Standardised assessment of personality – a study of validity and reliability in substance abusers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Brief screening instruments for co-morbid personality disorders could potentially have great value in substance abuse treatment settings.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We assessed the psychometric properties of the 8-item Standardised Assessment of Personality – Abbreviated Scale (SAPAS) in a sample of 58 methadone maintenance patients.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Internal consistency was modest, but similar to the original value (alpha = 0.62), and test-retest correlation at four months follow-up was moderately encouraging for a short instrument such as this (n = 31, test retest intraclass correlation = 0.58), and change at the mean level was minimal, but marginally significant (from an average of 3.3 to 3.8, p = 0.06). Analyses of nurse ratings of patients' behaviour at the clinic showed that SAPAS was significantly correlated with nurse ratings of externalizing behaviour (r = 0.42, p = 0.001), and Global Assessment of Functioning (r = -0.36, p = 0.006), but unrelated to intoxication (r = 0.02, NS), or withdrawal (r = 0.20, NS).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is evidence that the SAPAS is a modestly valid and relatively reliable brief screening measure of personality disorders in patients with ongoing substance abuse undergoing methadone maintenance. It can be used in situations where limited resources are available, and researchers or others wish to get an impression of the degree of personality pathology in a clinical population, as well as for screening purposes.</p

Nondestructive analysis of urinary calculi using micro computed tomography

BACKGROUND: Micro computed tomography (micro CT) has been shown to provide exceptionally high quality imaging of the fine structural detail within urinary calculi. We tested the idea that micro CT might also be used to identify the mineral composition of urinary stones non-destructively. METHODS: Micro CT x-ray attenuation values were measured for mineral that was positively identified by infrared microspectroscopy (FT-IR). To do this, human urinary stones were sectioned with a diamond wire saw. The cut surface was explored by FT-IR and regions of pure mineral were evaluated by micro CT to correlate x-ray attenuation values with mineral content. Additionally, intact stones were imaged with micro CT to visualize internal morphology and map the distribution of specific mineral components in 3-D. RESULTS: Micro CT images taken just beneath the cut surface of urinary stones showed excellent resolution of structural detail that could be correlated with structure visible in the optical image mode of FT-IR. Regions of pure mineral were not difficult to find by FT-IR for most stones and such regions could be localized on micro CT images of the cut surface. This was not true, however, for two brushite stones tested; in these, brushite was closely intermixed with calcium oxalate. Micro CT x-ray attenuation values were collected for six minerals that could be found in regions that appeared to be pure, including uric acid (3515 – 4995 micro CT attenuation units, AU), struvite (7242 – 7969 AU), cystine (8619 – 9921 AU), calcium oxalate dihydrate (13815 – 15797 AU), calcium oxalate monohydrate (16297 – 18449 AU), and hydroxyapatite (21144 – 23121 AU). These AU values did not overlap. Analysis of intact stones showed excellent resolution of structural detail and could discriminate multiple mineral types within heterogeneous stones. CONCLUSIONS: Micro CT gives excellent structural detail of urinary stones, and these results demonstrate the feasibility of identifying and localizing most of the common mineral types found in urinary calculi using laboratory CT

Functional gait rehabilitation in elderly people following a fall-related hip fracture using a treadmill with visual context: design of a randomized controlled trial

Background: Walking requires gait adjustments in order to walk safely in continually changing environments. Gait adaptability is reduced in older adults, and (near) falls, fall-related hip fractures and fear of falling are common in this population. Most falls occur due to inaccurate foot placement relative to environmental hazards, such as obstacles. The C-Mill is an innovative, instrumented treadmill on which visual context (e. g., obstacles) is projected. The C-Mill is well suited to train foot positioning relative to environmental properties while concurrently utilizing the high-intensity practice benefits associated with conventional treadmill training. The present protocol was designed to examine the efficacy of C-Mill gait adaptability treadmill training for improving walking ability and reducing fall incidence and fear of falling relative to conventional treadmill training and usual care. We hypothesize that C-Mill gait adaptability treadmill training and conventional treadmill training result in better walking ability than usual care due to the enhanced training intensity, with superior effects for C-Mill gait adaptability treadmill training on gait adaptability aspects of walking given the concurrent focus on practicing step adjustments. Methods/design: The protocol describes a parallel group, single-blind, superiority randomized controlled trial with pre-tests, post-tests, retention-tests and follow-up. Hundred-twenty-six older adults with a recent fall-related hip fracture will be recruited from inpatient rehabilitation care and allocated to six weeks of C-Mill gait adaptability treadmill training (high-intensity, adaptive stepping), conventional treadmill training (high-intensity, repetitive stepping) or usual care physical therapy using block randomization, with allocation concealment by opaque sequentially numbered envelopes. Only data collectors are blind to group allocation. Study parameters related to walking ability will be assessed as primary outcome pre-training, post-training, after 4 weeks retention and 12 months follow-up. Secondary study parameters are measures related to fall incidence, fear of falling and general health. Discussion: The study will shed light on the relative importance of adaptive versus repetitive stepping and practice intensity for effective intervention programs directed at improving walking ability and reducing fall risk and fear of falling in older adults with a recent fall-related hip fracture, which may help reduce future fall-related health-care costs

Joy leads to overconfidence, and a simple countermeasure

Overconfidence has been identified as a source of suboptimal decision making in many real-life domains, with often far-reaching consequences. This study identifies a mechanism that can cause overconfidence and demonstrates a simple, effective countermeasure in an incentive-compatible experimental study. We observed that joy induced overconfidence if the reason for joy (an unexpected gift) was u

NUTRIENT CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALLUVIAL SOILS ASSOCIATED WITH THE RESTORATION OF SHALLOW WATER HABITAT IN THE LOWER MISSOURI RIVER

The Missouri River has been extensively altered as the result of channelization, bank stabilization, and the construction of six main stem reservoirs. In response to the resultant habitat loss, the US Army Corps of Engineers was tasked with restoring approximately 8100 ha of shallow water habitat (SWH), in part, for the benefit of the endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus). Construction of off-channel habitats involves the removal and disposal of excavated alluvium either by direct discharge into the river or by secondary erosion, which raised concerns regarding the introduction of sediment and associated nutrients into the Missouri River. Soils from nine side-channel chutes were sampled to represent nutrient concentrations from habitat restoration activities. Soils from 12 historically undisturbed sites were also sampled to represent reference conditions in the Missouri River flood plain. The results of this study indicate that nutrient characteristics of soils from selected SWH locations generally are similar to those of historically undisturbed soils. The estimated mass of total phosphorus from chutes accounted for 1.9% of Missouri River and 0.5% of Mississippi River total phosphorus loads during the 1993–2012 analysis period. The mass of nitrate, the constituent most closely related to gulf hypoxia, was 0.01% or less of the Missouri and Mississippi River nitrate loads. Sediment volumes from the chutes accounted for 3.1 and 1.5% of total suspended loads from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Overall, the introduced sediment from side-channel chute construction associated with SWH restoration accounts for a small portion of total nutrient and sediment transport in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

Switching kinetics in epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films

The switching kinetics in epitaxial (001)-, (110)-, and (111)-oriented BiFeO3 thin films were investigated as a function of applied field and time. It was found that the ferroelectric switching behavior obeys the Kolmogorov-Avrami-Ishibashi theory only in the high field range. The detailed behavior depends on the film orientation. A comparison with standard systems, such as epitaxial Pb (Zr0.2 Ti0.8) O3 films, reveals some similarities as well as some differences. For instance, the presence of 109° and 71° ferroelastic domain walls might be ruled out as the source of the decrease in switched polarization at low applied fields, in contrast to what is the case for a/c domain walls in tetragonal Pb (Zr 0.2 Ti0.8) O3. © 2010 American Institute of Physics

Switching kinetics in epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films

The switching kinetics in epitaxial (001)-, (110)-, and (111)-oriented BiFeO3 thin films were investigated as a function of applied field and time. It was found that the ferroelectric switching behavior obeys the Kolmogorov-Avrami-Ishibashi theory only in the high field range. The detailed behavior depends on the film orientation. A comparison with standard systems, such as epitaxial Pb (Zr0.2 Ti0.8) O3 films, reveals some similarities as well as some differences. For instance, the presence of 109° and 71° ferroelastic domain walls might be ruled out as the source of the decrease in switched polarization at low applied fields, in contrast to what is the case for a/c domain walls in tetragonal Pb (Zr 0.2 Ti0.8) O3. © 2010 American Institute of Physics