Search results for "ASSESSMENT"
showing 10 items of 5125 documents
The Bisphenol A Experience: A Primer for the Analysis of Environmental Effects on Mammalian Reproduction1
2009
It is increasingly evident that environmental factors are a veritable Pandora's box from which new concerns and complications continue to emerge. Although previously considered the domain of toxicologists, it is now clear that an understanding of the effects of the environment on reproduction requires a far broader range of expertise and that, at least for endocrine-disrupting chemicals, many of the tenets of classical toxicology need to be revisited. Indeed, because of the wide range of reproductive effects induced by these chemicals, interest among reproductive biologists has grown rapidly: in 2000, the program for the annual Society for the Study of Reproduction meeting included a single…
Scientific abstracts and plain language summaries in psychology: A comparison based on readability indices.
2020
Findings from psychological research are usually difficult to interpret for non-experts. Yet, non-experts resort to psychological findings to inform their decisions (e.g., whether to seek a psychotherapeutic treatment or not). Thus, the communication of psychological research to non-expert audiences has received increasing attention over the last years. Plain language summaries (PLS) are abstracts of peer-reviewed journal articles that aim to explain the rationale, methods, findings, and interpretation of a scientific study to non-expert audiences using non-technical language. Unlike media articles or other forms of accessible research summaries, PLS are usually written by the authors of th…
IqYmune® is an effective maintenance treatment for multifocal motor neuropathy: A randomised, double‐blind, multi‐center cross‐over non‐inferiority s…
2018
Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is the gold-standard for maintenance treatment of multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN). This phase III, randomised, double-blind, multi-centre, active-control, crossover study, aimed to evaluate the non-inferiority of IqYmune® relative to Kiovig®, primarily based on efficacy criteria. Twenty-two adult MMN patients, treated with any brand of IVIg (except Kiovig® or IqYmune®) at a stable maintenance dose within the range of 1 to 2 g/kg every 4 to 8 weeks, were randomised to receive either Kiovig® followed by IqYmune®, or IqYmune® followed by Kiovig®. Each product was administered for 24 weeks. The primary endpoint was the difference between IqYmune® and Kiovig® …
A European Observational Study to Evaluate the Safety and the Effectiveness of Safinamide in Routine Clinical Practice: The SYNAPSES Trial
2021
Background: Safinamide modulates both dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems with positive effects on motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). The drug utilization study SYNAPSES was designed to investigate the use of safinamide in routine clinical practice, as recommended by the European Medicines Agency. Objective: To describe the occurrence of adverse events in PD patients treated with safinamide in real-life conditions. Methods: The SYNAPSES trial is an observational, European, multicenter, retrospective-prospective cohort study. Patients were followed up to 12 months with analyses performed in the overall population and in patients aged >75 years, with relevant comorbi…
The impact factor as a measuring tool of the prestige of the journals in research assessment in mathematics
2016
The (2-year) Impact Factor of Thomson-Reuters (IF) has become the fundamental tool for analysing the scientific production of academic researchers in a lot of countries. In this article we show that this index and the ordering criterion obtained by using it are highly unstable in the case of mathematics, to the extent that sometimes no reliability can be assigned to its use. We explain the reasons of this behaviour by the specific properties of the mathematical journals and publications, attending mainly the point of view of the researchers in pure mathematics. Using the Journal Citation Report list of journals as a source of information, we analyse the stability in the position of the math…
Positive family history of colorectal cancer in a general practice setting [FRIDA.Frankfurt]: study protocol of a of a cross-sectional study.
2015
Background Although the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) is 2-4 times higher in case of a positive family history, risk-adapted screening programs for family members related to CRC- patients do not exist in the German health care system. CRC screening recommendations for persons under 55 years of age that have a family predisposition have been published in several guidelines. The primary aim of this study is to determine the frequency of positive family history of CRC (1st degree relatives with CRC) among 40–54 year old persons in a general practitioner (GP) setting in Germany. Secondary aims are to detect the frequency of occurrence of colorectal neoplasms (CRC and advanced adeno…
Strategic Analysis Tools Application at SMEs in Ecuador
2015
This article explores the nature and scope of Strategic Analysis Tools (SAT) application in SMEs located in emerging countries such as Ecuador (where there are no formal studies on the subject). It is intended to assess which of the instruments utilized by these firms may contribute to formulate strategic options and which of them create awareness of relevant risks or distress specifically about continuity concerning their operations. Through the application of a survey to an intentional sample-selection of SMEs in Quito-Ecuador we analyzed the consciousness over these instruments to facilitate the creation of strategic options, their contribution to assess their competitive position and th…
Introducing Assessment Tools for 21st Century Skills in Finland
2014
The Finnish national interest in the enhancement of 21st century skills has highlighted a need for and interest in developing tools and methods for teaching and assessing such skills. In this chapter, we present and analyze the development process of online assessment tools in the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills study (ATC21STM) from the Finnish perspective. (The acronym ATC21STM has been globally trademarked. For purposes of simplicity the acronym is presented throughout the chapter as ATC21S.) The development process was implemented according to the guidelines of the international project through four phases, namely concept checks, cognitive laboratories, pilot studies and …
Dynamic Risk Assessment of Sexual Offenders: Validity and Dimensional Structure of the Stable-2007.
2018
In this study, the predictive and incremental validity of the Stable-2007 beyond the Static-99 was evaluated in an updated sample of N = 638 adult male sexual offenders followed-up for an average of M = 8.2 years. Data were collected at the Federal Evaluation Center for Violent and Sexual Offenders (FECVSO) in Austria within a prospective-longitudinal research design. Scores and risk categories of the Static-99 (AUC = .721; p < .001) and of the Stable-2007 (AUC = .623, p = .005) were found to be significantly related to sexual recidivism. The Stable-2007 risk categories contributed incrementally to the prediction of sexual recidivism beyond the Static-99. Analyzing the dimensional struct…
Supporting parenting of infants: evaluating outcomes for parents and children in a community-based program.
2012
This research presents an evaluation of the intervention dose-effect of the Parent-Child Psychological Support Program (PCPS). The PCPS is a universal community-based program to support parenting, during the first 18 months, and to promote protective adaptive systems in children through a schedule of quarterly office-based appointments, starting at 3 months of age. Generally children attend for six visits. When the Program opens in a particular area, parents of all children under 18 months are invited. The different ages of the children who are joining present a unique opportunity to obtain groups to evaluate the program dose-effect using a cohort-sequential design. This dose-effect on pare…