Cancer patients may experience a decrease in cognitive functioning before, during and after cancer treatment. So far, the Quality of Life Group of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment ...of Cancer (EORTC QLG) developed an item bank to assess self-reported memory and attention within a single, cognitive functioning scale (CF) using computerized adaptive testing (EORTC CAT Core CF item bank). However, the distinction between different cognitive functions might be important to assess the patients' functional status appropriately and to determine treatment impact. To allow for such assessment, the aim of this study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate separate item banks for memory and attention based on the EORTC CAT Core CF item bank. In a multistep process including an expert-based content analysis, we assigned 44 items from the EORTC CAT Core CF item bank to the memory or attention domain. Then, we conducted psychometric analyses based on a sample used within the development of the EORTC CAT Core CF item bank. The sample consisted of 1030 cancer patients from Denmark, France, Poland, and the United Kingdom. We evaluated measurement properties of the newly developed item banks using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory model calibration. Item assignment resulted in 31 memory and 13 attention items. Conducted CFAs suggested good fit to a 1-factor model for each domain and no violations of monotonicity or indications of differential item functioning. Evaluation of CATs for both memory and attention confirmed well-functioning item banks with increased power/reduced sample size requirements (for CATs greater than or equal to 4 items and up to 40% reduction in sample size requirements in comparison to non-CAT format). Two well-functioning and psychometrically robust item banks for memory and attention were formed from the existing EORTC CAT Core CF item bank. These findings could support further research on self-reported cognitive functioning in cancer patients in clinical trials as well as for real-word-evidence. A more precise assessment of attention and memory deficits in cancer patients will strengthen the evidence on the effects of cancer treatment for different cancer entities, and therefore contribute to shared and informed clinical decision-making.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Even in cases of positive evidence for complementary medicine (CM) therapies, it is still difficult for cancer patients to identify reputable providers. The aim of this study was to develop and ...evaluate a criteria list to provide guidance to cancer patients seeking a reputable CM provider.
The design combined a literature review, an expert consensus procedure (n=15) and an assessment from three stakeholder perspectives (patients (n=18), CM providers (n=26) and oncology physicians (n=20)).
A total of 30 existing CM criteria were extracted from the literature, and 12 more were added by the experts. The main challenge was to define criteria that could easily be applied by the patients. A final comprehensive list of 8 criteria guiding cancer patients to find a reputable CM provider was developed.
Health professionals and cancer information services might find the criteria list helpful when aiming to strengthen patients' awareness of quality-related factors associated with CM providers. The criteria developed might be helpful when standards are established for quality assurance in CM in oncology.
We compared Edwardsiella ictaluri from striped catfish in Vietnam with US channel catfish isolates. Biochemical analyses and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene confirmed that the Vietnamese isolates ...were E. ictaluri. Comparison using rep-PCR fingerprinting demonstrated no significant differences between the isolates, but plasmid analysis indicated that the Vietnamese isolates grouped into 4 plasmid profiles, each different from the typical pEI1 and pEI2 plasmid profile found in the US isolates. Sequencing plasmids representative of the 4 profiles indicated that all contained derivatives of the E. ictaluri plasmid pEI1, whereas only 1 contained a plasmid derivative of the E. ictaluri plasmid pEI2. The pEI2 encoded type III secretion effector, EseI, and its chaperone, EscD, were found to be present on the chromosome in isolates lacking a pEI2 derivative. In addition, 1 isolate carried a 5023 bp plasmid that does not have homology to either pEI1 or pEI2. Furthermore, Vietnamese isolates were PCR positive for the type III and type VI secretion system genes esrC and evpC, respectively, and the urease enzyme, but were PCR-negative for the putative type IV secretion system gene virD4. A monoclonal antibody against the lipopolysaccharide of E. ictaluri ATCC 33202 did not react with the Asian isolates or with the more recent US isolates. Antibiotic resistance patterns were variable and did not correlate to the presence of any particular plasmid profile. Finally, the Vietnamese isolates were avirulent and had a significantly reduced capacity for intracellular replication within head-kidney-derived channel catfish macrophages.
Treatment with organic fertilizer was compared with treatment involving a mix of organic and inorganic fertilizers for culture of walleye Stizostedion vitreum fingerlings in 0.04‐ha plastic‐lined ...ponds. Organic fertilization consisted of weekly additions of alfalfa and cottonseed pellets. Each type of organic fertilizer was applied to each pond at 2.3 kg/week. Nitrogen (36–0–0 as N–P–K) and phosphorus (12–49–6) fertilizers were used weekly to adjust the ratio of nitrate‐nitrogen to total phosphorus ratios in the mixed‐fertilizer treatment to 7:1. Nutrient values in ponds treated with organic fertilizer were similar to those in ponds treated with the organic–inorganic mix. However, the water used to fill the ponds was initially high in both nitrogen and phosphorus, which may have reduced the nutrient differences between treatments. There were also no differences in food base densities (zooplankton and benthos) or fingerling production between treatments. Concentrations of dissolved oxygen at pond bottoms were sometimes less than 1 mg/L in the morning in both treatments; however, this had no apparent effect on fingerling survival in either treatment. Daphnia spp. and copepod populations sharply declined in both treatments after fish were stocked, suggesting that larval walleyes immediately fed on these crustaceans. Zooplankton populations remained low until near the end of the season. Benthic invertebrate densities were high throughout the season in both treatments and showed no differences between treatments. Stomach content analyses revealed walleye fingerlings consumed Daphnia spp. and copepods throughout the experiment, whereas dipteran larvae became increasingly important once walleyes reached 20 mm, about 2 weeks into the experiment. Both fertilization treatments produced relatively large fish (0.57 g) with good survival rates (>50%). The results from this study suggest that dipteran management is important for providing food items for larval walleyes and that high initial nutrient levels from water sources may reduce the requirements for inorganic enrichment in plastic‐lined ponds for walleye culture.
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