Explant Analysis of Utah Electrode Arrays Implanted in Human Cortex for Brain-Computer-Interfaces.

Brain-computer interfaces are being developed to restore movement for people living with paralysis due to injury or disease. Although the therapeutic potential is great, long-term stability of the interface is critical for widespread clinical implementation. While many factors can affect recording and stimulation performance including electrode material stability and host tissue reaction, these factors have not been investigated in human implants.

Bidirectional brain-computer interfaces.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are devices that interface with the brain to enable interaction with the environment. BCIs have the potential to improve the quality of life for many individuals affected by debilitating disorders of the brain, spine, limbs, and sensory organs through direct interface with the nervous system. While much progress has been made in terms of BCI motor control, significantly less attention has been given to the restoration of tactile, or cutaneous sensations, which can be very important during grasping or manipulation of objects.

Activin receptor type 2A (ACVR2A) functions directly in osteoblasts as a negative regulator of bone mass.

Bone and skeletal muscle mass are highly correlated in mammals, suggesting the existence of common anabolic signaling networks that coordinate the development of these two anatomically adjacent tissues. The activin signaling pathway is an attractive candidate to fulfill such a role. Here, we generated mice with conditional deletion of activin receptor (ACVR) type 2A, ACVR2B, or both, in osteoblasts, to determine the contribution of activin receptor signaling in regulating bone mass.

Opportunity costs associated with caring for older Mexican-Americans.

Long-term care use among older Mexican-Americans is poorly understood, despite the adverse effects on health and economic disadvantage in this vulnerable population. This study examines gender-based risk of long-term care use in 628 women and 391 men, age 70 and over in the 2000-2001 and 2004-2005 waves of the Hispanic Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly. Logistic regression models are employed to assess the impact of the opportunity cost implications of family support (kin availability and co-residence) relative to health care needs (quality-adjusted life years (QALY) weighted scores and functional limitations) on women's risk of entry into a nursing home.

Local health department assurance of services and the health of California's seniors.

Objective: To examine the extent to which local health department (LHD) assurance of select services known to promote and protect the health of older adults is associated with more favorable population health indicators among seniors.

Design: Data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS: 2003, 2005, and 2007) were linked with the 2005 wave of the National Association of County and City Health Officials profile survey and the Area Resource File to assess the association of LHD assurance and senior health indicators. Assurance was measured by an index of 5 services, either directly provided or contracted by LHDs: cancer screening, injury prevention, comprehensive primary care, home health care, and chronic disease prevention.

To what factors do rural-dwelling hispanics attribute depressive symptoms?

This study is a retrospective chart review comparing rural-dwelling Caucasian and Hispanic outpatients' attribution of depressive symptoms. Based on the data gathered at intake, Hispanics were more likely to attribute depression to curse/spell and supernatural causes, while Caucasians were more likely to attribute symptoms to hereditary factors or job stress. Among both groups, higher CESD score was associated with problems with significant others or how they got along with others.

Variation in Older Americans Act caregiver service use, unmet hours of care, and independence among Hispanics, African Americans, and Whites.

Home- and community-based services (HCBS) are underused by minority seniors and their caregivers, despite greater rates of disability. We examined racial/ethnic variation among 1,749 Hispanics, African Americans, and Whites receiving Older Americans Act Title III caregiver services in 2009. In addition, we identified the volume of services used by caregivers, their unmet hours of respite care, and the relationship between service use and seniors' ability to live independently.

Geographic proximity of HRSA, VA, and DOD clinics: opportunities for interagency collaboration to improve quality.

Clinics funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense's Military Health System (MHS), and Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) all play a role in serving the military, veterans, and their families. Publicly available location data on federal health care clinics was merged, analyzed, and geographically overlaid using GIS. Results showed that 20% of U.

Immigrant status and cognitive functioning in late-life: an examination of gender variations in the healthy immigrant effect.

Although some research suggests that the healthy immigrant effect extends to cognitive functioning, it is unclear whether this general pattern varies according to gender. We use six waves of data collected from the original cohort of the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly to estimate a series of linear growth curve models to assess variations in cognitive functioning trajectories by nativity status and age at migration to the U.S.

Psychosocial and cognitive health differences by caregiver status among older Mexican Americans.

This study identifies the risk and protective factors associated with informal caregiving by older (≥70 years) Mexican Americans and profiles caregiving arrangements. Overall, a greater number of informal caregivers (n = 92) were married and female. They also had higher physical functioning and better cognition than non-caregivers (n = 1,888) but fewer visited a physician regularly.

The provision of diabetes-monitoring exams to older Latinos.

Objectives: To explore factors associated with the provision of diabetes-monitoring practices among older Latinos with type 2 diabetes.

Method: Data from 547 Latinos (≥ 55 years) were analyzed from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey. Multivariate logistic regression modeled the relationship between health status and sociodemographic factors and the receipt of semiannual HbA1c tests, annual foot exams, and annual retinal exams.

Emotional and cognitive health correlates of leisure activities in older Latino and Caucasian women.

This study examined differences in the frequency of leisure activity participation and relationships to depressive symptom burden and cognition in Latino and Caucasian women. Cross-sectional data were obtained from a demographically matched subsample of Latino and Caucasian (n = 113 each) postmenopausal women (age ≥60 years), interviewed in 2004-2006 for a multiethnic cohort study of successful aging in San Diego County. Frequencies of engagement in 16 leisure activities and associations between objective cognitive performance and depressive symptom burden by ethnicity were identified using bivariate and linear regression, adjusted for physical functioning and demographic covariates.

Disparate inclusion of older adults in clinical trials: priorities and opportunities for policy and practice change.

Older adults are vastly underrepresented in clinical trials in spite of shouldering a disproportionate burden of disease and consumption of prescription drugs and therapies, restricting treatments' generalizability, efficacy, and safety. Eliminating Disparities in Clinical Trials, a national initiative comprising a stakeholder network of researchers, community advocates, policymakers, and federal representatives, undertook a critical analysis of older adults' structural barriers to clinical trial participation. We present practice and policy change recommendations emerging from this process and their rationale, which spanned multiple themes: (1) decision making with cognitively impaired patients; (2) pharmacokinetic differences and physiological age; (3) health literacy, communication, and aging; (4) geriatric training; (5) federal monitoring and accountability; (6) clinical trial costs; and (7) cumulative effects of aging and ethnicity.

"Pesticides protect the fruit, but not the people": using community-based ethnography to understand farmworker pesticide-exposure risks.

Objectives: We used community-based ethnography and public health risk assessment to assess beliefs about pesticide exposure risks among farmworkers in the Lower Yakima Valley of Washington State.

Methods: We used unstructured and semistructured interviews, work-site observation, and detailed field notes to gather data on pesticide exposure risks from 99 farmworkers.

Results: Farmworkers' pesticide-relevant beliefs and attitudes could be grouped into 5 major themes: (1) dry pesticides are often perceived as a virtually harmless powder, (2) farmworkers who identify themselves as allergic to pesticides are more acutely affected by exposure, (3) the effect of pesticide exposure is more severe for those perceived as physically weak, (4) protective equipment is used selectively in response to financial pressure to work rapidly, and (5) some farmworkers delay decontamination until they find water deemed an appropriate temperature for handwashing.

Caregiving burden, acculturation, familism, and Mexican American elders' use of home care services.

Caregiving burden has been shown to predict use of home care services among Anglo Americans. In a previous study, only one of two dimensions of caregiving burden predicted such use among Mexican American caregivers. Because acculturation and familism may affect burden, we conducted analyses to test three hypotheses: increased acculturation decreases familism; decreased familism increases burden; and increased burden increases use of home care services.

Religious coping and caregiver well-being in Mexican-American families.

Objective: We sought to explore the association of religious and spiritual coping with multiple measures of well-being in Latinos caring for older relatives with long-term or permanent disability, either with or without dementia.

Methods: Using a multi-dimensional survey instrument, we conducted in-home interviews with 66 predominantly Mexican-American Catholic family caregivers near the US-Mexico border. We assessed caregivers' intrinsic, organizational and non-organizational religiosity with the Duke Religiosity Index, as well as Pargament's brief positive and negative spiritual coping scale to determine the association of religiosity with caregivers' mental and physical health, depressive symptomatology and perceived burden.

Health care providers' assessments of the quality of advanced-cancer care in Latin American medical institutions: a comparison of predictors in five countries: Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru.

This paper describes an innovative Pan-American survey on advanced-cancer care and examines the quality-of-care provided by Latin American institutions. A convenience sample of 777 physicians and nurses who treat cancer patients in Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru were surveyed. Providers were identified through mass mailings, distribution at professional meetings and conferences, collaboration with regional institutions, professional organizations, and PAHO and online posting.

Health and healthcare perspectives of African American residents of an unincorporated community: a qualitative assessment.

Residential perspectives about health in unincorporated communities are virtually unexplored. In this study, we conducted focus groups to assess individual and community health status, environmental health mediators, and systematic barriers to healthcare among African American residents of the unincorporated town, Fresno, Texas. Residents described their individual health status as excellent, but depicted the community's health status as fair.

Mexican immigrant male knowledge and support toward breast and cervical cancer screening.

Background: We conducted a focus group study to assess the influence of partner communication on breast and cervical cancer screening and the perceived existing and potential support from male partners in participating in cancer screening. Secondarily, Mexican male and female views on health care and cancer were explored.

Methods: Seven focus groups (two female-only, three male-only, and two couples) were conducted in Spanish.

Community-Based Participatory Research and Gene-Environment Interaction Methodologies Addressing Environmental Justice among Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Women and Children in Texas: "From Mother to Child Project".

The "From Mother to Child Project" is a molecular epidemiological study that employs a community- based participatory research (CBPR) approach and gene-environment interaction research to address environmental justice in migrant and seasonal farmworker (MSF) women and children of Mexican origin home-based in Baytown and La Joya, Texas. This paper presents the background and rationale for the study and describes the study design and methodology. Preliminary data showed that MSF women and children in Texas have measurable levels of pesticides in their blood and urine, some of which were banned in the United States decades ago and are possible human carcinogens.

Texture analysis for mapping Tamarix parviflora using aerial photographs along the Cache Creek, California.

Natural color photographs were used to detect the coverage of saltcedar, Tamarix parviflora, along a 40 km portion of Cache Creek near Woodland, California. Historical aerial photographs from 2001 were retrospectively evaluated and compared with actual ground-based information to assess accuracy of the assessment process. The color aerial photos were sequentially digitized, georeferenced, classified using color and texture methods, and mosaiced into maps for field use.

Attitudes, knowledge, and health-seeking behaviors of five immigrant minority communities in the prevention and screening of cancer: a focus group approach.

Despite an observed decrease in overall cancer death rates in the USA, immigrant minorities continue to experience disproportionately higher cancer incidence and mortality rates. Thirteen focus groups were conducted in the Haitian, English-Speaking Caribbean, Latino, Korean, and Chinese communities of New York City to better understand their health-seeking behaviors with respect to cancer prevention, screening, and treatment. Focus groups addressed the degree to which cultural, linguistic, and systematic barriers impact these behaviors and explored methods to support salutary behaviors.

[The Global Initiative for Asthma and familial medicine-resident physicians. Impact of an educational strategy].

Background: The Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) provides effective medical care to asthmatic patients. Knowledge and appropriate handling of GINAS' management guidelines for medicine residents significantly reduce asthma morbidity and mortality.

Objective: To evaluate the level of knowledge about asthma on Global initiative for Asthma program before and after an educational strategy in residents.