167 research outputs found
Personal factors associated with health-related quality of life in persons with morbid obesity on treatment waiting lists in Norway
Purpose To explore relationships of socio-demographic
variables, health behaviours, environmental characteristics
and personal factors, with physical and mental health
variables in persons with morbid obesity, and to compare
their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) scores with
scores from the general population.
Methods A cross-sectional correlation study design was
used. Data were collected by self-reported questionnaire
from adult patients within the first 2 days of commencement
of a mandatory educational course. Of 185 course
attendees, 142 (76.8%) volunteered to participate in the
study. Valid responses on all items were recorded for 128
participants. HRQoL was measured with the Short Form
12v2 from which physical (PCS) and mental component
summary (MCS) scores were computed. Other standardized
instruments measured regular physical activity, social
support, self-esteem, sense of coherence, self-efficacy and
coping style.
Results Respondents scored lower on all the HRQoL subdomains
compared with norms. Linear regression analyses
showed that personal factors that included self-esteem,
self-efficacy, sense of coherence and coping style
explained 3.6% of the variance in PCS scores and 41.6% in
MCS scores.
Conclusion Personal factors such as self-esteem, sense of
coherence and a high approaching coping style are strongly
related to mental health in obese persons
Is using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire in a community sample the optimal way to assess mental health functioning?
An important characteristic of a screening tool is its discriminant ability or the measure’s accuracy to distinguish between those with and without mental health problems. The current study examined the inter-rater agreement and screening concordance of the parent and teacher versions of SDQ at scale, subscale and item-levels, with the view of identifying the items that have the most informant discrepancies; and determining whether the concordance between parent and teacher reports on some items has the potential to influence decision making. Cross-sectional data from parent and teacher reports of the mental health functioning of a community sample of 299 students with and without disabilities from 75 different primary schools in Perth, Western Australia were analysed. The study found that: a) Intraclass correlations between parent and teacher ratings of children’s mental health using the SDQ at person level was fair on individual child level; b) The SDQ only demonstrated clinical utility when there was agreement between teacher and parent reports using the possible or 90% dichotomisation system; and c) Three individual items had positive likelihood ratio scores indicating clinical utility. Of note was the finding that the negative likelihood ratio or likelihood of disregarding the absence of a condition when both parents and teachers rate the item as absent was not significant. Taken together, these findings suggest that the SDQ is not optimised for use in community samples and that further psychometric evaluation of the SDQ in this context is clearly warranted
Quantum Spacetime Phenomenology
I review the current status of phenomenological programs inspired by
quantum-spacetime research. I stress in particular the significance of results
establishing that certain data analyses provide sensitivity to effects
introduced genuinely at the Planck scale. And my main focus is on
phenomenological programs that managed to affect the directions taken by
studies of quantum-spacetime theories.Comment: 125 pages, LaTex. This V2 is updated and more detailed than the V1,
particularly for quantum-spacetime phenomenology. The main text of this V2 is
about 25% more than the main text of the V1. Reference list roughly double
Flow Dominance and Factorization of Transverse Momentum Correlations in Pb-Pb Collisions at the LHC
We present the first measurement of the two-particle transverse momentum differential correlation function, P2≡ ΔpTΔpT/ pT2, in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV. Results for P2 are reported as a function of the relative pseudorapidity (Δη) and azimuthal angle (Δφ) between two particles for different collision centralities. The Δφ dependence is found to be largely independent of Δη for |Δη|≥0.9. In the 5% most central Pb-Pb collisions, the two-particle transverse momentum correlation function exhibits a clear double-hump structure around Δφ=π (i.e., on the away side), which is not observed in number correlations in the same centrality range, and thus provides an indication of the dominance of triangular flow in this collision centrality. Fourier decompositions of P2, studied as a function of the collision centrality, show that correlations at |Δη|≥0.9 can be well reproduced by a flow ansatz based on the notion that measured transverse momentum correlations are strictly determined by the collective motion of the system
K*(892)(0) and phi(1020)meson production at high transverse momentum in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at root sNN=2.76 TeV
The production of K∗(892)0 and φ(1020) mesons in proton-proton (pp) and lead-lead (Pb-Pb) collisions
at √sNN = 2.76 TeV has been analyzed using a high luminosity data sample accumulated in 2011 with the
ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Transverse momentum (pT) spectra have been measured
for K∗(892)0 and φ(1020) mesons via their hadronic decay channels for pT up to 20 GeV/c. The measurements
in pp collisions have been compared to model calculations and used to determine the nuclear modification factor
and particle ratios. The K∗(892)0/K ratio exhibits significant reduction from pp to central Pb-Pb collisions,
consistent with the suppression of the K∗(892)0 yield at low pT due to rescattering of its decay products in
the hadronic phase. In central Pb-Pb collisions the pT dependent φ(1020)/π and K∗(892)0/π ratios show an
enhancement over pp collisions for pT ≈ 3 GeV/c, consistent with previous observations of strong radial flow.
At high pT, particle ratios in Pb-Pb collisions are similar to those measured in pp collisions. In central Pb-Pb
collisions, the production of K∗(892)0 and φ(1020) mesons is suppressed for pT > 8 GeV/c. This suppression is
similar to that of charged pions, kaons, and protons, indicating that the suppression does not depend on particle
mass or flavor in the light quark sector
J/psi production as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV
We report measurements of the inclusive J/ψ yield and average transverse momentum as a function of charged-particle pseudorapidity density dNch/dη in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The observables are normalised to their corresponding averages in non-single diffractive events. An increase of the normalised J/ψ yield with normalised dNch/dη, measured at mid-rapidity, is observed at mid-rapidity and backward rapidity. At forward rapidity, a saturation of the relative yield is observed for high charged-particle multiplicities. The normalised average transverse momentum at forward and backward rapidities increases with multiplicity at low multiplicities and saturates beyond moderate multiplicities. In addition, the forward-to-backward nuclear modification factor ratio is also reported, showing an increasing suppression of J/ψ production at forward rapidity with respect to backward rapidity for increasing charged-particle multiplicity
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