Quick Questions Research Articles

#FTDQuickQuestions: An FTD Disorders Registry (FTDDR) Monthly Engagement Survey to Gather Real‐time Insights to Inform Research

AbstractBackgroundFrontotemporal degeneration is a group of rare brain diseases that cause progressive changes to behavior, personality, language, and movement with onset typically before age 60. There are no treatments or cures. FTDDR is an international, web‐based registry (participants n>5,700) that facilitates clinical trial enrollment by collecting disease insights, summarizing data, and mobilizing potential research volunteers. FTDDR uses various data collection and engagement tools to interact with participants and the community at large. Quick Questions was concepted as a mechanism to gather real‐time, cross‐sectional, anonymous data from a broad response‐base not limited by Registry participation.Method#FTDQuickQuestions campaign incorporates social, email, and web to reach members and visitors to collect their data, strengthen existing relationships, connect with people who could benefit from Registry services, and inform research. Each month a pre‐approved question was posted to Facebook and Twitter, linking to a webform with polling options and collected for 2 weeks. Respondent’s location is indexed through IP address. Additionally, the question was emailed to FTDDR participants with brief highlights of the previous survey and a link to view results for it and prior surveys. Full summaries were posted as weblogs.ResultThe survey was launched in June 2022 with the question: Have you tried to get genetic testing for FTD over the last 3 years? Questions have related to FTD research participation, age of diagnosis, age first symptom appeared, where diagnosed person lived. At least one other demographic question is asked to characterize the respondent, including gender or relationship to FTD‐diagnosed person. Number of respondents for the first 7 questions ranged between 555‐857; monthly average 735. Except the initial survey, >75% of responses were received within 24 hours of email. Responses reflect 41 countries; including all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia; and 10 Canadian provinces/territories. Majority are women (62%); a third men (35%); 3% declined providing gender.ConclusionFTDDR’s #FTDQuickQuestions is a successful monthly engagement mechanism that enables quick, timely responses to questions about this disease and the people affected by it. While related questions cannot be compared nor connected, this valuable information serves as a cross‐sectional snapshot to inform FTD research.

Supporting Employment Consultants to Implement Supported and Customized Employment.

Implementing supported and customized employment in all their components is essential for supporting job seekers with disabilities to achieve their career goals. We asked 42 employment consultants in nine employment programs to respond daily to three quick questions about their employment support activities, for 6 months. Through monthly coaching, we helped the managers of these organizations engage their teams of employment consultants to interpret the data, reflect, set goals, and take action for quality improvement. Based on the positive results of this pilot, we recommend that employment consultants be provided with data-enabled feedback that supports decision making and helps them fully implement supported and customized employment as a necessary step toward improving job seekers' employment outcomes.

5 Questions for Anton Troynikov: His Company's Creation Identifies the Art Behind AI-Generated Images

Shortly after their first releases to the public, text-to-image artificial intelligence models like Stable Diffusion and Midjourney also became the focal points in debates around the ethics of their usage. Anton Troynikov is a cofounder of Chroma, a startup working to improve AI interpretability. With AI art generators, Troynikov and others at Chroma saw an opportunity to build a tool that would try to attribute the source images used in a particular image generation. Troynikov answered five quick questions on the project, Stable Attribution, and how artists and engineers can stop “talking past each other.”

Generic characteristics of patients’ e-consultations with general practitioners

Electronic communication between patients and general practitioners (GPs), known as e-consultations, was introduced in Denmark as a cost-effective and convenient means for patients to access their GP and receive test results as well as answers to quick questions. Research on e-consultations internationally has found that patients are generally very positive, while doctors are more hesitant. Most studies of e-consultations have involved survey or interview methodologies, while studies of their content, form or language are limited. In this study, we address this gap by proposing that genre may be a productive concept for comprehending textual aspects of e-consultations. We explore the following two questions: (1) what are the generic characteristics of the e-consultation?; and (2) do e-consultations belong to the email genre? Based on an analysis of two Danish corpora of patients’ first turns in e-consultations with their GPs, we identify an underlying move structure: subject, opening, update, problem presentation, request, argumentation, closing. We argue that the e-consultation is an example of an email genre with identifiable conventions, which are both specific to the communicative function of e-consultations and aligned with generic features of emails.

APPROACHES IN PROVIDING HIGHLY EFFECTIVE DISTANCE LEARNING AT THE DEPARTMENT OF THERAPEUTIC DENTISTRY, POLTAVA STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY

Modern medical education is significantly affected by the nationwide quarantine that has made adjustments to the development and functioning in all sectors of society. Inability to conduct offline full-fledged classes at educational settings contributed to the wider implementation of distance education.
 According to the Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education", distance education has the official status of an independent form of education on a par with full-time, extramural and externships.
 Modern platforms and services allow educators to continue the educational process at high quality levels during quarantine. Thus, groups in Viber, created for quick transmission of messages at the beginning of the last academic year, are now organically woven into the educational process. The educators at the Department of Therapeutic Stomatology actively use the Viber messenger in cases where there are problems in joining students to electronic courses and providing assistance. The department staff actively uses the services of the Zoom platform to conduct distance learning. Free service with a clear interface enables to actively participate in online meetings. The option of screen sharing allows each participant to receive and contribute their own information to group discussion thus maintaining feedback. In Zoom, it is easy to submit new material, in particular presentations, and check its assimilation by students. The chat can be used for asking quick questions and writing comments during the class. By controlling the chat, educators can add or remove participants, give the right to vote, access to the screen, separate communication. Such classes also foster the communication skills. You can plan the date of the conference [2]. The recording of the conference can be stored in separate folders. In addition, using the Zoom platform, we can hold department meetings, scientific student group meetings, etc. The department staff actively participates in various conferences, meetings of the academic councils using the Zoom platform.
 Nevertheless, online education cannot provide the proper question of practical skills. This prompted the search for visual examples and opportunities to demonstrate working with phantoms and patients in the format of distance learning to medical and dental students. Some opportunities in this direction are provided by the YouTube platform. A large number of correspondents provide this platform with an almost immeasurable variety of videos on different topics for students to view materials on the discipline. The videos are specially created for both teachers and students to explain and demonstrate certain concepts, ways of using equipment or dental accessories, the mechanism of action of a medicinal product, etc. Taking into account the above mentioned, we can determine the main ways of the development of the distance learning system: creation of various distance learning programs; increasing the number of open access and free educational distance mass courses, etc. Distance technologies applied in teaching the discipline "Therapeutic Dentistry" enables to enrich the medical training, foster systemic thinking, and to design more flexible student-centred approach.

Gender Influence on Students Attitude Towards the Use of Scramble Game for Learning in Secondary School English Language Concepts in Ilorin Metropolis

Scramble games offer intense mental activities that hone cognitive skills, apply economic principles, and enable language learning in the classroom. Despite the many benefits, the scramble game is challenging and time-consuming. Therefore, this study analyzes the effect of gender on students' attitudes towards scramble games. This study uses a descriptive research design using a quantitative survey method. Two research questions and one answer have been answered and tested, respectively. A total of three hundred and eighty-six (386) respondents were sampled randomly; the number of frequencies, percentages, and averages answered the quick questions tested using the t-test. This finding concludes that gender affects students' attitudes towards using games for learning, among many others. Academic performance in English vocabulary can be improved by using the Scrabble game through students' mental activities while playing games. Likewise, the use of the game Scrabble in teaching English is learner-friendly and gender-friendly. The study recommends that students be encouraged to explore the full benefits of scramble games to enhance active classroom teaching.

A flexible feature selection approach for predicting students’ academic performance in online courses

Educators' loss of ability to read students' comprehension level during the class through quick questions or nonverbal communication is one of the main challenges of online and blended learning. Many researchers recently tackled this problem by proposing different frameworks for predicting students' academic performance. However, previous work relies heavily on feature engineering. Feature engineering is the process of selecting, transforming, manipulating, and constructing new variables from raw data using domain knowledge. A disadvantage of feature engineering is that the features are tailored to a specific dataset making the constructed models inflexible when used in new datasets. A direct consequence is that features need to be rebuilt for each course. This paper proposes a more flexible framework to predict the students' academic performance. In this framework, the raw data is used directly to construct the prediction model without the feature engineering step. The feature selection is instead based on model interpretability. The framework is applied to the open university learning analytics dataset (OULAD) with two different type of classifiers: random forest and artificial neural networks. Obtained results show that the feature engineering step can be abandoned without affecting the models' prediction performance. The prediction results of the flexible feature selection framework either outperform or have a difference of less than 1% accuracy compared to other work in the literature that relies on a manual feature engineering step. Both random forest and artificial neural networks without feature engineering accomplish a high prediction accuracy for the case of students at risk of failing with 86% and 88% compared to all students with pass grades and students with distinction grades, respectively. Also, the prediction models have the highest accuracy rate of 93% in predicting drop-out students. Yet, the prediction models in the proposed framework and previous research work perform poorly in predicting high achieving students with maximum accuracy of 81%, a precision of 69%, and a recall of 57%. • Eliminate feature engineering does not affect the prediction models' performance. • A random forest prediction model is as competent as a deep learning model. • Flexible feature selection adds interpretability to the predictive models. • Predictive models performance were balanced between majority and minority class. • Advance classification models are needed to predict Distinction-Pass students.

"Quick Questions" in Primary School Grade 4 Mother Tongue Lessons

This article discusses the role of quick questions in effectively organizing native language lessons in primary school. Examples of quick questions used in 4th grade native language lessons are provided

Preface

This year, Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development (JESSD) is proud to hold its first international virtual symposium, featuring world-class speakers and editors worldwide. We were incredibly honored to have invited Prof. Shabbir H Gheewala, D. Eng. from King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand; Mari E. Mulyani, D.Phil. from University of Oxford, United Kingdom; Dr. Stefanie Steinebach from HAWK-HHG (Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst-Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen), Germany; Prof. Dr. Ing. Ir. Misri Gozan, M.Tech. from Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marlia Mohd Hanafiah from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia; Ian D. Hollingsworth, Ph.D. from Horizon Environmental Soil Survey and Evaluation Darwin, Australia; Nurdiana Darus from Unilever Indonesia; Dr. Ir. Haruki Agustina, M. Env Eng. Sc. From Director for Contamination Recovery and Emergency Response of Hazardous Waste, KLHK Indonesia; Dr. Yuki M. A. Wardhana from School of Environmental Science UI and Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund-IIGF/PT Penjaminan Infrastruktur Indonesia-Persero, Indonesia; Prof. Ir. Widjojo Adi Prakoso, M.Sc., Ph.D from Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia;. Dr Karen Lythgoe from Earth Observatory of Singapore; Walter Mooney Ph.D from U.S. Geological Survey, USA and Dr. Supriyanto Rohadi Center for Research and Development Center, BMKG (Indonesian Agency for Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics), Indoneia.The symposium was held in virtual format due to related restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic. I appreciate everyone’s participation in the first JESSD Symposium: International Symposium of Earth, Energy, Environmental Science, and Sustainable Development, despite the restrictive situation caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of being postponed, this symposium was conducted virtually to response to emerging issues mainly related to earth science, energy, environmental science, and sustainability. Moreover, this symposium also facilitates the publications of qualified research on COVID-19 to contribute to the global response towards the pandemic situation.This symposium is slightly different with previous symposium and conference held last year. By making the best use of development in telecommunication platforms, we are able to gather virtually to share our insights and progresses covering numerous subjects ranging from: the broad earth science, energy, and environmental science, to more specific topics on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the special issues of COVID-19 Research as well as Community Engagement for Better Environment. This symposium utilized Zoom, a widely known cloud-based video conferencing tool, as its telecommunication platform.The symposium was held on 28–30 September 2020. Committees are based in School of Environmental Science, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia. The symposium consists of plenary sessions and parallel sessions. The plenary sessions include keynote speech from various experts in related fields. The topics of the plenary sessions are considered purposeful in today’s agenda, such as life cycle assessment of biofuels, environmental governance in developing countries, smallholder palm oil and sustainability, collaborative scheme of solid waste management, alternative financing for waste management, plastic recycling, disaster management, and many more. Meanwhile, the parallel sessions facilitate the authors/presenters to discuss about their research in a smaller group based on the topic grouping. Each author/presenter was given up to 9 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for question and answer. Quick questions were addressed right after each presentation, but longer questions were compiled and discussed at the end of the session. The session was wrapped up by the moderator in his/her closing remarks. The participants (presenters) are coming from 25 different countries all around the world, including: Indonesia, India, Japan, Bulgaria, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Pakistan, Poland, Colombia, Iran, Romania, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Finland, Vietnam, Philippines, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Netherlands, Morocco, Thailand, United Kingdom, Republic of Tajikistan, Brazil, and Ethiopia. Participant (presenter) numbers are 270.We are glad that we received lots of submissions from the symposium and selected a bunch of high-quality papers and compiled them into the proceedings after reviewed them using the double-blind peer review procedure. The symposium is considered successful. Signal loss and some technical issues happened during parallel sessions but had been well and quickly addressed by technical assistants, without causing any significant delay. I express my deep gratitude to the Chairman, all distinguished keynote speakers, committees, reviewers, and all the participants, for their time, hard work, and contribution to support this symposium during this challenging time. I would like to take this opportunity also to express my gratitude for our sponsors, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk, and PT Larus Birus Utama, for sponsoring the main events, as well as APIKI Indonesia Network (Jaringan Ahli Perubahan Iklim dan Kehutanan Indonesia) and BMKG (Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi, dan Geofisika) for conducting the joined session. Last but not the least, we send our sincere thanks to the IOP publisher for publishing the proceedings.Depok, 28 September 2020 Editor-in-Chief,Dr. Herdis HerdiansyahList of committees are available in the pdf.

Quick Questions in Ankle Sprains

Quick Questions in Ankle Sprains

The Internet School of Medicine: Use of Electronic Resources by Medical Trainees and the Reliability of those Resources

Electronic sources of medical information are plentiful, and numerous studies have demonstrated the use of the Internet by patients and the variable reliability of these sources. Studies have investigated neither the use of web-based resources by residents, nor the reliability of the information available on these websites. A web-based survey was distributed to surgical residents in Michigan and third- and fourth-year medical students at an American allopathic and osteopathic medical school and a Caribbean allopathic school regarding their preferred sources of medical information in various situations. A set of 254 queries simulating those faced by medical trainees on rounds, on a written examination, or during patient care was developed. The top 5 electronic resources cited by the trainees were evaluated for their ability to answer these questions accurately, using standard textbooks as the point of reference. The respondents reported a wide variety of overall preferred resources. Most of the 73 responding medical trainees favored textbooks or board review books for prolonged studying, but electronic resources are frequently used for quick studying, clinical decision-making questions, and medication queries. The most commonly used electronic resources were UpToDate, Google, Medscape, Wikipedia, and Epocrates. UpToDate and Epocrates had the highest percentage of correct answers (47%) and Wikipedia had the lowest (26%). Epocrates also had the highest percentage of wrong answers (30%), whereas Google had the lowest percentage (18%). All resources had a significant number of questions that they were unable to answer. Though hardcopy books have not been completely replaced by electronic resources, more than half of medical students and nearly half of residents prefer web-based sources of information. For quick questions and studying, both groups prefer Internet sources. However, the most commonly used electronic resources fail to answer clinical queries more than half of the time and have an alarmingly high rate of inaccurate information.

Instant messaging requests in connected organizations: ‘Quick questions’ and the moral economy of contribution

In this article we study the work and communication practices of two highly connected organizations, the members of which have all access to instant messaging (IM) on a professional basis. We document the development of a communicational genre, that of ‘quick questions’, and analyze the sequence organization of such IM conversation threads. We show how ‘quick questions’ enable the collaborative accomplishment of complex, knowledge-intensive tasks by recruiting colleagues constituted as experts capable of quickly answering information requests related to ongoing tasks. ‘Quick questions’ articulate communicative practices, ‘strong’ distribution of tasks and ‘organizing’ in highly connected organizations. We argue that they enact a distinctive cognitive and moral economy based on minimal forms of interaction and exchanges (which we call ‘contributions’), constituting a more general phenomenon.

Intermittent fasting: five quick questions with fasting expert Brad Pilon

Brad Pilon left a high-paying job in the bodybuilding supplement industry to pursue graduate studies on the metabolic effects of short-term fasting at the University of Guelph in Ontario. One result of that research was his popular book on intermittent fasting, Eat Stop Eat . Below, Pilon explains

Library in an App: Testing the Usability of Boopsie as a Mobile Library Application

Boopsie, Inc. develops mobile applications for libraries, universities, conferences, and businesses. The researchers in this study investigated the usability of the Boopsie mobile application for a medium-sized academic library. Based on data collected from a series of qualitative interviews with undergraduate students, this research captured the users' experiences finding several types of information using a mobile application created by Boopsie. Three thematic findings emerged from seven study participants: Libraries should carefully select resources and features for inclusion in mobile applications; the simplicity of the mobile application interface offers some advantages over a conventional library Web site; and users may find the application more compelling for in-depth research than for answering quick questions. As result of this research, one library made modifications to its Boopsie application to improve usability. The results offer librarians or libraries practical advice about the promises and pitfalls of implementing a mobile library application.

Making connections: Modeling epidemiological networks in mathematical modeling and HPC courses

Abstract Significant applications that demonstrate fundamental concepts and techniques are vital in computational science education. In this paper, we discuss development of simulations involving social networks and individual-based epidemiology that are appropriate for modeling and simulation, mathematical modeling, and high performance computing courses. Consideration of the computational graph theory concepts in this context can empower students to develop similar models for other applications. Moreover, execution of the model with massive amounts of data can illustrate and motivate the need for high performance computing in computational science. The module, “Getting the ‘Edge’ on the Next Flu Pandemic: We Should’a ‘Node’ Better,” which was developed by the authors as an Undergraduate Petascale Education Program (UPEP) Curriculum Module, used for instruction in two course and evaluated by class participants, is available at http://computationalscience.org/upep/curriculum. The module provides the biological background necessary to understand the application, the mathematical background needed to develop models, example solutions in Mathematica to help with implementation, quick review questions with answers to provide immediate feedback, and projects for further exploration.

Commentary: Integrating Lessons from Evidence-based Assessment of Adherence into Clinical Practice

In the past two decades, our appreciation of the complexity of disease management behavior has increased, and the methods now available to assess adherence behavior have advanced accordingly. Multiple methods are now implemented in research settings, including electronic monitoring devices, well-validated interviews, and procedures that allow real-time data collection of adherence behavior. Quittner and colleagues (Quittner, in press; Modi, Lemanek, Ieverse-Landis, & Rapoff, 2007) provide a comprehensive overview of the most current methods available to measure adherence behavior, and offer a compelling list of recommendations for future instrument development and research on adherence assessment. Reviewing the available methods not only provides us with a useful framework for approaching scientific inquiry in this area, but also naturally raises some larger issues in how health care professionals understand and use information regarding patients’ adherence to medical regimens. One practical limitation of measuring adherence behavior with state of the art methods is that the strategies that yield the most comprehensive picture of disease management behavior are generally also the most expensive and time-consuming, and may additionally require sophisticated data management procedures. This introduces substantial barriers for implementing these approaches into routine clinical care, where adherence assessment may be needed the most. Our colleagues in their busy primary care practice settings and emergency departments could benefit from a simpler, more targeted approach. What they want may not be possible—we know that you cannot capture the complexity of adherence behavior, particularly to complicated regimens, by asking a few quick questions or by ordering a simple blood test. There is no easy solution for nonadherence, and there is no simple measurement method to capture adherence behavior. Our increasing knowledge of findings from the growing body of adherence research does enable us to share perspectives that may have direct benefit for those on the front line in health care settings. First, expect that many patients will not adhere to treatment recommendations (Matsui, 2000), and that their report of how well they are following your instructions is likely to be “enhanced.” Research has consistently demonstrated that self-reports of adherence are inflated when compared to objective methods of monitoring (Riekert & Rand, 2002). As a result, reports of nonadherence are more likely to be accurate than reports of adherence. Second, be clear in your recommendations for disease management. Research on provider communication suggests that information provided to families is often inadequate, and as a result comprehension may be compromised (see DiMatteo, 2000, for a review). If families have difficulty understanding your directions, can they be following through on your treatment plan? As Quittner and colleagues point out, the increasing use of electronic medical records may provide an opportunity to systematize treatment plans, and in doing so provide clear written recommendations for families. Third, if you only have time for a few questions, consider reviewing issues and circumstances that are likely to arise and impede adherence. A further frontier in the measurement of adherence may be the development of practical methods and brief strategies to assess disease management behavior in clinical settings. With our increased understanding of the best practices to measure the complexity of adherence, we are beginning to develop “gold-standard” approaches against which briefer screening tools may be compared. Utilizing these sophisticated paradigms, in combination with briefer self-report instruments, may allow us to develop screening instruments to be used in clinical practice when more intensive, time-consuming approaches are not feasible. For example, it would be useful to determine a brief set of questions that could be used to identify families having significant adherence problems, or those at risk for deterioration of disease management. Implementation of well-validated screening tools for broad use in clinical practice will serve two useful functions, (a) it will raise the issues of adherence to the health care team in a more systematic manner, and (b) it will help identify families in most need of more intensive assessment and intervention. Through enhancing the health care team's awareness of typical barriers to adherence, the extent of nonadherence, and the need to address poor adherence as a multi-faceted clinical problem, we are likely to improve the overall care provided to all children and families. Conflict of interest: None declared.

Predicting lifetime mood elevation in primary care patients and psychiatric patients

Unipolar depression is undoubtedly the most common affective disorder, but recently the role of bipolar disorders has become more and more significant. The aim of the study was to improve the detection of mood elevations by careful anamnestic assessment, especially family history and psychosocial functional skills. A sample, screened for depression, of 430 primary care patients and 423 psychiatric patients aged 18–64 were interviewed in 1991–1992 using the Present State Examination. Anamnestic information was obtained by questionnaire and interview. Participants were re-contacted in 1998–1999. Experienced lifetime mood elevation was assessed in the follow-up study using the main criteria of the ICD-10 in a telephone interview by three research psychiatrists. Patient's smoking, suicidality in the Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D), problems in making contact with the opposite sex when a teenager, and mental problems in either of the parents when the patient was ≤15 years were associated with experienced lifetime mood elevation. Quick and easy questions about smoking and difficulties in making contact with the opposite sex may improve the detection of mood elevation.

Quick and Simple Questions to Rule Out Eating Disorders

Quick and Simple Questions to Rule Out Eating Disorders

Monitoring Tools in the New Millennium: Technology Solutions for Weight Management

Monitoring Tools in the New Millennium: Technology Solutions for Weight Management

Impression on observing psychic surgery and healing in Brazil which appear to incorporate (+) qi gong energy & the use of acupuncture points.

In December, 1995, the author had the opportunity to observe an elderly psychic healer of East European origin in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This man specialized in cancer treatment by pointing with the fingers of his right hand at his patients, without actually touching them, spending an average of 30 to 40 minutes with each one. The author considered this to be Qi Gong treatment. In March, 1997 the author also observed 2 leading psychic healers in Brazil. One of them, named Rubens Farias, Jr. is a 43 year-old former engineer and computer programmer if European descent, who is commonly known as "Dr. Fritz III" because he is believed to be the spirit of Dr. Adolf Fritz, a German physician who died during World War I, operates through him. The other is "Dr." Hirota, a 53 year old former farmer of Japanese decent who lives near Campinas. About 120 kilometers outside of Sao Paulo and treats large numbers of people daily using indirect and/or hand-on healing techniques. On March 6, 1997, when the author visited "Dr. Fritz III"'s clinic in Sao Paulo with a group of Brazilian physicians, he was informed the about 1,400 patients had come that day. "Dr Fritz III" examined and treated the majority of the patients in less than one minute each, often asking very quick questions and then immediately beginning treatment. Most patients received injections of a dark-brown solution, which, some of the visiting doctors speculated, may be an iodine solution mixed with either alcohol or a local anesthetic. In many patients, he injected this solution near the pathological area or at an acupuncture point near the pathological area. When the needle of the syringe was in the acupuncture pint, he twirled it with his fingers several times and the withdrew it. Minor surgery was performed in about 1/5th of the patients with whom the author observed. Most of the surgical incisions were made on the midline of the tissue over the spine near the pathological area. The clamping of the blood vessels and the closings of the surgical wounds were performed by licensed surgeons or licensed nurses. Major surgery were done by "Dr. Fritz III" who used a rather primitive and unorthodox cutting technique. Except for major surgery, assistance was performed by volunteer nurses, including his wife. After the surgical wounds were closed, gauze band-aids were applied. When the surface of the gauze facing the wound was examined, it showed strong (+) Qi Gong energy according to the Bi-Digital O-Ring Test. Essentially, "Dr. Fritz III"'s treatment consists of acupuncture, injection of iodine with other substances near the pathological area, and (+) Qi Gong energy stored gauze which is applied to the acupuncture point, pathological area, or the site of surgery. "Dr." Hirota is another famous psychic healer whom the author was able to meet and observe in practice while in Brazil. "Dr." Hirota has been practicing for over 20 years. He usually sees patients who come to his clinic in the mornings and he claims to treat 1,000 to 2,000 patients daily between 9 AM and 12 noon. His main treatment also appears to be the application of external Qi Gong energy through the fingers of his right-hand, in combination with Shiatsu Massage and a manual procedure resembling chiropractic manipulation.