Assessment of Professional Quality of Life in the Alabama Physical Therapy Workforce.

Objective: The purposes of this study were to 1) determine the level of professional quality of life among physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in Alabama and 2) to identify personal or professional factors that may contribute to compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout, and secondary traumatic stress (STS).

Methods: This study used a cross-sectional design and mixed-methods survey methodology to calculate odds ratios for factors affecting professional quality of life. Respondents completed a survey that included the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) scale, an open-ended question regarding their experience with professional burnout, and personal and professional demographics.

Confidence in Understanding Health Insurance and Challenges Paying Medical Bills Among Men in the United States.

Although the number of men with health insurance has increased, men are less likely to utilize health services than females, and experience difficulty in paying medical bills. Understanding the details of health insurance can be challenging and the lack of understanding can have financial consequences. This study, guided by Andersen's model of health-care utilization, assessed the relationship between confidence level in understanding health insurance terms and difficulty in paying medical bills among American men.

Everybody needs a cheerleader to get a kidney transplant: a qualitative study of the patient barriers and facilitators to kidney transplantation in the Southeastern United States.

Background: Kidney transplantation (KTx) disparity is a significant problem in the United States, particularly in the Southeastern region. In response to this phenomenon, the Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition was created in 2011 to increase the KTx rate, and to reduce disparities in access to transplantation in the Southeast, by identifying and reducing barriers in the transplant process.

Methods: To determine perceived barriers and facilitators to KTx that dialysis patients in this region experience, we conducted three focus groups with 40 total patients in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Kidney transplant referral practices in southeastern dialysis units.

Background: The Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition was created in 2010 to improve kidney transplant (KTx) rates in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. To identify dialysis staff-reported barriers to transplant, the Coalition developed a survey of dialysis providers in the region.

Methods: All dialysis units in the ESRD Network (n = 586) were sent a survey to be completed by the professional responsible for helping patients get transplants.

The RaDIANT community study protocol: community-based participatory research for reducing disparities in access to kidney transplantation.

Background: The Southeastern United States has the lowest kidney transplant rates in the nation, and racial disparities in kidney transplant access are concentrated in this region. The Southeastern Kidney Transplant Coalition (SEKTC) of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina is an academic and community partnership that was formed with the mission to improve access to kidney transplantation and reduce disparities among African American (AA) end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients in the Southeastern United States.

Methods/design: We describe the community-based participatory research (CBPR) process utilized in planning the Reducing Disparities In Access to kidNey Transplantation (RaDIANT) Community Study, a trial developed by the SEKTC to reduce health disparities in access to kidney transplantation among AA ESRD patients in Georgia, the state with the lowest kidney transplant rates in the nation.

Wanted: pediatric nephrologists! - why trainees are not choosing pediatric nephrology.

A workforce crisis for many pediatric specialties, particularly nephrology, is due to growing retirement rates, attrition during training, and retention difficulties. To obtain specific information regarding pediatric nephrology trainee shortages, we administered two cross-sectional surveys to non-renal pediatric subspecialty fellows and pediatric nephrology program directors. We characterized the fellows' experiences with nephrology and the program directors' experiences with their fellows as well as their outcomes in the last 10 years.

Barriers to women's participation in inter-conceptional care: a cross-sectional analysis.

Background: We describe participation rates in a special interconceptional care program that addressed all commonly known barriers to care, and identify predictors of the observed levels of participation in this preventive care service.

Methods: A secondary analysis of data from women in the intervention arm of an interconceptional care clinical trial in Philadelphia (n = 442). Gelberg-Andersen Behavioral Model for Vulnerable Populations to Health Services (herein called Andersen model) was used as a theoretical base.

The Kidney Education Outreach Program's community-based screenings: participants' demographics and screening results.

Objective: To outline the Kidney Education Outreach Program (KEOP) screening protocol, to describe the context in which these chronic kidney disease (CKD) screenings were administered, and to report the characteristics and screening results for participants from October 2005 to September 2008.

Methods: A cohort of 1742 people participated in targeted, free, community-based CKD screenings. Screenings included a self-report questionnaire regarding sociodemographic information, lifestyle behaviors, and personal and family health history.

Body image and body satisfaction differ by race in overweight postpartum mothers.

Background: Body image (BI) and body satisfaction may be important in understanding weight loss behaviors, particularly during the postpartum period. We assessed these constructs among African American and white overweight postpartum women.

Methods: The sample included 162 women (73 African American and 89 white) in the intervention arm 6 months into the Active Mothers Postpartum (AMP) Study, a nutritional and physical activity weight loss intervention.

A randomized trial of tailoring and motivational interviewing to promote fruit and vegetable consumption for cancer prevention and control.

Background: Healthful dietary patterns, including eating fruits and vegetables (F&V) and avoiding obesity, may decrease the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases. In addition to promoting health for the general population, a cancer diagnosis may provide a "teachable moment," facilitating the adoption of more healthful eating habits and leading to lower risk of chronic disease and better overall health.

Purpose: This study was designed to test the effectiveness of two health communication interventions in increasing F&V consumption and physical activity in a sample of older adults (average age of 66 years), including both colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors and noncolorectal cancer-affected (N-CRC) individuals.

An internet-based weight loss intervention initiated by a newspaper.

Background: An estimated two-thirds of North Carolina residents are overweight or obese. Mass media, such as newspapers and the Internet, can be used to broadly convey health messages for weight loss.

Context: Newspapers have traditionally been a primary source of health information for the general public.

Change in proteinuria after adding aldosterone blockers to ACE inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers in CKD: a systematic review.

Background: The use of mineralocorticoid receptor blockers (MRBs) in patients with chronic kidney disease is growing, but data for efficacy in decreasing proteinuria are limited by a relative paucity of studies, many of which are small and uncontrolled.

Study Design: We performed a systematic review using the MEDLINE database (inception to November 1, 2006), abstracts from national meetings, and selected reference lists.

Setting & Population: Adult patients with chronic kidney disease and proteinuria.

Healthcare practices among blacks and whites with urinary tract symptoms.

Context: The reasons for African-American men to seek care for lower urinary care symptoms has not been determined due to sparse population-based data.

Objective: Our study examines the solicitation and receipt of medical care for urinary symptoms among racially oversampled elderly urban and rural cohort of African Americans and whites.

Design: Longitudinal analyses were conducted on five North Carolina counties through the Piedmont Health Survey of the Elderly Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly.

Comparing United States versus international medical school graduate physicians who serve African- American and White elderly.

Objective: To examine the relationship that international medical school graduates (IMGs) in comparison with United States medical school graduates (USMGs) have on health care-seeking behavior and satisfaction with medical care among African-American and white elderly.

Data Sources: Secondary data analysis of the 1986-1998 Piedmont Health Survey of the Elderly, Established Populations for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly, a racially oversampled urban and rural cohort of elders in five North Carolina counties.

Study Design: Primary focus of analyses examined the impact of the combination of elder race and physician graduate status across time using a linear model for repeated measures analyses and chi2 tests.

Racial differences in clinical progression among Medicare recipients after treatment for localized prostate cancer (United States).

Objective: Prostate cancer recurrence impacts patient quality of life and risk of prostate-cancer specific death following definitive treatment. We investigate differences in disease-free survival among white, black, Hispanic, and Asian patients in a large, population-based database.

Methods: Merged Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) and Medicare files provided data on 23,353 white patients, 2,814 black patients, 480 Hispanic patients, and 566 Asian patients diagnosed at age 65-84 years with clinically localized prostate cancer between 1986 and 1996 in five SEER sites.

Prevention of delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting after moderately high to highly emetogenic chemotherapy: comparison of ondansetron, prochlorperazine, and dexamethasone.

The purpose of this article is to assess the comparative antiemetic efficacy of prochlorperazine, ondansetron, and dexamethasone in the prevention of delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) after moderately high to highly emetogenic chemotherapy. Cancer patients (n = 232) receiving moderately high to highly emetogenic chemotherapy were randomized to 1 of 3 treatments: 15 mg prochlorperazine spansules twice daily; 8 mg ondansetron tablets twice daily; or 8 mg dexamethasone tablets twice daily on days 2 through 5. All patients received 24 mg ondansetron and 20 mg dexamethasone orally before chemotherapy.

Racial differences in mortality among Medicare recipients after treatment for localized prostate cancer.

Background: Prostate cancer mortality is higher among black American men than among white American men. We investigated whether racial disparities in outcomes of clinically localized prostate cancer vary by treatment (surgery, radiation therapy, or nonaggressive treatment).

Methods: Merged Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) and Medicare files provided data (on treatment modality, age, race, cancer stage, tumor grade, census tract socioeconomic status, and date of death) on 5747 black and 38 242 white patients diagnosed at age 65-84 years with clinically localized prostate cancer between 1986 and 1996 in five SEER sites.

Factors predicting successful needle-localized breast biopsy.

Rationale And Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predict successful removal of nonpalpable breast lesions with mammography-guided needle-localized breast biopsy.

Materials And Methods: Of the 455 consecutive patients referred for needle-localized breast biopsy of one or more nonpalpable breast lesions between January 1990 and December 1994, 272 (59.8%) had sufficiently complete data to be included in this study.

Phase II study of low-dose infusional 5-fluorouracil and paclitaxel (Taxol) given every 2 weeks in metastatic breast cancer.

Twenty-one patients with recurrent or metastatic breast cancer were treated with paclitaxel (Taxol) as a 1-hour infusion on day 1 only of a 14-day cycle. This treatment was followed by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) via a portable home pump, through a central venous catheter at 350 mg/m2 per day over 24 hours for a total of 96 hours, on days 1 to 5 and again on days 8 to 12. Based on reported phase I trials in other organ system cancers, the first 5 patients were treated with paclitaxel at 150 mg/m2 every 2 weeks, but this was associated with excessive toxicity.