Apparent and content validation of maternal self-efficiency scale for prevention of childhood diarrhea

AIM: The aim of this paper is to describe the apparent and content validation for the Maternal Self-Efficiency Scale for the Prevention of Childhood Diarrhoea. METHOD: Methodological study with the execution of apparent and content validation by seven judges; semantic analysis, by 30 mothers of children under 5 years old and also a pre-test involving 31 mothers who have been selected through convenience. It has been considered necessary to have the agreement of at least 70% of the judges for apparent validation and a minimum of 80% for pertinence and Index of Content Validation. RESULTS: This paper shows that most items have been considered clear, comprehensive and relevant by the judges. The final Content Validity Index of the scale was 0.96. The suggestions of the mothers were accepted. CONCLUSION: The scale ended up having 25 items and two domains (family hygiene and general/eating practices) which assess the maternal self-efficiency for the prevention of diarrhea in their children, thereby contributing to the planning of nursing interventions

Stem cells for Huntington’s disease (SC4HD): an international consortium to facilitate stem cell-based therapy for Huntington’s disease

Huntington’s disease (HD) research is entering an exciting phase, with new approaches such as huntingtin lowering strategies and cell therapies on the horizon. Technological advances to direct the differentiation of stem cells to desired neural types have opened new strategies for restoring damaged neuronal circuits in HD. However, challenges remain in the implementation of cell therapy approaches for patients suffering from HD. Cell therapies, together with other invasive approaches including allele specific oligonucleotides (ASOs) and viral delivery of huntingtin-lowering agents, require direct delivery of the therapeutic agents locally into the brain or cerebrospinal fluid. Delivering substances directly into the brain is complex and presents multiple challenges, including those related to regulatory requirements, safety and efficacy, surgical instrumentation, trial design, patient profiles, and selection of suitable and sensitive primary and secondary outcomes. In addition, production of clinical grade cell-based medicinal products also requires adherence to regulatory standards with extensive quality control of the protocols and cell products across different laboratories and production centers. Currently, there is no consensus on how best to address these challenges. Here we describe the formation of Stem Cells For Huntington’s Disease (SC4HD: https://www.sc4hd.org/), a network of researchers and clinicians working to develop guidance and greater standardization for the HD field for stem cell based transplantation therapy for HD with a mission to work to develop criteria and guidance for development of a neural intra-cerebral stem cell-based therapy for HD

The use of a nonimmersive virtual reality programme in Anorexia nervosa: A single case-report

Objective: People with anorexia nervosa (AN) experience high levels of fear and anxiety related to eating. The aim of this case report was to describe the use of a virtual reality (VR) programme developed to facilitate exposure to food as a supplement to treatment for a person with AN. Method: A 21-year-old patient with AN was given the VR module in addition to the Maudsley Model of Treatment for Adults with Anorexia Nervosa. Weight, eating disorder symptomatology (EDE-Q) and general psychopathology (DASS) were assessed before and after the module was delivered. Results: At the end of the module, the patient reported lower levels of anxiety, safety behaviours and fears related to food. Both eating disorder symptoms and distress were reduced. Body mass index increased from 15 to 16.8kg/m 2 during the module. Conclusion: The VR exposure module was associated with a beneficial change in the relationship to food and was perceived to be helpful by the individual. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association

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Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson\u2019s (PD) and Huntington\u2019s disease (HD) are characterized by a selective detrimental impact on neurons in a specific brain area. Currently, these diseases have no cures, although some promising trials of therapies that may be able to slow the loss of brain cells are underway. Cell therapy is distinguished by its potential to replace cells to compensate for those lost to the degenerative process and has shown a great potential to replace degenerated neurons in animal models and in clinical trials in PD and HD patients. Fetal-derived neural progenitor cells, embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells are the main cell sources that have been tested in cell therapy approaches. Furthermore, new strategies are emerging, such as the use of adult stem cells, encapsulated cell lines releasing trophic factors or cell-free products, containing an enriched secretome, which have shown beneficial preclinical outcomes. One of the major challenges for these potential new treatments is to overcome the host immune response to the transplanted cells. Immune rejection can cause significant alterations in transplanted and endogenous tissue and requires immunosuppressive drugs that may produce adverse effects. T-, B-lymphocytes and microglia have been recognized as the main effectors in striatal graft rejection. This review aims to summarize the preclinical and clinical studies of cell therapies in PD and HD. In addition, the precautions and strategies to ensure the highest quality of cell grafts, the lowest risk during transplantation and the reduction of a possible immune rejection will be outlined. Altogether, the wide-ranging possibilities of advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) could make therapeutic treatment of these incurable diseases possible in the near future

Simulation-Based Analysis of Thermo-Mechanical Constraints in Packages for Diamond Power Devices

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 IEEE.Diamond is one of the best wide band-gap semiconductor materials available for high power devices development in terms of high current capability, high temperature operability, breakdown voltage and switching speed. Unfortunately, fabrication technology for diamond devices is still experimental and immature. Furthermore, one of the most critical fields to be addressed for practical diamond devices implementation concerns the development of power packaging solutions, given that limitations in the device packaging would hinder the performance of the device and act as the limiting factor for a technology that is still in a development state. Of special interest are the induced stresses and deformations caused by the thermo-mechanical mismatch between materials. These stresses and strains will be considerably different than the ones obtained with silicon or SiC dies, and it will be especially noticeable in high temperature applications due to the higher temperature swings and the reliability constraints that arise from the coefficient of thermal expansion mismatch and stiffness difference. In this paper, a Finite Element Method for thermo-mechanical simulation of a high-temperature thermal cycle for a full-stacked diamond die SOT-227 power module is introduced and compared to silicon- and SiC-die modules. Special interest is addressed to the analysis of stress and deformations generated in the die and die-attach solder layer.This work was partly funded by the EC project GREENDIAMOND (H2020-LCE-2014-3 GA no. 640947), the Generalitat de Catalunya (AGAUR Contract no. 2017-SGR-1384), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Project HIPERCELLS no. RTI2018-098392-B-I00) and Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Projects POWERPACK no.202050E037 and no. 201950E036). References 1. J.Lutz,H.Schlangenotto,U.Scheuermann,and R.DeDoncker, SemiconductorPowerDevices: Physics, Characteristics,Reliability, 2nd ed. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011, pp. 2-3.Peer reviewe