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The rapid expansion of the human population has raised the chemical stress on the environment due to the increased demand of agricultural yields. The use of pesticides is the primary contributor to environmental chemical stress, which is essential for agricultural expansion in order to produce enough food to sustain the burgeoning human population. Pesticide residues in soil have grown to be a subject of rising concern as a result of their high soil retention and potential harm to unintended species. Diverse remediation strategies, such as physical, chemical, and biological, for limiting and getting rid of such contaminants have been put forth to deal with this problem. Bioremediation is one of these techniques, which has been deemed the best for reducing pollution because of its low environmental impact, simplicity of operation and construction. Microorganisms are implemented in this technique to break down and get rid of toxins in the environment or to reduce the toxicity of chemical compounds. This study thoroughly analyses the different composting soil remediation methods, including landfarming, biopiles, and windrows, to reduce and eliminate soil pollution. Although biological treatment is the best option for cleaning up polluted soil, it is still important to evaluate and review the approaches over the long term to determine whether they are effective in the field. It is because the reactivity of the microorganisms is highly dependent on environmental parameters, and the contemporary environment is characterised by unpredictable weather patterns, localised droughts, and temperature fluctuations.

A systematic understanding of the aetiology of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) and their co-occurrence with other conditions during childhood and adolescence remains incomplete. In the current meta-analysis, we synthesized the literature on (1) the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to NDDs, (2) the genetic and environmental overlap between different NDDs, and (3) the co-occurrence between NDDs and disruptive, impulse control and conduct disorders (DICCs). Searches were conducted across three platforms: Web of Science, Ovid Medline and Ovid Embase. Studies were included only if 75% or more of the sample consisted of children and/or adolescents and the studies had measured the aetiology of NDDs and DICCs using single-generation family designs or genomic methods. Studies that had selected participants on the basis of unrelated diagnoses or injuries were excluded. We performed multilevel, random-effects meta-analyses on 296 independent studies, including over four million (partly overlapping) individuals. We further explored developmental trajectories and the moderating roles of gender, measurement, geography and ancestry. We found all NDDs to be substantially heritable (family-based heritability, 0.66 (s.e. = 0.03); SNP heritability, 0.19 (s.e. = 0.03)). Meta-analytic genetic correlations between NDDs were moderate (grand family-based genetic correlation, 0.36 (s.e. = 0.12); grand SNP-based genetic correlation, 0.39 (s.e. = 0.19)) but differed substantially between pairs of disorders. The genetic overlap between NDDs and DICCs was strong (grand family-based genetic correlation, 0.62 (s.e. = 0.20)). While our work provides evidence to inform and potentially guide clinical and educational diagnostic procedures and practice, it also highlights the imbalance in the research effort that has characterized developmental genetics research.

Objective:Discourse analysis is one of the clinical methods commonly used to assess the language ability of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the majority of published analytic frameworks are not geared for highlighting the pragmatic aspect of discourse deficits in acquired language disorders, except for those designed for quantifying conversational samples. This study aimed to examine how pragmatic competence is impaired and reflected in spoken monologues in Chinese speakers with TBI.Methods:Discourse samples of five tasks (personal narrative, storytelling, procedural, single- and sequential picture description) were elicited from ten TBI survivors and their controls. Each discourse sample was measured using 16 indices (e.g., number of informative words, percentage of local/global coherence errors, repeated words or phrases) that corresponded to the four Gricean maxims. Twenty-five naïve Chinese speakers were also recruited to perform perceptual rating of the quality of all 50 TBI audio files (five discourse samples per TBI participant), in terms of erroneous/inaccurate information, adequacy of amount of information given, as well as degree of organization and clarity.Results:The maxim of quantity best predicted TBI’s pragmatic impairments. Naïve listeners’ perception of pragmatics deficits correlated to measures on total and informative words, as well as number and length of terminable units. Clinically, personal narrative and storytelling tasks could better elicit violations in pragmatics.Conclusion:Applying Gricean maxims in monologic oral narratives could capture the hallmark underlying pragmatic problems in TBI. This may help provide an additional approach of clinically assessing social communications in and subsequent management of TBI.

This study aimed to investigate the psychological well-being, and stress coping strategies, as well as their relationships, among healthcare students during prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.An online questionnaire was used to assess psychological well-being (the Ryff Scale) and coping strategies (the brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory [COPE] Scale). COPE scores were categorized to identify the primary coping strategies: "approach" indicates more active coping strategies; "avoidant" indicates more dysfunctional and maladaptive mechanisms.A total of 202 valid questionnaire were collected. Those with lower academic confidence and lower self-rated peer and family relationship scores during the COVID-19 pandemic had lower Ryff scores, indicating poorer psychological well-being. Nursing students reported the lowest psychological well-being and the highest levels of adopting avoidant coping strategies (26.4%).The study's findings may help educators identify the healthcare students most vulnerable to stress and develop interventions to empower students to adopt problem-focused stress coping strategies.

Aims. Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) are frequently isolated in peritoneal dialysis (PD)-related peritonitis with a high rate of relapse and repeat peritonitis after initial response to antimicrobials. The optimal treatment regimen for CoNS peritonitis remains debatable. Hence, this study aimed to describe the clinical and microbiologic characteristics of CoNS peritonitis in a PD center and determine predictive factors influencing the outcomes. Methods. All cases of CoNS peritonitis in Selayang Hospital between 2011 and 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. Results. A total of 906 episodes of peritonitis were recorded; 140 episodes (15%) in 98 patients were caused by CoNS. The oxacillin and gentamicin resistance rates were 47% and 46%, respectively. The overall primary response rate was 90%, and the complete cure rate was 79%. Patients with concomitant exit-site infection (odds ratio (OR) 0.06, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.01 to 0.40, P < 0.01 ) and history of recent systemic antibiotic use (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.82, P = 0.04 ) were less likely to achieve primary response. CoNS episodes that were treated with beta-lactam-based or vancomycin-based therapy had a similar primary response rate and complete cure rate. The rates of relapse and repeat were 12% and 16%, respectively. Relapsed episodes (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.97, P = 0.04 ) had a significantly lower complete cure rate than the first episodes. Conclusion. Relapsed CoNS peritonitis was common and was associated with worse outcomes than the first episode of CoNS peritonitis. Oxacillin resistance was common, but the treatment outcome remained favourable when a beta-lactam-based regimen was used as empirical therapy.

As the population ages, promoting good health maintenance practices has become an important strategy in many health systems. Regular general health checks detect common diseases and empower older adults to monitor their physical health. Yet the service uptake rate is low. Previous reviews have identified intervention methods to improve the uptake rate, but the overall effectiveness of these interventions remains unclear. This review aims to determine the overall effectiveness of the interventions used to improve general health check uptake and identify the behavior change techniques used in these interventions. Literature searches were conducted in four electronic databases in August 2020 and updated in May 2021. Six randomized controlled trials were included in this review. Seven intervention types were identified, including enhanced invitation letters, telephone invitation, question-behavior-effect questionnaire, financial incentive, leaflet, pre-notification, and SMS reminder. Overall, the interventions are effective, with an odds ratio of 1.21, and a 95% confidence interval between 1.09–1.33. Fifteen behavior change techniques were identified using the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy (v1). The findings suggest that the current interventions implemented in invitation methods are effective in improving the general health check uptake rate, but there are still opportunities to further improve the uptake rate by considering other intervention types. Future studies could consider how other intervention types could be implemented alone or with the enhanced invitation methods to maximize the service uptake rate. The systematic review protocol is registered on PROSPERO (ref: CRD42021221041).

It has been well-documented that language input designed according to the principles of statistical learning can promote language acquisition among children with or without language disorder. Cantonese-speaking children with language disorder were reported to have difficulties using expanded verb phrases and prepositional phrases, but the corresponding intervention is relatively unexplored. The current study evaluated the efficacy of an intervention designed using the statistical learning principles to promote the acquisition of these two structures. A retrospective study of existing data collected from a total of 16 Cantonese-speaking children (four female; mean age = 6.70 years) with suspected language disorder was conducted. The participants were initially divided into the 'Treatment' and the 'Control' groups. A total of eight sessions of language treatment, which focused on giving systematic language input of expanded verb phrases and prepositional phrases, were conducted on each child. Results showed that the Treatment group produced significantly more expanded verb phrases in the post-treatment language samples, while the Control group did not. The final pre- and post-comparison conducted after the Control group also received treatment indicated overall significant increased number of expanded verb phrases produced across time. On the contrary, improvement in the production of prepositional phrases was not significant. It is suggested that the unique thematic roles coded by individual prepositions possibly restricted the generalisation effect of treatment, which explains the non-significant improvement across time. Theoretical and clinical implications were discussed.

Previous investigations on sentence production in English-speaking individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have yielded mixed conclusions based on their findings. While some studies found comparable sentence complexity between speakers with TBI and control speakers, others reported more syntactic and lexical errors, reduced sentence complexity, and erroneous word order transpositions in the sentence production of speakers with TBI. These contradictory findings could possibly be due to the use of language measures that were less sensitive to subtle syntactic impairments among speakers with TBI. In this preliminary report, the language samples obtained from 11 Cantonese-speaking participants with mild-moderate TBI in Guangzhou, with a mean age of 37.6 and mean years of education of 10 years, and nine control speakers with a similar age range and education background were analyzed using in-depth linguistic-oriented frameworks adopted from pervious works in Cantonese. The results indicated that the TBI group produced more errors, different varieties of sentence types, and lower syntactic complexity in their sentence production compared with the control group. The findings suggested that the more refined and linguistic-oriented measures used in the present study were more sensitive in identifying the subtle syntactic impairments produced by the participants with TBI.

The dynamical tide can play an important role in the orbital motion of close eccentric double white dwarf binaries. As the launching of the space-based gravitational-wave detector, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), is just around the corner, detection of gravitational wave signals from such systems is anticipated. In this paper, we discuss the influence of the dynamical tide on eccentric orbits, focusing on the effect on orbital precession. We show that in orbits with a high eccentricity, resonance can cause a large precession when a harmonic of the orbital frequency matches the natural frequencies of the normal modes of the star. In contrast to the case with circular orbits, each mode can encounter multiple resonances with different harmonics and these resonant regions can cover about 10% of the frequency space for orbits with close separations. In this case, the tidal precession effect is distinct from the other contributions and can be identified with LISA if the signal-to-noise ratio is high enough. However, within the highly eccentric-small separation region, the dynamical tide causes chaotic motion and the gravitational wave signal becomes unpredictable. Even not at resonance, the dynamical tide can contribute up to 20% of the precession for orbits close to Roche-lobe filling separation with low eccentricities and LISA can resolve these off-resonant dynamical tide effects within the low eccentricity-small orbital separation region of the parameter space. For lower mass systems, the dynamical tide effect can degenerate with the uncertainties of the eccentricity, making it unmeasurable from the precession rate alone. For higher mass systems, the radiation reaction effect becomes significant enough to constrain the eccentricity, allowing the measurement of the dynamical tide., Comment: 13 pages. 9 figures

Background Visual decline is inevitable in older adults. Utilizing preventive vision care can mitigate major risk factors, yet the uptake rate remains suboptimal globally. Barriers to seek preventive eye care were identified in the literature. However, the understanding of these barriers was limited by the quantitative approach, hindering the opportunity to suggest specific strategies to improve service uptake. This qualitative aimed to identify the factors influencing the decision-making process of older adults to use preventive vision care. Methods This was a qualitative study guided by the grounded theory approach. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the subjects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or above in Hong Kong. Data were transcribed and constant comparison techniques were used for data analysis. Results The core theme revealed a decision-making process of being difficult in “prioritising and fitting preventive vision care into the existing health service utilization” for older people when deciding the utilization of preventive vision care. Five sub-themes were identified to explain the low preventive vision care utilization. Specifically, in absence of past preventive vision care utilization experience, most rely on other “previous health service utilization” to guide their judgment. “Low perceived preventive vision care needs” were due to perceived low disruption of symptoms in daily practices and lack of social cues. “Low perceived self-efficacy of service utilization” was due to limited information on service availability, limited social support, limited health literacy, and financial concerns. Unfulfilled “service expectation” also lowered their motivation to use preventive vision care. Discussion This study found that multiple factors influenced the decision-making process and reduced the motivation of subjects to use preventive vision care. Future interventions could exploit the benefit of social influences on the identified factors so that preventive vision care can smoothly fit into the ongoing healthcare use. Adopting a longitudinal qualitative perspective would enrich understanding the reasons for not using preventive vision care.

Background: Men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and initial negative prostate biopsy may have risk of prostate cancer (PCa) in the future. The role of Prostate Health Index (phi) in determining future PCa risk has not been studied before. This study aims to investigate the role of initial phi and phi density in predicting future PCa risk in men with initial negative biopsy. Methods: Five hundred sixty nine men with PSA 4–10 ng/mL were recruited between 2008 and 2015 for prostate biopsy with prior phi. Electronic clinical record of men with initial negative biopsy was reviewed. Patients and follow-up doctors were blinded to phi. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to analyze the PCa-free survival in different baseline phi and phi density groups. Results: Four hundred sixty-one men with complete follow-up data were included. Median follow-up is 77 months. PCa and HGPCa was diagnosed in 8.2% (38/461) and 4.8% (22/461) of cohort respectively. A higher baseline phi value was associated with PCa (p = 0.003) and HGPCa (p < 0.001). HGPCa was diagnosed in 0.6% (1/163) of phi < 25, 4.6% (9/195) of phi 25–34.9, and 11.7% (12/103) of phi ≥ 35 (p < 0.001). HGPCa was diagnosed in 0% (0/109) and 21.0% (13/62) with phi density of

An equation is derived for the energy of a small disturbance in a system that is generated by a distribution function (DF) of the form $f(\vJ)$ -- most galaxies and star clusters can be closely approximated by such a DF. The theory of van Kampen modes is extended to such general systems. An inner product on the space of DFs is defined such that the energy of a disturbance is its norm under this product. It is shown that van Kampen modes that differ in frequency are then orthogonal, with the consequence that the energies of van Kampen modes are additive. Consequently, most of the insight into the dynamics of ergodic systems that was gained in a recent paper on the van Kampen modes of ergodic systems applies to real clusters and galaxies., Comment: 6 pages, submitted to MNRAS

Objective Guidelines for methotrexate (MTX) use in rheumatic disease may not be feasible for physicians practicing in the least developed countries. We aimed to understand the experiences of MTX prescribers relating to MTX use for rheumatic disease in African countries to inform the development of culturally and geographically appropriate recommendations. Methods African physicians who self‐identified as MTX prescribers from countries classified as having a low versus a medium or high Human Development Index (L‐HDI versus MH‐HDI) participated in semistructured interviews between August 2016 and September 2017. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, coded thematically, and stratified by HDI. Results Physicians (23 rheumatologists; six internists) from 29 African countries were interviewed (15 L‐HDI; 14 MH‐HDI). Identified barriers to MTX use included inconsistent MTX supply (reported by 87% L‐HDI versus 43% MH‐HDI), compounded by financial restrictions (reported by 93% L‐HDI versus 64% MH‐HDI), patient hesitancy based partly on cultural beliefs and societal roles (reported by 71%), few prescribers (reported by 33%), prevalent infections (especially viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, and human immunodeficiency virus), and both availability and cost of monitoring tests. MTX pretreatment evaluation and starting and maximal doses were similar between L‐HDI countries and MH‐HDI countries. Conclusion The challenges of treating rheumatic disease in African countries include unreliable drug availability and cost, limited subspecialists, and patient beliefs. Adapting recommendations for MTX use in the context of prevalent endemic infections; ensuring safe but feasible MTX monitoring strategies, enhanced access to stable drug supply, and specialized rheumatology care; and improving patient education are key to reducing the burden of rheumatic diseases in L‐HDI countries.

Several norms of psycholinguistic features of Chinese characters exist in Mandarin Chinese, but only a few are available in Cantonese or in the traditional script, and none includes semantic radical transparency ratings. This study presents subjective ratings of age-of-acquisition (AoA), familiarity, imageability, concreteness, and semantic radical transparency in 4376 Chinese characters. The single Chinese characters were rated individually on the five dimensions by 20 native Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong to form the Hong Kong Chinese Character Psycholinguistic Norms (HKCCPN). The split-half reliability and intra-class correlations testified to the high internal reliability of the ratings. Their convergent and discriminant patterns in relations to other psycholinguistic measures echoed previous findings reported on Chinese. There were high correlations for semantic radical transparency, imageability and concreteness, and moderate-to-high correlations for AoA and familiarity among subsets of items that had been collected in previous studies. Concurrent validity analyses showed convergence in predicting behavioral response times in various tasks (lexical decision, naming, and writing-to-dictation) when compared with other Chinese character databases. High predictive validity was shown in writing-to-dictation data from an independent sample of 20 native Cantonese speakers. Several objective psycholinguistic measures (character frequency, stroke number, number of words formed, number of homophones and number of meanings) were included in this database to facilitate its use. These new ratings extend the currently available norms in language and reading research in Cantonese Chinese for researchers, clinicians, and educators, as well as provide them with a wider choice of stimuli.

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2020) 6(2):153–170 DOI: 10.15212/CAET/2020/6/22 Decolonizing my Hong Kong Identity as a Settler in Canada: An Expressive Arts-based Inquiry 表達藝術本位研究: 從加拿大遷佔者到香港去殖民化身份認同 Abstract This paper documents an intermodel arts-based inquiry through engaging in expressive arts therapy. The author responded to reflexive questions: Who am I as a Hong Kong Chinese Canadian in the indigenous-colonial context of the 21st century? How can I carry my own decolonization through the arts? Carried out in Hong Kong and Ontario, Canada, this inquiry explored indigeneity, settler colonialism, personal and collective history, and family memories. Keywords: settler colonialism, decolonize identity, expressive arts-based inquiry, Indigenous-settler relations, cultural healing 摘要 作者以表達藝術治療的方法論進行藝術本位研究 (art-based inquiry)，探討自身作為加拿大遷佔者(settler) 與香港去殖民化的身份認同，在「原住民 – 殖民者」(indigenous-colonial) 的脈絡下反思加拿大香港移民身份，探討如何透過表達藝術治療深化去殖民化的身份認同。本文記錄作者在香港及加拿安大略省為期三個月的藝術本位研究過程，思考原住民性、遷佔殖民主義、個人與集體歷史，以及家族記憶。 關鍵詞：遷佔殖民主義，身份去殖民化，表達藝術本位研究，原住民—遷佔者關係，文化療癒

BackgroundIdentifying patients with BRCA mutations is clinically important to inform on the potential response to treatment and for risk management of patients and their relatives. However, traditional referral routes may not meet clinical needs, and therefore, mainstreaming cancer genetics has been shown to be effective in some high-income and high health-literacy settings. To date, no study has reported on the feasibility of mainstreaming in low-income and middle-income settings, where the service considerations and health literacy could detrimentally affect the feasibility of mainstreaming.MethodsThe Mainstreaming Genetic Counselling for Ovarian Cancer Patients (MaGiC) study is a prospective, two-arm observational study comparing oncologist-led and genetics-led counselling. This study included 790 multiethnic patients with ovarian cancer from 23 sites in Malaysia. We compared the impact of different method of delivery of genetic counselling on the uptake of genetic testing and assessed the feasibility, knowledge and satisfaction of patients with ovarian cancer.ResultsOncologists were satisfied with the mainstreaming experience, with 95% indicating a desire to incorporate testing into their clinical practice. The uptake of genetic testing was similar in the mainstreaming and genetics arm (80% and 79%, respectively). Patient satisfaction was high, whereas decision conflict and psychological impact were low in both arms of the study. Notably, decisional conflict, although lower than threshold, was higher for the mainstreaming group compared with the genetics arm. Overall, 13.5% of patients had a pathogenic variant in BRCA1 or BRCA2, and there was no difference between psychosocial measures for carriers in both arms.ConclusionThe MaGiC study demonstrates that mainstreaming cancer genetics is feasible in low-resource and middle-resource Asian setting and increased coverage for genetic testing.

BackgroundTo investigate the efficacy of transperineal targeted microwave ablation (TMA) in treating localized prostate cancer (PCa). MethodsThis is a single-centre prospective phase 2 trial recruiting men with low to intermediate risk localized PCa to undergo transperineal TMA. TMA was performed with MRI-Ultrasound fusion guidance and organ-based tracking. A per-protocol 6-month MRI and biopsy was performed for all patients. The primary outcome was any cancer detected on biopsy of each ablated area. Secondary outcomes included per-patient analysis of positive biopsy, complications, urinary symptom score, erectile function and quality of life (QOL) scores. ResultsIn the first 15 men, 23 areas were being treated. The median age was 70 years, number of TMA ablations were 5 (range 2-8), and the total ablation time and operating time was 22 (IQR 14-28) and 75 (IQR 65-85) minutes, respectively. PSA level dropped from a median of 7.7 to 2.4 ng/mL. For the primary outcome, 91.3% (21/23) ablated area had no cancer in 6-month biopsy. In per-patient analysis, 33.3% (5/15) had in or out-of-field positive biopsy at 6 months. Among these 5 cases, 4 of them were amenable for active surveillance and 1 (6.7%) case with out-of-field ISUP grade group 2 cancer received radiotherapy. The urinary symptoms, uroflowmetry, erectile function, and QOL scores had no significant difference at 6 months. Grade 1 complications including hematuria (33.3%), dysuria (6.7%), and perineal discomfort (13.4%) were observed. ConclusionsIn this first pilot study, transperineal TMA guided by MRI-Ultrasound fusion guidance and organ-based tracking was shown to be effective, safe, and easily applicable in men with localized PCa.

To evaluate all simulation models for ophthalmology technical and non-technical skills training and the strength of evidence to support their validity and effectiveness. A systematic search was performed using PubMed and Embase for studies published from inception to 01/07/2019. Studies were analysed according to the training modality: virtual reality; wet-lab; dry-lab models; e-learning. The educational impact of studies was evaluated using Messick's validity framework and McGaghie's model of translational outcomes for evaluating effectiveness. One hundred and thirty-one studies were included in this review, with 93 different simulators described. Fifty-three studies were based on virtual reality tools; 47 on wet-lab models; 26 on dry-lab models; 5 on e-learning. Only two studies provided evidence for all five sources of validity assessment. Models with the strongest validity evidence were the Eyesi Surgical, Eyesi Direct Ophthalmoscope and Eye Surgical Skills Assessment Test. Effectiveness ratings for simulator models were mostly limited to level 2 (contained effects) with the exception of the Sophocle vitreoretinal surgery simulator, which was shown at level 3 (downstream effects), and the Eyesi at level 5 (target effects) for cataract surgery. A wide range of models have been described but only the Eyesi has undergone comprehensive investigation. The main weakness is in the poor quality of study design, with a predominance of descriptive reports showing limited validity evidence and few studies investigating the effects of simulation training on patient outcomes. More robust research is needed to enable effective implementation of simulation tools into current training curriculums.摘要: 本文旨在评估所有眼科技术与非技术仿真训练设备的优点, 以找到支持其有效性的证据。使用PubMed和Embase从开始研究至2019年7月1日进行文献检索。研究根据训练模式进行分类: 虚拟现实、实际操作实验室、教学实验室以及跟随电子设备学习。使用Messick有效性框架以及转化医学McGaghie模型评估其有效性。本文共纳入131项研究, 涉及 93种不同的模拟训练设备, 其中53项研究基于虚拟现实设备、47项基于实际操作的实验室模型、26项基于教学实验室模型和5项基于电子设备学习。只有2项研究涉及所有5种模拟设备。最有效的模型有Eyesi眼外科系统、Eyesi直接检眼镜和眼外科技能评估测试系统 (Eye Surgical Skills Assessment Test, ESSAT)。模拟训练设备刺激模型的有效性等级大多限制在2级 (包含有效), Sophocle玻璃体视网膜手术模拟设备显示为3级 (下游效应), 以及白内障手术5级 (靶向效应) 。本文针对大多数模型进行了阐述, 对Eyesi进行了深入探讨。本文的局限性在于纳入的研究实验设计质量差, 描述性报告显示有效性证据有限, 很少有研究调查模拟训练对患者结局的影响。因此需要更有力的研究证据, 以便在现有培训课程中有效地应用仿真训练设备。.

A systematic understanding of the aetiology of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), their co-occurrence, and co-occurrence with other conditions during childhood and adolescence remains incomplete. This meta-analysis bridges gaps in our knowledge. First, we meta-analysed the literature on the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to NDDs. Second, we considered the literature on the overlap between different NDD categories. Lastly, we synthesized the literature on the co-occurrence between NDDs and disruptive, impulse control and conduct disorders (DICCs). We performed multilevel, random-effects meta-analyses on 296 independent studies, including over 4 million children and adolescents. We found all NDDs to be substantially heritable (family-based heritability (h2) = 0.66; SNP h2 = 0.19). Meta-analytic genetic correlations between NDDs, and between NDDs and DICCs were moderate to strong. However, given the paucity of available studies covering the co-occurrence of NDDs and DICCs, these could only be estimated for a few disorders. While our work provides direct evidence to inform and potentially guide clinical and educational diagnostic procedures and practice, it also highlights the imbalance in the research effort that has characterized developmental genetics research.

In the current study, the orthographic knowledge required for writing Chinese characters was assessed among participants with L1 Vietnamese background who learn Chinese as a foreign language. A total of 42 undergraduates were recruited. They were invited to participate in a delayed Chinese character copying task consisting of 32 characters. Their Chinese character reading abilities were also obtained using a character naming task. All the tests were conducted online during the pandemic in 2021. Results indicated that the participants’ accuracy in the copying task was affected by the familiarity of the characters and the number of strokes of the characters. These effects minimized as reading performance increased. In the inter-stroke interval (ISI) analysis, results indicated a significant boundary effect where ISIs between orthographic units were longer than ISIs within orthographic units, showing the participants’ tendency to chunk Chinese characters into functional units when they write. Only high achievers in the reading task demonstrated the use of both large and small grain-size units in writing (i.e., radical-boundary ISI > logographeme-boundary ISI > non-boundary ISI), while the low achievers only used small grain-size units in their writing. We suggest that the delayed copying task incorporated with handwriting measures is an effective method to assess orthographic knowledge of L2 Chinese learners.

Despite the mounting research on gender inequality in the workplace, progress toward gender parity in organizational practice has stalled. We suggest that one reason for the lack of progress is that empirical research has predominately focused on the antecedents and manifestations of gender inequality in the workplace, paying inadequate attention to the solutions that could potentially improve gender equality and women’s experiences at work. Indeed, we report here that less than 5% of the relevant studies published in preeminent management, psychology, and diversity journals since the turn of the century identify practical interventions for solving gender inequality in organizations. To advance gender equality at work, we argue that a paradigm shift from problem to solution is critical and urgent. Using ecological systems theory (EST; Bronfenbrenner, 1977) as our guiding framework, we present an integrative review of gender equality interventions spanning across the management, psychology, and feminist literature over the past two decades at the ontogenic system, interpersonal microsystem, and organizational microsystem levels of analysis. We subsequently provide an overview of domains not currently addressed in extant research – meso-, macro-, and chronosystems – and identify future research directions to spur progress towards workplace gender equality.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary parent training program, Promoting Holistic Development of Young Kids (Poly Kids), using a single-blind randomized waitlist controlled design. The participants included 218 parents of children with developmental disabilities (DD) (intervention group = 107 and waitlist control group = 111). The primary outcomes were child learning, expressive language, fine and gross motor skills (based on individual assessment by respective blinded professionals), and parental reports of child behavior problems. The parents in the intervention group reported significantly lower child behavior problems ( d = .34), higher child task motivation ( d = .63), and lower parenting stress post-intervention ( d = .25), while the children in the intervention group produced significantly more words post-intervention ( d = .82). McNemar test results were significant for movement out of the clinical range in child behavior problems and cognitive skills in the intervention group, but not the control group. The results provided initial evidence on the effectiveness of this train-the-trainer program in supporting families with preschool children with DD in terms of child behavior problems, expressive language, cognitive skills, task motivation, and parenting stress.

Using Care Store as a case study, this research examines the innovative development and value penetrations of workers’ co-operative societies in Hong Kong. Care Store operates through the practices of equality and mutual care, in the unfriendly neoliberalist social order of Hong Kong. The society penetrates the dominant models of labor organization and consumption process. But the penetration of structural inequalities is limited, because the female workers of the society remain low-income laborers, social boundary and exclusion still take place, and the workers internalize their cultural inferiority. In comparison with innovative organizations in other regions, workers’ co-operative societies in Hong Kong have little opportunity to rely on or collaborate with the public and private sectors, and they explore a more progressive path of penetration in development. Practices strengthening this path can not only sustain these young organizations but also enrich the understanding of the true potentials of the nonprofit sector.