Evaluating the measurement properties of patient‐reported outcome measures in radiotherapy‐induced xerostomia

Objective: Radiotherapy‐induced xerostomia (RIX) is one of the most common adverse effects of radiotherapy to the head and neck, and a major determinant of survivors’ quality of life. A number of patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) have been used in clinical trials of therapeutic interventions for RIX; however, little is known regarding their measurement properties and methodological quality. / Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search in Embase, MEDLINE and PsycINFO for articles published up to May 2019 and evaluating at least one measurement property of PROMs relevant to RIX. The COSMIN guidelines were used to assess relevant measurement properties and methodological quality. / Results: Nine validations studies were identified reporting on four PROMs relevant to RIX. The Xerostomia Questionnaire (XQ) showed overall high‐quality evidence for structural validity and internal consistency, but low‐quality evidence supporting reliability. The methodological quality of the Groningen Radiotherapy‐Induced Xerostomia scale (GRIX), Xerostomia Inventory (XI) and the Xerostomia Quality of Life Scale (XeQoLS) was relatively low for all measurement properties. / Conclusions: The XQ was found to have the highest potential to capture changes in RIX according to COSMIN guidelines. Additional validation studies are required to further understand the methodological quality of the XI, GRIX and XeQoLS

Using Storm for scaleable sequential statistical inference.

This article describes Storm, an environment for doing streaming data analysis. Two examples of sequential data analysis — computation of a running summary statistic and sequential updating of a posterior distribution — are implemented and their performance is investigated

Transitions in Mathematics Education: the panel debate

International audienceThe Transitions in Mathematics Education panel during the ICME-13 conference consisted of two parts. In the first part, the panelists presented particular questions addressed and answered them according to their various perspectives (some of them cognitive, others more sociocultural). This first part was published as a survey before the conference (Gueudet et al. 2016). In the present text, we briefly review this first part but mainly focus on the second part of the panel. In the second part, the panelists answered questions about the survey concerning the arithmetic-algebra transition, the possible use of boundary objects to build links and bridges, the role of technical work in the continuity/discontinuity of the learning process, and the possible contributions of students in helping to ease transitions. These answers are developed and presented here