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Joint scaling tests.

It is shown that a joint scaling test developed by Tan (1974) is closely related to the widely used standard Cavalli joint scaling test (described by Mather and Jinks, 1971) which was not referred to in Tan's paper. With the numbers of individuals per generation observed in practice, the two tests give essentially similar results. The Cavalli procedure also provides estimates of genetical parameters and is more readily extended to a wider range of situations.

Genes, Dominant

Nurses' satisfaction with their work situation.

Although job satisfaction is related to performance within the work setting, precise definitions and methods of measuring satisfaction are lacking, especially in medical settings. This article describes a two-year research project that investigated the concept of occupational satisfaction and methods of measuring this concept among in-and outpatient nurses. The Index of Work Satisfaction, a scale that measures relative importance of various components of satisfaction and attitudes toward the components, as well as an overall summary score, was developed. Methodology of the scale development, utilizing hospital nurses and nurses involved in a private group-practice setting, is described. Analysis of the responses from the nurses indicated that the scale measured occupational satifaction of nurses in both settings.

Attitude of Health Personnel

Healthcare transition readiness in an adolescent and young adult urologic population: The ADHERENT study.

INTRODUCTION: There is a paucity of research regarding transition to adult services within pediatric and adolescent urology. Several recent articles have discussed the barriers in transitioning urologic patients from pediatric to adult health care, but empiric data that may drive intervention are lacking. This study proposes to begin to address this gap in literature and to provide information that may lead to improved understanding of how best to support transition in urologic care. OBJECTIVES: 1) to identify modifiable and non-modifiable factors related to transition readiness as measured by Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ) scores in a congenital urologic population and 2) to evaluate the relationships between TRAQ scores (a validated questionnaire measuring transition readiness) and scores measuring anxiety levels related to transition (using an adapted, non-validated questionnaire). STUDY DESIGN: This is a cross-sectional study of adolescent and young adult patients with complex congenital urologic diagnoses. Subjects were electronically administered the validated TRAQ and a study-developed ADHERENT survey, which assesses anxiety and worry surrounding transition. Regression models for the outcomes of the TRAQ and ADHERENT scales were developed to assess multivariable associations with variables of clinical importance. RESULTS: The youngest subgroup (14-17 years of age) compared to the oldest subgroup (21-25 years of age) had significantly lower TRAQ scores [regression estimate = 12.3 (95 % CI: 2.9, 21.7), p = 0.010]. Additionally, single participants versus those in a stable relationship had significantly lower TRAQ scores [estimate = 8.7 (95 % CI: 1.9, 15.4), p = 0.012]. The Spearman correlation coefficient between TRAQ and ADHERENT scores was 0.52 (p = <0.001), indicating a positive, moderate relationship between the two measures, suggesting more readiness correlated with less anxiety. DISCUSSION: This study found that age, higher education, and stable relationship status were associated with higher measures of transition readiness. There was a correlation found between more transition readiness and less anxiety surrounding transition. This finding can be used to inform future research and emphasizes the need for multidisciplinary support throughout the transition process. CONCLUSION: Early discussion of transition of care and education around transition readiness are not the only solution to improving transition success. The second phase of ADHERENT seeks to understand the patient experience and to include adolescents and young adults in shaping effective healthcare transition strategies.

Humans

Transcranial Photobiomodulation Variables Assessment Battery: Development and Validation.

Transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) response variability is partly driven by biophysical characteristics such as skin tone and hair properties that attenuate photon penetration, and by lifestyle factors including sleep quality, alcohol use, and nicotine consumption that disrupt the mitochondrial and vascular pathways on which tPBM acts. To date, no validated self-report tool exists to capture these moderators systematically. To address this gap, the tPBM Variables Assessment Battery was developed and psychometrically evaluated. It integrates adapted versions of established measures (Brief Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, E-cigarette Dependence Scale, Hair Scale Assessment PRO, Monk Skin Tone Scale, and Heaviness of Smoking Index), validated wellbeing evaluators (Ryff's Psychological Wellbeing), and custom measures (Hairstyle Classification, Hair Color Classification). Face and content validity met recommended expert thresholds, internal consistency was acceptable across adapted subscales, and criterion validity analyses confirmed meaningful associations between the lifestyle components and PROMIS-10 global health outcomes. The battery is low-burden, digitally deployable, and psychometrically defensible, offering a practical tool for characterizing the variables most likely to moderate tPBM response in home-use studies.

Humans

Rejecting the patient: preliminary validation of a self-report scale.

The authors describe an easily administered scale being developed to assess the rejecting feelings of family respondents toward former mental patients who return to live with their families. Based upon a sample of 133 discharged mental patients and family members, the scale demonstrates a moderately high reliability (alpha = .78) and test-retest correlation (r = .72). Data are presented for evaluating the construct validity of the scale.

Attitude to Health

Attitudes toward self-care among practicing physicians.

Self-care, although growing as a concept and a movement among providers and consumers, has not been studied systematically in any dimension. Because of the potential role of physicians in establishing the credibility and acceptability of self-care interventions and practices, an exploratory investigation was launched to develop an attitude instrument, to describe the degree to which practicing physicians in a community favor self-care, and to explore some of the correlates of the attitudes expressed. A 13-item attitude scale was developed. Physicians with the most favorable attitudes were most likely to have come from a Jewish religious background, to be under 46 years old, to have health beliefs which reflect an internal locus of control, and to be in a group practice or clinic. Physicians with the least favorable attitudes came from Protestant backgrounds, were 46 to 63 years old, had externally controlled health beliefs, and practiced medicine alone.

Activities of Daily Living

Scales for measuring health belief model dimensions: a test of predictive value, internal consistency, and relationships among beliefs.

Critiques of research on the Health Belief Model have been directed at the need for: (1) applying the Model to behavior related to chronic illness; (2) multivariate testing of the major dimensions of the Model; (3) developing reliable scales; and (4) explicating the relationships among the beliefs. In an attempt to respond to these concerns, data are presented from a prospective study of mothers' adherence to a diet regimen prescribed for their obese children. The Model components were found, both singly and in combination, to be correlated with the study's measure of dietary compliance. Multiple regression analysis utilizing five belief indices accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in children's weight change. Questionnaire items employed in creating indices for each Model dimension are presented, together with discussion of the internal consistency of each index. Belief intercorrelations appear to demonstrate that distinct Model dimensions exist.

Adolescent

Attitudes and intentions of baccalaureate nursing students toward the elderly.

The primary purpose of this study was to develop instruments that reliably measure belief and behavioral intentions toward the elderly with control for social desirability set within the belief measure. Related purposes involved evaluation of the impact of a gerontologic nursing course on beliefs and behavioral intentions of nursing students toward the elderly. Data were collected over a three-month period from 153 volunteers in a baccalaureate nursing program. One group was tested both before and immediately after a gerontologic nursing course; three other groups were tested immediately, one, and two years after the course. A paired-comparison type belief scale and a multiple-act behavioral intention scale were developed and used in the study. The Kogan Old People and Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scales served as outside criteria. Both new instruments were found to be highly reliable. An association between beliefs and behavioral intentions above the .30 level was found between scores on the behavioral intention and Kogan scales, but not between behavioral intention and belief scores.

Aged

Therapist personality and treatment outcome: a test of the interaction hypothesis using the Campbell A-B scale.

The A-B scale was developed to distinguish therapists with a high rate of therapeutic improvement with schizophrenic patients from those with a low rate. The present study tests the hypothesis, developed by Whitehorn and Betz, expanded by McNair and Lorr, of an interaction between a therapist factor, i.e. the A-B score (identified in this study by the Campbell et al. revision of the Whitehorn and Betz A-B scale), patient diagnosis, and treatment outcome. An automated data system identified all of the adult patients treated by 42 therapists during their training at a psychiatric center containing inpatient and outpatient facilities. The patient group was broken down according to diagnosis and whether or not psychotropic drugs were a major treatment modality. Using a linear logistic regression model, the slope of the line specifying log odds of improvement in relation to therapist A-B was found to be significantly different for schizophrenics and neurotics treated without drugs. (No relationship to A-B was found for drug-treated patients.) For those therapists who had treated both neurotic and schizophrenic patients (N = 19) without drugs, A-B was found to be significantly associated (p = .075) with a measure of dependence between patient type and outcome. These two findings were consistent with the hypothesized relationship between the A-B dimension, patient diagnosis, and case outcome.

Adult

Return to work after a myocardial infarction: evaluation of planned rehabilitation and of a predictive rating scale.

This paper reports the first recorded controlled trial of cardiac rehabilitation after myocardial infarction in men of working age, viewed as a team intervention effort to facilitate the patient's return to normal work. Our results show that this intervention is helpful in returning to jobs which they can handle successfully men who would otherwise be at risk of remaining unemployed. A previously developed rating scale for predicting return to work after myocardial infarction was used and reevaluated. Employment and occupational level at admission to hospital, work history, availability of the previous job, educational level, family and social stability, age at which regular cigarette smoking commenced, and level of anxiety and depression on a personality scale proved highly predictive.

Evaluation Studies as Topic

Spatially guided in vivo single-cell functional genomics of postnatal heart.

Understanding how spatial organization and cell-cell interactions shape gene regulatory programs is central to decoding tissue development and function. The transition at birth, marked by increased circulatory demands and rapid tissue growth, requires precise spatiotemporal coordination of cardiac maturation. In this study, we generated a high-resolution spatial and temporal atlas of the postnatal mouse heart by integrating single-nucleus RNA sequencing with image-based spatial transcriptomics. This framework revealed dynamic cellular interactions, niche-specific signaling and transcriptional programs guiding cardiomyocyte maturation. To functionally test prioritized regulators in vivo and at scale, we developed PIP-seq (probe-based indel-detectable Perturb-seq), a high-throughput platform that detects single guide RNA identity, infers gene editing and profiles transcription from fixed nuclei. Applying PIP-seq to the developing postnatal heart, we identified 21 previously uncharacterized regulators of cardiomyocyte maturation, including genes essential for sarcomere assembly, metabolic reprogramming and electrophysiological transitions. Together, our findings define how microenvironmental signals and intrinsic gene programs cooperate to guide heart maturation and establish a broadly applicable framework for functional genomics in complex tissues.

Animals

Gray scale sonographic anatomy of the pancreas.

With the development of gray scale, the appearance of pancreatic anatomy and its relationship to surrounding structures can be demonstrated more effectively. Gray scale has made it possible to identify such vessels as the portal vein, superior mesenteric vein, superior mesenteric artery, splenic vein, etc. This makes it possible to identify the pancreas more precisely. The normal pancreas appears to have a fairly specific echo pattern. The pancreas scanning techniques used in this study include the oblique, transverse, and longitudinal sections. Oblique views are especially useful.

Abdomen

Language factors in vocational evaluation of mentally retarded workers.

Vocational teachers described maladaptive social behavior of retarded workers in vocational training classrooms and sheltered workshops. A rating scale was developed from 28 items measuring unacceptable language behavior. Twenty-seven teachers rated (a) 196 retarded workers with respect to the frequency of maladaptive behavior and (b) the 28 items with respect to the probability that a given behavior would result in termination of employment. Patterns of language behavior of retarded workers were factor analyzed, yielding two primary dimensions: verbal manners and communication skills. Irritating verbal manners were rated as more likely to result in termination of a worker than were poor communication skills. Both factors correlated significantly with the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale, and communication skills correlated significantly with the San Francisco Vocational Competency Scale. Results suggested the need to remediate maladaptive verbal behavior in sheltered or educational settings and to assign workers to jobs in accordance with their communication skills.

Adolescent

Medical student performance skills in otolaryngology.

A clinical rating scale was developed to assess clinical skills of third-year medical students completing a two-week required clerkship in otolaryngology. Thirty-seven students in six consecutive small groups were rated with the instrument by themselves, their student peers, and the departmental staff, and the ratings compared. The instrument was usable and aceeptance was good. Agreement among the differenet rating bodies was poor, but single observations by staff or peers were suitably reliable when multiple raters were used. The "halo effect" was particularly evident in staff ratings.

Clinical Competence

The mineralization processes in teleost fish scales.

In Teleost fish scales, growth and mineralization are continuous. Different mineralization processes can be distinguished. The external layer of the scale is the first to be mineralized and may be classified as the initial calcifying structure of the scale. The initial calcification loci are matrix vesicles of cellular origin always observed during the formation of this layer. This mineralization process takes place progressively, closely following the elaboration of the organic matrix in the scale periphery. The outer limiting and internal layers of the scale are developed after the external layer has been formed. A mineral substance is deposited without the mediation of matrix vesicles, but in contact with the previously mineralized external layer. This type of mineralization is called subsequential. However, the mineralization of the outer limiting layer closely follows the secretion of a collagen-free organic matrix and is thus different from the mineralization of the internal layer in which the calcification front remains remote from the collagen matrix surface and corresponds to a delayed mineralization process. The isolated calcifications (Mandl's corpuscles) which develop in the unmineralized laminae of the internal layer are mineralized in the absence of matrix vesicles and without making contact with a pre-existing calcified tissue, probably by a heterogeneous nucleation of the collagen fibrils.

Animals

[Scaling of disturbances of attention in neurological patients (author's transl)].

In a previous report two additive scales were developed for measuring susceptibility to stimulation (with 4 experimental stimuli) and reactivity (with 4 types of reactions). The degree of loss of attention in neurological patients as determined by the position of a patient correlates with the frequencies of his reactions. Thus the measurement of frequencies does not add any further information. There is no patterning of reactions due to the different etiology of the disorder of attention. These results support the suggested one-factor theory of attention.

Adolescent

Developmental retardation in infants as a concomitant of physical child abuse.

The impact of child abuse on the developmental functioning of infants was investigated. Thirty verified cases of physically abused children were compared to a reference group of 30 nonabused children matched for age, sex, race, and socioeconomic status. Abused children scored significantly lower in terms of cognitive and motor development as measured by the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Development delays on three of the four sectors of the Denver Developmental Screening Test, personal-social, language, and gross motor, were also found in the abused children. There were, however, relatively few item differences between the two groups on the 30 more general behavioral variables constituting the Bayley Infant Behavior Record. Results appear to confirm clinical observation of abused children as developmentally retarded with specific delays in the language and gross motor areas. Although methodologically complex, longitudinal studies are clearly indicated to assess the stability and/or reversibility of the present findings.

Child Abuse

ASSESS: Adjustment Scales for Sociometric Evaluation of Secondary-School Students.

The Adjustment Scales for Sociometric Evaluation of Secondary-School Students (ASSESS) was designed to assess peer ratings of the behavior of male and female adolescents. Five scales were developed and cross-validated: Aggression-Disruptiveness, Withdrawal, Anxiety, Social Competence, and Academic Difficulty. Evidence of adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability was presented. Evaluations by male and female classmates were highly correlated. Sex and age differences accounted for only a small proportion of the total variance.

Achievement