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Objectives: A new patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument to measure fatigue symptoms and impacts in relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) was developed in a qualitative stage, followed by psychometric validation and migration from paper to an electronic format.Methods: Adult patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) were interviewed to elicit fatigue-related symptoms and impacts. A draft questionnaire was debriefed in cognitive interviews with further RRMS patients, and revised. Content confirmation interviews were conducted with patients with progressive-relapsing multiple sclerosis (PRMS) and relapsing secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis (RSPMS). Psychometric analyses used data from adult patients with different RMS subtypes and matched non-RMS controls in a multicenter, observational study. After item reduction, the final instrument was migrated to a smartphone (eDiary) and usability was confirmed in interviews with additional adult RMS patients.Results: The qualitative stage included 37 RRMS, 5 PRMS, and 5 RSPMS patients. Saturation of concepts was reached during concept elicitation. Cognitive interviews confirmed that participants understood the instructions, items, and response options of the instrument-named FSIQ-RMS-as intended. Psychometric validation included 164 RMS and 74 control patients. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were demonstrated. The symptoms domain discriminated along the RMS symptom-severity continuum and between patients and controls. Patients were able to attribute fatigue-related symptoms to RMS. Usability and conceptual equivalence of the eDiary were confirmed (n = 10 participants).Conclusions: With 7 symptom items and 13 impact items (in 3 impacts subdomains: physical, cognitive and emotional, and coping) after item reduction, the FSIQ-RMS is a comprehensive, valid, and reliable measure of fatigue-related symptoms and impacts in RMS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To validate the paper grip test for assessing plantar flexion strength of the hallux.Methods: Plantar flexor strength for 69 people with diabetic neuropathy was assessed: (a) using the paper grip test while simultaneously a plantar pressure platform quantified the force under the hallux, and (b) using a hand-held dynamometer. Following testing, participants were divided into groups: (1) passed vs. failed paper grip test (2) males vs. females. Statistical analyses determined if differences were evident between the groups and assessed the relationship between the paper grip test and the hand-held dynamometer. The discrimination ability, sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of the paper grip test was established.Results: Participants who passed the paper grip test demonstrated greater grip force at the hallux than those who failed, and they also exhibited greater isometric maximum force during the hand-held dynamometry test (p ≤ 0.05). Grip force for males was significantly higher than for females. A moderate positive correlation between the paper grip test and the hand-held dynamometer was evident.Conclusions: In the population examined the paper grip test was found to be a valid clinical tool; it offers a non-invasive, inexpensive, and quick method to assess plantar flexion strength of the hallux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud computing can be considered as a disruptive technology that is making life easier for Cloud users. Determining a focus of research in a specific subject area is sometimes challenging. A systematic map enables a synthesis of a scheme for categorizing data in a field of interest. The goal of this research paper is to carry out a systematic mapping study of policy language and programming models on the cloud. The mapping involved contribution category such as method, research category such as evaluation and major topics extracted from the abstracts of primary studies. The result indicated there are more publications on evaluation research in term of security with 8.9%. There were more papers published on validation research, solution proposal and experience research on the topic of paradigms with 7.53%, 6.85% and 4.11% respectively. Also, there were more publications on philosophical research in terms of privacy with 4.11%. In addition, there were more articles published on opinion research in terms of the survey with 4.11%. On the other hand, there were no articles on metric in terms of framework, paradigms and accountability, and reliability to the best of the researchers' knowledge. The outcome of this systematic study will be of benefit to cloud users, researchers, practitioners and providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a particular subfield of futures studies, foresight evaluation has not yet been thoroughly studied. This paper investigates research on foresight evaluation, reviewing authors, articles, journals, topics, evaluative elements, and foresight frames. We analyzed 186 academic papers published over the past 30 years. The analysis shows that foresight evaluation, which originated in Europe and partly diffused to North America and Asia, is still an emerging discipline. Research on the evaluation of foresight has covered four topics: 1) Project for Policy, 2) Future Methodology, 3) Technology, and 4) Future Impact; studies in these areas show that there is currently no active research on topics other than technology. Each of these four topics encompasses traditional evaluative elements, such as impact and quality, but few studies reflect the hopeful element of learning. Also, the results of our analysis show that the predictive and planning frames are in high demand, while less predictable frames are not. This study elucidates the reasons behind the inactive state of foresight evaluation research. This paper argues that both researchers and decision-makers have an important role in overcoming this inertia and finding new paths for continuing the development of foresight evaluation. ● Investigates the research on foresight evaluation over the past 30 years. ● No currently active research on topics other than technology. ● Among the evaluative elements, quality and impact are more prevail than learning. ● Predictive and planning are more active than others among the six foresight frames. ● Suggest a new path for continuing the development of foresight evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurately identifying patients at an elevated risk of suicide in minimal time is an important mental health issue. Therefore, we developed the Ultra Brief Checklist for Suicidality (UBCS) and reported its psychometric properties.Methods: We studied 544 participants who had completed the UBCS, other self-report measures, and structured clinical interviews by trained interviewers. We explored the psychometric properties of the UBCS's paper-based and online versions by identifying optimal cutoff points, sensitivity, specificity, etc. of all participants.Results: The mean score of the UBCS (paper-pencil version) in the no-suicide-risk group was 0.23 (SD = 0.73), while in the Risk-Positive (RP) and the High-Risk (HR) groups it was 3.54 (SD = 3.22) and 6.31 (SD = 3.97), respectively. Optimal cutoff points for the RP and HR groups were 1 (AUC = 0.914) and 3 (AUC = 0.928), respectively.Limitations: The current findings apply only to adults, not to children or adolescents. The original MINI was used as the assessment instrument's reference standard rather than MINI 7.0.2 of DSM-5. Predictive validity was not addressed as this was not a longitudinal cohort study.Conclusions: The UBCS was rigorously tested and validated. More than half the participants completed the UBCS within a minute. It possesses adequate psychometric properties and can be easily administered with minimal clinician time and effort, via paper or Internet. We believe it can contribute to suicide risk identification and timely interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of three measurement systems estimating gait speed during a loaded military march over graded terrain. Systems developed by the Swiss and Netherlands Armed Forces and a commercial wrist-based device were evaluated in comparison to a Global Positioning System. The first part of the paper focuses on the development of the Dutch system, where speed is estimated from a chest worn accelerometer and body measurements. For this validation study 36 subjects were walking or running 13 laps of 200 m at different speeds. Results showed that walking and running speed can be estimated with a R2adj of 0.968 and 0.740, respectively. In the second part of this paper, data from 64 soldiers performing a 35 km march were used to evaluate the accuracy of three measurement systems in estimating speed. Data showed that estimating gait speed with a single accelerometer can be accurate for military activity, even without prior individual calibration measurements. However, predictions should be corrected for confounders such as body size and shoe type to be accurate. Both, downhill and uphill walking led to changes in gait characteristics and to an overestimation of speed by up to 10%. Correcting for slope or gradient using altimetry in future algorithms/experiments could improve the estimation of gait speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the evaluation effect of resource-based enterprises' green innovation ability, this paper studies the evaluation of resource-based enterprises' green innovation ability based on digital technology, and gives an idealized algorithm of MIIC with two variables. This paper points out the shortcomings and defects of the existing MIC approximation algorithms through further analysis. Moreover, in view of the disadvantage of high time complexity of the existing two-variable MIC approximation algorithm, this paper proposes a two-variable MIC clustering algorithm. In addition, this paper uses the K-Means clustering algorithm to replace the core of the maximum information coefficient MIC algorithm, which simplifies the optimization process when searching for the optimal grid division. The experimental research results show that the evaluation research model of the green innovation capability of resource-based enterprises based on digital technology proposed in this paper can play a certain role in the green innovation of resource-based enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computerized tests benefit from automated scoring procedures and standardized administration instructions. These methods can reduce the potential for rater error. However, especially in patients with severe mental illnesses, the equivalency of traditional and tablet-based tests cannot be assumed. The Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) is a pen-and-paper cognitive assessment tool that has been used in hundreds of research studies and clinical trials, and has normative data available for generating age- and gender-corrected standardized scores. A tablet-based version of the BACS called the BAC App has been developed. This study compared performance on the BACS and the BAC App in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls. Test equivalency was assessed, and the applicability of paper-based normative data was evaluated. Results demonstrated the distributions of standardized composite scores for the tablet-based BAC App and the pen-and-paper BACS were indistinguishable, and the between-methods mean differences were not statistically significant. The discrimination between patients and controls was similarly robust. The between-methods correlations for individual measures in patients were r>0.70 for most subtests. When data from the Token Motor Test was omitted, the between-methods correlation of composite scores was r=0.88 (df=48; p<0.001) in healthy controls and r=0.89 (df=46; p<0.001) in patients, consistent with the test-retest reliability of each measure. Taken together, results indicate that the tablet-based BAC App generates results consistent with the traditional pen-and-paper BACS, and support the notion that the BAC App is appropriate for use in clinical trials and clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Craniofacial reconstruction recreates a facial outlook from the cranium based on the relationship between the face and the skull to assist identification. But craniofacial structures are very complex, and this relationship is not the same in different craniofacial regions. Several regional methods have recently been proposed, these methods segmented the face and skull into regions, and the relationship of each region is then learned independently, after that, facial regions for a given skull are estimated and finally glued together to generate a face. Most of these regional methods use vertex coordinates to represent the regions, and they define a uniform coordinate system for all of the regions. Consequently, the inconsistence in the positions of regions between different individuals is not eliminated before learning the relationships between the face and skull regions, and this reduces the accuracy of the craniofacial reconstruction. In order to solve this problem, an improved regional method is proposed in this paper involving two types of coordinate adjustments. One is the global coordinate adjustment performed on the skulls and faces with the purpose to eliminate the inconsistence of position and pose of the heads; the other is the local coordinate adjustment performed on the skull and face regions with the purpose to eliminate the inconsistence of position of these regions. After these two coordinate adjustments, partial least squares regression (PLSR) is used to estimate the relationship between the face region and the skull region. In order to obtain a more accurate reconstruction, a new fusion strategy is also proposed in the paper to maintain the reconstructed feature regions when gluing the facial regions together. This is based on the observation that the feature regions usually have less reconstruction errors compared to rest of the face. The results demonstrate that the coordinate adjustments and the new fusion strategy can significantly improve the craniofacial reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To validate the reliability and validity of the Chinese version of the THINC-it tool in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD).Methods: Subjects aged 18 to 65 years (n=117) with MDD were evaluated and compared to age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n=124). Subjects completed the THINC-it, four criteria-related objective cognitive subtests, and the paper version of Perceived Deficits Questionnaire for Depression-5-item (PDQ-5-D).Results: There were significant differences in Spotter [Mean difference (MD) Standard errors (SE)=-0.40 (0.17), P=0.018; 95% Confidence intervals (CI) (-0.73 to -0.07)]; Codebreaker [MD (SE)=-0.39 (0.14), P=0.006; 95% CI(-0.67 to -0.11)]; and the overall performance of four objective tests (including variants of IDN, OBK, DSST, and TMT-B) [MD (SE)=-0.30 (0.12), P=0.013; 95% CI (-0.53 to -0.06]) between the two groups. In the HC group, PDQ-5-D retest reliability was good (ICC = 0.841), and the test-retest reliability of the objective cognitive test was relatively low (ICC ranging from 0.123 to 0.545). In the MDD group: Cronbach's α of PDQ-5-D=0.704; all the THINC-it subtests had good concurrent validity (r ranging from 0.343 to 0.835, all P<0.01).Limitation: The test-retest sample size was relatively small, the educational level and IQ of the control and MDD groups were not completely matched.Conclusion: The Chinese version of the THINC-it tool exhibits good reliability and validity in adults with MDD. There is a need to incorporate cognitive assessment of adults with MDD broadly. The THINC-it tool is the first tool validated to assess cognition of MDD in a Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The TTM2-trial is a multi-centre randomised clinical trial where targeted temperature management (TTM) at 33 °C will be compared with normothermia and early treatment of fever (≥37.8 °C) after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA). This paper presents the design and rationale of the TTM2-trial follow-up, where information on secondary and exploratory outcomes will be collected. We also present the explorative outcome analyses which will focus on neurocognitive function and societal participation in OHCA-survivors.Methods: Blinded outcome-assessors will perform follow-up at 30-days after the OHCA with a telephone interview, including the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) and the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE). Face-to-face meetings will be performed at 6 and 24-months, and include reports on outcome from several sources of information: clinician-reported: mRS, GOSE; patient-reported: EuroQol-5 Dimensions-5 Level responses version (EQ-5D-5L), Life satisfaction, Two Simple Questions; observer-reported: Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly-Cardiac Arrest version (IQCODE-CA) and neurocognitive performance measures: Montreal Cognitive Assessment, (MoCA), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT). Exploratory analyses will be performed with an emphasis on brain injury in the survivors, where the two intervention groups will be compared for potential differences in neuro-cognitive function (MoCA, SDMT) and societal participation (GOSE). Strategies to increase inter-rater reliability and decrease missing data are described.Discussion: The TTM2-trial follow-up is a pragmatic yet detailed pre-planned and standardised assessment of patient's outcome designed to ensure data-quality, decrease missing data and provide optimal conditions to investigate clinically relevant effects of TTM, including OHCA-survivors' neurocognitive function and societal participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To present initial validity data on three web-based computerized versions of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (KSADS-COMP).Method: The sample for evaluating the validity of the clinician-administered KSADS-COMP included 511 youths 6-18 years of age who were participants in the Child Mind Institute Healthy Brain Network. The sample for evaluating the parent and youth self-administered versions of the KSADS-COMP included 158 youths 11-17 years of age recruited from three academic institutions.Results: Average administration time for completing the combined parent and youth clinician-administered KSADS-COMP was less time than previously reported for completing the paper-and-pencil K-SADS with only one informant (91.9 ± 50.1 minutes). Average administration times for the youth and parent self-administered KSADS-COMP were 50.9 ± 28.0 minutes and 63.2 ± 38.3 minutes, respectively, and youths and parents rated their experience using the web-based self-administered KSADS-COMP versions very positively. Diagnoses generated with all three KSADS-COMP versions demonstrated good convergent validity against established clinical rating scales and dimensional diagnostic-specific ratings derived from the KSADS-COMP. When parent and youth self-administered KSADS-COMP data were integrated, good to excellent concordance was also achieved between diagnoses derived using the self-administered and clinician-administered KSADS-COMP versions (area under the curve = 0.89-1.00).Conclusion: The three versions of the KSADS-COMP demonstrate promising psychometric properties, while offering efficiency in administration and scoring. The clinician-administered KSADS-COMP shows utility not only for research, but also for implementation in clinical practice, with self-report preinterview ratings that streamline administration. The self-administered KSADS-COMP versions have numerous potential research and clinical applications, including in large-scale epidemiological studies, in schools, in emergency departments, and in telehealth to address the critical shortage of child and adolescent mental health specialists.Clinical Trial Registration Information: Computerized Screening for Comorbidity in Adolescents With Substance or Psychiatric Disorders; https://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT01866956. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of biodiesel through enzymatic routes has attracted significant attention, mainly because this can be regarded as a "green route" for the manufacture of fuels. In this way, an advanced bibliometric analysis comprising the global scientific production of biodiesel through immobilized enzymes was conducted. Thus, 923 papers were retrieved, analyzed, and classified according to the reported substrates, enzymes, supports, immobilization procedures, and reactors. Researchers from 748 institutions of 64 distinct countries authored the analyzed articles, showing the widespread interest in these technologies, although 10 countries concentrate more than 80% of the total number of documents published in this area, including China (23%), Brazil (17%), and India (11%). Particularly, most papers reported the use of vegetable oils (67%) as raw materials. In the last decade, approximately 80% of the published research focused on the use of supports to manufacture immobilized and insoluble biocatalysts. Enzymes have been obtained mostly from fungal sources (64%), especially lipases produced by Thermomyces lanuginosus (14.4%). Among the available commercial immobilized biocatalysts, Novozym 435 is certainly the one cited most frequently (55.9%) followed by Lipozyme RM IM (13.7%) and Lipozyme TL IM (16.7%). Additionally, the majority of the manuscripts reported the use of stirred tank reactors (83.0%) to perform the enzymatic reactions. Based on the surveyed literature, research trends indicate that new technologies are being developed to turn the enzymatic production of biodiesel more sustainable and economically viable, based mainly on the use of more active biocatalysts, more sustainable enzyme supports, and low-cost residues as raw materials. • Advanced bibliometric review about the production of biodiesel by immobilized enzyme was performed. • Chinese and Brazilian scientific communities are the most active in this field. • Novozymes 435 is the commercial biocatalyst used most often in this field. • Emerging technologies were identified for the synthesis of enzyme supports. • Sustainable supports and low-cost feedstocks are trends in the biodiesel production field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Imaging phantoms can be cost prohibitive, therefore a need exists to produce low cost alternatives which are fit for purpose. This paper describes the development and validation of a low cost paediatric pelvis phantom based on the anatomy of a 5-year-old child.Methods: Tissue equivalent materials representing paediatric bone (Plaster of Paris; PoP) and soft tissue (Poly methyl methacrylate; PMMA) were used. PMMA was machined to match the bony anatomy identified from a CT scan of a 5-year-old child and cavities were created for infusing the PoP. Phantom validation comprised physical and visual measures. Physical included CT density comparison between a CT scan of a 5-year old child and the phantom and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) comparative analysis of anteroposterior phantom X-ray images against a commercial anthropomorphic phantom. Visual analysis using a psychometric image quality scale (face validity).Results: CT density, the percentage difference between cortical bone, soft tissue and their equivalent tissue substitutes were -4.7 to -4.1% and -23.4%, respectively. For SNR, (mAs response) there was a strong positive correlation between the two phantoms (r > 0.95 for all kVps). For kVp response, there was a strong positive correlation between 1 and 8 mAs (r = 0.85), this then decreased as mAs increased (r = -0.21 at 20 mAs). Psychometric scale results produced a Cronbach's Alpha of almost 0.8.Conclusions: Physical and visual measures suggest our low-cost phantom has suitable anatomical characteristics for X-ray imaging. Our phantom could have utility in dose and image quality optimisation studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) includes many symptom presentations, which creates unique diagnostic challenges. Fears surrounding one's sexual orientation are common within OCD (also called SO-OCD), but SO-OCD is consistently misdiagnosed by physicians and psychologists. To address this issue, we describe the development of a self-report measure for assessing SO-OCD to help distinguish OCD from distress caused by a sexual orientation identity crisis. The current paper details two studies that established the psychometric properties and clinical utility of this measure. In Study 1, the factor structure, validity, and reliability were examined for the measure's 12 items in a sample of 1,673 university students. The results revealed a two-factor solution for the measure (Factor 1: Transformation Fears; Factor 2: Somatic Checking) and preliminary evidence of validity and reliability. In Study 2, the measure was tested with LGBTQ and heterosexual community samples and clinical samples of individuals with SO-OCD and other types of OCD. The two-factor solution and evidence of validity and reliability were supported in these samples. Cut-off points were established to distinguish between community members and SO-OCD sufferers, as well as between those experiencing SO-OCD and other types of OCD. Limitations and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Youth Anxiety Measure-I for DSM-5 has recently been developed to assess youth's anxiety symptomatology. As social anxiety is one of the most common disorders in adolescence, this scale includes a subscale measuring social anxiety. However, psychometric properties of the YAM-5-I social anxiety subscale (YAM-5-I-SAD) in clinical samples are lacking. This paper aims to bridge the gap.Methods: The sample comprised 24 clinically diagnosed and 24 healthy control Spanish-speaking adolescents aged 14-17 years.Results: Data revealed that the YAM-5- I-SAD yielded excellent sensitivity, which makes it particularly useful as a screening tool to early detect socially anxious adolescents. In addition, the YAM-5-I-SAD evidenced good internal consistency and construct validity.Limitations: Data are limited to the social anxiety subscale.Conclusions: The YAM-5-I-SAD is a sensitive and specific measure to screen for adolescents with social anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recently, we reported on the axial-shear strain fill-in of the interior of loosely bonded stiff elliptical inclusions in a soft backgroundat non-normal orientations, and the lack of fill-in in firmly bonded inclusions at any orientation. In this paper, we report on the experimental validation of the simulation studies using tissue-mimicking gelatin-based phantoms. We also show a few confirmatory examples of the existence of these phenomena in benign vs. malignant breast lesions in vivo. Phantom experiments showed that axial-shear strain zones caused by firmly bonded elliptical inclusions occurred only outside of the inclusion, as predicted by the simulation. By contrast, the axial-shear strain zones filled in the interior of loosely bonded elliptical inclusions at non-normal orientations. The axial-shear strain elastograms obtained from the in vivo cases appeared to be in general agreement with our experimental results. The results reported in this paper may have important clinical implications. Specifically, axial-shear strain fill-in inside an inclusion may be a unique signature of stiff, loosely bonded, ellipsoidal or elongated inclusions at non-normal orientations. Thus, it may be useful as a marker of benignity of benign breast lesions (e.g., fibroadenomas) that are generally stiff, elongated and loosely bonded to the host tissues. (E-mail: Jonathan.Ophir@uth.tmc.edu) [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Testosterone is used therapeutically in medical settings. Non-prescribed testosterone use is typically illegal, described as 'enhancement' or 'doping', and considered a problem. However, research has found that some non-prescribed testosterone use may be therapeutic (i.e. self-medication). Little is known about testosterone self-medication. It has been noted among individuals who use image and performance enhancing drugs (IPEDs), but never systematically explored.Approach: This paper describes the findings of a 4-year ethnographic study in online forums and social media groups frequented by people who use IPEDs. It focusses on 31 men who used enhancement doses of testosterone, but who described some of their testosterone use as 'testosterone replacement therapy' (TRT). In particular, it focuses on the 26 (84%) of these individuals who self-medicated TRT. Data was analysed thematically (using NVivo) in order to answer the question: 'how and why is testosterone self-medicated?'. Using Bacchi's (2016) problematization approach to policy analysis, this paper also asks, 'what happens to the 'problem' of non-prescribed testosterone use if such use is therapeutic?'.Findings: Self-medicated TRT was found to be very similar to TRT as practised in medical contexts. Self-medication was often practised because of an inability to access testosterone through health practitioners (who were either reluctant or unable to prescribe). However, some individuals were found to prefer self-medication because of price, ease of access, reliability of supply, and because health practitioners were perceived as lacking expertise regarding testosterone use.Conclusion: By documenting the therapeutic use of testosterone outside of medical settings, this paper calls into question previous conceptualisations of all illicit testosterone use as 'abuse', and the utility of the repair/enhancement dichotomy as a foundation for discussions of drug use. It suggests that in some cases the problem may not be non-prescribed testosterone use per se, but policies that prevent access to medical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Sports scientists require a thorough understanding of the energy demands of sports and physical activities so that optimal training strategies and game simulations can be constructed. A range of techniques has been used to both directly assess and estimate the physiological and biochemical changes during competition. A fundamental approach to understanding the contribution of the energy systems in physical activity has involved the use of time–motion studies. A number of tools have been used from simple pen and paper methods, the use of video recordings, to sophisticated electronic tracking devices. Depending on the sport, there may be difficulties in using electronic tracking devices because of concerns of player safety. This paper assesses two methods currently used to measure player movement patterns during competition: (1) global positioning technology (GPS) and (2) a computer-based tracking (CBT) system that relies on a calibrated miniaturised playing field and mechanical movements of the tracker. A range of ways was used to determine the validity and reliability of these methods for tracking Australian footballers for distance covered during games. Comparisons were also made between these methods. The results indicate distances measured using CBT overestimated the actual values (measured with a calibrated trundle wheel) by an average of about 5.8%. The GPS system overestimated the actual values by about 4.8%. Distances measured using CBT in experienced hands were as accurate as the GPS technology. Both systems showed relatively small errors in true distances. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We describe an improved method for the measurement of retinol in dried blood spots (DBS) on filter paper. Retinol in human DBS on filter paper was analyzed by normal phase HPLC after a simple extraction method. Retinol associated with its binding protein was eluted from the paper into aqueous solution facilitated by ultrasonic agitation. Retinol associated with retinol binding protein was denatured with acetonitrile, and then retinol was isolated in a single hexane extract and analyzed directly by HPLC. When analyzing DBS, the individual plasma volume of the spots was calculated by measuring the sodium content or by weighing the blood spots. The described method yielded low intra- and interassay variability (<6%), with sufficient sensitivity (detection limit, 0.1 micromol/L) and good recovery (97% spike). Compared with matching plasma samples, DBS retinol consistently decreased 18-23% during the 1st wk of storage. After 1 wk, retinol remained stable in the blood spots at 23 degrees C for >3 mo. In conclusion, the analysis of retinol in DBS by HPLC is comparable to retinol analysis in serum. The variability of the method was reduced by using sodium concentration to estimate sample volume. Collection of DBS for retinol analysis is appropriate under field conditions, where it is difficult to centrifuge or freeze blood samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Compared with preprints that notpublished in journals, preprints subsequently published in journals have better altmetrics. • The better the altmetrics of preprints, the higher the impact factor when the preprints published in journals. • The better the altmetrics and citations of preprints, the better performance when the preprints published in journals. • There exists consistency in academic community evaluation (peer review and citation) and public attention (altmetrics). In this paper, we study the consistency of impact of preprints and their journal versions, with the impact being measured using altmetrics and bibliometric indicators. We found that, compared with preprints that have not been published in journals, preprints subsequently published in journals performed better in altmetrics statistically, which accords with the peer review system. There was a positive correlation between the altmetrics performance of preprints and the journal impact factor when the preprint had been published in a journal. We also found a positive correlation between the performance of preprints and their corresponding journal papers, which confirms the consistency in academic community evaluation (peer review and citation) and general public attention (measured by altmetrics indicators). The impact of research is driven by its value, which could be distinguished by both the general public and the academic community. Research evaluation refers to the evaluation of individual research instead of where it is published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate psychiatric diagnosis is critical for both sound clinical interventions and valid research methodology. Over the years, attempts to improve diagnostic reliability and accuracy led to the development of more explicit operationalized diagnostic criteria, starting with DSM-III, and subsequently fully structured and semistructured diagnostic interviews.1 As diagnostic assessment changed and with advances in technology, the use of computers soon developed in parallel to improve the reliability and validity of psychiatric diagnosis. As far back as 1968, computers were used to help clinicians formulate psychiatric diagnoses, by helping them process clinical information according to diagnostic algorithms.2 Since that time, there has been an exponential rise in the use of technology in clinical research and practice. Indeed, computers have been used both to transition diagnostic interviews from paper-and-pencil format to instruments that are clinician-administered via an electronic platform and to create self-report versions of clinician-administered diagnostic interviews. We will discuss each of these in turn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brain connections in the different regions demonstrate the characteristics of brain activities. In addition, in various conditions and with neuropsychological disorders, the brain has special patterns in different regions. This paper presents a model to show and compare the connection patterns in different brain regions of children with autism (53 boys and 36 girls) and control children (61 boys and 33 girls). The model is designed by cellular neural networks and it uses the proper features of electroencephalography. The results show that there are significant differences and abnormalities in the left hemisphere, (p < 0.05) at the electrodes AF3, F3, P7, T7, and O1 in the children with autism compared with the control group. Also, the evaluation of the obtained connections values between brain regions demonstrated that there are more abnormalities in the connectivity of frontal and parietal lobes and the relations of the neighboring regions in children with autism. It is observed that the proposed model is able to distinguish the autistic children from the control subjects with an accuracy rate of 95.1% based on the obtained values of CNN using the SVM method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diagnostic information regarding the health status of the corneal endothelium may be obtained by analyzing the size and the shape of the endothelial cells in specular microscopy images. Prior to the analysis, the endothelial cells need to be extracted from the image. Up to today, this has been performed manually or semi-automatically. Several approaches to automatic segmentation of endothelial cells exist; however, none of them is perfect. Therefore this paper proposes to perform cell segmentation using a U-Net-based convolutional neural network. Particularly, the network is trained to discriminate pixels located at the borders between cells. The edge probability map outputted by the network is next binarized and skeletonized in order to obtain one-pixel wide edges. The proposed solution was tested on a dataset consisting of 30 corneal endothelial images presenting cells of different sizes, achieving an AUROC level of 0.92. The resulting DICE is on average equal to 0.86, which is a good result, regarding the thickness of the compared edges. The corresponding mean absolute percentage error of cell number is at the level of 4.5% which confirms the high accuracy of the proposed approach. The resulting cell edges are well aligned to the ground truths and require a limited number of manual corrections. This also results in accurate values of the cell morphometric parameters. The corresponding errors range from 5.2% for endothelial cell density, through 6.2% for cell hexagonality to 11.93% for the coefficient of variation of the cell size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lung sounds convey relevant information related to pulmonary disorders, and to evaluate patients with pulmonary conditions, the physician or the doctor uses the traditional auscultation technique. However, this technique suffers from limitations. For example, if the physician is not well trained, this may lead to a wrong diagnosis. Moreover, lung sounds are non-stationary, complicating the tasks of analysis, recognition, and distinction. This is why developing automatic recognition systems can help to deal with these limitations. In this paper, we compare three machine learning approaches for lung sounds classification. The first two approaches are based on the extraction of a set of handcrafted features trained by three different classifiers (support vector machines, k-nearest neighbor, and Gaussian mixture models) while the third approach is based on the design of convolutional neural networks (CNN). In the first approach, we extracted the 12 MFCC coefficients from the audio files then calculated six MFCCs statistics. We also experimented normalization using zero mean and unity variance to enhance accuracy. In the second approach, the local binary pattern (LBP) features are extracted from the visual representation of the audio files (spectrograms). The features are normalized using whitening. The dataset used in this work consists of seven classes (normal, coarse crackle, fine crackle, monophonic wheeze, polyphonic wheeze, squawk, and stridor). We have also experimentally tested dataset augmentation techniques on the spectrograms to enhance the ultimate accuracy of the CNN. The results show that CNN outperformed the handcrafted feature based classifiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensional (3D) body scanners have the potential to evaluate changes to the human form through different clothing configurations, the use of protective equipment, or the effects of medical interventions. To achieve this, scans of an individual need to be superimposed for each experimental condition. The literature highlights that one of the limiting factors is postural variability. This paper describes a newly developed 'positioning aid' that stabilises the posture during the scanning process and is invisible on scans. The results of a study evaluating the efficacy of the positioning aid showed that it reduces postural variability for all body parts in lateral and longitudinal directions. A reference test with a rigid mannequin indicated that the 'technical' variability due to the scanner hardware and software significantly contributes to the residual variability. Furthermore, the study showed that the newly developed positioning aid overall increased the precision of the software-assisted extraction of body dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The Opiate Dosage Adequacy Scale (ODAS) is a clinical tool to individually measure the "adequacy" of opioid doses in patients on maintenance treatment. The aim of this paper is to provide evidence for the validity and reliability of the ODAS in a sample of patients in buprenorphine/naloxone (B/N) maintenance treatment.Method: Cross-sectional study of a convenience sample of B/N-treated patients (n = 316) from four Autonomous Communities in Spain. Participants completed a battery of instruments to assess the following: buprenorphine dose adequacy; heroin dependence severity; psychological adjustment; and patient-desired adjustment of buprenorphine dose.Results: Exploratory Factor Analysis identified four factors from the ODAS that together account for 85.4% of the total variance: "Heroin craving and use"; "Overmedication"; "Objective opiate withdrawal symptoms (OWS)" and 'Subjective OWS'. Compared to patients with an "inadequate" B/N dose (ODAS), patients with "adequate" doses had less heroin use in the last week (0.01 vs. 0.40; t = -2.73; p < 0.01, 95% CI: -0.67, -0.10), less severe heroin dependence (2.20 vs. 5.26, t = -5.14, p < 0.001; 95% CI: -4.23, -1.88), less psychological distress (3.00 vs. 6.31, t = -4.37, p < 0.001; 95% CI: -4.80, -1.81), and greater satisfaction with their doses (42.1% vs. 13.6%, χ2 = 14.44, p < 0.01). Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.76 (0.81, 0.92, 0.94, and 0.93, respectively, for the four factor dimensions).Conclusion: These findings support the validity and reliability of the ODAS as a tool to measure and assess buprenorphine dose adequacy in the context of an opioid dependency treatment program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Golgi Apparatus (GA) is a key organelle for protein synthesis within the eukaryotic cell. The main task of GA is to modify and sort proteins for transport throughout the cell. Proteins permeate through the GA on the ER (Endoplasmic Reticulum) facing side (cis side) and depart on the other side (trans side). Based on this phenomenon, we get two types of GA proteins, namely, cis-Golgi protein and trans-Golgi protein. Any dysfunction of GA proteins can result in congenital glycosylation disorders and some other forms of difficulties that may lead to neurodegenerative and inherited diseases like diabetes, cancer and cystic fibrosis. So, the exact classification of GA proteins may contribute to drug development which will further help in medication. In this paper, we focus on building a new computational model that not only introduces easy ways to extract features from protein sequences but also optimizes classification of trans-Golgi and cis-Golgi proteins. After feature extraction, we have employed Random Forest (RF) model to rank the features based on the importance score obtained from it. After selecting the top ranked features, we have applied Support Vector Machine (SVM) to classify the sub-Golgi proteins. We have trained regression model as well as classification model and found the former to be superior. The model shows improved performance over all previous methods. As the benchmark dataset is significantly imbalanced, we have applied Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) to the dataset to make it balanced and have conducted experiments on both versions. Our method, namely, identification of sub-Golgi Protein Types (isGPT), achieves accuracy values of 95.4%, 95.9% and 95.3% for 10-fold cross-validation test, jackknife test and independent test respectively. According to different performance metrics, isGPT performs better than state-of-the-art techniques. The source code of isGPT, along with relevant dataset and detailed experimental results, can be found at https://github.com/srautonu/isGPT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent evidence suggests that musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) may be the result of a fatigue failure process in affected tissues. This paper describes a new low back exposure assessment tool (the Lifting Fatigue Failure Tool [LiFFT]), which estimates a "daily dose" of cumulative loading on the low back using fatigue failure principles. Only three variables are necessary to derive the cumulative load associated with a lifting task: the weight of the load, the maximum horizontal distance from the spine to the load, and the number of repetitions for tasks performed during the workday. The new tool was validated using two existing epidemiological databases: the Lumbar Motion Monitor (LMM) database, and a database from a U.S. automotive manufacturer. The LiFFT cumulative damage metric explained 92% of the deviance in low back disorders (LBDs) in the LMM database and 72-95% of the deviance in low back outcomes in the automotive database (depending on the outcome measure). Thus, LiFFT is practitioner friendly and its cumulative damage metric highly related to low back outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fingermark detection is in constant evolution, with new techniques being developed and existing ones being continuously optimised. Recently, researchers have begun to express interest in artificial fingermark secretions to overcome the issues arising from the variability of fingermark composition. Some of these artificial secretions have started to appear on the market in the form of pads that can be used to deposit fingermarks with a known and controlled composition. This study aimed at assessing the reliability of three commercially-available pads by comparing the results to those obtained by real fingermarks, using six detection techniques (1,2-indanedione/zinc, ninhydrin, cyanoacrylate followed by rhodamine 6G staining, gold/zinc vacuum metal deposition, and physical developer) on five substrate types (copy and recycled paper, acetate, glass, and glossy paper). The results showed that the artificial fingermarks deposited with these pads reacted in an unreliable way, notably when treated with complex detection techniques such as Physical Developer. Further, the high concentration of some of the target compounds found in the artificial secretion led to an over performance of some detection techniques, which could mislead the operator to overestimating the efficiency of a given method. The resulting artificial fingermarks are considered too dissimilar to real fingermarks to be used as quality control standards and better simulants need to be found for a more efficient and realistic control of the variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous gait event detection (GED) algorithms have been developed using accelerometers as they allow the possibility of long-term gait analysis in everyday life. However, almost all such existing algorithms have been developed and assessed using data collected in controlled indoor experiments with pre-defined paths and walking speeds. On the contrary, human gait is quite dynamic in the real-world, often involving varying gait speeds, changing surfaces and varying surface inclinations. Though portable wearable systems can be used to conduct experiments directly in the real-world, there is a lack of publicly available gait datasets or studies evaluating the performance of existing GED algorithms in various real-world settings. This paper presents a new gait database called MAREA (n=20 healthy subjects) that consists of walking and running in indoor and outdoor environments with accelerometers positioned on waist, wrist and both ankles. The study also evaluates the performance of six state-of-the-art accelerometer-based GED algorithms in different real-world scenarios, using the MAREA gait database. The results reveal that the performance of these algorithms is inconsistent and varies with changing environments and gait speeds. All algorithms demonstrated good performance for the scenario of steady walking in a controlled indoor environment with a combined median F1score of 0.98 for Heel-Strikes and 0.94 for Toe-Offs. However, they exhibited significantly decreased performance when evaluated in other lesser controlled scenarios such as walking and running in an outdoor street, with a combined median F1score of 0.82 for Heel-Strikes and 0.53 for Toe-Offs. Moreover, all GED algorithms displayed better performance for detecting Heel-Strikes as compared to Toe-Offs, when evaluated in different scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to evaluate the invariance of the factor structure of the Drinking Motives Questionnaire Revised (DMQ-R) between Portuguese and US university students. Following tests of factor model invariance we further evaluated cross-cultural differences in (1) mean levels of the four motives, and (2) the association of the four motives with weekly drinking, peak drinking, and binge drinking among college students from the United States and Portugal. Participants were 983 undergraduate students (67% female) from the US (N=515) and Portugal (N=468). Participants completed a confidential online (US) or paper and pencil (Portugal) survey. Results of a CFA demonstrated that the four-factor model of the DMQ-R was invariant with respect to factor loadings, factor variances, and factor covariances across the two countries. Mean differences in ratings of drinking motives were found, with US students ranking all motives higher than Portuguese students. However, rank order of motives (social>enhancement>coping>conformity) were equivalent across countries. Support for convergent validity was demonstrated by significant associations between drinking motives and alcohol consumption for men and women of both samples. Results support the factorial invariance and convergent validity of the DMQ-R across US and Portuguese college students, making it a trustworthy means of assessing college students' drinking motives, and a useful instrument for clinical and research purposes, both within and across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To determine the potential effect of changes to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines to the use of computed tomography (CT) in the assessment of suspected paediatric cervical spine (c-spine) injury.Material and Methods: A 5 year retrospective study was conducted of c-spine imaging in paediatric (<10 years) patients presenting following blunt trauma at a Level 1 trauma centre in London. All patients under the age of 10 years who underwent any imaging of the c-spine following blunt trauma were included. Clinical data relating to the presenting signs and symptoms were obtained from the retrospective review of electronic records and paper notes. This was then applied to the previous NICE guideline (CG56) and to the new NICE guideline (CG176). Patients with incomplete data were excluded.Results: Two hundred and seventy-eight patients <10 years underwent imaging of the c-spine following blunt trauma. Two hundred and seventy (97.12%) examinations had complete data and were included in further analysis. One hundred and forty-nine (55.19%) met the criteria for a CT of the c-spine under NICE CG56, whereas 252 (93.33%) met the updated NICE CG176 criteria for c-spine CT. Five (1.85%) patients had a c-spine injury and met the criteria under both CG56 and CG176 NICE guidelines.Conclusion: Recent changes to NICE Head Injury Guidelines relating to radiological assessment of paediatric c-spine following blunt trauma are likely to result in an increased usage of CT as the initial radiological investigation over plain radiographs, without an apparent increase in specificity in the present series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Helmet safety benefits are reduced if the headgear is poorly fitted on the wearer's head. At present, there are no industry standards available to assess objectively how a specific protective helmet fits a particular person. A proper fit is typically defined as a small and uniform distance between the helmet liner and the wearer's head shape, with a broad coverage of the head area. This paper presents a novel method to investigate and compare fitting accuracy of helmets based on 3D anthropometry, reverse engineering techniques and computational analysis. The Helmet Fit Index (HFI) that provides a fit score on a scale from 0 (excessively poor fit) to 100 (perfect fit) was compared with subjective fit assessments of surveyed cyclists. Results in this study showed that quantitative (HFI) and qualitative (participants' feelings) data were related when comparing three commercially available bicycle helmets. Findings also demonstrated that females and Asian people have lower fit scores than males and Caucasians, respectively. The HFI could provide detailed understanding of helmet efficiency regarding fit and could be used during helmet design and development phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper was to investigate the clinical feasibility and the accuracy in femoral neck densitometry of the Osteoporosis Score (O.S.), an ultrasound (US) parameter for osteoporosis diagnosis that has been recently introduced for lumbar spine applications. A total of 377 female patients (aged 61-70 y) underwent both a femoral dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and an echographic scan of the proximal femur. Recruited patients were sub-divided into a reference database used for ultrasound spectral model construction and a study population for repeatability assessments and accuracy evaluations. Echographic images and radiofrequency signals were analyzed through a fully automatic algorithm that performed a series of combined spectral and statistical analyses, providing as a final output the O.S. value of the femoral neck. Assuming DXA as a gold standard reference, the accuracy of O.S.-based diagnoses resulted 94.7%, with k = 0.898 (p < 0.0001). Significant correlations were also found between O.S.-estimated bone mineral density and corresponding DXA values, with r(2) up to 0.79 and root mean square error = 5.9-7.4%. The reported accuracy levels, combined with the proven ease of use and very good measurement repeatability, provide the adopted method with a potential for clinical routine application in osteoporosis diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The outcomes of psychological therapies for anxiety and depression vary across individuals and symptom domains. Being able to predict treatment response from readily available patient data at presentation has potentially important benefits in aiding decisions about the most suitable interventions for a patient. This paper presents a method of identifying subgroups of patients using latent profile analysis, and comparing response to psychological treatments between these profiles.Methods: All outpatients taken into treatment at two psychological treatment services in London, UK and who provided basic demographic information and standardized symptom measures were included in the analysis (n=16636).Results: Latent Profile Analysis was performed on intake data to identify statistically different groups of patients, which were then examined in longitudinal analyses to determine their capacity to predict treatment outcomes. Comparison between profiles showed considerable variation in recovery (74-15%), deterioration rates (5-20%), and levels of attrition (17-40%). Further variation in outcomes was found within the profiles when different intensities of psychological intervention were delivered.Limitations: Latent profiles were identified using data from two services, so generalisability to other services should be considered. Routinely collected patient data was included, additional patient information may further enhance utility of the profiles.Conclusions: These results suggest that intake data can be used to reliably classify patients into profiles that are predictive of outcome to different intensities of psychological treatment in routine care. Algorithms based on these kinds of data could be used to optimize decision-making and aid the appropriate matching of patients to treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the use of nanotechnology for fingermark detection has been attracting a lot of attention. A substantial number of nanoparticle types has thus been studied and applied with varying success. However, despite all efforts, few publications present clear supporting evidence of their superiority over standard and commonly used techniques. This paper focuses on a rarely studied type of nanoparticles that regroups all desired properties for effective fingermark detection: silicon oxide. These nanoparticles offer optical and surface properties that can be tuned to provide optimal detection. This study explores their potential as a new method for fingermark detection. Detection conditions, outer functionalisations and optical properties were optimised and a first evaluation of the technique is presented. Dye-doped silicon oxide nanoparticles were assessed against a one-step luminescent cyanoacrylate. Both techniques were compared on natural fingermarks from three donors collected on four different non-porous substrates. On average, the two techniques performed similarly but silicon oxide detected marks with a better homogeneity and was less affected by donor inter-variability. The technique remains to be further optimised and yet silicon oxide nanoparticles already show great promises for effective fingermark detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Feature selection is a technique widely used in data mining. The aim is to select the best subset of features relevant to the problem being considered. In this paper, we consider feature selection for the classification of gene datasets. Gene data is usually composed of just a few dozen objects described by thousands of features. For this kind of data, it is easy to find a model that fits the learning data. However, it is not easy to find one that will simultaneously evaluate new data equally well as learning data. This overfitting issue is well known as regards classification and regression, but it also applies to feature selection.Methods and Materials: We address this problem and investigate its importance in an empirical study of four feature selection methods applied to seven high-dimensional gene datasets. We chose datasets that are well studied in the literature-colon cancer, leukemia and breast cancer. All the datasets are characterized by a significant number of features and the presence of exactly two decision classes. The feature selection methods used are ReliefF, minimum redundancy maximum relevance, support vector machine-recursive feature elimination and relaxed linear separability.Results: Our main result reveals the existence of positive feature selection bias in all 28 experiments (7 datasets and 4 feature selection methods). Bias was calculated as the difference between validation and test accuracies and ranges from 2.6% to as much as 41.67%. The validation accuracy (biased accuracy) was calculated on the same dataset on which the feature selection was performed. The test accuracy was calculated for data that was not used for feature selection (by so called external cross-validation).Conclusions: This work provides evidence that using the same dataset for feature selection and learning is not appropriate. We recommend using cross-validation for feature selection in order to reduce selection bias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper aims at developing an automated gastroscopic video summarization algorithm to assist clinicians to more effectively go through the abnormal contents of the video.Methods and Materials: To select the most representative frames from the original video sequence, we formulate the problem of gastroscopic video summarization as a dictionary selection issue. Different from the traditional dictionary selection methods, which take into account only the number and reconstruction ability of selected key frames, our model introduces the similar-inhibition constraint to reinforce the diversity of selected key frames. We calculate the attention cost by merging both gaze and content change into a prior cue to help select the frames with more high-level semantic information. Moreover, we adopt an image quality evaluation process to eliminate the interference of the poor quality images and a segmentation process to reduce the computational complexity.Results: For experiments, we build a new gastroscopic video dataset captured from 30 volunteers with more than 400k images and compare our method with the state-of-the-arts using the content consistency, index consistency and content-index consistency with the ground truth. Compared with all competitors, our method obtains the best results in 23 of 30 videos evaluated based on content consistency, 24 of 30 videos evaluated based on index consistency and all videos evaluated based on content-index consistency.Conclusions: For gastroscopic video summarization, we propose an automated annotation method via similar-inhibition dictionary selection. Our model can achieve better performance compared with other state-of-the-art models and supplies more suitable key frames for diagnosis. The developed algorithm can be automatically adapted to various real applications, such as the training of young clinicians, computer-aided diagnosis or medical report generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Health-related websites have developed to be much more than information sites: they are used to exchange experiences and find support as well as information and advice. This paper documents the development of a tool to compare the potential consequences and experiences a person may encounter when using health-related websites.Methods: Questionnaire items were developed following a review of relevant literature and qualitative secondary analysis of interviews relating to experiences of health. Item reduction steps were performed on pilot survey data (n=167). Tests of validity and reliability were subsequently performed (n=170) to determine the psychometric properties of the questionnaire.Results: Two independent item pools entered psychometric testing: (1) Items relating to general views of using the internet in relation to health and, (2) Items relating to the consequences of using a specific health-related website. Identified sub-scales were found to have high construct validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability.Conclusion: Analyses confirmed good psychometric properties in the eHIQ-Part 1 (11 items) and the eHIQ-Part 2 (26 items).Practice Implications: This tool will facilitate the measurement of the potential consequences of using websites containing different types of material (scientific facts and figures, blogs, experiences, images) across a range of health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the Diabetes-39 (D-39) with six multi-attribute utility (MAU) instruments (15D, AQoL-8D, EQ-5D, HUI3, QWB, and SF-6D), and to develop mapping algorithms which could be used to transform the D-39 scores into the MAU scores.Research Design and Methods: Self-reported diabetes sufferers (N=924) and members of the healthy public (N=1760), aged 18 years and over, were recruited from 6 countries (Australia 18%, USA 18%, UK 17%, Canada 16%, Norway 16%, and Germany 15%). Apart from the QWB which was distributed normally, non-parametric rank tests were used to compare subgroup utilities and D-39 scores. Mapping algorithms were estimated using ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalised linear models (GLM).Results: MAU instruments discriminated between diabetes patients and the healthy public; however, utilities varied between instruments. The 15D, SF-6D, AQoL-8D had the strongest correlations with the D-39. Except for the HUI3, there were significant differences by gender. Mapping algorithms based on the OLS estimator consistently gave better goodness-of-fit results. The mean absolute error (MAE) values ranged from 0.061 to 0.147, the root mean square error (RMSE) values 0.083 to 0.198, and the R-square statistics 0.428 and 0.610. Based on MAE and RMSE values the preferred mapping is D-39 into 15D. R-square statistics and the range of predicted utilities indicate the preferred mapping is D-39 into AQoL-8D.Conclusions: Utilities estimated from different MAU instruments differ significantly and the outcome of a study could depend upon the instrument used. The algorithms reported in this paper enable D-39 data to be mapped into utilities predicted from any of six instruments. This provides choice for those conducting cost-utility analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a cross-language longitudinal study in which we extend previous research on the effects of maternal education on vocabulary growth in Spanish- and English-dominant children at three time points: 16 months, 22 months, and 30 months of age. This study addresses recent conflicting evidence regarding the role of maternal education in children's acquisition of Spanish. Participants were 62 English-dominant children, 47 Spanish-dominant children, and their mothers. Growth curve models were constructed separately for English and Spanish vocabulary. Strong growth rate reliability and effect sizes were evinced for vocabulary across samples. As expected, in English-dominant children, maternal education predicted English vocabulary and growth from 16 to 30 months of age. However, in Spanish-dominant children, there was no significant effect of maternal education on vocabulary or growth, although there was a descriptive advantage for children of college-educated mothers at 30 months of age. In conjunction with prior evidence, we conclude that the effect of maternal education on maternal input and child vocabulary does not generalize readily to children whose first language is Spanish. Our findings contribute to a literature that suggests that focusing on maternal beliefs, input, and the home literacy environment are more fruitful approaches in the study of children learning Spanish in the U.S. Further, the importance of maternal beliefs highlights the need to support parent investment in the quantity and quality of input in the home language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance evaluation of scientific research institutions is significant to the development of universities. It can improve the needs of universities' own competitiveness, and keep the overall development of universities on a healthy track. In this paper, the production efficiency of research laboratories is evaluated by the combination of ecological theory and network data envelopment analysis (DEA). Firstly, a model of an evaluation system for research laboratories, which innovatively combined ecological theory with DEA, is proposed. Secondly, A case of 10 research bases were studied. Finally, the results show that the proposed evaluation method can efficiently improve the evaluation efficiency of scientific research bases by optimize their different parameter. The results also show that the scientific research bases institutions can be ranked by the proposed complete ranking model. • A mathematical model for evaluation systems based on the TOPSIS method is proposed. • The scientific research ecological theory and DEA are combined for case analysis. • Scientific research institutions are ranked and their efficiency are optimized and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: For many years, the Histologic/Histochemical Grading System (HHGS) for osteoarthritis monitoring has been used as a histological scoring system for the quality of cartilage. There are, however, some limitations using this grading system. The goal of the investigation presented in this paper was to examine the hypothesized advantage of the recently introduced Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) Cartilage Histopathology Assessment System (OOCHAS) as compared to the most frequently used HHGS by means of reliability, reproducibility, and variability evaluation as well as the correlation analysis between the two systems in goat knee articular cartilage.Methods: Nine hundred and thirty-six sections of Dutch Milk goat articular knee cartilage were scored using light microscopy. Three observers applied the HHGS for all sections and subsequently, the OOCHAS. The same scoring procedure was repeated after a minimum interval of 1 week. For each system the reliability, reproducibility and variability as well as the correlation between both systems were determined.Results: The reliability of the OOCHAS was higher as compared to the HHGS. Both the HHGS as well the OOCHAS have an excellent intra- and inter-observer reproducibility and variability and a good positive correlation between the scores.Conclusions: Although the HHGS has proven to be an excellent tool for histological scoring of cartilage quality, we recommend the OOCHAS as the premium choice while stressing the importance of further research investigating the correlation of the histological results to macroscopic and biochemical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Myocardial elastography is a novel method for noninvasively assessing regional myocardial function, with the advantages of high spatial and temporal resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this paper, in-vivo experiments were performed in anesthetized normal and infarcted mice (one day after left anterior descending coronary artery [LAD] ligation) using a high-resolution (30 MHz) ultrasound system (Vevo 770, VisualSonics Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada). Radiofrequency (RF) signals of the left ventricle (LV) in longitudinal (long-axis) view and the associated electrocardiogram (ECG) were simultaneously acquired. Using a retrospective ECG gating technique, 2-D full field-of-view RF frames were acquired at an extremely high frame rate (8 kHz) that resulted in high-quality incremental displacement and strain estimation of the myocardium. The incremental results were further accumulated to obtain the cumulative displacements and strains. Two-dimensional and M-mode displacement images and strain images (elastograms), as well as displacement and strain profiles as a function of time, were compared between normal and infarcted mice. Incremental results clearly depicted cardiac events including LV contraction, LV relaxation and isovolumetric phases in both normal and infarcted mice, and also evidently indicated reduced motion and deformation in the infarcted myocardium. The elastograms indicated that the infarcted regions underwent thinning during systole rather than thickening, as in the normal case. The cumulative elastograms were found to have higher elastographic SNR (SNRe) than the incremental elastograms (e.g., 10.6 vs. 4.7 in a normal myocardium, and 6.0 vs. 2.4 in an infarcted myocardium). Finally, preliminary statistical results from nine normal (m = 9) and seven infarcted (n = 7) mice indicated the capability of the cumulative strain in differentiating infracted from normal myocardia. In conclusion, myocardial elastography could provide regional strain information at simultaneously high temporal (≥0.125 ms) and spatial (∼55 μm) resolution as well as high precision (∼0.05 μm displacement). This technique was thus capable of accurately characterizing normal myocardial function throughout an entire cardiac cycle, at the same high resolution, and detecting and localizing myocardial infarction in vivo. (E-mail: ek2191@columbia.edu) [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: This paper examines the potential impact of recruitment source differences in schizophrenia research by comparing the neuropsychological performance of volunteers from the NISAD Schizophrenia Research Register with recently published schizophrenia normative data for the Repeatable Battery for Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Methods: The Register sample comprised 285 volunteers with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Their RBANS performance was compared with US data from 575 predominantly outpatient-recruited schizophrenia patients. Results: The Register sample displayed impairments in immediate and delayed memory, but near-normal language, attention and visuospatial-constructional performance (mean RBANS total score=88.72, SD=16.35). By contrast, health service-recruited schizophrenia patients displayed impairments on all RBANS scales (mean RBANS total score=70.54, SD=14.80). Within the Register sample, volunteers with low levels of current functioning had immediate and delayed memory performance comparable to the US schizophrenia sample. Gender and school completion status were also associated with different RBANS profiles. Conclusions: These findings reinforce the notion that a severity/functioning gradient exists across schizophrenia recruitment sources, which has important implications for research design and generalizability. Memory impairments have emerged as a central feature of schizophrenia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The blood coagulation mechanism consists of a series of concatenated chemical reactions, governed by the coagulation factors present in the blood plasma, after the activation of the clot mechanism. The last reaction corresponds to the fibrinogen conversion into fibrin, followed by the fibrin polymerisation and production of a stable fibrin network. During the clotting process, there is a sol-gel transformation of the medium. The subject of the present paper is the measurement of the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient for human blood plasma during the coagulation process, in the frequency range of 8 to 22 MHz. The clot was obtained after the procedure to measure the prothrombin time (∼12 s): mixing 150 μL of reconstituted lyophilised normal plasma with 300 μL of reconstituted lyophilised thromboplastin immersed in a water bath with the temperature controlled at 36.5°C. The attenuation coefficient for pure plasma remained constant within the measurement period of 10 s and at frequencies of 8, 9, 10, 15, 20, 21 and 22 MHz. On the other hand, there is a detectable time-decay of the attenuation coefficient for samples of plasma going through the coagulation process and at frequencies of 8, 9, 10 and 15 MHz. The time-decay becomes less and less detectable as the frequency increases and it becomes completely undetectable at 20, 21 and 22 MHz. (E-mail: jcm@peb.ufrj.br) [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Rationale and Objectives: Automatic lung segmentation in volumetric computed tomography (CT) images has been extensively investigated, and several methods have been proposed. Most methods distinguish the lung parenchyma from the surrounding anatomy based on the difference in CT attenuation values. This leads to an irregular and inconsistent lung boundary for the regions near the mediastinum, which can cause inconsistent boundaries both across subjects and within subjects scanned at different intervals of time. Processes like lung image registration and lung atlas construction can be affected by such inconsistencies. Therefore there is a need for a more consistent lung surface near the mediastinum.Materials and Methods: This paper presents a fully automatic method for the three-dimensional smoothing of the lung boundary using information from the segmented human airway tree. First, using the segmented airway tree, we define a bounding box around the mediastinum for each lung, within which all operations are performed. We then define all generations of the airway tree distal to the right and left main stem bronchi to be part of the respective lungs and exclude all other segments. Finally, we perform a fast morphological closing with an ellipsoidal kernel to smooth the surface of the lung.Results: This method has been tested by processing the segmented lungs from eight normal datasets. The mean value of the magnitude of curvedness of the lung contours, averaged over all the datasets, is 0.13 postsmoothing, compared with 4.91 before smoothing. The accuracy of the lung contours after smoothing is assessed by comparing the automatic results to manually traced smooth lung borders by a human analyst. Averaged over all volumes, the root mean square difference between human and computer borders is 0.8691 mm after smoothing, compared with 1.3012 mm before smoothing. The mean similarity index, which is an area overlap measure based on the kappa statistic, is 0.9958 (SD 0.0032), after smoothing.Conclusions: We have described a novel scheme for smoothing the lung contour around the mediastinum. The method is based on using anatomic information from the segmented airway tree. The validation results show that there is good agreement between manual and computer results. Because there are no accepted criteria for defining the lung boundary near the mediastinum, we believe our method of defining the boundary based on the structure of the airway tree provides a good basis for three-dimensional smoothing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The skull-stripping in the MR brain image appears to be a key issue in neuroimage analysis. In this paper, we evaluated the accuracy and efficiency of both automated and semi-automated skull-stripping methods. The evaluation was performed on both simulated and real data with the ground truth in skull-stripping. Although automated method showed better efficient results, it should require additional intervention. In contrast to that, semi-automated method showed better accurate results, but it was time consuming and prone to operator bias. Therefore, it might be practical that the semi-automated method was used as the post-processing of the automated one. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Older people have different eating patterns than their younger counterparts, although in most nutritional studies of older populations, food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) that were developed and validated for the general adult population are used. In this paper, we present the advantages of developing an FFQ for an older population based on a population survey. A random sample of the Negev's (Southern Israel) Jewish population > or = 35 y old was recruited and interviewed for their dietary intake using 24-h recalls. Foods eaten were aggregated into conceptually similar groups and entered into stepwise regression models to predict variation in nutrient intake. We interviewed 796 people age 35-64 y and 377 people > or = 65 y old for the study. Significantly more items were required to reach 80% between-person variability for zinc, magnesium, vitamin E and protein for the elderly compared with the younger age group. Portion sizes of most items consumed by the elderly were smaller compared with the Israeli Ministry of Health portion sizes booklet and the younger age group's intake estimates. The nutrient values assigned for each line based on a weighted mean of the intake of the elderly were different from those using the most frequently used item. The above findings highlight some of the advantages of developing an FFQ for an older population based on a population survey. Further studies are required to compare the validity of existing tools adapted for the elderly to those developed on the basis of population surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]