Health and health belief factors associated with screening and help-seeking behaviours for breast cancer symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the European evidence

Purpose: The aim of this systematic review was to identify health or health belief factors associated with mammography attendance or with self-initiated medical help-seeking for breast cancer symptoms among women in Europe. Methods: Five databases were searched for articles published between 2005 and 2018. Meta-analyses were conducted for 13 factors related to screening attendance and two factors associated with help-seeking behaviour. Where there were too few studies to include in the meta-analysis a narrative synthesis was undertaken. Results: Sixty-five studies were included. Never having had cervical screening (d=-0.72, p<0.001) and higher perceived barriers to mammography (d=-0.40, p<0.001) were associated with lower levels of screening attendance. Possessing health insurance (d=0.49, p<0.001), greater perceived benefits (d=0.31, p<0.001) and motivation (d=0.36, p=0.003) towards screening, and higher perceived seriousness (d=0.24, p=0.019) and susceptibility (d=0.20, p=0.024) towards breast cancer were associated with a higher level of screening attendance. Presenting with a non-lump symptom was associated with a longer time to presentation (d=0.32, p<0.001). The narrative synthesis revealed that previous benign breast disease was associated with a higher level of screening attendance but with a longer time to presentation. Conclusions: The review identified key similarities in factors associated with screening and help-seeking behaviours which offer scope for combined interventions aimed at women that target both behaviours. Furthermore, the review highlighted that fewer studies have focused on help-seeking behaviour, despite two thirds of breast cancer cases being self-detected. Future research should further examine predictors of help-seeking behaviour including a focus on modifiable factors, such as BMI, and physical activity

Innovation capability and its role in enhancing the relationship between TQM practices and innovation performance

Innovation plays a critical role in predicting the long-term survival of organizations, determining an organization’s success and sustaining its global competitiveness, especially in an environment where technologies, competitive position and customer demands can change almost overnight, and where the life-cycle of products and services are becoming shorter.Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to extend the existing knowledge as to the relationship between TQM practices and innovation performance by exploring the expected role of innovation capability as mediator to enhance this relationship.At the same time, this study attempted to shed a light on how to improve innovation performance of manufacturing companies in Malaysia.The gained results indicated that innovation capability mediates the relationship between TQM practices and innovation performance. More importantly, this study supports the findings of the past studies that questioned the role of TQM practices in improving innovation performance. Finally, in light of the obtained results, several recommendations were introduced to assist decision makers in manufacturing companies

Stabilization of galvanic sludge by microwave pre-treated pyrolysis

The study was aimed examine the effect of microwave preheated pyrolysis on the characteristics of volatile metal compounds. In order to monitor the behavior of volatile metals, samples were preheated with microwave oven in varying energy ranges and process durations. In order to determine optimum conditions, 360-, 600- and 900-W microwave power and 3-, 5- and 10-min microwave irradiation were used. Chemical analyses of samples were carried out both before and after experiments by X-ray fluorescence. Pyrolysis experiments were performed in a laboratory-scale fixed-bed updraft stainless steel reactor in the presence of 1 L min(-1) N-2 gas. Content of synthetic gas product obtained via pyrolysis was analyzed by a continuous gas analyzer. Microwave preheated pyrolysis resulted an increase in the weight percentage of calcium oxide, iron(III) oxide, and chromium(III) oxide in galvanic sludge. Similar changes were determined for most of the samples at 600 W and 5 min of microwave preheated pyrolysis. In this point, the weight percentage of calcium oxide, iron(III) oxide, and chromium(III) oxide were measured as 22.47, 16.93, and 5.63 wt% which were 19.86, 10.89, and 3.03 wt% after single pyrolysis. It is concluded that, future analysis are needed to increase the efficiency of stabilization by microwave preheated pyrolysis

Evaluation of Uncertainty Contributions of Measurement Surface and Number of Microphone Positions in Determination of Sound Power Levels

Sound power level of a noise source is determined by means of sound pressure level or sound intensity level measurements performed in accordance to relevant ISO standards. The determination of sound power level according to ISO 3744, 3745 and 3746 standards is used for free field or for approximated free field conditions. Kinds of measurement surfaces, enveloping the noise source, number of microphones and their positions over the measurement surface are stated in the applied ISO standard. The effects of measurement surface and number of microphone positions on the determination of sound power level were investigated theoretically. As a measurement surface; hemisphere, parallelepiped rectangular box and cylindrical surfaces were selected. Key and additional microphone positions were taken into account in the calculations as well. Sound pressure levels of a commercially available reference sound source were measured in hemi-anechoic room using FFT with 4 Hz steps and also at 1/1, 1/3, 1/12 and 1/24 octave bands for all surfaces defined in ISO 3744 and 3746 standards. Sound power level, directivity index and uncertainty contributions resulting from measurement surfaces and number of microphone positions were calculated by using data obtained in measurements. In this paper the theoretical and experimental results are presented

Electrocatalytic Oxidation of Hydrazine on Poly(4-Aminobenzene Sulfonic Acid)-Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode (vol 52, pg 539, 2016)

SELVI, BEDRETTIN/0000-0002-5819-4894WOS: 000389836800012