The psychometric properties of the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (MAST) 13‐item short (SMAST) and 10‐item brief (BMAST) versions were aggregated and synthesized across 40 and 21 studies, ...respectively. Results for reliability, validity, and nonclinical descriptive statistics were reported separately for the SMAST and BMAST, and implications for counseling practice and research were discussed.
Introduction: Spinal cord injury can be a cause of severe disability, with important consequences at the individual and social levels. Causes are often produced by falls or road accidents; and ...addictions (particularly chronic ethylism) also increase the risk of vertebral-medullary lesions.
Materials and Methods: With with the approval of the TEHBA Ethics Commission (no.17464/14.06.2019), we used specific tests (DASS-21, MOS SF-36, SMAST, AUDIT, CAGE, AIS) and we questioned a group of patients admitted to the THEBA Neuro-Muscle Recovery Clinic after being treated in the Spinal Neurosurgery Service for acute and subacute vertebral medullary trauma.
Results: We evaluated the link between addictions (especially ethanol), the risk of spinal cord injury, and the underlying subacute evolution of patients with this pathology.
Conclusions: Substance abuse (especially ethanol) increases the risk of spinal cord injury and is a serious public health problem.
Keywords: SCI, DASS-21, MOS SF-36, AUDIT, CAGE, SMAST, Neuromuscular Recovery
On June 1, 2009, Air France AF447 disappeared in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France. On June 6–19, 2009, bodies and debris from the aircraft were ...recovered floating in the equatorial ocean. This paper describes efforts on using the global–local nested finite volume community ocean model (FVCOM) to model reversely the tracks of bodies and debris back to the time of the crash and to help searchers locate the cockpit voice and flight data recorders and learn why this tragic accident occurred. To validate the reliability and reality of FVCOM, eight surface drifters were deployed by the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile (BEA) near the last known position in early June 2010 for a period of 3 weeks. These drifter data were used to optimize the spatial and temporal correlation scales of the adaptive sampling data assimilation method of FVCOM. Applying an optimized FVCOM system to assimilate all available drifter- and float-tracking-derived currents in May–June 2009 under three different wind conditions, we reproduced the June 2009 current fields in the area near the LKP and used these fields to reversely track bodies and debris from locations where they were found to the time when the crash occurred. Possible locations for the crashed plane were suggested based on our model results and were made available to the French investigators and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution REMUS autonomous underwater vehicle Operations Group who successfully located the aircraft debris field in April 2011 on the seafloor at a depth of 3,900 m.
Meta-analytic methods provide a framework around which an inquiry into MAST and SMAST score reliability was completed. Of the 470 measurement opportunities observed between 1971 and 2005, 62 (13.2%) ...were coupled with accurate reliability information. Weighted reliability estimates centered on. 80 suggesting that the MAST and SMAST generally produce scores of similar and adequate reliability for most research purposes. However, the variability of internal consistency estimates shows that at times these tools will not produce reliable scores, particularly among female and nonclinical respondents. Multiple regression equations provide practical guidelines to improve reliability estimates for the future use of these instruments.
In previous research adapted versions of the Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (SMAST) have been employed to assess an individual's father's (F-SMAST) and mother's alcohol abuse (M-SMAST). ...However, to date psychometric information on these forms has been limited. In order to more broadly assess the psychometric properties of these forms, several critical issues in five related studies were addressed. The samples for the five studies were drawn from a college population at a large midwestern university. Overall, the reliability and validity of the adapted SMASTs appears to be quite good. The F-SMAST demonstrated high reliability (from the standpoint of internal consistency, temporal stability, and reliability across siblings) as well as validity (both in respect to convergence with an interview measure and with father's own report on a parallel instrument). Furthermore, shortening both of these instruments to nine-item versions appears to improve their reliability and validity. For researchers and clinicians interested in assessing parental history of alcoholism, the F-SMAST and M-SMAST would appear to be a reliable and valid paper-and-pencil measure.
The Elderly Milhorn, H. Thomas
Substance Use Disorders
Book Chapter
Most developed world countries have accepted the chronological age of 65 years as a definition of elderly. Older individuals represent an increasing proportion of the US population. Persons 65 years ...of age and older now number 46.2 million in the United States. They represent 14.5% of the population or about one in every seven Americans. People 65 and older are expected to represent 21.7% of the population by 2040, and it is estimated that by 2060, there will be 98 million older individuals, more than twice the current number.
Diagnosis Milhorn, H. Thomas
Substance Use Disorders
Book Chapter
Substance use disorders are common among patients in primary care settings. However, many physicians underdiagnose substance dependence. They do so for a variety of reasons. They may feel that ...substance dependence is a weakness rather than a disease, or they may believe that addicts differ in appearance from other patients. Patients, family members, and personal physicians frequently deny the existence of a problem. Some physicians are reluctant to make the diagnosis of a disorder they don’t know how to treat.
This paper describes the design, manufacturing and properties of a new type of stent graft, the origami stent graft. Unlike conventional stent grafts which consist of a wire mesh stent and a covering ...membrane, the new origami stent graft is made from a single foldable foil with hill and valley folds. The Ni-rich titanium/nickel (TiNi) shape memory alloy (SMA) foil made by the newly developed ultrafine laminates method was used in order to produce the stent graft. The pattern of folds on the foil was produced by negative photochemical etching. The deployment of the stent graft is achieved either by SMA effect at the body temperature or by making use of property of superelasticity. A number of prototypes of the stent graft, which are the same size as standard oesophageal and aortal stent grafts, have been produced successfully. It was demonstrated that the stent graft deploy as expected.
This paper reports a novel structure of a shape-memory-alloy (SMA) micromanipulator with gripping mechanism. A featured integration of multiple SMA bimorph microactuators has been utilized to form a ...micromanipulator with three degrees of freedom. The design consists of two links (SMA sheets) and a gripper at the end of the second joint. The overall dimensions of the micromanipulator are 33mm×9mm×3mm. The displacement of each actuator is controlled by a heating circuit that generates a pulse-width modulation signal. Theoretical modeling of SMA actuators is studied and verified with simulation. The SMA micromanipulator is able to move in the x- and y-axis by 7.1mm and 5.2mm, respectively, resulting in a maximum displacement of 8.9mm. The micro-gripper has a maximum opening gap between its fingers of 1.15mm. The micromanipulator has a temporal response of 7.5s and 9s for its x- and y-axis. The maximum actuation force generated by the x- and y-axis was around 100mN and 130mN, respectively. The developed micromanipulator has been successfully used to move a small object.
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