1,677 research outputs found
Psychometric validation of the Spanish version of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure applied to dental students.
Aim: To carry out a psychometric evaluation of the Spanish-language version of the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) applied to dental students. Methods: A total of 1,391 students from nine Spanish public schools of dentistry responded to the DREEM questionnaire. To analyse the reliability of the DREEM questionnaire, the internal consistency was assessed and a 'test-retest' carried out. Validity was evaluated through analysis of item response rate, floor and ceiling effects, corrected item-total and item-subscale correlations and factor structure. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to analyse the structure of the original DREEM scale. Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the 'Educational Climate'(EC) global scale was 0.92. In the subscales, the 'observed' Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged between 0.57 and 0.79 and were higher than the 'expected' ones; except for the Social subscale. In the DREEM questionnaire, all of the corrected correlation coefficients between the items and the EC global scale, and the items and their corresponding subscales, were >0.2; except for items 50 and 17. All goodness-of-fit indices of confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable values (close to one or zero, depending on the case), and there was consistency in the results. Conclusions: The Spanish-language version of the DREEM questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for analysing the EC for dental students and its factor structure is supported by the data. Although our findings indicate that the DREEM may be as culturally independent as was originally stated, more research should be directed at verifying the factor structure in various languages and cultural environments
SL(2,R)-invariant IIB Brane Actions
We give a universal SL(2,R)-invariant expression for all IIB p-brane actions
with p=-1,1,3,5,7,9. The Wess-Zumino terms in the brane actions are determined
by requiring (i) target space gauge invariance and (ii) the presence of a
single Born-Infeld vector. We find that for p=7 (p=9) brane actions with these
properties only exist for orbits that contain the standard D7-brane (D9-brane).
We comment about the actions for the other orbits.Comment: 15 pages, additional references and remarks in subsection on
3-branes, accepted for publication in JHE
Radiopurity of Micromegas readout planes
Micromesh Gas Amplification Structures (Micromegas) are being used in an
increasing number of Particle Physics applications since their conception
fourteen years ago. More recently, they are being used or considered as readout
of Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) in the field of Rare Event searches (dealing
with dark matter, axions or double beta decay). In these experiments, the
radiopurity of the detector components and surrounding materials is measured
and finely controlled in order to keep the experimental background as low as
possible. In the present paper, the first measurement of the radiopurity of
Micromegas planes obtained by high purity germanium spectrometry in the low
background facilities of the Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) is
presented. The obtained results prove that Micromegas readouts of the microbulk
type are currently manufactured with radiopurity levels below 30 microBq/cm2
for Th and U chains and ~60 microBq/cm2 for 40K, already comparable to the
cleanest detector components of the most stringent low background experiments
at present. Taking into account that the studied readouts were manufactured
without any specific control of the radiopurity, it should be possible to
improve these levels after dedicated development.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
Markers of inflammation and cardiovascular disease in recently diagnosed celiac disease patients
AIM: To evaluate novel risk factors and biomarkers of cardiovascular disease in celiac disease (CD) patients compared with healthy controls.METHODS:Twenty adult patients with recent diagnosis of CD and 20 sex, age and body mass index-matched healthy controls were recruited during a period of 12 mo.Indicators of carbohydrate metabolism, hematological parameters and high sensitive C reactive protein were determined. Moreover, lipoprotein metabolism was also explored through evaluation of the lipid profile and the activity of cholesteryl ester transfer protein and lipoprotein associated phospholipase A2, which is also considered a specific marker of vascular inflammation. The protocol was approved by the Ethic Committee from School of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, University of Buenos Aires and from Buenos Aires Italian Hospital, Buenos Aires, Argentina.RESULTS: Regarding the indicators of insulin resistance, CD patients showed higher plasma insulin levels [7.2 (5.0-11.3) mU/L vs 4.6 (2.6-6.7) mU/L, P < 0.05], increased Homeostasis Model Assessment-Insulin Resistance [1.45 (1.04-2.24) vs 1.00 (0.51-1.45), P < 0.05] and lower Quantitative Sensitive Check index [0.33 (0.28-0.40) vs 0.42 (0.34-0.65), P < 0.05] indexes. Folic acid concentration [5.4 (4.4-7.9) ng/mL vs 12.2 (8.0-14.2) ng/mL, P < 0.01] resulted to be lower and High-sensitivity C reactive protein levels higher (4.21 ± 6.47 mg/L vs 0.98 ± 1.13 mg/L, P < 0.01) in the patient group. With respect to the lipoprotein profile, CD patients showed lower high density lipoproteincholesterol (HDL-C) (45 ± 15 mg/dL vs 57 ± 17 mg/dL, P < 0.05) and apo A-I (130 ± 31 mg/dL vs 155 ± 29 mg/ dL, P < 0.05) levels, as well as higher total cholesterol/ HDL-C [4.19 (3.11-5.00) vs 3.52 (2.84-4.08), P < 0.05] and apo B/apo A-I (0.75 ± 0.25 vs 0.55 ± 0.16, P < 0.05) ratios in comparison with control subjects. No statistically significant differences were detectedin lipoprotein-associated lipid transfer protein and enzymes.CONCLUSION: The presence and interaction of the detected alterations in patients with CD, would constitute a risk factor for the development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.Fil: Tetzlaff, Walter Francisco. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y BioquĂmica. Departamento de BioquĂmica ClĂnica; ArgentinaFil: Meroño, Tomás. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y BioquĂmica. Departamento de BioquĂmica ClĂnica; ArgentinaFil: Menafra, MartĂn. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y BioquĂmica. Departamento de BioquĂmica ClĂnica; ArgentinaFil: Martin, Maximiliano. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y BioquĂmica. Departamento de BioquĂmica ClĂnica; ArgentinaFil: Botta, Eliana Elizabeth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y BioquĂmica. Departamento de BioquĂmica ClĂnica; ArgentinaFil: Matoso, MarĂa Dolores. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Sorroche, Patricia Beatriz. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: De Paula, Juan A. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Boero, Laura Estela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y BioquĂmica. Departamento de BioquĂmica ClĂnica; ArgentinaFil: Brites, Fernando Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y BioquĂmica. Departamento de BioquĂmica ClĂnica; Argentin
The effects of intrinsic noise on the behaviour of bistable cell regulatory systems under quasi-steady state conditions
We analyse the effect of intrinsic fluctuations on the properties of bistable
stochastic systems with time scale separation operating under1 quasi-steady
state conditions. We first formulate a stochastic generalisation of the
quasi-steady state approximation based on the semi-classical approximation of
the partial differential equation for the generating function associated with
the Chemical Master Equation. Such approximation proceeds by optimising an
action functional whose associated set of Euler-Lagrange (Hamilton) equations
provide the most likely fluctuation path. We show that, under appropriate
conditions granting time scale separation, the Hamiltonian can be re-scaled so
that the set of Hamilton equations splits up into slow and fast variables,
whereby the quasi-steady state approximation can be applied. We analyse two
particular examples of systems whose mean-field limit has been shown to exhibit
bi-stability: an enzyme-catalysed system of two mutually-inhibitory proteins
and a gene regulatory circuit with self-activation. Our theory establishes that
the number of molecules of the conserved species are order parameters whose
variation regulates bistable behaviour in the associated systems beyond the
predictions of the mean-field theory. This prediction is fully confirmed by
direct numerical simulations using the stochastic simulation algorithm. This
result allows us to propose strategies whereby, by varying the number of
molecules of the three conserved chemical species, cell properties associated
to bistable behaviour (phenotype, cell-cycle status, etc.) can be controlled.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in the Journal of
Chemical Physic
IIA Ten-forms and the Gauge Algebras of Maximal Supergravity Theories
We show that IIA supergravity can be extended with two independent 10-form
potentials. These give rise to a single BPS IIA 9-brane. We investigate the
bosonic gauge algebra of both IIA and IIB supergravity in the presence of
10-form potentials and point out an intriguing relation with the symmetry
algebra , which has been conjectured to be the underlying symmetry of
string theory/M-theory.Comment: 18 pages, section on IIA 9-branes added, references added; version to
be publishe
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