Développement et validation d’un questionnaire mesurant le soutien social en situation d’anxiété auprès d’une population universitaire

Une nouvelle mesure du soutien social spécifique aux troubles anxieux a été développée ; il s’agit du « Questionnaire sur les Comportements de Soutien en situation d’Anxiété » (QCSA ; Guay et al., 2003). La présente étude vise à présenter et à valider cette échelle. Le QCSA mesure le soutien perçu positif et négatif. Auprès d’un échantillon composé de 257 étudiants universitaires, le QCSA présente de bonnes propriétés psychométriques (consistance interne et validité convergente). Suite à l’analyse factorielle, trois facteurs ont été identifiés : 1) coercition et critique ; 2) gestion de l’anxiété et renforcement ; et 3) distraction. Des corrélations significatives avec des mesures d’anxiété, de fonctionnement et de détresse psychologique en font un outil fort utile pour évaluer le soutien social en lien avec la santé mentale.A new measure of the social support specifically intended for anxiety disorders has been elaborated ; this new scale entitled “Questionnaire sur les Comportements de Soutien en situation d’Anxiété” (QCSA ; Guay et al., 2003) consists of 65 items measuring positive and negative perceived social support. Among a sample of 257 university students, the QCSA shows good psychometric properties (internal consistency and correlations with related constructs). Results of an exploratory factor analysis identified three factors : 1) criticism and coercive strategies, 2) anxiety management and reinforcement, and 3) distraction. Significant correlations were found with measures of anxiety, functioning and psychological distress. The QCSA is an adequate scale to evaluate social support in relation to mental health.Se ha desarrollado una nueva medida del apoyo social específico para los trastornos de ansiedad; se trata del “Cuestionario sobre los comportamientos de apoyo en situaciones de ansiedad” (QCSA; Guay et al., 2003). El presente estudio busca presentar y validar esta escala. El QCSA mide el apoyo percibido como positivo y negativo. En una muestra compuesta de 257 estudiantes universitarios, el QCSA presenta buenas propiedades psicométricas (consistencia interna y validez convergente). Después del análisis factorial, se identificaron tres factores: 1) coerción y crítica, 2) gestión de la ansiedad y refuerzo y 3) distracción. Las correlaciones significativas con las medidas de ansiedad, funcionamiento y angustia psicológica la hacen una herramienta muy útil para evaluar el apoyo social en relación con la salud mental.Uma nova medida do apoio social específico aos transtornos de ansiedade foi desenvolvida; trata-se do “Questionário sobre os Comportamentos de Apoio em Situação de Ansiedade” (QCSA; Guay et al., 2003). O presente estudo visa apresentar e validar esta escala. O QCSA mede o apoio recebido positivo e negativo. Junto a uma amostragem composta por 257 estudantes universitários, o QCSA apresenta boas propriedades psicométricas (consistência interna e validade convergente). Após a análise fatorial, três fatores foram identificados: 1) coerção e crítica; 2) gestão da ansiedade e reforço e 3) distração. Correlações significativas com medidas de ansiedade, de funcionamento e de desespero psicológico fazem disto uma ferramenta muito útil para avaliar o apoio social em relação com a saúde mental

Évaluation de la qualité de la connaissance dans une perspective délibérative

Cet article propose une vision des démarches d’évaluation de l’adéquation de la connaissance scientifique dans des situations d’incertitude forte et irréductible en recourant à des processus délibératifs élargis. Dans l’optique de la Science Post-Normale, la démarche s’appuie, d’un point de vue épistémologique, sur l’articulation des approches scientifiques et de sciences sociales pour définir la qualité intrinsèque de la connaissance et sa pertinence dans des contextes sociaux, culturels et politiques différents.Cet article présente un outil de contrôle de la qualité de la connaissance et de « bonnes pratiques » scientifiques (NUSAP). La question de la pertinence de la connaissance, qu’elle soit scientifique ou vernaculaire, s’intègre dans un processus multidimensionnel délibératif, associant divers acteurs, critères, échelles, sites… et portant sur les indicateurs et sur les orientations politiques à travers la Foire Kerbabel™ aux Indicateurs et la Matrice Kerbabel™ de Délibération.Knowledge Quality Assessment is an essential activity in the science-policy and science-society interfaces regarding complex (environmental) problems where decisions will need to be made before conclusive scientific evidence is available while high decision stakes, high systems uncertainties and values in dispute characterize these problems. In the past decennia analytical diagnostic tools have been developed and used such as the NUSAP system, to assess and make explicit internal strength of knowledge claims. In such an enlarged deliberative process, analytic diagnostic tools can facilitate a reflective deliberative discourse (KerbabelTM Deliberation Support Tools). It can improve the knowledge base for decision making by promoting the exchange of information, and in particular by making available key insights from local and ‘lay’ knowledge of relevant topics

Growing Fit: Georgia’s Model for Engaging Early Care Environments in Preventing Childhood Obesity

Background: In the United States, one in three children is overweight or obese by their fifth birthday. In Georgia, 35 percent of children are overweight or obese. Contrary to popular belief, children who are overweight or obese are unlikely to outgrow their weight status as adults, making early childhood an essential time to address weight status. An estimated 380,000 Georgia children attend early care and education environments, such as licensed child care centers, Head Start, and pre-kindergarten programs, which provide an opportunity to reach large numbers of children, including those at risk for obesity and overweight. Methods: To address this opportunity, the Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Shape - the Governor’s Initiative to prevent childhood obesity, and HealthMPowers, Inc., created the Growing Fit training and toolkit to assist early childhood educators in creating policy, systems, and environmental changes that support good nutrition and physical activity. This report, the first related to this project, describes the training and its dissemination between January and December 2015. Results: A total of 103 early childcare educators from 39 early childcare education centers (22 individual childcare systems) from 19 counties in Georgia were trained. Fifteen systems completed a pre and post-test assessment of their system, demonstrating slight improvements. Training for an additional 125 early childcare education centers is planned for 2016. Conclusions: Lessons learned from the first year of the training include the need for more robust assessment of adoption and implementation of policy, systems, and environmental changes in trained centers

Family functioning in humanitarian contexts:Correlates of the feminist-grounded family functioning scale among men and women in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

In humanitarian contexts, family functioning may have a positive influence on outcomes of mental health and wellbeing for both children and adults. This study sought to adapt and explore an existing family functioning measure for use in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Cross-sectional data were collected from 394 respondents (196 men and 198 women) in North Kivu, DRC. The Feminist-Grounded Family Functioning Scale was developed through qualitative research and cognitive testing which conceptualized a healthy and functioning family as one without gender and power hierarchies. Generalized linear mixed models stratified by gender assessed the association between family functioning and demographics, conflict experiences, and correlates of interest including gender attitudes, acceptance of harsh discipline, positive parenting, and power sharing. In the final adjusted models, family functioning among women was associated with positive parenting (β = 0.32, p = 0.009) and power sharing (β = 0.24, p < 0.001), but attitudes around gender and harsh discipline did not retain their significant association. Similarly, men’s family functioning was significantly associated with positive parenting (β = 0.41, p = 0.011) and power sharing (β = 0.16, p = 0.014). Results suggest that family functioning is positively associated with behaviors indicative of non-violent and equitable relationships between family members, but that behaviors might be attenuating the influence of attitudes on family functioning, as the significant association between attitudes and family functioning in the univariate models was not retained in the full models accounting for both behaviors and attitudes. Further research is needed to capture the context-specific nuances of family functioning and to understand the influence of gender and power hierarchies for families in conflict settings

A Massive Progenitor of the Luminous Type IIn Supernova 2010jl

The bright, nearby, recently discovered supernova SN2010jl is a member of the rare class of relatively luminous Type~IIn events. Here we report archival HST observations of its host galaxy UGC5189A taken roughly 10yr prior to explosion, as well as early-time optical spectra of the SN. The HST images reveal a bright, blue point source at the position of the SN, with an absolute magnitude of -12.0 in the F300W filter. If it is not just a chance alignment, the source at the SN position could be (1) a massive young (less than 6 Myr) star cluster in which the SN resided, (2) a quiescent, luminous blue star with an apparent temperature around 14,000K, (3) a star caught during a bright outburst akin to those of LBVs, or (4) a combination of option 1 and options 2 or 3. Although we cannot confidently choose between these possibilities with the present data, any of them imply that the progenitor of SN2010jl had an initial mass above 30Msun. This reinforces mounting evidence that many SNe IIn result from very massive stars, that massive stars can produce visible SNe without collapsing quietly to black holes, and that massive stars can retain their H envelopes until shortly before explosion. Standard stellar evolution models fail to account for these observed properties.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap

Relationship Between Hispanic Nativity, Residential Environment, and Productive Activity Among Individuals With Traumatic Brain Injury: A TBI Model Systems Study

Objective: To examine the influence of nativity and residential characteristics on productive activity among Hispanics at 1 year after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Setting: Acute rehabilitation facilities and community follow-up. Participants: A total of 706 Hispanic individuals in the TBI Model Systems National Database. Design: Secondary data analysis from a multicenter longitudinal cohort study. Main Measures: Nativity (foreign born or US native), productive activity derived from interview questions regarding employment status, and other demographic information. Census data were extracted by zip code to represent residential characteristics of aggregate household income and proportion of foreign language speakers (FLS). Results: Among foreign-born individuals with TBI, those living in an area with a higher proportion of FLS were 2.8 times more likely to be productive than those living in areas with a lower proportion of FLS. Among individuals living in an area with a lower proportion of FLS, US-born Hispanics were 2.7 times more likely to be productive compared with Hispanic immigrants. Conclusion: The relationship between nativity and productive activity at 1 year post-TBI was moderated by the residential proportion of FLS. Findings underscore the importance of considering environmental factors when designing vocational rehabilitation interventions for Hispanics after TBI

Evaluating the Social Costs of Fishing Activities in A Deliberative Perspective

The ECOST project aims to develop a new approach for the evaluation of fishing activities and policies in order to contribute to a better management of aquatic resources which affect sustainable development in coastal zones around the world. It has to be seen from the wider perspective of equipping public decisionmakers and society with the appropriate tools and methods needed to take into account, not only immediate economic and social profits, but also the costs engendered by fishing activities, which relate as much to ecosystems as to societies. The novelty and originality of the suggested approach doesn’t rely on the concept chosen for the analysis, the social cost, but on the way it is built and mobilised to deliberate on the evaluation of fishing activities. As Fisheries activity is a complex system, characterized by reciprocal interactions between fisheries activity and the harvested resource, it is difficult to define the effects of such activities in the society. The social cost is thus defined as an articulation between the frontiers of what is feasible? and the assessment of members of the society concerning what will be judged desirable? (O’Connor 2004). We propose an evaluation process defining the performance issue related to fishery metiers, a set of indicators and a method to assess the social cost using the Kerbabel Deliberation Matrix framework.Keywords: Fisheries Economics, Integrated Modeling Approach of Social and Environmental Interactions in Support of Marine Resource Management, Modeling and Economic TheoryKeywords: Fisheries Economics, Integrated Modeling Approach of Social and Environmental Interactions in Support of Marine Resource Management, Modeling and Economic Theor

Tricuspid regurgitation is associated with increased risk of mortality in patients with low-flow low-gradient aortic stenosis and reduced ejection fraction : results of the multicenter TOPAS study (true or pseudo-severe aortic stenosis)

Objectives : This study sought to examine the impact of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) on mortality in patients with low-flow, low-gradient (LF-LG) aortic stenosis (AS) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Background : TR is often observed in patients with LF-LG AS and low LVEF, but its impact on prognosis remains unknown. Methods : A total of 211 patients (73 ± 10 years of age; 77% men) with LF-LG AS (mean gradient <40 mm Hg and indexed aortic valve area [AVA] =0.6 cm2/m2) and reduced LVEF (=40%) were prospectively enrolled in the TOPAS (True or Pseudo-Severe Aortic Stenosis) study and 125 (59%) of them underwent aortic valve replacement (AVR) within 3 months following inclusion. The severity of AS was assessed by the projected AVA (AVAproj) at normal flow rate (250 ml/s), as previously described and validated. The severity of TR was graded according to current guidelines. Results : Among the 211 patients included in the study, 22 (10%) had no TR, 113 (54%) had mild (grade 1), 50 (24%) mild-to-moderate (grade 2), and 26 (12%) moderate-to-severe (grade 3) or severe (grade 4) TR. During a mean follow-up of 2.4 ± 2.2 years, 104 patients (49%) died. Univariable analysis showed that TR =2 was associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.82, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.22 to 2.71; p = 0.004) and cardiovascular mortality (HR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.20 to 2.83; p = 0.005). After adjustment for age, sex, coronary artery disease, AVAproj, LVEF, stroke volume index, right ventricular dysfunction, mitral regurgitation, and type of treatment (AVR vs. conservative), the presence of TR =2 was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality (HR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.08 to 3.23; p = 0.02) and cardiovascular mortality (HR: 1.92, 95% CI: 1.05 to 3.51; p = 0.03). Furthermore, in patients undergoing AVR, TR =3 was an independent predictor of 30-day mortality compared with TR = 0/1 (odds ratio [OR]: 7.24, 95% CI: 1.56 to 38.2; p = 0.01) and TR = 2 (OR: 4.70, 95% CI: 1.00 to 25.90; p = 0.05). Conclusions : In patients with LF-LG AS and reduced LVEF, TR is independently associated with increased risk of cumulative all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality regardless of the type of treatment. In patients undergoing AVR, moderate/severe TR is associated with increased 30-day mortality. Further studies are needed to determine whether TR is a risk marker or a risk factor of mortality and whether concomitant surgical correction of TR at the time of AVR might improve outcomes for this high-risk population

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Lung Cancer: Future Directions and Challenges

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive disease of pulmonary scarring. New treatments slow disease progression and allow pulmonary fibrosis patients to live longer. Persistent pulmonary fibrosis increases a patient’s risk of developing lung cancer. Lung cancer in patients with IPF differs from cancers that develop in the non-fibrotic lung. Peripherally located adenocarcinoma is the most frequent cell type in smokers who develop lung cancer, while squamous cell carcinoma is the most frequent in pulmonary fibrosis. Increased fibroblast foci in IPF are associated with more aggressive cancer behaviour and shorter doubling times. Treatment of lung cancer in fibrosis is challenging because of the risk of inducing an exacerbation of fibrosis. In order to improve patient outcomes, modifications of current lung cancer screening guidelines in patients with pulmonary fibrosis will be necessary to avoid delays in treatment. 2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) computed tomography (CT) imaging can help identify cancer earlier and more reliably than CT alone. Increased use of wedge resections, proton therapy and immunotherapy may increase survival by decreasing the risk of exacerbation, but further research will be necessary