Adaptation of the British Sign Language Receptive Skills Test into Polish Sign Language

The evaluation of sign language proficiency needs to be based on measures with well-established psychometric proprieties. To date, no valid and reliable test is available to assess Polish Sign Language (Polski Język Migowy, PJM) skills in deaf children. Hence, our aim with this study was to adapt the British Sign Language Receptive Skills Test (the first standardized test to determine sign language proficiency in children) into PJM, a less researched sign language. In this paper, we present the first steps in the adaptation process and highlight linguistic and cultural similarities and differences between the British Sign Language Receptive Skills Test and the PJM adaptation. We collected data from 20 deaf children who were native signers (age range: 6 to 12) and 30 deaf children who were late learners of PJM (age range: 6 to 13). Preliminary analyses showed that the PJM Receptive Skills Test has acceptable psychometric characteristics (item analysis, validity, reliability, and sensitivity to age). Our long-term goal with this work was to include younger children (age range: 3 to 6) and to standardize the PJM Receptive Skills Tests, so that it can be used in educational settings and in scientific research

N-acetyl-cysteine treatment inhibits depletion of brain glutathione levels in rats : implications for schizophrenia

C1 - Journal Articles RefereedA pilot study was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of granisetron for the treatment of antidepressant induced sexual dysfunction in women. Twelve women with antidepressant induced sexual dysfunction (AISD) were assigned granisetron (n=5) or placebo (n=7) in a 14-day randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. One participant in the granisetron group did not complete the study. Participants were assessed at baseline, day 7 and day 14 using the Feiger Sexual Function and Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. No statistical differences were measured at baseline or at endpoint between the granisetron or placebo group. This study did not produce evidence supporting the usefulness of granisetron in AISD

Socioeconomic status, obesity and lifestyle in men : the Geelong Osteoporosis Study

Background : Although the association between lower socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity in women in developed countries is well-documented, current evidence regarding the relationship between obesity in men and area-based SES (equivalised for advantage and disadvantage) is inconsistent. Therefore, we aimed to examine obesity, lifestyle behaviours, physical activity in different domains and demographics in men using area-based SES.Methods : We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study of 1467 randomly selected white men (mean age 56 year (inter-quartile range (IQR) = 39&ndash;73 year)) recruited from the Barwon Statistical Division, South Western Victoria, Australia between 2001&ndash;06.Results : Age-adjusted BMI, waist circumference, % fat and lean mass and blood pressure were inversely associated with SES, with differences between low and upper SES (P for difference &lt;0.05), independent of country of birth. Age-adjusted lifestyle behaviours associated with obesity and/or adverse health (especially cardiovascular disease), were also associated with lower SES.Conclusions : Subjects from lower SES had greater measures of obesity despite being more physically active at work, but were less likely to be physically active in the domains of sports and/or leisure. These findings suggest the possible influence of lifestyle behaviours and occupation upon obesity in men and should be investigated further.<br /

Rheumatoid arthritis and incident fracture in women: a case-control study

Background: To examine fracture incidence in women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for an entire geographical&nbsp;region of south-eastern Australia.Methods: Women aged 35 years and older, resident in the Barwon Statistical Division (BSD) and clinically&nbsp;diagnosed with RA 1994&ndash;2001 were eligible for inclusion as cases (n =1,008). The control population (n = 172,422)&nbsp;comprised the entire female BSD population aged 35 years and older, excluding those individuals identified as&nbsp;cases. Incident fractures were extracted from the prospective Geelong Osteoporosis Study Fracture Grid. We&nbsp;calculated rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) to compare the age- adjusted rate of fracture between&nbsp;the RA and non-RA populations, and used a chi-square test to compare proportions of fractures between women&nbsp;with and without RA, and a two-sided Mann&ndash;Whitney U-test to examine age-differences.Results: Among 1,008 women with RA, 19 (1.9%) sustained a fracture, compared to 1,981 fractures sustained by the&nbsp;172,422 women without RA (1.2%). Fracture rates showed a trend for being greater among women diagnosed with&nbsp;RA (age-adjusted RR 1.43, 95%CI 0.98-2.09, p= 0.08). Women with RA sustained vertebral fractures at twice the&nbsp;expected frequency, whereas hip fractures were underrepresented in the RA population (p&lt; 0.001). RA status was&nbsp;not associated with the likelihood of sustaining a fracture at sites adjacent to joints most commonly affected by RA&nbsp;(p= 0.22).Conclusion: Given that women with RA have a greater risk of fracture compared to women without RA, these&nbsp;patients may be a suitable target population for anti-resorptive agents; however, larger studies are warranted

Nonequilibrium wetting of finite samples

As a canonical model for wetting far from thermal equilibrium we study a Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interface growing on top of a hard-core substrate. Depending on the average growth velocity the model exhibits a non-equilibrium wetting transition which is characterized by an additional surface critical exponent theta. Simulating the single-step model in one spatial dimension we provide accurate numerical estimates for theta and investigate the distribution of contact points between the substrate and the interface as a function of time. Moreover, we study the influence of finite-size effects, in particular the time needed until a finite substrate is completely covered by the wetting layer for the first time.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, revisio