Development and validation of the Approach-Iron Skill Test for use in golf

The primary aim of this study was to develop and validate a golf-specific approach-iron test for use with elite and high-level amateur golfers. Elite (n=26) and high-level amateur (n=23) golfers were recruited for this study. The ‘Approach-Iron Skill Test’ requires players to hit a total of 27 shots. Specifically, three shots are hit at each of nine targets on a specially constructed driving range in a randomised order. A real-time launch monitor positioned behind the player, measured the carry distance for each of these shots. A scoring system was developed based on the percentage error index of each shot, meaning that 81 points was the maximum score possible (with a maximum of three points per shot). Two rounds of the test were performed. For both rounds of the test, elite-level golfers scored significantly higher than their high-level amateur counterparts (56.3±5.6 and 58.5±4.6 points versus 46.0±6.3 and 46.1±6.7 points, respectively) (P<0.05). For both elite and high-level players, 95% limits of agreement statistics also indicated that the test showed good test–retest reliability (2.1±7.9 and 0.2±10.8, respectively). Due to the clinimetric properties of the test, we conclude that the Approach-Iron Skill Test is suitable for further examination with the players examined in this study.

Development and validation of the influenza intensity and impact questionnaire (FluiiQ™)

Objective
Clinical trials of new agents to reduce the severity and impact of influenza require accurate assessment of the effect of influenza infection. Because there are limited high-quality adult influenza Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) measures, the aim was to develop and validate a simple but comprehensive questionnaire for epidemiological research and clinical trials.

Methods
Construct and item generation was guided by the literature, concept mapping, focus groups, and interviews with individuals with laboratory-confirmed influenza and expert physicians. Items were administered to 311 people with influenza-like illness (ILI) across 25 US sites. Analyses included classic psychometrics, structural equation modeling (SEM), and Rasch analyses.

Results
Concept mapping generated 149 concepts covering the influenza experience and clustered into symptoms and impact on daily activities, emotions, and others. Items were drafted using simplicity and brevity criteria. Eleven symptoms from the literature underwent review by physicians and patients, and two were removed and one added. The symptoms domain factored into systemic and respiratory symptoms, whereas the impact domains were unidimensional. All domains displayed good internal consistency (Cronbach α ≥ 0.8) except the three-item respiratory domain (α = 0.48). A five-factor SEM indicated excellent fit where systemic, respiratory, and daily activities domains differentiated patients with ILI or confirmed influenza. All scales were responsive over time.

Conclusions
Patient and clinician consultations resulted in an influenza PRO measure with high validity and good overall evidence of reliability and responsiveness. The Influenza Intensity and Impact Questionnaire (FluiiQ™) will improve the evaluation of existing and future agents designed to prevent or control influenza infection by increasing the breadth and depth of measurement in this field.

Reintegration: The contribution of offence, offender and respondent factors

Community attitudes toward offender reintegration, in particular sex offenders, were investigated. Findings revealed the public are more supportive of reintegrative policies than they are willing to be involved in the reintegration process. Predictors of reintegrative attitudes were also investigated with a belief in redeemability found to be the strongest predictor.

Promising pre-clinical validation of targeted radionuclide therapy using a [131I] labelled iodoquinoxaline derivative for an effective melanoma treatment

Targeted internal radionuclide therapy (TRT) would be an effective alternative to current therapies for dissemi- nated melanoma treatment. At our institution, a class of iodobenzamides has been developed as potent melanoma- seeking agents. This review described the preclinical vali- dations of a quinoxaline derivative molecule (ICF01012) as tracer for TRT application. It was selected for its high, specific and long-lasting uptake in tumour with rapid clear- ance from non-target organs providing suitable dosimetry parameters for TRT. Extended in vivo study of metabolic profiles confirmed durable tumoural concentration of the unchanged molecule form. Moreover melanin specificity of ICF01012 was determined by binding assay with syn- thetic melanin and in vivo by SIMS imaging. Then, we showed in vivo that [131I] ICF01012 treatment drastically inhibited growth of B16F0, B16Bl6 and M4Beu tumours whereas [131I] NaI or unlabelled ICF01012 treatment was without significant effect. Histological analysis showed that residual tumour cells exhibit a significant loss of aggres- siveness after treatment. This anti-tumoural effect was associated with a lengthening of the treated-mice survival time and an inhibition of lung dissemination for B16Bl6 model. Results presented here support the concept of TRT using a [131I] labelled iodoquinoxaline derivative for an effective melanoma treatment.

Generative experimentation and social simulation : exploring gaming for model vVerification and validation

The agent-based modelling paradigm has been actively applied to address social normative issues such as values, cognition, morality and behaviours. The abstraction of human and human-like social processes and mechanisms result in misalignment of computational model with existing verification and validation techniques and expose significant challenges. We argue that human sources represent a sound approach for verification and validation of agent-based social simulation models. We propose a novel conceptual gaming framework that extracts required information from relevant sources as part of game play