BackgroundNursing education in Iran has conventionally focused on lecture-based strategies. Improvements in teaching and learning over the years have led to an expansion of the pedagogies available to educators. Likewise, there has been a suggestion for a move toward more learner-centered teaching strategies and pedagogies that can result in improvement in learning. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of Problem-Based Learning in developing cognitive skills in learning Pediatric Nursing among university students.MethodsIn this quasi-experimental, posttest-only nonequivalent control group design, the subjects were undergraduate students who had enrolled in Pediatric Nursing II at Islamic Azad University in Iran. The experiment was conducted over a period of eight weeks, one two-hour session and two two-hour sessions.Two experimental groups, Pure Problem-Based Learning (PPBL) and the Hybrid Problem- Based Learning (HPBL), and one Lecturing or Conventional Teaching and Learning (COTL) group were involved. In the PPBL group, PBL method with guided questions and a tutor, and in the HPBL group, problem-based learning method, some guided questions, minimal lecturing and a tutor were used. The COTL group, however, underwent learning using conventional instruction utilizing full lecture. The three groups were compared on cognitive performances, namely, test performance, mental effort, and instructional efficiency. Two instruments, i.e., Pediatric Nursing Performance Test (PNPT) and Paas Mental Effort Rating Scale (PMER) were used. In addition, the two-Dimensional Instructional Efficiency Index (IEI) formula was utilized. The statistical analyses used were ANOVA, ANCOVA, and mixed between-within subjects ANOVA.ResultsResults showed that the PPBL and HPBL instructional methods, in comparison with COTL, enhanced the students’ overall and higher-order performances in Pediatric Nursing, and induced higher level of instructional efficiency with less mental effort (p < 0.005). Although there was no significant difference in lower-order performance among the groups during the posttest (p = 0.92), the HPBL group outperformed the COTL group on the delayed posttest (p = 0.028).ConclusionsIt may be concluded that both forms of PBL were effective for learning Pediatric Nursing. Moreover, PBL appears to be useful where there are shortages of instructors for handling teaching purposes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1305-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundHealth policy formation refers to the design of a conceptual framework to find possibilities, facilitate feasibilities, and identify strong and weak points, as well as insufficiencies, by research. Doing research should clarify qualities and standards for policy and decision-making to enable the success of development of health care in a country. Evaluation of the impact of health interventions is particularly poorly represented in public health research. This study attempted to identify barriers and facilitators of health research among faculty members in two major institutions in India, ie, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) and Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) Hospital in Delhi.MethodsThe participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire that canvassed individual characteristics, ie, years of experience, place of work, academic rank, final educational qualification, work setting, educational group, primary activity, and number of publications in the previous 5 years. Barriers and facilitators were categorized into personal, resources, access, and administration groups. The data were processed using SPSS version 16, independent t-tests, Chi-square tests, and multivariate logistic regression.ResultsThe total number of faculty members at both institutions was 599, 456 (76%) of whom participated in this study. The primary activities reported by faculty at UCMS (teaching) and Faculty at AIIMS reported (Research and Provision of health care services) as a major activity (P < 0.01). The majority of faculty members at UCMS and GTB Hospital were professors, whereas most of the faculty members at AIIMS were associate professors (P < 0.01). Of 47 barriers and facilitating factors, there were 26 barriers and 21 facilitating factors at AIIMS and 39 barriers and eight facilitating factors at UCMS. Faculty members at UCMS had 6.572 times more barriers to health research than those at AIIMS.ConclusionClose proximity between AIIMS and the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Medical Library, housing, transport, and a good reference library with an adequate knowledge support system provided suitable opportunities for faculty members at AIIMS to do research. To overcome the barriers, institutions must have enough financial support, decreased nonessential clinical, laboratory, and service schedule duties on the part of faculty members, preparation of good and relevant statistical courses and workshops, and access to good statistical software packages.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a growing empirical approach to improve athletic performance. Some recent studies have investigated the effects of transcutaneous spinal direct current stimulation (tsDCS) on the motor performance such as reaction time. TDCS and tsDCS can lead to alteration of the spontaneous neural activity, and the membrane potentials of motor neurons in cerebral cortex and spinal interneurons, respectively. Given the paucity of experimental studies on the non-invasive brain stimulation in the field of sports neuroscience, especially martial sports, the present study aimed at investigating the effects of neurostimulation in potentiating the motor and cognitive functions in experienced taekwondo practitioners. The study sample included 15 experienced male taekwondo players who received real or sham direct current stimulation on the primary motor cortex (M1) and the lumbar spinal segment (T12-L2) over two sessions, 72 h apart. Next, the performance of the participants was evaluated through a simulation of taekwondo exercise directly after the sham and real sessions. Moreover, a cognitive platform (CBS: Cambridge Brain Science) was used to investigate the participants’ cognitive profile in each instance. Unlike sham stimulation, real tDCS was associated with improved selective attention and reaction time in both in the simulated task performance and cognitive examination. The concurrent cortical and trans-spinal tDCS was found to improve selective attention (31% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 1.84]. and reduce reaction time (4.7% performance improvement) (P < 0.0001) [EFFECT SIZE; 0.02]. Meanwhile, the intervention failed to leave a significant change in cognitive functions evaluated through CBS (P > 0.05). As informed by our results, the present dual-mode neurostimulation could improve motor functions potentially through the effect of tsDCS over the spinal interneurons and tDCS over the primary motor cortex. Likewise, our findings suggested an improved performance in simulated taekwondo task after real- but not sham-stimulation. This study paves the way for designing neurostimulation protocols to improve the performance of professional athletes, namely martial art practitioners, including their accuracy and velocity of reactions. Such positive effects of neuostimulation in athletic performance as demonstrated in this research and similar reports are expected to enhance the athletes’ success in professional competitions.

Background:Blood group is a genetic characteristic which is associated with some diseases and deformities. Multifactorial characteristics of facial development make it difficult to predict a genetic pattern in a specific maxillofacial deformity, but epidemiological evaluations can reveal relationships between such deformities and some genetic characteristics or accompanied diseases, and this will help to recognise and treat them. The aim of this study is evaluation of the relationship between blood groups and maxillofacial deformities.Materials and Methods:In this study, blood groups of 190 patients with maxillofacial deformities who had had orthognathic surgery in Alzahra hospital, Isfahan, were compared with the general Iranian population.Results:Among 190 patients, 93 cases (49%) were men and 97 cases (51%) were women. Fifteen cases (8%) were < 20 years old, 130 cases (68%) were 20–30 years old, and the others (45 cases, 24%) were > 30 years old. The blood group distribution in our samples was as follows: blood group O = 76 cases (40%), blood group A = 58 cases (30%), blood group B = 41 cases (22%), and blood group AB = 15 cases (8%). Among these patients, 31 cases (16%) had maxillary deformities and 27 cases (14%) suffered from mandibular deformities while the other 132 cases (70%) had bimaxillary problems. The Chi-square test showed statistically significant differences between the blood group distribution of the patients of this study and the normal Iranian population (P < 0.001).Conclusion:It was shown that among different blood groups; those with blood group B have a greater likelihood of association with maxillofacial deformities. On the other hand, the probability of the association of such deformities was the least with blood group A.

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor is a rare pathologic lesion in a patient without neurofibromatosis diseases. The patient is a 36-year-old man without any congenital or systemic diseases who presented with a firm and painful mass on the left preauricular and temporomandibular joint area with paresthesia of temporal region. Clinical diagnosis of this tumor was made with delay owing to the lack of initial sign and symptoms and its location.