Psychometric Testing of The Chinese Version of The Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales In Families of Patients With Dementia

Background: The Family Crisis Oriented Personal Evaluation Scales (F-COPES) is a widely used instrument to evaluate family coping behaviours. However, no Chinese version of this scale have been developed and validated in China. This study aimed to develop a Chinese version of the F-COPES and evaluate its psychometric properties in the families of patients with dementia who have heavy stress and care burdens.Methods: A cross-sectional study in the specialist memory and geriatric psychiatric clinics of four hospitals in Beijing, China. The English version of the F-COPES was translated into Chinese according to the standard translation guideline. An expert panel was invited to evaluate the content validity index of the Chinese version of this scale. This study included 215 families of patients with dementia. The item homogeneity analysis was conducted by using corrected item-total correlation, corrected item-subscale correlation, and changes of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of subscales after deleting each item. The factor structure was analysed by using a confirmatory factor analysis. The convergent validity was tested by correlating the F-COPES to the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). The internal consistency was assessed by using Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the whole scale and subscales.Results: The content validity index of the Chinese version of the F-COPES was 0.98, with that of each item ranging from 0.83 to 1.00. The result of item homogeneity analysis was satisfactory except for the items in the subscale of passive appraisal. The confirmatory factor analysis identified six subscales; namely, acquiring relatives’ support, acquiring friends’ support, acquiring neighbours’ or others’ support, reframing, seeking spiritual support, and passive appraisal, with acceptable model fit indices (χ2/df = 1.65, CFI = 0.91, GFI = 0.85, TLI = 0.90, PGFI = 0.69, RMSEA = 0.06). The convergent correlation between the F-COPES and the MSPSS was strong (r = 0.50, P < 0.01). The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the whole scale was 0.86.Conclusion: The Chinese version of the F-COPES showed satisfactory psychometric properties. It may serve as a useful scale for assessing the coping behaviours in families of patients with dementia in China.

Within- and between-subject biological variation data for tumor markers based on the European Biological Variation Study

Objectives Reliable biological variation (BV) data are required for the clinical use of tumor markers in the diagnosis and monitoring of treatment effects in cancer. The European Biological Variation Study (EuBIVAS) was established by the EFLM Biological Variation Working Group to deliver BV data for clinically important measurands. In this study, EuBIVAS-based BV estimates are provided for cancer antigen (CA) 125, CA 15-3, CA 19-9, carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin-19 fragment, alpha‐fetoprotein and human epididymis protein 4. Methods Subjects from five European countries were enrolled in the study, and weekly samples were collected from 91 healthy individuals (53 females and 38 males; 21–69 years old) for 10 consecutive weeks. All samples were analyzed in duplicate within a single run. After excluding outliers and homogeneity analysis, the BVs of tumor markers were determined by CV-ANOVA on trend-corrected data, when relevant (Røraas method). Results Marked individuality was found for all tumor markers. CYFRA 21-1 was the measurand with the highest index of individuality (II) at 0.67, whereas CA 19-9 had the lowest II at 0.07. The CV I s of HE4, CYFRA 21-1, CA 19-9, CA 125 and CA 15-3 of pre- and postmenopausal females were significantly different from each other. Conclusions This study provides updated BV estimates for several tumor markers, and the findings indicate that marked individuality is characteristic. The use of reference change values should be considered when monitoring treatment of patients by means of tumor markers.

Risk Management for Defense SoS in a Complex, Dynamic Environment

Identifying and assessing risk is one of the most important processes in managing complex systems and requires careful consideration. The need for an effective, efficient approach to risk management is considerably more important for defense industries, because they are exposed to risk in the early stages of development. This paper uses heterogeneity and homogeneity analysis between risk factors with Cochran’s Q test and multidimensional scaling in order to present the complexity of the risk factors relevant to defense systems of systems (SoSs), and it proposes a methodology for identifying, analyzing, and monitoring the risks that they face. Findings from an in-depth analysis of 46 classified defense SoSs shows a need to focus on three main risks faced by defense projects: insufficient human resources, changes in the original specifications, and lack of other (nonhuman) resources. The paper also presents some recommendations for minimizing risk factors in defense SoSs.

Risk Management for Defense SoS in a Complex, Dynamic Environment

Identifying and assessing risk is one of the most important processes in managing complex systems and requires careful consideration. The need for an effective, efficient approach to risk management is considerably more important for defense industries, because they are exposed to risk already in early stages of development. This paper uses Heterogeneity and Homogeneity analysis between risk factors with Cochran’s Q test and Multidimensional scaling in order to present the complexity of the risk factors relevant to defense SoS, and proposes a methodology for identifying, analyzing and monitoring the risks that they face. Findings from an in-depth analysis of 46 classified defense SoS shows a need to focus on three main risks faced by defense projects: insufficient human resources, changes in the original specifications, and lack of other (non-human) resources. The paper also presents some recommendations for minimizing risk factors in defense SoS.

Dome-Shaped Pituitary Enlargement in Primary Hypothyroidism: Avoiding Neurosurgical Interventions

We describe three cases of primary hypothyroidism which presented initially to neurosurgery department with pituitary hyperplasia. We have found a novel pattern of ‘dome shaped’ enlargement of pituitary in MRI of these patients. Out of these 3 patients, in two of them, the planned surgery was deferred when endocrinologists were consulted and the pituitary hyperplasia completely resolved with levothyroxine treatment. In the third case, pituitary surgery was already performed before endocrinology consultation and histopathology revealed thyrotroph hyperplasia. The hyperplastic lesions described typically have a homogenous symmetrical ‘dome’ shaped architecture unlike the non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA), which usually might often be of varying shapes and homogeneity. Analysis of pituitary images from similar case reports published in literature, also showed this typical ‘dome’ shaped pituitary enlargement. This imaging characteristic can be a clue to look for underlying hormone deficiency, especially in primary hypothyroidism. Therefore, a thorough endocrine evaluation especially looking for primary hypothyroidism in such dome shaped pituitary lesions are mandatory to prevent unwarranted neuro-surgical intervention as treatment of primary hypothyroidism may result in resolution of the abnormal enlargement.

STUDI KOMPARASI KEPUTUSAN PEMBELIAN ANTARA AYAM GEPREK ABANG IRENG UMS DAN AYAM GEPREK KUMLOT UMS

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in purchasing decisions between Abang Ireng UMS geprek chicken and UMS Geprek Kumlot chicken in terms of Brand Image, Price and Variation of the menu. This method is called the comparative and quantitative methods with the aim of the comparative method with the aim of finding out the differences in purchasing decisions between variables. The sample of this study was 100 respondents consisting of 50 consumers of Abang Ireng Geprek chickens and 50 Kumlot geprek consumers. This study uses validity, reliability, to test the instrument using homogeneity analysis and independent sample t-test to test differences between variables. Data obtained from questionnaires for respondents. This study was tested using SPSS 20 software. The results of this study indicate that the Brand Image variable has no difference in purchasing decisions. Namely with the t value of the Brand Image variable of 0.753 with the criteria of t table> 0.05, this shows that there is no significant difference, while for the price variables and menu variations there is each difference to the purchase decision, namely the value of t count in the variable price of 0.018 with the criteria of t table