The present study was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of a food retention questionnaire (FRQ) and to define its optimum cut-off score.\n\nMethods: A total of 194 outpatients (62 men, 132 women) were asked to complete the FRQ. Thirteen clinicians selleck screening library determined whether or not the 194 outpatients exhibited FR. We estimated the internal consistency and construct validity for the FRQ. The total scores from the FRQ and clinicians’ diagnoses of the patients were used to perform receiver operating characteristics

(ROC) curve analyses and to define an optimum cut-off score for the FRQ.\n\nResults: The FRQ exhibited a satisfactory internal consistency (alpha = 0.852). In the test of construct validity using principal component analysis,

a total of four factors (gastrointestinal distress, Dampness, food hypersensitivity, and stool urine pain) were extracted (total percentage of variance = 53.2%). ROC curve analyses showed that the FRQ had a moderate discriminative ability for FR (sensitivity = 70.7%, specificity = 76.8%, and AUC = 0.788). The optimum cut-off score was defined as six points.\n\nConclusions: Our results suggest that the FRQ is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating FR. (C) 2013 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.”
“High-entropy alloys are equiatomic, multi-element systems that can crystallize as a single phase, despite containing multiple elements with different crystal structures. A rationale for this is that the configurational entropy contribution to the total free energy in alloys with Selleck Vactosertib five or more major elements may stabilize the solid-solution state relative to multiphase microstructures. We examined a five-element high-entropy alloy, CrMnFeCoNi, which forms a single-phase face-centered cubic solid solution, and found it to have exceptional damage tolerance with tensile BLZ945 strengths above 1 GPa and fracture toughness values exceeding 200 MPa.m(1/2). Furthermore, its mechanical properties

actually improve at cryogenic temperatures; we attribute this to a transition from planar-slip dislocation activity at room temperature to deformation by mechanical nanotwinning with decreasing temperature, which results in continuous steady strain hardening.”
“Objectives: To examine the prevalence of hazardous drinking among staff in a UK university and its association with key socio-demographic features. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: A university in the UK. Participants: All employees on the university employee database were eligible to participate. Those who completed and returned the questionnaire were included in the sample. Respondents were 131 university employees. Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: An AUDIT cut-off score of bigger than = 8 was used as a measure of hazardous drinking.