Survey participation among general practitioners: comparison between teaching physicians and a random sample

Objective Health scientists strive for a smooth recruitment of physicians for research projects like surveys. Teaching physicians are an easy to approach population that is already affiliated with a university by teaching students in their practice. How do response rates compare between a convenient online survey among teaching physicians and an elaborate postal survey in a random sample of unknown physicians? Data from the TMI-GP study on the use of memory tests in general practice were used. Results Physicians in the random sample responded to the postal survey more often than teaching physicians to the online survey (59.5% vs. 18.9%; odds ratio 7.06; 95% confidence interval 4.81–10.37; p < 0.001). Although it is unclear whether the sample, the survey mode (online vs. postal) or both account for this effect, it is noteworthy that even in such a convenience sample of known/committed physicians, an adequate response rate could not be reached without a tailored and elaborated survey technique. Responders in the two samples were comparable regarding a content-related item (use of memory tests; Χ2 (df = 1) = 3.07; p = 0.080).

Delayed lexical access and cascading effects on semantic activation during spoken word recognition in children with hearing aids and cochlear implants: Evidence from eye-tracking

Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize the dynamics of real-time lexical access, including lexical competition among phonologically similar words, and semantic activation in school-age children with hearing aids (HAs) and children with cochlear implants (CIs). We hypothesized that developing spoken language via degraded auditory input would lead children with HAs or CIs to adapt their approach to spoken word recognition, especially by slowing down lexical access.Design: Participants were children ages 9-12 years old with normal hearing (NH), HAs, or CIs. Participants completed a Visual World Paradigm task in which they heard a spoken word and selected the matching picture from four options. Competitor items were either phonologically similar, semantically similar, or unrelated to the target word. As the target word unfolded, children’s fixations to the target word, cohort competitor, rhyme competitor, semantically related item, and unrelated item were recorded as indices of ongoing lexical and semantic activation.Results: Children with HAs and children with CIs showed slower fixations to the target, reduced fixations to the cohort, and increased fixations to the rhyme, relative to children with NH. This wait-and-see profile was more pronounced in the children with CIs than the children with HAs. Children with HAs and children with CIs also showed delayed fixations to the semantically related item, though this delay was attributable to their delay in activating words in general, not to a distinct semantic source.Conclusions: Children with HAs and children with CIs showed qualitatively similar patterns of real-time spoken word recognition. Findings suggest that developing spoken language via degraded auditory input causes long-term cognitive adaptations to how listeners recognize spoken words, regardless of the type of hearing device used. Delayed lexical activation directly led to delayed semantic activation in children with HAs and CIs. This delay in semantic processing may impact these children’s ability to understand connected speech in everyday life.

Does health literacy affect the uptake of annual physical check-ups?: Results from the 2017 US health information national trends survey

Background Little is known about how health literacy is linked to physical check-ups. This study aimed to examine the levels of physical check-ups (self-reported check-ups within the last year) by age group (those aged 18–59 years and those aged = ≥ 60 years) and the role of health literacy regarding physical check-ups in the United States. Methods Data for the study were obtained from the 2017 Health Information National Trends Survey. The original sample included 3,285 respondents, but only 3,146 surveys were used for this study. Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use guided this study, and a binomial logistic regression model was conducted using Stata 12.0 software package. Results While 82.0 % of the older group had an annual check-up, 67.3 % of the younger group had one. Both groups had similar ratios for health literacy-related item reporting. Study results show that annual check-up was positively associated with confidence in getting health information, having health insurance, and having a primary doctor for both age groups. However, getting a regular check-up was negatively associated with frustration while searching for information among the younger group. In comparison, it was positively associated with difficulty understanding information for the older group. Conclusions To increase annual physical check-ups, health literacy-related interventions should be developed and address the barriers most associated with health check-ups. One way of addressing this barrier is to improve communication from healthcare professionals to consumers through the use of easy-to-understand explanations appropriate for the consumer.

Semantic Knowledge Constrains the Processing of Serial Order Information in Working Memory

Long-term memory knowledge is considered to impact short-term maintenance of item information in working memory, as opposed to short-term maintenance of serial order information. Evidence supporting an impact of semantic knowledge on serial order maintenance remains weak. In the present study, we demonstrate that semantic knowledge can impact the processing of serial order information in a robust manner. Experiment 1 manipulated semantic relatedness effect by using semantic categories presented in subgroups of items (leaf – tree – branch – cloud – sky – rain). This semantic grouping manipulation was compared to a temporal grouping manipulation whose impact on the processing of serial order information is well-established. Both the semantic and temporal grouping manipulations constrained the occurrence of serial order errors in a robust manner: when migrating to a non-target serial position, items tended to do so most of the time toward the position of a semantically related item or within the same temporal group. Critically, this impact of semantic knowledge on the pattern of migration errors was not observed anymore in Experiment 2, in which we broke-up the semantic groups, by presenting the semantically related items an interleaved fashion (leaf – cloud – tree – sky – branch – rain). Both semantic and temporal grouping factors may reflect a general mechanism through which information is represented hierarchically. Alternatively, both factors could result from the syntactic and/or semantic regularities that naturally structure linguistic information. These results support models considering direct interactions between serial order and linguistic components of WM.

Does Health Literacy Affect the Uptake of Annual Physical Check-Up?: The Varying Impact by Age Groups

Introduction Little is known about how health literacy is linked to physical check-ups. This study aimed to examine the levels of physical check-ups by age group and the role of health literacy regarding physical check-ups. Methods Data for the study were obtained from the 2017 Health Information National Trends Survey. The original sample included 3,285 respondents, but only 3,146 surveys were used for this study. Andersen’s Behavioral Model of Health Services Use (Andersen, 1995) guided this study, and a binomial logistic regression model was conducted using Stata 12.0 software package. Results Annual check-ups were reported by 82.0% of the older group and 67.3% of the younger group. Both groups had similar ratios for health literacy-related item reporting. Study results show that annual check-up was positively associated with confidence in getting health information, having health insurance, and having a primary doctor for both age groups. However, getting a regular check-up was negatively associated with frustration while searching for information among the younger group while it was positively associated with difficulty understanding information for the older group. Conclusions To increase annual physical check-ups, health literacy-related interventions should be developed and address the barriers most associated with health check-ups. One way of addressing this barrier is to improve the line of communication from healthcare professionals to consumers through the use of easy-to-understand explanations appropriate for the consumer.

A Drag Model-LIDAR-IMU Fault-Tolerance Fusion Method for Quadrotors

In this paper, a drag model-aided fault-tolerant state estimation method is presented for quadrotors. Firstly, the drag model accuracy was improved by modeling an angular rate related item and an angular acceleration related item, which are related with flight maneuver. Then the drag model, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), and inertial measurement unit (IMU) were fused based on the Federal Kalman filter frame. In the filter, the LIDAR estimation fault was detected and isolated, and the disturbance to the drag model was estimated and compensated. Some experiments were carried out, showing that the velocity and position estimation were improved compared with the traditional LIDAR/IMU fusion scheme.

Novel Utility Procedure for Filtering High Associated Utility Items from Transactional Databases

In data mining, mining and analysis of data from different transactional data sources is an aggressive concept to explore optimal relations between different item sets. In recent years number of algorithms/methods was proposed to mine associated rule based item sets from transactional databases. Mining optimized high utility (like profit) association rule based item sets from transactional databases is still a challenging task in item set extraction in terms of execution time. We propose High Utility based Association Pattern Growth (HUAPG) approach to explore high association utility item sets from transactional data sets based on user item sets. User related item sets to mine associated items using utility data structure (UP-tree) with respect to identification of item sets in proposed approach. Proposed approach performance with compared to hybrid and existing methods worked on synthetic related data sets. Experimental results of proposed approach not only filter candidate item sets and also reduce the run time when database contain high amount of data transactions.

Assessment of Microbial Load of Milk Shakes Available in Various Educational Institutes of Lahore

Background: A milkshake is a delicious and non-carbonated refreshment produced using dairy, frozen flavour related item. The growth of microbes is inevitable in milk shakes when proper hygienic conditions were not maintained. These microbes may produce toxins which are harmful and may lead to food poisoning. This study was established to calculate total plate count (Staphylococcus aureus, Total coliform and Salmonella) present in Apple and Banana milk shakes. Study Design: The samples from 25 different public and private educational institutes were collected to analyse using pour plate method to determinate total microbial load in apple and banana milk shake. Results and Discussion: Total plate count in August was significantly higher than in November. In August TPC range of banana shake was between 2.3x107-7.2x107 cfu/ml and respectively in November range between 2.1 x107-6.7 x107cfu/ml. In August TPC range of apple shake between 2.2x107-7.5x107 cfu/ml and respectively in November range between 2.08 x107-6.5 x107cfu/ml. The S. aureus in banana milk shake were positive 19 (76%) in the month of August and 15 (60%) were also positive in the month of November. The S. aureus in apple milk shake were found to be positive 18 (72%) during August and 16 (64%) were also positive during November. The Total coliform count in apple milk shake was positive 16 (64%) in August and 14 (56%) were also positive in November. The total positive coliforms were 15 (64%) in August and 14 (56%) were also positive in November. Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed a much higher prevalence of microbial load in banana and apple. We suggested that in most of the samples, the total bacterial load was much higher than recommended by the Gulf standard. So these drinks are not fit for consumption.