Inter-school variations in the standard of examiners' graduation-level OSCE judgements.

Introduction: Ensuring equivalence in high-stakes performance exams is important for patient safety and candidate fairness. We compared inter-school examiner differences within a shared OSCE and resulting impact on students' pass/fail categorisation.

Methods: The same 6 station formative OSCE ran asynchronously in 4 medical schools, with 2 parallel circuits/school.

A realist evaluation of how, why and when objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) are experienced as an authentic assessment of clinical preparedness.

Introduction: Whilst rarely researched, the authenticity with which Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs) simulate practice is arguably critical to making valid judgements about candidates' preparedness to progress in their training. We studied how and why an OSCE gave rise to different experiences of authenticity for different participants under different circumstances.

Methods: We used Realist evaluation, collecting data through interviews/focus groups from participants across four UK medical schools who participated in an OSCE which aimed to enhance authenticity.

Using video-based examiner score comparison and adjustment (VESCA) to compare the influence of examiners at different sites in a distributed objective structured clinical exam (OSCE).

Purpose: Ensuring equivalence of examiners' judgements within distributed objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) is key to both fairness and validity but is hampered by lack of cross-over in the performances which different groups of examiners observe. This study develops a novel method called Video-based Examiner Score Comparison and Adjustment (VESCA) using it to compare examiners scoring from different OSCE sites for the first time.

Materials/ Methods: Within a summative 16 station OSCE, volunteer students were videoed on each station and all examiners invited to score station-specific comparator videos in addition to usual student scoring.

Enhancing authenticity, diagnosticity and quivalence (AD-Equiv) in multicentre OSCE exams in health professionals education: protocol for a complex intervention study.

Introduction: Objective structured clinical exams (OSCEs) are a cornerstone of assessing the competence of trainee healthcare professionals, but have been criticised for (1) lacking authenticity, (2) variability in examiners' judgements which can challenge assessment equivalence and (3) for limited diagnosticity of trainees' focal strengths and weaknesses. In response, this study aims to investigate whether (1) sharing integrated-task OSCE stations across institutions can increase perceived authenticity, while (2) enhancing assessment equivalence by enabling comparison of the standard of examiners' judgements between institutions using a novel methodology (video-based score comparison and adjustment (VESCA)) and (3) exploring the potential to develop more diagnostic signals from data on students' performances.

Methods And Analysis: The study will use a complex intervention design, developing, implementing and sharing an integrated-task (research) OSCE across four UK medical schools.

High and fluctuating levels of ovarian hormones induce an anxiogenic effect, which can be modulated under stress conditions: Evidence from an assisted reproductive rodent model.

Elevated levels of endogenous ovarian hormones are conditions commonly experienced by women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies (ART). Additionally, infertility-associated stress and treatment routines are factors that together may have a highly negative impact on female emotionality, which can be aggravated when several cycles of ART are needed to attempt pregnancy. This study aimed to investigate the effect of high and fluctuating levels of gonadal hormones induced by repeated ovarian stimulation on the stress response in rodents.

Prevalence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in Brazil based on oral fluid analysis of samples collected at electronic music festivals and parties.

Background: New psychoactive substances (NPS) use is a worldwide public health issue. Knowing the prevalence of NPS guides public health and legal policies to address the problem. The objective of this study was to identify NPS in Brazil through the analysis of oral fluid (OF) samples collected at parties and electronic music festivals.

Structure and agency attributes of residents' use of dining space during mealtimes in care homes for older people.

Research stresses that mealtimes in care homes for older people are vital social events in residents' lives. Mealtimes have great importance for residents as they provide a sense of normality, reinforce individuals' identities and orientate their routines. This ethnographic study aimed to understand residents' use of dining spaces during mealtimes, specifically examining residents' table assignment processes.

Common snook juveniles, Centropomus undecimalis, as biomonitor organisms to evaluate cytogenotoxicity effects of surface estuarine water from Southern Brazil.

Centropomus undecimalis fish inhabit the highly contaminated Santos-São Vicente Estuarine System (SESS) and could be a good biomonitor of contaminants. This study aimed to investigate the cytogenotoxic potential of superficial water from SESS using C. undecimalis as a biomonitoring model and to validate the use of farmed fish as controls.

Assessment of microplastic toxicity to embryonic development of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus (Echinodermata: Echinoidea).

Apart from the physiological impacts on marine organisms caused by ingesting microplastics, the toxicity caused by substances leaching from these particles into the environment requires investigation. To understand this potential risk, we evaluated the toxicity of virgin (raw) and beach-stranded plastic pellets to the development of embryos of Lytechinus variegatus, simulating transfers of chemical compounds to interstitial water and water column by assays of pellet-water interface and elutriate, respectively. Both assays showed that virgin pellets had toxic effects, increasing anomalous embryonic development by 58.

Mechanical evaluation of the influence of low-level laser therapy in secondary stability of implants in mice shinbones.

The present work evaluates mechanically the bone-implant attachment submitted or not to low-level laser therapy, with wavelength of 795 nm, in a continuous way, with power of 120 mW. The implant was placed in one of the shinbones of 24 mice, randomly distributed into two groups. The experimental group was submitted to six laser applications, divided into four points previously established, two lateral and two longitudinal, six times 8 J/cm2 with an interval of 2 days, totaling the dose of 48 J/cm2.

Schizophrenia: impact of positive symptoms on gender social role.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted at one public and one private schizophrenia outpatient setting in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in order to study gender differences in social disabilities. Sixty-nine patients who fulfilled DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia were assessed by means of Brazilian versions of PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale) and DAS (Disability Assessment Scale). Males presented an earlier onset of the disease and were less likely to have ever married.