A new instrument for the cyberaddiction diagnosis

Author(s):  
Liudmyla Yuryeva ◽  
Andrii Shornikov

As the penetration of the Internet into people's lives has increased, there is needed to rethink the diagnostic tools used to diagnose Internet addiction. The very concept of Internet addiction also needs to be rethought, as it currently reflects not the content but the form of addiction. The aim of the work was to develop, evaluate psychometric reliability and validate a new diagnostic instrument for the cyberaddiction diagnosis. The proposed “Yuryeva — Shornikov Cyberaddiction Scale” (YSCAS) consists of 18 statements that are rated on a 5-point Likert scale. The study included 217 people (151 women) aged 19 to 69 years. At the first stage, the internal consistency of the YSCAS scale, external and content validity were assessed, at the second stage we assess stability, constructive and criterial validity. In assessing the internal consistency and homogeneity scale YSCAS Cronbach alpha was 0.84. There is proved the absence of gender influence on the indicators of the proposed scale. Spearman's correlation coefficient between YSCAS and Chen's Internet dependence scale was 0.8044 (p < 0.001), which indicates a high criterial validity. Assessing the constructive validity of the proposed scale, it was found that the YSCAS scale should be considered as a single factor scale, without sub-scales in its structure. The proposed cyberaddiction diagnosing method showed a high-quality prognostic model using ROC analysis: the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.971 (95 % CI 0.88; 1.0). The sensitivity of the scale was 100.0 % with a specificity of 90.4 %. As a result of approbation of the proposed psychodiagnostics method “Yuryeva — Shornikov Cyberaddiction Scale”, it was found that this scale is a reliable and credible approach to diagnose cyberaddiction.

2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2818-2822
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Oprea ◽  
Mihaela Vlad ◽  
Ioana Golu ◽  
Ioan Sporea ◽  
Lazar Fulger

Thyroid nodules are a common pathology found in 50 to 60% of otherwise healthy people. Diagnostic imaging techniques are help discriminating between benign and malignant nodules, while fine needle aspiration is still a gold standard. Shear wave elastography, a recent imaging technique, holds the promise to become reliable diagnostic tools and is currently used in combination with ultrasound. We here report data obtained in a series of 52 thyroid nodules analysed by means of elastography, as well as conventional and Doppler ultrasound. We found no differences in age, nodule and thyroid volume, length, width, thickness and maximum diameter between benign and malignant lesions. Several sonographic patterns are considered to be predictive of malignancy, out of which we only found the intranodular blood flow to be statistically significant. By the means of shear wave elastography we have first assessed tissue elasticities, which are shown in a range of colours, depending on tissue elasticity/stiffness. Then, we have measured and recorded four parameters automatically displayed by the system, namely SWE-mean, SWE-max, SWE-SD and SWE-ratio. Data analysis showed all these quantitative parameters had good sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and area under the curve, as calculated by the ROC curve. As with these parameters, the cut-off points were lower than in literature, still able to indicate reliable diagnoses, which were confirmed by histopathological exam. Our conclusion is that shear wave elastography has great potential for reliably and accurately diagnosing thyroid malignancies.


2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 1810-1817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Mercader ◽  
Philip Garcia ◽  
William J. Bellini

ABSTRACTIn regions where endemic measles virus has been eliminated, diagnostic assays are needed to assist in correctly classifying measles cases irrespective of vaccination status. A measles IgG avidity assay was configured using a commercially available measles-specific IgG enzyme immunoassay by modifying the protocol to include three 5-min washes with diethylamine (60 mM; pH 10.25) following serum incubation; serum was serially diluted, and the results were expressed as the end titer avidity index. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used for evaluation and validation and to establish low (≤30%) and high (≥70%) end titer avidity thresholds. Analysis of 319 serum specimens expected to contain either high- or low-avidity antibodies according to clinical and epidemiological data indicated that the assay is highly accurate, with an area under the curve of 0.998 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.978 to 1.000), sensitivity of 91.9% (95% CI, 83.2% to 97.0%), and specificity of 98.4% (95% CI, 91.6% to 100%). The assay is rapid (<2 h) and precise (standard deviation [SD], 4% to 7%). In 18 samples from an elimination setting outbreak, the assay identified 2 acute measles cases with low-avidity results; both were IgM-positive samples. Additionally, 11 patients (15 samples) with modified measles who were found to have high-avidity IgG results were classified as secondary vaccine failures; one sample with an intermediate-avidity result was not interpretable. In elimination settings, measles IgG avidity assays can complement existing diagnostic tools in confirming unvaccinated acute cases and, in conjunction with adequate clinical and epidemiologic investigation, aid in the classification of vaccine failure cases.


2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Meiser ◽  
Lale Kayikci ◽  
Matthias Orth

AbstractObjectivesDiagnosing disturbances in iron metabolism can be challenging when accompanied by inflammation. New diagnostic tools such as the “Thomas-plot” (TP) (relation of soluble transferrin receptor [sTfR]/log ferritin to reticulocyte hemoglobin content [RET-He]) were established to improve classification of anemias. Aim of this retrospective study was to assess the added diagnostic value of the TP in anemia work up.MethodsPatients from December 2016 to September 2018 with a complete blood count, iron status, RET-He and sTfR were manually classified into the four quadrants of the TP on basis of conventional iron markers. Manual and algorithm-based classifications were compared using cross tabulations, Box–Whisker-Plots as well as Receiver-Operating-Characteristics (ROC) to calculate the diagnostic accuracy using Area under the Curve (AUC) analysis.ResultsA total of 3,745 patients with a conventional iron status, including 1,721 TPs, could be evaluated. In 70% of the cases the manual classification was identical to the TP, in 10% it was deviant. 20% could not clearly be classified, mostly due to inflammatory conditions. In the absence of an inflammatory condition, ferritin was a reliable parameter to define iron deficiency (ID) (AUC 0.958). In the presence of inflammation, the significance of the ferritin index (AUC 0.917) and of the RET-He (AUC 0.957) increased.ConclusionsThe TP can be useful for narrowing down the causes of anemia in complex cases. Further studies with focus on special patient groups, e.g., oncological or rheumatic patients, are desirable.


2020 ◽  
pp. archdischild-2020-320549
Author(s):  
Fang Hu ◽  
Shuai-Jun Guo ◽  
Jian-Jun Lu ◽  
Ning-Xuan Hua ◽  
Yan-Yan Song ◽  
...  

BackgroundDiagnosis of congenital syphilis (CS) is not straightforward and can be challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the validity of an algorithm using timing of maternal antisyphilis treatment and titres of non-treponemal antibody as predictors of CS.MethodsConfirmed CS cases and those where CS was excluded were obtained from the Guangzhou Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of syphilis programme between 2011 and 2019. We calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) using receiver operating characteristics (ROC) in two situations: (1) receiving antisyphilis treatment or no-treatment during pregnancy and (2) initiating treatment before 28 gestational weeks (GWs), initiating after 28 GWs or receiving no treatment for syphilis seropositive women.ResultsAmong 1558 syphilis-exposed children, 39 had confirmed CS. Area under the curve, sensitivity and specificity of maternal non-treponemal titres before treatment and treatment during pregnancy were 0.80, 76.9%, 78.7% and 0.79, 69.2%, 88.7%, respectively, for children with CS. For the algorithm, ROC results showed that PPV and NPV for predicting CS were 37.3% and 96.4% (non-treponemal titres cut-off value 1:8 and no antisyphilis treatment), 9.4% and 100% (non-treponemal titres cut-off value 1:16 and treatment after 28 GWs), 4.2% and 99.5% (non-treponemal titres cut-off value 1:32 and treatment before 28 GWs), respectively.ConclusionsAn algorithm using maternal non-treponemal titres and timing of treatment during pregnancy could be an effective strategy to diagnose or rule out CS, especially when the rate of loss to follow-up is high or there are no straightforward diagnostic tools.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debora Soccal Schwertner ◽  
Raul Oliveira ◽  
Ana Paula Ramos Marinho ◽  
Magnus Benetti ◽  
Thais Silva Beltrame ◽  
...  

Introduction: The objective of this study was to adapt the Brazilian version, and verify the validity, reliability and internal consistency of the Oliveira questionnaire on low back pain in young people.Material and Methods: The questionnaire was translated from European Portuguese into Brazilian Portuguese by means of translation and re-translation. The validity of the contents was determined by experts who analyzed the clarity and pertinence of the questions. Fifteen young people aged 15 to 18 took part in the pre-test step (qualitative analysis), 40 in the test-retest (reliability) and 679 in the evaluation of internal consistency. The intra-class correlation coefficient and Spearman’s correlation coefficient were used in the reliability analysis (test-retest), and Cronbach’s alpha to determine the internal consistency (stability).Results: In the translation phase the questionnaire was modified and considered suitable, observing similarity and equivalence of the two versions. After being corrected by the experts in the validation of the contents, the instrument was considered suitable and valid, and in the pre-test, the young people suggested some modifications to make the questionnaire more succinct. With respect to reliability, the values for the intra-class correlation coefficient were between 0.512 – acceptable and 1 – excellent and Spearman’s correlation coefficient varied between 0.525 and 1, classifying the instrument as reproducible. The internal consistency was considered acceptable with a 0.757 Cronbach’s alpha.Discussion: The Oliveira questionnaire was choosen since it has been used in several Portuguese studies; moreover, it addresses the need to raise data regarding low back pain and associated risk factors.Conclusions: The Brazilian version of the Oliveira questionnaire on low back pain in young people showed valid and reliable cultural adaptation, with good reliability and stability.


Author(s):  
Yan-Hua Zheng ◽  
Hong-Yuan Shen ◽  
Xiang Chen ◽  
Juan Feng ◽  
Guang-Xun Gao

IntroductionAutophagy functions as a prosurvival mechanism in multiple myeloma (MM).The objective of this research was to establish an autophagy-related gene (ARG) signature for predicting the survival outcomes of MM patients with TP53 mutations.Material and methodsInformation about MM patients with TP53 mutations was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Cox proportional hazard regression was employed to determine the independent prognostic ARG and construct a risk signature. Time-dependent receiver-operating characteristic (t ROC) curve was used to explore the predictive accuracy of the prognostic model. A nomogram was constructed to give a more precise prediction of the probability of 5-year, 8-year and 10-year overall survival (OS). In addition, we utilized the CIBERSORT algorithm to explore the distribution difference of 22 immune-infiltrating cells.ResultsThree differentially expressed ARGs (CASP8, MAPK8, RB1CC1) were finally incorporated to construct the risk model. Area under the curve (AUC) of corresponding tROC curve for 5-year,8-year and 10-year OS were 0.735, 0.686 and 0.662, respectively. MM patients were categorized into high and low-risk group in accordance with the median threshold value (-1.724549). ARG-based risk score model was an independent prognostic element correlated with OS, giving an hazard ratio (HR) of 3.29 (95%CI 2.35-4.60, P<0.001). 13 immune infiltrating cells were found to have distribution differences between the two groups.ConclusionsWe established a three-ARGs risk signature which manifested an independent prognostic factor. The nomogram was testified to perform well in forecasting the long-term survival of TP53-mutated MM patients.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arwa Gera ◽  
Paolo M. Cattaneo ◽  
Marie A. Cornelis

Abstract Background The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) questionnaire assesses quality of life related to people’s perception of oral disorders on their well-being. However, a translated and validated Danish version of OHIP-14 is not yet available. The purpose of this pilot study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the English version of the OHIP-14 into Danish (OHIP-14-DK). In addition, to assess its content and face validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Methods The English version of OHIP-14 was translated into Danish following a standard protocol of cross-cultural adaptation. Stages I-IV: translation phase to generate a pre-final version “OHIP-14-DK”. Stage V: pre-testing phase. A random sample of 22 orthodontic patients (mean age 24.7 years, SD ±14.8; 14 females, 8 males) were selected at the Section of Orthodontics, Aarhus University, Denmark. All patients self-completed the OHIP-14-DK and were then interviewed to assess its content and face validity. Internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. All patients completed the same questionnaire again at a one-week interval. Test-retest reliability was assessed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient and intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Results The initial and back translations were very similar: the OHIP-14-DK proved to have a good level of equivalence with no translation errors or deviations. Furthermore, the OHIP-14-DK seemed well-adapted to Danish culture and was understood by individuals down to 12 years of age. Pre-testing demonstrated good face and content validity; interviews had a response rate of 100% and confirmed that each item was understandable without inducing reluctance or hesitation. Thus, responses were related to their corresponding item. Therefore, no final adjustments were required for the pre-tested version. Cronbach’s alpha for the OHIP-14-DK subscales fell in the 0.75–0.84 range, indicating an adequate-to-good internal consistency. Spearman’s correlation coefficient for the OHIP-14-DK total score was 0.77. The ICC for the OHIP-14-DK total score was 0.91. Conclusions The OHIP-14-DK seems well adapted to Danish culture, proved to be face and content valid and also showed good internal consistency and excellent reliability. However, its psychometric properties still need to be tested. Study registration Not applicable


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Jiang ◽  
Xuelian Li ◽  
Xiaowei Quan ◽  
Xiaoying Li ◽  
Baosen Zhou

(1) Background. Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has a high mortality rate. MiRNAs have been found to be diagnostic biomarkers for NSCLC. However, controversial results exist. We conducted this meta-analysis to evaluate the diagnostic value of miRNAs for NSCLC.(2) Methods. Databases and reference lists were searched. Pooled sensitivity (SEN), specificity (SPE), and area under the curve (AUC) were applied to examine the general diagnostic efficacy, and subgroup analysis was also performed.(3) Results. Pooled SEN, SPE, and AUC were 85%, 88%, and 0.93, respectively, for 71 studies. Multiple miRNAs (AUC: 0.96) obtained higher diagnostic value than single miRNA (AUC: 0.86), and the same result was found for Caucasian population (AUC: 0.97) when compared with Asian (AUC: 0.91) and Caucasian/African population (AUC: 0.92). MiRNA had higher diagnostic efficacy when participants contained both smokers and nonsmokers (AUC is 0.95 for imbalanced group and 0.91 for balanced group) than when containing only smokers (AUC: 0.90). Meanwhile, AUC was 0.91 for both miR-21 and miR-210.(4) Conclusions. Multiple miRNAs such as miR-21 and miR-210 could be used as diagnostic tools for NSCLC, especially for the Caucasian and nonsmoking NSCLC.


Author(s):  
Vikhram Ramasubramanian ◽  
Rajesh Venkataraman ◽  
Raja Soundara Pandian ◽  
Gopal Teli ◽  
Niraj Shrestha

Objective: To assess the internet use in health care individuals and its impact on depression, self-esteem and social attachment on cognitive function of health care individuals.Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey which included one hundred and ten healthcare individuals (Physician, Pharmacist, Psychologist, Social worker and Nurses) in this study conducted in Radianz healthcare and research private limited. Young’s internet addiction test and depression score, self-esteem (Rosenberg’s) score and MoCA were used to measure internet addiction and psychological variables. EPI 2012 was used for statistical analysis.Results: Out of 110 individuals, the majority of individuals, depressed individual were more addicted to the internet and found to be significant by using depression score. Relationship between baseline values and follow up values in internet addiction was significant (P=0.07636). After follow up the internet addiction found to be reduced as it was greatly affected in initial survey.Conclusion: This study concluded that there is relationship between the internet addiction and depression, cognitive function and self-steam. The depressed individuals were more addicted to the internet followed by abnormal cognitive function and low self-esteem individuals. Internet addiction may be a relevant clinical construct and early diagnostic tools that needs extensive research even in developing nations to explore the relationship. Depression is greatly associated with the internet addiction so if can we reduce the depression then can be reduced internet addiction.


2017 ◽  
Vol 06 (03) ◽  
pp. 216-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Gallucci ◽  
Jorge Boretto ◽  
Agustin Donndorff ◽  
Juieta Dubois ◽  
Sonia Benitez ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to validate a Spanish version of patient-rated wrist evaluation (PRWE) and evaluate its psychometric attributes in a population of patients with distal radius fracture. Material and Methods A translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the PRWE to Spanish (PRWE-S) was performed according to standardized guidelines. A total of 50 patients with a distal radius fracture were included during the different steps of the study. The reliability of the new instrument was assessed in terms of construct validity with the Quick DASH (Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand). Internal consistency and test–retest stability were also examined. Results The Spearman's correlation test for analysis of the criterion validity (0.75) indicates a strong positive correlation between the PRWE-S and the Quick DASH. The internal consistency according to Cronbach's α was 0.96, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was moderate (0.46). Conclusion A Spanish version of the PRWE indicated good validity and reliability in distal radius fracture patients. This valuable tool can be used in Spanish-speaking countries to evaluate various aspects as pain and function in patients with injuries of the wrist.


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