[doi: 10.1063/1.3573601]“
“Background: Sense of competence in dementia care staff (SCIDS) may be associated with more positive attitudes to dementia among care staff and better outcomes for those being cared for. There is a need for a reliable and valid measure of sense of competence specific to dementia care staff. This study describes the development and evaluation of a measure to assess GDC-0941 nmr “sense of competence” in dementia care staff and reports on its psychometric properties.\n\nMethods: The systematic measure

development process involved care staff and experts. For item selection and assessment of psychometric properties, a pilot study (N=37) and a large-scale study (N=211) with a test-retest reliability (N=58) sub-study were undertaken.\n\nResults: The final measure consists of 17 items across four subscales

with acceptable to good internal consistency and moderate to substantial test-retest reliability. As predicted, the measure was positively associated with work experience, job satisfaction, and person-centered approaches to dementia care, giving a first indication for its validity.\n\nConclusions: The SCIDS scale provides a useful and user-friendly means of measuring sense of competence in care staff. It has been developed using a robust AMN-107 nmr process and has adequate psychometric properties. Further exploration of the construct and the scale’s validity is warranted. It may be useful to assess the impact of training and perceived abilities and skills in dementia care.”
“The elastin metabolism

in systemic sclerosis learn more (SSc) has been known to be abnormal. The authors investigated relationship between the clinical manifestations of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and serum levels of soluble elastin-derived peptide (S-EDP) and anti-elastin antibodies. Serum samples were obtained from 79 patients with SSc and 79 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Concentrations of serum S-EDP and anti-elastin antibodies were measured by ELISA. The serum concentrations of S-EDP in SSc patients were significantly higher than in healthy controls (median, 144.44 ng/mL vs 79.59 ng/mL, P < 0.001). Serum EDP concentrations were found to be correlated with disease duration in SSc (P = 0.002) and particularly in diffuse cutaneous SSc (P = 0.005). Levels of anti-elastin antibodies were found to be more elevated in SSc patients than in healthy controls (median, 0.222 U vs 0.191 U, P = 0.049), more increased in diffuse cutaneous SSc than limited cutaneous SSc (median, 0.368 U vs 0.204 U, P = 0.031). In addition, levels of anti-elastin antibodies were also found to be negatively associated with presence of anti-centromere antibody (P = 0.023). The S-EDP levels were not found to be correlated with levels of anti-elastin antibodies. The increased S-EDP and anti-elastin antibody levels and association with clinical and laboratory characteristics may reflect the abnormal metabolism in SSc.