Weighting Assessment of the Effect of Chinese State-Changing Words on Emotions.

Past studies of sentiment analysis have mainly applied algorithms based on vocabulary categories and emotional characteristics to detect the emotionality of text. However, the collocation of state-changing words and emotional vocabulary affects emotions. For example, adverbs of degree strengthen emotions, and negative adverbs reverse emotions. This study investigated the weighted effect of state-changing words on emotion. The research material comprised 73 state-changing words that were collocated with four emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, and anger. A total of 84 participants participated in the vocabulary assessment. The results revealed that state-changing words could be classified into four types: intensifying, weakening, neutralizing, and reversing. In a comparison of the weighting factors among emotions, the weighting effect of the same state-changing word in the positive emotion category was particularly evident. The results could serve as a reference for follow-up studies on detecting emotions in text.

Is medical students' moral orientation changeable after preclinical medical education?

PURPOSE: Moral orientation can affect ethical decision-making. Very few studies have focused on whether medical education can change the moral orientation of the students. The purpose of the present study was to document the types of moral orientation exhibited by medical students, and to study if their moral orientation was changed after preclinical education. METHODS: From 2007 to 2009, the Mojac scale was used to measure the moral orientation of Taiwan medical students. The students included 271 first-year and 109 third-year students. They were rated as a communitarian, dual, or libertarian group and followed for 2 years to monitor the changes in their Mojac scores. RESULTS: In both first and third-year students, the dual group after 2 years of preclinical medical education did not show any significant change. In the libertarian group, first and third-year students showed a statistically significant increase from a score of 99.4 and 101.3 to 103.0 and 105.7, respectively. In the communitarian group, first and third-year students showed a significant decline from 122.8 and 126.1 to 116.0 and 121.5, respectively. CONCLUSION: During the preclinical medical education years, students with communitarian orientation and libertarian orientation had changed in their moral orientation to become closer to dual orientation. These findings provide valuable hints to medical educators regarding bioethics education and the selection criteria of medical students for admission.

The Subjective and Objective Improvement of Non-Invasive Treatment of Schumann Resonance in Insomnia-A Randomized and Double-Blinded Study.

Purpose: Accumulated studies revealed that electromagnetic field can affect human brain and sleep, and the extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field, Schumann resonance, may have the potential to reduce insomnia symptoms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the responses of patients with insomnia to a non-invasive treatment, Schumann resonance (SR), and to evaluate its effectiveness by subjective and objective sleep assessments. Patients and Methods: We adopted a double-blinded and randomized design and 40 participants (70% female; 50.00 ± 13.38 year) with insomnia completed the entire study. These participants were divided into the SR-sleep-device group and the placebo-device group and were followed up for four weeks. The study used polysomnography (PSG) to measure objective sleep and used sleep diaries, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Inventory (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and visual analogy of sleep satisfaction to measure subjective sleep. The 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) was used to evaluate quality of life. Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Wilcoxon test were used to analyze the data. Results: About 70% of the subjects were women, with an average age of 50±13.38 years and an average history of insomnia of 9.68±8.86 years. We found that in the SR-sleep-device group, objective sleep measurements (sleep-onset-latency, SOL, and total-sleep-time, TST) and subjective sleep questionnaires (SOL, TST, sleep-efficiency, sleep-quality, daytime-sleepiness, and sleep-satisfaction) were significantly improved after using the SR-sleep-device; in the placebo-device group, only such subjective sleep improvements as PSQI and sleep-satisfaction were observed. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the SR-sleep-device can reduce the insomnia symptoms through both objective and subjective tests, with minimal adverse effects. Future studies can explore the possible mechanism of SR and health effects and, with a longer tracking time, verify the effectiveness and side effects.

The Relationship Between Health-Promoting Behaviors and Metabolic Syndrome in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Poor health-promoting behaviors increase the risk of chronic disease and disability in older adults. Nevertheless, the predictors of health-promoting behaviors and their relationship with metabolic syndrome have been poorly characterized in older Taiwanese adults. OBJECTIVE: To explore the determinants of health-promoting behaviors in community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan and the relationship of health-promoting behaviors with metabolic syndrome. METHODS: A cross-sectional design was used. A convenience sample of 200 community residents aged 60 years and over was recruited from two large communities in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Data collection included physical examination and a structured questionnaire including measures of health status, health-promoting behaviors, self-efficacy, social support, and metabolic syndrome. RESULTS: Metabolic syndrome was found in 60% of older Taiwanese adults. These participants had higher scores in interpersonal relationships but lower scores in physical activity. Half of the health-promoting behaviors were explained by behavior-specific cognitions and affect, and 44% of behavior-specific cognitions and affect was explained by the health status of the older adult. CONCLUSIONS: Physical activity should be promoted in older Taiwanese adults. Positive behavior-specific cognitions and affect and better health status might impact the health-promoting behaviors of these adults.

Using personal qualities assessment to measure the moral orientation and personal qualities of medical students in a non-Western culture.

How to select candidates with appropriate personal qualities for medical school is an important issue. This study examined the psychometric properties and group differences of the Personal Qualities Assessment (PQA) to test the feasibility of using it as a tool to assess the medical school applicants in a non-Western culture. Seven hundred forty-six medical students in Taiwan completed two psychometric measures: Mojac to assess moral orientation and NACE to assess four aspects of interpersonal relationships. Thirty-one students completed the tests twice to establish test-retest reliability. A subsample of 127 students also completed a measure of the "Big Five" personality traits to examine the construct validity of these scales. Both Mojac and NACE had acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Conceptually, coherent and significant relationships were observed between test components and between the NACE and Big Five. NACE but not Mojac varied significantly between different sociodemographic groups. Both tests demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties. However, the predictive validity of PQA requires future studies.

Testosterone gel monotherapy improves sexual function of hypogonadal men mainly through restoring erection: evaluation by IIEF score.

OBJECTIVES: To use the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) to evaluate the improvement of erectile function and other sexual functions after testosterone monotherapy. Testosterone replacement therapy alone was reported to be effective for the improvement in sexual function in hypogonadal males. However, it is still unclear that which kind of the sexual function is most beneficial and to what extent the sexual function could be improved. METHODS: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted with a treatment group (n = 20) and control group (n = 20). Using a critical review of the different sexual functional domain scores of the IIEF-15 and the scores of the IIEF-5, we evaluated the sexual function of men in hypogonadal status before and after 3 months of testosterone gel treatment. Effect size was used to compare the drug effects for each sexual functional domain, and the results were confirmed by multivariate analysis. RESULTS: A total of 30 men remained at the end of the study. After 3 months of testosterone gel therapy for the hypogonadal men, the most beneficial effect on sexual function was erectile function, with sexual desire and orgasmic satisfaction insignificantly affected. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study have shown that transdermal testosterone gel treatment for hypogonadal patients can improve their sexual dysfunction mainly through restoring erectile function.

Short-term outcomes of a near-full PBL curriculum in a new Taiwan medical school.

Problem-based learning (PBL), which incorporates principles of adult learning, is an important innovation in medical education. The use of PBL in health professional curricula is becoming more widespread. The curriculum design and the ways of implementing PBL are different among schools. More evidence is needed before a full PBL curriculum can be successfully implemented in an Asian medical school. Fu Jen Medical School is the first school in Taiwan to adopt a near-full PBL approach for the 3rd and 4th year curriculum (the medical education in Taiwan is mostly a 7-year undergraduate program). Fu Jen Medical School launched the interdisciplinary case-based, small group learning and integrated curriculum in 2002. This study investigated the short-term outcomes of this PBL curriculum, evaluated from several aspects. First, the self-directed learning readiness of the medical students before and after they entered the PBL curriculum was investigated using the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS). Second, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 5th and 6th year medical students and clinical instructors to understand the impact of PBL on the learning of clinical medicine. Finally, the passing rates in the Taiwan Medical Licensure Examination were compared with those of other medical schools in Taiwan. After 1 year of PBL, medical students at Fu Jen Medical School showed significant increases in the total SDLRS score, and in the subscores for learning strategy and self-assessment. These changes persisted until the end of 2 years of PBL. Students in their clinical years claimed that they were more active in learning, and had better learning skills and confidence in self-directed learning as compared with students from lecture-based curricula. PBL helps their clinical reasoning process, self-directed learning abilities and the use of knowledge in basic science to explain the clinical problem. On the other hand, the students thought that PBL had limited breadth and depth in clinical medicine and could not give them enough confidence in facing the national licensure examination. The initial batches of medical students (students from the first three cohorts) had the highest passing rate for Part 1 (basic sciences in medicine) and students from the first two cohorts had a 100% passing rate for Part 2 (clinical medicine) of the Taiwan Medical Licensure Examination. A near-full PBL curriculum in Asian medical schools is feasible and could encourage students to improve their self-directed learning abilities, learn adequate knowledge in basic sciences, and experience positive effects on learning clinical medicine. Better preparation of students for integrated learning of basic and clinical sciences are still needed, as is an emphasis on tutor training to improve the effectiveness of tutorial discussions.