Short-form development of the specific module of the QLICD-CRF(V2.0) for assessing the quality of life of patients with chronic renal failure.

BACKGROUND: A short instrument would enhance the viability of a study. Therefore, we aimed to shorten the specific module (SPD-10) of the Quality of Life Instrument for Chronic Diseases - Chronic Renal Failure (QLICD-CRF) for assessing the quality of life of patients with chronic renal failure. METHODS: The 10-item SPD-10 was self-administered to 164 patients with chronic renal failure. A shortened form was first obtained by a tandem use of the classical test theory (CTT), the generalizability theory (GT), and the item response theory (IRT). In addition, we also shortened the SPD-10 by the Optimal Test Assembly (OTA). RESULTS: Both the tandem use of GT, CTT and IRT, and the OTA derived the same 7-item shortened version (SPD-7). It included items CRF1, CRF2, CRF3, CRF4, CRF6, CRF8, and CRF9 of the SPD-10. The SPD-7 had a Cronbach alpha of 0.78. The correlation coefficients of its total and factor scores with those of the SPD-10 were 0.96 and 0.98, respectively. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the unidimensional structure of the SPD-7, with the comparative fit index=0.96, the Tucker-Lewis index=0.94, and the root mean square error of approximation=0.09. CONCLUSION: The short-form SPD-7 is reliable and valid for assessing the impact of clinical symptoms and side effects on the quality of life of patients with chronic renal failure. It is an efficient option without compromising the measurement performance of the SPD-10.

[Application of iPDMS protein microarray in screening of tumor-associated antigen autoantibodies].

The rapid screening of tumor markers is a challenging task for early diagnosis of cancer. This study aims to use highly sensitive chemiluminescent protein microarray technology to efficiently screen a variety of low abundance tumor related markers. A new material, termed integrated polydimethylsiloxane modified silica gel (iPDMS), was obtained by adding a surface polymerization initiator with olefin end to the conventional polydimethylsiloxane, and fixing into the three-dimensional structure of polydimethylsiloxane by thermal crosslinking through silicon hydrogen bonding. In order to make the iPDMS material resistant to non-specific protein adsorption, a poly(OEGMA) polymer brush was synthesized by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization at the active initiation site. Finally, 20 tumor-related antigens were printed into the specific areas of the microarray by high-throughput spray printing technology, and assembled into 48-well detection microtiterplates of the iPDMS microarray. It was found the VEGFR and VEGF121 autoantibodies that obtained from 8 common tumors (breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, leukemia, lymphoma and ovarian cancer) can be used as potential tumor markers. The chemiluminescence labeled iPDMS protein microarray can be used for the screening of tumor autoantibodies at early stage.