Psychometric Findings for a Spanish Translation of the Diabetes Self-Management Profile (DSMP-Parent-Sp)

OBJECTIVE: Few validated measures exist to evaluate self-management of diabetes in families with limited English proficiency. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties and the factorial equivalence of a Spanish translation of the parent report version of the Diabetes Self-Management Profile (DSMP-Parent-Sp). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Hispanic families of youth (mean 13.7 years old) with type 1 diabetes were recruited from three clinics in South Florida and represented a wide range of nationalities and acculturation levels. A total of 127 parents reported on their child\u27s self-management behaviors using either the original DSMP-Parent (59.8%) or the DSMP-Parent-Sp (40.2%). In addition, youth reported their self-management using the original DSMP in English, and physicians rated their perceptions of the youth\u27s self-management. Glycemic control was indexed by A1C in the past 3 months and collected from medical chart review. RESULTS: Item analysis confirmed that the DSMP-Parent-Sp items related to the overall composite score in expected ways, and internal consistency estimates were adequate. Paired correlations demonstrated strong parent-child concordance and a significant relationship with physician perceptions of self-management. Evidence of concurrent and convergent validity, as well as strict factorial invariance, was demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings indicate that the DSMP-Parent-Sp is a reliable and valid parent report measure of the diabetes self-management behaviors of Hispanic youths. In addition, there is preliminary evidence that the translated measure may be considered equivalent to the original English measure when used to measure self-management in Hispanic youth with diabetes

Black pine (Pinus nigra) barks: A critical evaluation of some sampling and analysis parameters for mercury biomonitoring purposes

Abstract Tree barks are increasingly used as biomonitors of airborne pollutants. However, many authors stress the poor comparability of the results achieved in different studies. This drawback is mainly caused by a poor understanding of the critical sampling parameters to be considered. To minimize the biases that could be introduced during sampling, in this study the barks of Pinus nigra J.F. Arnold from thirteen sites were investigated in the abandoned Mt. Amiata mercury (Hg) mining district (Southern Tuscany, Italy) and surroundings. The influence of some sampling and analyzing parameters on Hg content was critically assessed. At each site, a total of eight bark samples were taken from a single tree at two heights (70 cm and 150 cm from soil) and at four different sides of the trunk, corresponding to the four cardinal directions; a composite soil sample was also collected. Mercury contents in barks range from 0.1 to 28.8 mg/kg, and are correlated with soil Hg contents (1–480 mg/kg), indicating that barks record both gaseous Hg concentrations in air, and wind-transported Hg-bearing particulate. For each tree, samples at 70 cm and 150 cm show Hg contents of the same order of magnitude, even if values for 150 cm are slightly less dispersed, possibly because barks at 70 cm are more influenced by random soil particles. There is no statistically significant dependence of Hg content on direction and tree age. Simulated rain events cause a negligible loss of Hg from barks. Results suggest that a convenient sampling practice for Pinus nigra is to collect a bark slice (typically 1–2 mm) within the outermost 1.5 cm layer

European guideline (EuroGuiDerm) on atopic eczema – part II: non-systemic treatments and treatment recommendations for special AE patient populations

The evidence- and consensus-based guideline on atopic eczema was developed in accordance with the EuroGuiDerm Guideline and Consensus Statement Development Manual. Four consensus conferences were held between December 2020 and July 2021. Twenty-nine experts (including clinicians and patient representatives) from 12 European countries participated. This second part of the guideline includes recommendations and detailed information on basic therapy with emollients and moisturizers, topical anti-inflammatory treatment, antimicrobial and antipruritic treatment and UV photo- therapy. Furthermore, this part of the guideline covers techniques for avoiding provocation factors, as well as dietaryinterventions, immunotherapy, complementary medicine and educational interventions for patients with atopic eczema and deals with occupational and psychodermatological aspects of the disease. It also contains guidance on treatment for paediatric and adolescent patients and pregnant or breastfeeding women, as well as considerations for patients who want to have a child. A chapter on the patient perspective is also provided. The first part of the guideline, published sepa- rately, contains recommendations and guidance on systemic treatment with conventional immunosuppressive drugs, biologics and janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors, as well as information on the scope and purpose of the guideline, and a sec- tion on guideline methodology. Received: 17 February 2022; Accepted: 3 June 202

Anomalous wind circulation over Taipei, Taiwan during the northern winter seasons of 2004 and 2005- A case study

This research reports, for the first time, an anomalous wind circulation over Taipei (Latitude 25.030N, Longitude 121.510E), Taiwan during the northern hemisphere winter season (December, January, and February) of years 2004 and 2005. The anomalous wind circulation of meridional winds, which showed southward directions during the winter seasons of 2004 and 2005 instead of northward winds, is noticed from one kilometer altitude range (lower troposphere) and that trend continued till around 20 km altitude range (lower stratosphere). To ascertain whether such a disturbed nature of wind pattern existed over nearby locations to Taipei, we have analyzed radiosonde-measured meridional and zonal winds over four nearby stations station to Taipei including, Roig, Xiamen, Minami and Fuzhou. Surprisingly, no anomalous wind behavior is seen except over Taipei during the northern winter seasons of 2004 and 2005. On the other hand, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model-predicted winds do not show any anomalous wind patterns over Taipei and other nearby stations, possibly due to the large averaging of internal variabilities of reanalysis databases. The plausible physical mechanisms of these disturbed meridional wind patterns are not understood at this juncture, but it is believed that local winds and atmospheric pollutants might have created an amicable environment as to provide such a disturbed meridional wind pattern over Taipei, Taiwan in the winter season of 2004 and 2005

Textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) versus fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) in flexural strengthening of RC beams

The aim of this paper is to compare the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with textile-reinforced mortar (TRM) and fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP). The investigated parameters included the strengthening material, namely TRM or FRP; the number of TRM/FRP layers; the textile surface condition (coated and uncoated); the textile fibre material (carbon, coated basalt or glass fibres); and the end-anchorage system of the external reinforcement. Thirteen RC beams were fabricated, strengthened and tested in four-point bending. One beam served as control specimen, seven beams strengthened with TRM, and five with FRP. It was mainly found that: (a) TRM was generally inferior to FRP in enhancing the flexural capacity of RC beams, with the effectiveness ratio between the two systems varying from 0.46 to 0.80, depending on the parameters examined, (b) by tripling the number of TRM layers (from one to three), the TRM versus FRP effectiveness ratio was almost doubled, (c) providing coating to the dry textile enhanced the TRM effectiveness and altered the failure mode; (d) different textile materials, having approximately same axial stiffness, resulted in different flexural capacity increases; and (e) providing end-anchorage had a limited effect on the performance of TRM-retrofitted beams. Finally, a simple formula proposed by fib Model Code 2010 for FRP reinforcement was used to predict the mean debonding stress developed in the TRM reinforcement. It was found that this formula is in a good agreement with the average stress calculated based on the experimental results when failure was similar to FRP-strengthened beams