Influence of the ICDAS e-learning program for occlusal caries detection on dental students

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of ICDAS training in a group of dental students for occlusal caries detection in permanent teeth. Premolars and molars (N=104) with occlusal surfaces varying from ICDAS scores 0 to 6 were cleaned, one occlusal site per tooth was selected, and a photograph taken to identify the site. Eight senior dental students examined the teeth twice with a one-week interval between examinations during each of two phases: before and after the ICDAS e-learning program. Teeth were histologically assessed for caries extension. Intraclass correlation coefficients for intra- and interexaminer repeatability were high, both before (0.75 and 0.72, respectively) and after e-learning (0.82 and 0.78, respectively). The ICDAS scores decreased significantly from before to after e-learning (p=0.0001). Correlation between ICDAS scores and histology scores was moderate (0.57 before e-learning and 0.61 after). Although the ROC curve shows an improvement in the use of the ICDAS scoring after e-learning, the difference was not significant (p=0.10). Specificity of the ICDAS scores significantly improved after e-learning (77 percent vs. 36 percent), and sensitivity was reduced slightly after e-learning (87 percent vs. 92 percent). The ICDAS e-learning program improved the performance of the diagnostic skills of the investigated students for the detection of occlusal caries lesions.

Influence of a preventive training program on lower limb kinematics and vertical jump height of male volleyball athletes

Objective: To examine the influence of a preventative training program (PTP) on sagittal plane kinematics during different landing tasks and vertical jump height (VJH) in males. Design: Six weeks prospective exercise intervention. Participants: Fifteen male volleyball athletes (13 ± 0.7 years, 1.70 ± 0.12 m, 60 ± 12 kg). Interventions: PTP consisting of plyometric, balance and core stability exercises three times per week for six weeks. Bilateral vertical jumps with double leg (DL) and single leg (SL) landings were performed to measure the effects of training. Main outcome measurements: Kinematics of the knee and hip before and after training and VJH attained during both tasks after training. The hypothesis was that the PTP would produce improvements in VJH, but would not generate great changes in biomechanical behavior. Results: The only change identified for the SL was the longest duration of landing, which represents the time spent from initial ground contact to maximum knee flexion, after training, while increased angular displacement of the knee was observed during DL. The training did not significantly alter the VJH in either the SL (difference: 2.7 cm) or the DL conditions (difference: 3.5 cm). Conclusions: Despite the PTP's effectiveness in inducing some changes in kinematics, the changes were specific for each task, which highlights the importance of the specificity and individuality in selecting prevention injury exercises. Despite the absence of significant increases in the VJH, the absolute differences after training showed increases corroborating with the findings of statistically powerful studies that compared the results with control groups. The results suggest that short-term PTPs in low risk young male volleyball athletes may enhance performance and induce changes in some kinematic parameters. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Long-term creatine supplementation improves muscular performance during resistance training in older women

This study examined the effects of long-term creatine supplementation combined with resistance training (RT) on the one-repetition maximum (1RM) strength, motor functional performance (e.g., 30-s chair stand, arm curl, and getting up from lying on the floor tests) and body composition (e.g., fat-free mass, muscle mass, and % body fat using DEXA scans) in older women. Eighteen healthy women (64.9 ± 5.0 years) were randomly assigned in a double-blind fashion to either a creatine (CR, N = 9) or placebo (PL, N = 9) group. Both groups underwent a 12-week RT program (3 days week-1), consuming an equivalent amount of either creatine (5.0 g day-1) or placebo (maltodextrin). After 12 week, the CR group experienced a greater (P < 0.05) increase (Δ%) in training volume (+164.2), and 1RM bench press (+5.1), knee extension (+3.9) and biceps curl (+8.8) performance than the PL group. Furthermore, CR group gained significantly more fat-free mass (+3.2) and muscle mass (+2.8) and were more efficient in performing submaximal-strength functional tests than the PL group. No changes (P > 0.05) in body mass or % body fat were observed from pre- to post-test in either group. These results indicate that long-term creatine supplementation combined with RT improves the ability to perform submaximal-strength functional tasks and promotes a greater increase in maximal strength, fat-free mass and muscle mass in older women. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

New strategies for planning and performance evaluation of wireless networks: case studies based on the cross-layer approach

The use of wireless local area networks, called WLANs, as well as the proliferation of the use of multimedia applications have grown rapidly in recent years. Some factors affect the quality of service (QoS) received by the user and interference is one of them. This work presents strategies for planning and performance evaluation through an empirical study of the QoS parameters of a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application in an interference network, as well as the relevance in the design of wireless networks to determine the coverage area of an access point, taking into account several parameters such as power, jitter, packet loss, delay, and PMOS. Another strategy is based on a hybrid approach that considers measuring and Bayesian inference applied to wireless networks, taking into consideration QoS parameters. The models take into account a cross layer vision of networks, correlating aspects of the physical environment, on the signal propagation (power or distance) with aspects of VoIP applications (e.g., jitter and packet loss). Case studies were carried out for two indoor environments and two outdoor environments, one of them displaying main characteristics of the Amazon region (e.g., densely arboreous environments). This last test bed was carried out in a real system because the Government of the State of Pará has a digital inclusion program called NAVEGAPARÁ.

Use of live oocyst vaccine in the control of turkey coccidiosis: Effect on performance and intestinal morphology

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of different coccidiosis-preventing programs on performance and intestinal morphology of commercial turkeys. Three hundred fifteen1-d-old female commercial cross turkey poults (British United Turkeys, BUT Big 9) were distributed into 3 treatments with 5 replicates of 21 birds each. Three programs were evaluated from 1 to 70 d of age, where program 1 had no anticoccidial drug and no vaccination against coccidiosis; program 2 had an anticoccidial drug (maduramycin 1%, 5 ppm); and program 3 had a vaccination (commercial vaccine, 4 species of Eimeria). All the groups were challenged with a dose of oocysts sporulated (20,000/bird) of 2 species of Eimeria at 21 d of age. In the growing phase (d 0-28), BW, BW gain, and FCR were significantly greater in treated groups compared with control group. In the fattening phase, the performance was not affected by treatments. Treatments and coccidiosis challenge had no significant effects on intestinal villus height. These observations support other reports that confirm live oocyst vaccination can be used effectively as a preventive against avian coccidiosis in commercially reared turkeys.

Intervention program efficacy for spelling difficulties

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Effects of a metatextual intervention program in developing written narratives of students with learning difficulties

This study aimed to verify the effects of a metatextual intervention program, in the elaboration of stories written by students with learning difficulties. Four students were included in the sample of both genders, with ages ranging between eight years and four months and ten years and two months of age. The program was implemented at the participant schools, using an approach of multiple baseline within-subjects, with two conditions: baseline and intervention. Data analysis was based on the classification of stories produced by the students. Mann-Whitney testing was also applied, to analyze whether there have been significant changes in these productions. The results indicated that all students have improved performance in relation to the categories of produced stories, from elementary schemas (33%), for a more elaborate scheme (77%), with a better structuring of the elements that constitute a story. Statistical analysis also showed that the intervention has produced significant results for all variables analyzed. The data obtained have shown that the program was effective.

Efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia

Purpose: To verify the efficacy of a perceptual and visual-motor skill intervention program for students with dyslexia. Methods: The participants were 20 students from third to fifth grade of a public elementary school in Marília, São Paulo, aged from 8 years to 11 years and 11 months, distributed into the following groups: Group I (GI; 10 students with developmental dyslexia) and Group II (GII; 10 students with good academic performance). A perceptual and visual-motor intervention program was applied, which comprised exercises for visual-motor coordination, visual discrimination, visual memory, visual-spatial relationship, shape constancy, sequential memory, visual figure-ground coordination, and visual closure. In pre- and post-testing situations, both groups were submitted to the Test of Visual-Perceptual Skills (TVPS-3), and the quality of handwriting was analyzed using the Dysgraphia Scale. Results: The analyzed statistical results showed that both groups of students had dysgraphia in pretesting situation. In visual perceptual skills, GI presented a lower performance compared to GII, as well as in the quality of writing. After undergoing the intervention program, GI increased the average of correct answers in TVPS-3 and improved the quality of handwriting. Conclusion: The developed intervention program proved appropriate for being applied to students with dyslexia, and showed positive effects because it provided improved visual perception skills and quality of writing for students with developmental dyslexia.

Chromium or L-carnitine supplementation during an aerobic conditioning program mildly modified the energy metabolism biomarker response in Mangalarga Marchador fillies

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Multiphase feeding program for broilers can replace traditional system

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ditregra - An auxiliary program for structural determination of diterpenes

This work describes the creation of heuristics rules based on 13C-NMR spectroscopy that characterize several skeletal types of diterpenes. Using a collection of 2745 spectra we built a database linked to the expert system SISTEMAT. Several programs were applied to the database in order to discover characteristic signals that identify with a good performance, a large diversity of skeletal types. The heuristic approach used was able to differentiate groups of skeletons based firstly on the number of primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary carbons, and secondly the program searches, for each group, if there are ranges of chemical shifts that identifies specific skeletal type. The program was checked with 100 new structures recently published and was able to identify the correct skeleton in 65 of the studied cases. When the skeleton has several hundreds of compounds, for example, the labdanes, the program employs the concept of subskeletal, and does not classify in the same group labdanes with double bounds at different positions. The chemical shift ranges for each subskeletal types and the structures of all skeletal types are given. The consultation program can be obtained from the authors. © 1997 - IOS Press. All rights reserved.

Physics teachers initial education and professional performance: what do future teachers have to say?

This research deals with the discussion about Physics teachers’ undergraduate education and professional performance related to the knowledge acquired during this initial education. More specifically, we try to answer questions like: How do future teachers evaluate the knowledge acquired during their initial education as in terms of specific knowledge as pedagogical knowledge? What are their formative needs and future expectatives about professional performance and the school teaching environment? Data was constituted from a sample of 26 future high school physics teachers, one semester long, that were taking the supervised curricular training in a undergraduate Physics education program (called Licenciatura in Brazil), in São Paulo State public university. Besides the final report of this training, future teachers were asked to answer a questionnaire aiming to take their conceptions about their initial education program, their formative needs, future professional expectatives and high school teaching environment. According to the future teachers, the program they were about to finish was satisfactory in terms of Physics specific contents; however, about the pedagogical content knowledge and the pedagogical practice, they showed to be unsatisfied and insecure. The majority of the questionnaire responses demonstrated that they feel lack of teaching experience. Moreover, teachers emphasize other factors related to the future professional performance: possible difficulties to deal with students’ indiscipline, schools’ bad physical structure, limited number of Physics classes in high school level, lack of didactical laboratories and also they seem to be frightened that the expertise teachers do not be collaborative with the new ones. In this sense, the research outcomes shows the necessity of discussions about questions involving teachers knowledge, related to either, the Physics conceptual domain and the pedagogical one, since it matters directly to future teachers professional performance. Discussions in this sense can also help evaluation and restructuration of programs designed to initial and continuous teachers’ education.

Effects of a multimodal exercise program on the functional capacity of Parkinson's disease patients considering disease severity and gender

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Student Writing Performance: Identifying the Effects when Combining Planning and Revising Instructional Strategies

The purpose of the current study is to identify the impact of teaching students to revise their stories on writing production (Total Words Written; TWW), writing accuracy (Percent Correct Writing Sequences; %CWS), number of critical story elements included in stories, and quality of writing. Three third-grade and one fourth-grade student who were experiencing difficulties in the area of writing were involved in the study. The students were first taught to plan their stories using the evidence-based program, Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), which has frequently been implemented to teach students to plan their stories. Students were then taught to revise their stories using SRSD procedures modified for instruction in revision strategies. Student progress was evaluated through a multiple-probe design across tasks and a multiple-probe design across participants, which allowed for experimental control over time and across story probes. In addition to the previously mentioned variables, student’s acceptability of the intervention and their attitudes toward writing were also assessed. Results indicated that instruction in revising increased student writing accuracy beyond the effects of instruction in planning. Additionally, although instruction in planning was shown to increase writing production, number of critical story elements, and quality of writing, instruction in revising produced additional improvement in these variables as well. Finally, results indicated that students liked the intervention and their attitudes toward writing generally increased. Implications for practice and future research directions will be discussed. Advisor: Merilee McCurdy

Measuring the Performance of Cooperative Equity Redemption Plans

Cooperatives differ from other businesses in that they are owned by their patrons and net margins are distributed to patrons on the basis of use instead of capital investment. For financing, cooperatives often rely on allocated equities from retained patronage refunds. Retained patronage refunds are noncash allocations of net margins reinvested in a cooperative by patrons. Under an ideal program of equity formation, equity is held by patrons in proportion to patronage. Each patron’s share of financing the cooperative is equal to the share of benefits received. Equities of former patrons are retired as active patrons take on more of the responsibility of financing the organization.