SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children Lu, Xiaoxia; Zhang, Liqiong; Du, Hui ...
The New England journal of medicine,
04/2020, Volume:
382, Issue:
17
Journal Article
Over the past 20 years, the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) has regularly published and annually updated a global strategy for asthma management and prevention that has formed the basis for many ...national guidelines. However, uptake of existing guidelines is poor. A major revision of the GINA report was published in 2014, and updated in 2015, reflecting an evolving understanding of heterogeneous airways disease, a broader evidence base, increasing interest in targeted treatment, and evidence about effective implementation approaches. During development of the report, the clinical utility of recommendations and strategies for their practical implementation were considered in parallel with the scientific evidence.This article provides a summary of key changes in the GINA report, and their rationale. The changes include a revised asthma definition; tools for assessing symptom control and risk factors for adverse outcomes; expanded indications for inhaled corticosteroid therapy; a framework for targeted treatment based on phenotype, modifiable risk factors, patient preference, and practical issues; optimisation of medication effectiveness by addressing inhaler technique and adherence; revised recommendations about written asthma action plans; diagnosis and initial treatment of the asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease overlap syndrome; diagnosis in wheezing pre-school children; and updated strategies for adaptation and implementation of GINA recommendations.
Computational thinking (CT), which is a cognitive skill used to solve problems with computational solutions, has drawn increasing attention among researchers and practitioners due to the growing ...recognition of CT competence as a 21st century skill. Collaboration is commonly integrated into CT education to facilitate novice learning, but there is inadequate knowledge regarding the influences of collaboration in CT education. This meta‐analysis examined the overall effects on the cognitive, social and affective competencies of collaborative versus individual problem solving in CT through programming. We identified 33 publications involving 4717 learners, which allowed for 220 effect size comparisons. We found a medium effect size (Hedges' g = 0.562; p < 0.001) in favour of collaborative problem solving on cognitive learning outcomes and a small effect size (Hedges' g = 0.316; p < 0.01) on affective learning outcomes using a random‐effects model. Categorical moderator analysis revealed the moderating effects of educational level, programming environment, study duration, grouping method and group size. The competency model that was generated from the synthesized literature on collaborative computational problem solving yielded insights into the learning design and assessment of relevant activities.
Practitioner notes
What is already known about the topic?
Although professional programming usually requires collaboration to accomplish common goals in the work environment, programming is predominantly taught on an individual basis in educational settings.
Some intervention studies have reported inconsistent learning outcomes (positive and negative) from integrating collaborative problem solving (CPS) into programming education.
There is a need for further scrutiny and exploration of the role of collaboration in the process of learning to program.
What does this paper add?
Our meta‐analysis showed that CPS is an effective pedagogical tool for developing students' cognitive, affective and social competencies.
The moderator analysis revealed that CPS in programming has cognitive benefits irrespective of grouping method, group size and educational levels; however, there is a need for caution in regard to designing collaborative problem‐solving activities for different programming environments and durations.
The model generated from the literature synthesis can yield insights into better assessing and designing collaborative problem‐solving activities.
Implications for practice and/or policy?
Integrating CPS into programming education can prepare students with 21st century skills.
Social and affective competencies are crucial to students' learning capacity, which is an issue that needs to be better assessed.
Future studies could look more rigorously into the effects of CPS in visual programming and robotics programming among younger age groups, such as primary or middle school students.
Over the past decade, the call to foster computational thinking (CT) in every child has received considerable attention. However, there is little understanding of whether children are developmentally ...ready to think computationally and what specific CT concepts and skills can be developed at various ages. This study explored the developmental and gender differences in CT skills of 197 Grade 4–6 students (aged 9–13) before being exposed to instruction and investigated the age–gender interaction effects on their CT acquisition in an intervention combining both programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities. Results show that students' CT skills followed a developmental progression before instruction. Gender difference across ages was insignificant in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills. Additionally, students of different ages developed CT differently during the intervention, and their CT acquisition was unaffected by gender. Implications for practice and research in CT education were discussed.
Lay Description
What is currently known about the topic
Learning progressions for computational thinking have been defined in K‐12 curricula globally.
Engaging in programming and non‐programming (unplugged) activities can increase students' CT skills.
Controversial results have been reported on the age–gender interaction effects on CT development.
Lack of understanding on children's actual progressive development of CT.
What this paper adds
A developmental progression was found in CT skills of students aged 9–13. Students aged 12 and above had some a priori understanding of CT.
No gender difference across ages existed in conditionals, logical operators, pattern recognition and generalization skills before instruction.
Students aged 9–11 benefitted the most from an intervention combining both programming and unplugged activities compared to older students. Students' CT acquisition in the intervention was unaffected by gender.
Given the intervention, students aged 9 and above developed conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition skills. However, generalization skill was developed only for students aged 12 and above.
Implications for practice and policy
The findings lay the foundation for designing evidence‐based age‐appropriate CT learning progression and pedagogies.
Age‐appropriate learning content: Given appropriate learning experiences, students aged 9 and above may be ready to learn certain CT concepts and skills, including conditionals, logical operators and pattern recognition.
CT pedagogies: Using programming and unplugged activities to develop CT requires careful consideration of students' cognitive development and gender needs.
Summary Background Evidence is accumulating that early consumption is more beneficial than is delayed introduction as a strategy for primary prevention of food allergy. However, allergic reactions ...caused by early introduction of such solid foods have been a problematic issue. We investigated whether or not early stepwise introduction of eggs to infants with eczema combined with optimal eczema treatment would prevent egg allergy at 1 year of age. Methods In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we enrolled infants 4–5 months of age with eczema from two centres in Japan. Exclusion criteria were being born before 37 weeks of gestational age, experience of ingestion of hen's eggs or egg products, history of immediate allergic reaction to hen's eggs, history of non-immediate allergic reaction to a particular type of food, and complications of any severe disease. Infants were randomly assigned (block size of four; stratified by institution and sex) to early introduction of egg or placebo (1:1). Participants in the egg group consumed orally 50 mg of heated egg powder per day from 6 months to 9 months of age and 250 mg per day thereafter until 12 months of age. We aggressively treated participants' eczema at entry and maintained control without exacerbations throughout the intervention period. Participants and physicians were masked to assignment, and allocation was concealed. The primary outcome was the proportion of participants with hen's egg allergy confirmed by open oral food challenges at 12 months of age, assessed blindly by standardised methods, in all randomly allocated participants who received the intervention. This trial is registered with the University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry, number UMIN000008673. Findings Between Sept 18, 2012, and Feb 13, 2015, we randomly allocated 147 participants (73 50% to the egg group and 74 50% to the placebo group). This trial was terminated on the basis of the results of the scheduled interim analysis of 100 participants, which showed a significant difference between the two groups (four 9% of 47 participants had an egg allergy in the egg group vs 18 38% of 47 in the placebo group; risk ratio 0·222 95% CI 0·081–0·607; p=0·0012). In the primary analysis population, five (8%) of 60 participants had an egg allergy in the egg group compared with 23 (38%) of 61 in the placebo group (risk ratio 0·221 0·090–0·543; p=0·0001). The only difference in adverse events between groups was admissions to hospital (six 10% of 60 in the egg group vs none in the placebo group; p=0·022). 19 acute events occurred in nine (15%) participants in the egg group versus 14 events in 11 (18%) participants in the placebo group after intake of the trial powder. Interpretation Introduction of heated egg in a stepwise manner along with aggressive eczema treatment is a safe and efficacious way to prevent hen's egg allergy in high-risk infants. In this study, we developed a practical approach to overcome the second wave of the allergic epidemic caused by food allergy. Funding Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and National Centre for Child Health and Development, Japan.
The use of educational technology by Hong Kong primary school teachers has been realized by the government's long-term support to the technology infrastructure, professional training, technical ...support, and development of teaching resources in local primary schools. However, the high adoption rate may not reflect the willingness of teachers to accept technology for educational purposes. Presently, there is no existing research investigating in-service primary teachers' technology acceptance in Hong Kong. The aim of this study is to investigate teachers' acceptance of technology and the influencing factors behind their acceptance. This study takes a quantitative approach to investigate 185 primary teachers in Hong Kong using Structural Equation Modeling on a customized Technology Acceptance Model. The results suggest that contrary to common belief, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of the technology have little influence on behavioral intention of use in our research context. Rather, a pragmatic consideration of facilitating conditions is found to be a strong dominating factor. A context-specific interpretation of the results is provided. Implications on school policy are also discussed to provide insights for the development of educational technology.
In order to minimise the morbidity and mortality related to this infection, countries across the world implemented drastic social distancing measures and restrictions including border closure, school ...closure, work from home arrangement and prohibition of mass gatherings.1 It seemed that the world had come to a complete stop. In the past three decades, there has been significant advance in our understanding of the importance of health depending on the interaction of the human immune system and the environmental microbiota.2 3 The pandemic measures may have changed such interactions affecting the development of allergies. Following the first wave of increase in asthma and allergic rhinitis, food allergy has become the second wave of the epidemic of allergy showing a rapid increase over the past two decades.4 Venter and Heine described in their articles the current evidence regarding how factors in the maternal diet and early infant feeding practice may influence the subsequent development of food allergy.
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