Validation of the brazilian version of the apathy inventory

Background Apathy is a frequent neuropsychiatric condition in neurodegenerative disorders, depression, and often in mild cognitive impairment. The Apathy Inventory (AI) is a reliable instrument for improving the accuracy of the apathy diagnosis. The aim was to establish the validity of the Apathy Inventory for the Brazilian community. Methods We established the concurrent validity, internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and the sensitivity and specificity of AI for the Brazilian community in a cohort of 175 individuals with Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, depression, mild cognitive impairment, and healthy controls. The three dimensions of the AI (emotional blunting, lack of initiative, and lack of interest) were compared with the Apathy domain of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Clinician rating scale (NPI-C) in an independent scheme. Results The analyses demonstrated high correlation coefficients in AI's individual dimensions and in AI-total score (F = 0.965). Concerning the NPI-C/Apathy domain, intra-class correlation coefficients were also high (F = 0.977). Concurrent validity was high according to both raters on AI dimensions × NPI-C/Apathy domain and regarding total score (rater 1: rho = 0.956 vs. rater 2: rho = 0.970). The internal consistency of the AI was also high concerning the AI's individual dimensions and total score (rater 1: 0.945 vs. rater 2: 0.958). Conclusion We observed high internal consistency, high concurrent validity, and inter-rater reliability of the Apathy Inventory. In addition, we found that its sensitivity and specificity were high. We suggest that the Brazilian version of the Apathy Inventory would be an appropriate instrument to identify the apathy syndrome in Brazilian patients. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of Na and K from swine feed and its application in a digestibility assay: A green analytical procedure

The study is aimed to evaluate the efficiency of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) as a simple strategy focused on sample preparation for metal determination in biological samples. The extraction of sodium and potassium extraction was carried out from swine feed followed by determination of the concentration of these metals by flame atomic emission spectrometry (FAES). The experiment was performed to cover the study of the variables influencing the extraction process and its optimal conditions (sample mass, particle size, acid concentration, sonication time and ultrasound power); the determination of these analytical characteristics and method validation using certified reference material; and the analysis of pre-starter diets. The optimal conditions established conditions were as follows: mass: 100 mg, particle size:<60 μm, acid concentration: 0.10 mol L-1 HCl, sonication time: 50 s and ultrasound power: 102 W. The proposed method (UAE) was applied in digestibility assays of those nutrients present in different piglet pre-starter feeds and their results proved to be compatible with those obtained from mineralized samples (P < 0.05). The ultrasound extraction method was demonstrated to be an excellent alternative for handless sampling and operational costs and the method also has the advantage of does not generating toxic residues that may negatively affect human health and contaminate the environment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An HPLC-UV method for the quantification of zidovudine in rat plasma

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Análise químico-farmacêutica de cefazolina sódica em pó liofilizado para solução injetável

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Desenvolvimento de métodos analíticos para estudos de estabilidade para fluconazol cápsulas

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ocorrência de isoflavonas de soja no ambiente e correlação com atividades estrogênica : estudo de caso da região de Dourados (MS)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Validação de método não-invasivo para análise de hormônios ligados ao estresse em papagaio-verdadeiro(Amazona aestiva)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Validação de métodos analíticos para quantificação de enrofloxacino em comprimidos palatáveis

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A liquid-phase-blocking concanavalin A enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of antibodies against Newcastle disease virus in serum of free-ranging pigeons

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Validation of Relapse Risk Biomarkers for Routine Use in Patients With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objective. The myeloid-related proteins 8 and 14 (MRP-8/MRP-14) and neutrophil-derived S100A12 are biomarkers of inflammation. They can be used to determine the relapse risk in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) after stopping antiinflammatory treatment. In this study, we tested the performance of different enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) in order to validate systems available for routine use.Methods. MRP-8/MRP-14 and S100A12 serum concentrations of 188 JIA patients in remission were analyzed. Commercially available test systems were compared to experimental ELISAs established in house. The ability of the assays to identify JIA patients at risk for relapse was analyzed.Results. For MRP-8/MRP-14, the PhiCal Calprotectin and Buhlmann MRP8/14 Calprotectin ELISAs revealed hazard ratios of 2.3 and 2.1, respectively. For S100A12, the CircuLex S100A12/EN-RAGE ELISA revealed a hazard ratio of 3.1. The commercial assays allowed a JIA relapse prediction that was at least comparable to the experimental ELISAs.Conclusion. For the prediction of JIA relapse after stopping medication, the biomarkers MRP-8/MRP-14 and S100A12 can be determined by using assays that are available for routine use. The tested commercial MRP-8/MRP-14 and S100A12 ELISAs showed a performance comparable to well-established experimental ELISA protocols when assay-specific cutoffs for the indication of relapse prediction are thoroughly applied.

Development and Validation of A Stability-Indicating Mekc Method for Determination of Flucloxacillin Sodium in Capsules

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Validation of analytical methodology for quantification of cefazolin sodium pharmaceutical dosage form by high performance liquid chromatography to be applied for quality control in pharmaceutical industry

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Multivariate Development and Validation of a Stability-Indicating HPLC Method for the Determination of Glimepiride in Tablets

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Microbiological Assay for the Determination of Colistin Sulphate

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Inverse Modeling of GPS Multipath for Snow Depth Estimation-Part II: Application and Validation

GPS multipath reflectometry (GPS-MR) is a technique that uses geodetic quality GPS receivers to estimate snow depth. The accuracy and precision of GPS-MR retrievals are evaluated at three different sites: grasslands, alpine, and forested. The assessment yields a correlation of 0.98 and an rms error of 6-8 cm for observed snow depths of up to 2.5 m. GPS-MR underestimates in situ snow depth by 10%-15% at these three sites, although the validation methods do not measure the same footprint as GPS-MR.