Frequency Of Correct Responses Research Articles

Phlebotomy- A gateway to laboratory diagnostics

Objective: To assess the knowledge, practice and attitude about venipuncture amongst Nursing staff of a tertiary care hospital. Material and Methods: This questionnaire-based survey was done at Rawal General and dental hospital, Islamabad, from January to April 2022. The Questionnaire was developed as per the CLSI H3-A6 and WHO‘s venipuncture guidelines. It was distributed to nursing staff by hand. Most were filled inside the classes in front of the teacher. Results: The frequency of correct responses in the knowledge section varied from 4(4.6%) about the number of tube inversions to 79(90.8%) about wearing of gloves before taking a sample while 47(54%) selected the correct option of identifying a patient. Regarding the standard phlebotomy protocols, the response was quite low which was 26(29.9%), 18(20.7%) and 8(9.2%) about the correct angle of needle insertion, what to inspect of the supplies and the location of applying the tourniquet respectively. Recapping with two hands is still done by 13% and 79% still put the sample by holding tube in the other hand. In spite of all this 66% still think that one can learn venipuncture by practicing the techniques without going through a proper course. Conclusion: Nursing staff in Rawal General and dental hospital is not fully aware about basic laboratory protocols and their importance. This unawareness can lead to generation of erroneous lab reports. Formal education, training with summative assessments should be a part of the curriculum of nursing courses followed by rigorous implementation monitoring. Keywords: Awareness, Nurses, Phlebotomy, Venipuncture, Sample

Assessing Hand Perfusion With Eulerian Video Magnification and Waveform Extraction

Timely and accurate triage of upper extremity injuries is critical, but current perfusion monitoring technologies have shortcomings. These limitations are especially pronounced in patients with darker skin tones. This pilot study evaluates a Eulerian Video Magnification (EVM) algorithm combined with color channel waveform extraction to enable video-based measurement of hand and finger perfusion. Videos of 10 volunteer study participants with Fitzpatrick skin types III-VI were taken in a controlled environment during normal perfusion and tourniquet-induced ischemia. Videos were EVM processed, and red/green/blue color channel characteristics were extracted to produce waveforms. These videos were assessed by surgeons with a range of expertise in hand injuries. The videos were randomized and presented in 1 of 3 ways: unprocessed, EVM processed, and EVM with waveform output (EVM+waveform). Survey respondents indicated whether the video showed an ischemic or perfused hand or if they were unable to tell. We used group comparisons to evaluate response accuracy across video types, skin tones, and respondent groups. Of the 51 providers to whom the surveys were sent, 25 (49%) completed them. Using the Pearson χ2 test, the frequencies of correct responses were significantly higher in the EVM+waveform category than in the unprocessed or EVM videos. Additionally, the agreement was higher among responses to the EVM+waveform questions than among responses to the unprocessed or EVM processed. The accuracy and agreement from the EVM+waveform group were consistent across all skin pigmentations evaluated. Video-based EVM processing combined with waveform extraction from color channels improved the surgeon's ability to identify tourniquet-induced finger ischemia via video across all skin types tested. Eulerian Video Magnification with waveform extraction improved the assessment of perfusion in the distal upper extremity and has potential future applications, including triage, postsurgery vascular assessment, and telemedicine.

Myth-Busting With Infographics: Do Creative Assignments Help Students Learn?

Belief in psychological misconceptions has potential repercussions for both students and potentially society as a whole. We present a creative and engaging myth refutation assignment that uses an infographic format to promote the refutation of psychological misconceptions. A total of 166 students completed the myth refutation assignment, along with pre-assignment surveys to measure transformative experience, interest, and critical thinking. An end-of-semester myth quiz was given to assess long-term learning. Frequency of correct responses was higher for quiz questions that corresponded to the myth chosen for the students’ project, indicating that the assignment was effective at promoting learning. None of the other variables were significant predictors of myth refutation at the end of the semester.

The knowledge of undergraduate dental students and dentists about antibiotic prophylaxis in patients at risk for infective endocarditis

ABSTRACT Infective Endocarditis (IE) is an infection of the endocardial surface of the heart that is caused by fungi, bacteria or viruses. The high mortality and morbidity rates of IE have encouraged the adoption of preventive strategies. This study investigated the knowledge on the prevention of IE among 2nd, 3rd and 4th-year undergraduate dental students at the Escola Superior São Francisco de Assis (ESFA) and among dentists working in the municipality of Santa Teresa, ES, Brazil. Objective: The rationale for this study was to identify the gaps in their knowledge and raise awareness on the topic. Methods: The study was previously approved by the Research Ethics Committee. The sample consisted of dental students who had completed the Pharmacology for Dentistry course at the ESFA, totaling 35 2nd-year students, 29 3rd-year students, and 36 4th-year students. Thirty dentists registered in the Regional Council of Dentistry of Espírito Santo state, who were working in the municipality of Santa Teresa, ES, Brazil, were also included. All participants were given a questionnaire containing six objective and four subjective questions to assess their knowledge regarding the definition of IE, high-risk patients, dental procedures known to cause bacteremia, recommended dosage regimens for high risk patients, and additional care in the assistance of these patients. The questionnaires’ responses were reviewed following the American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for disease prevention published in 2007. Results: The analysis of the results revealed a low rate of correct responses among students and dentists. The questions with the lowest rate of correct responses were those addressing the identification of patients at high risk for heart conditions and the dental procedures known to cause bacteremia, with no significant differences between the four groups analyzed (P > 0.05). Third-year dental students presented a frequency of correct responses significantly lower than that of the other groups (P < 0.001), which did not differ from each other. To conclude, all participants demonstrated poor knowledge about the topic, particularly 3rd-year dental students. Conclusion: These results reinforce the need for informative measures to raise awareness and improve the quality of dental care provided to the population.

Frequency of Correct Response and Factors Associated in the Medium Term With a Multimodal Rehabilitation Program for Chronic Low Back Pain

Frequency of Correct Response and Factors Associated in the Medium Term With a Multimodal Rehabilitation Program for Chronic Low Back Pain

Câncer de boca: conhecimento de motoristas de transportes de carga em um município de Santa Catarina (Brasil)

Objetivo: Caracterizar o conhecimento de um grupo de condutores de transportes de carga sobre câncer de boca. Métodos: Estudo descritivo transversal. A população de referência foram os 52 motoristas de caminhão de uma empresa do município de Itajaí (SC). As informações foram obtidas através da aplicação de questionário estruturado em três campos: características sociodemográficas, domínio atitudinal e domínio cognitivo. Os dados foram submetidos à análise descritiva, mediante a obtenção da frequência (absoluta e relativa). Resultados: Participaram 45 motoristas; todos do sexo masculino, com idade média de 48,2 anos. Quanto à escolaridade, a maior frequência (34,1%) foi para o ensino médio completo. Sessenta por cento não receberam informações sobre câncer de boca, contudo 82,2% demonstraram interesse em participar de atividades educativo-preventivas sobre o tema. Nenhum dos participantes costuma fazer a observação da sua cavidade bucal. Nas questões do campo cognitivo, o melhor desempenho foi para os itens sobre fatores etiológicos, sendo o hábito de fumar o mais destacado. A frequência de respostas erradas foi superior a 75% para a maioria das questões sobre conhecimento. A maior frequência de respostas corretas, no domínio cognitivo, ocorreu entre os participantes que haviam recebido informações sobre o tema do câncer de boca. Conclusão: Os participantes apresentaram importantes lacunas no conhecimento sobre câncer de boca, no entanto, o melhor desempenho foi identificado entre aqueles que haviam recebido, previamente, informações sobre a temática em estudo.

Evaluation of Risk-Minimization Activities for Cyproterone Acetate 2mg/Ethinylestradiol 35µg: A Cross-Sectional Physician Survey.

BackgroundCyproterone acetate 2 mg/ethinylestradiol 35 µg, an estrogen/progestogen treatment with anti-androgenic properties, shares a thromboembolism risk with combined hormonal contraceptives. Educational materials (i.e., direct healthcare professional communication, patient information card, prescriber checklist) were distributed to physicians to increase risk awareness.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to measure physician knowledge of thromboembolism risk of cyproterone acetate 2 mg/ethinylestradiol 35 µg and ascertain whether physicians received the educational materials.MethodsA cross-sectional web-based physician survey of recent prescribers of cyproterone acetate 2 mg/ethinylestradiol 35 µg in Austria, the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, and Spain was conducted. Sampling targets for physician specialty were based on country-specific prescribing patterns. Frequency of correct responses was calculated for 14 knowledge questions.ResultsAmong 759 physician respondents (37% of obstetricians/gynecologists, 42% of general practitioners, 20% of dermatologists), 51% received one or more of three educational materials. Knowledge was highest (≥80%) for symptoms of possible deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and cerebrovascular accident; most important risk factors for thrombosis; use in smokers; indication for moderate-to-severe acne; and understanding that cyproterone acetate 2 mg/ethinylestradiol 35 µg should not be used for contraception alone. Knowledge varied for contraindications, myocardial infarction symptoms, other risk factors for thrombosis, instructions regarding anticipated prolonged immobilization, and selected concomitant medical conditions. Knowledge was lower regarding prescribing cyproterone acetate 2 mg/ethinylestradiol 35 µg for acne only after failure of topical therapy or systemic antibiotics. Generally, knowledge did not vary by physician specialty, receipt of educational materials, number of patients prescribed cyproterone acetate 2 mg/ethinylestradiol 35 µg in the previous 3 months, and years in practice.ConclusionsKnowledge was generally high for thromboembolism risk and varied for more complex or infrequent topics.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40290-017-0203-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN ABOUT DIFFERENT ANIMALS

Adequate mental representations of animals are important for children’s personal development, because they result in their appropriate treatment of such animals, which would not, for example, compromise either animals’ or children’s safety. By using a convenient sample of 101 six- to seven-year old children, this research examined these representations regarding animals’ names, feeding habits, body coverings, and dangerousness. The representations were assessed using a questionnaire referring to 18 animals, and the research focused on the frequency of correct responses and gender differences in these responses for each animal. It was found that whereas the naming of animals was very successful, the mental representations of animals’ feeding habits and body coverings were less mature, including some misconceptions not found in previous studies. In addition, the participants’ explanations about why animals are dangerous or harmless revealed that their mental representations about different animals were correct to a moderate degree. Finally, gender differences in the mental representations were almost missing. Some implications for school or kindergarten work with children are given (e.g., reducing misconceptions about and fear of some animals). Keywords: didactically modeled activities, mental representations of animals, preschool children, preschool education.

Effectiveness of verbal and gestural signals and familiarity with signal-senders on the performance of working dogs

We assessed how highly trained dogs respond to gestural versus verbal signals when their handlers or an unfamiliar person asked them to perform an obedience task. Dogs were requested to perform four different actions (“Sit”, “Down”, “Stay” and “Come”) upon receiving congruent (only gestural or only verbal) or incongruent signals (gestural and verbal signals contradict each other).The dogs’ performance measures were the frequency of correct responses and their response latency. Generalized Estimation Equation models were used to determine whether the type of signal, the coherence of the signals and familiarity with the signaler influenced dogs’ responses.Our results show that the probability of dogs expressing the requested behaviour was lower when the stranger gave verbal signals, than in any of the other conditions. In the incongruent condition, the probability that dogs expressed the behaviour indicated by the verbal signal was lower for signals provided by the stranger than for signals provided by the owner. The reverse was observed for gestural signals. In general, longer latencies to perform the “Come”, “Down” and “Sit” behaviours were observed in response to the stranger’s verbal signals than when the stranger gave gestural or incongruent signals. Additionally, the response latency to the stranger’s verbal stimuli took longer than verbal stimuli were provided by the owner in the case of “Come” (P=0.002) and “Sit” (P<0.001) actions.Our data support the argument that for highly trained dogs, gestural signals are less dependent upon signal-giver familiarity, whereas verbal signals are less effective when they are given by an unfamiliar person.

Knowledge of dental trauma in a group of Chilean primary school teachers.

Aim: To determine the knowledge and management of dentoalveolar trauma by primary school teachers in rural and urban schools in the city of Paillaco, Chile, in 2014. Methods: An observational study was conducted in 167 teachers in the city of Paillaco. A survey developed from the questionnaires proposed by McIntyre et al. and Yassen et al. was used. The survey, previously approved by 2 experts, was applied in person in the school facilities, after the application of a pilot test. Demographic characteristics of the participants and the frequency of correct responses by geographical location of the educational establishment (rural / urban) were analyzed. For the inferential analysis, the chi-square and t-tests (p <.05) were used. Results: 130 valid questionnaires (41.21 ± 0.95 years, 68.4% women) were obtained. Participating teachers achieved an 83.3% of correct diagnosis of dentoalveolar trauma and a 55.5% of correct answers regarding its management. There were with no statistically significant differences in relation to geographical location. Conclusion: Primary school teachers in the city of Paillaco have a high level of knowledge of dentoalveolar trauma, but not of its management.

Visual perception of fatigued lifting actions

Fatigue-related changes in lifting kinematics may expose workers to undue injury risks. Early detection of accumulating fatigue offers the prospect of intervention strategies to mitigate such fatigue-related risks. In a first step towards this objective, this study investigated whether fatigue detection was accessible to visual perception and, if so, what was the key visual information required for successful fatigue discrimination. Eighteen participants were tasked with identifying fatigued lifts when viewing 24 trials presented using both video and point-light representations. Each trial comprised a pair of lifting actions containing a fresh and a fatigued lift from the same individual presented in counter-balanced sequence. Confidence intervals demonstrated that the frequency of correct responses for both sexes exceeded chance expectations (50%) for both video (68%±12%) and point-light representations (67%±10%), demonstrating that fatigued lifting kinematics are open to visual perception. There were no significant differences between sexes or viewing condition, the latter result indicating kinematic dynamics as providing sufficient information for successful fatigue discrimination. Moreover, results from single viewer investigation reported fatigue detection (75%) from point-light information describing only the kinematics of the box lifted. These preliminary findings may have important workplace applications if fatigue discrimination rates can be improved upon through future research.

Newly designed gustatory test based on the number of chewing strokes required for recognition of the taste

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to examine the usefulness of a new gustatory test based on the progress of mastication by counting the number of chewing strokes required for recognizing tastes. MethodsThirty-nine subjects (20 males and 19 females, 25.3±6.4 years old) without missing teeth were selected. Four types of newly designed test materials made from 15% gelatine were prepared, containing sucrose, sodium chloride, tartaric acid, or quinine hydrochloride. Five or six concentrations, representing weak to strong tastes, were prepared for each tastant. Subjects were instructed to chew the food, and the number of chewing strokes necessary to recognize the taste was counted. ResultsFemale subjects recognized the sweet taste more accurately than male subjects (Friedman test: p<0.05). For each tastant of the test materials, the average number of chewing strokes (recognition threshold) was approximately 10. The frequency of correct responses and the average number of chewing strokes tended to be higher and lower, respectively, as the concentration of the taste in the test material increased (Kruskal–Wallis test: sweet p<0.01, salty p<0.01, sour p<0.01 and bitter p<0.01). ConclusionsUsing the newly designed test materials, counting the number of chewing strokes necessary for recognizing the taste would be a useful index of a new gustatory test to investigate taste sensation.

Paediatrician's responses to an evidence summary about renal tract imaging tests in children after urinary tract infection

IntroductionRenal tract imaging after urinary tract infection (UTI) has been widely recommended but clinical practice varies substantially among paediatricians.AimTo describe changes in knowledge and reported ordering practices of paediatricians in...

Assessing the symbolic distance effect in mental images constructed from verbal descriptions: A study of individual differences in the mental comparison of distances

In two experiments, undergraduates processed a verbal description of a spatial configuration on the periphery of which six landmarks were located. The participants were then invited to generate visual images of the configuration, and to visualize the distances between pairs of landmarks. Their task consisted of deciding which of the two specified distances was longer. The results showed that as the magnitude of the differences in distance increased, the frequency of correct responses was higher, and response times were shorter. This pattern of results is characteristic of the symbolic distance effect, which is especially interesting in the present experiment where the images generated by the participants were constructed after processing a verbal description (rather than reconstructed from previous perceptual experience). In order to assess the role of visual imagery in the comparison of distances, the performance of participants with the highest scores on a visuo-spatial test (the Minnesota Paper Form Board) was compared to that of those with the lowest scores. High visuo-spatial imagers had higher frequencies of correct responses and shorter response times than the low imagers in the distance-comparison task. They outperformed their counterparts even more clearly on the items where the distance differences were the smallest, suggesting that visual imagery is especially important for items requiring the most attentive examination of a visual image. These data are interpreted as reflecting the fact that visual imagery mediates the process of mentally comparing distances, even when learning has been essentially based on verbal input. These findings support the view that a representation constructed from a verbal description may incorporate metric information about distances, and they offer evidence suggesting that visual images constructed from descriptive texts have genuine analog properties.

Reconsidering the role of artifacts in reasoning: Children's understanding of the globe as a model of the earth

This experiment investigated the effect of the presentation of a globe – the culturally accepted artifact representing the earth – on children's reasoning in elementary astronomy. Forty-four children from grades 1 and 3 were interviewed individually. First, the children were asked to make their own representations of the earth (i.e., drawings and play-dough models) and to indicate where people live on the earth. Then, the same children were presented with the globe and were asked to answer another set of questions regarding the shape of the earth and the areas where people live. The results showed an increase in the frequency of correct responses with the presentation of the globe, but also a decrease in the overall consistency of responses. Only some (the older) children could profit from the presence of the artifact to construct an internally consistent scientific model of the earth. Many children employed a mixed way of responding, sometimes basing their answers on the externally provided model and sometimes on their prior knowledge. These latter children did not seem to be aware of what they were doing. It appears that in the absence of an external, cultural model, children can form internal representations which they can distort in ways that make them consistent with their prior knowledge. But, when the cultural artifact is present, such distortions are not possible with the result that children end up with internally inconsistent patterns of responses.

The Mental Comparison of Distances in a Verbally Described Spatial Layout: Effects of Visual Deprivation

In this study, we investigated the metric properties of spatial representations built from the verbal description of a spatial layout in early blind, late blind, and transiently visually deprived sighted participants. We adapted the verbal descriptions designed by Denis and Zimmer [1]. Participants had to mentally compare distances separating pairs of landmarks. The analysis of the frequency of correct responses suggests that visual experience does not play a crucial role in the preservation of the topology of a memorized spatial configuration. However, response times differed significantly among groups, with participants who experienced transient visual deprivation being overall faster than those suffering permanent loss of vision. Lastly, for all groups, the smaller the difference between two pairs of distances, the longer the response time, which attests to the presence of a symbolic distance effect. To conclude, if mental representations can be considered as reflecting described spatial layouts analogically, our data do not provide any strong evidence in favor of the visual character of these analog representations.

VISUAL-FIELD SUPERIORITY AS A FUNCTION OF STIMULUS TYPE AND CONTENT

The objective of this study was to examine whether hemispheric superiority is determined more by stimulus type (facial, lexical) or content (neutral, emotional). A split, visual-field experiment was designed using a computer-based program with bilateral presentation (left visual-field, right visual-field) for four sets of stimuli: face (neutral, emotional) 2 word (neutral, emotional), N = 40. The dependent measures were the frequency of correct response and response latency of correct responses. The visual-field effect was nonsignificant for correct responses; however, the interaction of stimulus type 2 content was found significant. The interaction of visual-field 2 stimulus type was significant with response time as the dependent measure. Facial stimuli were processed faster in the left visual-field (a right hemispheric function) and lexical stimuli were processed faster in the right visual-field (a left hemispheric function). No hemispheric effect was observed for stimulus content.

Distribution of mislocalizations of tactile stimuli on the fingers of the human hand

Sensitivity of the fingers of the two hands to faint tactile stimuli were tested in eight healthy subjects with a von Frey hair in a forced choice point localization test. Frequencies of correct responses were higher on the left than on the right hand, consistent with a right hemispheric advantage for spatial processing. Within the hands, stimulations of the ring fingers resulted in the highest percentage of correct localizations and stimulations of the thumbs in the fewest correct responses. This superiority of the ring fingers is probably related to a higher point pressure sensitivity and does not reflect the relative size of the representational area of the different fingers in the somatosensory cortex. Mislocalizations, i.e., stimuli that were not correctly attributed to the stimulation site, were located in the vicinity of the stimulation site within the finger as well as across fingers. The distribution of mislocalization across fingers deviates from a distribution expected by chance, showing a higher frequency of mislocalizations to the neighboring fingers than to more distant fingers. This observation in humans matches well with electrophysiological evidence from animal studies that some primary somatosensory cortex neurons have receptive fields that are not restricted to a single digit, but rather cover neighboring digits.

Comparing Differences in Accuracy across Conditions or Individuals: An Argument for the Use of Log Odds

In experimental psychology, the degree of difference between the proportions of correctly solved items on two related tests (such as word lists) has been calculated by different methods, for example, a simple difference (e.g. as used in within-subjects ANOVAs), difference relative to potential gain, quotient, difference between standardized z-scores, or by Signal Detection Theory's d’, every one of which may yield different results. The present article discusses the choice of methods with an example from reading research concerned with contextual facilitation in readers with different abilities. Assuming that the total number of correctly solved items captures all relevant variance in subjects’ abilities (i.e. it is a sufficient measure), it is demonstrated that the logarithm of the quotient between odds for the frequencies of correct responses (log odds) is the most suitable method of calculation. For example, calculations based on log odds provide an appropriate ranking of the subjects, from relevant for repeated-measures ANOVAs. The aims of the present paper are to draw attention to the problem of comparing differences, to evaluate current methods of calculation, and to present a consistent solution to the problem. We illustrate the problem by applying several current methods of expressing differences in proportion correct to the same set of data: they yield radically different results. The choice of an appropriate method depends on the assumptions made about the underlying metric. We argue for a solution-the log odds measure-on the basis of Rasch's (1968a, 1968b) measurement model. This relies on a demonstration that, given a set of test items given to a set of subjects, the proportion of correct is, in technical terms, a sufficient statistic -that is, it captures all relevant variation in a subject's ability (or an item's difficulty). The example for the presentation of the problem is selected from recent reading research using comparison of accuracy in two related reading tasks. Reading accuracy with two tasks is a suitable example because it is a simple, much-used design. Researchers

Patient Understanding of Emergency Department Discharge Instructions

Patients were interviewed immediately after discharge outside the emergency department to determine whether they could read their discharge instructions and recall their diagnosis and treatment plan. The association between frequency of correct responses and various characteristics of the patients was assessed. Of the patients completing the interview, 72% could read the discharge instructions. The illiteracy rate was higher for patients with less than 9 years of education and for patients aged 50 to 59 years. There was no association between patient race, sex, or literacy. The correct diagnosis was given by 79% of patients, correct treatment information by 49%, and correct follow-up information by 82%. Overall, 37% of patients answered all questions correctly and 8% answered all questions incorrectly. No association was found between frequency of correct responses and variables examined. Miscommunication of discharge information occurs frequently; illiteracy does not completely account for the observed low rates of recall.