Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of secure attachment, empathic self-efficacy, and stress perception in causal beliefs related to mental illness – a cross-cultural study: Italy versus Israel

Background Research suggests that “mental illness etiological beliefs” and attitudes toward mentally ill people are significantly related; it has also been demonstrated that adult attachment style and empathic self-efficacy affect such attitudes. Moreover, community or regional culture has a significant impact on etiology beliefs and attitudes toward the mentally sick. Materials and methods We carried out this study in Italy and Israel among psychology students to compare two cultures in regards to causal beliefs of mental disorders and the roles that specific variables, such as secure attachment, empathic self-efficacy, and stress, play in etiological beliefs. The participants (N=305) were students who belonged to two universities: Padua (N=183) and Haifa (N=122). The Many Facet Rasch Model (MFRM) was applied in a cross-cultural perspective to analyze the differential functioning of specific etiological beliefs in relation to the above mentioned variables; the effect of gender and religious beliefs was also entered in the MFRM. Results The two cultures reacted differently to the biogenetic and psychosocial causal explanations of mental disorders: Israeli students endorsed the biogenetic causal beliefs model more frequently than the Italians. Among other findings, concerning the biogenetic model, the Italian students were predominantly males, who declared to be religious and reported lower levels of secure attachment than Israelis. On the other hand, the Israeli students who manifested a preference toward the biogenetic explanation were mostly females, who declared not to be religious and who manifested higher levels of secure attachment than the Italians. Conclusion This article is expected to contribute to the improvement of the understanding of general public’s etiological beliefs of mental illness. Similarities and differences between the two cultures, Israel and Italy, have been highlighted on the basis of the MFRM analysis. The effect that interpersonal relations, such as attachment style, perceived empathy, and stress, have on etiological beliefs was also investigated.
Strategies for Increasing Cervical Cancer Screening Amongst First Nations Communities in Northwest Ontario, Canada

The high burden of cervical cancer in Indigenous populations worldwide is due to underscreening and inadequate follow-up. Using qualitative, participatory action research, we interviewed health care staff to identify ways to increase screening recruitment in First Nations communities in Northwest Ontario, Canada. Our findings suggest the value of a multilevel social–ecological model to promote behavioral changes at the community, health care service and stakeholder, and decision-maker level. Participants emphasized the central role of First Nations women as nurturers of life and for the well-being of their family members. They stressed the importance of building awareness and motivation for cervical cancer screening through various activities including continuous education, hosting screening events specifically for women, improving the attitude and service of health care providers, and promoting screening tools and policies that complement and are respectful of First Nations women.
Senate Incumbent Visibility over the Election Cycle

Candidate visibility has become a key variable in the study of congressional elections. There is ample evidence that visibility is a substantial advantage, one which almost always favors incumbents. In this paper I trace the visibility of members of the U.S. Senate between their bids for reelection and over their political careers. I find that there is a moderate drop off of visibility near the midpoint of a Senate term, and a fairly sizable rise in prominence in the two years leading up to a reelection bid. Yet, even in the middle of the term, incumbent senators remain quite salient in the minds of the public. Over an entire career, visibility cumulates for some perceptions and does not cumulate much for others. This differential accretion of visibility may have important consequences. Finally, I argue for the need to study perceptions of incumbents outside of the election period. The time of governing is at the center of a republican society, yet we have few studies of how governing is linked to public perceptions of incumbents.
Congenital lipomatous overgrowth, vascular malformations, and epidermal nevi (CLOVE) syndrome: CNS malformations and seizures may be a component of this disorder

A newborn girl was found to have a massive lymphatic truncal vascular malformation with overlying cutaneous venous anomaly associated with overgrown feet and splayed toes. These manifestations comprise the recently described CLOVE syndrome. She also had cranial asymmetry and developed generalized seizures, which were treated with anticonvulsants. Cranial CT showed encephalomalacia, widening of the ventricles and the sulci, hemimegalencephaly (predominantly white matter) and partial agenesis of corpus callosum. Review of the literature identified several other patients with CLOVE syndrome, some of whom were misdiagnosed as having Proteus syndrome, with strikingly similar manifestations. We conclude that CNS manifestations including hemimegalencephaly, dysgenesis of the corpus callosum, neuronal migration defects, and the consequent seizures, may be an rarely recognized manifestation of CLOVE syndrome. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Oral health-related quality of life of 12- and 15-year-old Thai children: findings from a national survey.

OBJECTIVE To assess the prevalence and characteristics of oral impacts on daily life, and the relationship between certain dental conditions and impacts attributed to them, in a nationally representative population of Thai school children aged 12 and 15 years. METHODS A cross-sectional study on a representative sample of children in Sixth Thailand National Oral Health Survey. Sample included half the children aged 12- and 15-year-old selected in Bangkok and all participants in 8 of 16 provinces included in national survey. Children were individually interviewed using the Child-OIDP (12-year-old) and OIDP indices (15-year-old), and two questions for overall subjective assessments. RESULTS A total of 1066 12-year-olds and 815 15-year-olds were interviewed. Some 85.2% of 12-year-olds reported experiencing oral impacts during the past 3 months. Child-OIDP scores ranged from 0 to 68.0 (mean = 7.83, SD = 7.8). Eating was the most commonly affected performance (64.4%), followed by cleaning teeth (51.7%) and maintaining emotional state (49.1%). Among 15-year-old children, 83.3% had oral impacts during the past 6 months. OIDP scores ranged from 0 to 39.5 (mean = 5.47, SD = 6.0). The three most commonly affected performances were eating (64.0%), cleaning teeth (55.3%) and maintaining emotional state (53.1%). Toothache and oral ulcers were the two most important perceived causes in 12-year-olds. Impacts from toothache were the most prevalent (39.2%) and had a condition-specific (CS) Child-OIDP score of 7.0, while oral ulcers affected 24.7% of children; mean CS-score of 8.0. Among 15-year-olds, oral ulcers ranked first in terms of both prevalence (36.2%) and CS-score (6.0), followed by toothache (prevalence 33.9% and CS-score 5.0). For both age groups, problems with gums were of less concern. CONCLUSIONS Oral impacts were common but not severe in Thai children and adolescents. For both age groups, impacts were mostly on eating performance; toothache and oral ulcers were the two important perceived causes reflecting needs for oral health promotion and treatment of dental caries and oral ulcers.
Managerial Perceptions of Organizational Planning Benefits: A Study of Ghana

The last two decades have witnessed an increase in the number of business organizations which have recognised and adopted formal measures for undertaking strategic planning in industrialised countries. Notwithstanding the volume of pedagogical literature concerning strategic planning practice, there is limited evidence on issues relating to the planning process in developing nations. Although executives in transition developing economies may be stimulated to adopt a robust approach to planning their commercial activities, the justification for such an orientation has tended to rely upon intuitive thinking and conceptual contributions to knowledge. It is suggested that empirical tests of the anticipated benefits of planning might be more revealing and provide a grounded approach to assessing the utility of strategic planning for businesses operating in an emerging developing market. For this reason, the focus of this article is a discussion of the findings from an empirical study that investigated the perceived attitudinal and behavioural consequences of strategic planning, with the aim of determining the significance of such effects on planning among firms operating in Ghana’s transition economy. A number of favourable outcomes are identified in managerial perceptions of planning. The implications Dr. Kwaku Appiah-Adu is Senior Lecturer in Marketing and Strategy, Business and Management Department, University of Portsmouth, Locksway Road, Milton, Southsea, PO4 8JF, United Kingdom (E-mail: Kwaku.Appiah-Adu@.port.ac.uk). He possesses academic qualifications in business administration and has international professional experience in the areas of project management and management consultancy both in Europe and Africa. Kwaku’s research interests focus on strategic management and marketing in industrialized and developing economies and his publications have appeared in the Journal of Euromarketing, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of Marketing Management, International Business Review, Journal of Strategic Marketing and Service Industries Journal, among others. Journal of African Business, Vol. 1(3) 2000 E 2000 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 7 JOURNAL OF AFRICAN BUSINESS 8 of this study for executives are discussed and areas of further research are addressed. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: <getinfo@haworthpressinc. com> Website: <http://www.haworthpressinc. com>]
Youth as a reserve army of labour: Australia’s regional unemployment conundrum

ABSTRACT This article seeks to apply Marx’s Reserve Army of Labour theory to explain youth labour market trends with a case study of the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. Statistical analysis of regional ABS labour force data reveals both persistently high youth unemployment rates as well as dominant cyclical activity. Dominant neoclassical economic theory, which implies that any unemployment observed should be infrequent and quickly solved by market forces, fails to adequately account for our observations. In contrast, our findings are congruent with the reserve army and segmented labour market theories. The article contributes new understandings of Marxist concepts to an important regional issue of contemporary policy relevance.
Comprehensive analysis of the results of the PIOPED Study. Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis Study.

UNLABELLED The goals of this review were to summarize the published data from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute sponsored Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis (PIOPED) study, present new data from the entire population and provide a comprehensive criteria for ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) lung scan interpretation. METHODS Data from the PIOPED frequent user tape and journal articles published between 1990 and 1994 and indexed on Medline that presented data from the PIOPED study were reviewed. RESULTS A normal V/Q lung scan excludes the diagnosis of clinically significant PE. The usefulness of the V/Q lung scan was optimized when interpreted as representing a very low, low or high probability of PE with a concordant clinical likelihood of PE. Patients with a V/Q lung scan interpreted as representing an intermediate probability of PE or patients with discordant clinical likelihood of PE and lung scan interpretation will often require further investigations to diagnose or exclude acute venous thromboembolism. CONCLUSION The results of the PIOPED study support the use of V/Q lung scanning in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with suspected PE. Amendments to the original PIOPED interpretation criteria should reinforce the role of V/Q lung scanning in patients with suspected PE.
Iron and the brain: neurotransmitter receptors and magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Earlier studies show that in iron deficiency with anaemia and in latent iron deficiency neurotransmitters are altered. The changes induced in the fetal brain are irreversible on rehabilitation. The important alterations in glutamate metabolism in latent iron deficiency stimulated studies on gamma aminobutyric acid and glutaminate receptors. It was observed that binding of 3H-muscimol at pH 7.5 and 1 mg protein/assay increased significantly in synaptic vesicular membranes and under similar conditions 3H-glutamate binding showed reduction. Thus iron deficiency played a role in both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors. To elucidate the role of body iron status on the brain, anaemic children with thalassemia and iron deficiency were subjected to ‘magnetic resonance spectroscopy’ of globus pallidus, caudate and dentate nuclei and there was no change in iron content. The concentrations of creatinine and aspartate increased, with lowering of choline content. The findings were similar in thalassemia as well as iron deficiency anaemia, suggesting that in anaemia changes operate through reduced oxygen availability.
The Effectiveness of Problem-Solving Therapy for Primary Care Patients' Depressive and/or Anxiety Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: There is increasing demand for managing depressive and/or anxiety disorders among primary care patients. Problem-solving therapy (PST) is a brief evidence- and strength-based psychotherapy that has received increasing support for its effectiveness in managing depression and anxiety among primary care patients. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials examining PST for patients with depression and/or anxiety in primary care as identified by searches for published literature across 6 databases and manual searching. A weighted average of treatment effect size estimates per study was used for meta-analysis and moderator analysis. Results: From an initial pool of 153 primary studies, 11 studies (with 2072 participants) met inclusion criteria for synthesis. PST reported an overall significant treatment effect for primary care depression and/or anxiety (d = 0.673; P < .001). Participants' age and sex moderated treatment effects. Physician-involved PST in primary care, despite a significantly smaller treatment effect size than mental health provider only PST, reported an overall statistically significant effect (d = 0.35; P = .029). Conclusions: Results from the study supported PST's effectiveness for primary care depression and/or anxiety. Our preliminary results also indicated that physician-involved PST offers meaningful improvements for primary care patients' depression and/or anxiety.
BRIEF REPORT Psychometric Properties of Reverse-Scored Items on the CES-D in a Sample of Ethnically Diverse Older Adults

Reverse-scored items on assessment scales increase cognitive processing demands and may therefore lead to measurement problems for older adult respondents. In this study, the objective was to examine possible psychometric inadequacies of reverse-scored items on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) when used to assess ethnically diverse older adults. Using baseline data from a gerontologic clinical trial (n 460), we tested the hypotheses that the reversed items on the CES-D (a) are less reliable than nonreversed items, (b) disproportionately lead to intraindividually atypical responses that are psychometrically problematic, and (c) evidence improved measurement properties when an imputation procedure based on the scale mean is used to replace atypical responses. In general, the results supported the hypotheses. Relative to nonreversed CES-D items, the 4 reversed items were less internally consistent, were associated with lower item-scale correlations, and were more often answered atypically at an intraindividual level. Further, the atypical responses were negatively correlated with responses to psychometrically sound nonreversed items that had similar content. The use of imputation to replace atypical responses enhanced the predictive validity of the set of reverse-scored items. Among older adult respondents, reverse-scored items are associated with measurement difficulties. It is recommended that appropriate correction procedures such as item readministration or statistical imputation be applied to reduce the difficulties.
Building blocks of successful aging: a focus group study of older adults' perceived contributors to successful aging.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to solicit the opinions of older adults about factors related to successful aging using focus group methods. METHODS Twelve focus groups were conducted with an average of six individuals per group. Participants included 72 community-dwelling older adults (age range: 60-99 years) recruited primarily from retirement communities in San Diego County, California. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a grounded theory framework of "Coding Consensus, Co-occurrence, and Comparison. " RESULTS A total of 33 factors were identified, out of which four major themes emerged: attitude/adaptation, security/stability, health/wellness, and engagement/stimulation. Every focus group emphasized the need for a positive attitude, realistic perspective, and the ability to adapt to change. Security and stability encapsulated one's living environment, social support, and financial resources. General physical health and wellness were frequently mentioned, with mixed opinions on their necessity for successful aging. Finally, a sense of engagement, reflected in pursuit of continued stimulation, learning, feeling a sense of purpose in life, and being useful to others and to society, was considered a prominent aspect of successful aging. All four themes appeared to be interrelated such that engagement required a foundation of security and stability while positive attitude and adaptation strategies often compensated for impaired physical health. CONCLUSION Older adults place greater emphasis on psychosocial factors as being key to successful aging, with less emphasis on factors such as longevity, genetics, absence of disease/disability, function, and independence.
Outcome of renal transplantation in adolescents with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis

Abstract: Using the NAPRTCS database from January 1987 to January 2001, we examined 2687 adolescent (age 13–17 yr) index renal transplants to analyze differences in demographic treatment, and outcomes in adolescents with FSGS compared to other renal disease. 338 (12.6%) of adolescents had a primary diagnosis of FSGS. Adolescents with FSGS were more likely to be black and less likely to receive pre‐emptive transplants (p < 0.001). No differences existed in HLA matching or immunosuppression regimens. Acute tubular necrosis occurred in more FSGS adolescents compared to non‐FSGS adolescents following LD (11% vs. 4.7%) or CD (25.1% vs. 17.8%) transplants (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in acute rejection rates between adolescents with FSGS and other adolescents. Graft survival was worse for LD FSGS adolescents (6 yr, 56%) compared to non‐FSGS adolescents (77%) (p < 0.001) and was not significantly different from CD graft survival in FSGS (51%) or non‐FSGS groups (61%). The relative risk (RR) of graft failure was greatest in LD transplant with FSGS (RR = 1.75; p < 0.001), compared to LD transplants without FSGS (RR = 1.0). Recurrent primary disease accounted for 15.2% of all graft failures in adolescents transplanted for FSGS with no difference between LD (17%) or CD (13.8%) grafts. Recurrent disease accounted for 3.2% of graft failures in adolescents without FSGS. Recurrent disease was the only cause of graft failure that differed between groups (p < 0.001). When compared to patients up to age 12 yr with FSGS, graft survival in both LD and CD transplants was worse in adolescents with FSGS (LD p = 0.035, CD p < 0.001). In conclusion, FSGS has a negative impact on graft survival in adolescents. Recurrence of FSGS results in a loss of the expected LD graft survival advantage in adolescents. Furthermore, adolescents with FSGS have decreased graft survival compared to younger children with FSGS. These data suggest that the rationale for LD transplantation in adolescents with FSGS should be based on factors other than the increased graft survival typically seen with LD transplantation.
Demographic and psychosocial factors associated with perceived risk for colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to investigate demographic and psychosocial predictors of perceptions of risk for colorectal cancer (CRC) in a population-based sample. METHODS The study was a cross-sectional survey of 18,447 men and women aged 55-64 years. A mailed questionnaire assessed perceived comparative risk for CRC along with demographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and socioeconomic status), health-related factors (family history, subjective health and bowel symptoms, and health behaviors), and emotional state (anxiety). RESULTS Being male and older were associated with lower perceived risk. Having a family history of CRC, poorer subjective health, more symptoms, and higher levels of anxiety were all associated with increased perceived risk of CRC. Smokers and nonexercisers perceived their risk as higher. CONCLUSIONS Misperceptions surrounding the effects of age and gender on CRC risk, as well as the genetic link and pathogenesis of CRC, need to be addressed in risk communications.
Experimental impulse response of grounding grids

Experimental tests, consisting in the impression of low amplitude impulsive currents with lightning-patterned waveforms on a real grounding grid, were performed to assess the grid transient response. Simultaneous waves of current and grounding potential rise were measured considering the current impression on different points along the grid electrodes (earth termination) to determine the impulsive grounding impedance. Currents with very short front-times were used to show strong propagation effects in the soil, responsible for values of grounding impedance always significantly larger than the measured low frequency resistance and strongly dependent on the position where current was impressed on the grid.
What is quality? The propensity of foreign customers of U.S. pork to pay for pork quality attributes in select export markets

ii Acknowledgments. vi Dedication . viii List of Tables . xii List of Figures . xv Executive Summary . 1 Literature review . 18 Research Objectives . 25 Materials and Methods . 26 Study Design . 26 Interview Instrument . 27 Demographic Questions . 27 Quality Attributes . 27 Economic Factors . 28 Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) Estimates . 28 Best-Worst (BW) Scaling . 30 Data Collection Trips . 31 Completed Interviews . 31 Country Profiles . 32 Hong Kong/China . 32 Japan . 33 Mexico . 34