Validation of the aberrant salience inventory in a general and clinical Spanish population.

BACKGROUND: The concept of aberrant salience is related to the onset of psychosis. Its study is important for early identification and possible intervention in processes activating later positive symptoms. OBJECTIVES: This study validated the Spanish Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) for adult and clinical populations. METHODS: The sample consisted of 6178 participants, of whom 4523 were adolescents, 1292 were general population adults and 363 were patients with a psychopathology. RESULTS: The evidence provided validates the instrument's structure. Invariance of measurement suggests that both men and women, patients and nonclinical population (adults and adolescents) interpreted the items on the ASI similarly. The distribution of scores by age also suggests stabilization of the trend at about 19 years of age, showing a developmental change in motivational response. The hypothesis that patients, and in particular, those diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and bipolar disorders would have the highest average scores in aberrant salience was met. CONCLUSIONS: This is a valuable instrument for evaluating a complex process related to abnormal motivation in the development of schizophrenia.

The structure of schizotypal personality traits: a cross-national study.

BACKGROUND: Schizotypal traits are considered a phenotypic-indicator of schizotypy, a latent personality organization reflecting a putative liability for psychosis. To date, no previous study has examined the comparability of factorial structures across samples originating from different countries and cultures. The main goal was to evaluate the factorial structure and reliability of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) scores by amalgamating data from studies conducted in 12 countries and across 21 sites. METHOD: The overall sample consisted of 27 001 participants (37.5% males, n = 4251 drawn from the general population). The mean age was 22.12 years (s.d. = 6.28, range 16-55 years). The SPQ was used. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Multilevel CFA (ML-CFA) were used to evaluate the factor structure underlying the SPQ scores. RESULTS: At the SPQ item level, the nine factor and second-order factor models showed adequate goodness-of-fit. At the SPQ subscale level, three- and four-factor models displayed better goodness-of-fit indices than other CFA models. ML-CFA showed that the intraclass correlation coefficients values were lower than 0.106. The three-factor model showed adequate goodness of fit indices in multilevel analysis. The ordinal α coefficients were high, ranging from 0.73 to 0.94 across individual samples, and from 0.84 to 0.91 for the combined sample. CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with the conceptual notion that schizotypal personality is a multifaceted construct and support the validity and utility of SPQ in cross-cultural research. We discuss theoretical and clinical implications of our results for diagnostic systems, psychosis models and cross-national mental health strategies.

Schizotypal traits in adolescents with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome: validity, reliability and risk for psychosis.

BACKGROUND: Very little is known about the phenotypic expression of schizotypal traits in individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS). The main purpose was to analyse the factorial structure, internal consistency and temporal stability of schizotypal traits, as well as their associations with prodromal states and clinical psychotic symptoms in adolescents with 22q11DS. METHOD: The sample comprised 61 adolescents with 22q11DS (mean = 14.95 years, s.d. = 2.13; n = 24 at follow-up). An age-matched comparison group (n = 61, mean = 15.44 years, s.d. = 1.76) was also included. The Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ), the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale were used. RESULTS: Adolescents with 22q11DS scored higher than the control group on the interpersonal dimension and suspiciousness subscale of the SPQ. The analysis of the internal structure of the SPQ in the sample of 22q11DS participants yielded a three-component solution (cognitive-perceptual, interpersonal, and disorganized). In addition, internal consistency coefficients ranged between 0.63 and 0.91. The schizotypal traits were highly stable across a 3.6-year interval, and ranged from 0.50 to 0.63. Self-reported schizotypal traits correlated with interview-based ratings of prodromal states and psychotic symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the SPQ may be a valid tool to assess schizotypal traits in adolescents with 22q11DS. The identification of a reliable self-report instrument for use in individuals with learning disabilities and at genetic high risk for psychosis could be useful in clinical and research settings. Assessment of schizotypal traits may be used as a distal risk marker and in a close-in strategy in high-risk genetic samples to enhance the possibility of early detection of psychosis.

The measurement invariance of schizotypy in Europe.

The short version of the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (sO-LIFE) is a widely used measure assessing schizotypy. There is limited information, however, on how sO-LIFE scores compare across different countries. The main goal of the present study is to test the measurement invariance of the sO-LIFE scores in a large sample of non-clinical adolescents and young adults from four European countries (UK, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain). The scores were obtained from validated versions of the sO-LIFE in their respective languages. The sample comprised 4190 participants (M=20.87 years; SD=3.71 years). The study of the internal structure, using confirmatory factor analysis, revealed that both three (i.e., positive schizotypy, cognitive disorganisation, and introvertive anhedonia) and four-factor (i.e., positive schizotypy, cognitive disorganisation, introvertive anhedonia, and impulsive nonconformity) models fitted the data moderately well. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed that the three-factor model had partial strong measurement invariance across countries. Eight items were non-invariant across samples. Significant statistical differences in the mean scores of the s-OLIFE were found by country. Reliability scores, estimated with Ordinal alpha ranged from 0.75 to 0.87. Using the Item Response Theory framework, the sO-LIFE provides more accuracy information at the medium and high end of the latent trait. The current results show further evidence in support of the psychometric proprieties of the sO-LIFE, provide new information about the cross-cultural equivalence of schizotypy and support the use of this measure to screen for psychotic-like features and liability to psychosis in general population samples from different European countries.

Application of the ambulatory care groups in the primary care of a European national health care system: does it work?

BACKGROUND: Ambulatory Care Groups (ACGs), a US case-mix system that uses the patient as the unit of analysis, is particularly appropriate for health care systems in which physicians serve a defined list of patients. OBJECTIVE: To determine the extent to which the categorization of patients according to ACGs would account for the utilization of primary care services in a national health care system within the European Union. METHODS: Of all subjects continuously assigned to 9 physicians from public primary health care centers in Bizkaia, Basque Country (Spain) over a 12-month period, those visited at least once (n = 9,093) were included. According to the subject's age, sex, and ICD-9-CM diagnoses assigned during a year of patient-provider encounters, patients were classified by means of the ACGs system. RESULTS: Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that age and sex did not explain more than 7.1% of the variance in annual visits made by adults and 25.7% by children to primary care physicians. However, the r2 adjusted to the ACGs model was 50% and 48%, respectively, and even higher, that is 58% and 64% for another component of the system, the Ambulatory Diagnostic Groups (ADGs). CONCLUSIONS: Those results support the inadequacy of using the patient's age and sex alone to estimate physicians' workload in the primary health setting and the need to consider morbidity categories. The ACGs case-mix system is a useful tool for incorporating patients' morbidity in the explanation of the use of primary health care services in a European national health system.

Understanding patient-initiated frequent attendance in primary care: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Frequent attendance, which accounts for a high proportion of the general practitioner's (GP's) workload, is still poorly understood. AIM: To assess the association and impact of exposure to chronic physical illness, mental disorders, life stress, and sociodemographic factors on the frequent attendance of primary health care medical services. METHOD: Nine general practices in Bizkaia, Spain, participated in a case-control study. Cases were patients who exceeded the 90th percentile in the distribution of the number of visits that they made on their own initiative from January 1993 to March 1994. Controls were those for whom a single, patient-initiated consultation was registered. A total of 102 cases and 100 controls were selected by stratified sampling proportional to the size of each practice. We estimated odds ratios and population attributable fractions for frequent attendance in relation to being exposed to the study variables, adjusted by demographic characteristics by means of logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Medium-high life stress (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.7-12.8), chronic physical illness (AOR = 3.1; 95% CI = 1.4-6.9), mental disorder (AOR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.3-5.1), and age were associated with patient-initiated frequent attendance. The adjusted population attributable fraction for chronic physical illness was 41%, 30.9% for mental disorder, and 15.2% for life stress. CONCLUSION: There is evidence that patient-initiated frequent attendance is related to genuine physical and psychosocial needs; therefore, recognition requires a bio-psychosocial approach on the part of GP.

Resultados del uso de la pinza soviética UKL-60 y UKL-25 en resecciones pulmonares en los Hospitales Provincial de Holguín, Antituberculoso "Amalia Simoni", de Camagüey y Antituberculoso "Ambrosio Grillo", de Santiago de Cuba

Exponemos el resultado de la pinza soviética UKL-60 y UKL-25 en resecciones pulmonares lo que constituye una innovación porque: 1.-Disminuye el tiempo quirúrgico liberando al cirujano de la disección del hilio. 2.-Elimina el riesgo de complicaciones hemorrágicas. 3.-Elimina la posibilidad del abandono del acto quirúrgico como inoperable por adherencias cicatriciales entre vasos y bronquios. 4.-Elimina el shock producido en la disección del hilio. 5.-Produce una sutura más firme y deja al bronquio en mejores condiciones de cicatrización. 6.-Ha disminuído el porciento de fístulas y mortalidad (AU)