Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the overall anxiety severity and impairment scale (OASIS)

Objectives: This study was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the overall anxiety severity and impairment scale (OASIS), a measure designed to evaluate the severity and functional impairments associated with clinical and subsyndromal anxiety. Methods: Using a descriptive-analytic framework, first, the OASIS was translated into Persian according to the forward-backward translation guidelines. Then, a total of 463 students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2017 - 18 were selected using the convenience sampling method. Participants completed seven measures (i.e., OASIS, anxiety and stress subscales of depression anxiety stress scales-21, Beck anxiety inventory, openness subscale of NEO five-factor inventory, positive affect and negative affect scales, Connor-Davidson resilience scale, and state subscale of state-trait anxiety inventory), and the data were analyzed by SPSS V. 20.0 for windows and Lisrel V. 8.80. Results: Internal consistency reliability of the OASIS was acceptable (Cronbach�s α = 0.877). The exploratory factor analysis indicated that all items were loaded on a single factor (loadings = 0.799 - 0.849). The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the single-factor model has resulted in an adequate model fit. The OASIS was positively correlated with the anxiety- and negative affect-related scales, whereas it was negatively correlated with the resilience- and positive affect-related scales. Correlations with the openness subscale were not significant. Conclusions: In line with previous studies, the findings showed that the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the OASIS are acceptable. Therefore, it seems that the measure can be used in clinical practices and research studies in Iran. Copyright © 2020, Author(s)

Dynamic Versus Static Oxidation of Nb/Al-AlOx_x/Nb Trilayer

High quality Nb-based superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) junctions with Al oxide (AlO$_x$) tunnel barriers grown from Al overlayers are widely reported in the literature. However, the thin barriers required for high critical current density (J$_c$) junctions exhibit defects that result in significant subgap leakage current that is detrimental for many applications. High quality, high-J$_c$ junctions can be realized with AlN$_x$ barriers, but control of J$_c$ is more difficult than with AlO$_x$. It is therefore of interest to study the growth of thin AlO$_x$ barriers with the ultimate goal of achieving high quality, high-J$_c$ AlO$_x$ junctions. In this work, 100\%\ O$_2$ and 2\%\ O$_2$ in Ar gas mixtures are used both statically and dynamically to grow AlO$_x$ tunnel barriers over a large range of oxygen exposures. In situ ellipsometry is used for the first time to extensively measure AlO$_x$ tunnel barrier growth in real time, revealing a number of unexpected patterns. Finally, a set of test junction wafers was fabricated that exhibited the well-known dependence of J$_c$ on oxygen exposure (E) in order to further validate the experimental setup

Discovering the typing behaviour of Parkinson's patients using topic models

Sensing health-related behaviours in an unobtrusive, ubiquitous and cost-effective manner carries significant benefits to healthcare and patient management. In this paper, we focus on detecting typing behaviour that is characteristic of patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease. We consider typing data obtained from subjects with and without Parkinson’s, and we present a framework based on topic models that determines the differing behaviours between these two groups based on the key hold time. By learning a topic model on each group separately and measuring the dissimilarity between topic distributions, we are able to identify particular topics that emerge in Parkinson’s patients and have low probability for the control group, demonstrating a clear shift in terms of key stroke duration. Our results further support the utilisation of key stroke logs for the early onset detection of Parkinson’s disease, while the method presented is straightforwardly generalisable to similar applications

Diabetic retinopathy clinical practice guidelines: Customized for Iranian population

Purpose: To customize clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for management of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in the Iranian population. Methods: Three DR CPGs (The Royal College of Ophthalmologists 2013, American Academy of Ophthalmology Preferred Practice Pattern 2012, and Australian Diabetes Society 2008) were selected from the literature using the AGREE tool. Clinical questions were designed and summarized into four tables by the customization team. The components of the clinical questions along with pertinent recommendations extracted from the above-mentioned CPGs; details of the supporting articles and their levels of evidence; clinical recommendations considering clinical benefts, cost and side effects; and revised recommendations based on customization capability (applicability, acceptability, external validity) were recorded in 4 tables, respectively. Customized recommendations were sent to the faculty members of all universities across the country to score the recommendations from 1 to 9. Results: Agreed recommendations were accepted as the fnal recommendations while the non-agreed ones were approved after revision. Eventually, 29 customized recommendations under three major categories consisting of screening, diagnosis and treatment of DR were developed along with their sources and levels of evidence. Conclusion: This customized CPGs for management of DR can be used to standardize the referral pathway, diagnosis and treatment of patients with diabetic retinopathy. © 2016 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research

Intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents for ocular vascular diseases: Clinical practice guideline

Purpose: To provide the clinical recommendations for the administration of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs especially bavacizumab for ocular vascular diseases including diabetic macular edema, neovascular age-related macular degeneration, myopic choroidal neovascularization, retinal vein occlusion and central serous chorioretinopathy. Methods: Twenty clinical questions were developed by the guideline technical committee. Relevant websites and databases were searched to find out the pertinent clinical practice guidelines to answer the questions. The technical committee provided possible answers (scenarios) according to the available evidences for each question. All scenarios along with their levels of evidence and the supported articles were sent to the experts for external review. If the experts did not agree on any of the scenarios for one particular clinical question, the technical committee reviewed all scenarios and their pertinent evidences and made the necessary decision. After that, the experts were asked to score them again. All confirmed scenarios were gathered as the final recommendations. Results: All the experts agreed on at least one of the scenarios. The technical committee extracted the agreed scenario for each clinical question as the final recommendation. Finally, 56 recommendations were developed for the procedure of intravitreal anti-VEGF injection and their applications in the management of ocular vascular diseases. Conclusion: The implementation of this guideline can standardize the management of the common ocular vascular diseases by intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF agents. It can lead to better policy-making and evidence-based clinical decision by ophthalmologists and optimal evidence based eye care for patients. © 2018 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research

Intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor agents for ocular vascular diseases: Clinical practice guideline

Purpose: To provide the clinical recommendations for the administration of intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) drugs especially bavacizumab for ocular vascular diseases including diabetic macular edema, neovascular age-related macular degeneration, myopic choroidal neovascularization, retinal vein occlusion and central serous chorioretinopathy. Methods: Twenty clinical questions were developed by the guideline technical committee. Relevant websites and databases were searched to find out the pertinent clinical practice guidelines to answer the questions. The technical committee provided possible answers (scenarios) according to the available evidences for each question. All scenarios along with their levels of evidence and the supported articles were sent to the experts for external review. If the experts did not agree on any of the scenarios for one particular clinical question, the technical committee reviewed all scenarios and their pertinent evidences and made the necessary decision. After that, the experts were asked to score them again. All confirmed scenarios were gathered as the final recommendations. Results: All the experts agreed on at least one of the scenarios. The technical committee extracted the agreed scenario for each clinical question as the final recommendation. Finally, 56 recommendations were developed for the procedure of intravitreal anti-VEGF injection and their applications in the management of ocular vascular diseases. Conclusion: The implementation of this guideline can standardize the management of the common ocular vascular diseases by intravitreal injection of anti-VEGF agents. It can lead to better policy-making and evidence-based clinical decision by ophthalmologists and optimal evidence based eye care for patients. © 2018 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research

Probabilistic Assessment of Creep-Fatigue Crack Propagation in Austenitic Stainless Steel Cracked Plates

This study investigates the effects of uncertainties in the prediction of creep-fatigue crack propagation in 316L(N) austenitic stainless steel plates containing a semi-elliptical surface defect. Different parameters in geometry, material behavior and test condition are considered as random variables in probabilistic assessments. Monte-Carlo sampling method is employed to estimate the probability distribution of desired outputs, i.e.such as propagated crack sizes, stress intensity factors and creep rupture life. It is shown that, generally, the uncertainty in prediction of crack sizes in both trough-wall direction and along the surface of the plate will be increased by increasing the time (crack size). Furthermore, probabilistic evaluations are performed using different reliability methods to calculate the probabilities of exceedance of available experimental results. These evaluations clarified the importance of consideration of uncertainties in creep-fatigue crack growth prediction. Sensitivity analysis, are carried out to provide useful information about the order of importance of random variables. It is found that, initial crack size may be an important random variable in such probabilistic assessments