K X-ray emission spectra emitted from carbon, aluminum, silicon, phosphorus, titanium, chromium, and manganese compounds were measured, using a compact lab-scale flat crystal X-ray fluorescence ...spectrometer. The sensitivity of K X-ray transitions line-shape, relative to the atom's chemical speciation, is considered. Spectrometer's optimization concerning high energy resolution takes place for each measured fluorescence transition. The detected changes on the measured X-ray line-shapes allow extracting the chemical speciation of the emitting atom. In-lab high-resolution X-ray emission spectroscopy is shown to be a highly versatile technique for materials chemical characterization.
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•X-ray emission spectroscopy for materials characterization in the laboratory.•Innovative use of a commercial WD-XRF spectrometer for chemical speciation.•Sensitivity of K X-ray fluorescence transitions on the chemical environment.•Crystal spectrometer's energy resolution optimization.
to examine the psychometric properties of the Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI) originally developed by Newton et al. (1999); as there are no data concerning the factorial structure of the FPI, a ...special focus is placed on construct validity through factor analysis.
public hospital in Athens, Greece.
a cross-sectional study.
108 women undergoing fertility treatment with in-vitro fertilisation.
the FPI was ‘forward–backward’ translated from English to Greek. The translated instrument was then administered to a set of infertile women for pilot testing. Principal axis factoring with promax rotation was used to test the factor structure of the FPI. Measures of anxiety State Trait Anxiety Inventory, depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies—Depression Scale) and mood states Profile of Mood States were used to assess the convergent validity of the FPI. Cronbach’s
α was used to measure internal consistency of the FPI scales.
exploratory factor analysis suggested four factors. The majority of relationship and sexual concern items grouped into one solid factor, named ‘spousal concern’. The original scales of social concern, need for parenthood and rejection of childfree lifestyle were reproduced after rearranging nine cross-loading items. Construct validity was confirmed by computing correlations between the derived FPI scales and conceptually similar constructions of anxiety, depression and mood states. Internal consistency reliability was satisfactory.
the FPI was found to have a relatively stable factor structure and satisfactory reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity. The FPI may enable researchers and clinicians to apply a reliable measure that focuses on various/many dimensions of infertility-related stress.
Many studies have examined the prevalence and risk factors of postnatal depression. However, only a few studies have explored the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms in pregnancy. The aim ...of this study was to investigate the prevalence of worries, antenatal anxiety (AA), and antenatal depression (AD). The sample of this study consisted of 163 pregnant women with gestational age from 11 to 26 weeks. Worries were measured with Cambridge Worry Scale (CWS), anxiety was measured with State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and depression was measured with Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D). Depressive symptoms were found in 32.7% of the participants and 44.4% had STAI scores indicating anxiety symptoms of clinical significance. The mean score for total CWS was 26 (SD = 12.3). It is noteworthy that the most important worries in the study sample were "the possibility of something going wrong with the baby", "giving birth", and "financial problems". The prevalence of antenatal anxiety and depression identified in this study is of concern. Screening for antenatal anxiety and depressive symptoms with validated instruments is crucial.
Magnetic Fe2O3/carbon hybrids were prepared in a two-step process. First, acetic acid vapor interacted with iron cations dispersed on the surface of a nanocasted ordered mesoporous carbon (CMK-3). In ...the second step, the primarily created iron acetate species underwent pyrolysis and transformed to magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared, and Raman spectroscopies were used for the chemical and structural characterization of the hybrids, while surface area measurements, thermal analysis, and transmission electron microscopy were employed to determine their physical, surface, and textural properties. These results revealed the preservation of the host carbon structure, which was homogenously and controllably loaded (up to 27 wt %) with nanosized (ca. 20 nm) iron oxides inside the mesoporous system. Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetic measurements at low temperatures confirmed the formation of γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles exhibiting superparamagnetic behavior. The kinetic studies showed a rapid removal of Cr(VI) ions from the aqueous solutions in the presence of these magnetic mesoporous hybrids and a considerably increased adsorption capacity per unit mass of sorbent in comparison to that of pristine CMK-3 carbon. The results also indicate highly pH-dependent sorption efficiency of the hybrids, whereas their kinetics was described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Taking into account the simplicity of the synthetic procedure and possibility of magnetic separation of hybrids with immobilized pollutant, the developed mesoporous nanomaterials have quite real potential for applications in water treatment technologies.
Prostate cancer screening behaviour Papatsoris, A; Anagnostopoulos, F
Public health (London),
01/2009, Volume:
123, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Factors affecting uptake of screening for prostate cancer and models of health behaviour explaining decision making. (BNI unique abstract) 15 references
Excavations at the Kynos settlement, a Homeric site and the home of an early school of key Greek pictorial pottery painting, revealed extensive remains of several chronological horizons which ...continuously span the period from Middle Helladic (∼2100 BC) to Byzantine times (330 AD onwards), along with thousands of decorated sherds. The scope of the present study is the exploration of the technological traits of this pottery, which would contribute substantially to the archaeological understanding of the site. Samples from a sizeable assembly of decorated sherds were studied by means of analytical techniques, i.e., scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) analyzer, micro X-ray fluorescence (μXRF), and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF). Results indicate that the dark decorations have been achieved by versions of the iron reduction (IRe) technique using mostly materials identical to those of the red decorations, while for the white decorations contrast-enhancing Ca–Mg-enriched clays were used. All coexisting red and dark hues reflect similar compositions while the color difference is due to the thicker application of the darker decorations, which are thus not affected by the last oxidative firing stage of the IRe technique. X-ray fluorescence analysis focusing on several clay-origin markers shows that only a minority of samples is of non-local character and continuity in Kynos pottery tradition, at least as far as raw materials is suggested. Some of the local body-clays exhibit a puzzling enhanced level of Ni, Cu, and Zn at a nearly fixed ratio. Finally, we find that XRF may provide valuable nondestructive analysis in the case of fine pottery decorative layers of cultural significance.
