A Rasch analysis assessing the reliability and validity of the Arizona CoVHORT COVID-19 vaccine questionnaire

Background: Despite the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines in the United States, many that have chosen not to be vaccinated have done so because of vaccine hesitancy. This highlights the need for tools that accurately capture the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs towards COVID-19 vaccines, and provide steps toward improving vaccine acceptance. Methods: Participants of the Arizona CoVHORT (COVID-19 Cohort) received a one-time, electronic based cross-sectional questionnaire intended to capture underlying motivations regarding vaccination, as well as hesitations that may prevent people from getting vaccinated. Rasch analysis was conducted among 4703 CoVHORT participants who had completed the vaccine questionnaire to assess questionnaire reliability and validity. Response categories were grouped to optimize scale functioning and to ensure independent probabilities of participant endorsement. Results: A total of 4703 CoVHORT participants completed the questionnaire, of whom 68% were female, and who had a mean age of 48 years. Participants were primarily White (90%), highly educated (63% with a college degree or above, with most respondents (45%) having an income of more than $75,000 per annum. The results indicated the questionnaire has good reliability and construct validity for assessing attitudes and beliefs about the COVID-19 vaccines. In-fit mean-squares for included items ranged from 0.61 to 1.72 and outfit mean-squares ranged from 0.56 to 1.75, and correlation coefficients ranged from 0.25 to 0.75. The person-item map indicated normal distribution of logit scores measuring perceptions about COVID-19 vaccinations. Conclusions: The CoVHORT vaccine questionnaire demonstrated satisfactory reliability and construct validity in assessing attitudes and beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines. Overall results provide a starting point for a reliable and valid tool to assess knowledge and perceptions about COVID-19 vaccination, ultimately providing public health professionals with an instrument to assess the factors that are associated with vaccine acceptance or hesitancy. © 2022Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Utilização de ácidos orgânicos e fitase em dietas para leitões na creche Utilization of organic acids and phytase in diets for weaned piglets

Verificou-se o efeito da inclusão de um complexo de ácidos orgânicos (AO) e diferentes níveis de fitase em dietas de leitões na creche. Foram utilizados 40 leitões desmamados (7,8±0,8kg), distribuídos em delineamento de blocos inteiramente ao acaso, com cinco tratamentos e quatro repetições, durante um período experimental de 28 dias. Os tratamentos foram: T1- ração basal com 500UF/kg (controle); T2- ração basal com 500UF/kg + 0,2% do complexo de AO; T3- ração basal com 450UF/kg + 0,2% do complexo de AO; T4- ração basal com 400UF/kg + 0,2% do complexo de AO; e T5- ração basal com 350UF/kg + 0,2% do complexo de AO. A adição de AO à ração que continha 500UF propiciou maior (P<0,05) ganho de peso médio diário em relação ao tratamento-controle. Com relação aos níveis de fitase em dietas que continham AO não foram observadas diferenças (P>0,05) no ganho de peso. Para o consumo de ração médio diário, observou-se uma regressão quadrática (P<0,05), sendo o nível de 411UF o que propiciou o menor consumo de ração. O nível de 500UF + AO resultou em maior porcentagem de fezes normais em relação ao grupo-controle durante as duas últimas semanas do período experimental. Conclui-se que há efeito positivo da adição do complexo de ácidos orgânicos quando se suplementa fitase nas dietas de leitões na fase de creche dos oito aos 20kg.<br>The effect of inclusion of organic acids complex (OAC) and different levels of phytase in piglet diets were evaluated. Forty weaned piglets (7.8±0.8kg) were allotted in a completely randomized block design with five treatments and four repetitions, during an experimental period of 28 days. The treatments were: T1-basal diet with 500 phytase unit/kg (control); T2-basal diet with 500PU/kg + 0.2% of OAC; T3-basal diet with 450PU/kg + 0.2% of OAC; T4-basal diet with 400PU/kg + 0.2% of OAC; and T5-basal diet with 350PU/kg + 0.2% complex of OA. The addition of OAC at the 500PU diet increased (P<0.05) daily average gain compared to the control treatment. Comparing the phytase levels in diets containing OAC, it was not observed difference (P>0.05) in the weight gain. For the daily average feed intake, it was observed a quadratic effect (P<0.05), and the 411PU level caused lesser feed intake. The level of 500PU + OAC resulted in higher percentage of hard feces compared to the control group during the two last weeks of the experimental period. It was concluded that the effect of the OAC resulted positive when phytase was supplemented to the diets of piglets from eight to 20kg

Swift-BAT GUANO follow-up of gravitational-wave triggers in the third LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observing run

International audienceWe present results from a search for X-ray/gamma-ray counterparts of gravitational-wave (GW) candidates from the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) network using the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (Swift-BAT). The search includes 636 GW candidates received in low latency, 86 of which have been confirmed by the offline analysis and included in the third cumulative Gravitational-Wave Transient Catalogs (GWTC-3). Targeted searches were carried out on the entire GW sample using the maximum--likelihood NITRATES pipeline on the BAT data made available via the GUANO infrastructure. We do not detect any significant electromagnetic emission that is temporally and spatially coincident with any of the GW candidates. We report flux upper limits in the 15-350 keV band as a function of sky position for all the catalog candidates. For GW candidates where the Swift-BAT false alarm rate is less than 10$^{-3}$ Hz, we compute the GW--BAT joint false alarm rate. Finally, the derived Swift-BAT upper limits are used to infer constraints on the putative electromagnetic emission associated with binary black hole mergers

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

International audienceAmong the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the $U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM