9,107 research outputs found
The SF36 as an outcome measure of services for end stage renal failure
OBJECTIVE: —To evaluate the use of the short
form 36 (SF36) as a measure of health
related quality of life of patients with end
stage renal failure, document the results,
and investigate factors, including mode of
treatment, which may influence it.
DESIGN: Cross sectional survey of patients
with end stage renal failure, with the
standard United Kingdom version of the
SF36 supplemented by specific questions
for end stage renal failure.
SETTING: A teaching hospital renal unit.
Subjects and methods—660 patients
treated at the Sheffield Kidney Institute by
haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and
transplantation. Internal consistency, percentage
of maximal or minimal responses,
SF36 scores, effect sizes, correlations
between independent predictor variables
and individual dimension scores of the
SF36. Multiple regression analysis of the
SF36 scores for the physical functioning,
vitality, and mental health dimensions
against treatment, age, risk (comorbidity)
score, and other independent variables.
RESULTS: A high response rate was
achieved. Internal consistency was good.
There were no floor or ceiling effects other
than for the two “role” dimensions. Overall
health related quality of life was poor
compared with the general population.
Having a functioning transplant was a significant
predictor of higher score in the
three dimensions (physical functioning,
vitality, and mental health) for which
multiple regression models were constructed.
Age, sex, comorbidity, duration
of treatment, level of social and emotional
support, household numbers, and hospital
dialysis were also (variably) significant
predictors.
CONCLUSIONS: The SF36 is a practical and
consistent questionnaire in this context,
and there is evidence to support its
construct validity. Overall the health related
quality of life of these patients is
poor, although transplantation is associated
with higher scores independently of
the effect of age and comorbidity. Age,
comorbidity, and sex are also predictive of
the scores attained in the three dimensions
studied. Further studies are required
to ascertain whether altering those
predictor variables which are under the
influence of professional carers is associated
with changes in health related quality
of life, and thus confirm the value of this
outcome as a measure of quality of care
We Say NO! The Plain Man’s Guide to Pacifism
A classic defense of Christian pacifism, We Say NO! was published in 1935 by Anglican priest H.R.L. “Dick” Sheppard, who also founded the Peace Pledge Union, still going strong in Britain today. This critical edition includes an historical and thematic introduction, bibliography, and copious explanatory footnotes that annotate the text.https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1032/thumbnail.jp
A Critical reflection model to teach diversity and social justice
In the United States today, the fastest growing populations of public school students are collectively African American and Hispanic American, and the students who immigrate to the United States from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean nations. And, at the same time, demographics are changing in our classrooms, the majority of teachers and administrators in the U. S. are White, live in the mainstream culture, and have limited cross-cultural experiences with groups other than their own. Teachers and administrators play key roles in ensuring students’ success. There is a far greater need today for teachers and administrators to gain more knowledge about diversity and social justice if we, as a nation, are to realize high levels of learning for all students. To that aim, in this article, we report on the Social Justice Critical Reflection Model (SJCRM) that we developed to teach for diversity and social justice
Peripheral volume measurements as indices of peripheral circulatory factors in the cardiovascular orthostatic response
Peripheral volume measurements as indices of circulatory factors in cardiovascular orthostatic respons
K-theory of noncommutative Bieberbach manifolds
We compute $K-theory of noncommutative Bieberbach manifolds, which quotients
of a three-dimensional noncommutative torus by a free action of a cyclic group
Z_N, N=2,3,4,6.Comment: 19 page
Population changes in Leishmania chagasi promastigote developmental stages due to serial passage
Leishmania chagasi causes visceral leishmaniasis, a potentially fatal disease of humans. Within the sand fly vector, L. chagasi replicates as promastigotes which undergo complex changes in morphology as they progress from early stage procyclic promastigotes, to intermediate stage leptomonad and nectomonad promastigotes, and ultimately to terminal stage metacyclic promastigotes that are highly infective to vertebrates. This developmental progression is largely recapitulated in vitro using axenic promastigote cultures that have been passaged only a few times. Within a single passage (which takes about a week), axenic cultures progress from logarithmic to stationary growth phases; parasites within those growth phases progress from stages that do not have metacyclic cell properties to ones that do. Interestingly, repeated serial passage of promastigote cultures will result in cell populations that exhibit perturbations in developmental progression, in expression levels of surface macromolecules (major surface protease, MSP, and promastigote surface antigen, PSA), and in virulence properties, including resistance to serum lysis. Experiments were performed to determine whether there exists a direct relationship between promastigote developmental form and perturbations associated with repeated serial passage. Passage 2 to passage 4 L. chagasi cultures at stationary growth phase were predominately (\u3e85%) comprised of metacyclic promastigotes and exhibited high resistance to serum lysis and high levels of MSP and PSA. Serial passaging 8, or more, times resulted in a stationary phase population that was largely (\u3e85%) comprised of nectomonad promastigotes, almost completely devoid (\u3c2%) of metacyclic promastigotes, and that exhibited low resistance to serum lysis and low levels of MSP and PSA. The study suggests that the loss of particular cell properties seen in cells from serially passaged cultures is principally due to a dramatic reduction in the proportion of metacyclic promastigotes. Additionally, the study suggests that serially passaged cultures may be a highly enriched source of nectomonad-stage promastigotes, a stage that has largely been characterized only in mixtures containing other promastigote forms
Policy Recommendations for Meeting the Grand Challenge to Close the Health Gap
This brief was created forSocial Innovation for America’s Renewal, a policy conference organized by the Center for Social Development in collaboration with the American Academy of Social Work & Social Welfare, which is leading theGrand Challenges for Social Work initiative to champion social progress. The conference site includes links to speeches, presentations, and a full list of the policy briefs
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