Dimensional structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory with Spanish College students.

The Brief Symptom Inventory is designed to assess symptoms of psychological disorders in adolescents and adults. The dimensional structure of the inventory, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, was examined with a cross-sectional design in a Spanish sample of college students (N = 1,033, aged between 18 and 30 years old). Two hypotheses were tested: the original distribution of the items in nine factors, and the unidimensionality of the inventory. According to the results, a nine-factor structure seemed to be confirmed, although the strong intercorrelations found among the subscales indicated that these were measuring closely related constructs. The importance of cultural influences when assessing psychological symptoms and the need to develop national and sex norms for instruments that assess psychopathology, are also discussed.

Air pollution and emergency admissions for cardiorespiratory diseases in Lisbon (Portugal)

Daily records of hospital admissions due to cardiorespiratory diseases and levels of PM10, SO2, CO, NO, NO2, and O3 were collected from 1999-2004 to evaluate the relationship between air pollution and morbidity in Lisbon. Generalised additive Poisson regression models were adopted, controlling for temperature, humidity, and both short and long-term seasonality. Significant positive associations, lagged by 1 or 2 days, were found between markers of traffic-related pollution (CO and NO2) and cardiocirculatory diseases in all age groups. Increased childhood emergency admissions for respiratory illness were significantly correlated with the 1-day lagged SO2 levels coming from industrial activities.

Psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory applied to college students: factor analysis and relation to the Beck Depression Inventory

The psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the trait form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T) and its relation to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were evaluated in a large Brazilian college student sample containing 845 women and 235 men. STAI-T scores tended to be higher for women, singles, those who work, and subjects under 30 years. Factor analysis of the STAI-T for total sample and by gender yielded two factors: the first representing a mood dimension and the second being related to worrying or cognitive aspects of anxiety. In order to study the relation between anxiety and depression measures, factor analysis of the combination of the 21 BDI items and the 20 STAI-T items was also carried out. The analysis resulted in two factors that were analyzed according to the tripartite model of anxiety and depression. Most of the BDI items (measuring positive affectivity and nonspecific symptoms of depression) were loaded on the first factor and four STAI-T items that measure positive affectivity. The remaining STAI-T items, all of them measuring negative affect, remained in the second factor. Thus, factor 1 represents a depression dimension and factor 2 measures a mood-worrying dimension. The findings of this study suggest that, although widely used as an anxiety scale, the STAI-T in fact measures mainly a general negative affect.

Effect of air pollution on pediatric respiratory emergency room visits and hospital admissions

In order to assess the effect of air pollution on pediatric respiratory morbidity, we carried out a time series study using daily levels of PM10, SO2, NO2, ozone, and CO and daily numbers of pediatric respiratory emergency room visits and hospital admissions at the Children's Institute of the University of São Paulo Medical School, from August 1996 to August 1997. In this period there were 43,635 hospital emergency room visits, 4534 of which were due to lower respiratory tract disease. The total number of hospital admissions was 6785, 1021 of which were due to lower respiratory tract infectious and/or obstructive diseases. The three health end-points under investigation were the daily number of emergency room visits due to lower respiratory tract diseases, hospital admissions due to pneumonia, and hospital admissions due to asthma or bronchiolitis. Generalized additive Poisson regression models were fitted, controlling for smooth functions of time, temperature and humidity, and an indicator of weekdays. NO2 was positively associated with all outcomes. Interquartile range increases (65.04 µg/m³) in NO2 moving averages were associated with an 18.4% increase (95% confidence interval, 95% CI = 12.5-24.3) in emergency room visits due to lower respiratory tract diseases (4-day moving average), a 17.6% increase (95% CI = 3.3-32.7) in hospital admissions due to pneumonia or bronchopneumonia (3-day moving average), and a 31.4% increase (95% CI = 7.2-55.7) in hospital admissions due to asthma or bronchiolitis (2-day moving average). The study showed that air pollution considerably affects children's respiratory morbidity, deserving attention from the health authorities.

Dimensionality of the premenstrual syndrome: confirmatory factor analysis of premenstrual dysphoric symptoms among college students

Premenstrual syndrome and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) seem to form a severity continuum with no clear-cut boundary. However, since the American Psychiatric Association proposed the research criteria for PMDD in 1994, there has been no agreement about the symptomatic constellation that constitutes this syndrome. The objective of the present study was to establish the core latent structure of PMDD symptoms in a non-clinical sample. Data concerning PMDD symptoms were obtained from 632 regularly menstruating college students (mean age 24.4 years, SD 5.9, range 17 to 49). For the first random half (N = 316), we performed principal component analysis (PCA) and for the remaining half (N = 316), we tested three theory-derived competing models of PMDD by confirmatory factor analysis. PCA allowed us to extract two correlated factors, i.e., dysphoric-somatic and behavioral-impairment factors. The two-dimensional latent model derived from PCA showed the best overall fit among three models tested by confirmatory factor analysis (c²53 = 64.39, P = 0.13; goodness-of-fit indices = 0.96; adjusted goodness-of-fit indices = 0.95; root mean square residual = 0.05; root mean square error of approximation = 0.03; 90%CI = 0.00 to 0.05; Akaike's information criterion = -41.61). The items "out of control" and "physical symptoms" loaded conspicuously on the first factor and "interpersonal impairment" loaded higher on the second factor. The construct validity for PMDD was accounted for by two highly correlated dimensions. These results support the argument for focusing on the core psychopathological dimension of PMDD in future studies.

Air pollution and cardiovascular hospital admissions in a medium-sized city in São Paulo State, Brazil

The objective of the present study was to estimate the contribution of environmental pollutants to hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease. A time series ecological study was conducted on subjects aged over 60 years and living in São José dos Campos, Brazil, with a population near 700,000 inhabitants. Hospital admission data of public health patients (SUS) were obtained from DATASUS for the period between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2006, according to the ICD-10 diagnoses I20 to I22 and I24. Particulate matter with less than 10 µm in aerodynamic diameter, sulfur dioxide and ozone were the pollutants examined, and the control variables were mean temperature and relative humidity. Data on pollutants were obtained from the São Paulo State Sanitary Agency. The generalized linear model Poisson regression with lags of up to 5 days was used. There were 1303 hospital admissions during the period. Exposure to particulate matter was significantly associated with hospitalization for cardiovascular disease 3 days after exposure (RR = 1.006; 95%CI = 1.000 to 1.010) and an increase of 16 µg/m³ was associated with a 10% increase in risk of hospitalization; other pollutants were not associated with hospitalization. Thus, it was possible to identify the role of exposure to particulate matter as an environmental pollutant in hospitalization for cardiovascular disease in a medium-sized city inSoutheastern Brazil.

A time series analysis of meteorological factors and hospital outpatient admissions for cardiovascular disease in the Northern district of Guizhou Province, China

Findings on the effects of weather on health, especially the effects of ambient temperature on overall morbidity, remain inconsistent. We conducted a time series study to examine the acute effects of meteorological factors (mainly air temperature) on daily hospital outpatient admissions for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Zunyi City, China, from January 1, 2007 to November 30, 2009. We used the generalized additive model with penalized splines to analyze hospital outpatient admissions, climatic parameters, and covariate data. Results show that, in Zunyi, air temperature was associated with hospital outpatient admission for CVD. When air temperature was less than 10°C, hospital outpatient admissions for CVD increased 1.07-fold with each increase of 1°C, and when air temperature was more than 10°C, an increase in air temperature by 1°C was associated with a 0.99-fold decrease in hospital outpatient admissions for CVD over the previous year. Our analyses provided statistically significant evidence that in China meteorological factors have adverse effects on the health of the general population. Further research with consistent methodology is needed to clarify the magnitude of these effects and to show which populations and individuals are vulnerable.

Orphée ballet meslé de recits pour servir d'intermedes à la tragedie de Haralde qui sera representée au College de la Compagnie de Jesus, pour la distribution des prix, fondez par messieurs les nobles bourgeois de la ville de Rennes. le jeudi 27. aoust 1705. à midy

[Programme. 1705-08-27. Rennes, Collège de Rennes de la Compagnie de Jésus]

Alphonse ou le Prince inconnu , tragicomedie latine, sera representée par les rhetoriciens du College de Louis le Grand le mardy onziéme fevrier 1738, à trois heures précises après midy

[Programme. 1738-02-11. Paris, Collège de Louis le Grand de la Compagnie de Jésus]