Subthalamic nucleus activity in the processing of body and mental action verbs in people with Parkinson's disease.

Local field potentials evoked by body action and mental action verbs were recorded in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) of 18 patients with Parkinson's disease through the electrodes implanted for deep brain stimulation. Compared with the medication on-condition, the medication off-condition showed a difference in activity in the early time segments, mainly in the right STN, with larger amplitudes for body action verbs. In the on-condition a similar pattern was detected in the left STN. These patterns of early differences in activity evoked by different types of verbs might indicate the potential of the STN to rapidly detect relevant behavioural clues in verbal content and to integrate these in subsequent cortico-subcortical interactions. In addition, these lateralizations allow speculations about shifts in processing activity correlating with dopaminergic denervation. Whether this detection relies on phonological, semantic or grammatical clues remains an open question.

Patient and provider acceptance of telecoaching in type 2 diabetes: a mixed-method study embedded in a randomised clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment of type 2 diabetes, suboptimal metabolic control persists. Patient education in diabetes has been proved to enhance self-efficacy and guideline-driven treatment, however many people with type 2 diabetes do not have access to or do not participate in self-management support programmes. Tele-education and telecoaching have the potential to improve accessibility and efficiency of care, but there is a slow uptake in Europe. Patient and provider acceptance in a local context is an important pre-condition for implementation. The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions of patients, nurses and general practitioners (GPs) regarding telecoaching in type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Mixed-method study embedded in a clinical trial, in which a nurse-led target-driven telecoaching programme consisting of 5 monthly telephone sessions of +/- 30 min was offered to 287 people with type 2 diabetes in Belgian primary care. Intervention attendance and satisfaction about the programme were analysed along with qualitative data obtained during post-trial semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of patients, general practitioners (GPs) and nurses. The perceptions of patients and care providers about the intervention were coded and the themes interpreted as barriers or facilitators for adoption. RESULTS: Of 252 patients available for a follow-up analysis, 97.5 % reported being satisfied. Interviews were held with 16 patients, 17 general practitioners (GPs) and all nurses involved (n = 6). Themes associated with adoption facilitation were: 1) improved diabetes control; 2) need for more tailored patient education programmes offered from the moment of diagnosis; 3) comfort and flexibility; 4) evidence-based nature of the programme; 5) established cooperation between GPs and diabetes educators; and 6) efficiency gains. Most potential barriers were derived from the provider views: 1) poor patient motivation and suboptimal compliance with "faceless" advice; 2) GPs' reluctance in the area of patient referral and information sharing; 3) lack of legal, organisational and financial framework for telecare. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse-led telecoaching of people with type 2 diabetes was well-accepted by patients and providers, with providers being in general more critical in their reflections. With increasing patient demand for mobile and remote services in healthcare, the findings of this study should support professionals involved in healthcare policy and innovation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01612520 , registered prior to recruitment on 4th June 2012.

The Dynamic Patient Simulator: learning process, first results and students' satisfaction.

The Dynamic Patient Simulator (DPS) is an interactive case-program. After solving the case, third year medical students filled in an anonymous questionnaire. In this study we tried to have insight in the students' learning process and satisfaction. First results are presented. It seems that the implementation of the case was experienced as positive. The time aspect should be scheduled better and students should have as much time as they want to solve the case.

Test-based E-Learning: a new path in training medical students.

TENDO is a project conducted by the Department of Medical Informatics and Statistics of the Ghent University in the field of E-Learning and more specifically E-Testing (Electronic, on line testing). At this stage, the main goal of Tendo is to measure the knowledge of (medical) students making use of the Internet. The on line Tendo E-Testing tool has been used to examine students of the 4th year studying Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. The aim of this document is to give an overview of the features of E-Testing and more specifically of the Tendo product.