Unleashing leadership potential in unprecedented times: Lessons learned from an evaluation of a virtual cohort-based adaptive leadership program for public health executives.

Objectives: This paper presents the evaluation results from the Adaptive Leadership Academy (ALA), a pilot program aimed at developing executive-level leaders in public and community health.

Study Design: Mixed methods study.

Methods: The evaluation followed the Kirkpatrick Model to assess program participants' satisfaction with the training, knowledge and skill gain, and behavior change.

Effect of a Perioperative Educational Video in Patients Undergoing Mohs Reconstruction: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States, and most are treated with Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) by fellowship-trained dermatologic surgeons. Complex reconstruction in cosmetically and functionally sensitive areas often requires a plastic surgery consult. The uncertainty regarding reconstructive options and cosmetic appearance is difficult emotionally and cognitively for patients.

Novel Biomaterial Containing Gelatin, Manuka Honey, and Hydroxyapatite Enhanced Secondary Intention Healing Versus Standard Secondary Intention Healing in Mohs Surgical Defects on the Head and Distal Lower Extremities-A Randomized Controlled Trial: Pilot Study.

Background: Randomized, comparative studies evaluating augmented secondary intention healing (SIH) compared with conventional SIH in dermatologic surgery are limited. This study aimed to evaluate whether the use of a novel biomaterial enhances SIH, particularly in shortening time to complete re-epithelialization.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether a novel biomaterial containing gelatin, manuka honey, and hydroxyapatite enhances SIH when compared with conventional SIH for surgical defects after Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) on the head and distal lower extremities.

Risk of adverse events due to high volumes of local anesthesia during Mohs micrographic surgery.

General guidelines for the maximum amounts of locally injected lidocaine exist; however, there is a paucity of data in the Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) literature. This study aimed to determine the safety and adverse effects seen in patients that receive larger amounts of locally injected lidocaine. A retrospective chart review of 563 patients from 1992 to 2016 who received over 30 mL of locally injected lidocaine was conducted.

Optical assessment of skin carotenoid status as a biomarker of vegetable and fruit intake.

Resonance Raman spectroscopy (RRS) and reflection spectroscopy (RS) are optical methods applicable to the non-invasive detection of carotenoids in human skin. RRS is the older, more thoroughly validated method, whereas RS is newer and has several advantages. Since collective skin carotenoid levels serve as a biomarker for vegetable and fruit intake, both methods hold promise as convenient screening tools for assessment of dietary interventions and correlations between skin carotenoids and health and disease outcomes.

Acute Flaccid Myelitis of Unknown Etiology in California, 2012-2015.

Importance: There has been limited surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis in North America since the regional eradication of poliovirus. In 2012, the California Department of Public Health received several reports of acute flaccid paralysis cases of unknown etiology.

Objective: To quantify disease incidence and identify potential etiologies of acute flaccid paralysis cases with evidence of spinal motor neuron injury.

Impact of the US Two-dose Varicella Vaccination Program on the Epidemiology of Varicella Outbreaks: Data from Nine States, 2005-2012.

Background: A routine 2-dose varicella vaccination program was adopted in 2007 in the US to help further decrease varicella disease and prevent varicella outbreaks. We describe trends and characteristics of varicella outbreaks reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during 2005-2012 from 9 states.

Methods: Data on varicella outbreaks collected by 9 state health departments were submitted to CDC using the CDC outbreak reporting worksheet.

A novel outbreak enterovirus D68 strain associated with acute flaccid myelitis cases in the USA (2012-14): a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Enterovirus D68 was implicated in a widespread outbreak of severe respiratory illness across the USA in 2014 and has also been reported sporadically in patients with acute flaccid myelitis. We aimed to investigate the association between enterovirus D68 infection and acute flaccid myelitis during the 2014 enterovirus D68 respiratory outbreak in the USA.

Methods: Patients with acute flaccid myelitis who presented to two hospitals in Colorado and California, USA, between Nov 24, 2013, and Oct 11, 2014, were included in the study.

Acute flaccid paralysis with anterior myelitis - California, June 2012-June 2014.

In August 2012, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) was contacted by a San Francisco Bay area clinician who requested poliovirus testing for an unvaccinated man aged 29 years with acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) associated with anterior myelitis (i.e., evidence of inflammation of the spinal cord involving the grey matter including anterior horn cell bodies) and no history of international travel during the month before symptom onset.

Mohs micrographic surgery for cutaneous lymphadenoma.

Cutaneous lymphadenoma clinically present as pink papules or plaques resembling a basal cell carcinoma on the head and neck of young adults. Surgical excision is the treatment for these benign tumors. Cutaneous lymphadenoma may occur in an anatomically sensitive area, where margin control and conservative excision are indicated.

Weight bias and weight loss treatment outcomes in treatment-seeking adults.

Background: Few studies have explored the relationship between weight bias and weight loss treatment outcomes.

Purpose: This investigation examined the relationship between implicit and explicit weight bias and (a) program attrition, (b) weight loss, (c) self-monitoring adherence, (d) daily exercise levels and overall caloric expenditure, (e) daily caloric intake, and (f) daily caloric deficit among overweight/obese treatment-seeking adults.

Methods: Forty-six overweight/obese adults (body mass index > or = 27 kg/m(2)) participating in an 18-week, stepped-care, behavioral weight loss program completed implicit and explicit measures of weight bias.

Can following the caloric restriction recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans help individuals lose weight?

Background: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend creating an energy deficit of at least 500 kcal a day to facilitate weight loss. This investigation examined the relationship between creating a consistent, self-reported energy deficit of at least 500 kcal a day and weight loss. The relationship between self-monitoring adherence and daily energy intake and expenditure and weight loss was also examined.

Skipping meals and alcohol consumption. The regulation of energy intake and expenditure among weight loss participants.

Research suggests that specific eating patterns (e.g., eating breakfast) may be related to favorable weight status.

Learning to perceive differences in solid shape through vision and touch.

A single experiment was designed to investigate perceptual learning and the discrimination of 3-D object shape. Ninety-six observers were presented with naturally shaped solid objects either visually, haptically, or across the modalities of vision and touch. The observers' task was to judge whether the two sequentially presented objects on any given trial possessed the same or different 3-D shapes.

The failure of therapist assistance and stepped-care to improve weight loss outcomes.

Objective: This investigation was designed to examine whether: (i) individuals could successfully lose 5% of their body weight with minimal assistance, (ii) weight loss would be improved by the addition of therapist assistance, and (iii) individuals unsuccessful at losing 5% total body weight during the minimal assistance phase (with or without therapist assistance) would benefit from a weekly weight loss group.

Methods And Procedures: Fifty-four overweight or obese adults (BMI > 27 kg/m(2)) initially participated in a 14-week self-help (SH) or therapist-assisted SH (TASH) weight loss program. Participants who were unsuccessful at losing 5% total body weight were stepped-up to a 3-month, group-based behavioral weight loss program (BWLP) with weekly weigh-ins.

Taking control of your personal eating and exercise environment: a weight maintenance program.

The current investigation examined the impact of a weight maintenance intervention (MI) designed to empower people to create a personal healthy food and physical activity environment on weight loss treatment outcomes. It was hypothesized that behavioral weight loss program (BWLP) participants who received an additional MI would evidence superior weight loss maintenance compared to participants who received a BWLP alone (no contact [NC]). Fifty-one obese adults were randomly assigned to participate in a 16-week weight loss intervention followed by NC or a 6-week MI.

Aging and the perception of 3-D shape from dynamic patterns of binocular disparity.

In two experiments, we investigated the ability of younger and older observers to perceive and discriminate 3-D shape from static and dynamic patterns of binocular disparity. In both experiments, the younger observers' discrimination accuracies were 20% higher than those of the older observers. Despite this quantitative difference, in all other respects the older observers performed similarly to the younger observers.

The perception of distances and spatial relationships in natural outdoor environments.

The ability of observers to perceive distances and spatial relationships in outdoor environments was investigated in two experiments. In experiment 1, the observers adjusted triangular configurations to appear equilateral, while in experiment 2, they adjusted the depth of triangles to match their base width. The results of both experiments revealed that there are large individual differences in how observers perceive distances in outdoor settings.

Visual discrimination of local surface structure: slant, tilt, and curvedness.

In four experiments, observers were required to discriminate interval or ordinal differences in slant, tilt, or curvedness between designated probe points on randomly shaped curved surfaces defined by shading, texture, and binocular disparity. The results reveal that discrimination thresholds for judgments of slant or tilt typically range between 4 degrees and 10 degrees; that judgments of one component are unaffected by simultaneous variations in the other; and that the individual thresholds for either the slant or tilt components of orientation are approximately equal to those obtained for judgments of the total orientation difference between two probed regions. Performance was much worse, however, for judgments of curvedness, and these judgments were significantly impaired when there were simultaneous variations in the shape index parameter of curvature.

Aging and the perception of depth and 3-D shape from motion parallax.

The ability of younger and older observers to perceive 3-D shape and depth from motion parallax was investigated. In Experiment 1, the observers discriminated among differently curved 3-dimensional (3-D) surfaces in the presence of noise. In Experiment 2, the surfaces' shape was held constant and the amount of front-to-back depth was varied; the observers estimated the amount of depth they perceived.