Aminoglycoside use is limited by ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity. This study compared the incidences of toxicities associated with 2 recommended dosing regimens. Eighty-seven patients with tuberculosis or nontuberculous mycobacterial infections were prospectively randomized by drug to receive 15 mg/kg per day or 25 mg/kg 3 times per week of intravenous streptomycin, kanamycin, or amikacin. Doses were adjusted to achieve target serum concentrations. The size of the dosage and the frequency of administration were not associated with the incidences of ototoxicity (hearing loss determined by audiogram), vestibular toxicity (determined by the findings of a physical examination), or nephrotoxicity (determined by elevated serum creatinine levels). Risk of ototoxicity (found in 32 [37%] of the patients) was associated with older age and with a larger cumulative dose received. Vestibular toxicity (found in 8 [9%] of the patients) usually resolved, and nephrotoxicity (found in 13 [15%] of the patients) was mild and reversible in all cases. Subjective changes in hearing or balance did not correlate with objective findings. Streptomycin, kanamycin, and amikacin can be administered either daily or 3 times weekly without affecting the likelihood of toxicity.

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Peter Bloland and colleagues from the US CDC lay out the agency's priorities for health systems strengthening efforts.

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This study examined the ability of young adults, older adults, and older adults suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) to perform a selective reaching task. Normal aging did not increase interference caused by distractors. In contrast, patients with AD showed massively increased effects of distractor interference. AD patients showed a high probability of making responses to distractor items. The proportion of these incorrect responses was related to the inability to use inhibitory processes, which increased with the severity of AD. Responses to distractors occurred despite the fact that patients could discriminate targets and distractors and knew that their responses to distractors were in error. These data suggest that AD patients are impaired in their ability to inhibit incorrect responses.

Online quizzing tools cost both money (students) and time (faculty and students) to implement; if online quizzes boost class performance, then the extra cost can be justified. Although many studies have found that students who use online quizzes do better on tests than their classmates who do not, these studies are frequently confounded by a variety of factors. For example, some studies allow students to self-select into user and nonuser groups (e.g., Grimstad & Grabe, 2004), leaving open a question about good students being more likely to use online quizzing tools. Others have found that online quizzing produces only marginal and selective improvement in course performance (e.g., Bartini, 2008). In contrast to these more hesitant findings, other areas of the literature reveal robust evidence for a number of best practices for improving student learning (see Dunn, Saville, Baker, & Marek, 2013) such as testing and spacing effects. Our objective was to see if online study tools could produce these effects in real undergraduate classes (as opposed to within the laboratory). Undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology courses were provided access to publisherprovided content (Norton) and were required to use online quizzing. In the first experiment, the spacing of the online content was manipulated. In the second experiment, the requirement for completing online quizzing was manipulated within subjects. Online tools did not improve performance on in-class quizzes nor did they influence in-class exam performance. The findings of our study underscore the importance of creating online content that demonstrates improved student learning.

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