Glass Half Research Articles

Glass Half Empty or Half Full: Single-Session Endoscopic Removal of Multiple Glass Vials in the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Using a Novel Approach

Glass Half Empty or Half Full: Single-Session Endoscopic Removal of Multiple Glass Vials in the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Using a Novel Approach

Relevance of Behavioral Research in the Evolving State of Anti-obesity Medications: Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Obesity continues to be a significant public health challenge. While weight loss medications have been studied and available for several years, the newest generation of highly effective anti-obesity medications (AOMs) will shift how behavioral science professionals approach obesity treatment and research. With the unique skill set of behavioral science professionals, this commentary suggests ways to integrate behavioral science into the rapidly evolving landscape of AOM use to accelerate better obesity care and generate new lines of research. The goal of this commentary is to stimulate discussion and encourage responsive and relevant action to improve population health.

Considerations on the preliminary results of the NETTER-2 trial: is the glass half full or half empty?

Considerations on the preliminary results of the NETTER-2 trial: is the glass half full or half empty?

Is the glass half full or half empty? Examining the impact of Swatch Bharat interventions on sanitation and hygiene in rural Punjab, India

This paper reports the findings of a cluster-randomized control study to assess the impact of India's flagship sanitation program, as implemented in Punjab, that aimed to eliminate the practice of open defecation and improve the awareness and practice of good hygiene across rural Punjab. The study finds that the program interventions specific to the Gram Panchayats (villages) had a modest effect on improving access to toilets and reducing open defecation among households with children in rural Punjab. However, awareness of the importance of handwashing before eating and after defecation among school-going children improved by 8–14 percentage points in treatment arms relative to control, though no significant impact on handwashing practices was observed. Consistent with the problem of implementation failure, the findings indicate the inherent difficulties of implementing bottom-up interventions through a large-scale government program.

Glass Half Full or Half Empty? The Contribution of Cacao in Traditional Agroforestry Systems to the Income of Indigenous Peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Glass Half Full or Half Empty? The Contribution of Cacao in Traditional Agroforestry Systems to the Income of Indigenous Peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Physical Activity and Public Health for Adults: Is the Glass Mostly Empty or Half Full?

Early observations that only a small proportion of U.S. adults were engaging in enough aerobic physical activity to provide substantial health benefit helped shape our public health messaging for physical activity. This messaging has consistently indicated that most adults should increase their activity levels. However, it has been difficult to accurately estimate the proportion of adults who engage in sufficient levels of aerobic activity in the population, with survey-based estimates ranging from 22% in 1994 to 54% in 2018 and widely differing estimates from device-based measures. Recent accelerometer-based studies of physical activity and mortality risk provide new evidence that at least 50% of U.S. adults engage in enough aerobic physical activity to be at low risk for premature mortality. We argue that this observation should lend greater confidence to our current survey-based surveillance estimates, which indicate that a large proportion of adults is physically active. This new insight may also provide clues that could further strengthen our public health messaging for physical activity by placing more emphasis on the maintenance of healthy activity levels throughout life and possibly by using descriptive social norms as an additional intervention element-while continuing current efforts to encourage the adoption of healthy activity levels for less active adults in the population.

Abstract 2366 Glass Half Full or Empty: Illuminating the Human Transcriptome - Inspiring Underserved High School Students with an Experiential Biology Laboratory Research Experience

Abstract 2366 Glass Half Full or Empty: Illuminating the Human Transcriptome - Inspiring Underserved High School Students with an Experiential Biology Laboratory Research Experience

Single-paper meta-analyses of the effects of spaced retrieval practice in nine introductory STEM courses: is the glass half full or half empty?

BackgroundUndergraduate STEM instructors want to help students learn and retain knowledge for their future courses and careers. One promising evidence-based technique that is thought to increase long-term memory is spaced retrieval practice, or repeated testing over time. The beneficial effect of spacing has repeatedly been demonstrated in the laboratory as well as in undergraduate mathematics courses, but its generalizability across diverse STEM courses is unknown. We investigated the effect of spaced retrieval practice in nine introductory STEM courses. Retrieval practice opportunities were embedded in bi-weekly quizzes, either massed on a single quiz or spaced over multiple quizzes. Student performance on practice opportunities and a criterial test at the end of each course were examined as a function of massed or spaced practice. We also conducted a single-paper meta-analysis on criterial test scores to assess the generalizability of the effectiveness of spaced retrieval practice across introductory STEM courses.ResultsSignificant positive effects of spacing on the criterial test were found in only two courses (Calculus I for Engineers and Chemistry for Health Professionals), although small positive effect sizes were observed in two other courses (General Chemistry and Diversity of Life). Meta-analyses revealed a significant spacing effect when all courses were included, but not when calculus was excluded. The generalizability of the spacing effect across STEM courses therefore remains unclear.ConclusionsAlthough we could not clearly determine the generalizability of the benefits of spacing in STEM courses, our findings indicate that spaced retrieval practice could be a low-cost method of improving student performance in at least some STEM courses. More work is needed to determine when, how, and for whom spaced retrieval practice is most beneficial. The effect of spacing in classroom settings may depend on some design features such as the nature of retrieval practice activities (multiple-choice versus short answer) and/or feedback settings, as well as student actions (e.g., whether they look at feedback or study outside of practice opportunities). The evidence is promising, and further pragmatic research is encouraged.

Infectious Diseases Training in the 21st Century: A Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

The percentage of infectious diseases (ID) fellowship positions filled has declined in the last years despite a relatively stable number of applicants. The data are concerning since this could impact an already strained workforce. A recent survey of ID fellowship program directors provides insight into the perceptions of program directors about factors that might have affected the match rate in 2023 and could also be applicable to the recent 2024 match. Here, we discuss the results of this survey and discuss the complex factors that might influence the choice of ID as an specialty. Although concerning, recent fellowship match results provide new opportunities to reassess current models of ID training and design innovative strategies for ID fellowship and education.

Glass half empty or half full? Gender in integrated water resource management in South Asia

AbstractThis paper reviews the experience with gender mainstreaming in the water sector in South Asia. It analyzes the reasons for the limited impact of these efforts. These are located in the limited understanding and consequent operationalization of the concept of gender itself. Rather than equating the word gender with women, it needs to be understood to refer to the social and power differences between men and women and the differences within women. Gender needs to be approached in policy and practice through a lens of intersectionality. Reserving seats for women in local patriarchal structures of decision making does little to alter the status quo; securing women's participation in water management activities without altering power relations between water users and service providers only creates additional work burdens for them. The changing nature of water resources education in the region means that water problems shall be seen differently in the future and that there will be more women in this sector. There is a need to develop curricula based on ways of theorizing about gender and water in different agro‐ecological and institutional settings embedded in the unique context of South Asia.

Paulo Freire’s Situação-limite

I challenge an “English only” view of Paulo Freire in U.S. scholarship, arguing that an exclusive reading of the 1970 Myra Bergman Ramos English translation masks the dialogic and allusive dimensions of Freire’s rhetoric. I trace Paulo Freire’s use of situação-limite (“limit-situation”) to Álvaro Viera Pinto’s appropriation of the term in Consciência e realidade nacional from Karl Jaspers’s concept of Grenzsituation in Philosophie, Existenzerhellung. A detailed illustration of the semantics of situação-limite is needed to correct for a “glass half full” terministic screen in Anglophone U.S. scholarship, which overly minimizes the term’s profile of collective historical transcendence.

Glass half full? The legal case for mutual optimism and risk preferences

Glass half full? The legal case for mutual optimism and risk preferences

Evaluating the overlap of surface protected areas with different facets of groundwater biodiversity: Glass half empty or half full?

Biodiversity conservation across countries and ecosystems is traditionally based on a single species- or area-level attributes, such as endemicity or taxonomic diversity. Although alternative criteria integrating multiple biodiversity aspects on both species- and area-level have been proposed, they are only rarely considered in conservation planning, especially in data-deficient ecosystems. Among them are also groundwater ecosystems, which are almost exclusively protected only indirectly through protected areas (PAs) targeted at surface ecosystems. Due to their interdependency, surface PAs can be beneficial for groundwaters, but it is unclear whether and to what extent they capture different aspects of groundwater diversity. We addressed these questions at the subterranean biodiversity hotspot, the Western Balkans (Europe), using amphipod family Niphargidae as a model system. We integrated distributional, phylogenetic, and functional trait data for over 200 molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTU). We explored the patterns of different biodiversity facets and identified MOTUs and areas of highest conservation importance. We evaluated how well do PAs overlap with high-priority MOTUs and areas, and how much regional diversity PAs capture with their extent. Over a third of high-priority MOTUs were distributed outside PAs, while <30 % of high-priority areas had over half of the area overlapping with PAs. Additionally, we found that over 30 % high-priority MOTUs were formally undescribed species. Although existing PAs only poorly covered the high-priority MOTUs and areas, they still captured over 50 % of each diversity facet in the region. Finally, we list the next steps to improve the conservation strategies of groundwater ecosystems in Europe.

Optical coherence tomography to guide percutaneous coronary intervention: is the glass half full or half empty?

Optical coherence tomography to guide percutaneous coronary intervention: is the glass half full or half empty?

Outcomes of Lung Transplantation for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Glass Half Full or Still Half Empty?

Outcomes of Lung Transplantation for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Glass Half Full or Still Half Empty?

Glass Half Full

Glass Half Full

Intravascular imaging: a glass half empty or half full?

Intravascular imaging: a glass half empty or half full?

The Relationship between COVID-19 Appraisal and Performance: Looking at the Glass Half Full or Empty?

The Relationship between COVID-19 Appraisal and Performance: Looking at the Glass Half Full or Empty?

Remyelination by preexisting oligodendrocytes: Glass half full or half empty?

The central dogma in remyelination states that the primary cellular source for myelin repair are the oligodendrocyte precursor cells. In this issue of Neuron, Mezydlo etal.1 highlight the potential of preexisting oligodendrocytes as an alternative, albeit minor, source for new myelin, with implications for demyelinating disorder research and therapies.

Polygenic risk scores in cancer screening: a glass half full or half empty?

Polygenic risk scores in cancer screening: a glass half full or half empty?