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Background: Increasingly pregnancy-related anxiety is acknowledged as a distinct anxiety type, characterised by specific fears/worries. The Pregnancy-related Anxiety Scale (PrAS) screens for this distinct anxiety and refinements to the scale have prompted further validity examination. This study aims to: replicate findings that distinguished pregnancy-related anxiety from general anxiety/depression using the PrAS; confirm the PrAS's factor structure, and examine the validity of the PrAS subscales: Acceptance of Pregnancy, Avoidance and Worry About Self.Methods: Pregnant women (N = 608) were recruited online and completed the PrAS, Pregnancy Acceptance Questionnaire, Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Cambridge Worry Scale, Parenting Sense of Competence Scale, State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Edinburgh Depression Scale.Results: Multiple regression analysis confirmed general anxiety/depression contributed little to the PrAS's variance, supporting the scale's validity and distinctiveness of pregnancy-related anxiety. Structural equation modelling confirmed the PrAS's factor structure, and the three PrAS subscales generally correlated more highly with convergent measures than the discriminant measures.Limitations: Limitations included the cross-sectional design of the study and the use of some convergent/discriminant measures that lacked validity evidence for prenatal use.Conclusions: This study provides evidence of the distinctiveness of pregnancy-related anxiety from state/trait anxiety and depression and also adds to the psychometric properties of the PrAS. The PrAS is a useful screening scale that can be used for antenatal screening potentially reducing the risk of adverse outcomes associated with pregnancy-related anxiety. The PrAS is also a useful research tool providing a more comprehensive assessment of pregnancy-related anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 is a huge global challenge, on which numerous people and resources all over the world have been focused over the last three years to slow down its spread. A screening scale for the early detection of COVID-19 cases is highly important to diagnose patients before they transmit the disease to others. Using the data collected from Sept. 2020 to Nov. 2020 from 12,123 employees of a company including a weekly self-report questionnaire and information on their demographics, chronic disease, work, and commute, we developed a short, optimized screening scale for the early detection of COVID-19. To develop the scale, we have modified an interpretable machine learning (ML) method which uses integer programming​ techniques, and consequently reduced its computational cost significantly and made it robust to erroneous data and protective of sensitive information without loss of performance. The developed scale is highly interpretable and easily scored to the extent that it does not require a computer or even a calculator. However, we showed that the operating characteristics of the screening scale on the test dataset are excellent (area under the ROC curve = 82% and area under the Precision–Recall curve = 27%) and comparable to other well-known ML models such as penalized logistic regression and random forest when predicting positive PCR test results within 7 days from the date the self-report questionnaire was filled out. From Dec. 2020 to Nov. 2021, the developed scale has been used in the company weekly to monitor and assess its employees. Although different variants of COVID-19 have emerged since the development of the scale, the results show that the scale has performed well in the early detection of COVID-19, which helped the company take appropriate actions to slow down the spread of COVID-19 among its employees successfully. We expect our findings in this paper to help researchers have a better understanding of COVID-19 and control the spread of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The Early Psychotic Symptoms screening scale (EPSy) is a new scale to assess the prodromes of psychotic symptoms in children aged 4 to 13 years. • Symptoms of mistrust are to be an important and very early indicator of psychosis. • Symptoms of disorganization gain a similar status as mistrust as children grow older. • Symptoms of mistrust and disorganization should indicators for follow-up of children who could be qualified as ultra-high risk for psychosis. This study aimed to develop a new scale, the Early Psychotic Symptoms screening scale (EPSy), to assess the prodromes of psychotic symptoms in children aged 4 to 13 years. Two versions were proposed: one to assess the child's current behavior and one to assess the child's behavior when he/she was 2 years old. The second aim of this study was to investigate the presence of these symptoms at the age of 2 years and their evolution up to the child's current age. The analysis of EPSy identified three main factors, namely mistrust/paranoia, perceptual aberrations/hallucinations and disorganized symptoms. It has good psychometric properties. Data also shows that, independently of the participant's age, the total score on the 2-years-old version predicts the total score on the current-age version, and this is also the case for each individual factor. Finally, it is of clinical interest since it makes it possible to describe symptomatology both at age 2 and at the child's present age depending on the group to which the children are assigned (control children, psychotic children, non-psychotic children). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to develop a short screening instrument (6 items) to assess the problematic internet use among adolescents. The Short Problematic Internet Use Test (SPIUT) has been developed based on a review of existing literature and tested using CIUS (Compulsive Internet Use Scale) as a concurrent scale. Data were collected within ESPAD-Italia (European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs), a cross-sectional school survey conducted to monitor risk-behaviors in a representative sample of Italian students (15–19 years). The SPIUT has been validated in two steps: (a) construct validity, optimal scaling analysis, and assessment of differences in mean scores related to hours spent online (Study 1, internet users = 10,153); (b) reliability test of CIUS and concurrent validity of SPIUT (Study 2, internet users = 21,205). The SPIUT showed good psychometric properties. After Multiple Correspondence Analysis optimal weights for each item were found, improving internal consistency and reliability. Significant increase in mean score with increasing daily hours spent online was found and high correlation with the CIUS. A utilization of the SPIUT in school surveys could help us to understand the risk-profile of problematic internet users among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study aimed to compile a screening scale for high-functioning pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), using the Tokyo Child Development Schedule (TCDS) and Tokyo Autistic Behavior Scale (TABS). The 72 participants (IQ≥70) were divided into 3 groups after IQ matching depending on their diagnoses: i.e., PDD, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), or other than PDD or AD/HD. Among the items of TCDS and TABS, correlation with PDD diagnosis was confirmed in 3 items. A screening scale consisting of these 3 items (TCDS/TABS-3) had a sensitivity of 0.75 and a specificity of 0.84 at 2 cutoff points. We consider that the TCDS/TABS-3 encompasses and adequately reflects the autism diagnostic criteria and would be a useful auxiliary scale for PDD diagnosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) is frequently used to assess cognition in studies of late-life depression (LLD). However, its sensitivity and specificity in this population are largely unknown. We undertook an analysis of subjects with LLD and hypothesized that: (1) at the traditional cutoff of 24, the MMSE would have low sensitivity in the detection of cognitive impairment; (2) increasing the cutoff score would improve this sensitivity at the expense of a minimal reduction in specificity. Methods: We analyzed the MMSE scores of 447 non-demented subjects with LLD using the Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) as the gold standard for cognitive function. Results: Using the DRS raw total cutoff of 132 as the “gold standard”, the MMSE at a cutoff of 24 has a sensitivity of 8.0% and a specificity of 99.4% in detecting “cognitively impaired” depressed elders. A receiver operating characteristic curve demonstrates that with an MMSE cutoff of 27 instead of 24, its sensitivity more than quadruples and increases to 37.5% while its specificity decreases minimally from 99.4% to 91.3%. Conclusions: In our sample almost all of those classified as cognitively impaired by the DRS are mislabelled as “cognitively intact” by the MMSE. By using a higher cutoff score, the sensitivity can be increased with a minimal reduction in specificity. Our findings have significant implications for those who study or treat persons with LLD or other neuropsychiatric disorders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of the study was to construct a short screening scale for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We used data from our previous study on PTSD among flood victims in 1998 and 1999 in Hunan, China, which was a representative population sample of 27,267 subjects from 16 to 94 years old. Multistage sampling was used to select the subjects from the flood areas and PTSD was ascertained with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: 4th Edition (DSM-IV). We randomly assigned 80% (n =21,762) of study subjects to construct the screening scale (construct model) and the remaining 20% (n =5505) to test the model. Logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic analysis were used to select a subset of items (symptoms) from the full scale that would effectively predict PTSD. A seven-symptom screening scale for PTSD was selected. A score of 3 or more on this scale was used to define positive cases of PTSD, with a sensitivity of 87.9%, specificity of 97.9%, positive predictive value of 81.3%, and negative predictive value of 98.7%. The short screening scale developed in this study is highly valid, reliable, and predictable. It is an efficient tool to screen PTSD in epidemiological and clinical studies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Stroke is a principal cause of mortality and disability in Thailand and globally. Early and comprehensive risk identification would be critical to identify people at high risk for stroke. Therefore, a comprehensive stroke risk screening tool is needed to assess all possible stroke risks and potential at-risk populations. In the future, such an instrument would benefit early detection and stroke prevention planning.Objective: The objective of the Stroke Risk Screening Scales (SRSS) development is to identify the domains and generating appropriate questions for the new SRSS.Methods: Using deductive methods suggested by Godfred Boateng and colleagues (2018), the domains were classified based on the existing literature. The questions were generated based on a comprehensive analysis of existing stroke risk screening scales and their representativeness of each domain. Five existing stroke risk screening tools including 1) the Stroke RiskometerTM, 2) the Framingham 10-Year Risk Score, 3) the Stroke Risk Screening Tool (The Department of Disease Control of Thailand), 4) the My Risk Stroke Calculator, and 5) QStroke were included and identified.Results: Overall, 18 domains were included, and each domain was represented with at least one or more questions. Eight domains (44.44 %) are consisting of a dichotomous question alone, another eight domains (44.44 %) consist of multiple questions, which combined between dichotomous, categorical, or fill-in-the-blank questions, one domain (5.55 %) consists of a fill-in-the-blank question, and another one (5.55 %) include only one categorical question.Conclusions: Developing a comprehensive tool to be used for stroke risk screening by extending the knowledge of stroke, stroke risk factors, and the best practice for tool development is necessitated for further practical stroke prevention planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]