Efficacy of a micro-prompting technology in reducing support needed by people with severe acquired brain injury in activities of daily living

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an automated interactive prompting technology in supporting the morning routine of persons with acquired brain injury. The morning routine included maintaining personal hygiene and dressing. Setting: An inpatient neurorehabilitation hospital. Participants: Persons with acquired brain injury who required prompting when following their morning routine (n = 24), but were not limited by physical disability or dysphasia, took part in the study. Participants (67% with traumatic brain injury) had impairment on indices of memory and executive function. Design: A randomized control trial evaluated the effect of an automated interactive micro-prompting device on the number of prompts by trained staff required for successful completion of the morning routine. Main Measures: Study-specific checklists assessed sequence performance, errors, and verbal prompts required over baseline, rehabilitation as usual, intervention, and return to baseline conditions. Results: The intervention significantly reduced the support required to complete the task compared with usual rehabilitation. Conclusions: Micro-prompting technology is an effective assistive technology for cognition, which reduces support needs in people with significant cognitive impairments

Early identification of first-year students at risk of dropping out of high-school entry medical school: the usefulness of teachers' ratings of class participation

Dropping out from undergraduate medical education is costly for students, medical schools, and society in general. Therefore, the early identification of potential dropout students is important. The contribution of personal features to dropout rates has merited exploration. However, there is a paucity of research on aspects of student experience that may lead to dropping out. In this study, underpinned by theoretical models of student commitment, involvement, and engagement, we explored the hypothesis of using inferior participation as an indicator of a higher probability of dropping out in year 1. Class participation was calculated as an aggregate score based on teachers' daily observations in class. The study used a longitudinal dataset of six cohorts of high-school entry students (N = 709, 67% females) in one medical school with an annual intake of 120 students. The findings confirmed the initial hypothesis and showed that lower scores of class participation in year 1 added predictive ability to pre-entry characteristics (Pseudo-R2 raised from 0.22 to 0.28). Even though the inclusion of course failure in year 1 resulted in higher explanatory power than participation in class (Pseudo-R2 raised from 0.28 to 0.63), ratings of class participation may be advantageous to anticipate dropout identification, as those can be collected prior to course failure. The implications for practice are that teachers' ratings of class participation can play a role in indicating medical students who may eventually drop out. We conclude that the scores of class participation can contribute to flagging systems for the early detection of student dropouts.(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Evidence for the Onset of Color Transparency in ρ0\rho^0 Electroproduction off Nuclei

We have measured the nuclear transparency of the incoherent diffractive $A(e,e'\rho^0)$ process in $^{12}$C and $^{56}$Fe targets relative to $^2$H using a 5 GeV electron beam. The nuclear transparency, the ratio of the produced $\rho^0$'s on a nucleus relative to deuterium, which is sensitive to $\rho A$ interaction, was studied as function of the coherence length ($l_c$), a lifetime of the hadronic fluctuation of the virtual photon, and the four-momentum transfer squared ($Q^2$). While the transparency for both $^{12}$C and $^{56}$Fe showed no $l_c$ dependence, a significant $Q^2$ dependence was measured, which is consistent with calculations that included the color transparency effects.Comment: 6 pages and 4 figure

Preemptive CD20+ B cell Depletion Attenuates Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy in CD154-Treated Monkeys.

BACKGROUND: Anti-CD154 monotherapy is associated with anti-donor alloantibody (Ab) elaboration, cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV), and allograft failure in preclinical primate cell and organ transplant models. In the context of calcineurin inhibition (CNI), these pathogenic phenomena are delayed by preemptive “induction” B-cell depletion. METHODS: IDEC-131(αCD154)-treated cynomolgus monkey heart allograft recipients were given peritransplant rituximab (αCD20) alone or with rabbit anti-human thymocyte globulin (rATG). RESULTS: Relative to previously reported reference groups, αCD20 significantly prolonged survival, delayed Ab detection, and attenuated CAV within 3 months in αCD154-treated recipients (αCD154+αCD20 graft median survival time (MST) >90d, n=7, vs 28d for αCD154 alone (IDEC-131), n=21; p=0.05). Addition of rATG to αCD154 (n=6) or αCD154+αCD20 (n=10) improved graft protection from graft rejection and failure during treatment, but was associated with significant morbidity in 8 of 16 recipients (6 infections, 2 drug-related complications). In αCD20-treated animals, detection of anti-donor Ab and relatively severe CAV were anticipated by appearance of CD20(+) cells (>1% of lymphocytes) in peripheral blood, and were associated with low αCD154 trough levels (below 100 µg/ml). CONCLUSIONS: These observations support the hypothesis that efficient preemptive ‘induction’ CD20(+) B-cell depletion consistently modulates pathogenic alloimmunity and attenuates CAV in this translational model, extending our prior findings with CNIs to the context of CD154 blockade