This article is the second of two on the use of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) as a method to assess construct validity. The construct validation criteria required by the conventional MTMM approach are satisfied only by certain ideal data sets, such as those in which the method variance of measures is very low. The CFA approach to multitraitmultimethod (MTMM) data is more general, in that v...

BACKGROUND Quality of life (QOL) is a goal for nursing home residents, but measures are needed to tap this phenomenon. METHODS In-person QOL interviews were attempted for 1988 residents, stratified by cognitive functioning, from 40 nursing homes in five states. Likert-type response options were used with reversion to dichotomous responses when necessary; z-score transformations were used to c...

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest an increased prevalence of food-induced allergy and an increased incidence of food-related anaphylaxis. However, prevalence estimates of food allergies vary considerably between studies. OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, and sesame allergy in Canada. METHODS Using comparable methodology to Sicherer et al in the Uni...

OBJECTIVE To determine the seroprevalence of anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies (anti-HCV) in blood donors, and to describe the correlation between screening serological test results and confirmatory test. METHODS Epidemiological and laboratorial records of 10,090 blood donors of the blood unit in the city of Apucarana, Brazil, from January 1997 to December 1999 were assessed. Anti-HCV serum a...

To investigate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in two risk groups, stored serum samples from treated haemophiliacs and intravenous drug users were tested for anti-HCV by both anti-C-100 based and second generation ELISAs (Abbott and Ortho) followed by testing in two confirmatory immunoblot assays that incorporate core as well as other non-structural antigens (Innogenetics LIA and ...

AIM It remains unknown whether orbital Doppler-ultrasound (ODUS) could be an alternative to other established ancillary tests for the diagnosis of brain death. We investigated the effectiveness of ODUS in the diagnosis of brain death and compared data obtained from ODUS with transcranial Doppler-ultrasound (TDUS) and carotid Doppler-ultrasound (CDUS) findings. MATERIAL AND METHODS ODUS, CDUS ...

The zinc finger antiviral protein (ZAP) is a host factor that mediates inhibition of viruses in the Filoviridae, Retroviridae and Togaviridae families. We previously demonstrated that ZAP blocks replication of Sindbis virus (SINV), the prototype Alphavirus in the Togaviridae family at an early step prior to translation of the incoming genome and that synergy between ZAP and one or more interfer...

BACKGROUND There is difficulty in gathering data on the prevalence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus in blood donors as confirmatory testing is not mandatory in Brazil. This suggests there may be an underreporting of the prevalence. OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of human T-cell lymphotropic virus types 1 and 2 in donors of a blood bank in Caruaru, Brazil. METHODS This was an observa...

There has been renewed interest in the laboratory diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infections due in large measure to the increase in both numbers and severity of cases of this disease. For the past two decades, enzyme-immunoassays (EIAs) for the detection of first C. difficile toxin A and then toxins A and B have been the most widely used diagnostic test for diagnosis of C. difficile infecti...

The aim of this research was to develop a path-flow analysis model to highlight the relationships between buoyancy and prone gliding tests and some selected anthropometrical and biomechanical variables. Thirty-eight young male swimmers (12.97 ± 1.05 years old) with several competitive levels were evaluated. It were assessed the body mass, height, fat mass, body surface area, vertical buoyancy, ...