OBJECTIVETo develop a brief version scale with good validity and reliability to evaluate self-management knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) of diabetes patients in a shorter time.

METHODS20 authority experts who specialized in the field of diabetes clinical and non-communicable disease self-management, and familiar with the relevant content of diabetes self-management were selected. Face to face and Email consultation methods were applied in two rounds delphi expert consultations to choose items from the Diabetes Self-management Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior Assessment Scale (DSKAB, total scale, 98 items). In the first round of expert consultation, experts were asked to select the core items from every dimension and score the extent of familiarity and basis of judgment. In the second round of expert consultation, the significance of the core items which were selected by experts in first round, were graded. The items which entered into the brief scale were determined by harmonious condition of expert opinions.

RESULTSTwo rounds of consultation reclaimed 16 and 15 responses respectively, Positive coefficients of experts were 80% and 94% respectively, and both authoritative coefficients were 0.90. In the first round of consultation, experts selected 44.3 ± 6.2 items on average, 42 items were selected according to the integrity of the scale for measuring dimension and content at last. In the second round of consultation, experts thought that the 42 items could measure the important contents of each dimension comprehensive and representative, the item importance scores of knowledge, attitude, and behavior subscale were 8.42 ± 1.17, 8.61 ± 1.24, 8.61 ± 1.02 respectively, and the coordination coefficients of the three subscale were 0.36, 0.20, 0.49 (χ(2) were 89.74, 11.13, 96.03, P<0.05). The total coordination coefficient was 0.38 (χ(2) =199.36, P<0.001), which indicated the concentration of experts(')opinion was acceptable, showed the brief scale with good face validity and content validity.

CONCLUSIONThe brief scale could evaluate Diabetes Self-management KAB Scale rapidly and relatively comprehensive in groups or individuals diabetes with good face validity and content validity.

Objective To evaluate the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the brief version of the self-management knowledge, attitude, and behavior (KAB) assessment scale for diabetes patients. Methods Diabetes patients who were managed at the Xinkaipu Community Health Service Center of Tianxin in Changsha, Hunan Province were selected for survey by cluster sampling. A total of 350 diabetes patients were surveyed using the brief scale to collect data on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of self-management. Content validity was evaluated by Pearson correlation coefficient between the brief scale and subscales of knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Structure validity was evaluated by factor analysis, and discrimination validity was evaluated by an independent sample t-test between the high-score and low-score groups. Reliability was tested by internal consistency reliability and split-half reliability. The evaluation indexes of internal consistency reliability were Cronbach's α coefficients, θ coefficient, and Ω coefficient. Acceptability was evaluated by valid response rate and completion time of the brief scale. Results A total of 346(98.9%) valid questionnaires were returned, with average survey time of (11.43±3.4) minutes. Average score of the brief scale was 78.85 ± 11.22; scores of the knowledge, attitude, and behavior subscales were 16.45 ± 4.42, 21.33 ± 2.03, and 41.07 ± 8.34, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients between the brief scale and the knowledge, attitude, and behavior subscales were 0.92, 0.42, and 0.60, respectively;P-values were all less than 0.01, indicating that the face validity and content validity of the brief scale were achieved to a good level. The common factor cumulative variance contribution rate of the brief scale and three subscales was from 53.66%to 61.75%, which achieved more than 50%of the approved standard. There were 11 common factors;41 of the total 42 items had factor loadings above 0.40 in their relevant common factor, indicating that the brief scale and three subscales had good construct validity. Patients were divided into a high-score group and a low-score group, then scores of the brief scale and three subscales were compared between the groups using a t-test. The results were all significant, indicating that the brief scale and three subscales had good discriminate validity. Mean scores of the brief scale and three subscales of the high-score group were 91.55±6.81, 19.51±2.17, 22.74±1.88, and 49.30±6.20, respectively;these were higher than the low-score group (65.89 ± 5.79, 12.29 ± 4.76, 20.22 ± 1.88, and 33.39 ± 6.17, respectively) with t-values 27.76, 13.31, 9.20, and 17.56 (P-values were less than 0.001). The Cronbach's α coefficient, θ coefficient,Ω coefficient, and split-half reliability of the brief scale were 0.83, 0.87, 0.96, and 0.84, respectively. These values for the three subscales were all above 0.70, except for theθcoefficient of the attitude subscale with 0.64, indicating that the brief scale and three subscales had acceptable internal consistency reliability. Conclusion The brief version of the diabetes self-management knowledge, attitude, and behavior assessment scale showed good acceptability, validity, and reliability, to responsibly evaluate self-management KAB among patients with diabetes.

Objective To evaluate the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the brief version of the self-management knowledge, attitude, and behavior (KAB) assessment scale for diabetes patients. Methods Diabetes patients who were managed at the Xinkaipu Community Health Service Center of Tianxin in Changsha, Hunan Province were selected for survey by cluster sampling. A total of 350 diabetes patients were surveyed using the brief scale to collect data on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of self-management. Content validity was evaluated by Pearson correlation coefficient between the brief scale and subscales of knowledge, attitude, and behavior. Structure validity was evaluated by factor analysis, and discrimination validity was evaluated by an independent sample t-test between the high-score and low-score groups. Reliability was tested by internal consistency reliability and split-half reliability. The evaluation indexes of internal consistency reliability were Cronbach's α coefficients, θ coefficient, and Ω coefficient. Acceptability was evaluated by valid response rate and completion time of the brief scale. Results A total of 346(98.9%) valid questionnaires were returned, with average survey time of (11.43±3.4) minutes. Average score of the brief scale was 78.85 ± 11.22; scores of the knowledge, attitude, and behavior subscales were 16.45 ± 4.42, 21.33 ± 2.03, and 41.07 ± 8.34, respectively. Pearson correlation coefficients between the brief scale and the knowledge, attitude, and behavior subscales were 0.92, 0.42, and 0.60, respectively;P-values were all less than 0.01, indicating that the face validity and content validity of the brief scale were achieved to a good level. The common factor cumulative variance contribution rate of the brief scale and three subscales was from 53.66%to 61.75%, which achieved more than 50%of the approved standard. There were 11 common factors;41 of the total 42 items had factor loadings above 0.40 in their relevant common factor, indicating that the brief scale and three subscales had good construct validity. Patients were divided into a high-score group and a low-score group, then scores of the brief scale and three subscales were compared between the groups using a t-test. The results were all significant, indicating that the brief scale and three subscales had good discriminate validity. Mean scores of the brief scale and three subscales of the high-score group were 91.55±6.81, 19.51±2.17, 22.74±1.88, and 49.30±6.20, respectively;these were higher than the low-score group (65.89 ± 5.79, 12.29 ± 4.76, 20.22 ± 1.88, and 33.39 ± 6.17, respectively) with t-values 27.76, 13.31, 9.20, and 17.56 (P-values were less than 0.001). The Cronbach's α coefficient, θ coefficient,Ω coefficient, and split-half reliability of the brief scale were 0.83, 0.87, 0.96, and 0.84, respectively. These values for the three subscales were all above 0.70, except for theθcoefficient of the attitude subscale with 0.64, indicating that the brief scale and three subscales had acceptable internal consistency reliability. Conclusion The brief version of the diabetes self-management knowledge, attitude, and behavior assessment scale showed good acceptability, validity, and reliability, to responsibly evaluate self-management KAB among patients with diabetes.

Objective To investigate the effect of the dihydroartemisinin (DHA) on the human low-differentiated lung adenocarcinoma cell line A549 and to explore its mechanism. Methods The A549 cells at logarithmic growth phase were divided into control group and DHA group. The cells in the control group were incubated with conventional reagent, and the cells in DHA group were incubated with 500 nmol/L of DHA. After incubation for 72 hours, methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was used to examine the proliferation of A549 cells in the two groups. Gene expression of p85, Akt, Bax and Bcl-2 was detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) . The protein expression of p85, Akt, p-p85, p-Akt, Bax and Bcl-2 was detected by Western blotting method. The activity of Caspase3 was measured by Caspase3 colorimetric assay kit. Results Compared with the control group, the proliferation rate of A549 cells in DHA group was significantly decreased ( P<0.01) . The RT-PCR results showed that the mRNA expression levels of p85 and AKT had no obvious difference between the two groups, but the mRNA expressien level of Bax was increased ( P<0.001), and the mRNA expressien level of Bcl-2 was decreased ( P<0.05) . The Western blotting results showed that there was no significant changes of p85 and Akt proteins between the two groups (P>0.05), but p-p85, p-Akt and Bcl-2 protein expression levels were significantly decreased ( P<0.01) , and Bax protein expression was increased ( P<0.01). Moreover, the activity of Caspase3 was also enhanced ( P<0.001). Conclusion DHA can reduce the proliferation of A549 cells and increase the apoptosis of A549 cells, and its mechanism probably has relationship with the inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Genes, Bacterial ; Hydrogen Peroxide ; pharmacology ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mutation ; genetics ; Mycobacterium ; drug effects ; genetics ; growth & development ; Peptides ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Stress, Physiological ; drug effects

Limited by the imaging principle of whole body bone SPECT image, the gray value of bladder area is quite high, which affects the image's brightness, contrast and readability. In the meantime, the similarity between bladder area and focus makes it difficult for some images to be segmented automatically. In this paper, an improved Snake model, GVF Snake, is adopted to automatically segment bladder area, preparing for further processing of whole body bone SPECT images.
Algorithms ; Bone and Bones ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Models, Anatomic ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; methods ; Urinary Bladder

Based on the characteristic of the PET-CT multimodal image series, a novel image registration and fusion method is proposed, in which the cubic spline interpolation method is applied to realize the interpolation of PET-CT image series, then registration is carried out by using mutual information algorithm and finally the improved principal component analysis method is used for the fusion of PET-CT multimodal images to enhance the visual effect of PET image, thus satisfied registration and fusion results are obtained. The cubic spline interpolation method is used for reconstruction to restore the missed information between image slices, which can compensate for the shortage of previous registration methods, improve the accuracy of the registration, and make the fused multimodal images more similar to the real image. Finally, the cubic spline interpolation method has been successfully applied in developing 3D-CRT (3D Conformal Radiation Therapy) system.
Algorithms ; Artificial Intelligence ; Diagnostic Imaging ; methods ; Humans ; Image Enhancement ; instrumentation ; methods ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; instrumentation ; methods ; Imaging, Three-Dimensional ; instrumentation ; methods ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; instrumentation ; methods ; Radiotherapy Planning, Computer-Assisted ; instrumentation ; methods ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; instrumentation ; methods

In this paper, BP neural network is used to segment whole body bone SPECT image so that the lesion area can be recognized automatically. For the uncertain characteristics of SPECT images, it is hard to achieve good segmentation result if only the BP neural network is employed. Therefore, the segmentation process is divided into three steps: first, the optimal gray threshold segmentation method is employed for preprocessing, then BP neural network is used to roughly identify the lesions, and finally template match method and symmetry-removing program are adopted to delete the wrongly recognized areas.
Algorithms ; Bone and Bones ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Pattern Recognition, Automated ; methods ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon ; Whole Body Imaging

Objective To explore the potential predominance and value of percutaneous hepatocholangiostomy (PCH) in treatment of recurrence hepatobiliary stones (RHS). Methods Seventeen cases with RHS were treated by PCH from February 2001 to October 2005, which was an improved technology of percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy (PTCS) and made reference to the methods of percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN). Results Seventeen cases were successfully treated. The average blood loss was 40 ml (ranging from 15 to 100 ml), and stones were removed completely in 88.2% (15/17). The average hospital stay was 14 (ranging from 10 to 59) days. No one required postoperative analgesic. No postoperative bleeding and biliary leakage were found. Conclusions PCH has significant advantages of minimal invasion, little blood loss, less pain, less complications and quick recovery in the treatment of RHS.

Objective To study the relationship between polymorphic (CAG)n repeats of androgen receptor(AR) gene and occurrence of prostate cancer (PC). Methods (CAG)n repeats of both malignant cells and adjacent nonmalignant cells from 34 paraffin embedded PCs, and that of peripheral blood cells from 2 PC patients were assessed using dsDNA cycle sequencing. Results The number of (CAG)n repeats in malignant cells was equal to that in adjacent nonmalignant cells from the same paraffin embedded PC; the mean of (CAG)n repeats in the 36 PC patients was 20.06 which was significantly smaller than that of normal men ( P 0.05). Conclusions Shortening of (CAG)n repeats within AR gene may be associated with the occurrence of PC.