Description and psychometric properties of a prototype to test tactile acuity in the neck.

Background: Clinical tools assessing tactile acuity in people with persistent pain have limitations. Therefore, a novel and semi-automated tool was developed: The Imprint Tactile Acuity Device (iTAD).

Aim: To describe the iTAD prototype and present the psychometric properties of its tactile acuity assessments: the localisation test, the orientation test and the overall score (mean of both tests).

Impact of Age and Antibody Type on Progression From Single to Multiple Autoantibodies in Type 1 Diabetes Relatives.

Context: Islet autoantibodies are markers of type 1 diabetes, and an increase in number of autoantibodies detected during the preclinical phase predicts progression to overt disease.

Objective: To refine the effect of age in relation to islet antibody type on progression from single to multiple autoantibodies in relatives of people with type 1 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: We examined 994 relatives with normal glucose tolerance who were positive for a single autoantibody, followed prospectively in the TrialNet Pathway to Prevention.

Use of Dried Capillary Blood Sampling for Islet Autoantibody Screening in Relatives: A Feasibility Study.

Background: Islet autoantibody testing provides the basis for assessment of risk of progression to type 1 diabetes. We set out to determine the feasibility and acceptability of dried capillary blood spot-based screening to identify islet autoantibody-positive relatives potentially eligible for inclusion in prevention trials.

Materials And Methods: Dried blood spot (DBS) and venous samples were collected from 229 relatives participating in the TrialNet Pathway to Prevention Study.

Global warming and reproductive health.

The largest absolute numbers of maternal deaths occur among the 40-50 million women who deliver annually without a skilled birth attendant. Most of these deaths occur in countries with a total fertility rate of greater than 4. The combination of global warming and rapid population growth in the Sahel and parts of the Middle East poses a serious threat to reproductive health and to food security.

HPV vaccination practices among juvenile justice facilities in the United States.

The juvenile justice setting provides a unique opportunity to administer the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to a high-risk, medically underserved population. We examined current HPV vaccination practices in the United States. Most states (39) offer the HPV vaccine to females committed to juvenile justice facilities.

Medical record review conduction model for improving interrater reliability of abstracting medical-related information.

Medical record review (MRR) is often used in clinical research and evaluation, yet there is limited literature regarding best practices in conducting a MRR, and there are few studies reporting interrater reliability (IRR) from MRR data. The aim of this research was twofold: (a) to develop a MRR abstraction tool and standardize the MRR process and (b) to examine the IRR from MRR data. This study introduces the MRR-Conduction Model, which was used to implement a MRR, and examines the IRR between two abstractors who collected preinjury medical and psychiatric, incident-related medical and postinjury head symptom information from the medical records of 47 neurologically injured workers.

Physiologic responses of sheep to two different methods of papain exposure.

Human emphysema is a progressive, destructive lung disease that produces morphologic and functional heterogeneity throughout its course. Consequently, the mature form of the disease is described by a broad range of anatomic, radiological, and physiologic patterns. This report describes the development and characterization of a sheep model of emphysema that represents many of the essential features of both homogeneous and heterogeneous emphysema.