Online and Offline Evaluation in Search Clarification

The effectiveness of clarification question models in engaging users within search systems is currently constrained, casting doubt on their overall usefulness. To improve the performance of these models, it is crucial to employ assessment approaches that encompass both real-time feedback from users (online evaluation) and the characteristics of clarification questions evaluated through human assessment (offline evaluation). However, the relationship between online and offline evaluations has been debated in information retrieval. This study aims to investigate how this discordance holds in search clarification. We use user engagement as ground truth and employ several offline labels to investigate to what extent the offline ranked lists of clarification resemble the ideal ranked lists based on online user engagement.Comment: 27 page

Improvement of Metadiscourse Use among Iranian EFL Learners through a Process- based Writing Course

The present study investigated the use of interactive metadiscourse resources (IMRs) in terms of appropriacy during a process- based writing course by applying qualitative and exploratory methods. Moreover, learners' perception was investigated to find out how confident they felt as they were writing and rewriting the drafts. 30 intermediate EFL learners were chosen to participate in this study based on their performance on the OPT. The participants wrote essays on argumentative topics during the period of one semester. Each participant submitted three drafts on a topic, the first draft, the draft after revising and the draft after editing.  Experts’ appropriacy judgments showed a clear improvement in the appropriate use of IMRs from the participants’ earlier drafts to their final drafts. Furthermore, analysis of the interviews’ data showed that most of the interviewees had positive views towards this kind of writing and stated that their level of confidence in using IMRs increased through the stages and they felt more confident towards the end of the course. The results of this study seem to have some implications for teachers and practitioners in EFL contexts and could be of major significance for classroom application

The Effectiveness of Nursing Interventions Based on King’s Theory: A Systematic Review

AbstractIntroduction: King’s Conceptual Model and Goal Attainment Theory can applicate as an effective framework in all fields of nursing such practice, education, management and research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate effectiveness of nursing interventions based King's theory.Methods: In this systematic review, the databases as Scopus, Web of Sciences, Pub Med and search engine of Google Scholar have been searched. Then the review has been done in terms of the study criteria, and merely 10 articles have met the criteria.Results: Our findings indicate, the common form of theory that has been applied in articles was goal attainment theory, except in one case. In 40% of the articles, the theory was used in educational fields and 60% were related to the clinical area.Conclusions: According to this systematic review, King's Conceptual System and Theory of Goal Attainment has the potential to give an effective approach for nursing practice and it is recommended that this framework can be used in different clinical situations to attract the patients to better compliance, leading to an improvement in quality of life and reduce complications in patients

Seven Criteria of Severe COVID-19 (SCSC): A New Pre-Hospital Prognostic Scoring Tool Suggested for Screening of Probable/Confirmed COVID-19 Patients with Severe Outcomes

Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic led to various consequences in medical care that had been long provided for the patients referred to the hospitals. Objective: We conducted this study to derive and validate a new scoring system that can accurately differentiate COVID-19 patients who may have a worse outcome from others at the prehospital stage. Methods: This study was performed on probable/confirmed COVID-19 patients, who were transferred to the hospitals by Tehran emergency medical services (EMS). Occurrence of one of the items including: in-hospital death, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, or hospitalization for more than 20 days was considered to indicate a “severe disease”. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used for assessment of the relationship between all independent variables and the outcome. In the validity assessment step, area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was calculated for a data set independent from the data based on which the model was designed. The sensitivity and specificity were also presented based on the best suggested cut-off point. Results: In this study, the data of 557 cases were analyzed in the derivation step and 356 cases were assessed in the validation step. The univariate logistic regression showed that age, weakness and fatigue, disease history, systolic blood pressure, SpO2, respiratory rate, and Glasgow coma scale (GCS) were statistically significant in severe disease group. The area under the ROC curve (AUC-ROC) of the tool was 0.808 (95% CI: 0.779, 0.834). The best cut-off point for screening was the score of ≥4, in which the sensitivity and specificity of the tool for the best cut-off point were 71.87% and 78.06%, respectively. In the validation step, the AUC-ROC of the tool was 0.723. Conclusions: Seven criteria of severe COVID-19 (SCSC) tool could properly differentiate probable/confirmed COVID-19 patients with severe outcomes in the pre-hospital stage

Effects of low level laser therapy on mucositis in patients under chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation

Background: Oral mucositis is among the most important adverse effects of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation and prevention from this side effect is important to improve the situations in patients. Hence, in this study the main aim was to determine the effects of low-level laser therapy on mucositis in patients under chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. Materials and Methods: In this randomized controlled clinical trial, 60 consecutive patients under chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation in a training hospital in 2018 were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either low-level laser therapy (630 and 780 nm) or off-laser. Finally, the frequency rate and severity of mucositis (grades 0 to 4 according to WHO severity index) were determined and compared across the groups. Results: Mucositis was present in 30% and 56.7% in laser and control groups, respectively with statistically significant difference (p=0.037). The severity of mucositis was same across the laser and control groups (p=0.785). Conclusion: Low-level laser therapy is an effective modality for preventing from mucositis in patients treated by chemotherapy and bone marrow transplantation. Accordingly, utilization of this safe and effective therapeutic method is recommended

Rhomboid antigens are promising targets in the vaccine development against Toxoplasma gondii

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an obligate intracellular parasite with worldwide distribution. It is estimated that near one-third of the people around the globe are latently seropositive for the parasite. Since the current common drugs are incapable in the elimination of parasites within tissue cysts, the development of an effective vaccine has high priority for researchers to limit the infection. During recent years, non-stop efforts of scientists have made great progress in the identification and development of T. gondii candidate vaccines. However, there is a lack of a commercially licensed vaccine for human application yet. Rhomboid proteases (ROMs) are a class of serine proteases that have an important role in the invasion of the parasites that can be considered as a new target for vaccine strategy. They also play critical roles in mitochondrial fusion and growth factor signaling, allowing the parasite to completely enter into the host cell. In the current review, we have summarized the recent progress regarding the development of ROM-based vaccines against acute and chronic T. gondii infection in animal models

Causes of pleural effusion in long-term hemodialysi s

Background and Objective: Pleuropulmonary complications, such as pleural effusion (PE) are encountered with an increased frequency among patients with end stage renal disease. Subjects and Methods: In the cross-sectional and prospective study we evaluated 253 patients who had received long- term hemodialysis between 2007 September and 2008 October for better understanding the incidence and causes of PE in this population. Results: The incidence of pleural effusion was 25 % (n= 63, mean age 48.09 ± 1.39 years, male to female ratio approximately 1.1). 66.6 % of the patients (n= 42) had transudative PE and 33.4% (n= 21) had exudative PE. Transudative PE resulted from heart failure in 64.3% (n= 27), hypervolemia in 33.3% (n= 14) and cirrhosis in 2.4% (n= 1). Parapneumonic effusion (n= 6), TB (n= 5), uremic pleurisy (n= 4), malignancy (n= 2), unknown (n= 2) and SLE (n= 1) accounted for causes of exudative PE. Conclusion: Pleural effusion is a common complication in hospitalized patients receiving long–tern hemodialysis. Since heart failure, hypervolemia and uremic pleurisy were the most common causes of pleural effusion, this problem should not be considered an obstacle in renal transplant recipients

Factor analysis of self-treatment in diabetes mellitus: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Self-treatment is a treatment of oneself without professional help, which may cause health-related consequences. This investigation examined the self-treatment behaviors in patients with diabetes mellitus in Iran/kashan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The patients who referred to the clinic of diabetes and those who were admitted to the General hospital in the city of Kashan due to diabetes mellitus were asked to participate in this cross-sectional study. For data collection, The 25 item questionnaire of Likert scale type with four scales was used. Factor analysis was performed to define the patterns of self-treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>398 patients participated in the study. The mean age of the study population was 54.9 ± 12.9 years. The majority (97%) had type 2 diabetes. 50% of patients reported self- treatment. The self-treatment score was 45.8 ± 8.8 (25-100). Female gender, lower education and co-morbid illnesses of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and cardiac disease had significant relationship with self-treatment. The factor analysis procedure revealed seven factors that explained the 43% of variation in the self-treatment. These seven factors were categorized as knowledge, deficiencies of formal treatments, available self-treatment methods, physician related factors, the tendency to use herbal remedies, underlying factors such as gender and factors related to diabetes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There is a medium tendency for self-treatment in diabetic patients. The assessment of self-treatment practices must be an essential part of patients' management in diabetes care.</p