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Monitoring Study (monitoring + study)
Selected AbstractsRevising the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test (CUDIT) by means of Item Response TheoryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 3 2010Beatrice Annaheim Abstract Cannabis use among adolescents and young adults has become a major public health challenge. Several European countries are currently developing short screening instruments to identify ,problematic' forms of cannabis use in general population surveys. One such instrument is the Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test (CUDIT), a 10-item questionnaire based on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Previous research found that some CUDIT items did not perform well psychometrically. In the interests of improving the psychometric properties of the CUDIT, this study replaces the poorly performing items with new items that specifically address cannabis use. Analyses are based on a sub-sample of 558 recent cannabis users from a representative population sample of 5722 individuals (aged 13,32) who were surveyed in the 2007 Swiss Cannabis Monitoring Study. Four new items were added to the original CUDIT. Psychometric properties of all 14 items, as well as the dimensionality of the supplemented CUDIT were then examined using Item Response Theory. Results indicate the unidimensionality of CUDIT and an improvement in its psychometric performance when three original items (usual hours being stoned; injuries; guilt) are replaced by new ones (motives for using cannabis; missing out leisure time activities; difficulties at work/school). However, improvements were limited to cannabis users with a high problem score. For epidemiological purposes, any further revision of CUDIT should therefore include a greater number of ,easier' items. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Long-Term Posttreatment Functioning Among Those Treated for Alcohol Use DisordersALCOHOLISM, Issue 2 2006Patrick R. Clifford This article summarizes the proceedings of a symposium that was organized and chaired by Patrick R. Clifford and presented at the 2005 Research Society on Alcoholism meeting in Santa Barbara, California. The aims of the presentation were to focus on the prediction and explanation of longer-term functioning following alcohol use disorders (AUD) treatment. Along these lines, Stephen A. Maisto, PhD, presented data (i.e., Project MATCH outpatient sample) on the relationship between drinking behavior in the first year following AUD outpatient treatment initiation and functioning at 3-year follow-up. Robert L. Stout, PhD, using data from the Extended Case Monitoring Study, analyzed long-term drinking patterns using shorter-term information. James R. McKay, PhD, examined the relationship between treatment services received and problem severities across a 2-year follow-up period. J. Scott Tonigan, PhD, served as the panel discussant. [source] Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for acute stroke in Poland: an analysis based on the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke (SITS) RegistryACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 4 2010A. Kobayashi Kobayashi A, Czlonkowska A, Ahmed N, Romanowicz S, Glonek M, Nyka WM, Opala G, Wahlgren N, for the SITS Poland Collaborative Group. Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for acute stroke in Poland: an analysis based on the Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke (SITS) Registry. Acta Neurol Scand: 2010: 122: 229,236. © 2009 The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard. Objectives,,, Intravenous thrombolysis was conditionally approved in the European Union (EU) in 2002, under the requirement of entering all patients into Safe Implementation of Thrombolysis in Stroke , Monitoring Study (SITS-MOST). Countries not belonging to the EU by 2002, i.e. Poland were invited to enter data into the SITS International Stroke Thrombolysis Registry (SITS-ISTR). The aim of this study is to compare the safety and efficacy of thrombolysis in the Polish SITS-ISTR stroke patient population with patients registered in SITS-MOST. Methods,,, 481 patients in Poland were reported between 2003 and 2007. Baseline and outcome data of Polish patients were compared with SITS-MOST. Results,,, Most of the baseline characteristics did not differ between the groups. The most important was the onset-to-needle and door-to-needle times were significantly longer in Polish patients, 150 vs 136 min and 82 vs 68 min, respectively (P < 0.001). The symptomatic intracranial haemorrhage and independence rates at 3 months were similar in both populations. Polish patients had a significantly higher 3-month mortality rate, 18.6% vs 11.3% (P < 0.001). Conclusions,,, Because of higher mortality the study implies the need to improve the organization of thrombolysis services and provides the rationale to continue the monitoring of treatment in Poland. [source] The sensitive hare: sublethal effects of predator stress on reproduction in snowshoe haresJOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY, Issue 6 2009Michael J. Sheriff Summary 1.,Prey responses to high predation risk can be morphological or behavioural and ultimately come at the cost of survival, growth, body condition, or reproduction. These sub-lethal predator effects have been shown to be mediated by physiological stress. We tested the hypothesis that elevated glucocorticoid concentrations directly cause a decline in reproduction in individual free-ranging female snowshoe hares, Lepus americanus. We measured the cortisol concentration from each dam (using a faecal analysis enzyme immunoassay) and her reproductive output (litter size, offspring birth mass, offspring right hind foot (RHF) length) 30 h after birth. 2.,In a natural monitoring study, we monitored hares during the first and second litter from the population peak (2006) to the second year of the decline (2008). We found that faecal cortisol metabolite (FCM) concentration in dams decreased 52% from the first to the second litter. From the first to the second litter, litter size increased 122%, offspring body mass increased 130%, and offspring RHF length increased 112%. Dam FCM concentrations were inversely related to litter size (r2 = 0·19), to offspring birth mass (r2 = 0·32), and to offspring RHF length (r2 = 0·64). 3.,In an experimental manipulation, we assigned wild-caught, pregnant hares to a control and a stressed group and held them in pens. Hares in the stressed group were exposed to a dog 1,2 min every other day before parturition to simulate high predation risk. At parturition, unsuccessful-stressed dams (those that failed to give birth to live young) and stressed dams had 837% and 214%, respectively, higher FCM concentrations than control dams. Of those females that gave birth, litter size was similar between control and stressed dams. However, offspring from stressed dams were 37% lighter and 16% smaller than offspring from control dams. Increasing FCM concentration in dams caused the decline of offspring body mass (r2 = 0·57) and RHF (r2 = 0·52). 4.,This is the first study in a free-ranging population of mammals to show that elevated, predator-induced, glucocorticoid concentrations in individual dams caused a decline in their reproductive output measured both by number and quality of offspring. Thus, we provide evidence that any stressor, not just predation, which increases glucocorticoid concentrations will result in a decrease in reproductive output. [source] Exposure assessment of fetus and newborn to brominated flame retardants in France: preliminary dataMOLECULAR NUTRITION & FOOD RESEARCH (FORMERLY NAHRUNG/FOOD), Issue 2 2008Jean-Philippe Antignac Abstract Brominated flame retardants (BFR) are chemicals extensively used in many manufactured products to reduce the risk of fire, but also environmental pollutants. In order to assess the potential risk linked to these compounds in human, a French monitoring study was initiated to evaluate the exposure of fetus and newborn. A previously described multi-residue analytical method was used, for measuring the main classes of BFR (hexabromocyclododecane, tetrabromobisphenol-A, and tri- to deca-polybromodiphenylethers) in various biological matrices. These analyzed samples (maternal and umbilical serum, adipose tissue and breast milk) were collected on volunteer women during caesarean deliveries. Preliminary results obtained on 26 individuals (mother/newborn pairs) mainly demonstrated the presence of polybromodiphenylethers (PBDE) and tetrabromobisphenol A both in maternal and fetal matrices, and a possible risk of overexposure of newborns through breastfeeding. Contaminations levels were found globally in the ng/g lipid weight range, consistent with other published European data. Exposure results regarding highly brominated PBDE congeners (octa- to deca-BDE) appeared particularly informative and non-commonly reported, these compounds accounting for around 50% of the total PBDE load. Additional data collection and metabolism investigations are now on-going. A more complete statistical analysis related to this BFR exposition study will be provided in a next future. [source] Clinical assessment of a new anaesthetic drug administration system: a prospective, controlled, longitudinal incident monitoring study,ANAESTHESIA, Issue 5 2010C. S. Webster Summary A safety-orientated system of delivering parenteral anaesthetic drugs was assessed in a prospective incident monitoring study at two hospitals. Anaesthetists completed an incident form for every anaesthetic, indicating if an incident occurred. Case mix data were collected and the number of drug administrations made during procedures estimated. From February 1998 at Hospital A and from June 1999 at Hospital B, until November 2003, 74 478 anaesthetics were included, for which 59 273 incident forms were returned (a 79.6% response rate). Fewer parenteral drug errors occurred with the new system than with conventional methods (58 errors in an estimated 183 852 drug administrations (0.032%, 95% CI 0.024,0.041%) vs 268 in 550 105 (0.049%, 95% CI 0.043,0.055%) respectively, p = 0.002), a relative reduction of 35% (difference 0.017%, 95% CI 0.006,0.028%). No major adverse outcomes from these errors were reported with the new system while 11 (0.002%) were reported with conventional methods (p = 0.055). We conclude that targeted system re-design can reduce medical error. [source] Antiretroviral therapy and preterm delivery,a pooled analysis of data from the United States and EuropeBJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 11 2010CL Townsend Please cite this paper as: Townsend C, Schulte J, Thorne C, Dominguez K, Tookey P, Cortina-Borja M, Peckham C, Bohannon B, Newell M, for the Pediatric Spectrum of HIV Disease Consortium, the European Collaborative Study and the National Study of HIV in Pregnancy and Childhood. Antiretroviral therapy and preterm delivery,a pooled analysis of data from the United States and Europe. BJOG 2010;117:1399,1410. Objective, To investigate reported differences in the association between highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in pregnancy and the risk of preterm delivery among HIV-infected women. Design, Combined analysis of data from three observational studies. Setting, USA and Europe. Population, A total of 19 585 singleton infants born to HIV-infected women, 1990,2006. Methods, Data from the Pediatric Spectrum of HIV Disease project (PSD), a US monitoring study, the European Collaborative Study (ECS), a consented cohort study, and the National Study of HIV in Pregnancy and Childhood (NSHPC), the United Kingdom and Ireland surveillance study. Main outcome measure, Preterm delivery rate (<37 weeks of gestation). Results, Compared with monotherapy, HAART was associated with increased preterm delivery risk in the ECS (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.40, 95% CI 1.49,3.86) and NSHPC (AOR 1.43, 95% CI 1.10,1.86), but not in the PSD (AOR 0.92, 95% CI 0.67,1.26), after adjusting for relevant covariates. Because of heterogeneity, data were not pooled for this comparison, but heterogeneity disappeared when HAART was compared with dual therapy (P = 0.26). In a pooled analysis, HAART was associated with 1.5-fold increased odds of preterm delivery compared with dual therapy (95% CI 1.19,1.87, P = 0.001), after adjusting for covariates. Conclusions, Heterogeneity in the association between HAART and preterm delivery was not explained by study design, adjustment for confounders or a standard analytical approach, but may have been the result of substantial differences in populations and data collected. The pooled analysis comparing HAART with dual therapy showed an increased risk of preterm delivery associated with HAART. [source] | |||||||||||||