Intention as an indicator for subjective need: A new pathway in need assessment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The current analyses focus on the need for services from the perspective of individuals considering preventive measures. A new approach imported from social and health psychology is used for assessing subjective need. This indicator is used for predicting actual health behaviour under field conditions and simultaneously other relevant background variables are taken into account.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A mail survey was conducted prior to the start of a coaching program for teachers. A sample of <it>n </it>= 949 respondents were queried about mental distress and their intention to participate in the program. This intention to participate and actual attendance were taken as outcome variables in logistic regression analyses adjusted for relevant background variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Intention and participation in the coaching program three months later were associated with an unadjusted OR of 90.1 (95% CI: 39.2 - 207.0) for male teachers. For female teachers the crude effect was OR = 80.0 (95% CI: 45.7 - 140.1). The positive predictive value (PPV) was 96.4% among males and 94.5% among females. Adjusting for covariates results in higher values. Among female, but not among male teachers, the participation depended on psychological distress as assessed by the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There is strong evidence for using subjective need as an additional component in assessing the need for services and for predicting actual health behaviour. But it needs to be confined to intended behaviour which is under behavioural control.</p

Different sample types in pigs challenged with Haemophilus parasuis following two treatment schemes with tulathromycin

This study aimed to test the efficacy of samplings for the detection of Haemophilus parasuis after metaphylactic treatment and subsequent challenge using an established model for Glässer’s disease. In this model, 36 piglets were equally assigned to a negative control, a positive control, and two trial groups receiving tulathromycin 7 or 4 days prior to challenge. The piglets of three groups were challenged intratracheally with H. parasuis serovar 5. As a result, four pigs in each challenged group died or had to be euthanised within 10 days post challenge. The remaining 15 pigs of these challenged groups survived until termination of the experiment (days 14–15). All pigs were necropsied and collective swabs of serosal surfaces were tested by bacterial culture and PCR. Samples of tarsal synovial fluid and joint capsule, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and brain swabs were tested by PCR. A total of 22 out of the 27 challenged animals had macroscopically detectable polyserositis and all of them tested positive in the collective swab samples. Haemophilus parasuis was more frequently detected in pigs that died within the first 10 days compared to those surviving until days 14–15 (P < 0.001), and those that succumbed within 10 days showed higher positivity rates in the brain and CSF. All pigs which were positive in the CSF had detectable meningitis. At days 14–15, joint samples from 5 of the remaining 15 pigs tested positive for H. parasuis. Four of these five animals did not show any macroscopic or histological lesions in the joints. In conclusion, collective swabs were the best sample material in acute cases, whereas samples from the joints gave the best results in chronic cases. In this challenge model it was not possible to prove the metaphylactic effect of tulathromycin administered 4 and 7 days prior to infection with H. parasuis

Stellar intensity interferometry: Experimental steps toward long-baseline observations

Experiments are in progress to prepare for intensity interferometry with arrays of air Cherenkov telescopes. At the Bonneville Seabase site, near Salt Lake City, a testbed observatory has been set up with two 3-m air Cherenkov telescopes on a 23-m baseline. Cameras are being constructed, with control electronics for either off- or online analysis of the data. At the Lund Observatory (Sweden), in Technion (Israel) and at the University of Utah (USA), laboratory intensity interferometers simulating stellar observations have been set up and experiments are in progress, using various analog and digital correlators, reaching 1.4 ns time resolution, to analyze signals from pairs of laboratory telescopes.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figur

Quality circles to identify barriers, facilitating factors, and solutions for high-quality primary care for asylum seekers

Straßner C, Gewalt SC, Becker von Rose P, Lorenzen D, Szecsenyi J, Bozorgmehr K. Quality circles to identify barriers, facilitating factors, and solutions for high-quality primary care for asylum seekers. BJGP Open. 2017;1(3):BJGP-2017-0112

Feeding-induced changes in allatostatin-A and short neuropeptide F in the antennal lobes affect odor-mediated host seeking in the yellow fever mosquito, <i>Aedes aegypti</i>

Aedes aegypti is a model species in which the endogenous regulation of odor-mediated host seeking behavior has received some attention. Sugar feeding and host seeking in female A. aegypti are transiently inhibited following a blood meal. This inhibition is partially mediated by short neuropeptide F (sNPF). The paired antennal lobes (ALs), as the first processing centers for olfactory information, has been shown to play a significant role in the neuropeptidergic regulation of odor-mediated behaviors in insects. The expression of sNPF, along with other peptides in the ALs of A. aegypti, indicate parallel neuromodulatory systems that may affect olfactory processing. To identify neuropeptides involved in regulating the odor-mediated host seeking behavior in A. aegypti, we use a semi-quantitative neuropeptidomic analysis of single ALs to analyze changes in the levels of five individual neuropeptides in response to different feeding regimes. Our results show that the level of sNPF-2, allatostatin-A-5 (AstA-5) and neuropeptide-like precursor-1-5 (NPLP-1-5), but not of tachykinin-related-peptides and SIFamide (SIFa), in the AL of female mosquitoes, changes 24 h and 48 h post-blood meal, and are dependent on prior access to sugar. To assess the role of these neuropeptides in modulating host seeking behavior, when systemically injected individually, sNPF-2 and AstA-5 significantly reduced host seeking behavior. However, only the injection of the binary mixture of the two neuropeptides lead to a host seeking inhibition similar to that observed in blood fed females. We conclude that modulation of the odor mediated host seeking behavior of A. aegypti is likely regulated by a dual neuropeptidergic pathway acting in concert in the ALs

Theorem proving for all: equational reasoning in Liquid Haskell

Equational reasoning is one of the key features of pure functional languages such as Haskell. To date, however, such reasoning always took place externally to Haskell, either manually on paper, or mechanised in a theorem prover. This article shows how equational reasoning can be performed directly and seamlessly within Haskell itself, and be checked using Liquid Haskell. In particular, language learners — to whom external theorem provers are out of reach — can benefit from having their proofs mechanically checked. Concretely, we show how the equational proofs and derivations from Hutton’s textbook can be recast as proofs in Haskell (spoiler: they look essentially the same)

Theorem proving for all: equational reasoning in Liquid Haskell

Equational reasoning is one of the key features of pure functional languages such as Haskell. To date, however, such reasoning always took place externally to Haskell, either manually on paper, or mechanised in a theorem prover. This article shows how equational reasoning can be performed directly and seamlessly within Haskell itself, and be checked using Liquid Haskell. In particular, language learners — to whom external theorem provers are out of reach — can benefit from having their proofs mechanically checked. Concretely, we show how the equational proofs and derivations from Hutton’s textbook can be recast as proofs in Haskell (spoiler: they look essentially the same)