BACKGROUND Rigorous testing of the original Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS-9) with modern psychometric methods is warranted. OBJECTIVE To determine the psychometric properties of the FSS-9 in multiple sclerosis (MS): internal scale validity; person response validity; unidimensionality; uniform differential item functioning; temporal stability of response patterns; and ability to separate people ...

Received: 23 January 2001 Revised: 12 October 2003 Accepted: 14 October 2003 Online publication date: 8 January 2004 Abstract International price indices (IPIs) provide the most timely and comprehensive market information available to international business. How do multinational enterprises (MNEs) affect the validity of IPIs? We review the earlier debate over methods for calculating IPIs, which...

Erythrocyte and leukocyte suspensions were prepared from 28 patients with chronic cerebrovascular disease and 30 age- and concomitant disease-matched control subjects. Cell filterability was studied with the new St. George's filtrometer, which can discriminate between initial filtration rate as an erythrocyte parameter and filter clogging as a leukocyte parameter. Compared with control subjects...

[1] The stable carbon isotope composition (dC) of tree rings in a climate-sensitive region can provide a retrospective view of changes in environment and climate. Here, we report on the development of the first annually resolved dC tree ring chronology obtained from natural forests on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Climate data show a warming trend and more frequent droughts occurring in the...

The clinical course of bronchiectasis is unpredictable, posing a challenge both in clinical practice and in research. Two mortality prediction scores, the bronchiectasis severity index (BSI) and FACED scores, have recently been developed. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of these scores to predict long-term mortality and to compare the two scores.The study was a single-centre ret...

This study investigated whether functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD) is a suitable tool for studying hemispheric lateralization of language in patients with pre-perinatal left hemisphere (LH) lesions and right hemiparesis. Eighteen left-hemisphere-damaged children and young adults and 18 healthy controls were assessed by fTCD and fMRI to evaluate hemispheric activation during two l...

Hyperspectral reflectance derived vegetation indices (VIs) are used for non-destructive leaf area index (LAI) monitoring for precise and efficient N nutrition management. This study tested the hypothesis that there is potential for using various hyperspectral VIs for estimating LAI at different growth stages of rice under varying N rates. Hyperspectral reflectance and crop canopy LAI measuremen...

The global decline in estuarine and coastal ecosystems is affecting critical ecosystem services. The spatial agglomeration of population, industries and resources has led to the emergence of regionally-specific ecological problems. Therefore, identifying “ecological red lines”, based on specific natural and environmental features, could help to differentiate the economic development and ecologi...

Based on the analysis of international indices characterizing quality institutions, an assessment level institutional convergence in Ukraine and Ukrainian industry was made. Internal indicators (sub-indices), which are informative about convergent/divergent processes, taken into account. It established that for purposes assessing state as a whole, following informative: political stability abse...