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Common Difficulties (common + difficulty)
Selected AbstractsCognitive therapy for performance anxietyJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2004Thomas L. Rodebaugh We present and illustrate the major components of cognitive therapy for performance anxiety, focusing on the performance fears of a client treated with a protocol designed for social phobia. The basic supposition of cognitive theory is that a client's thoughts and beliefs about situations maintain distressing feelings, such as anxiety. Changing these beliefs involves detection and disputation of anxiety-provoking thoughts, as well as testing of these thoughts through exposure to feared situations. Through a process of identifying existing beliefs about performance situations and challenging these beliefs, clients can gain a more realistic and less anxiety-producing perspective on performance tasks. Specific techniques, along with common difficulties and potential solutions, are presented in a detailed case study. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session. [source] Simulation , a bridge between theory and reality: the case of electric circuitsJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 1 2000M. Ronen Abstract This study aimed to examine the role of a simulation as a potential aid that may help students bridge the gap between theory and reality, in the case of electric circuits. Sixty-three pairs of students aged about 15 years were presented with two tasks involving real circuits. An open simulation environment was available as an optional aid for the experimental group. Significant differences were found between the achievements of the groups. The use of the simulation contributed to students' confidence and enhanced their motivation to stay on-task. The detailed analysis revealed the role of the simulation as a source of constructive feedback, helping students identify and correct their miscon-ceptions and cope with the common difficulties of relating formal representations to real circuits and vice versa. [source] Urodynamic standardization in a large-scale, multicenter clinical trial examining the effects of daily tadalafil in men with lower urinary tract symptoms with or without benign prostatic obstruction,NEUROUROLOGY AND URODYNAMICS, Issue 5 2010Stephen R. Kraus Abstract Aims To present the methodology, standardization techniques, and results from post hoc test,retest reproducibility analyses for a large, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial, employing urodynamic studies (UDS) to assess the impact of daily tadalafil on men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) with or without benign prostatic obstruction (BPO). Methods UDS implemented International Continence Society (ICS) Good Urodynamic Practice guidelines and standardized urodynamic and LUTS terminology. Further standardization procedures included: equipment calibration; a detailed procedure manual and centralized training; and implementation of a central reader. Measures included: monitoring of invalid studies, comparison of actual versus expected standard deviation (SD) for primary outcome (detrusor pressure at maximum urinary flow rate [pdetQmax]), and test,retest reproducibility of the placebo arm at baseline and endpoint. Results Two hundred men with moderate to severe LUTS (baseline IPSS ,13) at 20 sites were randomized to receive either tadalafil 20,mg or placebo. All men underwent non-invasive uroflow and pressure-flow studies. Numbers of invalid studies at baseline and endpoint were 9.3% and 0.6%, respectively. Variability of pdetQmax was lower than anticipated based on actual versus expected SD of 15 and 30, respectively. Correlation coefficients were very good for pressure-flow parameters including pdetQmax (r,=,.83). Conclusions Multicenter clinical trials using urodynamic outcomes require additional standardized procedures to limit inter-site variability. By implementing centralized training with a detailed procedure manual and use of a central reader, we were able to limit common difficulties arising in multicenter clinical trials, as well as demonstrate good test,retest reproducibility of pressure flow measures. Neurourol. Urodynam. 29:741,747, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] A Win,Win Model for an Academic Nursing Center: Community Partnership Faculty PracticePUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2002Stella Shiber Ph.D. A number of schools of nursing have established community nursing centers to provide faculty practice sites, student learning experiences, and a service to the community, most often to a poor underserved population. The current literature concludes that these centers provide a quality clinical service and improve access to health care, and they also provide an avenue for research, training, and faculty practice. Acquiring necessary financial support and the ability to achieve financial independence appear to be the most common difficulties for these centers. Most of the current literature includes an examination of issues relating to funding. The model presented in this article focuses on organizational variables that include both the center and its placement in relationship to other functions and programs in the school and a broadening of the meaning of fiscal responsibility to include an awareness of the broad spectrum of benefits that the community nursing center brings to the entire school. Efforts to coordinate and integrate the needs and functions of several groups are described. Establishing goals and priorities that simultaneously meet the needs of all or most of these groups has been an important outcome. The activities of the center have become an integral part of the everyday life of the school. Achieving financial independence and being fiscally aware and responsible is not the same thing. [source] Diagnostic and surgical dilemmas in hereditary medullary thyroid carcinomaTHE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 7 2009Shawn M. Allen MD Abstract Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare malignancy arising from the parafollicular C cells within the thyroid gland. The majority of cases are sporadic, but at least 30% are hereditary in nature. Inherited forms of MTC occur as familial MTC or as a manifestation of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2. Early diagnosis and aggressive surgical management, including prophylactic thyroidectomy, improve the prognosis of patients with hereditary MTC. Several issues regarding the diagnosis and treatment of MTC remain controversial. Genetic penetrance and virulence are variable. We present an index case of familial MTC to illustrate common difficulties in the initial diagnosis and dilemmas in the surgical approach, followed by a review of current literature relevant to the management of hereditary MTC. Laryngoscope, 2009 [source] On the Information Content of Bank Loan-loss Disclosures: A Theory and Evidence from JapanINTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF FINANCE, Issue 1 2000Scott Gibson We develop a model in which banks use loan-loss disclosures to signal private information about the credit quality of their loan portfolios. The cross-sectional predictions generated by the model are shown to help to explain previously documented counterintuitive empirical regularities for US banks. We also take advantage of a recent Japanese regulatory policy shift, which first forbade the reporting of restructured loan balances and then forced full disclosure. This policy shift allows us to address a common difficulty in testing signalling theories, in that we are able to construct a timely proxy for the private information that we allege is being signalled. Consistent with our signalling model, we find that banks taking the largest write-offs turn out later to be the strongest banks, with the fewest restructured loans. [source] OUTLINING ETHICAL ISSUES IN NANOTECHNOLOGIESBIOETHICS, Issue 7 2009ANTONIO G. SPAGNOLO ABSTRACT Nanotechnologies are an expression of the human ability to control and manipulate matter on a very small scale. Their use will enable an even and constant monitoring of human organisms, in a new and perhaps less invasive way. Debates at all levels , national, European and international , have pointed out the common difficulty of giving a complete, clear definition of nanotechnologies. This is primarily due to the variety of their components, to the fact that there is not just one technology but several. The most significant medical applications of nanotechnologies are in the diagnostic and the therapeutic fields, eg biosensors and molecular imaging, providing diagnosis and drug delivery with no invasive methods involved. Like any other emerging field, such technologies imply new possibilities for improving health but, on the other hand, they are still at an experimental stage and therefore should be implemented under rigorous safety testing before going on general release. For this purpose, the ethical, legal and social implications (ELSI) of nanotechnologies have been elaborated by study groups, in order to develop solutions before the results of the tests are diffused into medical practice. The aim of this paper is to define some of the ethical issues concerning biomedical applications and to evaluate whether there is a need for new or additional guidelines and regulations. [source] | ||||||||||