1,720,997 research outputs found
Muscarinic receptor chages in brain areas and in lymphocytes following prolonged low-level exposure to methylmercury in rats
No full textIs it time to rethink the burden of non-coeliac gluten sensitivity? A systematic review
No full textNon-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) is still a poorly defined clinical condition. This review aims to describe the clinical features of subjects with a symptomatic response to gluten intake, and to estimate the prevalence of NCGS
Development of the Italian version of the neck pain and disability scale, NPDS-I: Cross-cultural adaptation, reliability, and validity
No full textStudy design.: Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Neck Pain and Disability Scale (NPDS). Objective.: Translating, culturally adapting, and validating the Italian version of the NPDS-I. Summary of background data.: Great importance is devoted to validated and comprehensive outcome measures to improve interventions for neck pain. A translated form of a functional scale in patients with neck pain has never been studied within the Italian population. Methods.: The Italian version of the NPDS questionnaire was developed involving forward-backward translation and final review by an expert committee to establish multidimensional correspondence with the original English form. Psychometric testing included factor analysis with Varimax rotation, reliability by internal consistency (Cronbachs alpha) and test-retest repeatability (Spearmans rank test), validity by comparing the Italian version of SF-36 to NPDS-I (Pearsons correlation); further subscales comparisons to single SF-36 domains were also conducted. Results.: The authors required a 4-month period before achieving a shared version of the NPDS-I. The form was administered to 157 subjects, presenting good acceptability. Factor analyses demonstrated 3 subscales (63% of explained variance), defined as neck dysfunction related to general activities (subscale 1, 8 items), neck pain and cognitive-behavioral aspects (subscale 2, 8 items), neck dysfunction related to activities of the cervical spine (subscale 3, 4 items). The questionnaire showed high internal consistency (NPDS: 0.942, subscale 1: 0.919, subscale 2: 0.856, subscale 3: 0.889) and good test-retest reliability (P < 0.001). Validity was explained by high correlations with SF-36 total score (r = -0.47, P < 0.001) and with single SF-36 domains scores, highly significant (P < 0.001) with the exception of physical role domain (r = -0.17, P = 0.035). Finally, the 3 subscales demonstrated good correlations when compared with selected SF-36 domains. Conclusion.: The NPDS-I outcome questionnaire was successfully translated into Italian, showing good multidimensional and psychometric properties, supporting the results of the already existing versions of the scale. Its use is recommended in clinical and research practice
The role of stressful life events as risk factors in Italian patients with cancer: a case-control study
No full textDevelopment of the Italian version of the tampa scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-I): Cross-cultural adaptation, factor analysis, reliability, and validity
No full textStudy Design. Evaluation of the psychometric properties of a translated and culturally adapted questionnaire. Objective. Translating, culturally adapting, and validating the Italian version of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK-I) to allow its use for Italian-speaking patients with low back pain. Summary of Background Data. Increasing attention is being given to standardized outcome measures as a means of improving interventions for low back pain. A translated form of the TSK in patients with low back pain has never been validated in the Italian population. Methods. The development of the TSK-I questionnaire involved its translation and back-translation, a final review by an expert committee, and testing of the prefinal version to establish its correspondence to the original English version. Psychometric testing included factor analysis, reliability by internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and test-retest repeatability (Intraclass Coefficient Correlation), discriminant validity (Pearson correlation) by comparing TSK-I to a visual analogue scale, the Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire, Beck's Depression Inventory and Anxiety Inventory. Results. It took the authors 5 months to achieve a shared version of the TSK-I, which proved to be satisfactorily acceptable when administered to 178 subjects. Factor analysis indicated a 2-factor 13-item solution (38% of explained variance). The questionnaire showed acceptable internal consistency (α = 0.772) and high test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.956). Discriminant validity showed moderate to low correlations with visual analogue scale (r = 0.345), the Roland Morris Disability (r = 0.337), and Beck's Depression Inventory and Anxiety Inventory (r = 0.258 and r = 283). The subscales were also psychometrically analyzed. Conclusion. The TSK was successfully translated into Italian, showing a good factorial structure and psychometric properties, and replicating the results of existing English versions of the questionnaire. Its use is recommended for research purposes
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Heterogeneity of cholinergic muscarinic receptors coupled to phosphoinositide metabolism in immature rat brain
No full textIl Maugeri Stress Index questionnaire per la valutazione dello stress lavoro correlato
No full textViene presentata la validazione di un questionario costruito per la valutazione del rischio stress correlato e delle componenti che lo possono determinare.
Per la costruzione del questionario si sono seguite le seguenti fasi: 1) analisi critica degli strumenti presenti in letteratura; 2) selezione di item rilevanti e formulazione di un questionario preliminare; 3) analisi della comprensibilità degli item mediante focus group; 4) e successiva somministrazione ad un campione di 329 soggetti operanti in strutture pubbliche e private dell’industria e del terziario ed ad un campione di 29 soggetti che lamentavano stress e vessazioni in ambito lavorativo.
Il Maugeri Strees Index raggiunge un valore di affidabilità (alfa di Cronbach) pari a 0.93. L’analisi fattoriale ha permesso di individuare una struttura a 5 fattori: Benessere, Adattamento, Supporto, Irritabilità, Evitamento. Si riscontra differenza statisticamente significativa, sia nel punteggio totale di MSI sia nelle sottoscale, tra soggetti che non riferivano stress e quelli che erano connotati da presenza di stress lavorativo percepito. In conclusione, il questionario Maugeri Stress Index presenta buone caratteristiche di attendibilità e di validità di costrutto; l’analisi fattoriale ha confermato una struttura pluridimensionale, caratterizzata da cinque sottoscale
Recettori muscarinici linfocitari quali possibili indicatori biologici dell'esposizione ambientale a metilmercurio
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