Materials and Methods examples with explanations
Materials and Methods example 1
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Population
The CSCA program was initiated by the Chinese Stroke Association in June 2015 to establish a national, hospital-based stroke care quality assessment and improvement platform, the protocol of which has been previously reported [19]. [time period covered, subjects included:] From August 1, 2015, to July 31, 2019, 1,006,798 stroke or transit ischemic attack patients within 7 days from the onset were recruited consecutively from 1,576 hospitals. [sampling method explained:] A total of 85,705 spontaneous ICH patients were selected for the initial assessment in our study. Among all the recruited patients, 4,152 individuals were excluded due to incomplete data on baseline SBP or LDL-C levels, 154 individuals without data on HE, and 293 individuals with incomplete in-hospital mortality data were also excluded. Besides, 5,663 individuals with unclear time from symptom onset to hospital arrival were excluded. Eventually, 75,443 patients were included in this final analysis. [subject characteristics are given in a separate Table:] Baseline characteristics between included and excluded ICH patients are shown in Table S1; the clinical features of which were similar in general.
[reference to protocol and approval:] The study was conducted in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration and approved by the central Institutional Review Board at Beijing Tiantan Hospital.
2.2. LDL-C, SBP, and Other Baseline Covariates
[data collection explained:] Laboratory variables were collected within 24 hours after admission to each subcenter. LDL-C levels were categorized into three groups regarding the 2018 American Heart Association guidelines for the management of cholesterol: <70 mg/dL, 70-100 mg/dL, and ≥100 mg/dL [20].
Three BP readings were recorded separately in the supine position after at least two-minute resting by trained nurses at baseline, and the average of the three measurements was regarded as the admission BP. [existing approach used:] Admission SBP was then classified into three categories based on the 2018 European Society of Hypertension as <140 mmHg, 140-180 mmHg, and ≥180 mmHg [21].
[additional data collected:] Other baseline characteristics including demographic information, body mass index (BMI), smoking and drinking history, medical and medication history, Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score on admission, and time from symptom onset to arrival were also extracted.
2.3. Outcomes
[variables explained:] The primary outcome was HE event, and the second outcome was in-hospital mortality. A cranial CT scan was obtained in the emergency department and repeated after admission. [existing approach used:] Hematoma volume was estimated using the ABC/2 method by two experienced neurologists [22]. [criteria by which variables were measured:] According to the radiographic criteria, HE was diagnosed by follow-up image as the intraparenchymal hematoma increased >33% or an absolute increment of >6 mL from initial hematoma [23].
2.4. Statistical Analysis
Data were presented as (SD) or median (interquartile range, IQR) for continuous variables and count (percentage) for categorical variables. [statistical tests used:] The ANOVA or nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test and the chi-squared test were used in the comparison of baseline variables.
The independent correlation between LDL-C, SBP, and ICH prognosis was assessed by odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using logistic regression. The subgroups with the highest LDL-C (≥100 mg/dL) and SBP levels (≥180 mmHg) were used as the reference. [...]
[statistical significance level:] Differences were considered to be significant at P < 0.05. [software used:] Analyses were performed using the SAS software (version 9.4; SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA).
Materials and Methods example 2
2. Methods
[study type, study location:] This is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out at THA. [subjects:] This study assessed 188 patients over 18 years old who self-ingested OP or carbamate from August 2018 to February 2020 and were admitted to the THA. [sampling method; inclusion criteria:] Inclusion criteria were as follows: age between 18 and 60 years, diagnosed with OP or carbamate poisoning by the clinician, patients presented with a history of OP/carbamate poisoning (poison material/bottle/label) without any prior treatment, and patients who were admitted within 24 hours of ingestion [14]. [exclusion criteria:] Poisoning with toxic substances other than OP and carbamate, pregnant women, ingesting poison along with alcohol, chronic drug intake, and evidence of chronic diseases (liver, renal, pancreas, malignancies, etc.) were excluded from the study.
[data collection method:] Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire from either the guardian or the patient if possible. During the admission, sociodemographic data, poisoning history, symptoms, and medical information were recorded. [ethics committee approval:] Ethical approval was obtained from the ethics review committee, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura (82/17), and the ethics review committee of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka (2018/11). [informed consent; by subject or proxy:] Proxy consent (verbal consent obtained from the person who brought the patient to the hospital, usually a parent, child, spouse, or sibling) was obtained on admission when the patient was unconscious and severely ill. Written informed consent was taken after the patient is conscious.
[data analysis; use of existing methods:] Severity was measured by two methods: the Peradeniya Organophosphorus Poisoning scale (POP) and red blood cell (RBC) cholinesterase level. [subvariables measured:] Six common clinical features—pupil size, respiratory rate, heart rate, fasciculation, level of consciousness, and seizures—were given scores to assess severity. [variable scoring and evaluating:] Each clinical feature was assessed based on a 3-point scale which varied from 0 to 2, and the details are shown in Table 1. Accordingly, a score of 0–3 was considered mild, 4–7 to be moderate, and 8–11 to be severe poisoning [15]. [...]
[variables measured; time of measurement:] Aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), direct bilirubin (D Bil), and total bilirubin (T Bil) were analyzed on admission and at discharge. [instrument used and protocol followed:] Analysis was performed using the Konelab 20XT clinical chemistry autoanalyzer following the protocols given by the BIOLABO reagent kits.
[software used for statistical analysis:] Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. [statistical tests used:] Nonparametric tests were used as normal distribution was not assumed, and there were only 11 patients in one cell. Kruskal–Wallis H test was applied to compare liver transaminases and bilirubin among 3 POP groups (mild, moderate, and severe). Mann–Whitney U test was used to determine differences between each group with Bonferroni adjustments, and the effect size was calculated. Spearman’s Rho test was used to examine correlations between liver transaminases (AST and ALT) with the severity of poisoning (RBC cholinesterase and POP scale) on admission and treatment outcomes (duration of hospital stay and duration of ventilator assistance).
Materials and Methods example 3
3. Methodology
3.1. Participants
[sampling method:] Fifty Iranian EFL participants were selected from a pool of 70 students using a nonrandom selection approach for the purpose of conducting this study. They were selected from among students at an English Language Institute in Iran. It was determined that they had a pre-intermediate level of English, which was determined by their band score on the Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT). [subject grouping:] The selected subjects were randomly divided into two EG and CGs based on the convenient sampling method. [...]
3.2. Instruments
[instrument 1 used:] For having more homogeneous subjects, the OQPT was employed as the first tool in this study. [...] [instrument 2 used:] The other instrument used in this investigation to collect the sufficient data was a researcher-created reading pretest that was made based on the content of the students’ coursebook. [...] [instrument 3 used:] The third tool that was used in the current investigation was a researcher-made reading posttest. [...] [instrument 4 used:] The fourth instrument was the questionnaire of achievement motivation, which was designed by Hayami et al. [55]. [...] [instrument 5 used:] The last tool was an attitude questionnaire prepared by the researchers to check the participants’ RAs. [...]
3.3. Procedures
[subject selection method:] To carry out this research, first, the researcher went to one of the Iranian English Language Institutions and administered the OQPT to 70 EFL students. Then, based on their scores on the OQPT, 50 EFL students (pre-intermediate level) were chosen for the target respondents of the study. [subject grouping:] After selecting the needed participants, the researchers randomly divided them into two groups—an EG and a CG. [study setup, time, sessions, and tasks:] The whole instruction lasted 11 sessions, in which 50 minutes were allotted for each. At the beginning, the achievement motivation questionnaire [55] and the attitude questionnaire were distributed among the learners in both experimental and control groups. In the following session and before the intervention, a RC pretest was given to all participants (both EG and CG). [task differences between subject groups:] Following this step, the EG was trained by applying the English cultural materials. That is, some English texts containing issues related to the English culture were taught to the EG participants. In contrast, the participants in the CG were taught by the culture-free materials. In other words, the English texts that were taught to the CG participants did not contain issues relevant to the English or any particular cultures. Finally, the motivation and the attitude questionnaires were distributed among the participants to measure their motivation and the attitude after the treatment. [post-test and questionnaires to measure dependent variables:] At the end of the experiment, a RC posttest was conducted to inspect the learners’ achievements in both the control and experimental groups and investigate the effectiveness of the program. Finally, the achievement motivation questionnaire [55] and the attitude questionnaire were administered to all of the EG and CG attendees.
References
Materials and Methods example 1: Yarong Ding, Yu Wang, Liping Liu, Hongqiu Gu, Kaixuan Yang, Zixiao Li, Xingquan Zhao, "Combined Association of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels and Systolic Blood Pressure to the Outcome of Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Data from the China Stroke Center Alliance", Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, vol. 2022, Article ID 6206315, 8 pages, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/6206315
Materials and Methods example 2: R. Senarathne, U. Hettiaratchi, L. Athiththan, H. Peiris, C. Sarathchandra, H. Senanayake, P. Weerawansa, S. Siribaddana, "Selected Liver Markers in Predicting the Severity of Organophosphate and Carbamate Poisoning", Journal of Environmental and Public Health, vol. 2022, Article ID 7826396, 6 pages, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7826396
Materials and Methods example 3: Le Thi Ngoc Diep, Anna Gustina Zainal, Muhammed Salim Keezhatta, Farida Imamutdinovna Gabidullina, Isyaku Hassan, Tahereh Heydarnejad, "Culture and Language Are Inextricably Linked: Surveying the Effectiveness of Culture-Based Instructional Materials on Enhancing Reading Comprehension (RC), Inclination to Reading, and Reading Attitude (RA) among EFL Learners", Education Research International, vol. 2022, Article ID 4474122, 9 pages, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4474122
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