Reliability and validity of the Turkish translation of the beliefs about medicines questionnaire (BMQ-T) in patients with Behçet’s disease

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Turkish translation of the Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ-T, ©Prof. Rob Horne) for patients with Behçet's disease. METHODS: This methodological study enrolled a sample of 125 patients. The scale was adapted to Turkish through a process including translation, comparison with versions in other languages, back translation, and pretesting. Construct validity was evaluated by factor analysis. Medication adherence evaluated as poor, moderate and good according to the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS). BMQ-T scores compared along medication adherence status groups. RESULTS: In our study, as in the original scale, the factor analysis confirmed that the BMQ-T had a four-factor structure explaining 54.73% of the total variance. The BMQ-T had acceptable internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient: Specific Necessity=.812; Specific Concerns=.672; General Harm=.677; General Overuse=.656), adequate test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients: Specific Necessity=.715; Specific Concerns=.680; General Harm=.678; General Overuse=.327). Specific Necessity and Specific Concerns scores were significantly different between medication adherence status groups. CONCLUSIONS: The psychometric properties of the BMQ-T were consistent with those reported in the original study. The BMQ-T was found to be a valid and reliable tool for evaluating beliefs about medicines in patients with Behçet's disease

Statistical optimization for lipase production from solid waste of vegetable oil industry

<p>The production of biofuel using thermostable bacterial lipase from hot spring bacteria out of low-cost agricultural residue olive oil cake is reported in the present paper. Using a lipase enzyme from <i>Bacillus licheniformis</i>, a 66.5% yield of methyl esters was obtained. Optimum parameters were determined, with maximum production of lipase at a pH of 8.2, temperature 50.8°C, moisture content of 55.7%, and biosurfactant content of 1.693 mg. The contour plots and 3D surface responses depict the significant interaction of pH and moisture content with biosurfactant during lipase production. Chromatographic analysis of the lipase transesterification product was methyl esters, from kitchen waste oil under optimized conditions, generated methyl palmitate, methyl stearate, methyl oleate, and methyl linoleate.</p

Frequency of Agenesis Palmaris Longus through Clinical Examination - An East African Study

INTRODUCTION: The Palmaris longus, one of the most variable muscles in the body both flexes the wrist and tenses the palmar fascia. It is used by surgeons as a source of tendon graft and racial differences in its variation have been documented. We sought to determine the frequency of the absence of the Palmaris longus in an East African population. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted using ten common clinical tests among patients and students in a large teaching hospital in East Africa to determine the presence of a Palmaris longus. RESULTS: The overall rate of absence was 4.4% with unilateral absence at 3.3% and bilateral absence at 1.1%. The overall difference between males and females was not statistically significant (p = 0.605). Participants were more likely to have absence in their non dominant hand. DISCUSSION: Our findings though in contrast to many studies worldwide, it concurs with most studies done in the African setting. These differences may be due to the higher levels of manual labour and the more use of the right hand in these activities. The frequency of the absence of Palmaris longus in East Africa has been determined. Surgeons should acquaint themselves with prevalence in their areas of practice

Pharmacologic prophylaxis for atrial fibrillation following cardiac surgery: a systematic review

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia occurring after cardiac surgery. Its incidence varies depending on type of surgery. Postoperative AF may cause hemodynamic deterioration, predispose to stroke and increase mortality. Effective treatment for prophylaxis of postoperative AF is vital as reduces hospitalization and overall morbidity. Beta - blockers, have been proved to prevent effectively atrial fibrillation following cardiac surgery and should be routinely used if there are no contraindications. Sotalol may be more effective than standard b-blockers for the prevention of AF without causing an excess of side effects. Amiodarone is useful when beta-blocker therapy is not possible or as additional prophylaxis in high risk patients. Other agents such as magnesium, calcium channels blocker or non-antiarrhythmic drugs as glycose-insulin - potassium, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, N-acetylcysteine and statins have been studied as alternative treatment for postoperative AF prophylaxis

Machine learning for genetic prediction of psychiatric disorders: a systematic review

Machine learning methods have been employed to make predictions in psychiatry from genotypes, with the potential to bring improved prediction of outcomes in psychiatric genetics; however, their current performance is unclear. We aim to systematically review machine learning methods for predicting psychiatric disorders from genetics alone and evaluate their discrimination, bias and implementation. Medline, PsycInfo, Web of Science and Scopus were searched for terms relating to genetics, psychiatric disorders and machine learning, including neural networks, random forests, support vector machines and boosting, on 10 September 2019. Following PRISMA guidelines, articles were screened for inclusion independently by two authors, extracted, and assessed for risk of bias. Overall, 63 full texts were assessed from a pool of 652 abstracts. Data were extracted for 77 models of schizophrenia, bipolar, autism or anorexia across 13 studies. Performance of machine learning methods was highly varied (0.48–0.95 AUC) and differed between schizophrenia (0.54–0.95 AUC), bipolar (0.48–0.65 AUC), autism (0.52–0.81 AUC) and anorexia (0.62–0.69 AUC). This is likely due to the high risk of bias identified in the study designs and analysis for reported results. Choices for predictor selection, hyperparameter search and validation methodology, and viewing of the test set during training were common causes of high risk of bias in analysis. Key steps in model development and validation were frequently not performed or unreported. Comparison of discrimination across studies was constrained by heterogeneity of predictors, outcome and measurement, in addition to sample overlap within and across studies. Given widespread high risk of bias and the small number of studies identified, it is important to ensure established analysis methods are adopted. We emphasise best practices in methodology and reporting for improving future studies

Reduction of Yellowing Effect on Leathers with UV Absorber Benzophenone-4

WOS: 000371446100005Besides quality in leather manufacture, another important factor is that the customer should use the product in the long term without any problem. However, a leather product, being a natural structure, can age because of environmental conditions such as UV, temperature, and humidity, and its chemical and physical structure can change with time. Some leather products in particular such as upholstery leathers which are exposed to sunlight can be aged and yellowed by the effects of UV light and temperature. Therefore, there is a need to prevent ageing and yellowing. UV absorbers are often used in various products such as cosmetics and polymeric materials to prevent the destructive effects of ultraviolet radiation. The aim of this work was to study use of the UV absorber benzophenone-4 in reducing yellowing. Chrome-tanned and vegetable-tanned crust leathers were given a coating of hydro lacquer [lacquer emulsion] including the UV absorber benzophenone-4 as a finishing process. After exposure to monochromatic UV light at a wavelength of 340nm for 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144 or 168 hours at approximately 80 degrees C. The results were investigated by CIE Lab Colour measurement and by FTIR-ATR spectrophotometer

Removal of Acid Black 210 Dye from Leather Dyeing Effluent using Spherical Particles of P(HEMA-GMA)IDA-Cr(III) Hydrogel Membrane

Hydrogel membranes can swell by a high proportion of their weight and have a large surface area, and are nowadays preferred in adsorption studies. In this work, p(HEMA-GMA) poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate) spherical particulated hydrogel membrane (SPM) was produced by UV photopolymerization and the synthesized membrane was coupled with iminodiacetic acid (IDA) in order to bond the Cr(III) ions in the chrome tanning process effluent. Then p(HEMA-GMA)-IDA-Cr(III) SPM was used to remove Acid Black 210 dye from the dyeing process effluent. The membrane's chrome and dye adsorption capacities were determined using a UV/Vis Spectrophotometer at wavelengths of 601nm and 435nm respectively. After the membranes were used, the discharged tanning and dye process wastewaters were examined in order to see the differences in the wastewater in terms of COD, BOD5, conductivity, pH, salinity, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, potassium, total nitrogen and chromium content. The results showed that the metal-chelated p(HEMA-GMA)-IDA SPMs chelated chrome ions between 398.47 and 619.10mg/g, and the adsorbed Acid Black 210 dye molecules were between 0.76 and 1.87mg/g. In conclusion, p(HEMA-GMA)-IDA SPM is an effective sorbent system for removing Cr(III) ions and acid dye molecules from leather discharge waters