Exploring community members' perceptions to adopt a Tele-COPD program in rural counties.

Background: Patients diagnosed with COPD residing in rural areas report a lower quality of life. Telehealth addresses geographic barriers by offering routine, technology-based visits, and remote patient monitoring.

Objective: The study objective was to explore adoption perceptions of a tele-COPD program among community members in rural Western North Carolina (WNC) counties.

Men's Attitudes and Behaviors About Skincare and Sunscreen Use Behaviors.

Importance: Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the United States, and men experience higher rates of skin cancer than women. Despite publicized preventative measures, men are less likely than women to use sunscreen.

Objective: To assess men's motivations, behaviors, and preferred product characteristics towards daily sunscreen use.

Measuring patient perspectives on community pharmacy quality: psychometric evaluation of a brief survey.

Measuring patient perspectives of the quality of health care delivery is an essential component of building a patient-centered model of care, which has garnered increasing emphasis under value-based payment models. Although measurements of patient perspectives of physician practices are common, few validated measures are currently available to assess patient perspectives of pharmacy quality. To assess the reliability and validity of a brief measure that assesses patient experiences with the quality of community pharmacy services, referred to as the "patient experience" measure.

Figure-of-Merit Characterization of Hydrogen-Bond Acidic Sorbents for Waveguide-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

The optical properties of several hydrogen-bond acidic sorbent materials are evaluated in situ to assess their suitability for waveguide-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (WERS) of vapor-phase organophosphonates. A number of characteristics critical to WERS are evaluated for each sorbent: infrared absorption, Raman spectral background, and the limit of detection for a test hydrogen-bond-basic analyte (dimethyl methylphosphonate, DMMP). We describe the chemical properties of the sorbents that differentiate their optical properties for sensing.

A Review of Portable Electronic Spirometers: Implications for Asthma Self-Management.

Purpose Of Review: Although portable electronic spirometers allow for at-home lung function monitoring, a comprehensive review of these devices has not yet been conducted. We conducted a systematic search and review of commercially available portable electronic spirometers designed for asthma patient use.

Recent Findings: All devices (N = 16) allowed for monitoring of basic lung function parameters, but only 31% provided in-app videos on how to perform breathing maneuvers.

Factors associated with how often community pharmacists offer and dispense naloxone.

Background: A recent Surgeon General's report encourages people to ask pharmacists about naloxone, but whether pharmacists are well-prepared to respond to these requests is unclear.

Objectives: Determine factors that are associated with how often pharmacists offer and dispense naloxone.

Methods: A convenience sample of 457 community pharmacists in North Carolina completed a 5-min online survey.

A content review of online naloxone Continuing Education courses for pharmacists in states with standing orders.

Background: Many community pharmacists are uncomfortable educating patients about naloxone, an opioid reversal agent.

Objective: To examine whether training materials prepare pharmacists to counsel patients and caregivers about naloxone, online naloxone education materials for pharmacists in the 13 states with standing orders were analyzed.

Methods: Two coders reviewed 12 naloxone training programs and extracted data for 15 topics that were clustered in four categories: background/importance, naloxone products, business/operations, and communication.

A systematic review of school-based interventions that include inhaler technique education.

Background: Proper use of inhaled medication is essential for the successful treatment of childhood asthma; yet, improper inhaler technique among school-aged children is common. There are many schoolbased asthma education programs, but the extent to which these programs teach inhaler technique is unknown.

Methods: We systematically reviewed the literature to identify schoolbased asthma interventions that included inhaler technique instruction.

Urban-Rural Differences in School Nurses' Asthma Training Needs and Access to Asthma Resources.

Purpose: Few studies have examined school nurses preferences' for asthma training. Our purpose was to: 1) assess school nurses' perceived asthma training needs, 2) describe nurses' access to asthma educational resources, and 3) identify urban-rural differences in training needs and access to resources in southern states.

Design And Methods: A convenience sample of school nurses (n=162) from seven counties (two urban and five rural) in North Carolina and South Carolina completed an online, anonymous survey.

A Review of Electronic Devices to Assess Inhaler Technique.

Purpose Of Review: Multiple electronic devices exist that provide feedback on the accuracy of patient inhaler technique. Our purpose is to describe the inhaler technique feedback provided by these devices, including specific technique steps measured, how feedback is displayed, target of feedback (patient, provider, researcher), and compatibility with inhaler type (metered-dose inhaler [MDI], diskus, etc.).

Parent and Clinician Preferences for an Asthma App to Promote Adolescent Self-Management: A Formative Study.

Background: Most youth asthma apps are not designed with parent and clinician use in mind, and rarely is the app development process informed by parent or clinician input.

Objective: This study was conducted to generate formative data on the use, attitudes, and preferences for asthma mHealth app features among parents and clinicians, the important stakeholders who support adolescents with asthma and promote adolescent self-management skills.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study from 2013 to 2014 employing a user-centered design philosophy to acquire feedback from a convenience sample of 20 parents and 6 clinicians.

Adolescent, caregiver, and friend preferences for integrating social support and communication features into an asthma self-management app.

Objectives: This study examines: 1) adolescent preferences for using asthma self-management mobile applications (apps) to interact with their friends, caregivers, medical providers, and other adolescents with asthma and 2) how caregivers and friends would use mobile apps to communicate with the adolescent and serve as sources of support for asthma management.

Methods: We recruited 20 adolescents aged 12-16 years with persistent asthma, their caregivers (n = 20), and friends (n = 3) from two suburban pediatric practices in North Carolina. We gave participants iPods with two preloaded asthma apps and asked them to use the apps for 1 week.

Thermodynamic Control of Isomerizations of Bicyclic Radicals: Interplay of Ring Strain and Radical Stabilization.

The rearrangements of 4-substituted bicyclo[2.2.2]oct-5-en-2-yl radicals, generated from the corresponding Diels-Alder adducts with phenylseleno acrylates by radical-induced reductive deselenocarbonylations, give the 2-substituted bicyclo[3.

Substituent effects on the turn-on kinetics of rhodamine-based fluorescent pH probes.

Fluorescent turn-on probes based on a rhodamine spirolactam (RSL) structure have recently become a popular means of detecting pH, metal ions, and other analytes of interest. RSLs are colorless and non-fluorescent until the target analyte induces opening of the spirocyclic ring system, revealing the fully conjugated and highly fluorescent rhodamine dye. Among RSLs opened by acid, we have observed wide variation in the kinetics of the fluorescence turn-on process such that some probes would not be usable in situations where a rapid reading is desired or the pH fluctuates temporally.