Psychometric properties of the Hungarian version of the eHealth Literacy Scale

Background We adapted the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) for Hungary and tested its psychometric properties on a large representative online sample of the general population. Methods The Hungarian version of eHEALS was developed using forward–backward translation. For the valuation study, 1000 respondents were recruited in early 2019 from a large online panel by a survey company. We tested internal consistency, test–retest reliability and construct and criterion validity using classical test theory, as well as item characteristics using an item-response theory (IRT) graded response model (GRM). Results 55% of respondents were female, and 22.1% were ≥ 65 years old. Mean eHEALS score was 29.2 (SD: 5.18). Internal consistency was good (Cronbach’s α=0.90), and test–retest reliability was moderate (intraclass correlation r=0.64). We identifed a single-factor structure by exploratory factor analysis, explaining 85% of test variance. Essential criteria for GRM analysis were met. Items 3 and 4 (search of health resources) were the least difcult, followed by items 5 and 8 (utilisation of health information), and then items 1 and 2 (awareness of health resources). Items 6 and 7 (appraisal of health resources) were most difcult. The measurement properties of eHEALS were not afected by gender, age, education or income levels. Female gender, older age, intensity of health information seeking, formal health education and visit at the electronic healthrecord website were associated with higher eHEALS scores, as well as best and worst self-perceived health states, BMI<25 and participation at health screenings over the past year. Conclusions The Hungarian eHEALS is a useful and valid tool for measuring subjective eHealth literacy

Társadalmi különbségek a magyarországi gyerekek fogainak állapotában és egészségmagatartásában

Tanulmányunk a magyarországi kisgyermekek és iskolások fogorvosi látogatásainak, a tejfogak és a maradó fogak állapotának, a fontosabb kezeléseknek, a közfinanszírozott ellátások elérhetőségének és a fogak állapotát befolyásoló egészségmagatartási jellemzőknek a társadalmi egyenlőtlenségeit vizsgálja. Ehhez felhasználunk minden olyan elérhető adminisztratív és kérdőíves adatforrást, amelyeknek segítségével képet adhatunk a témáról. Rámutatunk arra, hogy már 2–3 éves korban jelentős társadalmi különbségek állnak fenn mind a fogak állapota, mind a fogorvosi látogatások, mind pedig az egészségmagatartás tekintetében, és mindezek kiegészülnek a közfinanszírozott fogorvosi ellátások elérhetőségében mutatkozó, szakadékszerű társadalmi különbségekkel. A kisgyermekkori különbségek az életkor előrehaladtával általában csak tovább nőnek. Tanulmányunkat a fogak állapotában fennálló társadalmi egyenlőtlenségek csökkentésére irányuló egészség- és társadalompolitikai javaslatokkal zárjuk

Subjective expectations regarding ageing: a cross‑sectional online population survey in Hungary

Background We aimed to investigate individuals’ subjective expectations regarding health and happiness alongside their provisions on life circumstances for older ages. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was performed involving a representative sample (N=1000; mean age 50.9, SD=15.4; female 54.5%) in Hungary. Subjective expectations on health status (EQ-5D-3L/-5L, GALI, WHO-5), happiness (0–10 VAS), employment status, care time, and forms of care for ages 60, 70, 80, and 90 were surveyed. Results Current mean EQ-5D-5L was 0.869 (SD =0.164) and happiness was 6.7 (SD =2.4). Subjective life expectancy was 80.9 (SD =11.1), and median expected retirement age was 65. Mean expected EQ-5D-5L for ages 60/70/80/90 was 0.761/0.684/0.554/0.402, and no activity limitations (GALI) were expected by 64%/40%/18%/14%, respectively. Expected happiness score was 6.8/6.7/6.2/5.7, and a decrease in mental well-being (WHO-5) was provisioned. A substantial increase in drug expenses and care time was anticipated, but only 52% thought to have extra income besides pension. The great majority expected to be helped by the family (77%/72%/53%/40%) if needed. Educational level, GALI, and longevity expectations were signifcant predictors of EQ-5D-5L expectations using a standard 5% signifcance level of decision. Current happiness was major determinant of expected future happiness. Conclusions Individuals expect a signifcant deterioration of health with age but only a moderate decrease in happiness. Overestimation of future activity limitations suggests a gap between statistical and subjective healthy life expectancy. The majority expects to rely on informal care in the elderly. Raise in retirement age is underestimated. Our results can be used as inputs for economic modelling of labor force participation and ageing

Neuroinflammatory processes are augmented in mice overexpressing human heat-shock protein B1 following ethanol-induced brain injury

Background: Heat-shock protein B1 (HSPB1) is among the most well-known and versatile member of the evolutionarily conserved family of small heat-shock proteins. It has been implicated to serve a neuroprotective role against various neurological disorders via its modulatory activity on inflammation, yet its exact role in neuroinflammation is poorly understood. In order to shed light on the exact mechanism of inflammation modulation by HSPB1, we investigated the effect of HSPB1 on neuroinflammatory processes in an in vivo and in vitro model of acute brain injury. Methods: In this study, we used a transgenic mouse strain overexpressing the human HSPB1 protein. In the in vivo experiments, 7-day-old transgenic and wild-type mice were treated with ethanol. Apoptotic cells were detected using TUNEL assay. The mRNA and protein levels of cytokines and glial cell markers were examined using RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry in the brain. We also established primary neuronal, astrocyte, and microglial cultures which were subjected to cytokine and ethanol treatments. TNF alpha and hHSPB1 levels were measured from the supernates by ELISA, and intracellular hHSPB1 expression was analyzed using fluorescent immunohistochemistry. Results: Following ethanol treatment, the brains of hHSPB1-overexpressing mice showed a significantly higher mRNA level of pro-inflammatory cytokines (Tnf, Il1b), microglia (Cd68, Arg1), and astrocyte (Gfap) markers compared to wild-type brains. Microglial activation, and 1 week later, reactive astrogliosis was higher in certain brain areas of ethanol-treated transgenic mice compared to those of wild-types. Despite the remarkably high expression of pro-apoptotic Tnf, hHSPB1-overexpressing mice did not exhibit higher level of apoptosis. Our data suggest that intracellular hHSPB1, showing the highest level in primary astrocytes, was responsible for the inflammation-regulating effects. Microglia cells were the main source of TNF alpha in our model. Microglia isolated from hHSPB1-overexpressing mice showed a significantly higher release of TNF alpha compared to wild-type cells under inflammatory conditions. Conclusions; Our work provides novel in vivo evidence that hHSPB1 overexpression has a regulating effect on acute neuroinflammation by intensifying the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and enhancing glial cell activation, but not increasing neuronal apoptosis. These results suggest that hHSPB1 may play a complex role in the modulation of the ethanol-induced neuroinflammatory response.Peer reviewe

Standardised surveillance of Clostridium Difficile Infection in European acute care hospitals: A pilot study, 2013

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) remains poorly controlled in many European countries, of which several have not yet implemented national CDI surveillance. In 2013, experts from the European CDI Surveillance Network project and from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control developed a protocol with three options of CDI surveillance for acute care hospitals: a ‘minimal’ option (aggregated hospital data), a ‘light’ option (including patient data for CDI cases) and an ‘enhanced’ option (including microbiological data on the first 10 CDI episodes per hospital). A total of 37 hospitals in 14 European countries tested these options for a three-month period (between 13 May and 1 November 2013). All 37 hospitals successfully completed the minimal surveillance option (for 1,152 patients). Clinical data were submitted for 94% (1,078/1,152) of the patients in the light option; information on CDI origin and outcome was complete for 94% (1,016/1,078) and 98% (294/300) of the patients in the light and enhanced options, respectively. The workload of the options was 1.1, 2.0 and 3.0 person-days per 10,000 hospital discharges, respectively. Enhanced surveillance was tested and was successful in 32 of the hospitals, showing that C. difficile PCR ribotype 027 was predominant (30% (79/267)). This study showed that standardised multicountry surveillance, with the option of integrating clinical and molecular data, is a feasible strategy for monitoring CDI in Europe

Coherent diffraction of single Rice Dwarf virus particles using hard X-rays at the Linac Coherent Light Source

Single particle diffractive imaging data from Rice Dwarf Virus (RDV) were recorded using the Coherent X-ray Imaging (CXI) instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). RDV was chosen as it is a wellcharacterized model system, useful for proof-of-principle experiments, system optimization and algorithm development. RDV, an icosahedral virus of about 70 nm in diameter, was aerosolized and injected into the approximately 0.1 mu m diameter focused hard X-ray beam at the CXI instrument of LCLS. Diffraction patterns from RDV with signal to 5.9 angstrom ngstrom were recorded. The diffraction data are available through the Coherent X-ray Imaging Data Bank (CXIDB) as a resource for algorithm development, the contents of which are described here.11Ysciescopu

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI