Search Results (1,445)

Breast-conserving surgery followed by external beam Radiotherapy (RT) is a standard approach for early-stage Breast Cancer (BC). This retrospective study aims to determine the risk of RT-induced lung cancer for both standard and hypofractionated treatments. Fifty-eight Sicilian women treated at Humanitas Istituto Clinico Catanese (Misterbianco, Italy) between 2015 and 2021 with standard fractionated 3D-CRT (50 Gy in 2 Gy/fraction) were included. All treatment plans were designed using a hypofractionated schedule (42.56 Gy in 2.66 Gy/fraction). An Eclipse™ plug-in script was developed using the Eclipse Scripting Application Programming Interface (ESAPI) to extract patient and treatment data from the Treatment Planning System and compute Organ At Risk (OAR) volume, Organ Equivalent Dose (OED), Excess Absolute Risk (EAR), and Lifetime Attributable Risk (LAR) using the Schneider Mechanistic Model and reference data from regional populations, A-bomb survivors, and patients with Hodgkin’s Disease (HD). The OED distributions exhibited a statistically significant shift toward higher values in standard fractionated plans (p < 0.01, one-tailed paired Student’s t-test), leading to increased EAR and LAR. These results indicate that hypofractionated treatment may lower the risk of radiation-induced lung cancer. The feasibility of a priori risk estimation was evaluated by integrating the script into the TPS, allowing rapid comparison of SF and HF plans during planning. Full article

Background/Objectives: Protecting students’ mental health during university is essential for their future quality of life. Therefore, diet should be emphasized as a complementary and preventive strategy in supporting and maintaining mental health. This study aimed to examine the association between dietary inflammatory and antioxidant indices and mental health indicators (depression, anxiety, stress, and well-being) in university students. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 907 university students. We collected dietary data using a 24 h recall. Based on this data, we used 33 food parameters to calculate the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and 6 antioxidant nutrients to calculate the Dietary Antioxidant Index (DAI). We evaluated mental health using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21), and assessed well-being using the World Health Organization Five Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Results: Overall, 62.4% of participants reported symptoms of depression, 56.2% anxiety, and 40.7% stress. Anxiety and stress levels were significantly higher among females compared to males (p < 0.001 and p = 0.005, respectively). In fully adjusted models, depression scores were significantly higher in the highest DII tertile compared to the lowest (B = 1.74; 95% CI: 0.24–3.26), while well-being was lower (B = −0.82; 95% CI: −1.65 to −0.00). For DAI, participants in tertile 2 had significantly lower anxiety (B = −1.38; 95% CI: −2.63 to −0.14), depression (B = −1.69; 95% CI: −3.19 to −0.19), and stress (B = −1.70; 95% CI: −3.22 to −0.18) scores compared to tertile 1. No significant association was found between DAI and well-being. Conclusions: In this study, university students’ pro-inflammatory diets were associated with poorer mental health profiles. Enhancing the diet’s anti-inflammatory potential may be a promising strategy to support mental health in this population. Full article

This study assessed the baseline indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of secondary school classrooms in Tanzania by measuring temperature, relative humidity, noise, lighting, and indoor air quality. Objective measurements were conducted using calibrated sensors in 14 classrooms across five schools, with data collected during occupied school hours and additional noise measurements during unoccupied periods. All classrooms are naturally ventilated through operable windows and doors. The findings reveal a pattern of cumulative IEQ deficiencies: classroom temperatures frequently exceeded the recommended 20–24 °C range, reaching means as high as 30.4 °C, while relative humidity varied widely, with levels occasionally surpassing 65%. Noise levels consistently exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommended 35 dBA threshold, with significant differences observed between occupied and unoccupied periods (p = 0.02). Light distribution was uneven, with significantly higher lux levels near windows than at classroom centers (p < 0.001), and artificial lighting was generally insufficient due to infrastructure limitations. Although CO₂ concentrations remained below the 1000 ppm threshold, indicating adequate ventilation, particulate matter levels were often elevated, with PM2.5 reaching up to 58.80 µg/m³ and PM10 up to 96.90 µg/m³, exceeding health-based guidelines. Together, these findings suggest that students are exposed to multiple environmental stressors that may impair health, comfort, and academic performance. This study provides a critical baseline for future research and context-specific interventions aimed at improving learning environments in Tanzanian schools and similar settings in East Africa. Full article

Medical education is the paradigm of 21st century education and the current changes involve the adoption of integrative and comprehensive patient-centered teaching and learning approaches. Thus, curricular developers from George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences, and Technology of Targu Mures (G.E. Palade UMPhST of Targu Mures) have recently designed and implemented an innovative medical curriculum, as well as two valuable assessment tools for both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Thus, during the first three preclinical years, the students will benefit from an organ- and system-centered block teaching approach, while the clinical years will focus on enabling students to achieve the most important practical skills in clinical practice, based on a patient bedside teaching system. In terms of theoretical knowledge assessment, the UNiX center at G.E. Palade UMPhST of Targu Mures, a recently designed center endowed with the latest next-generation technology, enables individualized, secured multiple-choice question-based assessments of the student’s learning outcomes. Moreover, an intelligent assessment tool for practical skills was also recently implemented in our branch in Hamburg, the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (O.S.C.E). This system uses direct observations for testing the student’s practical skills regarding anamnesis, clinical exams, procedures/maneuvers, the interpretation of laboratory tests and paraclinical investigations, differential diagnosis, management plans, communication, and medical counselling. The integrative, comprehensive, patient-centered curriculum and the intelligent assessment system, implemented in G.E Palade UMPhST of Targu Mures, help define innovation in education and enable the students to benefit from a high-quality medical education. Full article

A primary expectation of college is that students in all majors and disciplines will learn content, skills, and knowledge that support individual growth, job placement, or continued academic endeavors. In short, being a student implies an expectation to learn. Effective learning directly impacts student academic success, and this success has downstream effects on student retention and graduation rates. However, the process of learning is often taken for granted, and, too often, student learning is not successful because students have not received any guidance on the methods of effective learning. Across higher education, students are often left on their own to learn about learning, and their improvised methods frequently involve ineffective techniques such as cramming for exams or rereading assigned materials without deeper engagement. To counter such observations, the University of Iowa implemented a campus-wide learning framework, Learning at Iowa. The initiative is grounded in empirically validated practices from the cognitive and learning sciences, which have been organized around the Three Ms: mindset, metacognition, and memory. This article briefly reviews the relevant literature supporting each of the Three Ms and then discusses the implementation of the framework with students, student-facing staff, and instructors and how the framework supports effective educational practices. Full article

In Korea, the Public Health Center Mobile Healthcare Project was implemented in 2016. This project utilizes Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and big data to establish a health-related service foundation and a healthcare service operation system. Equipment and methods: This study recruited 1261 adolescents (660 males (13.40 ± 1.14 years, 156.12 ± 10.59 cm) and 601 females (13.51 ± 1.23 years, 154.45 ± 7.48 cm)) from 22 public health centers nationwide. Smart bands were provided, and the ‘Future Health’ application (APP) was installed on personal smartphones to assess body composition, physical fitness, and physical activity. Results: A paired sample t-test revealed height, 20 m shuttle run, grip strength, and long jump scores significantly differed after 24 weeks in males. Females exhibited significant height, 20 m shuttle run, grip strength, sit-ups, and long jump differences. Moderate physical activity (MPA, p < 0.001), vigorous physical activity (VPA, p < 0.001), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA, p < 0.001) were significantly different after 24 weeks in adolescents. These results establish that an ICT-based health promotion service can provide adolescent students with individual information from a centralized organization to monitor health behaviors and receive feedback regardless of location in South Korea. Full article

Despite reaching intermediate English proficiency, many bilingual secondary students in Colombia struggle with academic writing due to difficulties in organizing ideas and expressing arguments coherently. To address this issue, this study explores the integration of AI-powered tools—Grammarly and ChatGPT—within the Writing Workshop Instructional Model (WWIM) to enhance students’ writing skills. Conducted at a bilingual secondary school, the intervention targeted 10th grade ESL learners and focused on improving grammar accuracy, textual coherence, and organizational structure. Drawing on Galbraith’s model of writing as content generation, the study adopted a design-based research methodology, incorporating iterations of implementation, feedback, and refinement. The results indicate that combining WWIM with AI feedback significantly improved students’ academic writing performance. Learners reported greater confidence and engagement when revising drafts using automated suggestions. These findings highlight the pedagogical potential of integrating AI tools into writing instructions and offer practical implications for enhancing academic writing curricula in secondary ESL contexts. Full article

Approaches to writing play an important role in both the writing processes and outcomes. However, little is known about whether L2 writers adopt different combinations of approaches in academic writing contexts and what factors predict such combinations. Hence, this study aimed to identify different profiles of approaches to writing in an L2 academic context and examine how they are predicted by writing self-efficacy and large language model (LLM) acceptance. To this end, a total of 578 Chinese graduate students were recruited to participate in the study. Latent profile analysis revealed three distinct writing profiles: unorganized (Profile 1), dissonant (Profile 2), and deep and organized (Profile 3), with the majority of students categorized under the dissonant profile. Additionally, multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that writing self-efficacy positively predicted profile membership, with the strongest effect observed for Profile 3, followed by Profile 2 and then Profile 1. LLM acceptance also positively predicted profile membership, with the strongest effect for Profile 2, followed by Profile 3 and then Profile 1. Full article

The accelerated transformations in the education system marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) require a rethinking of pedagogical approaches. The VUCA environment requires a new educational management system in line with new technological trends in order to respond effectively to all the internal and external factors that may affect the quality of teaching. A particularly important course of action is updating teaching methods by combining traditional teaching methods with new interactive methods that promote the introduction of certain digital applications during the teaching of new topics. In this sense, the quantitative research carried out in the present study among second-year students from the psycho-pedagogical program organized by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, has highlighted the fact that innovative teaching methods are more effective, contributing to the development of personality and communication skills among pupils and students. Also, the results obtained after applying the Mann–Whitney test showed that there is a significant difference between students involved in different educational activities and those who do not have contact with the educational environment in terms of perceiving the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of the educational environment. At the same time, in the context of the VUCA world, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the teaching–learning process, teachers need to develop new skills such as stress management, adaptability, creativity, technological skills, and time management. Addressing the specific competencies that teachers need to acquire in order to improve their teaching and to respond effectively to the volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in education, this study contributes to the creation of a sustainable education system, which is able to cope with all transformations (technological, legislative, socio-economic, etc.). The article is based on the results obtained in the postdoctoral research conducted at the end of 2024. Full article

Health professionals and institutions, as users and influencers, use social networks to disseminate information and knowledge about health issues, in the case of organ donation and transplantation (ODT) to spread the social benefits of the process and increase the positive attitude towards ODT. The aim of this work was to analyse the perception and use of social networks by university students of health sciences to determine whether, in their opinion, social platforms are suitable for the promotion of ODT after participating in an educational programme specialising in ODT and communication. The students indicated that social networks are a good medium for disseminating messages about ODT, with WhatsApp standing out as the most appropriate after the programme. Eighty-six per cent say that social media can positively influence the attitude towards ODT and 65% have started to follow ODT institutional accounts on social media. Addressing communication in specialisation programmes in the field of health and ODT raises awareness of the responsible use of social media among university health students and strengthens their capacity as prescribers of the social benefits of ODT. Full article

Emergency preparedness training in organizations frequently involves simple evacuation drills triggered by fire alarms, limiting the opportunities for broader skill development. Digital technologies, particularly virtual reality (VR), offer promising methods to enhance learning for handling incidents and evacuations. However, implementing VR-based training remains challenging due to unclear integration strategies within organizational practices and a lack of empirical evidence of VR’s effectiveness. This paper explores how VR-based training tools can be implemented in schools to enhance emergency preparedness among students, teachers, and staff. Following a design science research process, data were collected from a questionnaire-based study involving 12 participants and an exploratory study with 13 participants. The questionnaire-based study investigates initial attitudes and willingness to adopt VR training, while the exploratory study assesses the VR prototype’s usability, realism, and perceived effectiveness for emergency preparedness training. Despite a limited sample size and technical constraints of the early prototype, findings indicate strong student enthusiasm for gamified and immersive learning experiences. Teachers emphasized the need for technical and instructional support to regularly utilize VR training modules, while firefighters acknowledged the potential of VR tools, but also highlighted the critical importance of regular drills and professional validation. The relevance of the results of utilizing VR in this context is further discussed in terms of how it can be integrated into university curricula and aligned with other accessible digital preparedness tools. Full article

Community-engaged learning (CEL) is a popular educational approach for sociology teaching across Canada and globally. Students in sociology courses with this experiential component can opt in to enhance their learning by working with community members and organizations in structured, low-stakes ways that forward community priorities. Evidence shows that CEL in sociology courses supports students in developing a wide variety of skills. However, little is known about how international students in sociology courses engage with this pedagogy. Drawing on 20 semi-structured interviews with international students from Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe who completed CEL programming as part of their sociology course curriculum at a large Canadian university, I show how these students engaged in unique learning practices. The findings indicate that international students draw upon their life experiences from diverse national contexts to navigate and reflect upon their CEL placement in sociological ways. These students’ voices offer rich insights for sociology educators designing course-based CEL opportunities with a multinational student body. Full article

This narrative review explores the multifaceted role of lactate in heart failure (HF), focusing on its diagnostic and prognostic significance in both acute and chronic HF. Lactate functions not only as a marker of hypoperfusion and anaerobic metabolism but also as an active metabolic substrate. In acute HF, elevated lactate levels often signal circulatory insufficiency and predict adverse outcomes. In chronic HF, especially HFpEF, lactate dynamics during exercise reflect metabolic inefficiency and correlate with functional impairment. This review emphasizes the dual nature of lactate and discusses its potential utility in risk stratification and therapeutic guidance. Full article

This paper introduces arguments in favor of the intensive use of standards in both teaching the Machine Elements discipline and solving the first projects of mechanical design (gearboxes, jacks, pumps, tanks, etc.). The paper presents a SWOTT approach to the use of new in-force standards in teaching the design of machine elements. The use of information from standards in courses and design handbooks is regulated by various standardization associations at different levels internationally, such as the ISO (International Organization of Standardization), IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), and ITU (International Telecommunication), and regional associations such as the CEN (European Commission for Standardization), CENELEC (European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization) and ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), and national associations (for instance, the ASRO—Association of Standardization of Romania). In general, the conditions for using partial information from standards vary, but the authors present common lines and recommendations for introducing information from standards in books and design handbooks for engineering students. The use of information from standards for terms, materials, calculation models, test methods etc. is beneficial for students. This will provide them a good professional education towards adapting to a specific job in the field of mechanical engineering, where conformity to norms and standards is required by the dynamics of production, product quality and, not least, the safety of machines and operators. Full article

School development is important in society. This study investigates how questions work as an information carrier between different levels in a school organization. The questions are organized in a hierarchy, with the regional steering committee’s overarching question at the top and then distributed further on to the municipalities to interpret the questions that engage with their practice management. At the bottom of the hierarchy are the schools, and they create the final professional research questions that engage with day-to-day practice. Previous studies show that supporting and challenging each other can lead to the development of new knowledge in the organization. This is an empirical study based on documents with questions from the three levels (regional, municipal, and school). The questions were collected and the content in the questions was analyzed. The results show that it is possible to develop an organization by asking development-related questions, from top to bottom, in a hierarchical organization. However, problems arise when the developing questions require interpretation, and the interpretation leads to the shifting of the original goal. In this study, the aim at regional-level students and knowledge/learning was shifted to a focus on teachers and teaching especially at school level. Full article