End Of Fourth Year Research Articles

Prediction of reproductive performance of ewes based on the early production data, ewe birth rank, dam age, and dam birth rank.

This research aimed to analyze whether ewes' total reproductive performance up to the fourth year of life (RP4) can be predicted based on the data available at an early stage of a ewe's productive life. The RP4 of 133 Romanov ewes was measured in terms of the total number of lambs born per ewe (TNLE) and total birth weight of lambs per ewe (TBLE). Multiple regression was used to analyze whether early reproductive performance indicators (first litter size - FLS, age at first lambing - AFL, first lambing interval - FLI), ewe birth rank, dam age, and dam birth rank can be used as the predictors of RP4. Predicted and 95 % prediction intervals were used as indicators of the precision of prediction. Average TNLE and TBLE at the end of fourth year of ewe life were 11.84 lambs and 37.96 kg, respectively. FLS and FLI significantly ( ) influenced TNLE and TBLE, while AFL was not a significant ( ) variable. Ewes with shorter FLI had significantly ( ) higher TNLE (10.94lambs) and TBLE (36.17 kg) than ewes with long FLI (TNLE 9.12lambs and TBLE 28.05 kg). predicted for TNLE and TBLE was 7.54 % and 11.49 %, respectively. The ewe's birth rank and the dam's birth rank significantly ( ) influenced TNLE and TBLE. Ewes born as singletons and ewes from singleton-born dams had significantly ( ) lower TNLE and TBLE than ewes born as triplets and ewes from triplet-born dams. predicted for TNLE was 16.76 %, and 25.69 % for TBLE. FLS and FLI are better predictors of RP4 than AFL. The birth rank of ewe and dam also proved significant predictors of RP4. For both sets of predictors (early reproductive indicators and birth rank data), low values of predicted indicate that precise prediction of RP4 cannot be made.

Improving Empathy in Nursing Students: A Comparative Longitudinal Study of Two Curricula.

This study aimed to examine changes of empathy levels of nursing student in two different curricula structures, one called "traditional" and the other called "integrated" curricula. The study was a longitudinal design to follow a cohort of nursing students to examine the magnitude of changes in empathy in their education years. The study was conducted in a public school of nursing giving a baccalaureate degree, which had a fundamental change in their curricula. In all, 81 students from the traditional curricula and 66 students from the integrated curricula completed the study, and data from a total of 147 students were analyzed between 2003 and 2008. The Empathic Communication Skills Scale and the Empathic Tendency Scale were given to the students in the beginning of their freshman year and at the end of the fourth year just before graduation. Although both of the curricula were seemed effective at improving empathic skills of students, especially the scores of students who completed the integrated curricula were higher than the scores of the other group attending the traditional curricula (p<.05). However, the empathic tendency scores of students in both curricula decreased at the end of fourth year. Although undergraduate nursing curricula either traditional or integrated improved empathic skills, it seemed that integrated curricula were more effective than traditional curricula in increasing empathic skills. The more hours and more experiential methods contributed to improved empathy. The decrease in empathic tendency requires further attention of educators and nurse managers.

Variability of Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea’ Clones Produced by Grafting

European beech is renowned due to its ornamental cultivars, such as purple beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea’), but its production in Serbia is represented in small number of nurseries. The aim of this paper was to analyze the success of hetero-vegetative propagation of purple beech and variability of different characteristics, in order to improve the production of nursery stocks for widespread use. The splice and wedge grafting were applied, using scions collected from five Fagus sylvatica ‘Purpurea’ adult trees, and two different rootstocks: five-year-old seedlings directly produced in nursery beds and one-year-old containerized seedlings. Analysis of grafting success rates, survival percentage, as well as quantitative (height and root collar diameter) and qualitative (leaf color) characteristics of produced grafts in four successive years, were investigated. Grafting performed using the containerized rootstocks showed the high success rate (50-80%), but the survival percentage at the end of fourth year was lower (30-47%). The survival percentage of grafts produced directly on rootstocks in nursery beds was 22-78% at the end of first year, and constantly kept those values in the next three years. The highest mean values of quantitative characteristics were found in clone number 5 and 1, while the smallest were recorded in clone 3. Leaf color was intensive reddish-purple in most grafts, while in some grafts about 20% reddish-green leaves was recorded. Based on the obtained results, it can be stated that purple beech trees in Belgrade area could be used as mother plants and starting material for the improvement of its production.

Refractive and Visual Outcomes of Laser Insitu Kerato Mileusis for Moderate to High Myopia Using 213nm Solid State Laser - A Four Year Follow Up Study

Aims: To evaluate and report the visual, refractive outcomes and corneal integrity of conventional LASIK performed using 213nm solid laser to correct moderate to high myopia. Design: Prospective case series Methods: Present study analysed 53 eyes of 28 patients, with moderate to high myopia, who underwent conventional LASIK using PULZAR Z1 SOLID LASER, long term (4 year) visual refractive outcomes and the corneal integrity were studied. The patients were followed up for minimum of 48 months. Results: There was a significant improvement in uncorrected distant visual acuity, post operatively (P value < 0.01). No significant change was detected in decimal notations in CDVA pre and post op (p=0.383). At the end of fourth year, post op logMAR UDVA was 0.30(20/40 or 0.50 decimal notation) in 87% of eyes and 85% of eyes achieved 0.18 logMAR (20/30 or 0.67 decimal notation). The post op logMAR CDVA 0.48(0.33 in decimal notation) was 100%, where as logMAR UDVA 0.48(0.33 in decimal notation) was 92%. The efficacy index was 1.11 and safety index was 1.19. In the long run, no serious complications pertaining to corneal integrity were noticed and 4% of eyes had complaints of haloes and night vision problems. Conclusion: LASIK using PULZAR Z1 solid state laser, proved safe and effective providing predictable correction of moderate to high myopia.

Time for Consensus on a New Approach for Assessments

Time for Consensus on a New Approach for Assessments

Growth patterns of large, small, and appropriate for gestational age infants: impacts of long-term breastfeeding: a retrospective cohort study

In several studies, since high and low birth weights are demonstrated as associated with obesity in childhood, these values should be followed up and documented carefully. The aim of this retrospective cohort study is to demonstrate the variation on body mass index outcomes of large (LGA), small (SGA), appropriate (AGA) for gestational age infants from birth to the end of fourth year of age and the effects of breastfeeding duration on these outcomes. Four hundred and seven infants were recruited in the study (304AGA, 85 LGA, 18 SGA infants). LGA was frequent in boys and SGA in girls (p = 0.001). The mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus did have LGA infants (10.0% vs. 3.3%) (p = 0.022). The SGA infants performed rapid catch-up growth in the second month while the LGA infants performed catch-down growth in the ninth month. After the first 4 months, there was no difference on the values of BMI depending on breastfeeding time, less or more than 4 months, on the basis of the AGA and LGA infants. However, the body mass index (BMI) of LGA infants breastfed more than 12 months were not different from the AGA; unless the breastfeeding ceased earlier, the means of BMI remained significantly higher until 3 years. Consequently, long duration of breastfeeding might protect LGA infants from childhood obesity risk.

The Referendum in Venezuela: Elections versus Democracy

The Referendum in VenezuelaElections versus Democracy Miriam Kornblith (bio) The impetus for convening the Venezuelan presidential-recall referendum (PRR) of 15 August 2004 came from the coalition opposed to the government of President Hugo Chávez. While the recall lost by 59 to 41 percent, just getting it held was a victory that cost the opposition and its supporters many months of exhausting struggle against a welter of formidable obstacles thrown in their path by the government and its representatives. Yet the final result also represented a disappointing reversal of the opposition's bright early hopes. After Chávez reached the midpoint of his term in August 2003, making a recall constitutionally permissible, various opinion polls showed 55 to 60 percent of the voters favoring his early departure, while only 35 to 40 percent said that they wanted him to stay. By the time the recall was finally held on 15 August 2004, after a year of intense controversy, the numbers had flipped and voters decided to keep the president. Why did national sentiment change so drastically in a year? Why did the opposition lose? What happened between August 2003 and August 2004 that reversed the generally unfavorable opinion of the president and his political project? Were the circumstances in which the process was convened and the referendum actually held conducive to the fair and accurate expression of the national will? The recall provision of the Venezuelan constitution is known as Article 72. It states that any elected public official will become subject to [End Page 124] a recall if, after the midpoint of that official's term, 20 percent of the voters in the relevant constituency sign a petition asking for such a vote. The official must leave office if at least 25 percent of registered voters take part in the referendum, and if at least as many votes are cast in favor of recall as were cast for him or her during the election. Vacancies that result from recall referenda are to be filled according to the provisions laid out in the constitution and relevant laws. If the president is recalled before the end of the fourth year of his term, a new election to choose his successor must take place within a month after the recall date. Should a recall vote succeed after the end of the president's fourth year in office (Venezuelan presidents serve six-year terms), then the presidentially appointed vice-president assumes the presidency. The constitution does not say whether a president whose departure is sought should step down provisionally during the lead-up to the referendum. Nor is it clear whether a freshly ousted president may compete in a new election following a successful recall. Since neither Congress nor its successor body under the 1999 constitution, the unicameral National Assembly, had ever passed legislation to govern the different kinds of referenda, the rules that governed the 2004 recall process were entirely ad hoc and arrived at by a decidedly dubious process, particularly given that the National Electoral Council (CNE) defined everything up to and including the limits of its own authority. The recall referendum also highlighted broad, longstanding deficiencies in Venezuela's institutional order related to phenomena such as the use of state resources by public officials, the methods of political and campaign financing, and the like. The 2004 experience underlines the need to develop a specific legal framework that can guard future recall processes against capricious or biased rule making or institutional weaknesses that might distort the expression of the people's will. The idea of constitutionally recalling Chávez became the opposition's main rallying point after the signing of a May 2003 agreement with government representatives in which all parties agreed to activate the referendum mechanism under existing laws and norms and with the help of observer missions from the Organization of American States (OAS), the Carter Center, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). On 20 August 2003—the day that a Supreme Court ruling had designated as the midpoint of Chávez's six-year term—opposition groups gathered under the umbrella of the Coordinadora Democrática (Democratic Coordination) gave the CNE nearly 3.2 million...

Penile Reconstruction: Combined Use of an Innervated Forearm Osteocutaneous Flap and Big Toe Pulp

The use of a radial forearm flap has become the most popular method to reconstruct a phallus in recent years. This method of reconstruction, however, is plagued with problems such as urethral fistula and loss of phallic girth as a result of tissue atrophy, rendering a phallic contour that is cosmetically unsatisfactory. We had the opportunity of modifying the technique of penile reconstruction using a forearm osteocutaneous flap to minimize these problems. Specifically, a segment of the big toe pulp is used to reconstruct a glans penis. Sensory restoration in the "glans" and "penile shaft" is restored by coapting the digital and the antebrachial nerves to the penile nerve remnants. A segment of flexor carpi radialis muscle is included in the design of a forearm flap to reinforce the coaptation site of the urethral tract. An arteriovenous shunt is incorporated in the shaft as a mechanism to elicit erection of the penis by compressing the root of the neophallus. We had used these technical modifications in a 51-year-old man who had undergone penile amputation because of cancer. The cosmetic appearance and erotic and tactile sensation in the shaft and glans were proper and satisfactory at the end of fourth year after the surgery. The coital function was also satisfactory.

Achievement of Students in a Conventional and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Curriculum.

This study compared student performance in problem-based (PBL) and conventional curricula on: 1) basic science knowledge following two preclinical years; 2) the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination (MCC) Part I, written upon completion of the four year MD, and 3) Part II of the MCC Qualifying Examination, an assessment of clinical performance after 17 months of postgraduate education. Students in the conventional class of 1995 (n = 81) and the PBL classes of 1996 (n = 84) and 1997 (n = 78) participated. The 1995 conventional class scored significantly higher on the knowledge test than did the 1996 PBL class. The 1997 PBL class performed similarly to the 1995 class. The MCC Part I total examination scores of the three classes were similar. However, the PBL classes of 1996 and 1997 outperformed the class of 1995 in Psychiatry (p = 0.01); also, the PBL class of 1997 outscored the classes of 1995 and 1996 in Preventive Medicine and Community Health (p = 0.001). Two classes have completed the Part II examination. The 1995 and 1996 classes scored similarly in data-gathering, problem-solving and overall. The 1995 class scored significantly higher in communication skills (p = 0.01). We conclude that the performance of PBL and conventional classes is equivalent after medical school, and during postgraduate education, and that knowledge differences found in the first PBL class after two preclinical years have disappeared at the end of fourth year. Basic science knowledge may continue to grow throughout the clinical experience. Differences in communication skills, which favoured the conventional class, require further study.

The Selection Interview

Summary The Faculty of Medicine at Monash University has conducted medical student selection interviews for six years. It has now been possible to study extensively the educational impact of the interviews, the reliability of the interview ratings as well as their correlation with psychometric tests and their predictive capacity for success in the course as far as the end of fourth year. The interviews have generally been well received and appear to have a positive rather man negative effect on the motivation of applicants. The scores have high reliability and are well correlated with the results of personality‐orientated psychometric tests. When considered alongside secondary schools’ examination results, the interview scores are clearly inferior as predictors of success in the most cognitively orientated components of the course, but are superior to secondary schools’ examination results as predictors of success in the more humanistic components. At one extreme, secondary school physics results are good predictors (correlation coefficient > 0.4) of the results in many examinations, e.g. biochemistry and physiology, whereas interview scores are in some cases significandy negatively correlated to results in these subjects. At the odier extreme, no secondary schools’ subject results predict performance in the Community Medicine section of the fourth year whereas interview scores are significant in this regard. The problems involved in the selection of medical students are highlighted by the fact that performance in some components of the course is negatively correlated to many personality traits that seem desirable in medical practitioners.

Teaching of medical ethics in Sri Lanka.

Medical ethics as taught by members of the Department of Forensic Medicine in three of five medical colleges in Sri Lanka is a 'rule ethic' ('normative ethic') based on 'traditional' or 'classical' ethics. Instruction includes the teaching of moral principles, illustrated with examples. Also included are aspects concerning the functions of the Sri Lanka Medical Council. The topic is evaluated in the essay, multiple choice question and oral components of the third MBBS (Part II) examination (end of fourth year). As presently taught the syllabus is thoroughly inadequate for dealing with modern (medical) ethical issues. The shortcomings and limitations in the present programme are pointed out and requisite improvements suggested. A case is made for an eclectic view of ethics, in which a 'situation ethic' would play a part. Finally, the training of a highly moral responsible medical professional is emphasized.

Changes in Sex Differences in Scottish Examination Results since 1976

This study describes trends in the size and distribution of sex differences between Scottish secondary pupils in their national certificate examination results between 1976 and 1984. It also examines the relationship between sex differences and social class, and between sex differences and geographical location. We employ data from the Scottish School Leavers Surveys which describe three nationally representative samples of pupils who left school in 1976, 1980, and 1984. The findings show that ten years ago there was no sex difference in overall examination attainment, but by 1984 there was a considerable female advantage. The female advantage in English increased between 1976 and 1984, and the gap in arithmetic, which previously favored males, no longer remained in 1984. The findings also show that social-class inequality far outweighs sex inequality: differences between pupils in the top and bottom social-class categories in their mean levels of performance were about 1.25 to 1.5 standard deviations, compared with sex differences, which at most were about .25 of a standard deviation. The performance of working-class pupils relative to middle-class pupils improved over the eight-year period; however, the study did not lend support to theories that hypothesize sex differences are larger for either high or low social-class pupils. The study suggests that differences in the local opportunity structure may be a determining factor of sex inequality: in rural areas the attainment and achievement scores of males were considerably below the national average. Rural females, who had worse employment prospects at the end of fourth year, remained at school longer, had better examination results, and had higher rates of entry into post-secondary institutions than their male peers.

Assessing Speaking Proficiency in the Undergraduate Curriculum: Data from French

ABSTRACT With increasing use of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, especially in conjunction with college foreign language requirements and teacher certification, it is imperative that we understand how well our students currently function in speaking a foreign language. This article presents research rating the speaking proficiency on the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview of University of Wisconsin French students at four levels of study: end of first year, end of second year, third year or minor, and end of fourth year or major. The data show a significant, positive relationship between level of proficiency and level of study. Each level of study includes a range of overlapping proficiency levels. Findings are discussed in detail for each level of study, and the UW data are compared with available data and related proposed requirements nationwide. The conclusion calls for an extended data base and acceleration of test development in other skill areas, in order to provide for realistic and comprehensive proficiency testing in our foreign language programs.