Measuring hope amongst Tanzanian women who participate in microfinance: An evaluation of the Snyder hope scale

ABSTRACT

Measuring hope reliably and accurately remains an important research objective, not least in less prosperous settings where ‘holding on to hope’ may be critically important in the struggle against adverse life conditions. The State Hope Scale was designed for use in the US. Despite reported application in diverse cultures and using translations the scale has not been extensively validated outside US populations. This study contributes to a larger project exploring the measurement of hope and provides a critique of Snyder’s scale as used in a Tanzanian female population of 1021 urban microfinance participants. We evaluate the scale’s validity through assessment of the empirical distribution of scores, item response profiles, internal consistency and discriminatory ability. Participants mostly scored very high and many reached very near the maximum attainable score. Hardly any endorsed the negative half of the response scale. Several problems are discussed including poor discrimination and strong evidence of acquiescence response bias. We also found little association of the scale scores with hypothesised correlates of hope. Future improvements on the measurement of hope are recommended, especially in studies outside the narrow Western context in which the scale was devised.     

吉林辽宁两省18年来的目标设置对突发公共卫生事件应急工作落实情况的关联研究

目的本研究立足于项目组前期研究的成果上，积极探索吉林辽宁两省目标设置水平的差异，并进一步探究受目标设置影响下的工作落实结果情况，探讨产生差异的原因。 方法以系统穷尽的方式收集吉林辽宁两省2000至2017年有关目标与工作落实情况的指标，利用Spearman相关和线性回归分析吉林辽宁两省目标设置对于突发应急工作落实情况的影响。 结果吉林辽宁两省突发应急领域的目标设置水平与工作落实情况总体均呈现上升趋势，截至2017年，吉林目标设置水平与工作落实情况分别为46%与60%，辽宁为60%与53.3%，且目标设置水平与工作落实呈正相关。 结论有公众需要为依据且定量可考的目标设置对于工作落实、推进、完善具有积极的正反馈作用，建立科学量化的突发应急目标设置评价体系是适宜可行的。     

The effect of maternal antibodies on the cellular immune response after infant vaccination: A review

During the last few decades, maternal immunization as a strategy to protect young infants from infectious diseases has been increasingly recommended, yet some issues have emerged. Studies have shown that for several vaccines, such as live attenuated, toxoid and conjugated vaccines, high maternal antibody titers inhibit the infant’s humoral immune response after infant vaccination. However, it is not clear whether this decreased antibody titer has any clinical impact on the infant’s protection, as the cellular immune responses are often equally important in providing disease protection and may therefore compensate for diminished antibody levels. Reports describing the effect of maternal antibodies on the cellular immune response after infant vaccination are scarce, probably because such studies are expensive, labor intensive and utilize poorly standardized laboratory techniques. Therefore, this review aims to shed light on what is currently known about the cellular immune responses after infant vaccination in the presence of high (maternal) antibody titers both in animal and human studies. Overall, the findings suggest that maternally derived antibodies do not interfere with the cellular immune responses after infant vaccination. However, more research in humans is clearly needed, as most data originate from animal studies.     

Transarterial Chemoembolization vs Radioembolization for Neuroendocrine Liver Metastases: A Multi-Institutional Analysis

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Prenatal undernutrition increases the febrile response to lipopolysaccharides in adulthood in male rats

It has been reported that prenatal undernutrition affects the development of the peripheral immune system. In this study, the effects of prenatal undernutrition on the febrile response and hypothalamic innate immune system were evaluated in male rats. Pregnant rats were divided into normally nourished (NN) and undernourished groups (UN). The febrile and anorectic responses to lipopolysaccharides (LPS) were evaluated in the offspring of NN and UN dams. The hypothalamic expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and neuropeptide Y (NPY) were also evaluated. The UN rats exhibited significantly lighter body weights than the NN rats at birth; however, their mean body weight was the same as that of the NN rats by postnatal day 10. In adulthood, the UN rats exhibited significantly stronger febrile responses than the NN rats, and the anorectic responses of the UN rats also tended to be stronger than those of the NN rats. On the other hand, no differences in hypothalamic interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, TLR4, or NPY mRNA expression were detected between the NN and UN rats. These results suggest that prenatal undernutrition has long-lasting effects on the febrile response to LPS. However, the precise mechanism underlying these effects and their pathophysiological significance remain unclear.     

Measuring disease activity and response to treatment in rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction: Effective treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) requires suppression of the underlying inflammation. Measurement of such inflammation, the disease activity, is mandatory to target treatment and maximize outcomes. However, this is not as straightforward as it may seem.

Areas covered: The many tools developed to measure disease activity in RA, from composite scores and patient-reported outcomes, to laboratory markers and imaging are discussed, with a focus on their utility in guiding therapy and assessing response. The complex issues in measuring disease activity in RA, whether in clinical trials or normal clinical practice, and in the context of national guidelines and recommendations, available time, and resources are considered.

Expert commentary: The key to effective management of RA is the rapid suppression of inflammation, ideally to remission, with maintenance of such remission. The aim is to prevent disability and maximize quality of life. Central to this is the ability to determine disease activity (potentially open to suppression) as opposed to damage (irreversible). A variety of measures are currently available, allowing better assessment of response to treatment. In the future, the development of predictive biomarkers allowing targeting of drugs may revolutionize this field and render the tools of today redundant.     

Erythema induratum of Bazin in a 10‐year‐old boy

Erythema induratum of Bazin (EIB) is a form of tuberculid resulting from hypersensitivity to tuberculosis antigen. EIB occurs most commonly in middle‐aged women and is not typically seen in children. Here, we present a rare case of EIB, presenting as a chronic nodular panniculitis, in a 10‐year‐old Korean boy.