In medical laboratories, the appropriateness challenge directly revolves around the laboratory test and its proper selection, data analysis, and result reporting. However, laboratories have also a ...role in the appropriate management of those phases of total testing process (TTP) that traditionally are not under their direct control. So that, the laboratory obligation to act along the entire TTP is now widely accepted in order to achieve better care management. Because of the large number of variables involved in the overall TTP structure, it is difficult to monitor appropriateness in real time. However, it is possible to retrospectively reconstruct the body of the clinical process involved in the management of a specific laboratory test to track key passages that may be defective or incomplete in terms of appropriateness. Here we proposed an appropriateness check-list scheme along the TTP chain to be potentially applied to any laboratory test. This scheme consists of a series of questions that healthcare professionals should answer to achieve laboratory test appropriateness. In the system, even a single lacking answer may compromise the integrity of all appropriateness evaluation process as the inability to answer may involve a significant deviation from the optimal trajectory, which compromise the test appropriateness and the quality of subsequent steps. Using two examples of the check-list application, we showed that the proposed instrument may offer an objective help to avoid inappropriate use of laboratory tests in an integrated way involving both laboratory professionals and user clinicians.
Objective
The systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) symptom checklist (SSC) is a patient-reported outcome measure consisting of 38 queries. We translated SSC into Japanese and attempted to validate its ...usefulness for evaluating the quality of life (QOL) of SLE patients and identify factors that affect QOL.
Methods
Data from the Medical Outcomes Study Short-form 36 questionnaire (SF-36), Japanese LupusPRO, the Japanese version of the SSC (SSC-J) questionnaire, SLEDAI-2k, and the physician global assessment (PGA) were obtained on the same day from 226 SLE outpatients of the Kyoto Lupus cohort at Kyoto University Hospital. Relationships between the total scores or each item of SSC-J and SF-36, Japanese LupusPRO, SLEDAI-2k, or PGA were analyzed by Spearman’s rank test.
Results
The total scores of SSC-J correlated with the scores of SF-36 and Japanese LupusPRO. In each item of SSC-J, all 38 items correlated with the physical component summary and mental component summary of SF-36 as well as the Health-Related QOL (HRQOL) scores of Japanese LupusPRO, but not with the non-HRQOL of LupusPRO. SSC-J scores correlated with age, PGA, and corticosteroid doses, but not with SLEDAI-2k.
Conclusions
SSC-J is suitable as a disease-specific QOL assessment tool for SLE.
We summarize our knowledge about the Cleridae (Coleoptera: Cleroidea) of Oman. Based on literature references, museum specimens, and newly collected material, we present distribution maps of all ...species known from the Arabian Peninsula, focusing on Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. A new species, Opilo acaciensis Gerstmeier n. sp. is described, and two species were added to the Cleridae fauna of Oman.
http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FB82CFDC-7372-4143-9265-D927B21F00B1
Introduction
Anxiety in women is highly prevalent during pregnancy and in the postnatal period. Anxiety disorders in mothers have been linked to adverse outcomes in their children’s development. ...However, large-scale prospective studies on this issue, covering both the prenatal and postnatal period with follow-up periods beyond the first year of life are scarce.
Method
In this prospective cohort study, data gathered from 1336 Norwegian women and their children were used. Maternal anxiety symptoms were measured at gestation week 17–19 and 32, as well as 8 weeks postpartum using the Symptom Check List. Child development problems were assessed at 2 years postpartum using the Ages & Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional. Logistic regressions were conducted to examine the association between maternal prenatal, postnatal, and perinatal anxiety and the risk of social-emotional development problems in 2-year-old children.
Results
Of all women, 8.2% experienced prenatal anxiety, 4.0% had postnatal anxiety, and 4.4% reported perinatal anxiety (i.e., anxiety in both the prenatal and postnatal period). 5.6% of the 2-year-olds showed problems in their social-emotional behavior. Child development problems were associated with maternal prenatal anxiety (Odds Ratio OR = 2.48, 95% CI 1.55–4.92), postnatal anxiety (OR 3.32, 95% CI 1.43–7.74), and anxiety both in the prenatal and postnatal period (OR 3.98, 95% CI 1.85–8.56). Adjusted for confounders, maternal anxiety continued to be a significant predictor of adverse child social-emotional development (postnatal anxiety: OR 2.46, 95% CI 1.01–5.97; perinatal anxiety: OR 2.40, 95% CI 1.03–5.59).
Discussion
Maternal postnatal anxiety and anxiety both during and after pregnancy are unique substantial predictors for problems in a 2-year-old’s social-emotional development, even when controlled for confounders.
An up-to-date information on aphid fauna (Hemiptera, Aphidoidea) of Vietnam based on literature data and original material is presented. The updated check-list of aphids includes 47 species, and also ...15 species identified only to genus level. Protastegopteryx vietnamensis gen. nov., sp. nov. from Bambusa sp., collected in Ct Tin National Park (Dong Nai Province), is described. The species is illustrated and its biometric data is provided. The described aphid genus is closely related to Astegopteryx Karsch, 1890. The taxonomic position of the genus is discussed.
In this study, amphibian and reptile diversity in the province of Van (eastern Anatolia, Turkey) was surveyed. For this purpose, four herpetological excursions (20 days in total) were conducted ...covering all the districts of the province in 2014. In this paper, up-to-date herpetofaunal inventory of Van Province, including two urodelian, four anuran, two chelonian, 15 saurian (lizards), and 14 ophidian (snakes) species (six amphibians and 31 reptiles in total) is presented. To the best of our knowledge, Salamandra infraimmaculata, Heremites auratus, Dolichophis jugularis, Eirenis modestus, and Telescopus fallax were recorded for the first time in the province of Van. Additionally, the first published print record of Stellagama stellio in Van Province is presented. The major threat to the herpetofaunal diversity in surveyed habitats was found as human-origin habitat degradation. With the georeference database obtained in this study, it will be possible to determine the actual distribution ranges of the species and to guide decision-makers. The results of the study will provide a useful basis for future monitoring studies and distribution information will contribute to the conservation of the species of interest.
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