Virtual reality teaching in chemotherapy administration: Randomised controlled trial.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: This study examined the effect of virtual reality (VR)-based documents (VRdocs) on knowledge and attitude towards chemotherapy administration in nursing students. BACKGROUND: Chemotherapeutic drugs in cancer patients are a complicated and dangerous process. However, despite the high toxicity of the chemotherapeutic drugs, the compulsory or internship courses in nursing schools do not include training in operational chemotherapeutics and its associated safety measures. DESIGN: A randomised controlled trial based on the CONSORT 2010 guidelines (registry number: NCT03707210). METHOD: A total of 77 students were randomised to an experimental (VRdocs, n = 38) or a control group (n = 39). Pre- and posttest data were collected. After the pretest, the control group received the education documents, whereas, the experimental group used VR software consisting of an application about chemotherapy administration. Finally, the effectiveness of the intervention was self-evaluated using questionnaires after 7 days. RESULTS: The posttest scores for knowledge (F = 6.412, p = .013) and attitude in the experimental group were significantly different from those in the control group (F = 8.469, p = .005). Compared with the control group, a significant number of students in the experimental group indicated their higher recommendation score for the VRdocs (p = .0001). CONCLUSION: Schools must provide a variety of handouts and teaching methods to educate nursing students about high-risk nursing techniques. Methods using VR can address the shortcomings of the traditional documents, and the use of both methods simultaneously can produce better learning results. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Virtual reality based documents were provided to the participants to understand the preparation, implementation, and safety of chemotherapy. VRdocs allow students to re-learn high-risk care techniques without the influence of time and space and may prove useful for other nursing courses.

Red LED light treatment promotes cognitive learning through up-regulation of trpm4 in zebrafish.

Although light emitting diodes (LEDs) are widely used in our daily lives, there is little research regarding LED light's possible effects on biological functions. We used a zebrafish animal model to investigate the long-term effects of white, blue and red LED lights on cognitive learning and memory recall. Our data suggest that these treatments had not only an impact on learning but also surprisingly long-lasting effects, particularly with regard to individuals treated with red light. The qPCR results revealed that the expression levels of trpm4, trpa1b, grin2aa and dlg4 in the skin were increased after monochromatic light treatment. Furthermore, the up-regulation of trpm4 in the brain may correlate to enhanced learning and memory following red-light treatment. Our results identify a light-based stimulation system for enhancing zebrafish learning, which has the potential to provide important insights into the relationship between LED lighting and animal behaviour.

Fabrication of Hydrophilic Surface on Rigid Gas Permeable Contact Lenses to Enhance the Wettability Using Ultraviolet Laser System.

The widely used rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses provide higher oxygen permeability and tear exchange rate than do soft contact lenses. However, their wettability warrants improvement to enhance the wearing comfort. This study used UV laser (wavelength = 355 nm) to modify the surface properties of RGP contact lenses with materials of Boston XO® (Bausch & Lomb Incorporated). Briefly, the mesh pattern was fabricated on the RGP contact lens surface by using the laser and smoothed by using oxygen plasma; the enhanced hydrophilic efficiency was analyzed using contact angle measurement. The experiment results indicated that the contact angle of the lens material decreased by approximately 10°-20° when the pitch of mesh pattern was <50 µm under a 500-mm/s scanning speed. The oxygen plasma enhanced surface wettability with a decreased contact angle (40°). The hydrophilic characteristic of the UV laser and oxygen plasma-treated surface was twice that of oxygen plasma-treated and untreated surfaces. In the future, RGP contact lens edges could be treated with UV laser and oxygen plasma to enhance the tear wettability and wearing comfort.

Developing a dermatological photodiagnosis system by optical image analyses and in vivo study.

Dermatological photodynamic therapy (DPDT) involves using systematic photosensitizers in combination with light irradiation treatment to eliminate cancer cells. Therefore, a noninvasive fluorescence photodiagnosis system is critical in DPDT for diagnosing target tissues and demarcating the margin of normal tissues. This study proposes a 375-nm ring LED light module in fluorescence imaging for DPDT applications. Image reproducibility (I.R.) and image interference (I.I.) analysis were performed. The results showed that the I.R. value of this fluorescence diagnostic system was higher than 99.0%, and the I.I. from external light sources was lower than 3.0%. In addition, the result of an in vivo study showed that the Chlorin e6 red fluorescence and the scope of distribution of B16-F10 melanoma cells in a mouse ear's vein could be measured clearly using our device; however, the comparison studio with 395-nm LED lights could not focus or capture the red fluorescence effectively.

Rapid ranging through evaluation of image distortion.

Distortion is an undesirable aberration found in optical imaging systems, necessitating numerical calibration. However, the fact that image distortion changes with observation distance can be used for ranging. This study developed a rapid, passive-ranging technique, which is simple, incurs low costs, results in minimal interference, and requires few parameters. After determining the location of reference points, the relationship between the normalized mean distortion of images and observation distance is described using two mathematical models, one of which is based on distortion theory and the other is derived from the curve fitting of the experimental results. Analyzing the instantaneous rate of image distortion can also assist in ranging. The proposed technique demonstrates high sensitivity at closer observation distances, but loses effectiveness as observation distances increase.

Optical imaging with spectrum aberration correction using a filtering macrolens.

A filtering macrolens was developed to simultaneously achieve macro-optical imaging and correct spectrum aberration. The macrolens was a doublet lens comprising a filtering lens and a close-up lens. The shape of the filtering lens was designed to eliminate the optical path differences between the light rays in the absorbing medium. The close-up lens was designed to decrease the effective focal length of an ordinary camera lens to provide high magnification capability and collimate the diverging beams through the filtering lens. Experimental results demonstrated that the spectrum uniformity of the macro-optical images was markedly improved by the filtering macrolens. This innovation may be used in finite conjugate optical systems.