Objectives: To validate the revised 12-item revised Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory-Epilepsy for Youth (NDDI-E-Y), a self-report screening tool for depressive symptoms tailored to youth ages 12–17 with epilepsy. Methods: Youth at two sites completed the NDDI-E-Y during a routine epilepsy visit. Youth at one site also completed the Children's Depression Inventory-2 (CDI-2). Seizure and demographic data were abstracted from the electronic medical record. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted. Internal consistency, area under the curve (AUC), and construct validity were assessed. Results: NDDI-E-Y questionnaires were analyzed for 143 youth. The coefficient for internal consistency for the NDDI-E-Y was 0.92. Factor analyses suggested a one-factor solution with all 12 items loading on the factor. The NDDI-E-Y was positively correlated with the CDI-2 (N = 99). Sensitivity and specificity of the NDDI-E-Y were high. Significance: Reliability and construct validity were established for the revised 12-item NDDI-E-Y. The NDDI-E-Y is a brief, free measure of depressive symptoms that can be administered during a routine epilepsy visit.

The primary goal of cancer screening is to reduce cancer-related mortality without incurring significant harm. Screening efforts for solid tumors, therefore, have targeted the precursors of the most common and the most deadly cancers—breast, cervical, colorectal, lung and prostate cancer. Balancing risk and benefit has led to controversy regarding the timing of cancer screening—when to begin, how often to screen and when to stop—and the nature of the modality of cancer screening—invasive or noninvasive, laboratory-centered or imaging-centered. Evidence-based guidelines published by general medical societies, subspecialty societies and publicly funded task forces on population-based screening aid healthcare providers in making individualized decisions with their patients.

Context: Rates and types of screening for depression in rural primary care practices are unknown. Purpose: To identify rates of depression screening among rural women in a sample of rural health clinics (RHCs). Methods: A chart review of 759 women's charts in 19 randomly selected RHCs across the nation. Data were collected from charts of female patients of rural primary care providers, using trained data collectors (inter-rater reliability.88 to.93). The Women's Primary Care Screening Form, designed by the authors, was used to collect demographic, health, and screening data. Data describing the characteristics of the clinics were collected using the National Rural Health Clinic Survey. Data regarding formal screening (validated instrument used) or informal (documentation of specific questions and answers regarding depression) in the previous 5 years were recorded. Findings: Characteristics of participating clinics and demographics of the women were similar to published data. Formal screening was documented in 2.4% of patients' charts. Informal screening was documented in 33.2% of charts. Patients with a history of anxiety were more likely to be screened (P <.001), and younger women were more likely to be screened than older women (P <.001). Conclusions: Primary care providers in RHCs use more informal than formal depression screening with their female patients. Providers are more likely to screen younger patients or patients with a diagnosis of anxiety.

This study describes the reliability reporting practices in empirical studies using eight adolescent alcohol screening tools and characterizes and explores variability in internal consistency estimates across samples. Of 119 observed administrations of these instruments, 40 (34%) reported usable reliability information. The Personal Experience Screening QuestionnaireProblem Severity scale generated average reliability estimates exceeding 0.90 (95% CI=0.90-0.96) and the Adolescent Alcohol Involvement Scale generated average score reliability estimates below 0.80 (95% CI=0.67-0.85). Average reliability estimates of the remaining instruments were distributed between these extremes. Sample characteristics were identified as potentially important predictors of variability in the reliability estimates of all the instruments and all instruments under evaluation generated more reliable scores in clinical settings (M=0.89) as opposed to nonclinical settings (M=0.82; r effect size (38)=0.29, p.10). Clinicians facing instrument selection decisions can use these data to guide their choices and researchers evaluating the performance of these instruments can use these data to inform their future studies.

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.

This case reports the implementation of post-care patient interviews to determine whether or not patients received screening and brief intervention (when needed) for alcohol problems.

Hintergrund: Obwohl Persönlichkeitsstörungen zu den häufigsten psychischen Erkrankungen in klinischen Behandlungseinrichtungen zählen, wird ihre Diagnostik häufig vernachlässigt und eine vorhandene Störung übersehen. Durch die Anwendung eines Screening-Verfahrens im ersten Schritt eines 2-stufigen Diagnostikprozesses soll eine möglicherweise vorhandene Persönlichkeitsstörung identifiziert werden. Ein positives Screening-Ergebnis wird im zweiten Schritt durch die Anwendung ausführlicher Diagnostikinstrumente verifiziert oder falsifiziert. Ein valider deutschsprachiger Screening-Fragebogen ist für diesen ersten Schritt bisher nicht verfügbar. Bislang entwickelte Screening-Verfahren wurden auf der Grundlage des kategorialen Klassifikationsmodells von Persönlichkeitsstörungen konstruiert. Das Vorliegen einer Persönlichkeitsstörung kann identifiziert werden, eine subsyndromale Persönlichkeitsstörungssymptomatik im Sinne ausgeprägter Persönlichkeitsakzentuierungen bislang noch nicht. Methoden: Es wurden drei Studien durchgeführt, in denen zwei Screening-Fragebögen auf der Grundlage unterschiedlicher Klassifikationsmodelle von Persönlichkeitsstörungen entwickelt wurden. Zur Validierung der beiden Screening-Fragebögen wurden verschiedene nichtklinische und klinische Stichproben herangezogen. Das Persönlichkeitsstörungs-Screening – Kurzform (PSS-K) basiert auf dem kategorialen Klassifikationsmodell von Persönlichkeitsstörungen und wird mittels der Receiver-Operating-Characteristic-Methodik ausgewertet. Das zweite Screening-Verfahren, das Personality Disorder Screening (PDS), wird erstmalig auf der theoretischen Grundlage des Hybridmodells der Klassifikation von Persönlichkeitsstörungen entwickelt und anhand der Latent-Class-Analysis (LCA) ausgewertet. Das Strukturierte Klinische Interview für DSM-IV, Achse-II: Persönlichkeitsstörungen (SKID-II) wurde zur Validierung der beiden Screening-Fragebögen genutzt. Ergebnisse: Das PSS-K erweist sich als reliabel und valide. Bei einer Sensitivität = .93 werden nahezu alle potentiell an einer Persönlichkeitsstörung erkrankten Personen erkannt. Das PDS weist ebenfalls eine gute Reliabilität auf. Die Auswertung durch die LCA zeigt den besten Modellfit für eine 4-Klassenlösung. Neben einer Klasse mit Personen ohne Persönlichkeitsstörung (PDS-) und mit Persönlichkeitsstörung (PDS+) konnten zwei Hybridklassen mit spezifischen Persönlichkeitsakzentuierungen identifiziert werden: histrionisch/dependent und selbstunsicher/zwanghaft. Die vier PDS-Klassen weisen spezifische Assoziationen mit soziodemografischen und klinischen Variablen auf. Diskussion: Die Entwicklung von Screening-Instrumenten auf der Grundlage unterschiedlicher Klassifikationsmodelle von Persönlichkeitsstörungen ist gelungen. Mit dem PSS-K steht ein reliabler und valider deutschsprachiger Screening-Fragebogen zur Verfügung, dessen Anwendung sich im stationären Behandlungssetting eignet. Das PDS ermöglicht erstmals die Identifikation von Personen mit subsyndromal ausgeprägter Persönlichkeitsstörungssymptomatik und kann für die Anwendung im ambulanten Behandlungssetting empfohlen werden.

Microbiological screening of antimicrobial residues in eggs needs special attention because of the high level of naturally occurring inhibitors contained in eggs which often lead to false positive results. However, it was discovered that heating egg samples at 800C for 10 minutes inactivated the inhibitors. The new bacteriological screening test for antimicrobial residues in eggs which was developed during this study, contains viable spores of Geobacillus stearothermophilus which are sensitive to antimicrobial residues including beta-lactams, tetracycline’s and macrolides. The new test method was validated based on the comparison with a reference method, namely the Kundrat micro-screening four-plate test,1 and published literature of another standard reference method, the Premi®Test. A preliminary trial was conducted on 36 hens that were given therapeutic oral doses of overthe- counter antimicrobials daily for seven days with one of eleven antimicrobials based on the manufacturer’s recommendations. Eggs were collected from the hens during and after treatment and tested for the presence or absence of antimicrobial residues. Several performance criteria and minimum detection concentrations were estimated and discussed. Some agreements and differences were found between the new and the reference tests with the new test being more sensitive to beta-lactams, tetracyclines and macrolides than the Kundrat and Premi®Test on the average. The use of florfenicol and norfloxacin in laying hens is banned and therefore there are no maximum residue limits (MRL) or published Premi®Test values. For meat, the MRL is 100mg/kg. It was therefore concluded that the new screening test could be used for routine screening of antimicrobial residues in eggs. A two seasonal survey was also conducted to determine the prevalence of antimicrobial residues in commercial chicken eggs in Tshwane area of Gauteng Province, South Africa. Although the season did not impact statistically on the antibiotic residues found in the eggs; eggs sold at the roadside (informal businesses), certain egg brands, and those sold at lower prices were found to be more likely to contain antibiotic residues than those obtained from formal outlets and at higher prices. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Production Animal Studies / unrestricted

Firstly, this work demonstrates that contactless dielectrophoresis (cDEP) was useful to detect a reversal in the electrical phenotype of late-stage ovarian cancer cells to a profile similar to that of slow-growing early-stage ovarian epithelial cells after treatment with a non-toxic bioactive metabolite, sphingosine. Current chemotherapeutics are highly toxic to patients and can cause severe adverse side effects, so non-toxic treatments that could slow or reverse cancer growth would be advantageous. This is the first instance of cDEP for detecting induced changes in cell structure, showing its potential as a rapid, non-biomarker-based drug screening platform. Specifically, low frequency contactless dielectrophoresis devices previously designed by Sano et al were used to extract the crossover frequency and specific membrane capacitance of early and late stage mouse ovarian surface epithelial (MOSE-E and MOSE-L) cells when untreated, treated with the anti-cancer sphingosine (So) metabolite and with a generally cancer-supporting sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) metabolite. The specific membrane capacitance of MOSE-L cells treated with So decreased and the normalized crossover frequency increased to levels matching MOSE-E cells. Secondly, a new multilayer cDEP device featuring curved interdigitated electrode channels overlaying a straight sample channel for the purpose of cell sorting was designed, computationally modeled, fabricated, and tested. The goal of this design was to achieve continuous multi-stream sorting of cells, and preliminary testing demonstrated that prostate cancer PC3 cells were continuously deflected toward the top of the channel under an electric field, as predicted by the numerical model. / Master of Science

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Paper spray mass spectrometry is an alternative technique for toxicological screening that is able to quickly and adequately screen for compounds encountered in postmortem investigations with little sample handling and no sample preparation. For analysis of dried blood spots using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, detection criteria were defined to align with relevant regulatory guidelines while considering how fragment ion selection, method sensitivity, and fragment ion ratio tolerances are best utilized in paper spray mass spectrometry. For analysis, drugs and drug metabolites relevant to postmortem investigations were spiked into drug-free blood, and by monitoring two fragment ion channels in selected reaction monitoring mode, as well as the ratio between the two fragment ions, a method was developed capable of detecting over 120 drug and drug metabolites at concentrations relevant to postmortem drug screening. Total analysis time for the developed method is less than 8 minutes, and less than 50µL of sample and 5mL of solvent are consumed during analysis.