at a 15.5$^{\circ}$ scattering angle. Excitation energies covered the resonance and the onset of the deep inelastic regions. We have determined for the first time the $Q^2$ evolution of $\Gamma_1(Q^2)=\int_0^{1} g_1(x,Q^2) dx$, $\Gamma_2(Q^2)=\int_0^1 g_2(x,Q^2) dx$ and $d_2 (Q^2) = \int_0^1 x^2[ 2g_1(x,Q^2) + 3g_2(x,Q^2)] dx$ for the neutron in the range 0.1 GeV$^2$ $\leq Q^2 \leq$ 0.9 GeV$^2$ with good precision. $\Gamma_1(Q^2)$ displays a smooth variation from high to low $Q^2$. The Burkhardt-Cottingham sum rule holds within uncertainties and $d_2$ is non-zero over the measured range.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.. Updated Hermes data in Fig. 2 (top panel) and their corresponding reference. Updated the low x extrapolation error Fig. 2 (middle panel). Corrected references to ChiPT calculation

Level and Eigenfunction Statistics in Billiards with Surface Scattering

Statistical properties of billiards with diffusive boundary scattering are investigated by means of the supersymmetric sigma-model in a formulation appropriate for chaotic ballistic systems. We study level statistics, parametric level statistics, and properties of electron wavefunctions. In the universal regime, our results reproduce conclusions of the random matrix theory, while beyond this regime we obtain a variety of system-specific results determined by the classical dynamics in the billiard. Most notably, we find that level correlations do not vanish at arbitrary separation between energy levels, or if measured at arbitrarily large difference of magnetic fields. Saturation of the level number variance indicates strong rigidity of the spectrum. To study spatial correlations of wavefunction amplitudes, we reanalyze and refine derivation of the ballistic version of the sigma-model. This allows us to obtain a proper matching of universal short-scale correlations with system-specific ones.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures included. Minor corrections, references adde

International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force recommendations for a veterinary epilepsy-specific MRI protocol

Epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurological diseases in veterinary practice. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is regarded as an important diagnostic test to reach the diagnosis of idiopathic epilepsy. However, given that the diagnosis requires the exclusion of other differentials for seizures, the parameters for MRI examination should allow the detection of subtle lesions which may not be obvious with existing techniques. In addition, there are several differentials for idiopathic epilepsy in humans, for example some focal cortical dysplasias, which may only apparent with special sequences, imaging planes and/or particular techniques used in performing the MRI scan. As a result, there is a need to standardize MRI examination in veterinary patients with techniques that reliably diagnose subtle lesions, identify post-seizure changes, and which will allow for future identification of underlying causes of seizures not yet apparent in the veterinary literature. There is a need for a standardized veterinary epilepsy-specific MRI protocol which will facilitate more detailed examination of areas susceptible to generating and perpetuating seizures, is cost efficient, simple to perform and can be adapted for both low and high field scanners. Standardisation of imaging will improve clinical communication and uniformity of case definition between research studies. A 6–7 sequence epilepsy-specific MRI protocol for veterinary patients is proposed and further advanced MR and functional imaging is reviewed

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV

The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.) +(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO