Measurement properties of the Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale (MISS) in an elderly population in Sweden

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Insomnia is common among elderly people and associated with poor health. The Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale (MISS) is a three item screening instrument that has been found to be psychometrically sound and capable of identifying insomnia in the general population (20-64 years). However, its measurement properties have not been studied in an elderly population. Our aim was to test the measurement properties of the MISS among people aged 65 + in Sweden, by replicating the original study in an elderly sample.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data from a cross-sectional survey of 548 elderly individuals were analysed in terms of assumptions of summation of items, floor/ceiling effects, reliability and optimal cut-off score by means of ROC-curve analysis and compared with self-reported insomnia criteria.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Corrected item-total correlations ranged between 0.64-0.70, floor/ceiling effects were 6.6/0.6% and reliability was 0.81. ROC analysis identified the optimal cut-off score as ≥7 (sensitivity, 0.93; specificity, 0.84; positive/negative predictive values, 0.256/0.995). Using this cut-off score, the prevalence of insomnia in the study sample was 21.7% and most frequent among women and the oldest old.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Data support the measurement properties of the MISS as a possible insomnia screening instrument for elderly persons. This study make evident that the MISS is useful for identifying elderly people with insomnia-like sleep problems. Further studies are needed to assess its usefulness in identifying clinically defined insomnia.</p

CRITICAL CURRENT DECAY WITH AGING FOR POLYCRYSTALLINE YBCO WIRES AND RINGS

The effect of environmental factors such as moisture and temperature on the critical current of sintered YBCO was systematically investigated. The degradation rate of materials with different characteristics was also analysed. The synthesis procedure used, powder grain size, silver oxide addition, sintering conditions and final density were all considered as possible factors affecting the material's sensitivity to ageing. The transport critical current was measured using the d.c. four probe technique, with and without magnetic field, on wire specimens, and with an a.c. contactless method with no field on moulded rings. Complex susceptibility measurements were also carried out to further qualify the material's behaviour, especially in cases where the macroscopic Ic had dropped to zero. The results showed qualitatively similar Ic versus time behaviour for the various samples, but with strong quantitative differences, which were correlated to the above factors. © 1990

The Energy and Environmental Benefits of Superconducting Power Products

carbon dioxide reduction, CO 2 , electrical equipment, electric power applications, high temperature superconductors, superconductivity,