Novel program for automatic calculation of EPG variables.

The electrical penetration graph (EPG) technique is the most powerful tool for studying the feeding behavior of pierce-sucking insects. However, calculating EPG variables is often very time-consuming, and consequently, several software programs have been developed for the automatic calculation of EPG variables. Here we present a new user-friendly Excel Workbook that uses a standardized list of EPG variables and follows expert guidelines for calculating them. The program developed in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is a step up from the existing software and allows easy data analysis and interpretation. It also includes a novel option for dealing with the common problem of "truncated"-waveforms artificially terminated by the end of recording. The only requirement to run the program is Microsoft Excel software running under a PC environment. The Workbook was validated by calculating variables from EPG recordings of aphids and psyllids and the results obtained were compared with those of existing software such as the Sarria Workbook. Our EPG Workbook provides researchers with a reliable and standardized tool for the automatic calculation of up to 127 EPG variables from phloem-sap-sucking insects.

Reducing safety behaviors to prevent anxious symptoms: a pre-registered prevention intervention study.

The purpose of this pre-registered study was to test the efficacy of a simple, low-impact safety behavior prevention intervention for anxiety. The intervention was delivered online using a 4-week workbook format. Participants (n = 130) were a non-clinical sample of American college students; they were randomly assigned to one of two intervention conditions: safety-behavior reduction or active control condition (academic skills). Results showed that participants in the safety behavior workbook condition did not report fewer safety behaviors or lower levels of anxiety compared to the active control condition post-intervention. Exploratory analyses found that fidelity mattered; participants who completed all the workbook activities reported a significant decrease in the safety-behaviors relative to the control condition. However, those who reduced their use of safety behaviors reported greater levels of anxiety compared to participants in the control condition who reduced their safety behaviors. These results suggest that encouraging safety behavior reduction in non-clinical samples may have the unintended consequence of maintaining anxiety.

Effectiveness of an oral health education programme using a mobile application for older adults: A randomised clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness of an oral health education programme using a mobile app for adults aged 65 years or older. METHODS: Participants aged 65 or older were randomly allocated into non-app use (n = 25), app use (n = 22) and control (n = 26) groups. The non-app use group received lecture-based oral health education using PowerPoint presentations and participated in workbook activities twice a week for five weeks, whereas the app use group underwent oral health education using a smartphone app and workbook activities for five weeks. Before and after the intervention, a questionnaire survey and oral health examination were performed to examine changes in oral health-related indices. RESULTS: The non-app use group showed significant changes, with a 2.1 increase in oral health knowledge score, 0.2 decrease in the O'Leary index and 0.6 decrease in tongue coating. The app use group showed significant changes, with a 3.1 increase in oral health knowledge score, a 2.5 increase in oral health perception, a 0.3 decrease in the O'Leary index and a 1.4 decrease in tongue coating. Repeated-measures ANOVA showed that interaction between time and group was significant only in tongue coating variable. CONCLUSION: The smartphone app developed in this study carries the possibility to convey informative content for oral health education among older adults.

Systematic development and refinement of a contextually relevant strategy for undergraduate medical ethics education: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Delivery of medical ethics education is complex due to various reasons, compounded by the context-dependent nature of the content. The scarcity of relevant resources in the contexts of some developing countries adds a further layer of difficulty to ethics education in these contexts. We used a consultative approach with students, teachers and external experts to develop a practical approach to medical ethics education. This study aimed to develop and refine a contextually relevant approach to ethics education in the region of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: The study utilised an explorative qualitative methodology to seek views of students and faculty of Rabigh Faculty of Medicine, Saudi Arabia, and international experts in the field of ethics and education to review and enhance a new ethics learning strategy which included a workbook-based tool. Three focus groups with 12 students, in-depth interviews with four faculty members and qualitative feedback from eleven external experts enabled the study participants to objectively critique the WBEL and provide feedback to enhance its quality. Thematic content analysis of the data was done to draw inferences which were used to refine the educational strategy. RESULTS: The analysis generated twenty-one sub-themes within four main themes: design features, content, teaching methods and assessment. These findings helped to design the educational strategy to improve its effectiveness in the given context. CONCLUSION: The study drew on the views of students, faculty and external experts to systematically develop a novel approach to ethics education for countries like Saudi Arabia. It also demonstrated the use of the consultative approach for informing a culturally relevant educational strategy in the Middle East context.

Process of Developing Palliative Care Curriculum for Training Medical Interns in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in Puducherry, India.

OBJECTIVES: The department of community medicine (DCM) has been training medical interns for palliative care in the hospital and community setting. There was no specific curriculum or course material available for training them. This study aims to develop, implement and evaluate the palliative care curriculum for training medical interns. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present program development and evaluation of palliative care curriculum was done in the DCM, Sri Manakula Vinayagar Medical College and Hospital, Puducherry, India. We followed the Kern's six steps for curriculum development. It was done during July 2016 and May 2017. We framed expected outcomes from literature review and interviews with experts. The curriculum was delivered through small group sessions followed by hands-on exposure to hospital- and community-based palliative care programs guided by a workbook. Medical interns were given feedback on their field assignments on history taking, followed by reflection using structured template incorporated in the workbook. The reaction to the curriculum was collected from various stakeholders. RESULTS: Medical interns found the curriculum useful for them to acquire basic skills of pain management, communication skills and teamwork. Patients and family felt satisfied with the quality of care provided. CONCLUSION: The new palliative care curriculum was well received by all the stakeholders involved. This can be adopted in similar context for training medical interns in palliative care.

Effectiveness of an oral health education programme for older adults using a workbook.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effects of an oral health education programme utilising a workbook for people aged 65 years or older. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pre-post quasi-experimental design was used to verify the effectiveness of an oral health education programme using a workbook. Oral health education was provided once a week for 5 weeks from May to June 2019. Intervention group I only received lectures on oral health education, while intervention group II reviewed the content using the workbook immediately after the lecture. Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to compare differences among the three groups; a paired t test was also carried out to identify the changes before and after the programme. RESULTS: Intervention group I showed a significant increase of 3.52 on oral health knowledge and 3.47 on oral health recognition, while exhibiting a significant decrease of 0.21 on the O'Leary index and 0.69 on the tongue coating index. Intervention group II depicted a significant increase of 4.48 on oral health knowledge and 3.97 on oral health recognition and a significant decrease of 0.32 on the O'Leary index and 2.10 on the tongue coating index. CONCLUSIONS: The oral health education programme using the workbook increased knowledge and recognition of oral health and lowered the O'Leary and tongue coating indexes. Hence, the use of a workbook may facilitate the effectiveness of oral health education for older people.

Methods for simulating nutritional requirement and response studies with all organisms to increase research efficiency.

Nutritional requirements and responses of all organisms are estimated using various models representing the response to different dietary levels of the nutrient in question. To help nutritionists design experiments for estimating responses and requirements, we developed a simulation workbook using Microsoft Excel. The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the influence of different numbers of nutrient levels, ranges of nutrient levels and replications per nutrient level on the estimates of requirements based on common nutritional response models. The user provides estimates of the shape of the response curve, requirements and other parameters and observation to observation variation. The Excel workbook then produces 1-1000 randomly simulated responses based on the given response curve and estimates the standard errors of the requirement (and other parameters) from different models as an indication of the expected power of the experiment. Interpretations are based on the assumption that the smaller the standard error of the requirement, the more powerful the experiment. The user can see the potential effects of using one or more subjects, different nutrient levels, etc., on the expected outcome of future experiments. From a theoretical perspective, each organism should have some enzyme-catalysed reaction whose rate is limited by the availability of some limiting nutrient. The response to the limiting nutrient should therefore be similar to enzyme kinetics. In conclusion, the workbook eliminates some of the guesswork involved in designing experiments and determining the minimum number of subjects needed to achieve desired outcomes.

Innovation in ethics and professionalism course: Early experience with portfolio-workbook.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse students' perception regarding the use of portfolio-workbook in ethics course. METHODS: This mixed method study was conducted at the King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2014, and comprised fourth-year medical students. The "portfolio-workbook", developed on principles of cognitive load and guided learning theories, contained essential reading material. Learning sessions were also facilitated by teaching tools like role-plays, movie/video clips, vignettes, etc., followed by reflective writing exercises. Feedback questionnaire with open- and closed-ended questions was used to collect data. Quantitative data was analysed for frequencies and percentages. Content analysis was conducted for the open-ended responses. RESULTS: Of the 20 participants, 10(50%) considered using portfolio-workbook as difficult initially. However, on completion of module 16(80%) found it easy. Moreover, 17(85%) appreciated it as a learning tool. Besides, 19(95%) students found teaching videos and 13(65%) found open discussions as effective learning tools. Portfolio-workbook as an assessment tool was preferred by 19(95%) students. CONCLUSIONS: The use of portfolio-workbook in teaching ethics to undergraduates was found to be encouraging as it generated interest and interaction.

Supporting carers: a learning resource for community nurses.

In 2013, as part of the Queen's Nursing Institute (QNI) Carers Project, the QNI asked the 4M Learning Network to test the need for a learning resource to enable community nurses to support carers' health and wellbeing needs. In order to measure the learning needs of community nurses, the QNI undertook a literature review (Laing and Sprung, 2013). The 4M team commenced with desk research and extensive consultation using an online survey and workshops across England. The outcomes of this consultation informed the development of an open-access online learning resource for community nurses, with modules covering different aspects of the nurses' role in relation to carers, as well as a comprehensive resource directory and e-workbook. This resource was launched in March 2014. In response to the enthusiasm and positive feedback from the community nurses, two learning resources were launched in March 2015 for practice nurses and school nurses. An accompanying resource directory mobile application is currently being development and is due to be released in summer 2015. It should be noted that throughout the article, the term carers refers to informal carers, i.e. family or friends caring for a person at home; it does not refer to an employed care assistant or helper.

Efficacy of a workbook to promote forgiveness: a randomized controlled trial with university students.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated the efficacy of a 6-hour self-directed workbook adapted from the REACH Forgiveness intervention. METHOD: Undergraduates (N = 41) were randomly assigned to either an immediate treatment or waitlist control condition. Participants were assessed across 3 time periods using a variety of forgiveness outcome measures. RESULTS: The 6-hour workbook intervention increased forgiveness, as indicated by positive changes in participants' forgiveness ratings that differed by condition. In addition, benchmarking analysis showed that the self-directed workbook intervention is at least as efficacious as the delivery of the REACH Forgiveness model via group therapy. CONCLUSION: A self-directed workbook intervention adapted from the REACH Forgiveness intervention provides an adjunct to traditional psychotherapy that could assist the mental health community to manage the burden of unforgiveness among victims of interpersonal harm.

Supporting student learning through the use of a sequential case study workbook: An inductive content analysis of student feedback.

BACKGROUND: The use of workbooks to support nursing student learning are not new. Used in a variety of guises and differing delivery formats from printed to electronic, enables nursing students to engage in specific complex patient conditions with the view to enhancing and support learning. However, evaluating the effectiveness of the workbook itself is often overlooked, instead value is expressed in academic success. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a sequential based workbook to support student learning. METHOD: Inductive content analysis was used to identify text patterns from end of semester student feedback. In all, three generic themes were identified - Usability, Knowledge and Content and Workload to create a main theme - The Living Workbook. RESULTS: On the whole students found the workbook a user-friendly medium to support learning and importantly being able to apply the knowledge into the practice setting. There were a number of students who disliked the workbook because of the complexity of the case studies being presented and for being content heavy. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the challenges of passing the unit, the use of a sequential workbook to enhance the reality of providing nursing care to complex and challenging patient conditions was seen favourably.

Controlling the laxative abuse of anorexia nervosa patients with the Serigaya Methamphetamine Relapse Prevention Program workbook: a case report.

BACKGROUND: There is no consensus on effective treatment for laxative abuse in patients with eating disorders. Here, we report the case of a patient with laxative abuse who showed some improvement through an intervention based on the Matrix model. CASE PRESENTATION: A woman diagnosed with anorexia nervosa-binge eating/purging type (AN-BP) steadfastly denied laxative abuse and would not admit to suffering from an eating disorder. This led to low motivation for undergoing conventional psychotherapy, psychoeducation, and cognitive behavioral therapy. These were ineffective and followed by repeated cycles of hospitalization and discharge. The patient's general condition, as depicted by her laboratory and clinical parameters, deteriorated due to the medical complications resulting from laxative abuse.Focusing on laxative abuse, we considered an intervention for drug addiction. Because the patient could maintain a diet diary and acknowledged laxative abuse as a drug addiction, we introduced the Serigaya Methamphetamine Relapse Prevention Program (SMARPP) workbook as a self-administered treatment. The patient meticulously completed the treatment and experienced a gradual improvement in laxative abuse. She has not been re-hospitalized in 4 years, currently performs household chores, and demonstrates improved social function. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with AN-BP, the SMARPP workbook may be effective in treating laxative abuse.

A randomized controlled trial assessing the efficacy of a self-administered psycho-educational intervention for patients with cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Bibliotherapy refers to psychological self-help interventions that utilize treatment books to improve psychological well-being. Research supports bibliotherapy as an efficacious intervention for a variety of mental health problems. Yet, few studies have investigated bibliotherapy in psychosocial oncology. The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the efficacy of the NuCare intervention, delivered as a self-directed workbook, for enhancing empowerment, coping, and quality of life and reducing distress in patients with cancer. METHODS: Eighty-nine adult patients with cancer were randomized to receive the workbook for 6 weeks or the control condition, usual care. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline, 6 weeks post-baseline, and 10 weeks post-baseline. RESULTS: The increase of empowerment (main outcome) and quality of life and the decrease of distress in the NuCare group from pre-intervention to follow-up assessment differed significantly from the respective difference scores in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The self-administered NuCare workbook is a potentially cost-effective, minimal intervention addressing psychosocial needs of patients with cancer. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Evidence-based bibliotherapy can empower patients and has the promise of reducing the burden on the healthcare system while enhancing the immediacy of psychosocial support.

Evaluation of the Utility of a Transition Workbook in Preparing Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors for Transition to Adult Services: A Pilot Study.

Transition to adult care for adolescent and young adult survivors is challenging and is inclusive of several factors like knowledge and developmental, emotional, and social status of survivors and parents. This pilot study addressed the feasibility of a transition workbook, a method of preparing adolescent and young adults to transition to adult care. Using a mixed methods design, investigators also measured transition worry and readiness in 30 survivors. Support was provided throughout a 6-month period as survivors and parents completed the workbook. The workbook included sections about the treatment history of survivors, when and who to call for worrisome symptoms, prescriptions and insurance, educational goals for health practices and how to get there, and independent living. Twenty survivors completed the study and reported greater worry about leaving pediatric oncology but indicated the need to make changes to transition to adult care. Ambiguity and intimidation about transitioning to adult providers and comfort in pediatric setting were themes expressed by survivors. Results indicate the need for adult/pediatric collaborative transition programs using various standardized methods of addressing transition readiness and evaluation.

Validation of a proposed instructional workbook in the teaching of cells, carbohydrates and proteins in college biochemistry / The Health Sciences Journal

INTRODUCTION@#An instructional workbook for students taking biochemistry in Libya was developed. The research aimed to understand the level of acceptability to selected local biochemistry faculty and their perception of the basis for recommending the proposed instructional workbook. The study also aimed to determine the effect of sex, age, length of service and educational attainment on acceptability and recommendation. @*METHODS@#The study utilized the descriptive method of research to develop and validate an instructional material for biochemistry. Faculty from a private university teaching college-level biochemistry were given a copy of the instructional material whose topics included the cell, carbohydrates and proteins. The respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire to validate the instructional material based on objectives, content, usefulness, clarity, presentation, language and style, and evaluation. @*RESULTS@#The respondents level of acceptance in terms of the learning objectives was high with a grand weighted mean of 3.55. Content, usefulness, clarity, presentation, evaluation, and language and style were rated as acceptable. Age, length of service and educational attainment had significant impact on the acceptability of the proposed instructional workbook in terms of all seven criteria, except for age which was not significant for language and style. @*CONCLUSION@#Faculty teaching biochemistry have rated as acceptable the proposed instructional workbook on cell, carbohydrates and proteins and recommend its use as a teaching tool. The proposed workbook may be considered for use as a standard tool for teaching biochemistry in Libya.

Estimation of AIDS epidemic in Wuhan using Workbook model / 公共卫生与预防医学

Objective To estimate the current status of the epidemic of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Wuhan in 2017, and to provide a scientific basis for developing HIV/AIDS prevention strategies. Methods A Workbook model was used to estimate the 2017 HIV/AIDS epidemic in Wuhan using Wuhan demographic data and HIV/AIDS epidemiological data. The Chi-square test was used to compare the differences in gender and transmission routes between the epidemic estimates and the case report data. Results It was estimated that there were 6,008 surviving adult HIV/AIDS cases in Wuhan in 2017. The estimated prevalence of HIV infection in Wuhan was 0.064% in 2017. The estimated detection rate for HIV/AIDS was 75.0%. Among the 6,008 adult HIV/AIDS cases, 4,017 (66.9%) were transmitted through homosexual behaviors, 1,803 (30.0%) were transmitted through heterosexual behaviors, and 188 (3.1%) were transmitted through injecting drugs. The estimated detection rates of HIV/AIDS cases infected by homosexual behavior, heterosexual behavior and drug injection were respectively 73.89%, 78.81% and 48.94%. Conclusion The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Wuhan was still in a low prevalence state, but nearly a quarter of the infected HIV/AIDS cases had not been detected yet. Homosexual behaviors contributed most to HIV/AIDS epidemic in Wuhan, and heterosexual behaviors among spouse/fixed sexual partners also accounted for a certain proportion of HIV/AIDS epidemic. In order to further improve HIV detection rate and curb HIV transmission, it is necessary to explore more effective HIV monitoring and testing practices to detect HIV/AIDS cases as early as possible, especially among high-risk populations and their sexual partners.

Development and Educational Effect of Nutrition Education Workbook for Improvement of Child Picky Eaters: Focused on 2nd and 3rd Graders

This study was conducted to develop a nutrition education workbook to improve picky eating in children and to evaluate the effect of nutrition education using this developed workbook. The developed workbook focused on 2nd and 3rd grade students and consisted of five units. The contents included: multi-grain, vegetables (2 units), fish, and milk. The activities, including observation, and learning the roles and names of the foods, were developed mainly to increase motivation for eating a balanced diet. This workbook was developed from April to December 2008, and was applied at 15 elementary schools containing 1,674 students from April to September 2009 in Changwon City, Korea. We evaluated changes in knowledge before and after education on nutrition, eating behavior, dietary habits, and educational activities using self-administered questionnaires. The children demonstrated significant improvements in nutritional knowledge (P<0.001), eating behavior (P<0.001), and dietary habits (P<0.001). Most of the children answered that the education program was helpful and exciting. Based on these results, we believe that the developed workbook is suitable for children picky eaters, and hope it will be used in the field of child nutrition education.