8,562 research outputs found
Validity of two common asthma-specific quality of life questionnaires: Juniper mini asthma quality of life questionnaire and Sydney asthma quality of life questionnaire
Background
This study explored the psychometric properties (internal consistency, construct validity, discriminative ability) of the Juniper Mini Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (Mini AQLQ-J) and the Sydney Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ-S).
Methods
One hundred fourty-six adults (18-45 years) with asthma requiring regular inhaled corticosteroids were recruited to a trial of written emotional disclosure. Correlational analyses were performed to understand the relationship of the two measures with each other, with symptoms, lung function, asthma control, asthma bother and generic quality of life. Median quality of life scores were compared according to gender, health care usage and levels of asthma severity.
Results
AQLQ-J and AQLQ-S total scores correlated strongly with each other (rho = -0.80) and moderately with the EuroQol Current Health Status Scale (AQLQ-J: rho = 0.35; AQLQ-S: rho = -0.40). Domain score correlations between AQLQ-J and AQLQ-S were mostly moderate (0.5 < rho < 0.8). Both QoL measures were significantly correlated with symptom score. Correlations with the symptom score asthma module (AQLQ-J: rho = -0.69; AQLQ-S: rho = 0.50) were stronger compared with the total symptom score and the symptom score rhinitis module (AQLQ-J: rho = -0.41; AQLQ-M: rho =0.31). Neither QoL measure was significantly correlated with FEV1 % predicted at the total or the domain level. Total scores of both measures were significantly correlated with subjective asthma control (AQLQ-J: rho = 0.68; AQLQ-S: rho = -0.61) and asthma bother (AQLQ-J: rho = -0.73; AQLQ-M: rho = 0.73).
Conclusions
This study provides further evidence for the validity of the AQLQ-J and the AQLQ-S in a British population of adult patients with asthma managed in primary care. Correlations with lung function parameters were weak or absent. Correlations with generic quality of life were moderate, those with asthma symptoms, asthma control and asthma bother were strong. Both measures are able to discriminate between levels of asthma severity
Promoting Partnerships for Student Success: Lessons from the SSPIRE Initiative
The Student Support Partnership Integrating Resources and Education (SSPIRE) initiative aimed to increase the success of young, low-income, and academically underprepared California community college students by helping colleges strengthen their support services and better integrate these services with academic instruction. This report describes what the nine participating community colleges did to meet the goals of SSPIRE and offers lessons for other institutions drawn from MDRC's research on the initiative
Post-aragonite phases of CaCO at lower mantle pressures
The stability, structure and properties of carbonate minerals at lower mantle
conditions has significant impact on our understanding of the global carbon
cycle and the composition of the interior of the Earth. In recent years, there
has been significant interest in the behavior of carbonates at lower mantle
conditions, specifically in their carbon hybridization, which has relevance for
the storage of carbon within the deep mantle. Using high-pressure synchrotron
X-ray diffraction in a diamond anvil cell coupled with direct laser heating of
CaCO using a CO laser, we identify a crystalline phase of the
material above 40 GPa corresponding to a lower mantle depth of around 1,000
km which has first been predicted by \textit{ab initio} structure
predictions. The observed carbon hybridized species at 40 GPa is
monoclinic with symmetry and is stable up to 50 GPa, above which it
transforms into a structure which cannot be indexed by existing known phases. A
combination of \textit{ab initio} random structure search (AIRSS) and
quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) calculations are used to re-explore the
relative phase stabilities of the rich phase diagram of CaCO. Nudged
elastic band (NEB) calculations are used to investigate the reaction mechanisms
between relevant crystal phases of CaCO and we postulate that the mineral
is capable of undergoing - hybridization change purely in the
structure forgoing the accepted post-aragonite structure.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Exploiting neutron-rich radioactive ion beams to constrain the symmetry energy
The Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) and 4 Tm Sweeper magnet were used to measure
the free neutrons and heavy charged particles from the radioactive ion beam
induced 32Mg + 9Be reaction. The fragmentation reaction was simulated with the
Constrained Molecular Dynamics model(CoMD), which demonstrated that the
of the heavy fragments and free neutron multiplicities were observables
sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy at sub-saturation
densities. Through comparison of these simulations with the experimental data
constraints on the density dependence of the symmetry energy were extracted.
The advantage of radioactive ion beams as a probe of the symmetry energy is
demonstrated through examination of CoMD calculations for stable and
radioactive beam induced reactions
Similarity based cooperation and spatial segregation
We analyze a cooperative game, where the cooperative act is not based on the
previous behaviour of the co-player, but on the similarity between the players.
This system has been studied in a mean-field description recently [A. Traulsen
and H. G. Schuster, Phys. Rev. E 68, 046129 (2003)]. Here, the spatial
extension to a two-dimensional lattice is studied, where each player interacts
with eight players in a Moore neighborhood. The system shows a strong
segregation independent on parameters. The introduction of a local conversion
mechanism towards tolerance allows for four-state cycles and the emergence of
spiral waves in the spatial game. In the case of asymmetric costs of
cooperation a rich variety of complex behavior is observed depending on both
cooperation costs. Finally, we study the stabilization of a cooperative fixed
point of a forecast rule in the symmetric game, which corresponds to
cooperation across segregation borders. This fixed point becomes unstable for
high cooperation costs, but can be stabilized by a linear feedback mechanism.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure
Validity of three asthma-specific quality of life questionnaires: the patients’ perspective
Objectives: It is not known which of the many asthma-specific quality of life (QoL) questionnaires best capture the lived experience of people with asthma. The objective of this study was to explore patients' views of three commonly used asthma-specific QoL questionnaires.
Design: Qualitative study using semistructured interviews.
Setting: Primary and secondary care in Brighton and Hove, UK.
Participants: 30 adult people with a physician-diagnosis of asthma who were asked to complete the Juniper Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ-J), the Sydney Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ-S) and the Living with Asthma Questionnaire (LWAQ) to elicit their views on the content validity of these.
Results: Thematic content analysis revealed a lack of congruence between the concerns of people with asthma and the questionnaire content in terms of missing (eg, allergies) and irrelevant (eg, smoky restaurants) content. The AQLQ-J was perceived as a ‘narrow’, ‘medical’ questionnaire focused on symptoms, the environment and functional ability. In contrast, the LWAQ and the AQLQ-S were perceived to be ‘non-medical’. The LWAQ was described as a ‘test’ and as a wide-ranging, embracing and holistic questionnaire. Its strong emotional focus was irritating to some. The AQLQ-S was described as a simple, quick and easy questionnaire, although there was a perception that it was lacking in depth.
Conclusions: Patient interviews highlighted strengths and shortcomings in the content validity of these three asthma-specific questionnaires. For patients, the AQLQ-S content seemed to be the most pertinent in its adequacy of coverage of medical, social and emotional aspects of health-related QoL in asthma
HSV-1 ICP0: paving the way for viral replication
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) has two distinct phases of its viral life cycle: lytic and latent. One viral immediate-early protein that is responsible for determining the balance between productive lytic replication and reactivation from latency is infected cell protein 0 (ICP0). ICP0 is a 775-amino acid really interesting new gene (RING)-finger-containing protein that possesses E3 ubiquitin ligase activity, which is required for ICP0 to activate HSV-1 gene expression, disrupt nuclear domain (ND) 10 structures, mediate the degradation of cellular proteins, and evade the host cell’s intrinsic and innate antiviral defenses. This article examines our current understanding of ICP0’s transactivating, E3 ubiquitin ligase, and antihost defense activities and their inter-relationships to one another. Lastly, we will discuss how these properties of ICP0 may be utilized as possible targets for HSV-1 antiviral therapies
Nongaussian fluctuations arising from finite populations: Exact results for the evolutionary Moran process
The appropriate description of fluctuations within the framework of
evolutionary game theory is a fundamental unsolved problem in the case of
finite populations. The Moran process recently introduced into this context
[Nowak et al., Nature (London) 428, 646 (2004)] defines a promising standard
model of evolutionary game theory in finite populations for which analytical
results are accessible. In this paper, we derive the stationary distribution of
the Moran process population dynamics for arbitrary games for the
finite size case. We show that a nonvanishing background fitness can be
transformed to the vanishing case by rescaling the payoff matrix. In contrast
to the common approach to mimic finite-size fluctuations by Gaussian
distributed noise, the finite size fluctuations can deviate significantly from
a Gaussian distribution.Comment: 4 pages (2 figs). Published in Physical Review E (Rapid
Communications
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