Hypertension constitutes one of the most common diseases leading patients to the Outpatient Departments. Idiopathic hypertension is the prevailing type, but on the other hand, the possible presence of clinical entities responsible for the development of secondary hypertension should never be underestimated. We retrospectively studied 447 subjects aged between 20 and 84 years old and diagnosed with hypertension, who were thoroughly evaluated for secondary hypertension. Our analysis demonstrated that 35 out of the 447 subjects were fi nally diagnosed with secondary hypertension, representing a relative frequency of 7.8%. Most common causes of secondary hypertension identifi ed in our study group were: glucocorticoid intake (n = 14), obesity hypoventilation syndrome (n = 6), obstructive sleep apnea (n = 2) and preeclamspia (n = 2). Several other causes are also reported. Our study, conducted in a single center in Northern Greece, confi rms previous reports concerning the prevalence of secondary hypertension among Greek patients, shedding light on potential pathophysiologic mechanisms. In conclusion, a high proportion of hypertensive individuals still feature have an underlying cause, thus, diagnostic work-up should be thorough and exhaustive, in order the correct diagnosis to be made and the targeted treatment to be initiated.
This study included investigation of efficiency of the threshold used to classify symptoms as present, investigation of efficiency of the cut-off point used to identify potentially addicted to work individuals, investigation of magnitude of the problem of class overlap, and investigation of effects of dichotomization of polytomous items on the estimates of the latent trait level. The sample comprised 16,426 working Norwegians (Mage = 37.31; SD = 11.36) who filled out the Bergen Work Addiction Scale (BWAS). The results showed that the difficulty/third threshold parameters corresponding to the threshold used to classify symptoms as present were lower than 1.5 for the items corresponding to tolerance and conflict and higher than or equal to 1.5 for the items corresponding to salience, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, and problems. The cut-off point used to identify individuals as potentially addicted to work identified 411 individuals (31.9% of all individuals classified by the polythetic approach as potentially addicted to work) whose estimates of the latent trait level were lower than 1.5 as potentially addicted to work. The problem of class overlap (being classified by the polythetic approach into different class despite almost the same level of the latent trait) affected 4,686 individuals (28.5% of the whole sample). The dichotomization of polytomous items had a substantial effect on the estimates of the latent trait level. The findings show that the polythetic approach is not efficient in identifying potentially addicted to work individuals and that the prevalence rates of work addiction based on the polythetic approach are not trustworthy.
Typhoid or enteric fever is a worldwide infection caused by the bacterium Salmonella enterica. In Sri Lanka, 12,823 Salmonella positive cases were recorded and 133 cases were recorded from Anuradhapura district during 2005 to 2014. Therefore, the study was carried out to identify the microbiological and chemical contamination status of forty-four water sources in Anuradhapura area during October 2016. The study was focused to determine total coliform, faecal coliform, Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. contamination along with some physico-chemical parameters of both ground and surface water. Sampling, transportation, and analysis were performed following standard protocols. Results of the study revealed that almost all sampling locations were contaminated with both total and E. coli bacteria and the values were not within the World Health Organization and Sri Lanka Standards drinking water quality standards. Around 32% of sampling locations were positive for Salmonella spp. and among them, 2 spring sampling locations are being highly used to extract water for drinking. However, Shigella spp. was not recorded during the study period. Majority of the sampling points were not within the Sri Lanka drinking water standards for COD and 25% sampling locations were recorded greater than 750 μS∙cm–1 con-ductivity. Also, 55% of locations recorded very hard water where the highest values were recorded in Padaviya. The tested other water quality parameters: NO2-N, NH3-N, and total phosphate (TP) concentrations were found within the Sri Lanka drinking water standards. PCA analysis revealed that sampling locations were grouped into three groups such as; well wa-ter, tank water and springs.