Development and Testing of the Curiosity in Classrooms Framework and Coding Protocol.

Curiosity is widely acknowledged as a crucial aspect of children's development and as an important part of the learning process, with prior research showing associations between curiosity and achievement. Despite this evidence, there is little research on the development of curiosity or on promoting curiosity in school settings, and measures of curiosity promotion in the classroom are absent from the published literature. This article introduces the Curiosity in Classrooms (CiC) Framework coding protocol, a tool for observing and coding instructional practices that support the promotion of curiosity. We describe the development of the framework and observation instrument and the results of a feasibility study using the protocol, which gives a descriptive overview of curiosity-promoting instruction in 35 elementary-level math lessons. Our discussion includes lessons learned from this work and suggestions for future research using the developed observation tool.

Manifestations of circulatory assist devices in noninvasive arterial duplex evaluation: A pictorial review.

Spectral Doppler and plethysmographic waveforms vary significantly in the presence of circulatory assist devices. Understanding the effect these devices have on the waveforms and flow characteristics is necessary for the appropriate interpretation of duplex ultrasound and other noninvasive vascular studies. We review the different arterial waveforms that can be seen with circulatory assist devices.

Examining the impact of children's exploration behaviors on creativity.

Creativity is typically measured using divergent thinking tasks where participants are asked to generate multiple responses following a prompt. However, being able to generate responses captures only a partial picture of creativity. Convergent thinking, in which a single solution is chosen, is an equally important part of creativity that is often left out of divergent thinking assessments. Moreover, as the field of creativity evolves, exploration is starting to be recognized as an understudied component of how children generate and apply creative solutions. The current study moved beyond typical divergent thinking tasks and examined a measure of creativity that also captured 4- to 6-year-old children's convergent thinking and exploration behaviors. A total of 130 children participated in a creative problem-solving task where they were asked to remove a ball from a jar using everyday objects. Children's actions were coded as divergent thinking, convergent thinking, or exploration behaviors. Results demonstrated that divergent and convergent thinking performance was not associated with success on the task, indicating that simply generating and selecting more responses is not always enough to achieve a creative outcome. Children's exploration behaviors were positively associated with success on the task. Exploration behaviors were more likely to lead to success if they were purposeful and iterative. These findings provide some of the first evidence that children's exploration is a vital component of creativity.

Call to Action to Prevent Venous Thromboembolism in Hospitalized Patients: A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major preventable disease that affects hospitalized inpatients. Risk stratification and prophylactic measures have good evidence supporting their use, but multiple reasons exist that prevent full adoption, compliance, and efficacy that may underlie the persistence of VTE over the past several decades. This policy statement provides a focused review of VTE, risk scoring systems, prophylaxis, and tracking methods. From this summary, 5 major areas of policy guidance are presented that the American Heart Association believes will lead to better implementation, tracking, and prevention of VTE events. They include performing VTE risk assessment and reporting the level of VTE risk in all hospitalized patients, integrating preventable VTE as a benchmark for hospital comparison and pay-for-performance programs, supporting appropriations to improve public awareness of VTE, tracking VTE nationwide with the use of standardized definitions, and developing a centralized data steward for data tracking on VTE risk assessment, prophylaxis, and rates.

Approach to Lower Extremity Edema.

OPINION STATEMENT: Lower extremity edema is extremely common among patients seen across multiple specialties. The differential diagnosis is broad and ranges from simple dependent edema to more complex conditions such as chronic venous disease and lymphedema. Several key features from the history and physical exam can assist with the diagnosis. Imaging is rarely necessary at the initial visit unless venous thromboembolism is suspected. Treatment is specific to the etiology of the edema, but compression stockings, elevation, exercise, and weight loss remain the cornerstone in most cases.

Vascular disease patient information page. Inferior vena cava (IVC) filters.

IVC filters are medical devices that are placed in the large vein of the abdomen to prevent blood clots from traveling from the veins of the legs to the lungs. They are most commonly used when a patient cannot receive blood thinners to treat leg blood clots (DVT). IVC filter insertion can be done as an outpatient under local anesthesia, with only a puncture to a vein in the leg or neck. Most IVC filters are designed to be removed when no longer necessary. IVC filter complications are uncommon.