Making Rasch decisions: The use of Rasch analysis in the construction of preference based health related quality of life instruments

Objective: To set out the methodological process for using Rasch analysis alongside traditional psychometric methods in the development of a health state classification that is amenable to valuation. Methods: The overactive bladder questionnaire is used to illustrate a four step process for deriving a reduced health state classification from an existing nonpreference based health related quality of life instrument. Step I excludes items that do not meet the initial validation process and step II uses criteria based on Rasch analysis and psychometric testing to select the final items for the health state classification. In step III, item levels are examined and Rasch analysis is used to explore the possibility of reducing the number of item levels. Step IV repeats steps I to III on alternative data sets in order to validate the selection of items for the health state classification. Conclusions: The techniques described enable the construction of a health state classification amenable for valuation exercises that will allow the derivation of preference weights. Thus, the health related quality of life of patients with conditions, like overactive bladder, can be valued and quality adjustment weights such as quality adjusted life years derived

Making Rasch decisions: the use of Rasch analysis in the construction of preference based health related quality of life instruments

Objective: To set out the methodological process for using Rasch analysis alongside traditional psychometric methods in the development of a health state classification that is amenable to valuation. Methods: The overactive bladder questionnaire is used to illustrate a four step process for deriving a reduced health state classification from an existing nonpreference based health related quality of life instrument. Step I excludes items that do not meet the initial validation process and step II uses criteria based on Rasch analysis and psychometric testing to select the final items for the health state classification. In step III, item levels are examined and Rasch analysis is used to explore the possibility of reducing the number of item levels. Step IV repeats steps I to III on alternative data sets in order to validate the selection of items for the health state classification. Conclusions: The techniques described enable the construction of a health state classification amenable for valuation exercises that will allow the derivation of preference weights. Thus, the health related quality of life of patients with conditions, like overactive bladder, can be valued and quality adjustment weights such as quality adjusted life years derived.Rasch analysis; health related quality of life; condition specific measure; preference-based measures; overactive bladder syndrome

Gonadal hormones, but not sex, affect the acquisition and maintenance of a Go/No-Go odor discrimination task in mice

In mice, olfaction is crucial for identifying social odors (pheromones) that signal the presence of suitable mates. We used a custom-built olfactometer and a thirst-motivated olfactory discrimination Go/No-Go (GNG) task to ask whether discrimination of volatile odors is sexually dimorphic and modulated in mice by adult sex hormones. Males and females gonadectomized prior to training failed to learn even the initial phase of the task, which involved nose poking at a port in one location obtaining water at an adjacent port. Gonadally intact males and females readily learned to seek water when male urine (S+) was present but not when female urine (S−) was present; they also learned the task when non-social odorants (amyl acetate, S+; peppermint, S−) were used. When mice were gonadectomized after training the ability of both sexes to discriminate urinary as well as non-social odors was reduced; however, after receiving testosterone propionate (castrated males) or estradiol benzoate (ovariectomized females), task performance was restored to pre-gonadectomy levels. There were no overall sex differences in performance across gonadal conditions in tests with either set of odors; however, ovariectomized females performed more poorly than castrated males in tests with non-social odors. Our results show that circulating sex hormones enable mice of both sexes to learn a GNG task and that gonadectomy reduces, while hormone replacement restores, their ability to discriminate between odors irrespective of the saliency of the odors used. Thus, gonadal hormones were essential for both learning and maintenance of task performance across sex and odor type.We thank David Giese for help in programming the apparatus used in GNG testing and Alberto Cruz-Martin for comments on an early version of the manuscript. This work was supported by NIDCD grant DC008962 to JAC. (DC008962 - NIDCD grant)Accepted manuscrip

Making Rasch decisions: The use of Rasch analysis in the construction of preference based health related quality of life instruments

Objective: To set out the methodological process for using Rasch analysis alongside traditional psychometric methods in the development of a health state classification that is amenable to valuation. Methods: The overactive bladder questionnaire is used to illustrate a four step process for deriving a reduced health state classification from an existing nonpreference based health related quality of life instrument. Step I excludes items that do not meet the initial validation process and step II uses criteria based on Rasch analysis and psychometric testing to select the final items for the health state classification. In step III, item levels are examined and Rasch analysis is used to explore the possibility of reducing the number of item levels. Step IV repeats steps I to III on alternative data sets in order to validate the selection of items for the health state classification. Conclusions: The techniques described enable the construction of a health state classification amenable for valuation exercises that will allow the derivation of preference weights. Thus, the health related quality of life of patients with conditions, like overactive bladder, can be valued and quality adjustment weights such as quality adjusted life years derived

Training Load, Heart Rate Variability, Direct Current Potential and Elite Long Jump Performance Prior and during the 2016 Olympic Games.

The primary objective of this investigation was to investigate the relationships between training load (TL), heart rate variability (HRV) and direct current potential (DC) with elite long jump performance prior to and during the 2016 Olympics Games. Sessional ratings of perceived exertion (sRPE), training duration, HRV and DC were collected from four elite athletes (26.4 ± 1.4 years, height 1.83 ± 0.05 m, weight 68.9 ± 5.0 kg) for a 16-week period in qualification for and competition at the 2016 Olympic Games. Acute and chronic TL, training stress balance and differential load were calculated with three different smoothing methods. These TL measures along with HRV and DC were examined for their relationship to intra-athlete performance using repeated measure correlations and linear mixed models. Successful compared to unsuccessful intra-athlete performances were characterised by a higher chronic TL (p f2 = 0.31) but only when TL was exponentially smoothed. There were also negative correlations between HRV and performance (r = -0.55, p p f2 = 0.19). Exponentially smoothed chronic TL was significantly higher and HRV was significantly lower for successful intra-athlete performances prior and during the 2016 Olympics Games in an elite group of long jump athletes. Monitoring sRPE and HRV measures and manipulating TL prior to competition seems worthwhile for elite long jump athletes

Empathy Gaps Between Helpers and Help-Seekers: Implications for Cooperation

Help-seekers and potential helpers often experience an “empathy gap” – an inability to understand each other’s unique perspectives. Both parties are concerned about their reputation, self-esteem, and relationships, but these concerns differ in ways that lead to misinterpretation of the other party’s actions, and, in turn, missed opportunities for cooperation. In this article, we review research that describes the role-specific concerns of helpers and help-seekers. We then review studies of emotional perspective-taking, which can help explain why help-seekers and helpers often experience empathy gaps. We go on to discuss recent work that illustrates the consequences of empathy gaps between helpers and help-seekers—social prediction errors that prevent helping and misguided intentions that can lead to unhelpful help. Finally, we discuss some promising directions for future research

Novel strategies for soil-borne diseases: exploiting the Microbiome and volatile-based mechanisms toward controlling Meloidogyne-based disease complexes

Open Access JournalUnder more intensified cropping conditions agriculture will face increasing incidences of soil-borne plant pests and pathogens, leading to increasingly higher yield losses world-wide. Soil-borne disease complexes, in particular, are especially difficult to control. In order to better understand soil-borne Meloidogyne-based disease complexes, we studied the volatile-based control mechanism of associated bacteria as well as the rhizospheric microbiome on Ugandan tomato plants presenting different levels of root-galling damage, using a multiphasic approach. The experimental design was based on representative samplings of healthy and infected tomato plants from two field locations in Uganda, to establish species collections and DNA libraries. Root galling symptoms on tomato resulted from a multispecies infection of root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.). Results revealed that 16.5% of the bacterial strain collection produced nematicidal volatile organic compounds (nVOC) active against Meloidogyne. Using SPME GC-MS, diverse VOC were identified, including sulfuric compounds, alkenes and one pyrazine. Around 28% of the bacterial strains were also antagonistic toward at least one fungal pathogen of the disease complex. However, antagonistic interactions appear highly specific. Nematicidal antagonists included Pseudomonas, Comamonas, and Variovorax and fungicidal antagonists belonged to Bacillus, which interestingly, were primarily recovered from healthy roots, while nematode antagonists were prominent in the rhizosphere and roots of diseased roots. In summary, all antagonists comprised up to 6.4% of the tomato root microbiota. In general, the microbiota of healthy and diseased root endospheres differed significantly in alpha and quantitative beta diversity indices. Bacteria-derived volatiles appear to provide a remarkable, yet wholly unexploited, potential to control Meloidogyne-based soil-borne disease complexes. The highly specific observed antagonism indicates that a combination of volatiles or VOC-producing bacteria are necessary to counter the range of pathogens involved in such complexes

Diagnostic Utility of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised in Two Samples of Survivors of War

The study aimed at examining the diagnostic utility of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) as a screening tool for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in survivors of war. The IES-R was completed by two independent samples that had survived the war in the Balkans: a sample of randomly selected people who had stayed in the area of former conflict (n = 3,313) and a sample of refugees to Western European countries (n = 854). PTSD was diagnosed using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Prevalence of PTSD was 20.1% in the Balkan sample and 33.1% in the refugee sample. Results revealed that when considering a minimum value of specificity of 0.80, the optimally sensitive cut-off score for screening for PTSD in the Balkan sample was 34. In both the Balkan sample and the refugee sample, this cut-off score provided good values on sensitivity (0.86 and 0.89, respectively) and overall efficiency (0.81 and 0.79, respectively). Further, the kappa coefficients for sensitivity for the cut-off of 34 were 0.80 in both samples. Findings of this study support the clinical utility of the IES-R as a screening tool for PTSD in large-scale research studies and intervention studies if structured diagnostic interviews are regarded as too labor-intensive and too costly

Presa de Djatiluhur, Indonesia

This dam is located in Java, close to Djakarta, on the Tjitarum river. The dam consists of a stone dyke and an internal watertight screen, of suitably chosen and compacted soil. The width of the dyke at the base is 600 m, and the dam rises 100 m above its foundations. The reservoir that will be formed will hold 3,000 X 106 m3 of water, at 107 m height. A special feature of this project is that the power station and spillway are related to a concrete cylindrical body, of 90 m diameter and 110 m height. At the top of this is the surface spillway, and on the outside are the water intakes for each of the 6 generator groups located along the inner bottom rim of the concrete cylinder.Se halla situada en la isla de Java, próxima a Djakarta y sobre el río Tjitarum. La presa de cierre está constituida por un dique de piedra y una pantal la interior, de impermeabilización, formada con tierras convenientemente seleccionadas y compactadas. El espesor del dique en su base es de 600 m, y tiene una altura respecto a cimientos de 100 m. Este dique crea un embalse de 3.000 x 166 m3 con un nivel de agua a la cota 107 metros. La particularidad de esta obra consiste en disponer la central y el aliviadero en un cuerpo cilíndrico de hormigón, de 90 m de diámetro exterior y 110 m de altura, en cuya parte superior están el aliviadero de superficie, y en el exterior se hallan las tomas de agua para cada uno de los 6 grupos instalados y la central en un anillo circular inferior