Distributed practice

BACKGROUND: Estimates for the effects of environmental exposures on health outcomes, including secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure, often present considerable variability across studies. Knowledge of the reasons behind these differences can aid our understanding of effects in specific populations as well as inform practices of combining data from multiple studies. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the presence of effect modification by measured sociodemographic characteristics on the effect of SHS exposure during pregnancy on birth weights that may drive differences observed across cohorts...

Backtracking combined with branching heuristics is a prevalent approach for tackling constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) and combinatorial optimization problems (COPs). While branching heuristics specifically designed for certain problems can be theoretically efficient, they are often complex and difficult to implement in practice. On the other hand, general branching heuristics can be applied across various problems, but at the risk of suboptimality. We introduce a solver framework that leverages the Shannon entropy in branching heuristics to bridge the gap between generality and specificity in branching heuristics...

Chiral, enantiopure Yb(III) complexes exhibit circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) in the near infrared (NIR) wavelength region. This CPL is quantified by the dissymmetry factor ( g lum ). The excited state 2 F5/2 consists of six m J ' states degenerated in three Stark levels, due to the crystal-field splitting (CFS), which are populated in accordance with the Boltzmann distribution. Consequently, room temperature CPL spectra are the sum of various - either positive or negative - contributions, that are practically impossible to quantify...

The ideal approach to Bayesian phylogenetic inference is to estimate all parameters of interest jointly in a single hierarchical model. However, this is often not feasible in practice due to the high computational cost. Instead, phylogenetic pipelines generally consist of sequential analyses, whereby a single point estimate from a given analysis is used as input for the next analysis (e.g., a single multiple sequence alignment is used to estimate a gene tree). In this framework, uncertainty is not propagated from step to step, which can lead to inaccurate or spuriously confident results...

Transition metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been regarded as possible alternatives to platinum-based materials due to their satisfactory performance of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). By contrast, main-group metal elements are rarely studied due to their unfavorable surface and electronic states. Herein, a main-group Sn-based SAC with penta-coordinated and asymmetric first-shell ligands is reported as an efficient and robust ORR catalyst. The introduction of the vertical oxygen atom breaks the symmetric charge balance, modulating the binding strength to oxygen intermediates and decreasing the energy barrier for the ORR process...

Probability distributions offer the best description of survival data and as a result, various lifetime models have been proposed. However, some of these survival datasets are not followed or sufficiently fitted by the existing proposed probability distributions. This paper presents a novel Kumaraswamy Odd Ramos-Louzada-G (KumORL-G) family of distributions together with its statistical features, including the quantile function, moments, probability-weighted moments, order statistics, and entropy measures. Some relevant characterizations were obtained using the hazard rate function and the ratio of two truncated moments...

INTRODUCTION: Numerous studies within the school and academic contexts have underscored the profound impact of psychometric variables such as academic self-efficacy, self-esteem, and loneliness on academic achievement among children. Although physical activities and dance practices are known to bolster academic self-efficacy and enhance academic outcomes, the effect of Artistic Sports Activities on these psychological determinants among left-behind children (LBC) in rural schools remains underexplored...

The field of nuclear theranostic clinical trials is continuously expanding as an increasing number of novel agents and treatment combinations are explored for treating advanced and metastatic cancers. Moving from 'bench-to-bedside' is oftentimes a complex and lengthy process. The objective of this overview is to explore the basic elements involved in designing clinical trials with a special focus on theranostics in nuclear medicine. The 'bench-to-bedside' journey involves translating basic scientific research into patient-effective treatments...

Quantum secret sharing (QSS) represents the fusion of quantum mechanics principles with secret information sharing, allowing a sender to distribute a secret among receivers for collective recovery. This paper introduces the concept of quantum anonymous secret sharing (QASS) to enhance the practicality of such protocols. We propose a QASS protocol leveraging W states, ensuring both recover-security and anonymity of shared secrets. Our protocol undergoes rigorous evaluation verifying their accuracy and fortifying their security against scenarios involving the active adversary...

Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is a crucial clinical practice that improves pharmacological effectiveness and prevent severe drug-related adverse events. Timely reporting and intervention of critical values during TDM are essential for patient safety. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the laboratory data to provide an overview of the incidence, distribution pattern and biochemical correlates of critical values during TDM. A total of 19,110 samples were tested for nine drug concentrations between January 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020...

With the acceleration of urbanization in China, the urban population continues to grow, leading to frequent occurrences of crowded public spaces, which in turn trigger traffic congestion and even safety accidents. In order to more effectively control pedestrian flow, enhance the efficiency and safety of public spaces, this experiment conducts in-depth research and improvement on the traditional Dynamic Window Approach (DWA), and applies it to the fine control of pedestrian flow. Specifically, this study comprehensively reviews and analyzes the characteristics of pedestrian traffic flow and the working principles of traditional DWA...

This paper examines the supply and utilization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Hong Kong during the influenza epidemics of the 1950s and 1960s. Existing narratives of TCM in Hong Kong have predominantly framed with within the dichotomy of Western medicine "Xiyi" and Chinese medicine "Zhongyi," portraying TCM as marginalized and nearly wiped out by colonial power. Departing from this binary opposition, this study views TCM as an autonomous space that had never been subjugated by the colonial power which opted for minimal interventionist approach toward TCM...

This article analyzes the "account book" of Kim Young-hoon (1882-1974), which summarizes information about patients at his Bochun Clinic in Seoul (then Gyeongseong) in 1931. Kim Young-hoon was a pivotal figure in the medical scene throughout the Korean Empire, the Japanese occupation, and the early years of the Republic of Korea. He left behind a large amount of documentation during his 60 years of practice at the Bochun Clinic, which he opened in the spring of 1909. In particular, the 1931 "account book" offers an insight into the daily life histories of his patients...

Borneol(yongnoe) was a fragrance and medicinal ingredient with unique efficacy. However, it could be produced only in tropical Southeast Asia and obtained only through international trade. In addition, camphor(jangnoe) with similar material properties was developed and distributed as an inexpensive replacement for borneol, although the processing method is different from that of borneol. Even in Joseon Korea, borneol and camphor were recognized as separate medicines, and efforts were made to obtain a high-quality borneol...

Microplastic contamination has rapidly become a serious environmental issue, threatening marine ecosystems and human health. This review aims to not only understand the distribution, impacts, and transfer mechanisms of microplastic contamination but also to explore potential solutions for mitigating its widespread impact. This review encompasses the categorisation, origins, and worldwide prevalence of microplastics and methodically navigates the complicated structure of microplastics. Understanding the sources of minute plastic particles infiltrating water bodies worldwide is critical for successful removal...

BACKGROUND: Pilomatrixoma, also known as calcifying epithelioma of Malherbe, is a benign cutaneous neoplasm that demonstrates differentiation towards the matrix portion of hair follicles. It is the most common benign cutaneous neoplasm in childhood and youth, although it can occur at any age. With a general incidence ranging from 0.001% to 0.0031% of all cutaneous tumors. There is a slight predilection for females, with a female-to-male ratio of 1.15:1. METHODS: Observational, descriptive, retrospective, and cross-sectional study conducted using the electronic database of the dermatopathology department of Dr...

Researchers incorporate health state utility values as inputs to inform economic models. However, for a particular health state or condition, multiple utility values derived from different studies typically exist and a single study is often insufficient to represent the best available source of utility needed to inform policy decisions. The purpose of this paper is to provide an introductory guidance for conducting Bayesian meta-analysis of health state utility values to generate a single parameter input for economic evaluation, using R...

AIM: Previous studies suggest a lack of a unified approach in identifying and addressing children with obesity while being inpatients in individual Australian hospitals. Our study aimed to describe current clinical practice across Australia and identify discrepancies that can aid in developing a more unified response to children identified with obesity as hospital inpatients. METHODS: A cross-sectional exploratory online survey was distributed to major paediatric in-patient departments in Australia, with a response rate of 68%...

BACKGROUND: The evidence on the effects of extreme meteorological conditions and high air pollution levels on incidence of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is limited. Moreover, results of the available studies are inconsistent. Further investigations are imperative to elucidate the specific issue. METHODS: Data on the daily cases of HFMD, meteorological factors and air pollution were obtained from 2017 to 2022 in Jining City. We employed distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) incorporated with Poisson regression to explore the impacts of extreme meteorological conditions and air pollution on HFMD incidence...

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the demographic characteristics of the periodontal workforce in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of periodontists practicing in Saudi Arabia from January 2000 through May 2023. The data were requested from the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties and included the number of periodontists and dentists, the number of Saudi and non-Saudi periodontists, the sex distribution of periodontists, their ranking, and the geographic distribution across the 13 regions...