ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL) is an endemic neglected tropical disease (NTD), its conventional treatment is toxic, slow, and invasive. Rapid diagnosis is crucial for the clinical management of suspected patients, so the development and use of low-cost, miniaturised and portable devices could be the key. OBJECTIVES This work aimed to develop a simple paper-based electrochemical platform for the serological detection of ATL. METHODS Platform was fabricated in Whatman N°1 paper, contains a hydrophobic zone generated by wax printing, two pencil graphite electrodes, and uses specific crude extracts (CA) antigens for ATL immuno-determination. The platform performance was analysed by measuring the relative impedance change for different antigen-antibody combinations. Then, 10 serum human samples previously diagnosed by the gold standard (five positive ATL cases and five non-ATL cases) were evaluated. FINDINGS The platform presented a linear response for the charge transfer resistance (ΔRct) and the interface reactance (ΔXc). Also, optimal working conditions were established (1/60 serum dilution and 180 µg/mL CA concentration). Then, the platform permits to distinguish between ATL and non-ATL (p < 0.05) human serum samples. MAIN CONCLUSIONS Our platform could allow the diagnosis, management, and monitoring of leishmaniasis while being an extremely simple and environmentally friendly technology.
ABSTRACT
El objetivo de este trabajo fue construir y presentar evidencia preliminar sobre la validez y confiabilidad de una escala para medir la disposición al conocimiento y al cambio emocional (EACCE), en estudiantes universitarios. A partir de una muestra de 91 participantes, se validó una escala de 33 ítems con formato Likert, con una consistencia interna evidenciada a partir de un coeficiente alfa de Cronbach de 0,899 y 3 factores que explican un 41 por ciento de la varianza total. Adicionalmente, el instrumento mostró que las mujeres obtienen una mejor disposición al conocimiento y al cambio emocional que los hombres, y que los estudiantes de psicología tienen mejor disposición que los estudiantes de ingeniería. Los resultados muestran que el instrumento propuesto tiene características psicométricas suficientes como para continuar con el estudio de su validación.
The aim of this study was to construct and present preliminary evidence on the validity and reliability of a scale to measure willingness for knowledge and emotional change (EACC) in university students. From a sample of 91 participants, validated a scale of 33 items with Likert format, with an Cronbach's alpha of 0.899 and 3 factors that explaining 41 percent of the total variance. In addition, the method showed that women express a greater openness towards learning and emotional change than men while psychology students showed more willingness than engineering students. The results show that the proposed instrument has sufficient psychometric properties to continue the study of validation.