Toxoplasmic Infection in Pregnant Women from Cluj County and Neighbouring Area

Toxoplasmosis is an antropozoonosis very frequent in population as a benign usually asymptomatic disease. The problems are raised by the congenital form of this disease that may occur if the women acquire the parasite during pregnancy leading to congenital toxoplasmosis. In order to prevent congenital toxoplasmosis many countries have screening programs design to diagnose the acute infection during fertile age of female population. Our prospective serologic study over a selected group of 510 pregnant women in Cluj county area showed a 39 % prevalence of toxoplasmic infection among women of fertile age, with a predominance of acute toxoplasmic infection during first trimester of pregnancy (66.66%), representing the predominant cause of abortion in our study group. Annual infection risk for female population aged 20-33 years old is K = 0.67% in our geographic area. A 4 % of cases had IgM persistence for more than 1-year period, and another 7% demonstrate positive IgM along with positive IgG raising the possibility of persistency to 11% of cases. We find out that half of women address laboratory by their own initiative and we calculate that medium age of pregnant women with toxoplasmic immunity (positive IgG) was 28 years old

A Control Design Technique for Grinding Systems with Feedforward Undercompensation and Feedback Control

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DEFINITION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POSTS FOR ENERGY INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS

The purpose of the work is to identify the personnel categories from energy industry, the approach in the selection, recruitment, hiring, as well as optimizing the working process, with examples from the process in a multinational company with private capital and integrated compartment in the human resources S.C. ELECTRICA S.A

Stress and posttraumatic growth among survivors of breast cancer: A test of curvilinear effects

The purpose of the current study was to test the curvilinear associations between experiences of stress and posttraumatic growth among female breast cancer survivors. Participants (n = 193; 86% Caucasian; 80% diagnosed with Stage I or II cancer) completed self-report questionnaires assessing socio-demographic and medical information, perceived general stress, cancer-specific stress, and posttraumatic growth. Two hierarchical regression models tested the associations between general and cancer-specific stress and posttraumatic growth. After controlling for the effects of age, education, and time since diagnosis, there was a significant curvilinear effect of general stress on posttraumatic growth. Moderate levels of general stress were associated with the greatest posttraumatic growth. Cancer-specific stress was not associated with posttraumatic growth. These findings suggest that stress can be adaptive in the aftermath of cancer treatments and different manifestations of stress may require individualized intervention. Future research studies are needed to better understand and contextualize these findings among other cancer populations

Validation of the "knowledge about melanoma early detection scale" in a sample of melanoma survivors

Item does not contain fulltextThe purpose of this study was to describe the development and preliminary testing of a new scale assessing knowledge about melanoma risk factors and early detection/secondary prevention. Data was drawn from a longitudinal study assessing barriers and facilitators of skin self- examination among patients diagnosed with melanoma. For the current analysis, 191 patients who completed the new 9-item Knowledge About Melanoma Early Detection Scale and other study measures were included. Exploratory factor analysis with were conducted, which identified a robust scale comprised of 6 items with factor loadings ranging from .56 to .81. Higher scores on the Knowledge About Melanoma Early Detection Scale were associated with younger age and more positive attitudes about melanoma prevention, but not with biological sex, education, melanoma stage, or past self-administered and physician-provided skin checks. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings and to further establish the predictive validity of this scale and its usefulness for health research.29 januari 20219 p

Species richness — pond area relationships of amphibians and birds in two Natura 2000 protected areas of Romania

In this paper, we present regional differences in pond area by focusing on species — pond area relationships between two groups of vertebrates differing in life cycles and ecological requirements: amphibians and birds. The study was conducted in two regions of Romania: the Târnava Basin and the Fizeş Valley. Ponds from Târnava were more vegetated with emergent aquatic plants ( Phragmites australis and Typha sp.). The amphibian species richness in ponds was higher in Târnava than in Fizeş and, conversely, Fizeş contained a higher number of bird species. The diversity of the amphibian species is not related to pond area, however, there was a positive relationship in both regions between amphibian species richness and the percentage of emergent vegetation cover. Bird’s species richness, on the other hand, was positively related to both pond area and vegetation cover in Târnava whereas only to vegetation cover in Fizeş. The z values of the species-area relationship for amphibians were low in both regions and slightly negative in Târnava. In case of birds, the z value was larger in Târnava than in Fizeş, suggesting that the number of species increased more with pond area in Târnava than in Fizeş

The comparability of Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue scores between cancer and systemic sclerosis

Item does not contain fulltextPurpose: The functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-fatigue (FACIT-F) is commonly used to assess fatigue across diseases. The degree to which the FACIT-F demonstrates measurement equivalence across disease groups, however, is not known. The purpose of this study was to assess differential item functioning (DIF) of FACIT-F items between patients with cancer and systemic sclerosis (SSc or scleroderma). Methods: Secondary analysis of FACIT-F data from cancer and SSc patients. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the factor structure of the FACIT-F in cancer and SSc patients. The multiple-indicator, multiple-cause model was utilized to assess DIF, comparing responses from cancer and SSc patients. Results: A unidimensional factor structure for the FACIT-F was demonstrated with the cancer (n = 1141), SSc (n = 1186), and combined samples. Statistically significant, but small-magnitude, DIF was found for four items. Compared to cancer patients with the same level of fatigue, SSc patients had lower scores (more fatigue) for item 2 (bodily weakness), 7 (energy), and 8 (ability to perform daily activities); and higher scores (less fatigue) for item 9 (need to sleep throughout the day). For the entire scale, SSc patients had 0.47 SD lower FACIT-F latent factor scores (more fatigue) than cancer patients. After correcting for DIF, there was a change of only 0.03 SD in this difference (0.44 SD lower). Conclusions: Although statistically significant DIF was detected for four FACIT-F items, the magnitude was small and the effect on fatigue latent scores was minimal. Thus, FACIT-F scores can be used equivalently in cancer and SSc.7 p