Dimensionality and Construct Validity of the Romanian Self-Report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is one of the most widely utilised measures of behavioural and emotional difficulties among children and young people. Previous research has raised concerns about the psychometric properties of the measure, particularly the internal consistency of the CP and PP subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has generally supported a five-factor solution that is consistent with Goodman’s (1997) original conceptualisation of the SDQ, but alternative factor structures have been validated including models with internalising and externalising factors, and a total difficulties factor. This was the first study to examine the dimensionality, construct validity and internal consistency of the Romanian self-report version of the SDQ. Based on data collected from 1,086 school children aged 9-17 years old, six alternative factor models were specified and tested using conventional CFA techniques and a confirmatory bifactor modelling approach. The five-factor model provided a better fit for the data than alternative factor structures, but was still unacceptable according to a range of overall model fit indices and individual item loadings. Model fit statistics for the five-factor solution were also notably poorer among boys than girls. Internal consistency was low for the CP, H and PP subscales among the total sample and girls only; and for the EP, CP, H and PP subscales among boys only. Results are discussed in terms of the appropriate interpretation of the Romanian SDQ

Fast exploration and classification of large hyperspectral image datasets for early bruise detection on apples

Hyperspectral imaging allows to easily acquire tens of thousands of spectra for a single sample in few seconds; though valuable, this data-richness poses many problems due to the difficulty of handling a representative amount of samples altogether. For this reason, we recently proposed an approach based on the idea of reducing each image into a one-dimensional signal, named hyperspectrogram, which accounts both for spatial and for spectral information. In this manner, a dataset of hyperspectral images can be easily and quickly converted into a set of signals (2D data matrix), which in turn can be analyzed using classical chemometric techniques. In this work, the hyperspectrograms obtained from a dataset of 800 NIR-hyperspectral images of two different apple varieties were used to discriminate bruised from sound apples using iPLS-DA as variable selection algorithm, which allowed to efficiently detect the presence of bruises. Moreover, the reconstruction as images of the selected variables confirmed that the automated procedure led to the exact identification of the spatial features related to the onset and to the subsequent evolution with time of the bruise defect

DR-bearing T lymphocytes in thoracic duct lymph

T cells having DR antigens were shown to be present in high numbers in the thoracic duct lymph of patients undergoing long-term drainage. As drainage progresses the proportion of T DR cells in the lymph increases to levels as high as 70% at 6 weeks. These cells were demonstrated by showing that T cells isolated by sheep red cell rosetting were killed by the action of rabbit anti-B-cell sera and of HLA-DR antisera. The HLA-DR specificities found on the T cells corresponded with those on the patients’ B lymphocytes

Characterization of common wheat flours (Triticum aestivum L.) through multivariate analysis of conventional rheological parameters and gluten peak test indices

The GlutoPeak consists in high speed mixing of a small amount of wheat flour (<10 g) added with water, and in registering a torque vs. time curve in a very short time (<10 min). Peak torque, peak maximum time, and energy values are calculated from the curve, and used to estimate the aggregation behavior of gluten. The information brought by the GlutoPeak indices is still difficult to interpret correctly, also in relation to the conventional approaches in the field of cereal science. A multivariate approach was used to investigate the correlations existing between the GlutoPeak indices and the conventional rheological parameters. 120 wheat flours- different for protein, dough stability, extensibility, tenacity, and strength, and end-uses - were analyzed using the GlutoPeak and conventional instrumentation. The parameters were subjected to a data exploration step through Principal Component Analysis. Then, multivariate Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) models were developed using the GlutoPeak indices to predict the conventional parameters. The values of the squared correlation coefficients in prediction of an external test set showed that acceptable to good results (0.61 64 R2PRED 64 0.96) were obtained for the prediction of 18 out of the 26 conventional parameters here considered

The therapeutic potential of the filarial nematode-derived immunodulator, ES-62 in inflammatory disease

The dramatic recent rise in the incidence of allergic or autoimmune inflammatory diseases in the West has been proposed to reflect the lack of appropriate priming of the immune response by infectious agents such as parasitic worms during childhood. Consistent with this, there is increasing evidence supporting an inverse relationship between worm infection and T helper type 1/17 (Th1/17)-based inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Perhaps more surprisingly, given that such worms often induce strong Th2-type immune responses, there also appears to be an inverse correlation between parasite load and atopy. These findings therefore suggest that the co-evolution of helminths with hosts, which has resulted in the ability of worms to modulate inflammatory responses to promote parasite survival, has also produced the benefit of protecting the host from pathological lesions arising from aggressive proinflammatory responses to infection or, indeed, aberrant inflammatory responses underlying autoimmune and allergic disorders. By focusing upon the properties of the filarial nematode-derived immunomodulatory molecule, ES-62, in this review we shall discuss the potential of exploiting the immunomodulatory products of parasitic worms to identify and develop novel therapeutics for inflammation

Hospital discharges-based search of acute flaccid paralysis cases 2007-2016 in Italy and comparison with the National Surveillance System for monitoring the risk of polio reintroduction

Background: Acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance has been adopted globally as a key strategy for monitoring the progress of the polio eradication initiative. Hereby, to evaluate the completeness of the ascertainment of AFP cases in Italy, a hospital-discharges based search was carried out. Methods: AFP cases occurring between 2007 and 2016 among children under 15 years of age were searched in the Italian Hospital Discharge Records (HDR) database using specific ICD-9-CM diagnostic codes. AFP cases identified between 2015 and 2016 were then compared with those notified to the National Surveillance System (NSS). Results: Over a 10-year period, 4163 hospital discharges with diagnosis of AFP were reported in Italy. Among these, 956 (23.0%) were acute infective polyneuritis, 1803 (43.3%) myopathy, and 1408 (33.8%) encephalitis, myelitis and encephalomyelitis. During the study period, a decreasing trend was observed for all diagnoses and overall the annual incidence rate (IR) declined from 5.5 to 4.5 per 100,000 children. Comparing NSS with HDR data in 2015-2016, we found a remarkable underreporting, being AFP cases from NSS only 14% of those recorded in HDR. In particular, the acute infective polyneuritis cases reported to NSS accounted for 42.6% of those detected in HDR, while only 0.9% of myopathy cases and 13.1% of encephalitis/myelitis/encephalomyelitis cases have been notified to NSS. The highest AFP IRs per 100,000 children calculated on HDR data were identified in Liguria (17.4), Sicily (5.7), and Veneto (5.1) Regions; regarding the AFP notified to the NSS, 11 out of 21 Regions failed to reach the number of expected cases (based on 1/100,000 rate), and the highest discrepancies were observed in the Northern Regions. Overall, the national AFP rate was equal to 0.6, therefore did not reach the target value. Conclusions: AFP surveillance data are the final measure of a country's progress towards polio eradication. The historical data obtained by the HDR have been useful to assess the completeness of the notification data and to identify the Regions with a low AFP ascertainment rate in order to improve the national surveillance system

Kidney transplantation under minimal immunosuppression after pretransplant lymphoid depletion with Thymoglobulin or Campath

BACKGROUND: Multiple drug immunosuppression has allowed the near elimination of rejection, but without commensurate improvements in longterm graft survival and at the cost of quality of life. We have suggested that transplantation outcomes can be improved by modifying the timing and dosage of immunosuppression to facilitate natural mechanisms of alloengraftment and acquired tolerance. STUDY DESIGN: Two therapeutic principles were applied for kidney transplantation: pretransplant recipient conditioning with antilymphoid antibody preparations (Thymoglobulin [Sangstat] or Campath [ILEX Pharmaceuticals]), and minimal posttransplant immunosuppression with tacrolimus monotherapy including "spaced weaning" of maintenance doses when possible. The results in Thymoglobulin- (n = 101) and Campath-pretreated renal transplantation recipients (n = 90) were compared with those in 152 conventionally immunosuppressed recipients in the immediately preceding era. RESULTS: Spaced weaning was attempted in more than 90% of the kidney transplant recipients after pretreatment with both lymphoid-depleting agents, and is currently in effect in two-thirds of the survivors. Although there was a much higher rate of acute rejection in the Thymoglobulin-pretreated recipients than in either the Campath-pretreated or historic control recipients, patient and graft survival in both lymphoid depletion groups is at least equivalent to that of historic control patients. In the Thymoglobulin-conditioned patients for whom followups are now 24 to 40 months, chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) progressed at the same rate as in historic control patients. Selected patients on weaning developed donor-specific nonreactivity. CONCLUSIONS: After lymphoid depletion, kidney transplantation can be readily accomplished under minimal immunosuppression with less dependence on late maintenance immunosuppression and a better quality of life. Campath was the more effective agent for pretreatment. Guidelines for spaced weaning need additional refinement. © 2005 by the American College of Surgeons

Development of a maximum entropy approach for the thermomecanical modelling of the rotary friction welding process

A multi-physics modelling of rotary friction welding process based on a Maximum Entropy approach is proposed. This approach will be able to solve coupled thermomechanical problems. Because strains are very high locally around the welded area, the remeshing time in a classical finite element method is very important. The use of this meshless method should reduce simulations time and the numerical diffusion phenomena