Objective: "Field dependence" is used in cognitive psychology to describe an individual's tendency to be visually distracted by the surrounding environment. Notwithstanding the role of field dependence in contexts in which spatial judgment is important, such as piloting an aircraft, to date, studies linking field dependence to surgical skills have been limited. We evaluated whether field dependence correlates with an ability to anticipate appropriate needle angles in a simulated setting.
Methods: Trainees underwent field dependence testing and then participated in a surgical skills exercise. Correlations between field dependence and surgical skill were computed. Specifically, cardiothoracic surgery residents (n=11) took a battery of cognitive examinations to assess general reasoning and visuospatial judgment. Two written tests, the Rod and Frame test and the Judgment of Line Orientation test, measured the degree of field dependence. The subjects then underwent surgical skills testing. Using a standard needle driver, the participants placed curved needles into a cylindrical silicone mitral valve model with 10 premarked needle entry and exit sites. The components assessed included the ability to load a needle on driver at the appropriate angle.
Results: The test results showed a parametric distribution, with internal cognitive testing controls demonstrating valid testing techniques and methods. Performance on the cognitive tests measuring spatial judgment and field dependence correlated significantly with skill at determining the appropriate needle angle load in an inverse fashion (Judgment of Line Orientation test, r=0.61, P<.05; Rod and Frame test, r=-0.52, P=.05), suggesting that residents who were not distracted by surrounding objects performed better. Performance on the cognitive examinations did not correlate with resident training level.
Conclusions: Although our study was of a small cohort, the findings suggest that individuals described as field independent (not easily distracted by external visual cues) might possess improved ability to determine appropriate needle angle loads compared with field-dependent individuals. Additional studies examining the role field dependence might play in the acquisition and execution of surgical tasks are warranted.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtcvs.2014.05.008 | DOI Listing |
The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) is involved in feeding, reward, aversion, and anxiety-like behavior. We identify BNST neurons defined by the expression of vesicular glutamate transporter 3, VGluT3. VGluT3 neurons were localized to anteromedial BNST, were molecularly distinct from accumbal VGluT3 neurons, and co-express vesicular GABA transporter (VGaT).
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January 2025
Department of Radiology, Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
Journal indexes are indicators toward the quality of a journal. Authors, researchers, and the audience need some criteria to judge which literature they need to read or which journal they need to send their article to. Journal indexes help the respective groups to make this decision.
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February 2025
Department of Anesthesiology, Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Background: Levosimendan (LEVO), a calcium sensitizer and adenosine triphosphate-dependent potassium channel opener, has been widely used for decades in medical and surgical patients for advanced heart failure (HF), right ventricular failure, cardiogenic shock, takotsubo cardiomyopathy, pulmonary hypertension, and so on. Currently, as the limited scope and lack of comprehensive data in current LEVO publications, there is an increasing obstacle to conducting new studies that require integrated information and quantifiable results. Thus, the current study was performed to identify the research trends and hot spots in LEVO-related publications using bibliometric software.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFACS Mater Au
January 2025
Department of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, United States.
Lanthanide materials with a 4f electron configuration (S) offer an exciting system for realizing multiple addressable spin states for qubit design. While the S ground state of 4f free ions displays an isotropic character, breaking degeneracy of this ground state and excited states can be achieved through local symmetry of the lanthanide and the choice of ligands. This makes Eu attractive as it mirrors Gd in exhibiting the S ground state, capable of seven spin-allowed transitions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeliyon
January 2025
CNR-Istituto per la BioEconomia (IBE), Sede Secondaria di Catania, Via P. Gaifami 18, 95126, Catania, Italy.
Recently, the use of plant-derived biostimulants has been suggested as a sustainable way to improve the nutritional quality of tomato and mitigate the effects of environmental stresses In this regard, a two-year experiment was conducted in open field on four cultivars of tomato (two commercial tomatoes and two local landraces of long shelf-life tomato), to assess the crop response, in terms of fruit yield and quality traits, to the foliar application of two plant-derived biostimulants based on protein hydrolysates (PH), under opposite water regimes (no irrigation and full irrigation), in a semi-arid environment of South Italy. Tomato plants in field were sprayed with a solution containing one of the two biostimulants approximately every 15 days. Full irrigation significantly promoted plant productivity, leading to yields the 22 % and 57 % higher than those produced under no irrigation.
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