Use of eye care services among diabetic patients in urban Indonesia.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the use of eye care and its predictors among diabetic patients in Indonesia.

METHODS:

Diabetic patients aged 18 years and older were recruited consecutively from a university clinic and 2 community clinics in Jakarta, Indonesia. Information obtained by questionnaire and record review included demographic and socioeconomic status, knowledge about diabetic retinopathy, and ocular and medical history. The main outcome was self-reported or record history of an eye examination by an eye care professional with dilation of the pupil within the preceding year.

RESULTS:

Among 196 participants (mean [SD] age, 58.4 [9.4] years; 61.5% female), 166 (84.7%) had not undergone ocular examination in the last year, including 100 of 119 patients (84.0%) at the university clinic. Fewer than half (82 of 166 [49.4%]) of all patients reported being told of the need for eye examinations by their physician. In regression analyses, factors associated with having an eye examination were higher diabetic retinopathy knowledge score (odds ratio = 1.52; P = .01) and years since being diagnosed as having diabetes (odds ratio = 1.71 for third vs first tertile; P = .02). Education, income, health insurance status, and diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy were not predictive of examination. The most common reasons given by subjects for not having had eye examinations concerned lack of knowledge about the need for care (97 of 160 subjects [60.6%]), while financial barriers were cited by only 22 of 160 subjects (13.8%).

CONCLUSION:

The low proportion of diabetic subjects receiving recommended annual eye examinations in Indonesia might be improved through patient and physician education.

Reply (Correspondence)

We appreciate the interest of Galvis and associates in our work.1 It has been suggested that undercorrection of children's refractive error might retard myopia progression. Previous studies,2,3 limited by size, have generally not been consistent with this. We performed a post hoc analysis on data from our large trial of spectacle provision in China and found no evidence of worsening visual acuity (VA) among children randomized to receive glasses compared to controls. In fact, the final uncorrected VA of Treatment Group children was significantly better than that of controls.

Effects of temperature and strain rate on the tensile behaviors of SIMP steel in static lead bismuth eutectic

In order to assess the susceptibility of candidate structural materials to liquid metal embrittlement, this work investigated the tensile behaviors of ferritic-martensitic steel in static lead bismuth eutectic (LBE). The tensile tests were carried out in static lead bismuth eutectic under different temperatures and strain rates. Pronounced liquid metal embrittlement phenomenon is observed between 200 °C and 450 °C. Total elongation is reduced greatly due to the liquid metal embrittlement in LBE environment. The range of ductility trough is larger under slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) test.

Health and Social Care Workers Perceptions of Novel Psychoactive substances in Northern Ireland

Background: The EU Early Warning System currently monitors more than 450 new psychoactive substances (EMCDDA, 2015), far outweighing the total number of illicit drugs under international control (UNODC, 2013). Due to the recent emergence of NPS and rapidly changing nature of the market, evidence about the way in which the emerging drugs are managed in health and social care settings is limited. Methods: The study adopted a mixed methods design, utilising a cross sectional survey and follow up telephone interviews to capture data from staff working in drug and alcohol related services in statutory and voluntary sectors, across the five Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust areas in Northern Ireland. 196 staff participated in the survey and 13 took part in follow up telephone interviews. Results: Study respondents reported that addressing NPS related issues with service users was a key aspect of their daily role and function. Levels of injecting behaviours were also viewed as relatively high by the study participants. Almost all workers used harm reduction as their primary approach when working with service users and the majority of respondents called for additional practical training in relation to addressing drug interactions and intervening with NPS related issues.

Base genética da hipercolesterolemia familiar

Tese de doutoramento, Bioquímica (Genética Molecular), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014

Students’ engagement in school and peer relations: A literature review

Este E-Book reúne um conjunto de investigações apresentadas no “I Congresso Internacional Envolvimento dos Alunos na Escola: Perspetivas da Psicologia e Educação” (ICIEAE), organizado no âmbito do “Projeto PTDC/CPE-CED/114362/2009 - Envolvimento dos Alunos na Escola: Diferenciação e Promoção” (EAE-DP), financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).

The effect of playground and nature-based interventions on physical activity and self-esteem in UK school children

School playtime provides opportunities for children to engage in physical activity (PA). Playground playtime interventions designed to increase PA have produced differing results. However, nature can also promote PA, through the provision of large open spaces for activity. The purpose of this study is to determine which playtime interventions are most effective at increasing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and if this varies by school location. Fifty-two children from an urban and rural school participated in a playground sports (PS) and nature-based orienteering intervention during playtime for one week. MVPA was assessed the day before and on the final day of the interventions using accelerometers. Intervention type (p < 0.05) and school location (p < 0.001) significantly influenced MVPA; with PS increasing MVPA more than nature-based orienteering. Urban children seemed to respond to the interventions more positively; however, differences in baseline MVPA might influence these changes. There was a positive correlation for fitness and MVPA during PS (r = 0.32; p < 0.05), but not nature-based orienteering (p > 0.05). The provision of PS influences PA the most; however, a variety of interventions are required to engage less fit children in PA.

Volatility and VaR Forecasting in the Madrid Stock Exchange

This paper provides an empirical study to assess the forecasting performance of a wide range of models for predicting volatility and VaR in the Madrid Stock Exchange. The models performance was measured by using different loss functions and criteria. The results show that FIAPARCH processes capture and forecast more accurately the dynamics of IBEX-35 returns volatility. It is also observed that assuming a heavy-tailed distribution does not improve models ability for predicting volatility. However, when the aim is forecasting VaR, we find evidence of that the Student’s t FIAPARCH outperforms the models it nests the lower the target quantile.

Solos da Rodovia Transamazônica.

1972

Effect of temperature and prey in the biology of Scymnus subvillosus (Goeze) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Dissertação de Mestrado, Biotecnologia em Controlo Biológico, 18 de Dezembro de 2013, Universidade dos Açores.

Study on the changes of soil chemical characteristics as result of prescribed fire

Every year, particularly during the summer period, the Portuguese forests are devastated by forest fire that destroys their ecosystems. So in order to prevent these forest fires, public and private authorities frequently use methods for the reduction of combustible mass as the prescribed fire and the mechanical vegetation pruning. All of these methods of prevention of forest fires alter the vegetation layer and/or soil [1-2]. This work aimed the study of the variation of some chemical characteristics of soil that suffered prescribed fire. The studied an area was located in the Serra of Cabreira (Figure 1) with 54.6 ha. Twenty sampling points were randomly selected and samples were collected with a shovel before, just after the prescribed fire, and 125 and 196 days after that event. The parameters that were studied were: pH, soil moisture, organic matter and iron, magnesium and potassium total concentration. All the analysis followed International Standard Methodologies. This work allowed to conclude that: a) after the prescribed fire; i) the pH remained practically equal to the the initial value; ii) occurred a slight increase of the average of the organic matter contents and iron total contents; b) at the end of the sampling period compared to the initial values; i) the pH didn´t change significantly; ii) the average of the contents of organic matter decreased; and iii) the average of the total contents of Fe, Mg and K increased.