Neuro-QOL: brief measures of health-related quality of life for clinical research in neurology.

OBJECTIVE: To address the need for brief, reliable, valid, and standardized quality of life (QOL) assessment applicable across neurologic conditions. METHODS: Drawing from larger calibrated item banks, we developed short measures (8-9 items each) of 13 different QOL domains across physical, mental, and social health and evaluated their validity and reliability. Three samples were utilized during short form development: general population (Internet-based, n = 2,113); clinical panel (Internet-based, n = 553); and clinical outpatient (clinic-based, n = 581). All short forms are expressed as T scores with a mean of 50 and SD of 10. RESULTS: Internal consistency (Cronbach α) of the 13 short forms ranged from 0.85 to 0.97. Correlations between short form and full-length item bank scores ranged from 0.88 to 0.99 (0.82-0.96 after removing common items from banks). Online respondents were asked whether they had any of 19 different chronic health conditions, and whether or not those reported conditions interfered with ability to function normally. All short forms, across physical, mental, and social health, were able to separate people who reported no health condition from those who reported 1-2 or 3 or more. In addition, scores on all 13 domains were worse for people who acknowledged being limited by the health conditions they reported, compared to those who reported conditions but were not limited by them. CONCLUSION: These 13 brief measures of self-reported QOL are reliable and show preliminary evidence of concurrent validity inasmuch as they differentiate people based upon number of reported health conditions and whether those reported conditions impede normal function.

Plasmid profile as a useful marker of a Shigella dysenteriae type 1 strain causing an epidemic of shigellosis.

Plasmid profiles of 60 Shigella dysenteriae type 1 isolates obtained during an epidemic period (April - October 1983) were compared with that of 74 other Shigella species isolated during the same period of time and also with that of 20 S. dysenteriae type 1 isolates obtained before the epidemic period (1969 - 1982). All samples were collected during an epidemic of shigellosis from diarrhoeal patients being treated at the Dhaka Treatment Centre of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) between April and October 1983. Approximately 4% of the patients were sampled. The isolated showed varied patterns of resistance to several antimicrobial agents. Ninety-two per cent of the 60 S. dysenteriae type 1 strains showed a typical profile of four plasmids with masses of 140, 6, 4 and 2 megadaltons (Mdal). The finding is in contrast with that of a previous study at the ICDDR,B, in which 14 different plasmid profiles were observed in 23 strains of S. dysenteriae type 1 isolated during a 10 - month period in 1982. The profile typical for this study was different from those found in other species of Shigella isolated at the same time. There was a strong association between the possession of this plasmid profile and resistance to chloramphenicol, streptomycin, tetracycline and trimethoprim - sulphamethoxazole. Twenty S. dysenterae type 1 strains isolated from the faeces of patients at the ICDDR,B during 1969 - 1982 were also analysed for their plasmid profiles. The finding is in contrast with that of the epidemic strains. The typical epidemic plasmid pattern, i.e. the 140, 6, 4 and 2 Mdal, was absent in isolates obtained before 1983 epidemic.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)