Toward a consensus definition of pathological video-gaming: a systematic review of psychometric assessment tools

Pathological video-gaming, or its proposed DSM-V classification of "Internet Use Disorder", is of increasing interest to scholars and practitioners in allied health disciplines. This systematic review was designed to evaluate the standards in pathological video-gaming instrumentation, according to Cicchetti (1994) and Groth-Marnat's (2009) criteria and guidelines for sound psychometric assessment. A total of 63 quantitative studies, including eighteen instruments and representing 58,415 participants, were evaluated. Results indicated that reviewed instrumentation may be broadly characterized as inconsistent. Strengths of available measures include: (i) short length and ease of scoring, (ii) excellent internal consistency and convergent validity, and (iii) potentially adequate data for development of standardized norms for adolescent populations. However, key limitations included: (a) inconsistent coverage of core addiction indicators, (b) varying cut-off scores to indicate clinical status, (c) a lack of a temporal dimension, (d) untested or inconsistent dimensionality, and (e) inadequate data on predictive validity and inter-rater reliability. An emerging consensus suggests that pathological video-gaming is commonly defined by (1) withdrawal, (2) loss of control, and (3) conflict. It is concluded that a unified approach to assessment of pathological video-gaming is needed. A synthesis of extant research efforts by meta-analysis may be difficult in the context of several divergent approaches to assessment.Daniel L. King, Maria C. Haagsma, Paul H. Delfabbro, Michael Gradisar, Mark D. Griffith

Observation of Ground-State Two-Neutron Decay

Neutron decay spectroscopy has become a successful tool to explore nuclear properties of nuclei with the largest neutron-to-proton ratios. Resonances in nuclei located beyond the neutron dripline are accessible by kinematic reconstruction of the decay products. The development of two-neutron detection capabilities of the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) at NSCL has opened up the possibility to search for unbound nuclei which decay by the emission of two neutrons. Specifically this exotic decay mode was observed in 16Be and 26O.Comment: To be published in Acta Physica Polonica

Long-term health outcomes of Q-fever fatigue syndrome patients

This study determined long-term health outcomes (≥10 years) of Q-fever fatigue syndrome (QFS). Long-term complaints, health-related quality of life (HRQL), health status, energy level, fatigue, post-exertional malaise, anxiety, and depression were assessed. Outcomes and determinants were studied for the total sample and compared among age subgroups: young (&lt;40years), middle-aged (≥40-&lt;65years), and older (≥65years) patients. 368 QFS patients were included. Participants reported a median number of 12.0 long-term complaints. Their HRQL (median EQ-5D-5L index: 0.63) and health status (median EQ-VAS: 50.0) were low, their level of fatigue was high, and many experienced post-exertional malaise complaints (98.9%). Young and middle-aged patients reported worse health outcomes compared with older patients, with both groups reporting a significantly worse health status, higher fatigue levels and anxiety, and more post-exertional malaise complaints and middle-aged patients having a lower HRQL and a higher depression risk. Multivariate regression analyses confirmed that older age is associated with better outcomes, except for the number of health complaints. QFS has thus a considerable impact on patients' health more than 10 years after infection. Young and middle-aged patients experience more long-term health consequences compared with older patients. Tailored health care is recommended to provide optimalcare for each QFS patient.</p

Health care and productivity costs of non-fatal traffic injuries: A comparison of road user types

This study aimed to provide a detailed overview of the health care and productivity costs of non-fatal road traffic injuries by road user type. In a cohort study in the Netherlands, adult injury patients admitted to a hospital as a result of a traffic accident completed questionnaires 1 week and 1, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after injury, including the iMTA Medical Consumption and Productivity Cost Questionnaire. In-hospital, post-hospital medical costs and productivity costs were calculated up to two years after traffic injury. In total, 1024 patients were included in this study. The mean health care costs per patient were € 8200. The mean productivity costs were € 5900. Being female, older age, with higher injury severity and having multiple comorbidities were associated with higher health care costs. Higher injury severity and being male were associated with higher productivity costs. Pedestrians aged ≥ 65 years had the highest mean health care costs (€ 18,800) and motorcyclists the highest mean productivity costs (€ 9000). Bicycle injuries occurred most often in our sample (n = 554, 54.1%) and accounted for the highest total health care and productivity costs. Considering the high proportion of total costs incurred by bicycle injuries, this is an important area for the prevention of traffic injuries

Exploring the neutron dripline two neutrons at a time: The first observations of the 26O and 16Be ground state resonances

The two-neutron unbound ground state resonances of $^{26}$O and $^{16}$Be were populated using one-proton knockout reactions from $^{27}$F and $^{17}$B beams. A coincidence measurement of 3-body system (fragment + n + n) allowed for the decay energy of the unbound nuclei to be reconstructed. A low energy resonance, $<$ 200 keV, was observed for the first time in the $^{24}$O + n + n system and assigned to the ground state of $^{26}$O. The $^{16}$Be ground state resonance was observed at 1.35 MeV. The 3-body correlations of the $^{14}$Be + n + n system were compared to simulations of a phase-space, sequential, and dineutron decay. The strong correlations in the n-n system from the experimental data could only be reproduced by the dineutron decay simulation providing the first evidence for a dineutron-like decay.Comment: Invited Talk given at the 11th International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1, 2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS

Disability weights for environmental noise-related health states: results of a disability weights measurement study in Europe

Introduction:Measurement of the burden of disease using disability-adjusted life years requires disability weights to quantify health losses for non-fatal consequences of disease and injury. We aimed to obtain a set of disability weights for environmental and non-environmental noise-related health states (NOISE) using a nationally representative sample survey among the general population of four European countries; and to compare the resulting NOISE disability weights with those estimated in the Global Burden of Disease 2010 (GBD 2010) and European (EURO) disability weights measurement studies.Methods: We administered a web-based survey among a cohort of individuals from Hungary, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands. It included paired comparison questions on 82 different health states. Each respondent performed 13 paired comparison tasks. We analysed paired comparison responses with probit regression analysis, and regression results were anchored on the disability weight scale between 0 (equivalent to full health) and 1 (equivalent to death).Results:In total, 4056 respondents participated in the study. Comparison of the regression results from paired comparison responses for each country-specific dataset with those run on the pooled dataset showed high linear correlations (0.96–0.98, p&lt;0.001). The resulting disability weights ranged from 0.005 for mild impairment of distance vision and mild anaemia to 0.761 for intensive care unit admission. The disability weight for moderate and severe annoyance was 0.006 and 0.011, respectively. Comparison of disability weights showed a higher correlation between EURO and NOISE disability weights (pseudo R-squared=0.955, Pearson correlation=0.954) compared with GBD 2010 and NOISE disability weights (pseudo R-squared=0.893, Pearson correlation=0.946).Conclusions:The NOISE disability weights are consistent and highly correlated across the four European countries. The NOISE disability weights set can be used to estimate the burden of disease attributable to noise-related outcomes across Europe

Disability weights for environmental noise-related health states: results of a disability weights measurement study in Europe

Introduction:Measurement of the burden of disease using disability-adjusted life years requires disability weights to quantify health losses for non-fatal consequences of disease and injury. We aimed to obtain a set of disability weights for environmental and non-environmental noise-related health states (NOISE) using a nationally representative sample survey among the general population of four European countries; and to compare the resulting NOISE disability weights with those estimated in the Global Burden of Disease 2010 (GBD 2010) and European (EURO) disability weights measurement studies.Methods: We administered a web-based survey among a cohort of individuals from Hungary, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands. It included paired comparison questions on 82 different health states. Each respondent performed 13 paired comparison tasks. We analysed paired comparison responses with probit regression analysis, and regression results were anchored on the disability weight scale between 0 (equivalent to full health) and 1 (equivalent to death).Results:In total, 4056 respondents participated in the study. Comparison of the regression results from paired comparison responses for each country-specific dataset with those run on the pooled dataset showed high linear correlations (0.96–0.98, p&lt;0.001). The resulting disability weights ranged from 0.005 for mild impairment of distance vision and mild anaemia to 0.761 for intensive care unit admission. The disability weight for moderate and severe annoyance was 0.006 and 0.011, respectively. Comparison of disability weights showed a higher correlation between EURO and NOISE disability weights (pseudo R-squared=0.955, Pearson correlation=0.954) compared with GBD 2010 and NOISE disability weights (pseudo R-squared=0.893, Pearson correlation=0.946).Conclusions:The NOISE disability weights are consistent and highly correlated across the four European countries. The NOISE disability weights set can be used to estimate the burden of disease attributable to noise-related outcomes across Europe

Self-perceived barriers to healthcare access for patients with post COVID-19 condition

Background: Many patients with post COVID-19 condition (PCC) require healthcare services. However, qualitative studies indicate that patients with PCC encounter many barriers to healthcare access. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine how many PCC patients report barriers to healthcare access and which barriers are reported, and to explore differences between subgroups. Methods: Data were collected via an online survey from 10,462 adult patients with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection in the Netherlands, who experienced persisting symptoms ≥ 3 months after the initial infection. To study self-perceived barriers, a list of eleven possible barriers was used, covering multiple aspects of healthcare access. Differences between subgroups based on sociodemographic characteristics, medical characteristics, PCC symptoms (fatigue, dyspnoea, cognitive problems, anxiety and depression), and healthcare use (general practitioner, paramedical professional, medical specialist, occupational physician and mental health professional) were studied through multivariable multinomial (0 vs. 1 vs. &gt; 1 barrier) and binomial regression analyses (for each individual barrier). Results: A total of 83.2% of respondents reported at least one barrier to healthcare access. Respondents reported a median of 2.0 (IQR = 3.0) barriers. The barriers “I didn’t know who to turn to for help” (50.9%) and “No one with the right knowledge/skills was available” (36.8%) were most frequently reported. Respondents with younger age, higher educational level, not hospitalized during acute COVID-19 infection, longer disease duration, who had more severe PCC symptoms, and who did not consult an occupational physician or paramedical professional, were more likely to report barriers. Analyses per barrier showed that women were more likely to report financial and help-seeking barriers, while men were more likely to report barriers related to availability of care. Hospitalized respondents were less likely to report barriers related to availability of care, but not less likely to report financial or help-seeking barriers. Conclusions: This study shows that the majority of patients with PCC experiences barriers to healthcare access. Particular attention should be paid to younger, non-hospitalized patients with a long disease duration and severe PCC symptoms. Efforts to remove barriers should focus not only on improving availability of care, but also on helping patients navigate care pathways.</p