ABSTRACT
This paper describes the validation process of the Italian version of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain Scale (ITRAPS), describing its translation and adaptation to Italian culture. The cultural adaptation and validation were based on data from a sample of people affected by rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The process required a forward and backward translation of the original language, reviewed by an expert panel. The adapted version of the RAPS was then tested on a community and clinical sample, in order to test its psychometric properties. The IT-RAPS was submitted to 122 people affected by RA. The data was analyzed using Cronbach's coefficient alpha and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients. The IT-RAPS showed an internal consistency reliability coefficient of 0.96. This is the first study reporting the validation and cross-cultural adaptation of the RAPS in Italian. The study's findings provided support for the IT-RAPS as a reliable and valid measurement of multidimensional pain in RA patients.
Subject(s)
Arthritis, Rheumatoid , Pain Measurement , Adult , Aged , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Culture , Female , Humans , Italy , Language , Male , Middle Aged , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , TranslationsABSTRACT
Genomes can be described as a collection of clusters, the gene families, whose members are called paralogs. Paralogs are genes that most probably share duplication history and show a significant similarity in their sequences, even if they perform slightly different biological function. Among the different mechanisms that have led to an increase of the genomic information during biological evolution, gene duplication is probably the most important. To better understand duplication events, the first step is to investigate the history of the gene families in order to detect which duplication events have taken place, and in which relative (partial) order. Here we present a method, called PaTre, that, given a gene family, attempts to construct the paralogy tree of the family. We will work under the hypothesis that every family member derives from a duplication process of another member. By the term paralogy tree, we mean a directed tree in which the root represents the most ancient paralog of the family and each oriented arc (a, b) represents the existence of a duplication event from the template gene a to its copy b. Notice that gene a survives the event and can serve as a template of more than one duplication event; in fact, there can be more than one arc leaving a. PaTre uses new algorithmic techniques motivated by the specific application at hand. The reliability of the inferential process has been tested by means of a simulator that implements different hypotheses on the duplication-with-modification paradigm and on three examples of different biological gene families, belonging either to lower and higher organisms.
Subject(s)
Decision Trees , Genome , Models, Genetic , Arabidopsis/genetics , Chromosome Mapping/methods , Computational Biology/methods , Computer Simulation , Histones/genetics , Mycoplasma pneumoniae/genetics , Phylogeny , Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics , Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins/genetics , Templates, GeneticABSTRACT
We describe the natural course and the management of a very rare combined intrauterine and ovarian pregnancy after IVF/ET. The rarity of heterotopic and ovarian pregnancies, with the etiologic, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this rare case are reported.
Subject(s)
Embryo Transfer/adverse effects , Fertilization in Vitro/adverse effects , Pregnancy, Ectopic/etiology , Adult , Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human/blood , Female , Humans , Ovary/surgery , Pregnancy , Pregnancy, Ectopic/surgeryABSTRACT
We report a rare case of ovarian pregnancy occurring in a 34-year old woman after natural conception. The natural history, management, and outcome of this rare extrauterine pregnancy are described.