Development and preliminary validation of a questionnaire to measure satisfaction with home care in Greece: an exploratory factor analysis of polychoric correlations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The primary aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically test a Greek-language instrument for measuring satisfaction with home care. The first empirical evidence about the level of satisfaction with these services in Greece is also provided.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The questionnaire resulted from literature search, on-site observation and cognitive interviews. It was applied in 2006 to a sample of 201 enrollees of five home care programs in the city of Thessaloniki and contains 31 items that measure satisfaction with individual service attributes and are expressed on a 5-point Likert scale. The latter has been usually considered in practice as an interval scale, although it is in principle ordinal. We thus treated the variable as an ordinal one, but also employed the traditional approach in order to compare the findings. Our analysis was therefore based on ordinal measures such as the polychoric correlation, Kendall's Tau b coefficient and ordinal Cronbach's alpha. Exploratory factor analysis was followed by an assessment of internal consistency reliability, test-retest reliability, construct validity and sensitivity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Analyses with ordinal and interval scale measures produced in essence very similar results and identified four multi-item scales. Three of these were found to be reliable and valid: socioeconomic change, staff skills and attitudes and service appropriateness. A fourth dimension -service planning- had lower internal consistency reliability and yet very satisfactory test-retest reliability, construct validity and floor and ceiling effects. The global satisfaction scale created was also quite reliable. Overall, participants were satisfied -yet not very satisfied- with home care services. More room for improvement seems to exist for the socio-economic and planning aspects of care and less for staff skills and attitudes and appropriateness of provided services.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The methods developed seem to be a promising tool for the measurement of home care satisfaction in Greece.</p

The association of telomere length with substance use disorders: systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

BACKGROUND: The present protocol was designed for a systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at determining the association of telomere length with substance use disorders with the exclusion of nicotine addiction, and to identify potential moderators of the effect of telomere length. Such methodological information may provide guidance to improve the quality of future research on this important topic. METHODS: Potential studies will be identified through electronic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) up from inception onwards. The inclusion criteria will include published or unpublished observational studies (cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies) reporting telomere length in adult patients with substance use disorder compared with a control group. Non-human studies or other study designs such as reviews, case-only, family-based, and/or population studies with only healthy participants will be excluded, as well as those focused solely on nicotine addiction. The main outcome will be telomere length in adults with substance use disorder (primary) and, specifically, in those with alcohol use disorder (secondary). Two investigators will independently evaluate the preselected studies for possible inclusion and will extract data following a standardized protocol. Disagreements will be resolved by consensus. The risk of bias of all included studies will be assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale for non-randomized studies. Data will be converted into standardized mean differences as effect size index, and random-effects models will be used for the meta-analysis. Cochran's Q statistic, I(2) index, and visual inspection of the forest plot will be used to verify study heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses and meta-regressions will be conducted to ascertain heterogeneity. Several sensitivity analyses will be conducted to address the influence of potential confounding factors. Publication bias will be examined using the "funnel plot" method with Duval and Tweedie's trim-and-fill method and Egger test. DISCUSSION: This systematic review will assess the association of telomere length with substance use disorders aside from nicotine addiction. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration number CRD42019119785

Chemical composition of the extracellular slime glycolipoprotein of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and its relation to gentamicin resistance

The slime glycolipoproteins (GLPs) extracted from Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain C2 and its laboratory-induced gentamicin-resistant variant were analysed for cross chemical composition. The GLP of the wild-type strain contained significantly greater amounts of neutral sugars, uronic acid and thiobarbituric-reactive material (p &lt; 0.001) than the GLP of the gentamicin-resistant variant. Also significantly higher (p &lt; 0.01) was the amino-sugar content of the GLP from the wild-type strain. Paper chromatographic analyses of the hydrolysates of the GLPs revealed that two neutral sugars, rhamnose and mannose, were absent from the GLP of the resistant variant. The GLP of strain C2 contained significantly less protein than the GLP of the gentamicin-resistant variant

Multiplex PCR for the discrimination of A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger and A. terreus

Aspergillus pathogens usually infect immunocompromised patients with lethal outcome. We report a multiplex PCR assay for the discrimination of the most frequent Aspergillus pathogens, A. fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger and A. terreus, through distinct amplicons of 250 bp, 200 bp, 150 bp and 450 bp respectively, derived from the rDNA gene of A. terreus and the aspergillopepsin genes of the remaining species. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Investigation of hardness behavior after carburizing and hardening of 15CrNi6 steel

DIN 15CrNi6 is the most representative grade of the case-hardened steels. The present work analyses the influence of carburizing time on hardness of the specific steel. Specimens with similar chemical composition were heated at 900°C in liquid carbonaceous media for one, two, three and four hours, correspondingly. Then samples were oil quenched and tempered at 180°C for two hours. Microhardness was measured across the carburized zone and case profiles were acquired. The effective case depth was determined as function of carburizing holding time. Core macro hardness was carried out and the impact of holding time on the substrate hardness was discussed. The optimum case depth was defined and the carburizing parameters determined. The hardness control is critical in case hardening practice and results provide practical information to heat treaters, useful both to control the treatment parameters and to minimize the risk of failure

Prevalence of Mycoplasma genitalium and other sexually-transmitted pathogens among high-risk individuals in Greece

Background The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) infection among individuals at high risk for sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) at a major urban STD clinic in Athens, in view of the lack of data pertaining to this infection in Greece. Methods Urethral and cervical samples from 176 individuals consecutively attending the clinic and agreeing to participate were prospectively collected and tested for MG infection using conventional PCR and TaqMan Real-Time PCR. All individuals were also examined for alternative STD pathogens. Results A total of 161 individuals (91.5%) reported symptoms, while 15 individuals (8.5%) were asymptomatic. MG was detected in 5.7% (10/176) of the total population and in 5.6% (9/161) of those with symptoms, corresponding to 5.7% (5/87) of symptomatic men and 5.4% (4/74) of symptomatic women. Among symptomatic males, 3.4% (3/87) displayed MG mono-infection. The median age of MG infected individuals was 25 years (IQR 21.5-29.5 years). Individuals infected with MG were more likely to be coinfected with Ureaplasma spp. [OR=5.12, 95%CI, 1.27-20.57] (p=0.017). MG infection was also more common among individuals who had received antibiotics in the previous 15 days [OR=6.04, 95%CI, 1.37-26.64] (p=0.035). Conclusion MG was found to represent an important microbial pathogen among patients presenting with symptoms of urethritis or cervicitis in Greece. Consideration of MG as cause of STD seems crucial in diagnostic algorithms and treatment strategies. © GERMS 2018

Rapid detection of Arthroderma vanbreuseghemii in rabbit skin specimens by PCR-RFLP

Three commercial rabbit farms independently reported suspected dermatophyte infections during 2004. Cultures confirmed that the infection was caused by the zoophilic Tricophyton mentagrophytes, while mating studies and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)1/4 polymerase chain reaction products, directly amplified from skin lesions and from pure culture isolates, established its Arthroderma vanbreuseghemii lineage. Subsequently, the corresponding Ddel restriction profiles of the ITS1/4 PCR products matched one of the two published T. mentagrophytes complex profiles. Sequence analysis of the published ITS sequences predicted distinct Ddel restriction sites for Arthroderma benhamiae and A. vanbreuseghemii, while all Ddel-generated restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the rabbit isolates were identical to those of A. vanbreuseghemii. The proposed procedure can be used for rapid dermatophyte detection and presumptive T. mentagrophytes identification. © 2006 European Society of Veterinary Dermatology

Scedosporium apiospermum skeletal infection in an immunocompetent child

This is a case of Scedosporium apiospermum skeletal infection in a 10-year-old immunocompetent girl whose chief complaint was left knee swelling and pain. The child had a history of a bicycle accident two months before with a resultant deep penetrating trauma. Systematic administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics for 10 days was used, with no clinical improvement. Magnetic Resonance Imaging and arthrotomy of the affected joint revealed findings suggestive of osteomyelitis. Empirical intravenous antimicrobial therapy was instituted for a total of two months but one month after completion of antibacterial therapy the child returned to the hospital because of persistent knee swelling and pain. Following a new arthrotomy, Scedosporium apiospermum was isolated. The patient was cured with intravenous administration of voriconazole without any side effects and has no evidence of relapse after four years of follow-up