End of Term Youtube Extravaganza, Once Again

As always, here at the end of the term, we turn to fun rather than work. I offer up this latest crop of interesting clips from youtube, and will see you again at the start of the new term. Enjoy the break!

1. Epic Extreme Skiing: This is a clip of some skiing neither you nor I would ever consider doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNTX55Rpk8w

2. Banana Joe: I just watched both days of the Westminster Dog Show, and on the first day, in the Toy group, I predicted this dog would win, since he simply owned the arena when he did his walk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lelakXKfITc

3. Insane Baseball Skill: I have the sense this one is either gamed or manipulated, but it is pretty cool nonetheless: l http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dlwvK2Ix58

4. Best Pool Trick Shot Ever; Yes, it really is, Amazing!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsBBW4bYZXA

5. Ricky Jay: One of the best playing card manipulators who has ever lived. There are no tricks here; this is how good he is at what he does. Do not ever play poker with him.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWvRorX0KhQ

6. Red Bull Rampage; You have to be out of your mind to ride a bike down the routes you see here.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbF6ZZqVMyk

7. Bigfoot: Guilty pleasure for me is watching the TV show “Finding Bigfoot,” with its inept scientists and silly explanations. But here is one of the clips that drive people nuts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFL7Hp351lw

8. The Hillary Step: The last hard part of getting up, and then getting back down, Mount Everest.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKq-3H04SkQ

9. Magma- Best band in the universe, with the greatest drummer you never heard of, Plus, Zab, Stella dn Himiko: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShPIetLInoQ

9. Laughing Baby: Always leave ’em laughing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc

 

 

Writing a consent document for a clinical trial or for a survey requires the investigator to ensure that all legally required elements are contained in the document. As defined in 45CFR46 (the Common Rule), these elements include:

1. A statement that the study involves research, an explanation of the purposes of the research and the expected duration of the subject's participation, a description of the procedures to be followed, and identification of any products which are experimental. This is critically important in human subject research because research is not the same as therapy; the involvmeent of a researcher is different from that of a patient’s physician, and this may lead to what is known as therapeutic misconception.
2. A description of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts to the subject. In the case of adjustment, this may require referral to risk of musculoskeletal pain, or in the case of cervical adjustments for research purposes, to the exceedingly small risk of stroke.
3. A description of any benefits to the subject or to others which may reasonably be expected from the research. Typically, there is no specific benefit to the patient in terms of improvement of a condition. We cannot guarantee that research subjects will improve. Usually, this is couched in terms of the knowledge that will be gained.
4. A disclosure of appropriate alternative procedures or courses of treatment, if any, that might be advantageous to the subject. This is part of informing the participant so he or she can make an informed decision.
5. A statement describing the extent, if any, to which confidentiality of records identifying the subject will be maintained and that notes the possibility that external regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, may inspect the records. Also, that HIPAA will be followed.
6. For research involving more than minimal risk, an explanation as to whether any compensation and/or medical treatments are available if injury occurs and, if so, what they consist of, or where further information may be obtained.
7. An explanation of whom to contact for answers to pertinent questions about the research and research subjects' rights, and whom to contact in the event of a research-related injury to the subject.
8. A statement that participation is voluntary, that refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of benefits to which the subject is otherwise entitled, and that the subject may discontinue participation at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which the subject is otherwise entitled. People need to know they are free to leave a study. However, in large-scale investigational new drug studies, there may be problems if people do leave the study, and this would need to be disclosed as well.

 

More on Atomic Learning

As I previously noted, we have contracted with Atomic learning offer the full gamut of training videos that the company has on file. For Palmer faculty, please log on to the Atomic Learning website, using your standard email address as your user name, and the word “learning” as your initial password. The system will allow you to log in only if you are a member of our faculty; we submitted the list of names to the company when the contract was signed. If for any reason you cannot log I, first try the alternate email naming system. Those of you here for a long time might be using lastname_firstinitial@palmer.edu, while some of us are listed as firstname.lastname@palmer.edu. Since we sent the names in, we might have got it wrong. If neither works, let us know and we will add you to the accepted list.

Once you are able to log in, the main home screen you are will have 2 parts. On the left is a set of options labeled “Getting Started,” and “What’s Hot.” Here you can access instructions that can help you navigate more effectively through the site, and also where you will find links to the latest uploads available. On the right of your screen is a large window that allows you select from 3 choices: Tutorials, Projects and Workshops. Clicking the tab for each brings to a dedicated search screen for that tab. Most of you will likely work in the “Tutorials” tab. It is here that you will find links to hundreds of different computer programs and well as different versions ot hat program. If, for instance, you want to find out about some function in Excel, the system allows you to also specify what version of Excel you have. Thus, it tailors the selection specifically for your needs. Using the pull-down menu for “applications,” go ahead and look at the full gamut of programs covered. It is extensive.

The “Projects” tab is used for assigned work, where for example a supervisor might assign someone a set of links to watch, and then look to see if that has been done. Or it could be used for a collaborative project of some sort.

The “Workshop” tab links you to s set of programs that are more educationally derived. These are topic craven; for example, one workshop is entitled “Effective Presentation design” and covers how to  use PowerPoint most effectively for educational purposes. You can play around here and follow your own interests.

This is a powerful tool and resource for you. I hope that you will use it regularly and will gain much from doing so, and I would be grateful if you would share your experiences in using it with me. Enjoy!

Three New Papers from Biomed Central Journals

Phillips AC, Lewis LK, McEvoy MP, Galipeau J, Glasziou P, Hammick M, Moher D, Tilson J, Williams MT. Protocol for development of the guideline for reporting evidence based practice educational interventions and teaching (GREET) statement. BMC Medical Education 2013, 13:9 doi:10.1186/1472-6920-13-9

ABSTRACT

Background: There are an increasing number of studies reporting the efficacy of educational strategies to facilitate the development of knowledge and skills underpinning evidence based practice (EBP). To date there is no standardised guideline for describing the teaching, evaluation, context or content of EBP educational strategies. The heterogeneity in the reporting of EBP educational interventions makes comparisons between studies difficult. The aim of this program of research is to develop the Guideline for Reporting EBP Educational interventions and Teaching (GREET) statement and an accompanying explanation and elaboration (E&E) paper.
Methods: Three stages are planned for the development process. Stage one will comprise a systematic review to identify features commonly reported in descriptions of EBP educational interventions. In stage two, corresponding authors of articles included in the systematic review and the editors of the journals in which these studies were published will be invited to participate in a Delphi process to reach consensus on items to be considered when reporting EBP educational interventions. The final stage of the project will include the development and pilot testing of the GREET statement and E&E paper.

Outcome: The final outcome will be the creation of a Guideline for Reporting EBP Educational interventions and Teaching (GREET) statement and E&E paper.

Discussion: The reporting of health research including EBP educational research interventions, have been criticised for a lack of transparency and completeness. The development of the GREET statement will enable the standardised reporting of EBP educational research. This will provide a guide for researchers, reviewers and publishers for reporting EBP educational interventions.

Hofmann B, Myhr AI, Holm S. Scientific dishonesty—a nationwide survey of doctoral students in Norway. BMC Medical Ethics 2013, 14:3 doi:10.1186/1472-6939-14-3

ABSTRACT

Background: The knowledge of scientific dishonesty is scarce and heterogeneous. Therefore this study investigates the experiences with and the attitudes towards various forms of scientific dishonesty among PhD-students at the medical faculties of all Norwegian universities.

Method: Anonymous questionnaire distributed to all post graduate students attending introductory PhD-courses at all medical faculties in Norway in 2010/2011. Descriptive statistics.

Results: 189 of 262 questionnaires were returned (72.1%). 65% of the respondents had not, during the last year, heard or read about researchers who committed scientific dishonesty. One respondent had experienced pressure to fabricate and to falsify data, and one had experienced pressure to plagiarize data. On average 60% of the respondents were uncertain whether their department had a written policy concerning scientific conduct. About 11% of the respondents had experienced unethical pressure concerning the order of authors during the last 12 months. 10% did not find it inappropriate to report experimental data without having conducted the experiment and 38% did not find it inappropriate to try a variety of different methods of analysis to find a statistically significant result. 13% agreed that it is acceptable to selectively omit contradictory results to expedite publication and 10% found it acceptable to falsify or fabricate data to expedite publication, if they were confident of their findings. 79% agreed that they would be willing to report misconduct to a responsible official.

Conclusion: Although there is less scientific dishonesty reported in Norway than in other countries, dishonesty is not unknown to doctoral students. Some forms of scientific misconduct are considered to be acceptable by a significant minority. There was little awareness of relevant policies for scientific conduct, but a high level of willingness to report misconduct.

Charity M, French SD, Forsdike K, Britt H, Polus B, Gunn J. Extending ICPC-2 PLUS terminology to develop a classification system specific for the study of chiropractic encounters. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies 2013, 21:4 doi:10.1186/2045-709X-21-4

ABSTRACT

Background: Typically a large amount of information is collected during healthcare research and this information needs to be organised in a way that will make it manageable and to facilitate clear reporting. The Chiropractic Observation and Analysis STudy (COAST) was a cross sectional observational study that described the clinical practices of chiropractors in Victoria, Australia. To code chiropractic encounters COAST used the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-2) with the PLUS general practice clinical terminology to code chiropractic encounters. This paper describes the process by which a chiropractic-profession specific terminology was developed for use in research by expanding the current ICPC-2 PLUS system.

Methods: The coder referred to the ICPC-2 PLUS system when coding chiropractor recorded encounter details (reasons for encounter, diagnoses/problems and processes of care). The coder used rules and conventions supplied by the Family Medicine Research Unit at the University of Sydney, the developers of the PLUS system. New chiropractic specific terms and codes were created when a relevant term was not available in ICPC-2 PLUS.

Results: Information was collected from 52 chiropractors who documented 4,464 chiropractor-patient encounters. During the study, 6,225 reasons for encounter and 6,491 diagnoses/problems were documented, coded and analysed; 169 new chiropractic specific terms were added to the ICPC-2 PLUS terminology list. Most new terms were allocated to diagnoses/problems, with reasons for encounter generally well covered in the original ICPC 2 PLUS terminology: 3,074 of the 6,491 (47%) diagnoses/problems and 274 of the 6,225 (4%) reasons for encounter recorded during encounters were coded to a new term. Twenty nine new terms (17%) represented chiropractic processes of care.

Conclusion: While existing ICPC-2 PLUS terminology could not fully represent chiropractic practice, adding terms specific to chiropractic enabled coding of a large number of chiropractic encounters at the desired level. Further, the new system attempted to record the diversity among chiropractic encounters while enabling generalisation for reporting where required. COAST is ongoing, and as such, any further encounters received from chiropractors will enable addition and refinement of ICPC-2 PLUS (Chiro). More research is needed into the diagnosis/problem descriptions used by chiropractors.

 

Grammar #2: Rules about Semicolons

Last week I discussed the proper use of hyphenation. This week I want to turn to another confusing grammatical device, the semicolon. Semicolons are used for three reasons (1):

1.      To connect two related sentences. Consider, as example: “I wanted to go home; I had not been feeling well.”

2.      Semicolons can team up with a transition, such as a conjunctive adverb, to connect two sentences close in meaning. Consider, as example: “I wanted to go home; however, I was so busy I could not.”

3.      Semicolons can be used when you have complicated, confusing lists of items. Consider, as example: “During my travels I visited davenport, Iowa; Moline, Illinois; and Madison, Wisconsin.”

Some rules to follow:

·        The main clauses that are being connected should be close in meaning.

·        Don’t capitalize the word following the semicolon unless it is a proper noun.

·        Don’t over use them. To be honest, I do.

·        Use a semicolon between items in a list or series if any of the items contain commas.

·        Never use a comma splice. That is, when you have a conjunctive adverb (i.e. “however”, you should use the semicolon. Look:

“I am old, however, I feel young.” This is the mistake of a comma splice (2). The correct sentence should read:

“I am old; however, I feel young.” These are independent clauses, and a semicolon is needed, not a comma.

You can use them properly; however, use them carefully…

References

1.      http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/semicolon.htm, accessed January 16, 2013

2.      http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Semicolons.html, accessed January 16. 2013

Proper Hyphenation

I am regularly asked to read over and help edit writings from our faculty members. One of the problems I see fairly frequently is a lack of understanding related to hyphenation. I know discussions of good writing are not especially exciting, but making writing understandable is a useful skill to have. Hyphenation is critical to proper understanding of text.

Hyphens have two main purposes. One is to join words together, while the second is to separate the syllables in words. When we are writing our technical research papers, we are generally involved in the first use. Let’s see if we can apply some rules to how hyphens should be used (understanding that there is actually not one such set upon which we can draw. Different style manuals may offer slightly different recommendations for use. Also, rules may differ on a country-by-country basis. Hey, look, two hyphens in one term!).

Let me start by offering one of the most commonly misused terms I see in our combined writing. Look at the following term:

High velocity low amplitude manipulation

Because we understand the context, we know what the terms means. But let’s say you have no knowledge of chiropractic technique. What words here modify what other words? Does the word “velocity” modify the word “low?” In fact, as written we cannot make sense of the term, since we have no way to know which words are modifying other words. Hyphenation makes this all understandable:

High-velocity low-amplitude manipulation

It is now clear that “high” modifies “velocity” and “low” modifies “amplitude” and both combined terms then modify “manipulation.”

Hyphen rules

1.       There are no spaces between the hyphen and the words it connects.

2.       Numbers below 100 are hyphenated, i.e. thirty-five

3.       Hyphens are important in compound modifiers. This was the example I gave above, but let’s look at one more: “American football player.” Now, look at this and answer if you can tell whether or not we are referring to (1) an American who is a football player, or (2) an athlete who plays American football. You cannot tell. If this were written as “American-football player,” it is now clear that you are referring to someone who plays American football. If we look at the term “high ranking official,” it is not clear whether the we are referring to an official of high ranking, or a ranking official who is, uh, high. J

I always ask myself, is a term confusing? Using a term closer to home, what do I do with “cross country runner?” Is there an angry country runner or is there a runner who runs cross country? The proper term is cross-country runner. Wikipedia offers an interesting one: “man eating shark.” Without hyphenation, this really means that a man is eating shark (probably at a restaurant!), while man-eating shark is eating you (probably in the ocean…). Hyphens matter in making text understandable!

Atomic Learning

Dear all: It is wonderful to be back on campus after a lengthy and much needed break. I hope that during your time away you were able to recharge your batteries and rest up. Right at the time we broke for vacation, Palmer College partnered with Atomic Learning to provide all faculty with access to the Atomic Learning tutorials. These cover a wide range of topics related to computer programs and technology as well as learning methodologies. I previously sent this out as an email but felt it would do well as a reminder to send it again. Enjoy!

Our institution is dedicated to bringing technology training to you through a partnership with Atomic Learning.

From instant answers on “how to” questions to step-by-step training workshops, Atomic Learning simplifies campus technology integration, training, and support.

How do I find it?

Go to www.AtomicLearning.com

How do I log in?

Log in with the following username and password:

User Name: your Palmer email address (i.e. dana,lawrence@palmer.edu)

Password:  learning

You can then change your password by using the “My Profile” button (upper right) after you log in, select “My Settings,” and then change your password to one of your own choice.

What will I find there?           

Our subscription to Atomic Learning includes nearly 50,000 step-by-step tutorials on common software such as Microsoft® Office, Adobe® CS6 and Blackboard®, and workshops and technology integration projects on emerging topics such as plagiarism and online courses.

Available 24/7 from campus or home, Atomic Learning creates flexible learning opportunities that make it easy for learners of all ages to embrace technology and develop critical skills for success at school, at work and in life.