The adaptation of an adult group screening test for dyslexia into Finland-Swedish: normative data for university students and the effects of language background on test performance

We present a Finland-Swedish adaptation of the Sweden-Swedish group screening test for dyslexia for adults and young adults DUVAN (Lundberg & Wolff, 2003) together with normative data from 143 Finland-Swedish university students. The test is based on the widely held phonological deficit hypothesis of dyslexia and consists of a self-report and five subtests tapping phonological working memory, phonological representation, phonological awareness, and orthographic skill. We describe the test adaptation procedure and show that the internal reliability of the new test version is comparable to the original one. Our results indicate that the language background (Swedish, Finnish, early simultaneous Swedish-Finnish bilingualism) should be taken into account when interpreting the results on the Finland-Swedish DUVAN test. We show that the FS-DUVAN differentiates a group of students with dyslexia diagnosis from normals, and that a low performance on the FS-DUVAN correlates with a positive self-report on familial dyslexia and with a history of special education in school. Finally, we analyze the sensitivity and specificity of the FS-DUVAN for dyslexia among university students.     

成人学习不良的筛查与诊断

西方（以美国为代表）逐步形成了一套符合自身特点的成人学习不良筛查与诊断模式。文章讨论了筛查与诊断的关系,介绍了成人学习不良筛查与诊断的基本环节,以及筛查与诊断工具的选择与评估标准,并在对西方成人学习不良筛查与诊断模式特点的分析基础上,对建立我国成人学习不良测评体系提出了建议。     

An intercept study of footbridge users and non-users in Malaysia

Road safety of vulnerable road users in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is a major concern. Footbridges or overpasses are pieces of infrastructure designed to allow pedestrians to cross safely. Although there is tension over whether footbridges are the most inclusive and sustainable way to support safe road crossing for vulnerable road users, footbridges are still a predominant piece of infrastructure in LMICs. Therefore, research aimed at optimising the use of footbridges could have an impact on the safety of vulnerable road users. The objective of the present study is to understand the motivational factors influencing pedestrian crossing decisions to use a footbridge in Malaysia. Additionally, the present study investigates the effectiveness of some proposed interventions to change the crossing behaviour of footbridge non-users. An intercept study was conducted in five major cities in Malaysia. Pedestrians answered questions regarding their perceptions about footbridges and previous walking experiences. The analysis was divided into two parts: Firstly, a decision tree analysis was conducted to study the relationship between the observed decision to use or not a footbridge and pedestrians’ perceptions about footbridges and experiences. Secondly, a decision tree analysis was used to identify the effectiveness of proposed countermeasures in increasing the footbridge usage among non-users. The findings showed that the footbridge height and the frequency of using it were associated with a decrease in the likelihood of utilising this structure. Being in a hurry was highly associated with crossing at the street level. In addition, footbridge non-users might change their behaviour if escalators or fences are provided as interventions. The results indicated that safety messages delivered through posters to alert footbridge non-users have the potential to sustain safe mobility. A user-centred approach is necessary to increase the usability of footbridges in LMICs.     

Validation of the AMBIANCE-brief: An observational screening instrument for disrupted caregiving

Resulting from a community-identified need for a well-validated indicator of caregiving difficulties for use in practice settings, a brief form of the Atypical Maternal Behavior Instrument for Assessment and Classification System (AMBIANCE) was developed for use as a screening instrument. Prior to its dissemination, this study aimed to assess the feasibility, reliability, and validity of the AMBIANCE-Brief. Adolescent mother–infant dyads (N = 69) participated in the Strange Situation Procedure, as well as play sessions with and without toys. Maternal disrupted caregiving was coded from the play sessions using the AMBIANCE and AMBIANCE-Brief. The AMBIANCE-Brief demonstrated convergent validity with the AMBIANCE in the play session with toys (r = .65, p < .001) and without toys (r = .61, p < .001). Concurrent validity of the AMBIANCE-Brief was also demonstrated in relation to infant attachment disorganization in the play session with toys (r = .36, p < .05) and without toys (r = .32, p < .01). These findings suggest a shorter protocol for assessing disrupted caregiving may be feasible and valid for use in community settings. Future studies are in progress to train community practitioners in the use of the AMBIANCE-Brief and to evaluate their reliability.     

抑郁症的概念及分类研究历史

宫颈癌的发病率居女性恶性肿瘤的第二位,只要做到早发现、早诊断、早治疗,宫颈癌是一种可以预防和治愈的疾病。认真地做好宫颈癌的普查和随诊,能够降低宫颈癌的发病率和病死率。因为宫颈液基细胞学设备简单,方法便利,阳性检出率高,目前已成为基层医疗单位开展宫颈癌普查的重要手段。提倡宫颈癌的普查是对全社会育龄妇女健康的关怀,是医学人文精神的具体体现。全社会的妇女都应享有这种人文关怀。     

Culturally Informed and Flexible Family-Based Treatment for Adolescents: A Tailored and Integrative Treatment for Hispanic Youth

The increasing utilization of evidence-based treatments has highlighted the need for treatment development efforts that can craft interventions that are effective with Hispanic substance abusing youth and their families. The list of evidence-based treatments is extremely limited in its inclusion of interventions that are explicitly responsive to the unique characteristics and treatment needs of young Hispanics and that have been rigorously tested with this population. Some treatments that have been tested with Hispanics do not articulate the manner in which cultural characteristics and therapy processes interact. Other treatments have emphasized the important role of culture but have not been tested rigorously. The value of well designed interventions built upon an appreciation for unique patient characteristics was highlighted by Beutler et al. (1996) when they argued that "psychotherapy is comprised of a set of complex tasks, and practitioners need comprehensive knowledge of how different processes used in psychotherapy interact with patient characteristics in order to make treatment decisions that will maximize and optimize therapeutic power" (p. 30). A focus on how treatment processes interact with patient characteristics is particularly relevant in the Hispanic population because of the considerable heterogeneity beneath the Hispanic umbrella. Our new program of clinical research focuses on articulating how the varied profiles with regard to immigration stressors, acculturation processes, values clashes, sense of belonging to the community, discrimination, and knowledge about issues important to adolescent health can be more effectively addressed by a culturally informed treatment.     

Role of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Drug Discovery

In this review, we survey the state of the field of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as it relates to drug discovery and drug development. We highlight the advantages and limitations of fMRI for this purpose and suggest ways to improve the use of fMRI for developing new therapeutics, with emphasis on treatments for anxiety disorders. Fundamentally, pharmacological studies with standard psychiatric treatments using standardized behavioral probes during fMRI will need to be carried out to determine characteristic brain signatures that could be used to predict whether novel compounds are likely to have specific therapeutic effects.     

Latent Trait Modeling with the Common beliefs Survey III: Using Item Response Theory to Evaluate an Irrational Beliefs Inventory

Assessment of irrational beliefs by such measures as the Common Beliefs Survey III (CBS) has traditionally relied upon classical test theory assumptions, in which the properties of specific test items are less important than the total test score as the aggregate of all item responses. An alternative approach using item response theory (IRT) methodology allows one to specify the parameters of difficulty and discrimination for each test item. Difficulty levels of CBS items range along a continuum of irrationality, the implied latent trait measured by responses to the questionnaire as a whole. We evaluated the CBS responses of 605 individuals from clinical and college settings, drawing from current and archival data. The original Likert scale ratings were recoded into dichotomous scores. Fourteen of the 54 items were highly or very highly discriminating in distinguishing respondents with high and low irrationality levels. However, discriminating items exhibited a very narrow range of difficulty; most functioned at a point a little above the halfway mark on the continuum of irrationality. Item characteristic curves and test information curves were very similar for female (n = 424) and male (n = 179) respondents. We derived a 4-item screening test for irrationality from our IRT analyses of the 54 CBS items. Further test development, focused on the selection and scaling of items with a much broader range of difficulty, would facilitate evaluation of the hierarchical structure of irrational beliefs. Portions of this paper were presented at the 39th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Washington, DC, November, 2005.