The role of musical aptitude in the pronunciation of English vowels among Polish learners of English

It has long been held that people who have musical training or talent acquire L2 pronunciation more successfully than those that do not. Indeed, there have been empirical studies to support this hypothesis (Pastuszek-Lipińska 2003, Fonseca-Mora et al. 2011, Zatorre and Baum 2012). However, in many of such studies, musical abilities in subjects were mostly verified through questionnaires rather than tested in a reliable, empirical manner. Therefore, we run three different musical hearing tests, i.e. pitch perception test, musical memory test, and rhythm perception test (Mandell 2009) to measure the actual musical aptitude in our subjects. The main research question is whether a better musical ear correlates with a higher rate of acquisition of English vowels in Polish EFL learners. Our group consists of 40 Polish university students studying English as their major who learn the British pronunciation model during an intense pronunciation course. 10 male and 30 female subjects with mean age of 20.1 were recorded in a recording studio. The procedure comprised spontaneous conversations, reading passages and reading words in isolation. Vowel measurements were conducted in Praat in all three speech styles and several consonantal contexts. The assumption was that participants who performed better in musical tests would produce vowels that are closer to the Southern British English model. We plotted them onto vowel charts and calculated the Euclidean distances. Preliminary results show that there is potential correlation between specific aspects of musical hearing and different elements of pronunciation. The study is a longitudinal project and will encompass two more years, during which we will repeat the recording procedure twice to measure the participants’ progress in mastering the English pronunciation and comparing it with their musical aptitude.

Transformer les pratiques professionnelles vis-à-vis des personnes prestataires de l’aide sociale : développement participatif et évaluation d’une formation continue en cabinet dentaire

L’objectif de la présente thèse est de générer des connaissances sur les contributions possibles d’une formation continue à l’évolution des perspectives et pratiques des professionnels de la santé buccodentaire. Prônant une approche centrée sur le patient, la formation vise à sensibiliser les professionnels à la pauvreté et à encourager des pratiques qui se veulent inclusives et qui tiennent compte du contexte social des patients. L’évaluation de la formation s’inscrit dans le contexte d’une recherche-action participative de développement d’outils éducatifs et de transfert des connaissances sur la pauvreté. Cette recherche-action aspire à contribuer à la lutte contre les iniquités sociales de santé et d’accès aux soins au Québec; elle reflète une préoccupation pour une plus grande justice sociale ainsi qu’une prise de position pour une santé publique critique fondée sur une « science des solutions » (Potvin, 2013). Quatre articles scientifiques, ancrés dans une philosophie constructiviste et dans les concepts et principes de l’apprentissage transformationnel (Mezirow, 1991), constituent le cœur de cette thèse. Le premier article présente une revue critique de la littérature portant sur l’enseignement de l’approche de soins centrés sur le patient. Prenant appui sur le concept d’une « épistémologie partagée », des principes éducatifs porteurs d’une transformation de perspective à l’égard de la relation professionnel-patient ont été identifiés et analysés. Le deuxième article de thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre du développement participatif d’outils de formation sur la pauvreté et illustre le processus de co-construction d’un scénario de court-métrage social réaliste portant sur la pauvreté et l’accès aux soins. L’article décrit et apporte une réflexion, notamment sur la dimension de co-formation entre les différents acteurs des milieux académique, professionnel et citoyen qui ont constitué le collectif À l’écoute les uns des autres. Nous y découvrons la force du croisement des savoirs pour générer des prises de conscience sur soi et sur ses préjugés. Les outils développés par le collectif ont été intégrés à une formation continue axée sur la réflexion critique et l’apprentissage transformationnel, et conçue pour être livrée en cabinet dentaire privé. Les deux derniers articles de thèse présentent les résultats d’une étude de cas instrumentale évaluative centrée sur cette formation continue et visant donc à répondre à l’objectif premier de cette thèse. Le premier consiste en une analyse des transformations de perspectives et d’action au sein d’une équipe de 15 professionnels dentaires ayant participé à la formation continue sur une période de trois mois. L’article décrit, entre autres, une plus grande ouverture, chez certains participants, sur les causes structurelles de la pauvreté et une plus grande sensibilité au vécu au quotidien des personnes prestataires de l’aide sociale. L’article comprend également une exploration des effets paradoxaux dans l’apprentissage, notamment le renforcement, chez certains, de perceptions négatives à l’égard des personnes prestataires de l’aide sociale. Le quatrième article fait état de barrières idéologiques contraignant la transformation des pratiques professionnelles : 1) l’identification à l’idéologie du marché privé comme véhicule d’organisation des soins; 2) l’attachement au concept d’égalité dans les pratiques, au détriment de l’équité; 3) la prédominance du modèle biomédical, contraignant l’adoption de pratiques centrées sur la personne et 4) la catégorisation sociale des personnes prestataires de l’aide sociale. L’analyse des perceptions, mais aussi de l’expérience vécue de ces barrières démontre comment des facteurs systémiques et sociaux influent sur le rapport entre professionnel dentaire et personne prestataire de l’aide sociale. Les conséquences pour la recherche, l’éducation dentaire, le transfert des connaissances, ainsi que pour la régulation professionnelle et les politiques de santé buccodentaire, sont examinées à partir de cette perspective.

Identifying and enhancing risk thresholds in the detection of elder financial abuse: A signal detection analysis of professionals' decision making

Background: Financial abuse of elders is an under acknowledged problem and professionals' judgements contribute to both the prevalence of abuse and the ability to prevent and intervene. In the absence of a definitive "gold standard" for the judgement, it is desirable to try and bring novice professionals' judgemental risk thresholds to the level of competent professionals as quickly and effectively as possible. This study aimed to test if a training intervention was able to bring novices' risk thresholds for financial abuse in line with expert opinion. Methods: A signal detection analysis, within a randomised controlled trial of an educational intervention, was undertaken to examine the effect on the ability of novices to efficiently detect financial abuse. Novices (n = 154) and experts (n = 33) judged "certainty of risk" across 43 scenarios; whether a scenario constituted a case of financial abuse or not was a function of expert opinion. Novices (n = 154) were randomised to receive either an on-line educational intervention to improve financial abuse detection (n = 78) or a control group (no on-line educational intervention, n = 76). Both groups examined 28 scenarios of abuse (11 "signal" scenarios of risk and 17 "noise" scenarios of no risk). After the intervention group had received the on-line training, both groups then examined 15 further scenarios (5 "signal" and 10 "noise" scenarios). Results: Experts were more certain than the novices, pre (Mean 70.61 vs. 58.04) and post intervention (Mean 70.84 vs. 63.04); and more consistent. The intervention group (mean 64.64) were more certain of abuse post-intervention than the control group (mean 61.41, p = 0.02). Signal detection analysis of sensitivity (Á) and bias (C) revealed that this was due to the intervention shifting the novices' tendency towards saying "at risk" (C post intervention -.34) and away from their pre intervention levels of bias (C-.12). Receiver operating curves revealed more efficient judgments in the intervention group. Conclusion: An educational intervention can improve judgements of financial abuse amongst novice professionals.

Hallazgos tomográficos como predictores del resultado funcional en edema macular secundario a oclusiones venosas retinianas

INTRODUCCIÓN: El Edema Macular (EM) es la principal causa de perdida de agudeza visual en pacientes con Oclusión Venosa Retiniana (OVR); luego del tratamiento, algunos pacientes persisten con mala agudeza visual. OBJETIVO: Realizar una Revisión Sistemática de la Literatura (RSL), para identificar la evidencia existente sobre factores tomográficos que predicen el resultado visual en pacientes con EM secundario a OVR. FUENTE DE LA INFORMACIÓN: PUBMED, MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, COCHRANE, literatura gris. SELECCIÓN DE LOS ESTUDIOS: Ensayos Clínicos Controlados (ECC) y estudios observacionales analíticos. EXTRACCIÓN Y SÍNTESIS DE LOS DATOS: Dos investigadores seleccionaron los artículos de forma independiente. Se realizó una síntesis cualitativa de la información siguiendo las recomendaciones de la declaración PRISMA 2009. MEDIDAS Y DESENLACE PRINCIPAL: Grosor Retiniano Central (GRC), integridad de Banda Elipsoide e Integridad de Membrana Limitante Externa (MLE), determinados por SD OCT. El desenlace principal es la Agudeza Visual Mejor Corregida (AVMC) a los 6, 12,18 y/o 24 meses. RESULTADOS: Se identificaron 872 abstract y se incluyeron 8 artículos en el análisis cualitativo. Seis estudios evaluaron el GRC sin encontrar asociación con resultado visual final. Solo 2 estudios evaluaron y encontraron asociación estadísticamente significativa de la integridad de la MLE con el desenlace visual, Kang, H 2012 (r2 0,51 p 0,000), Rodriguez, F 2014 (p< 0,001). La integridad de la BE fue asociada a pronostico visual en 4 de 5 estudios que evaluaron esta variable, con resultados estadísticamente significativos. La AVMC de base también se asocio con desenlace visual en 4 de 5 estudios que la evaluaron. El mejor modelo que predice el resultado funcional según el estudio de Kang, H 2012 fue: Integridad de MLE, integridad de BE y AVMC de base (R2 0,671 p 0,000), a los 12 meses de seguimiento. CONCLUSION: La evidencia actual sugiere que la integridad de la BE y la MLE son predictores del resultados funcional en pacientes con EM secundario a OVR después de 6 o mas meses de seguimiento. Es necesario la realización de estudios controlados para llegar a resultados mas concluyentes.

Curva de aprendizaje para ecografía cardiaca en residentes de primer y segundo año de medicina crítica de la universidad del rosario en el año 2016

La ecografía básica cardiaca (ECB) es una herramienta útil en la Unidad de Cuidados intensivos al facilitar la realización de ciertas intervenciones. No se ha definido el número de repeticiones necesarias para obtener un nivel de competencia adecuado. La evidencia encontrada indica un número mínimo de cincuenta repeticiones, para alcanzar cierto grado de habilidad.

Mercadeo farmacéutico de productos bajo prescripción: efectos de las estrategias Direct-to-Consumer-Advertising en el comportamiento de los consumidores y de prescripción de los médicos

Este proyecto se origina en el interés de analizar las estrategias actuales de promoción de productos farmacéuticos, en el marco del debate sobre el efecto persuasivo o informativo que la publicidad directa tiene sobre los consumidores. El objetivo es determinar el efecto de las estrategias de promoción directa para consumidores (Direct to Consumer Advertising [DTCA]) sobre el comportamiento de compra de pacientes y las prescripciones que formulan los médicos en el mercado de productos bajo receta en Estados Unidos. Para tal fin se propuso realizar una monografía que incluyera una revisión de literatura de carácter argumentativo, consultando información de nivel secundario en bases de datos científicas cuyos contenidos obedecieran a criterios metodológicos determinados por la naturaleza argumentativa del estudio. Adicionalmente, se analizó el debate sobre estos anuncios a la luz de dos estudios realizados a pacientes con cáncer de seno, próstata y colon, liderados por el Pennsylvania Cancer Registry con los productos biofarmacéuticos Avodart® y Flomax®. Finalmente, la investigación se fundamentó en la relación del mercado farmacéutico en Estados Unidos con cada uno de los agentes que interactúan en él; consumidores, médicos prescriptores y empresas farmacéuticas, así como el valor que estos comparten través de dichas interacciones. Se concluye que el comportamiento de compra de los consumidores está determinado por la naturaleza de la patología que padecen y el comportamiento de los profesionales que prescriben a sus pacientes se ve influenciado por los anuncios DTCA.

Reforms of the pre-graduate curriculum for medical students: the Bologna process and beyond.

For several years, all five medical faculties of Switzerland have embarked on a reform of their training curricula for two reasons: first, according to a new federal act issued in 2006 by the administration of the confederation, faculties needed to meet international standards in terms of content and pedagogic approaches; second, all Swiss universities and thus all medical faculties had to adapt the structure of their curriculum to the frame and principles which govern the Bologna process. This process is the result of the Bologna Declaration of June 1999 which proposes and requires a series of reforms to make European Higher Education more compatible and comparable, more competitive and more attractive for Europeans students. The present paper reviews some of the results achieved in the field, focusing on several issues such as the shortage of physicians and primary care practitioners, the importance of public health, community medicine and medical humanities, and the implementation of new training approaches including e-learning and simulation. In the future, faculties should work on several specific challenges such as: students' mobility, the improvement of students' autonomy and critical thinking as well as their generic and specific skills and finally a reflection on how to improve the attractiveness of the academic career, for physicians of both sexes.

Social Media Use in Medical and Health Professional Education: Role of the Librarian on a Faculty Steering Committee

Objective: An interprofessional steering committee was created at Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine to examine how social media are integrated in medical and health professional education in universities across the globe, and to propose a strategic plan for integrating social media in the Faculty’s various curricula. This presentation will summarize the steering committee’s work and describe the librarian’s contribution. Methods: The Committee’s project leader first conducted a literature search on best practices of social media in medical and health professional curricula. A reference website was then created (mse.med.umontreal.ca) to provide easy access to a large number of the articles and resources reviewed. A steering committee was constituted and 11 meetings were held over a 9-month period. The Committee comprised 18 members and included assistant deans, academic program directors, professors, communication advisors, undergraduate and graduate students and a librarian. An online survey on social media use by students and professors of the Faculty was conducted, ten pilot projects were put forward and a three-year strategic plan was proposed. Results: A total of 1508 students and 565 professors participated in the survey. Results showed that both groups had a strong interest in learning how social media could be integrated in academic and professional activities. Participants reported concern with risks associated with social media use and expressed the need for a Faculty policy and guidelines. The librarian’s contribution to the steering committee included: writing posts on the website’s internal blog, assisting in the design of the survey questionnaires and writing the final report’s survey results chapter. She also proposed two pilot projects: creating a social media learning portal and an altmetrics workshop. Conclusions: Based on the literature review and the survey results, the Committee affirmed the importance of integrating social media in the various study programs of the Faculty of Medicine. Despite the restricted timeline, this interprofessional steering committee was able to carry out its mandate because of the leadership and expertise of each of its members. As the librarian had the most experience with the use of social media in a professional context, her knowledge was instrumental in assisting the project leader in a group mainly composed of social media non-users.

Distance Education and the Integration of E-learning in a Graduate Program

Historically, distance education consisted of a combination of face-to-face blocks of time and surface mailed packages. However, advances in information technology literacy and the abundance of personal computers has placed e-learning in increased demand. The authors describe the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the blending of e-learning with face-to-face education in the postgraduate nursing forum. Experiences of this particular student group are also discussed.

Collaborative research to develop a specialist, post-graduate competency-based education curriculum and continuing professional development structure for health librarians in Australia

Through a grant received from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), members of Health Libraries Australia (HLA) are collaborating with a researcher/educator to conduct a twelve month research project with the goal of developing an educational framework for the Australian health librarianship workforce of the future. The collaboration comprises the principal researcher and a representative group of practitioners from different sectors of the health industry who are affiliated with ALIA in various committees, advisory groups and roles. The research has two main aims: to determine the future skills requirements for the health librarian workforce in Australia; and to develop a structured, modular education framework for specialist post-graduate qualifications together with a structure for ongoing continuing professional development. The paper highlights some of the major trends in the health sector and some of the main environmental influences that may act as drivers for change for health librarianship as a profession, and particularly for educating the future workforce. The research methodology is outlined and the main results are described; the findings are discussed with regard to their implications for the development of a structured, competency-based education framework.

Health Librarianship Workforce and Education : Research to plan the future. Final Report.

In late 2009, Health Libraries Australia (HLA) received a small grant to undertake a national research project to determine the future requirements for health librarians in the workforce in Australia and develop a structured, modular education framework (post-graduate qualification and continuing professional development structure) to meet these requirements. The main objective was to consider the education and professional development framework that would ensure that health librarians have a clearly defined scope of practice and the specific competency based knowledge and skills that enable them to contribute to the design and delivery of high quality health services in this country. The final report presents a detailed discussion of the changing Australian healthcare environment and the resulting impact on the health library sector, as well as an overview of international trends in health libraries and the implications for Australian health librarianship education. The research methodology is outlined, followed by an analysis of the findings from the two surveys with health librarians and health library managers and the semi-structured interviews conducted with employers. The Medical Library Association (MLA) in the United States had developed a policy document detailing the competencies required by health librarians. It was found that the MLA competencies represented an accepted professional framework of skills which could be used objectively in the survey instrument to measure the areas of professional knowledge and responsibilities that were relevant in the current workplace, and to identify how these requirements might change in the next three to five years. The research results underscore the imperative for health librarians to engage in regular, relevant professional development activities that will enable them to stay abreast with the rapid contextual changes impacting on their practice. In order to be accepted as key members of the multi-disciplinary health professional team, it is strongly believed that health librarians should commit to establishing the mechanisms for specialist certification maintained through compulsory CPD in an ongoing three-year cycle of revalidation. This development would align ALIA and health librarians with other health sector professional associations which are responsible for the self regulation of entry to and continuation in their profession.