Reconstructing Imagined Finnishness: The Case of Art Education through the Concept of Place

This multidisciplinary article presents a methodology, a research project and selected outcomes from an environmental art education course for teacher students. The course is part of an art education minor at the University of Helsinki, Department of Teacher Education. The students were asked to construct their place through an intertextual art method that provided them the means to study their place open‐endedly as a space of plural cultural meanings. Applying the results from their intertextual process, they reconstructed their place artistically. The end product was a personal work of art that included traces of their chosen places, and created a new meaning for it. The outcome is a visual space of compacted meanings from different places. Places contain history and memories important to identity construction. The results show that the intertextual reading extends the students’ concept of place as a space for relational and plural cultural meanings. Foucault's concept of heterotopia, as it applies to otherness of places and spaces, was used alongside the intertextual art method.     

Could light meal jeopardize laboratory coagulation tests?

Background:

Presently the necessity of fasting time for coagulation tests is not standardized. Our hypothesis is that this can harm patient safety. This study is aimed at evaluating whether a light meal (i.e. breakfast) can jeopardize laboratory coagulation tests.

Materials and methods:

A blood sample was firstly collected from 17 fasting volunteers (12 h). Immediately after blood collection, the volunteers consumed a light meal. Then samples were collected at 1, 2 and 4 h after the meal. Coagulation tests included: activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), prothrombin time (PT), fibrinogen (Fbg), antithrombin III (AT), protein C (PC) and protein S (PS). Differences between samples were assessed by Wilcoxon ranked-pairs test. The level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Mean % differences were determined and differences between and baseline and 1, 2 and 4h samples were compared with reference change value (RCV).

Results:

A significantly higher % activity of AT was observed at 1 h and 4 h after meal vs. baseline specimen [113 (104–117) and 111 (107–120) vs. 109 (102–118), respectively; P = 0.029 and P = 0.016]. APTT at 2 h was found significantly lower than baseline samples [32.0 (29.9–34.8) vs. 34.1 (32.2–35.2), respectively; P = 0.041]. The results of both Fbg and PS tests were not influenced by a light meal. Furthermore, no coagulation tests had significant variation after comparison with RCV.

Conclusion:

A light meal does not influence the laboratory coagulation tests we assessed, but we suggest that the laboratory quality managers standardize the fasting time for all blood tests at 12 hours, to completely metabolize the lipids intake.     

The contribution of TIMSS to the link between school and classroom factors and student achievement

Worldwide, the interest of policy-makers in participating in studies from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), such as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) has been growing rapidly over the past two decades. These studies offer the opportunity to relate the teaching and learning context to student achievement. This article presents the results of a systematic review of the research literature on TIMSS. Its main purpose is to find out to what extent TIMSS has contributed to insights into ‘what works in education and what does not’, particularly with regard to school and classroom factors. The review was guided by a generic framework developed within the tradition of educational effectiveness research. The review showed that: (a) since 2000, the number of publications which use TIMSS data for secondary analyses aimed at explaining differences in student achievement has increased strongly; (b) a number of studies, especially older ones, did not take account of the specific sample and test design of TIMSS; and (c) there are large differences between countries in school and classroom factors associated with student achievement. In the light of these results, we discuss the benefits and limitations of country and system comparisons.     

Intra-day and inter-day reliability of heart rate variability measurement

Abstract

At present, analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) is becoming widely used as a clinical or research tool. Supported reliability studies for HRV measurement are, however, still limited. The main purpose was to perform an assessment of the absolute and relative reliability of HRV parameters from short-term recordings by means of orthoclinostatic stimulation and to investigate, whether there is a difference in repeating the retest immediately or after several days. The study group consisted of 99 participants (mean age 22 ± 1.24 years). Standard HRV indexes were computed: PT (total spectral power), PHF (high frequency spectral power), PLF (low frequency spectral power) and LF/HF. Absolute reliability was assessed by the standard error of measurement and 95% limits of agreement; relative reliability was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient. There was also an estimate of the sample size needed to detect the mean difference ≥ 30% of the between-subject standard deviation. In conclusion, a large random variation (within individuals) of HRV parameters was revealed, regardless of whether the retest was repeated immediately or with an interruption. For most HRV parameters (particularly in the immediately repeated test-retest), however, random variation represents a limited portion of the between-subject variability.     

Non-commutability of results of highly sensitive troponin I and T immunoassays

Introduction:

The measurement of cardiospecific troponins is pivotal in the diagnostic and prognostic approach of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, no information is available on the commutability of results between the novel highly-sensitive (HS) troponin T (TnT) and I (TnI) immunoassays.

Materials and methods:

The study population consisted in 47 consecutive patients presenting at the emergency department (ED) of the Academic Hospital of Parma with suspected AMI. TnI was measured with the novel prototype Beckman Coulter HS-AccuTnI immunoassay on Access 2, whereas TnT was measured with the Roche HS-TnT immunoassay on Cobas.

Results:

Eight out of the 47 patients (17%) were finally diagnosed as having an AMI. The overall correlation between TnT and TnI for total patient group was acceptable (r = 0.944; P < 0.01). Nevertheless, when the analysis of data was carried out in separate groups according to the final diagnosis of AMI, two different equation results were obtained, i.e., HS-TnT = HS-AccuTnI × 0.349 + 20 (r = 0.823; P < 0.01) in non-AMI patients, and HS-TnT = HS-AccuTnI × 0.134 + 67 (r = 0.972; P < 0.01) in those with AMI.

Conclusions:

This study suggests the existence of two biological relationships between TnI and TnT in plasma, depending on the source of release from the myocardium. Moreover, the non-commutability of data between HS-TnT and HS-AccuTnI jeopardizes the clinical decision making, makes it impossible to calculate the delta or reference change value using the two biomarkers and to finally establish a reliable kinetics of troponin release from the injured myocardium.     

Laboratory diagnostics of chronic kidney disease in Croatia: state of the art: On behalf of the joint working group of Croatian society of medical biochemistry and laboratory medicine and Croatian chamber for medical biochemists for laboratory diagnostics in chronic kidney disease

Introduction

Early identification and management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is highly cost-effective and can reduce the risk of kidney failure progression and cardiovascular disease. In 2014, the Joint Croatian Working Group (JCWG) for laboratory diagnostic of CKD on the behalf of Croatian society of medical biochemistry and laboratory medicine (CSMBLM) and Croatian chamber of medical biochemists (CCMB) conducted a survey across Croatian medical-biochemistry laboratories to assess the current practice in this area of laboratory medicine. The aim of this study was to present the data collected through the survey and to give insight about laboratory diagnostics of chronic kidney disease in Croatia.

Materials and methods

An invitation to participate in the survey was sent to all Croatian medical-biochemistry laboratories (N = 196). The questionnaire was designed in a form of questions and statements, with possible multiple answers, comprising 24 questions.

Results

The response rate was 80/196 (40.8%). 39 answers were from primary medical-biochemistry laboratories. 31/78 (0.40) laboratories measure creatinine with non-standardized method (uncompensated Jaffe method). 58/78 (0.74) of laboratories that measure creatinine do not report eGFR values. Similar number of laboratories (58/80, 0.73) do not measure urine albumin or protein.

Conclusions

There is a large heterogeneity among Croatian laboratories regarding measuring methods, reporting units and reference intervals (cut-off values), both for creatinine and urine albumin or protein. The two key prerequisites for CKD screening, automatic reporting of eGFR and albuminuria or proteinuria assessment, are not implemented nationwide. There is a need for harmonization in laboratory diagnostics of CKD in Croatia.Key words: survey, chronic kidney disease, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), albuminuria, proteinuria, creatinine, harmonization