The current study determined the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Adapted Short QUestionnaire to ASsess Health-enhancing physical activity (Adapted-SQUASH) in adults with disabilities. Before filling in the Adapted-SQUASH twice with a recall period of two weeks, participants wore the Actiheart activity monitor up to one week. For the test-retest reliability (N=68), Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were 0.67 (p<0.001) for the total activity score (min x intensity/week) and 0.76 (p<0.001) for the total minutes of activity (min/week). For the concurrent validity (N=58), the Spearman correlation coefficient was 0.40 (p=0.002) between the total activity score of the first administration of the Adapted-SQUASH and activity energy expenditure from the Actiheart (kcals kg-1 min-1). The ICC was 0.22 (p=0.027) between the total minutes of activity assessed with the first administration of the Adapted-SQUASH and Actiheart. The Adapted-SQUASH is an acceptable measure to assess self-reported physical activity in large populations of adults with disabilities, but is not applicable at the individual level due to wide limits of agreement. Self-reported physical activity assessed with the Adapted-SQUASH does not accurately represent physical activity assessed with the Actiheart in adults with disabilities, as indicated with a systematic bias between both instruments in the Bland-Altman analysis.
Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) is associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. Yet, there is currently no adequate diagnostic test for early and rapid diagnosis of SAB. Therefore, this study was aimed at exploring the potential for clinical implementation of a nuclease-activatable fluorescent probe for early diagnosis of SAB. To this end, clinical blood culture samples from patients with bloodstream infections were incubated for 1 h with the “smart” activatable P2&3TT probe, the total assay time being less than 2 h. Cleavage of this probe by the secreted S. aureus enzyme micrococcal nuclease results in emission of a readily detectable fluorescence signal. Incubation of S. aureus-positive blood culture samples with the P2&3TT probe resulted in 50-fold higher fluorescence intensity levels than incubation with culture-negative samples. Moreover, incubation of the probe with non-S. aureus-positive blood cultures yielded essentially background fluorescence intensity levels for cultures with Gram-negative bacteria, and only ~ 3.5-fold increased fluorescence intensity levels over background for cultures with non-S. aureus Gram-positive bacteria. Importantly, the measured fluorescence intensities were dose-dependent, and a positive signal was clearly detectable for S. aureus-positive blood cultures with bacterial loads as low as ~ 7,000 colony-forming units/mL. Thus, the nuclease-activatable P2&3TT probe distinguishes clinical S. aureus-positive blood cultures from non-S. aureus-positive blood cultures and culture-negative blood, accurately, rapidly and with high sensitivity. We conclude that this probe may enhance the diagnosis of SAB.
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