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International Journal of Environmental... Jul 2021Given its highly contagious nature and an absence of a specific antiviral agent to this date, the key to controlling the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)...
Given its highly contagious nature and an absence of a specific antiviral agent to this date, the key to controlling the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and decreasing the infection rate is adherence to preventive measures. It is essential to understand an individual's knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19 since public adherence to health guidelines relies heavily on these aspects. However, there is no validated instrument that evaluates knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19. Thus, this study aimed to develop and validate such tool. A questionnaire was developed based on international and national guidelines and a review of the literature. Initial items were evaluated by 10 experts to determine content validity. Exploratory factor analysis and reliability testing were conducted with a convenience sample of 229 nursing students. Based on the content, face validity and factor analysis, 34 items were selected. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value of 0.735 indicated a highly acceptable score with a significant Bartlett's test of sphericity ( < 0.0001). The internal consistency coefficients indicated acceptable reliability of the tool (Cronbach's α = 0.75). The KAP COVID-19 is a valid instrument that can be used to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19.
Topics: COVID-19; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Reproducibility of Results; SARS-CoV-2; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 34299943
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18147493 -
Frontiers in Oncology 2021Radiopharmaceuticals are reemerging as attractive anticancer agents, but there are no universally adopted guidelines or standardized procedures for evaluating agent... (Review)
Review
Radiopharmaceuticals are reemerging as attractive anticancer agents, but there are no universally adopted guidelines or standardized procedures for evaluating agent validity before early-phase trial implementation. To validate a radiopharmaceutical, it is desirous for the radiopharmaceutical to be specific, selective, and deliverable against tumors of a given, molecularly defined cancer for which it is intended to treat. In this article, we discuss four levels of evidence-target antigen immunohistochemistry, and preclinical experiments, animal biodistribution and dosimetry studies, and first-in-human microdose biodistribution studies-that might be used to justify oncology therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals in a drug-development sequence involving early-phase trials. We discuss common practices for validating radiopharmaceuticals for clinical use, everyday pitfalls, and commonplace operationalizing steps for radiopharmaceutical early-phase trials. We anticipate in the near-term that radiopharmaceutical trials will become a larger proportion of the National Cancer Institute Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) portfolio.
PubMed: 33747951
DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2021.630827 -
PEC Innovation Dec 2023In an earlier study, several tested International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) pictograms did not achieve validity among older adults in Singapore. In this study, for...
OBJECTIVE
In an earlier study, several tested International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) pictograms did not achieve validity among older adults in Singapore. In this study, for 27 unvalidated FIP pictograms, we (1) developed variants of each pictogram, (2) elicited the most-preferred variant, and (3) assessed the validity of the most-preferred variant among older Singaporeans.
METHODS
In phase 1, up to three variants of the 27 pictograms were developed, based on older adults' feedback from a previous study. In phase 2, the most-preferred variant of 26 pictograms, which had two or three variants, was selected by 100 older participants. In phase 3, the 27 most-preferred variants (including the pictogram with only one variant) were assessed for validity - transparency and translucency - among 278 older participants (10 pictograms per participant). To evaluate transparency, participants were first asked: "" for each assigned pictogram. If they responded, they were asked, , and if not, they were told, ". Then, participants were shown their assigned pictograms again, one by one, and the pictogram's intended meaning was revealed to evaluate translucency. Pictograms were classified as valid (≥66% participants interpreted its intended meaning correctly [transparency criterion] and ≥85% participants rated its representativeness as ≥ 5 [translucency criterion]), partially valid (only transparency criterion fulfilled) or not valid.
RESULTS
In phase 1, 77 variants of the 27 pictograms were developed. In phase 2, a majority of the most-preferred variants were selected by >50% participants. In phase 3, 10 (37.0%) of the 27 pictograms tested were considered valid, and five (18.5%) were partially valid. A higher proportion of pictograms portraying dose and route of administration and precautions were valid or partially valid, versus those depicting indications or side effects.
CONCLUSION
Contextual redesigning and selection of pharmaceutical pictograms, which initially failed to achieve validity in a population, contributed to their validation.
INNOVATION
The redesigned validated pictograms from this study can be incorporated into relevant patient information materials in clinical practice.
PubMed: 37214531
DOI: 10.1016/j.pecinn.2022.100116 -
International Journal of Epidemiology Aug 2020Information bias is common in epidemiology and can substantially diminish the validity of study results. Validation studies, in which an investigator compares the...
Information bias is common in epidemiology and can substantially diminish the validity of study results. Validation studies, in which an investigator compares the accuracy of a measure with a gold standard measure, are an important way to understand and mitigate this bias. More attention is being paid to the importance of validation studies in recent years, yet they remain rare in epidemiologic research and, in our experience, they remain poorly understood. Many epidemiologists have not had any experience with validations studies, either in the classroom or in their work. We present an example of misclassification of a dichotomous exposure to elucidate some important misunderstandings about how to conduct validation studies to generate valid information. We demonstrate that careful attention to the design of validation studies is central to determining how the bias parameters (e.g. sensitivity and specificity or positive and negative predictive values) can be used in quantitative bias analyses to appropriately correct for misclassification. Whether sampling is done based on the true gold standard measure, the misclassified measure or at random will determine which parameters are valid and the precision of those estimates. Whether or not the validation is done stratified by other key variables (e.g. by the exposure) will also determine the validity of those estimates. We also present sample questions that can be used to teach these concepts. Increasing the presence of validation studies in the classroom could have a positive impact on their use and improve the validity of estimates of effect in epidemiologic research.
Topics: Bias; Epidemiologic Studies; Humans; Predictive Value of Tests; Sensitivity and Specificity
PubMed: 32617564
DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyaa090 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2023Internalized stigma among people living with HIV has been linked to a range of negative consequences. The current study describes the development and validation of a...
INTRODUCTION
Internalized stigma among people living with HIV has been linked to a range of negative consequences. The current study describes the development and validation of a contextually appropriate internalized HIV-related Stigma Scale for people living with HIV in Thailand.
METHODS
The study was carried out in two stages from 2018 to 2019: developing items based on the findings of focus group discussions and pilot testing the original list of items and validating the instrument. In the cross-sectional survey stage, a sample of 400 people living with HIV was used to validate the test items in accordance with their psychometric characteristics.
RESULTS
The study's outcome was the 22-item Thai Internalized HIV-related Stigma Scale (Thai-IHSS). The exploratory factor analysis showed that the Thai-IHSS consisted of four components: negative thoughts toward self (5 items), anticipated negative thoughts (7 items), effects of negative thought toward self (6 items), and effects of negative thoughts toward family and access to healthcare services (4 items).
DISCUSSION
The Thai-IHSS had acceptable concurrent, convergent, and congruent validity according to the findings. Additionally, the 8-item Thai-IHSS brief, which included two items for each component, was detailed. The Thai-IHSS is valid and reliable for use in Thailand and other countries with comparable sociocultural environments.
PubMed: 37008845
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1134648 -
Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation... Nov 2022Functional rating scales allow clinicians to document and quantify alterations and progression of recovery processes. There is neither awareness of numerous knee scales... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Functional rating scales allow clinicians to document and quantify alterations and progression of recovery processes. There is neither awareness of numerous knee scales nor are they easy to find or compare to select the most suitable.
OBJECTIVES
We aimed to compile validated knee functional rating tools and analyze the methodological quality of their validation studies. Also, we aimed to provide an operational document of the outcome measures addressing descriptions of parameters, implementations, instructions, interpretations and languages, to identify the most appropriate for future interventions.
METHODS
A systematic review involved a search of PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, Scopus, and Dialnet databases from inception through September 2020. The main inclusion criteria were available functional rating scales/questionnaires/indexes for knees and validation studies. Methodological quality was analyzed with the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) and COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments Risk of Bias (COSMIN-RB).
RESULTS
We selected 73 studies. The studies investigated 41 knee rating tools (general, 46%, and specific, 54%) and 71 validations, including 29,742 individuals with knee disorders. QUADAS-2 obtained the best results in patient selection and index test (applicability section). COSMIN-RB showed the highest quality in construct validity (most analyzed metric property). The specific tools were mainly designed for prosthesis and patellofemoral and anterior cruciate ligament injuries. More considered issues were specific function (93%), especially gait, pain/sensitivity (81%), and physical activity/sports (56%).
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
We conducted a necessary, useful, unlimited-by-time and feasible compilation of validated tools for assessing knee functional recovery. The methodological quality of the validations was limited. The best validations were for the Copenhagen Knee Range of Motion Scale in osteoarthritis and arthroplasties, Knee Outcome Survey Activities of Daily Living and Lysholm Knee Score for general knee disorders and the Tegner Activity Score for anterior cruciate ligament injuries. The operational document for the scales provides necessary data to identify the most appropriate.
Topics: Humans; Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries; Activities of Daily Living; Knee Joint; Range of Motion, Articular; Outcome Assessment, Health Care
PubMed: 34808424
DOI: 10.1016/j.rehab.2021.101608 -
Journal of Inflammation Research 2023A diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a serious, long-term condition associated with a significant risk of disability and mortality. However, research on its biomarkers is...
BACKGROUND
A diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a serious, long-term condition associated with a significant risk of disability and mortality. However, research on its biomarkers is still limited. This study utilizes bioinformatics and machine learning methods to identify immune-related biomarkers for DFU and validates them through external datasets and animal experiments.
METHODS
This study used bioinformatics and machine learning to analyze microarray data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to identify key genes associated with DFU. Animal experiments were conducted to validate these findings. This research employs the datasets GSE68183 and GSE80178 retrieved from the GEO database as the training dataset for building a gene machine learning model, and after conducting differential analysis on the data, this study used package glmnet and package e1071 to construct LASSO and SVM-RFE machine learning models, respectively. Subsequently, we validated the model using the training set and validation set (GSE134431). We conducted enrichment analysis, including GSEA and GSVA, on the model genes. We also performed immune functional analysis and immune-related analysis on the model genes. Finally, we conducted immunohistochemistry (IHC) validation on the model genes.
RESULTS
This study identifies GSTM5 as a potential immune-related key target in DFU using machine learning and bioinformatics methods. Subsequent validation through external datasets and IHC experiments also confirms GSTM5 as a critical biomarker for DFU. The gene may be associated with T cells regulatory (Tregs) and T cells follicular helper, and it influences the NF-κB, GnRH, and MAPK signaling pathway.
CONCLUSION
This study identified and validated GSTM5 as a biomarker for DFU. This finding may potentially provide a target for immune therapy for DFU.
PubMed: 38145013
DOI: 10.2147/JIR.S442388 -
Journal of Psychosomatic Research Oct 2021Most current Misophonia scales are not validated, do not include both emotional and physiological responses to triggers, and/or focus only on auditory triggers. This...
OBJECTIVE
Most current Misophonia scales are not validated, do not include both emotional and physiological responses to triggers, and/or focus only on auditory triggers. This research aimed to develop and validate a measure of the magnitude of the Misophonic response that addressed these omissions.
METHOD
Three studies were carried out with individuals with self-diagnosed Misophonia. In study 1, expert opinion and participants commented on initial items to determine both face and content validity. In study 2, scale structure, reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity were determined using correlations, principal component analysis (PCA), and reliability analysis. In study 3, factor structure was confirmed in another sample of participants using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).
RESULTS
The final 22-item scale assesses the magnitude of responses to triggers across any sensory modality. There are three subscales (emotional, physiological, and participation in life), with three additional items measuring frequency of triggers, avoidance of triggers, and time taken to recover from the triggers. The final scale showed suitable discriminant and convergent validity, with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alphas range 0.77 to 0.89). The three-component solution extracted using PCA explained 53.97% of variance, with all items loading between 0.45 and 0.84. The structure was confirmed with CFA (χ = 269.01, p < .001; CFI = 0.96; TLI = 0.96 and RMSEA = 0.045 (CI 0.037-0.053).
CONCLUSION
The Misophonia Response Scale, which is valid and reliable, will facilitate understanding of Misophonia as it is short and easy to use for self-report in research.
Topics: Emotions; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Humans; Psychometrics; Reproducibility of Results; Self Report; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 34390941
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2021.110587 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2020New computer technologies, like virtual reality (VR), have created opportunities to study human behavior and train skills in novel ways. VR holds significant promise for... (Review)
Review
New computer technologies, like virtual reality (VR), have created opportunities to study human behavior and train skills in novel ways. VR holds significant promise for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of skill learning in a variety of settings (e.g., sport, medicine, safety-critical industries) through immersive learning and augmentation of existing training methods. In many cases the adoption of VR for training has, however, preceded rigorous testing and validation of the simulation tool. In order for VR to be implemented successfully for both training and psychological experimentation it is necessary to first establish whether the simulation captures fundamental features of the real task and environment, and elicits realistic behaviors. Unfortunately evaluation of VR environments too often confuses presentation and function, and relies on superficial visual features that are not the key determinants of successful training outcomes. Therefore evidence-based methods of establishing the fidelity and validity of VR environments are required. To this end, we outline a taxonomy of the subtypes of fidelity and validity, and propose a variety of practical methods for testing and validating VR training simulations. Ultimately, a successful VR environment is one that enables transfer of learning to the real-world. We propose that key elements of psychological, affective and ergonomic fidelity, are the real determinants of successful transfer. By adopting an evidence-based approach to VR simulation design and testing it is possible to develop valid environments that allow the potential of VR training to be maximized.
PubMed: 32296379
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00605