Is there a relationship between psychiatrist's clinical assessment of medication non-adherence and treatment outcomes? Implications for practice.

Background: There is considerable research on the ramifications of medication non-adherence for adults with psychotic illnesses. Much of which has tightly controlled designs and strict inclusion/exclusion procedures (i.e.

Temporal changes in HIV-related stigma and sexual behaviours: An examination of 22 African countries.

Despite non-trivial success against the HIV epidemic, health experts in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remain concerned about new infections, stigma attitudes, and increasing rates of higher-risk sexual behaviours (HRSBs). Although this concern has produced voluminous scholarship on the behavioural consequences of belonging to stigmatised populations, scholars have only recently examined the behavioural consequences of . Existing work generally finds a positive relationship between stigmatising beliefs and the practice of HRSBs.

Treating drug-resistant tuberculosis in an era of shorter regimens: Insights from rural South Africa.

Background: Progressive interventions have recently improved programmatic outcomes in drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) care in South Africa (SA). Amidst these, a shorter regimen was introduced in 2017 with weak evidence, and has shown mixed results. Outcomes still fall short of national targets, and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has undermined progress to date.

HIV stigma beliefs and unprotected sex among teenagers and young adults in sub-Saharan Africa: The moderating role of mass media exposure.

Despite significant advances in the fight against HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, health experts remain concerned about new infections and risky sexual behavior among teenagers & young adults (T&YAs). These concerns have spurred efforts to buttress a voluminous literature on the social determinants of risky sexual behavior in Africa. Absent from this flurry of new scholarship is a consistent focus on associations between HIV stigma beliefs and risky sexual behavior, especially among T&YAs.

HIV stigma beliefs in context: Country and regional variation in the effects of instrumental stigma beliefs on protective sexual behaviors in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Southern Africa.

Does the relationship between the expression of HIV stigma beliefs and the practice of protective sexual behaviors vary by social context? To answer this question, we apply multilevel techniques to Demographic and Health Survey data from seven low HIV prevalence Latin American and Caribbean countries and seven high HIV prevalence Southern African countries to examine contextual variation in this relationship. We examine whether the relationship between stigma beliefs and sexual behaviors differs across these two sets of countries and across regions within each set of countries. We first find that in high prevalence Southern African countries, one unit increases in HIV stigma beliefs are associated with 8% declines in the odds of practicing protective sexual behaviors.

Rising between-workplace inequalities in high-income countries.

It is well documented that earnings inequalities have risen in many high-income countries. Less clear are the linkages between rising income inequality and workplace dynamics, how within- and between-workplace inequality varies across countries, and to what extent these inequalities are moderated by national labor market institutions. In order to describe changes in the initial between- and within-firm market income distribution we analyze administrative records for 2,000,000,000+ job years nested within 50,000,000+ workplace years for 14 high-income countries in North America, Scandinavia, Continental and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia.

Safety in stigmatizing? Instrumental stigma beliefs and protective sexual behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa.

How are people's expression of HIV stigma beliefs connected to their own personal decisions concerning safe sexual practices? Does this relationship vary across countries and by the national context in which people reside? To answer these questions, we develop and test individual, contextual, and cross-level interactional hypotheses of the impact of instrumental HIV stigma attitudes on several measures of protective sexual behavior. Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 467,656 unpartnered individuals across 34 sub-Saharan African countries, we first find that counterintuitively, conservative HIV stigma attitudes are associated with lower likelihoods of participating in all types of protective sexual behaviors. Second, this negative relationship is most pronounced in the Southern and Eastern regions of Africa, where HIV prevalence is highest.

The role of executive functions and psychiatric symptom severity in the Allen Cognitive Levels.

This study examined the relationship between Allen Cognitive Level (ACL) and psychiatric symptom severity, level of nursing support required to complete activities of daily living (ADLs), and post-hospitalization discharge disposition in a sample of 193 acute psychiatric inpatients. A subsample of 31 participants with acute psychotic disorders were administered three measures of executive functioning in order to examine the convergent validity between ACL and basic sequencing and shifting, phonemic fluency, and visuospatial construction. Findings indicated significant moderate positive correlations between ACL and motor processing speed, basic sequencing and shifting, and phonemic fluency, and a nonsignificant relationship with visuospatial construction.

The influence of labor market changes on first-time medical school applicant pools.

Purpose: To explore whether the number and composition of first-time applicants to U.S. MD-granting medical schools, which have fluctuated over the past 30 years, are related to changes in labor market strength, specifically the unemployment rate and wages.

Residential hierarchy in Los Angeles: an examination of ethnic and documentation status differences.

Longitudinal event history data from two waves of the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey are used to explore racial, ethnic, and documentation status differences in access to desirable neighborhoods. We first find that contrary to recent findings, undocumented Latinos do not replace blacks at the bottom of the locational attainment hierarchy. Whites continue to end up in neighborhoods that are less poor and whiter than minority groups, while all minorities, including undocumented Latinos, end up in neighborhoods that are of similar quality.

How do diet and body mass index impact dental caries in Hispanic elementary school children?

Purpose: The purpose of this observational study was to examine the association between body mass index and dental caries in Hispanic children. The research evaluated the influences of obesity, diet, parent education level, family acculturation, tooth brushing habits and gender as predictors of childhood caries.

Methods: One examiner visually screened 177 third grade students from 3 elementary schools located in southern California's Coachella Valley.

Willingness to participate in organ donation among black Seventh-Day Adventist college students.

Objective And Participants: The authors studied a group of black and white Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) college students (N = 334) to compare the power of religious socialization with racial socialization.

Methods: The authors compared the levels of willingness to donate organs between black and nonblack students in an availability sample.

Results: Black SDA college students were significantly more likely than white SDA students or SDA students of other races to perceive racism in the healthcare system and to believe that doctors would not make heroic efforts to save their lives if they knew they were organ donors; they were 66.

Cardiac event rate in a lifestyle modification program for patients with chronic coronary artery disease.

Background: Several clinical trials have shown that intensive lifestyle modification programs have a significant impact on cardiovascular risk factors.

Hypothesis: This paper is a retrospective analysis to determine the effect of participation in a 2-year lifestyle management program on long-term clinical outcome in patients outside the setting of a clinical trial.

Methods: Patients with angiographically confirmed coronary artery disease (CAD) enrolled in a 2-year program of exercise training, dietary counseling, stress management, and therapeutic education.

Lifestyle modification program in management of patients with coronary artery disease: the clinical experience in a tertiary care hospital.

Objectives: The authors examined clinical outcomes in 71 male and female patients with coronary atherosclerosis who enrolled in a 2-year, independent-living, lifestyle modification program. The findings in 43 patients who completed the program were compared with those in 28 patients who dropped out of the program.

Background: Clinical studies suggest that lifestyle modification of risk factors for coronary atherosclerosis reduces subsequent cardiac events but there are very few reports of the effect of these programs in patients living independently.

Dietary supplementation with fish oil in ulcerative colitis.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of fish oil supplementation in patients with active ulcerative colitis.

Design: Multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trail with 4-month treatment periods (fish oil and placebo) separated by a 1-month washout.

Setting: Four gastroenterology divisions.

Oral mesalamine (Asacol) for mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis. A multicenter study.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a pH-sensitive, polymer-coated oral preparation of mesalamine in patients with mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis.

Design: A multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial.

Setting: Five university-based medical centers, one inflammatory bowel disease center, and three private practice sites.

Prospective trial comparing a combination pH probe-nasogastric tube with aspirated gastric pH in intensive care unit patients.

Upper GI bleeding related to stress ulcer syndrome is estimated to affect as much as 15% of patients in an ICU. Since the occurrence of bleeding after ICU admission may be associated with increased morbidity and mortality, many efforts have been directed at defining optimal therapy for stress ulcer prophylaxis. Titration of intragastric pH with antacids or iv doses of H2-receptor antagonists may prevent stress ulcer bleeding in high-risk ICU patients.

Dupuytren's disease in patients from the Indian sub-continent. Report of ten cases.

We report on ten patients from the Indian sub-continent operated on in our unit for Dupuytren's contracture. Their presentation, operative findings and subsequent course was indistinguishable from Caucasian patients. We believe that Dupuytren's disease among Indians is not so rare as previously thought.

Retrospective analysis of a modified Goeckerman regimen for the treatment of psoriasis.

The records of all patients treated at Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami with a modified Goeckerman regimen from 1972 to 1977 were analyzed. When a stringent definition of "clearing" was applied, it was found that approximately half of the patients were cleared of their psoriasis on this regimen and that the time the patients remained clear following treatment averaged 125 days. The mean number of treatments required for clearing was twenty-four which is in the same range as reported for PUVA therapy.

Effects of emollients on ultraviolet-radiation-induced erythema of the skin.

Several commonly used emollients were studied as to their effectiveness in absorbing and filtering erythema-causing ultraviolet radiation in the 280 to 315 nm range (UVB). Planter's Peanut Oil (Standard Brands) and Mazola Corn Oil (Best Foods Inc) had no effect; Alpha Keri Bath Oil (Westwood Pharmaceuticals), mineral oil, and Johnson's Baby Oil (Johnson & Johnson Co) had minimal effects. Vaseline Petroleum Jelly (Chesebrough-Ponds Inc), petrolatum, and hydrophilic ointment substantially reduced the erythema that was induced by exposure to low doses of UVB radiation.