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Assessment Study (assessment + study)
Selected AbstractsSchoolchildren's Consumption of Competitive Foods and Beverages, Excluding à la Carte,JOURNAL OF SCHOOL HEALTH, Issue 9 2010Madhuri Kakarala MD BACKGROUND: Competitive foods/beverages are those in school vending machines, school stores, snack bars, special sales, and items sold à la carte in the school cafeteria that compete with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) meal program offerings. Grouping à la carte items with less nutritious items allowed in less regulated venues may obfuscate analysis of the school competitive food environment. Excluding à la carte items from competitive foods, the objectives were to: (1) assess competitive food use by gender, ethnicity, eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, and participation in school meals programs, (2) determine differences between grade levels in energy intakes obtained from food sources, (3) determine the nutrient intake derived from competitive foods for students who consumed them, and (4) determine energy-adjusted differences in 24-hour nutrient intakes of protein, calcium, iron, and other selected nutrients between competitive food consumer and nonconsumers. METHODS: Competitive foods/beverages use, excluding à la carte items, was examined using the third School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study (SNDA III), a nationally representative sample of 2309 schoolchildren in grades 1 to 12. Mean nutrient intakes were adjusted for energy intake and other covariates, and differences between consumers and nonconsumers of competitive items were determined using analysis of variance and sudaan. RESULTS: Excluding à la carte items, 22% of schoolchildren consumed competitive items in a representative school day and use was highest in high school. Consumers of competitive items other than à la carte had significantly higher mean energy, sugar intakes, and lower sodium, dietary fiber, B vitamins, and iron intakes than nonconsumers. CONCLUSIONS: Use of competitive foods/beverages, excluding à la carte, was detrimental to children's diet quality. [source] PERSPECTIVE: Establishing an NPD Best Practices FrameworkTHE JOURNAL OF PRODUCT INNOVATION MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006Kenneth B. Kahn Achieving NPD best practices is a top-of-mind issue for many new product development (NPD) managers and is often an overarching implicit, if not explicit, goal. The question is what does one mean when talking about NPD best practices? And how does a manager move toward achieving these? This article proposes a best practices framework as a starting point for much-needed discussion on this topic. Originally presented during the 2004 Product Development Management Association (PDMA) Research Conference in Chicago, the article and the authors' presentation spurred a significant, expansive discussion that included all conference attendees. Given the interest generated, the decision was made to move forward on a series of rejoinders on the topic of NPD best practice, using the Kahn, Barczak, and Moss framework as a focal launching point for these rejoinders. A total of five rejoinders were received and accompany the best practices framework in this issue of JPIM. Each rejoinder brings out a distinct issue because each of the five authors has a unique perspective. The first rejoinder is written by Dr. Marjorie Adams-Bigelow, director of the PDMA's Comparative Performance Assessment Study (CPAS), PDMA Foundation. Based on her findings during the CPAS study, Adams comments on the proposed framework, suggesting limitations in scope. She particularly points out discrepancies between the proposed framework and the framework offered by PDMA's emerging body of knowledge. Dr. Elko Kleinschmidt, professor of marketing and international business at McMaster University, wrote the second rejoinder. Based on his extensive research with Robert G. Cooper on NPD practices, he points out that best practices really raise more questions than answers. Thomas Kuczmarski, president of Kuczmarski and Associates, is the author of the third rejoinder. Kuczmarski highlights that company mindset and metrics are critical elements needing keen attention. Where do these fit,or should they,in the proposed framework? The fourth rejoinder is written by Richard Notargiacomo, consultant for the integrated product delivery process at Eastman Kodak Company. Notargiacomo compares the proposed framework to a best practices framework Kodak has used for new product commercialization and management since 1998. The distinction of the Kodak framework is the inclusion of a product maturity model component. Dr. Lois Peters, associate professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), is the author of the fifth rejoinder. She brings out issues of radical innovation, a natural focal issue of RPI's radical innovation project (RRIP). It is highlighted that radical innovation may require unique, distinctive process characteristics a single framework cannot illustrate. Multiple layers of frameworks may be more appropriate, each corresponding to a level of innovation desired. The overall hope is that the discourse on best practices in this issue of JPIM generates more discussion and debate. Ultimately, the hope is that such discourse will lead to subsequent continued study to help discern what NPD best practice means for our discipline. [source] Venous thrombosis of the upper extremity: effect of blood group and coagulation factor levels on riskBRITISH JOURNAL OF HAEMATOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Linda E. Flinterman Summary Venous thrombosis of the upper extremity is a rare form of thrombosis, accounting for around 4% of all venous thromboses, and for which only a few risk factors are known. This case-control study investigated the effect of coagulation factors on risk of venous thrombosis of the upper extremity. Patients with venous thrombosis of the arm and partner controls were selected from the Multiple Environmental and Genetic Assessment study, a large population-based case-control study. Participants with a malignancy were excluded. Odds ratios (OR) were estimated for elevated levels of factor II, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, von Willebrand Factor (VWF), and fibrinogen, low levels of protein C, protein S, and antithrombin, and for blood group non-O. Substantially increased risks of venous thrombosis of the upper extremity were found for patients with high levels (above 90th percentile versus below) of factor VIII (OR: 4·2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2·2,7·9), VWF (OR: 4·0, 95% CI: 2·1,7·8), fibrinogen (OR: 2·9, 95% CI, 1·5,5·7), and for blood group non-O compared to O (OR: 2·1, 95% CI, 1·3,3·6). The other factors were not associated with an increased risk. Elevated levels of several procoagulant factors are associated with a strongly increased risk of venous thrombosis of the upper extremity. [source] COMT Val158Met moderation of cannabis-induced psychosis: a momentary assessment study of ,switching on' hallucinations in the flow of daily lifeACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2 2009C. Henquet Objective:, A functional polymorphism in the catechol- o -methyltransferase gene (COMT Val158Met) may moderate the psychosis-inducing effects of cannabis. In order to extend this finding to dynamic effects in the flow of daily life, a momentary assessment study of psychotic symptoms in response to cannabis use was conducted. Method:, The experience sampling technique was used to collect data on cannabis use and occurrence of symptoms in daily life in patients with a psychotic disorder (n = 31) and healthy controls (n = 25). Results:, Carriers of the COMT Val158Met Val allele, but not subjects with the Met/Met genotype, showed an increase in hallucinations after cannabis exposure, conditional on prior evidence of psychometric psychosis liability. Conclusion:, The findings confirm that in people with psychometric evidence of psychosis liability, COMT Val158Met genotype moderates the association between cannabis and psychotic phenomena in the flow of daily life. [source] Prevalence and clinical relevance of corrected QT interval prolongation during methadone and buprenorphine treatment: a mortality assessment studyADDICTION, Issue 6 2009Katinka Anchersen ABSTRACT Aims To determine the prevalence of corrected QT interval (QTc) prolongation among patients in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) and to investigate mortality potentially attributable to QTc prolongation in the Norwegian OMT programme. Participants and setting Two hundred OMT patients in Oslo were recruited to the QTc assessment study between October 2006 and August 2007. The Norwegian register of all patients receiving OMT in Norway (January 1997,December 2003) and the national death certificate register were used to assess mortality. Mortality records were examined for the 90 deaths that had occurred among 2382 patients with 6450 total years in OMT. Design and measures The QTc interval was assessed by electrocardiography (ECG). All ECGs were examined by the same cardiologist, who was blind to patient history and medication. Mortality was calculated by cross-matching the OMT register and the national death certificate register: deaths that were possibly attributable to QTc prolongation were divided by the number of patient-years in OMT. Findings In the QTc assessment sample (n = 200), 173 patients (86.5%) received methadone and 27 (13.5%) received buprenorphine. In the methadone group, 4.6% (n = 8) had a QTc above 500 milliseconds; 15% (n = 26) had a QTc interval above 470 milliseconds; and 28.9% (n = 50) had a QTc above 450 milliseconds. All patients receiving buprenorphine (n = 27) had QTc results <450 milliseconds. A positive dose-dependent association was identified between QTc length and dose of methadone, and all patients with a QTc above 500 milliseconds were taking methadone doses of 120 mg or more. OMT patient mortality, where QTc prolongation could not be excluded as the cause of death, was 0.06/100 patient-years. Only one death among 3850 OMT initiations occurred within the first month of treatment. Conclusion Of the methadone patients, 4.6% had QTc intervals above 500 milliseconds. The maximum mortality attributable to QTc prolongation was low: 0.06 per 100 patient-years. [source] Primary health care nursing staff in Crete: an emerging profileINTERNATIONAL NURSING REVIEW, Issue 1 2006A. Markaki rn Background:, In 2001, the newly established Regional Health and Welfare System of Crete commissioned the first needs' assessment study of nursing personnel employed in the public sector of primary health care (PHC). Aim:, To capture the profile and professional needs of nursing staff working in Health Centers throughout the island of Crete and explore variations in nursing practice by educational preparation. Methods:, A newly developed, psychometrically tested questionnaire, was administered to all nursing staff in 14 rural Health Centers. Findings:, Vacancy rates are high, indicating a serious staffing deficit. The type of degree earned (2-year vs. 3 or 4-year program) does not differentiate nursing practice, with only two exceptions (obtaining a patient's history and counselling patients). The majority of respondents assess their existing knowledge and skills as ,adequate' while indicating a strong desire for continuing education. Job satisfaction is high in terms of interactions with clients and community recognition, while it is rated ,low' in terms of daily interactions with colleagues and support from work environment. Conclusion:, Cretan nursing staff in PHC operate within a restricted and task-orientated framework. Their educational preparation has little effect in practice role variations and professional needs. The Regional Health and Welfare System of Crete should address daily supervision and support issues, on-the-job training, continuing education needs, while taking immediate action to avoid potential turnover of existing staff and to aggressively recruit young, qualified nursing staff who will choose a career in PHC nursing. [source] Using a Virtual Reality Temporal Bone Simulator to Assess Otolaryngology Trainees,THE LARYNGOSCOPE, Issue 2 2007Molly Zirkle MD Abstract Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of computerized evaluation of resident performance using hand motion analysis on a virtual reality temporal bone (VR TB) simulator. We hypothesized that both computerized analysis and expert ratings would discriminate the performance of novices from experienced trainees. We also hypothesized that performance on the virtual reality temporal bone simulator (VR TB) would differentiate based on previous drilling experience. Study Design: The authors conducted a randomized, blind assessment study. Methods: Nineteen volunteers from the Otolaryngology,Head and Neck Surgery training program at the University of Toronto drilled both a cadaveric TB and a simulated VR TB. Expert reviewers were asked to assess operative readiness of the trainee based on a blind video review of their performance. Computerized hand motion analysis of each participant's performance was conducted. Results: Expert raters were able to discriminate novices from experienced trainees (P < .05) on cadaveric temporal bones, and there was a trend toward discrimination on VR TB performance. Hand motion analysis showed that experienced trainees had better movement economy than novices (P < .05) on the VR TB. Conclusion: Performance, as measured by hand motion analysis on the VR TB simulator, reflects trainees' previous drilling experience. This study suggests that otolaryngology trainees could accomplish initial temporal bone training on a VR TB simulator, which can provide feedback to the trainee, and may reduce the need for constant faculty supervision and evaluation. [source] Weighted Normality-Based Estimator in Correcting Correlation Coefficient Estimation Between Incomplete Nutrient MeasurementsBIOMETRICS, Issue 1 2000C. Y. Wang Summary. Consider the problem of estimating the correlation between two nutrient measurements, such as the percent energy from fat obtained from a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and that from repeated food records or 24-hour recalls. Under a classical additive model for repeated food records, it is known that there is an attenuation effect on the correlation estimation if the sample average of repeated food records for each subject is used to estimate the underlying long-term average. This paper considers the case in which the selection probability of a subject for participation in the calibration study, in which repeated food records are measured, depends on the corresponding FFQ value, and the repeated longitudinal measurement errors have an autoregressive structure. This paper investigates a normality-based estimator and compares it with a simple method of moments. Both methods are consistent if the first two moments of nutrient measurements exist. Furthermore, joint estimating equations are applied to estimate the correlation coefficient and related nuisance parameters simultaneously. This approach provides a simple sandwich formula for the covariance estimation of the estimator. Finite sample performance is examined via a simulation study, and the proposed weighted normality-based estimator performs well under various distributional assumptions. The methods are applied to real data from a dietary assessment study. [source] The impact of laboratory characteristics on molecular detection of respiratory syncytial virus in a European multicentre quality control studyCLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTION, Issue 12 2008T. J. Meerhoff Abstract The performance of nucleic acid amplification techniques for detecting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was evaluated in 25 laboratories across Europe by an external quality assessment study. In addition, factors related to the diagnostic performance of laboratories were explored. The results of this quality control study show that the performance of laboratories for RSV diagnosis in Europe is good, with an overall correct score of 88%. The type of assay (nested or real-time PCR vs. commercial tests) was identified as a significant factor (OR 8.39; 95% CI 1.91,36.78) in predicting a correct result. [source] | ||||||||||