Term Retention Research Articles

Incidental Lexicon Acquisition through Playful Interaction

This paper presents an educational game which aids learners with foreign lexicon acquisition while entertaining them at the same time. An overview over existing language learning tools is given, and a general platform for educational games for second language acquisition (SLA) is described. It introduces a specific prototype video game which teaches Italian vocabulary to the user. The application puts learning at the core of its game mechanics and combines it with a narrative and role-playing elements. In a user study, the game is compared to two other learning methods with focus on long term retention of vocabulary and enjoyment of the exercise. The game is found to perform within 10% of the efficiency of pure vocabulary learning exercises, while being considerably more enjoyable to the user.

2066741 Surgical Critical Care and Ultrasound Training: Changing the Paradigm

The ideal method to train physicians in point of care ultrasound (POCUS) remains unclear. In surgical critical care, there is no standard. The training for Fellows at the Shock Trauma center (STC) includes a one month rotation in the Critical Care Ultrasound Program (CCUP), with an emphasis on US for trauma and hemodynamic echocardiography. Noting gaps in our training, we have modernized our training pathway and aim to validate it against historical means. Outgoing Critical Care Fellows from the 2013-2014 year group were tested in the areas of US knowledge, image interpretation, acquisition and technical skills. FAST, lung, cardiac, vascular, and US physics were tested. Confidence was also evaluated. Incoming fellows completed an identical testing algorithm prior to the academic year and again after taking ‘The Leading Edge,’ a one day ultrasound introduction course. Fellows have continued assessments quarterly as the new algorithm is validated. Eleven outgoing and 30 incoming fellows (Surgical and Medical) comprised the study group (n=41). 59% were surgeons. Pre-identified training gaps included image interpretation, advanced cardiac imaging, and lung ultrasound. Knowledge and skills scores were significantly less in both incoming fellows groups than the OF group. Image interpretation was not different amongst the groups. After a one day course, incoming fellows skills significantly increased from initial testing (p=0.007, 0.0001 respectively), and approached skills of the OF group. Notably, after the one day course there continued to be a significant difference in the post scores between the ISF and IMF (p=0.0029). Knowledge gaps in our current curriculum prompted a change in training, which remains to be validated. Preliminary results reveal that the one day and one month courses led to equivalent skills and knowledge for Critical Care fellows. A significant difference existed amongst those from a medical background regarding the FAST exams. The prior training led to improved confidence and self-reported competence in all other categories amongst OF group. Long term retention of knowledge and skills remains to be seen, and we have ongoing data collection directed at answering this question.

Needle Ingestion – Silent Perforation & Delayed Presentation Intervened by two Pregnancies & Many Years

Ingestion of foreign bodies by healthy adults is rare. Most of these pass spontaneously through GI route. Management of ingested foreign body depends on various foreign body, time and patient related factors. Asymptomatic GI perforation with long term retention of ingested sharp foreign bodies which become symptomatic many years later is rare. Here we report similar case of a young female. Interestingly our patient also had two uneventful pregnancies with normal vaginal deliveries in between accidental ingestion of a needle and becoming symptomatic. Case report is followed by brief review of literature.

Seven year review of retention in HIV care and treatment in federal medical centre Ido-Ekiti.

IntroductionPoor retention of patients in care is a major driver of poor performance and increased morbidity and mortality in HIV/AIDS programme despite the expansion and advancement Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART). The objective of this study is to assess retention rates and possible determining factors in People Living with HIV (PLHIV) on ART.MethodsThis is a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in Federal Medical Center, Ido-Ekiti, Nigeria. Medical records of clients who were enrolled in ART Care and support unit (HIV Clinic) of the health facility from 2005 to 2012 were reviewed and analyzed using SPSS version 16. A total of 621 client records were reviewed for basic demographic information, CD4 count, WHO stage, number of follow-up visit, client ART status and client retention status (defined as client attending at least one clinic visit in 2012.ResultsA total of 347(63%) patients were retained in care and 208(37%) were not retained over the seven year review period. Retention was statistically significant with age (P-value 0.031), ART status (P-value 0.000) baseline CD4 (P-value 0.004), year of diagnosis and ART initiation (P-value= 0.027). Poor retention was associated decreasing age, pre-ART client, HIV stage 1&IV client and baseline CD4 above 400cell/mm3.ConclusionRetention in care of PLHIV is a minimum necessary condition for maintaining or restoring health in the long run. The strategies to sustain and improve retention rate should be adopted to maximize ART benefits. A follow-up study on other factors affecting retention from diagnosis to long term retention ART programme is recommended.

Storage of gold nanoclusters in muscle leads to their biphasic in vivo clearance.

Ultrasmall gold nanoclusters (Au NCs) show great potential in biomedical applications. Long-term biodistribution, retention, toxicity, and pharmacokinetics profiles are pre-requisites in their potential clinical applications. Here, the biodistribution, clearance, and toxicity of one widely used Au NC species-glutathione-protected Au NCs or GSH-Au NCs-are systematically investigated over a relatively long period of 90 days in mice. Most of the Au NCs are cleared at 30 days post injection (p.i.) with a major accumulation in liver and kidney. However, it is surprising that an abnormal increase of the Au amount in the heart, liver, spleen, lung, and testis is observed at 60 and 90 days p.i., indicating that the injected Au NCs form a V-shaped time-dependent distribution profile in various organs. Further investigations reveal that Au NCs are steadily accumulating in the muscle in the first 30 days p.i., and the as-stored Au NCs gradually release into the blood in 30-90 days p.i., which induces a re-distribution and re-accumulation of Au NCs in all blood-rich organs. Further hematology and biochemistry studies show that the re-accumulation of Au NCs still causes some liver toxicity at 30 days p.i. The muscle storage and subsequent release may give rise to the potential accumulation and toxicity risk of functional nanomaterials over long periods of time.

Interaction of a two-level atom with single-mode optical field beyond the rotating wave approximation.

One of the simplest models involving the atom-field interaction is the coupling of a single two-level atom with single-mode optical field. Under the rotating wave approximation, this problem is reduced to a form that can be solved exactly. But the approximation is only valid when the two levels are resonant or nearly resonant with the applied electromagnetic radiation. Here we present an analytical solution without the rotating wave approximation and applicable to general atom-field interaction far away from the resonance. We find that there exists remarkable influence of the initial phase of optical field on the Rabi oscillations and Rabi splitting, and this issue cannot be explored in the context of the rotating wave approximation. Due to the retention of the counter-rotating terms, higher-order harmonic appears during the Rabi splitting. The analytical solution suggests a way to regulate and control the quantum dynamics of a two-level atom and allows for exploring more essential features of the atom-field interaction.

The Effect of Modern Lyrical Music on Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition

In recent studies, vocabulary acquisition has received a high premium as it plays an important role in second language acquisition .Yet in the midst of increasing satisfaction with the field’s maturity, a number of rather fundamental questions remained unanswered. One of the most important questions concerned the effect of music on second language vocabulary acquisition .The aim of this study is to a) investigate the effect of music on second language vocabulary acquisition; b) investigate the effect of music on long term retention of vocabulary. For this purpose sixty girl students of a junior high school were randomly selected and assigned to two groups of thirty .The first group (experimental group) was the music group, the second (control group was the no music group .The effect of treatment on vocabulary acquisition was assessed immediately after the treatment .The research hypotheses was :1)music has no effect on vocabulary acquisition of students in junior high school in Iran 2) music has no effect on long term retention of vocabulary .The analysis of the collected data through applying t-test revealed that there was a significant differences between the two groups. The music group outperformed the no-music group both in short and long term retention .The results show that music has positive effect on vocabulary acquisition .Therefore the null hypotheses was rejected. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p2583

The Effect of Focus Strategies on ADHD Students' English Vocabulary Learning in Junior High School

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of childhood. ADHD is also among the most prevalent chronic health conditions affecting school-aged children(American Academy of Pediatrics, 2000). Too many young girls are not getting the help they need because of hidden symptoms and late diagnosis. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of focus strategies on vocabulary learning of ADHD students at two junior high schools. To this end, eight female ADHD and eight normal students from two public schools were assigned to the both control group and the experimental one. The quantitative data was gathered from each student and was analyzed through 2-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a factorial arrangement with two repetitions. An orthogonal test was used to compare the strategies that were used in the control group (word list) and the experimental group (key word method, concentration, making sentences and fold overs). The instrument of this study contained a questionnaire sent to the parents and English teachers, an interview with a psychologist, a pre-test and a post-test. The results indicated that the four focus strategies in the experimental group increased the vocabulary learning in ADHD students for the short term retention and this increase was significant in the first focus strategy (key word method) and mostly the last one (fold overs) in the normal and ADHD students. The mean scores of control group were lower than the treatment group both in the normal and ADHD students. The results of delayed post-test revealed that although focus strategies improved the scores of the normal students compared to the ADHD students, this difference was not significant.

PS-158 Emergency Triage Assessment And Treatment (etat) Training In A Semirural Hospital In Sierra Leone – Retention Of Knowledge And Feed Back

Background and aims ETAT is a well established training course initiated through WHO in 2005. It is aimed at resource poor countries and teaches triage of children leading to effective emergency treatment. course is run over 3 days consisting of tutorials and practical skill stations. We delivered ETAT for the first time in a semirural hospital situated in Lunsar, Sierra Leone. Methods 20 candidates participated in the course. Candidates were asked to complete a test consisting of 25 points and to give structured feed back after completion of all modules. Results 20 initial post course assessments were performed with an average score of 78.2%. overall feedback was very good with all categories rated as excellent or good. Overriding themes were: The training should be repeated on a regular basis Tutorials and practical skill stations will help me to implement this knowledge into practice. Conclusions ETAT training is well received with all feedback categories rated as either excellent or good. initial testing demonstrated good knowledge of topics taught with an overall score of 78.2%. Post course retention of knowledge however is likely to be poor in line with previously published data. To achieve long term retention of knowledge ETAT training should be delivered repeatedly, ideally led by the local team.

Long term retention of retigabine in a cohort of people with drug resistant epilepsy

PurposeTo assess the utility of retigabine (RTG) for epilepsy in clinical practice at a single UK tertiary centre. MethodsWe identified all individuals who were offered RTG from April 2011 to May 2013. We collected demographics, seizure types, previous and current antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), starting and maximum attained daily dose of RTG, clinical benefits, side effects, and reason to discontinue RTG from in- and outpatient encounters until February 28, 2014. Results145 people who had failed a median of 11 AEDs took at least one dose of RTG. One year retention was 32% and decreased following the safety alert by the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2013. None became seizure free. 34 people (24%) reported a benefit that was ongoing at last assessment in five (3%). The most relevant benefit was the significant reduction or cessation of drop attacks or seizure-related falls in four women, this persisted at last assessment in two. The presence of simple partial seizures was associated with longer retention, as was a higher attained dose of RTG. Adverse effects were seen in 74% and largely CNS-related or nonspecific and affected the genitourinary system in 13%. ConclusionRetention of RTG was less favourable compared to data from open label extension studies of the regulatory trials. In comparison with historical data on similar retention audits retention of RTG at one year appears to be less than lamotrigine, topiramate, levetiracetam, pregabalin, zonisamide, and lacosamide, and slightly higher than gabapentin.

Information technology customer aggression: The importance of an organizational climate of support

Information technology personnel are often ill prepared to react in a positive fashion to the aggressive communications from their customers, the users. Being able to regulate the emotions spiked by aggressive customer behavior is important to the long term health and retention of IT employees. Surface acting responses, the ability to display false emotions to mask strong emotions, is common, but not better for the long term health of the individual or organization. Deep acting responses, where emotional responses are modified to encourage expected behavior, are the better response and can be promoted with an organizational climate of support. A model derived from emotion response theory demonstrates these relationships hold for IT employees, who tend to be more introverted than most employees and often react differently to aggressive communication from customers. The model is verified with a sample of IT employees in Taiwan companies. Organizations should provide a climate of support for IT personnel and train them on how to respond appropriately to customer aggression through emotion regulation strategies in a direction that promotes better relationships.

Shifting the paradigm of music instruction: implications of embodiment stemming from an augmented reality guitar learning system.

Musical instruction often includes materials that can act as a barrier to learning. New technologies using augmented reality may aid in reducing the initial difficulties involved in learning music by lowering these barriers characteristic of traditional instructional materials. Therefore, this set of studies examined a novel augmented reality guitar learning system (i.e., the Fretlight® guitar) in regards to current theories of embodied music cognition. Specifically, we examined the effects of using this system in comparison to a standard instructional material (i.e., diagrams). First, we review major theories related to musical embodiment and specify a niche within this research space we call embodied music technology for learning. Following, we explicate two parallel experiments that were conducted to address the learning effects of this system. Experiment 1 examined short-term learning effects within one experimental session, while Experiment 2 examined both short-term and long-term effects across two sessions spaced at a 2-week interval. Analyses demonstrated that, for many of our dependent variables, all participants increased in performance across time. Further, the Fretlight® condition consistently led to significantly better outcomes via interactive effects, including significantly better long term retention for the learned information across a 2 week time interval. These results are discussed in the context of embodied cognition theory as it relates to music. Potential limitations and avenues for future research are described.

Investigation of the retention behavior of structurally diverse drugs on alpha1 acid glycoprotein column: Insight on the molecular factors involved and correlation with protein binding data

Retention of 49 structurally diverse drugs on alpha1 acid glycoprotein column was investigated under different chromatographic conditions. Acetonitrile and 2-propanol were used as organic modifiers at different percentages and the pH was adjusted at 7.0 using PBS. Analysis of extrapolated and isocratic retention in terms of lipophilicity and electrostatic interactions revealed significant effect of the nature and percentage of organic modifier, which was attributed to the different shielding degree of the charged sites on the stationary phase by the buffer constituents. AGP retention factors were compared to HSA retention factors analyzed previously. Application of LSER analysis, extended to incorporate fractions ionized, demonstrated hydrogen bond acidity, dipolarity/polarizability and excess molar refraction as the most significant parameters for all AGP chromatographic indices, elucidating the differentiation of AGP retention from octanol–water partitioning and HSA retention. An attempt to correlate AGP chromatographic indices to AGP association constants, available in literature, supported the importance of stationary shielding in retention mechanism. Thus, isocratic retention factors logk10(ACN)AGP show a moderate but still better performance than lipophilicity in the case of A variant and may be a useful tool for the estimation of relevant association constants. For F1/S binding simulation lower stationary phase shielding is needed to obtain a significant two term regression equation, where logk20(ACN)AGP exerts a secondary contribution next to the most important bulk effect expressed by molecular weight.

Chronic exposure to aluminum and melatonin through the diet: Neurobehavioral effects in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer disease

Aluminum (Al) is a known neurotoxic element involved in the etiology of some serious neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer disease (AD). Antioxidants like melatonin might protect neurons against the damage produced in AD. The APPSWE (Tg2576) transgenic mouse is one of the most used animal models developed to mimic AD damage. In the present study, wild type and Tg2576 mice were orally exposed during 14months to Al, melatonin, and citric acid, as well as to all possible combinations between them. At 17months of age, mice were evaluated for behavior using the open-field test and the Morris water maze. Transgenic animals exposed to melatonin only and to Al plus citric acid plus melatonin showed a good acquisition. No effects on acquisition in the Morris water maze were observed in wild type mice. With respect to the retention of the task, only melatonin wild type animals, and Al plus citric acid plus melatonin transgenic mice showed retention during the acquisition. Control wild type animals and Al plus citric acid plus melatonin transgenic mice showed good long term retention. Melatonin improved learning and spatial memory in Al-exposed transgenic mice.

Oral infection drives a distinct population of resident memory CD8 T cells with enhanced protective function (LYM4P.751)

Abstract The intestinal mucosa is designed for promoting specialized T cell responses which are distinct from responses generated systemically or even from other mucosal surfaces. Oral infection with Listeria monocytogenes induced a robust CD8 T cell response. Unlike splenic short-lived effector cells (SLEC) early after infection, intestinal SLEC rapidly underwent apoptosis resulting in a predominant memory precursor (MPEC) population between 9 and 12 dpi. Similarly, the resulting IEL population was functionally superior to their splenic counterparts and provided rapid protection upon secondary oral challenge. These early memory cells, but not other effector cell subsets, rapidly upregulated CD103 identifying them as mucosal resident memory precursors. Surprisingly, CD103 expression promoted T cell accumulation in the epithelium but did not regulate long term retention within the epithelial layer or CD8 T cell fate. Indeed, intranasal or intravenous Listeria monocytogenes infection generated memory CD8 T cell populations within the intestinal epithelial compartment which were heterogeneous for CD103 expression and displayed distinct effector cell subsets. Collectively, this data demonstrates the importance of priming location for generating intestinal resident and protective T cell memory and demonstrates that priming location and tissue of residence impacts resident memory T cell formation and maintenance.

Transformation and fate of microphytobenthos carbon in subtropical, intertidal sediments: potential for long-term carbon retention revealed by <sup>13</sup>C-labeling

Abstract. Microphytobenthos (MPB) are ubiquitous in coastal sediments, but the fate of their production (carbon biomass) is poorly defined. The processing and fate of MPB-derived carbon in subtropical intertidal sediments was investigated through in situ labeling with 13C-bicarbonate. Of the added 13C, 100% was fixed within ~ 4 h, suggesting that MPB productivity was limited by inorganic carbon availability. Although there was rapid transfer of 13C to bacteria (within 12 h), a relatively small fraction of 13C was transferred to heterotrophs (up to 12.5% of total fixed 13C into bacteria and 0.01% into foraminifera). MPB was the major reservoir for 13C throughout the study, suggesting that production of extracellular polymeric substances was limited and/or MPB recycled 13C. This retention of 13C was reflected in remarkably slow estimated turnover times for the MPB community (66–100 d). Over 31 d, ~ 70% of the 13C was lost from sediments. This was primarily via resuspension (~ 55%), enhanced by elevated freshwater flow following rainfall. A further ~ 13% was lost via fluxes of dissolved inorganic carbon during inundation. However, 13C losses via dissolved organic carbon fluxes from inundated sediments (0.5%) and carbon dioxide fluxes from exposed sediments (<0.1%) were minimal. The retention of ~ 30% of the carbon fixed by MPB within one tidal exposure after > 30 d, despite high resuspension, demonstrates the potentially substantial longer term retention of MPB-derived carbon in unvegetated sediments and suggests that MPB may contribute to carbon burial ("blue carbon").

The Impact of Vocabulary Enhancement Activities on Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention among Male and Female EFL Learners in Iran

In general, incidental vocabulary acquisition is represented as the “picking up” of new vocabularies when students are engaged in a variety of reading, listening, speaking, or writing activities. Research has shown when learners read extensively incidental vocabulary acquisition happens. Many EFL students cannotbe involved in reading activities in Iran. For involving students with more reading activitiesin EFL classroom teaching and likening the resultsto the vocabulary exercises, the researcher directed a researchfor about five weeks in an EFL class. The subjects were 120 male and female students at high school level. Half of them (RP group) read chosen passages after which they did different vocabulary activities and exercises. The other half (RO group) received the reading only (RO) treatment, i.e., they only read several reading texts. The significance of the present study lies in the fact that it was able to compare the effectiveness of reading only and reading plus vocabulary enhancement activities on types of immediate and delayed lexical word recall in a single study. The researcher employed the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale to measure students’ knowledge of 60 vocabulary items. The results showed that RP group gained better results than RO group on both acquisition and retention tests. This indicates that “Reading plus” method is more effective in increasing knowledge of vocabulary and long term retention in male and female EFL learners in Iran.

Magnetic solid phase extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of sulphonamides in milk samples

A simple and effective method based on magnetic solid-phase extraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography was used for the determination of nine sulphonamides in milk samples. The extraction and cleanup via silica-based magnetic adsorbent dispersion in milk samples followed by the magnetic isolation and desorption of the analytes using NaOH–methanol. Three different magnetic phenyl silica adsorbents were synthesized by varying the molar ratio of phenyltrimethylsilane and tetramethylorthosilicate; these adsorbents were evaluated for sulphonamides retention in terms of their pH and degree of hydrophobicity. The optimal conditions were a pH of 6.0 and a magnetic:sorbent ratio of 2:1. Under optimal conditions, limits of detection ranging from 7 to 14μgL−1 were obtained. The method was validated according with the European Commision Decision 2002/657/EC. The proposed method was applied to analyse sulphonamides in 27 milk samples of different brands. Thirteen samples tested were positive for the presence of sulphonamides.

The Influence of Triple Bottom Line on Strategic Positioning: An Exploratory Case Study on Differentiation through Image

Using grounded theory as a methodological approach, the influence of triple bottom line (TBL) was explored as an emerging, yet substantially important phenomenon on strategic positioning through image differentiation. This study makes a contribution to the sustainability scholarship (TBL as a subset of sustainability) and the marketing scholarship by introducing and exploring the dynamics among TBL, strategic positioning, differentiation, and image. This is done by presenting The Influence of TBL on Strategic Positioning Framework, which illustrates how these four variables are connected. This work also contributes to strategic management, social investing, and human resource scholarship by suggesting the positive impact of the TBL Image (a term defined and introduced in this study) on developing long term strategies, talent acquisition and retention, and business growth within a global organization.

Equivalent titanium dioxide nanoparticle deposition by intratracheal instillation and whole body inhalation: the effect of dose rate on acute respiratory tract inflammation

BackgroundThe increased production of nanomaterials has caused a corresponding increase in concern about human exposures in consumer and occupational settings. Studies in rodents have evaluated dose–response relationships following respiratory tract (RT) delivery of nanoparticles (NPs) in order to identify potential hazards. However, these studies often use bolus methods that deliver NPs at high dose rates that do not reflect real world exposures and do not measure the actual deposited dose of NPs. We hypothesize that the delivered dose rate is a key determinant of the inflammatory response in the RT when the deposited dose is constant.MethodsF-344 rats were exposed to the same deposited doses of titanium dioxide (TiO2) NPs by single or repeated high dose rate intratracheal instillation or low dose rate whole body aerosol inhalation. Controls were exposed to saline or filtered air. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) neutrophils, biochemical parameters and inflammatory mediator release were quantified 4, 8, and 24 hr and 7 days after exposure.ResultsAlthough the initial lung burdens of TiO2 were the same between the two methods, instillation resulted in greater short term retention than inhalation. There was a statistically significant increase in BALF neutrophils at 4, 8 and 24 hr after the single high dose TiO2 instillation compared to saline controls and to TiO2 inhalation, whereas TiO2 inhalation resulted in a modest, yet significant, increase in BALF neutrophils 24 hr after exposure. The acute inflammatory response following instillation was driven primarily by monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 and macrophage inflammatory protein-2, mainly within the lung. Increases in heme oxygenase-1 in the lung were also higher following instillation than inhalation. TiO2 inhalation resulted in few time dependent changes in the inflammatory mediator release. The single low dose and repeated exposure scenarios had similar BALF cellular and mediator response trends, although the responses for single exposures were more robust.ConclusionsHigh dose rate NP delivery elicits significantly greater inflammation compared to low dose rate delivery. Although high dose rate methods can be used for quantitative ranking of NP hazards, these data caution against their use for quantitative risk assessment.