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Objective: The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate a new school-based eating disorder prevention program designed to reduce dietary restraint. Method: Forty-six school- girls, aged 13-14 years, took part. The intervention consisted of eight weekly sessions of 45 min duration. A battery of self-report questionnaires was administered before and after the intervention and 6 months later. Results: Unlike previous prevention studies, there was not only an increase in knowledge at postintervention but there was also a decrease in target behavior and attitudes. However, these effects were short-lived since they had disappeared 6 months later: indeed, at 6-month follow-up there was an increase in dietary restraint compared with baseline. Discussion: These findings suggest that the intervention had been counterproductive since it led to an increase in dietary restraint. They imply that school- based prevention programs may do more harm than good. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 22: 167-172, 1997.

Objective Invasive group A streptococcus (iGAS) disease is an important cause of mortality globally. The incidence of iGAS in Australia's tropical Northern Territory (NT) has been previously reported as 32.2/100 000 in Indigenous people for the period 1991–1996. We aimed to measure the incidence and severity of iGAS disease in the NT since this time. Methods We collected demographic data for all GAS blood culture isolates over a 12-year period (1998–2009) from the three hospital laboratories serving the tropical NT. We then collected detailed clinical information from hospital records and databases for the subset of these patients who were admitted to Royal Darwin Hospital during 2005–2009. Results There were 295 confirmed cases of GAS bacteraemia over the study period, with a mean (SD) age of 42.1 (22.0) years, and 163 (55.0%) were male. The annual age-adjusted incidence was 15.2 (95% CI 13.4–16.9)/100 000 overall and 59.4 (95% CI 51.2–67.6) in Indigenous Australians. For 2005–2009, there were 123 cases with the most common focus of infection being skin/soft tissue [44 (35.6%)]; 29 patients (23.6%) required intensive care unit admission and 20 (16.3%) had streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Antecedent sore throat or use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was rare, but current or recent scabies, pyoderma and trauma were common. Conclusion The incidence and severity of iGAS are high and increasing in tropical northern Australia, and urgent attention is needed to improve surveillance and the social determinants of health in this population. This study adds to emerging data suggesting increasing importance of iGAS in low- and middle-income settings globally. Objectifs La maladie invasive au streptocoque du groupe A (SGA) est une cause importante de mortalite dans le monde. Son incidence dans les regions tropicales du Territoire du Nord de l'Australie (TNA) a deja ete rapportee, atteignant 32,2/100 000 chez les populations autochtones pour la periode 1991-1996. Nous avons cherche a mesurer l'incidence et la severite de la maladie invasive au SGA dans le TNA depuis cette epoque. Methodes Nous avons recueilli des donnees demographiques de tous les isolats de SGA provenant de cultures de sang sur une periode de 12 ans (1998-2009) a partir des trois laboratoires d'hopitaux desservant la region tropicale du TNA. Nous avons ensuite recueilli l'information clinique detaillee a partir des registres hospitaliers et des bases de donnees pour le sous-ensemble de ces patients qui ont ete admis a l'Hopital Royal de Darwin durant la periode 2005-2009. Resultats Il y avait 295 cas confirmes de bacteriemies au SGA au cours de la periode de l’etude, avec une moyenne (DS) d’âge de 42,1 (22,0) ans et 163 (55,0%) de sexe masculin. L'incidence annuelle ajustee pour l’âge etait de 15,2 (IC95%: 13,4 a 16,9)/100.000 au total et de 59,4 (IC95%: 51,2 a 67,6)/100.000 chez les australiens autochtones. Pour la periode 2005-2009, il y avait 123 cas, l’’infection la plus frequente etant celle de la peau et des tissus mous (44 [35,6%] patients dont 29 (23,6%) necessitant une admission en unite de soins intensive et 20 (16,3%) patients avec un syndrome de choc toxique streptococcique). Un antecedent de mal de gorge ou d'utilisation de medicaments anti-inflammatoires non steroidiens etaient rares, mais la gale, la pyodermite et des traumatismes actuels ou recents etaient courants. Conclusions L'incidence et la gravite de la maladie invasive au SGA sont elevees et en augmentation dans les regions tropicales du nord de l'Australie et une attention urgente est necessaire pour ameliorer la surveillance et les determinants sociaux de la sante dans cette population. Cette etude ajoute aux donnees emergentes suggerant une importance croissante de la maladie invasive au SGA dans les milieux a revenus faibles et moyens a l’echelle mondiale. Objetivos La enfermedad invasiva por estreptococo del grupo A (EGAi) es una causa importante de mortalidad a nivel global. Anteriormente se habia reportado una incidencia de EGAi en la zona tropical de Australia, el Territorio del Norte (TN) de 32.2/100,000 entre la poblacion indigena para el periodo 1991-1996. Nuestro objetivo era, a partir de entonces, medir la incidencia y la severidad de la infeccion por EGAi en el TN. Metodos Hemos recolectado datos demograficos de todos los EGA aislados, a partir de cultivos en sangre, durante un periodo de 12 anos (1998-2009), en los tres laboratorios hospitalarios del TN. Tambien se recogio informacion clinica detallada a partir de las historias clinicas y de bases de datos para un subgrupo de estos pacientes que fueron admitidos al Hospital Royal Darwin durante el 2005-2009. Resultados Hubo 295 casos confirmados de bacteriemia por EGA durante el periodo de estudio, con una media (M) de edad de 42.1 (22.0) anos, y 163 (55.0%) eran hombres. La incidencia anual ajustada por edad era del 15.2 (IC 95% 13.4-16.9)/100,000 en general y del 59.4 (IC95% 51.2-67.6) entre Indigenas Australianos. Durante el periodo 2005-2009 hubo 123 casos en los que el foco de infeccion mas comun fueron la piel / tejidos blandos (44 [35.6%]); 29 pacientes (23.6%) necesitaron ser admitidos en una unidad de cuidados intensivos y 20 (16.3%) tenian un sindrome de shock toxico por estreptococo. Dentro de los antecedentes, era raro el haber padecido dolor de garganta o el uso de antiinflamatorios no esteroideos, pero en cambio era comun el tener o haber padecido recientemente sarna, piodermitis o trauma. Conclusiones La incidencia y severidad de EGAi es alta y va en aumento en el norte tropical de Australia. Es urgente mejorar la vigilancia epidemiologica e incidir en los determinantes sociales de la salud de esta poblacion. Este estudio se suma a los datos emergentes que sugieren la importancia del EGAi en paises de renta baja y media a nivel global.

The quality of furnace annealed and RTA CMOS devices has been compared. The authors' analysis has included the measurement of the low-frequency noise, interface states and surface mobilities of both n- and p-channel MOSFETS. In general the RTA devices exhibit higher noise and higher densities of interface states than their furnace annealed counterparts. An increase of both the oxide and bulk defect concentrations has been inferred. Also DLTS measurements were performed on source/drain-type diodes. Here low density bulk traps specific to the RTA samples were discovered. Lamp RTA samples confirmed that it was the temperature processing that was responsible for the degradation of device quality. This ruled out the e-beam damage uncertainty of a previous study. These findings are presented and their implications, to analogue and digital circuit applications, discussed.

In the work reported herein, we have combined a short-lived femtosecond laser-induced plasma (LIP) and a longer-lived nanosecond LIP in a collinear pulse configuration to examine the source(s) of atomic emission and signal-to-noise enhancement in dual-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). Initial studies indicate that the primary source of dual-pulse LIBS enhancement in the collinear configuration may in large part be a matter of pulse focus; focusing on the sample surface, for example, yields atomic emission enhancements whose lifetime correlates reasonably well with the femtosecond LIP emissive lifetime, suggesting that plasma–plasma coupling may play an important role at that pulse focus. At a second “optimal” focal position above the sample surface, alternatively, atomic emission and signal-to-noise enhancements correlate quite well with the nitrogen and oxygen atomic emission reductions previously seen following use of a femtosecond air spark and a nanosecond ablative pulse in the orthogonal dual-pulse configuration, suggesting that pressure or number density reductions due to femtosecond LIP formation in air may be significant at that pulse focus.

We have developed modified poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) to improve its performance in organic electroluminescent devices. Encapsulated single-layer devices with this PPV on indium–tin oxide and a calcium cathode have been operated in air for >7000 h at 20 °C and >1100 h at 80 °C without noticeable degradation. Devices fabricated with this PPV, a conducting polymer layer as anode, and a sputtered low work-function alloy as cathode have efficiencies of over 2 lm/W, brightnesses of >600 Cd/m2 at 4 V, and lifetimes of >1400 h driven at ∼100 Cd/m2 initial brightness.

The main aim of this study was to assess the level of agreement between the Eating Disorders Examination (EDE) and its self-report version (EDE-Q) on key items in a clinic sample of patients with bulimia nervosa. A second objective was to assess the concordance between self-reported and objective body weight in the sample.Sixty females who met DSM-IV criteria for bulimia nervosa (purging type) participated. Fifty-seven of them completed both the EDE and the EDE-Q. Self-reported weight was obtained during a telephone screening interview. Objective weight was subsequently measured at an assessment about a week later.The EDE generated higher scores than the EDE-Q for the frequency of objective binge and vomiting episodes. The two methods produced equivalent results for subjective binge episodes, laxative and diuretic misuse, and concerns about shape and weight. The self-report method underestimated body weight.These findings suggest that some core features of eating disorders are more accurately assessed using the EDE interview.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based eating disorder prevention program designed to reduce dietary restraint and concern about shape and weight among adolescent girls.A total of 474 girls aged 13-14 years received the program as part of their normal school curriculum. An assessment-only control group included 386 pupils. Measures of eating disorder features, self-esteem, and knowledge were administered before and after the intervention and at 6-month follow-up.Immediately following the intervention, there was a small reduction in dietary restraint and attitudes to shape and weight in the index group, whereas there was no change in the control group. This reduction was not maintained at 6-month follow-up although the dietary restraint scores of the index group remained lower than those of the control group.This prevention program achieved change in eating attitudes and behavior, although the change was modest in size and not sustained. Focusing on a high-risk subgroup of dieters might be a more fruitful primary prevention strategy.

This article has reviewed what is currently known regarding the relationship between specific patient variables and treatment response in AN, BN, and BED. Matching patient variables to treatment intensity remains an important and fruitful area for future research. There is a need for established guidelines for clinicians regarding the choice of the appropriateness of treatment settings and type of interventions delivered in those settings. These guidelines should be evidence based, with clear clinical indicators for each of the recognized eating disorders and their subclinical variants.

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based eating disorder prevention program designed to reduce dietary restraint and concern about shape and weight among adolescent girls. Method A total of 474 girls aged 13–14 years received the program as part of their normal school curriculum. An assessment-only control group included 386 pupils. Measures of eating disorder features, self-esteem, and knowledge were administered before and after the intervention and at 6-month follow-up. Results Immediately following the intervention, there was a small reduction in dietary restraint and attitudes to shape and weight in the index group, whereas there was no change in the control group. This reduction was not maintained at 6-month follow-up although the dietary restraint scores of the index group remained lower than those of the control group. Discussion This prevention program achieved change in eating attitudes and behavior, although the change was modest in size and not sustained. Focusing on a high-risk subgroup of dieters might be a more fruitful primary prevention strategy. © 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 29: 107-118, 2001.

One of the strengths of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is the ability to acquire atomic emission spectra for a wide variety of samples non-invasively, with only optical access being required. The use of optical fibers makes the technique ideal for applications where the measurement area of interest is either not accessible or where it is not safe to take a sample. Fiber-optic LIBS probes have been described where a single laser pulse is delivered to the sampling region by one optical fiber and the emission is collected by another. One of the problems with this approach is fiber degradation from the high power laser pulses. To minimize this problem, we are investigating dual-pulse LIBS where the laser power is split between 2 different laser pulses that are separated by a short delay time. We have found in related studies that the use of dual laser pulses to obtain LIBS signals can lead to enhanced intensity and reproducibility for some types of samples. A natural extension of this result is to make dual- pulse measurements using optical fibers. Thus far, we have seen 1.5 to 2 fold enhancements for copper and lead using fiber-optics in various geometries to both deliver the dual laser pulses and collect the emission.

Recent work performed in this laboratory has demonstrated the feasibility of using tunable filter technologies in place of dispersive spectrometers and fixed filtering devices for the purpose of creating field transportable standoff Raman imaging systems. Recently, a development in the area of polymer science has led to the production of polymer mirrors which are lightweight compared to glass mirrors of similar size. In addition, the techniques used to produce these polymer mirrors make it easy to design low f/pound optical devices, with much higher optical speeds than identically sized glass mirrors. The performance of a low f/pound polymer mirror system in combination with a liquid crystal tunable filter for standoff Raman chemical imaging is demonstrated and evaluated.

Fiber-optic imaging sensors are being developed for in-situ chemical measurements using microfiber image guides. Applications of particular interest are analyte transport in thin membranes and ion transport in electrochemical boundary layers. We have demonstrated that microfiber image guides can be used for in-situ transport studies of analyte transport in thin membranes and for ion transport at electrode boundary layers in a working electrochemical cell. We have also shown that imaging sensors can be made by coating the image guide with pH sensitive and other ion- sensitive fluorescent indicator molecules, and that these sensors can be used to measure the time development of concentration gradients in-situ. Finally, it is demonstrated that these techniques can be used to obtain fundamental transport information such as diffusion coefficients in-situ at the microscopic level. Image guide sensors are described here along with a discussion of preliminary transport studies.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Fiber-optic chemical sensors (FOCS's) are useful for making remote, in-situ, and microscale measurements. Many intensity-based and lifetime-based FOCS's have been developed for a wide range of properties and analytes. Most of these sensors give only a single-point measurement however, recently a few intensity based imaging FOCS's have been described. We have developed intensity-based fiber- optic imaging systems to measure the transport of water in thin NafionTM membranes and to monitor the development of pH gradients at the surface of an electrode during electrolysis of water. However, intensity-based measurements are difficult to calibrate because of the dependence of luminescence intensity on many interfering factors including dye concentration and varying excitation intensity. As a result, we are developing lifetime-based fiber-optic imaging sensors for a variety of applications. At this point we have measured a lifetime image across a sol-gel crack using a fiber-optic image guide to carry the excitation light to the sample and the resulting luminescence image to an ICCD. Currently, we are testing an oxygen imaging FOCS to capture lifetime-based images of at least two different lifetimes. This paper describes the single-point, lifetime-based sensors we have developed as precursors to fiber-optic imaging chemical sensors, the intensity-based imaging studies of water transport in thin NafionTM membranes and the development of pH gradients at electrode surfaces. It also discusses the instrumental system and methods used to collect lifetime images of sol-gel cracks with a fiber- optic, and the preliminary results of our imaging oxygen sensor.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of 2 methods of administering a cognitive-behavioral self-help program for binge eating disorder. The study was designed to reproduce many of the conditions that apply in settings in which self-help interventions are most relevant. Seventy-two women with binge eating disorder were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions for 12 weeks: pure self-help (PSH), guided self-help (GSH), or a waiting list (WL) control condition (followed by PSH or GSH). They were then followed up for 6 months. Both PSH and GSH had a substantial and sustained impact with almost half the participants ceasing to binge eat. There was little change in the WL condition. Cognitive-behavioral self-help may be of value both as an initial treatment for binge eating disorder and as a form of secondary prevention.

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate a new school-based eating disorder prevention program designed to reduce dietary restraint.Forty-six school-girls, aged 13-14 years, took part. The intervention consisted of eight weekly sessions of 45 min duration. A battery of self-report questionnaires was administered before and after the intervention and 6 months later.Unlike previous prevention studies, there was not only an increase in knowledge at postintervention but there was also a decrease in target behavior and attitudes. However, these effects were short-lived since they had disappeared 6 months later: indeed, at 6-month follow-up there was an increase in dietary restraint compared with baseline.These findings suggest that the intervention had been counterproductive since it led to an increase in dietary restraint. They imply that school-based prevention programs may do more harm than good.

Millisecond annealing using a dual electron beam annealer has been performed on 4 in. wafers for the activation of arsenic and boron difluoride source and drain implants as part of a complementary metal–oxide semiconductor process. Gross wafer distortion has been avoided by the use of a high background temperature and a synthesized line scan. Measurements of electrical activation of the implanted dopant indicates no metastable highly active phases, but activation to electrical solubility limits of longer lamp anneals performed at the same temperature. Measurements on transistors fabricated using single scan millisecond annealing show annealing cycle induced interface damage no worse than that seen in isothermal lamp anneals.

Using the field ion microscope and computer graphies, a detailed study is made of the topography of a grain boundary in cold-worked tungsten. The boundary contains grain boundary dislocations which are drawn onto the reconstructed surfaces by the computer. The grain boundary is observed to contain long steps which are a few tenths of a nanometer in height and fine structure in the grain boundary dislocations is perturbed by topographic features near the defect. The surface roughness near the grain boundary dislocations is noticeably less than the roughness far from the defect. Possible explanations are suggested for the observations. Mittels Feldemissionsmikroskop und graphischer Darstellung durch Computer wird eine detaillierte Untersuchung der Topographie einer Grenzflache in kaltverformtem Wolfram durchgefuhrt. Die Korngrenze enthalt Grenzflachenversetzungen, welche durch Computer auf der rekonstruierten Oberflache aufgezeichnet werden. Es wird beobachtet, das die Grenzflache lange Stufen enthalt, deren kleinste Hohe einige Zehntel eines Nanometers erreicht. Die Feinstruktur der Grenzflachenversetzungen wird durch topographische Besonderheiten in der Nahe der Fehlstelle gestort. Die Oberflachenrauhigkeit in der Nahe der Grenzflachenversetzungen ist merklich geringer als die Rauhigkeit in weitem Abstand von der Fehlstelle. Es werden mogliche Erklarungen fur die Beobachtungen vorgeschlagen.

The low-frequency noise of rapid thermally annealed (RTA) n-channel MOSFETS has been studied and compared with furnace annealed devices. The RTA devices exhibited higher noise (up to an order of magnitude in En). The increase in interface (1/f) noise was thought to be related to the fast cooling rates, associated with RTA. Further, a significant contribution of G-R noise, due to bulk defects, was found for short RTA cycles. Measurements on RTA samples have also shown a deterioration of device performance, with respect to channel interface state density and threshold voltage.

WE report here the first results of a nearly complete, high-sensitivity, water vapour survey of galactic H II regions situated in the Southern Hemisphere.

The authors have examined the quality of silicon MOSFET interfaces, comparing those obtained by RTA and conventional furnace-annealing processing techniques. Electrical characterisation has shown that the RTA interface quality is inferior.

The article fives a summary about the settlement and economic patterns of Basilicata between the 3rd century BC and the late roman period, with a particular attention to Metaponto and its territory.