The mental health continuum-short form: The structure and application for cross-cultural studies-A 38 nation study.

OBJECTIVE: The Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF) is a brief scale measuring positive human functioning. The study aimed to examine the factor structure and to explore the cross-cultural utility of the MHC-SF using bifactor models and exploratory structural equation modelling. METHOD: Using multigroup confirmatory analysis (MGCFA) we examined the measurement invariance of the MHC-SF in 38 countries (university students, N = 8,066; 61.73% women, mean age 21.55 years). RESULTS: MGCFA supported the cross-cultural replicability of a bifactor structure and a metric level of invariance between student samples. The average proportion of variance explained by the general factor was high (ECV = .66), suggesting that the three aspects of mental health (emotional, social, and psychological well-being) can be treated as a single dimension of well-being. CONCLUSION: The metric level of invariance offers the possibility of comparing correlates and predictors of positive mental functioning across countries; however, the comparison of the levels of mental health across countries is not possible due to lack of scalar invariance. Our study has preliminary character and could serve as an initial assessment of the structure of the MHC-SF across different cultural settings. Further studies on general populations are required for extending our findings.

[Instrumental and laboratory parameters of myocardial function in adult patients with autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 2, 3].

BACKGRAUND: Аutoimmune polyglandular syndrome (APS) it is characterized by damage to two or more endocrine glands, which eventually results in the hormonal failure. Some clinical studies describe the development of myocardial lesion in the setting of combined autoimmune endocrine pathology. In Russia the myocardial condition in adult patients with APS types 2 and 3 was examined for the first time. AIM: To evaluate the structure and functional state of the myocardium according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to analyze changes in the spectrum of specific antiheart autoantibodies and markers of heart lesion in patients with APS types 2 and 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 50 patients with APS types 2, 3 were studied. 45 of them were performed with delayed contrast heart MRI. All 50 patients were tested for IgG antibodies to heart muscle antigens by indirect enzymatic immunoassay (EIA), for troponin I and natriuretic peptide by chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA), for creatine phosphokinase (CPK) by NAC (N - acetyl-L-cysteine), and for C-reactive protein (CRP) by immunoturbidimetry. RESULTS: According to the results of heart MRI (n=45), 91% showed signs of functional changes in the left ventricular (LV) myocardium without any signs of myocarditis. 38 of 45 examined patients had deviation of 2 or more indicants of the LV functional state, MEF 68.9±6.6%, IUMm - 86 [75; 99] g, IUSV - 60.9 [50; 66] ml, IUEDVi - 52 [44; 59] ml/m2 , IUESVi - 17 [15.3; 18] ml/m2 , IUESV - 26 [23; 31] ml, IUEDV - 85 [70; 92] ml. 1 patient (2%) had positive result according to the determination of antibodies (AB) to heart muscle antigens (AG). Troponin 1 indicants did not exceed the reference values. The level of CPK exceeded the reference values in 3 patients (6%), an increase of CRP, NT-proBNP was observed in 7 patients (14%), and a combined increase was observed in 1 case. CONCLUSIONS: We obtained MRI data indicating functional changes in the myocardium in patients with APS types 2 and 3. The autoimmune cause of these changes according to the results of determining of antiheart antibodies was not confirmed in most of the examined patients, the indicants of «damage¼ to the myocardium (troponin 1 and NT-proBNP) did not deviate from the reference range.

Sensors Based on Bio and Biomimetic Receptors in Medical Diagnostic, Environment, and Food Analysis.

Analytical chemistry is now developing mainly in two areas: automation and the creation of complexes that allow, on the one hand, for simultaneously analyzing a large number of samples without the participation of an operator, and on the other, the development of portable miniature devices for personalized medicine and the monitoring of a human habitat. The sensor devices, the great majority of which are biosensors and chemical sensors, perform the role of the latter. That last line is considered in the proposed review. Attention is paid to transducers, receptors, techniques of immobilization of the receptor layer on the transducer surface, processes of signal generation and detection, and methods for increasing sensitivity and accuracy. The features of sensors based on synthetic receptors and additional components (aptamers, molecular imprinted polymers, biomimetics) are discussed. Examples of bio- and chemical sensors' application are given. Miniaturization paths, new power supply means, and wearable and printed sensors are described. Progress in this area opens a revolutionary era in the development of methods of on-site and in-situ monitoring, that is, paving the way from the "test-tube to the smartphone".