Linking genetic counseling communication skills to patient outcomes and experiences using a community-engagement and provider-engagement approach: research protocol for the GC-PRO mixed methods sequential explanatory study.

Introduction: In over 50 years since the genetic counseling (GC) profession began, a systematic study of GC communication skills and patient-reported outcomes in actual sessions across multiple clinical specialties has never been conducted. To optimize GC quality and improve efficiency of care, the field must first be able to comprehensively measure GC skills and determine which skills are most critical to achieving positive patient experiences and outcomes. This study aims to characterise GC communication skills using a novel and pragmatic measure and link variations in communication skills to patient-reported outcomes, across clinical specialties and with patients from diverse backgrounds in the USA.

Exercise Prescription Practices Among Mental Health Professionals on College Campuses: Testing the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model.

Background: The co-occurrence of physical inactivity and poor mental health in the college student population can lead to chronic health issues that have negative short-term effects (e.g., academic success).

The development and preliminary evaluation of the Genetic Counseling Skills Checklist.

Genetic counseling (GC) relies on communication to help people understand and adapt to genetic contributions of disease, and there is need for a practical and reliable method of comprehensively documenting GC communication skills without intensive coding. To this end, we created a novel process measure called the Genetic Counseling Skills Checklist (GCSC), utilizing previously validated measures, communication/counseling frameworks, and prior research findings. A multistage iterative process was used to develop, evaluate, and modify the GCSC to improve its clarity, usability, and content validity.

The problem of Mycobacterium abscessus complex: multi-drug resistance, bacteriophage susceptibility and potential healthcare transmission.

Objectives: Mycobacterium abscessus complex is responsible for 2.6-13.0% of all non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary infections and these are notoriously difficult to treat due to the complex regimens required, drug resistance and adverse effects.

The Functional External Memory Aid Tool Version 2.0: A How-To Clinical Guide.

Purpose: Although compensatory cognitive rehabilitation is a common treatment approach for adults with cognitive-communication disorders, there are few assessment tools available to support clinicians in developing person-centered treatment plans. In addition to understanding a client's cognitive and functional abilities, it is also important to understand how they compensate for their weaknesses, specifically with external aids (e.g.

Nebulized Bacteriophage in a Patient With Refractory Lung Disease.

An elderly man with refractory lung disease previously developed anti-phage neutralizing antibodies while receiving intravenous phage therapy. Subsequent phage nebulization resulted in transient weight gain, decreased C-reactive protein, and reduced burden. Weak sputum neutralization may have limited the outcomes, but phage resistance was not a contributing factor.

Phage Therapy of Mycobacterium Infections: Compassionate Use of Phages in 20 Patients With Drug-Resistant Mycobacterial Disease.

Background: Nontuberculous Mycobacterium infections, particularly Mycobacterium abscessus, are increasingly common among patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic bronchiectatic lung diseases. Treatment is challenging due to intrinsic antibiotic resistance. Bacteriophage therapy represents a potentially novel approach.

Host and pathogen response to bacteriophage engineered against Mycobacterium abscessus lung infection.

Two mycobacteriophages were administered intravenously to a male with treatment-refractory Mycobacterium abscessus pulmonary infection and severe cystic fibrosis lung disease. The phages were engineered to enhance their capacity to lyse M. abscessus and were selected specifically as the most effective against the subject's bacterial isolate.

Bacteriophage treatment of disseminated cutaneous Mycobacterium chelonae infection.

Mycobacterium chelonae is a rare cause of chronic disseminated cutaneous infections in immunocompromised patients. Multidrug-resistant M. chelonae infections present a challenge for treatment, and prolonged antimicrobial courses lead to significant toxicities and further antimicrobial resistance.

Scheduling math practice: Students' underappreciation of spacing and interleaving.

Many randomized controlled experiments in the classroom have found that mathematics learning is improved dramatically when practice problems of one kind are distributed across multiple assignments (spaced) and mixed with other kinds of problems (interleaved). In two studies, we investigated students' knowledge of spacing and interleaving. In Study 1, 193 undergraduates designed learning schedules for a hypothetical math class.

Application of Bacteriophages for Mycobacterial Infections, from Diagnosis to Treatment.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other non-tuberculous mycobacteria are responsible for a variety of different infections affecting millions of patients worldwide. Their diagnosis is often problematic and delayed until late in the course of disease, requiring a high index of suspicion and the combined efforts of clinical and laboratory colleagues. Molecular methods, such as PCR platforms, are available, but expensive, and with limited sensitivity in the case of paucibacillary disease.

Understanding the perceptions of sedentary college students' engagement in physical activity: application of the theory of planned behavior.

Objective: To understand salient beliefs related to physical activity (PA) in sedentary college students.

Participants: Thirty-seven students from a large research university participating in a larger research project were subsequently invited to participate in small focus groups.

Methods: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior as a framework, semi-structured focus groups were conducted to understand the perceptions of using mobile technology as a tool to increase PA.

Associations Between Multiple Health-Promoting Behaviors and Subjective Well-Being in High School Age Youth.

Background: Conceptualizations of health have expanded to include indicators of adolescents' physical and mental wellness, rather than solely the absence of diseases or disorders. Although extensive research has identified links between mental and physical wellness, few studies have investigated the relationship between health promotion and happiness, particularly in adolescent populations who may be at particular risk for engaging in health-compromising behaviors, such as alcohol consumption.

Methods: This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between 12 health-promoting behaviors and subjective well-being in a sample of 450 high school students from 2 states.

Masked analysis for small-scale cluster randomized controlled trials.

Researchers conducting small-scale cluster randomized controlled trials (RCTs) during the pilot testing of an intervention often look for evidence of promise to justify an efficacy trial. We developed a method to test for intervention effects that is adaptive (i.e.

Mycobacteriophage-antibiotic therapy promotes enhanced clearance of drug-resistant Mycobacterium abscessus.

Infection by multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium abscessus is increasingly prevalent in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, leaving clinicians with few therapeutic options. A compassionate study showed the clinical improvement of a CF patient with a disseminated M. abscessus (GD01) infection, following injection of a phage cocktail, including phage Muddy.

Phage Therapy for Antibiotic-Resistant Bacterial Infections.

Antibiotic resistance in bacterial pathogens presents a substantial threat to the control of infectious diseases. Development of new classes of antibiotics has slowed in recent years due to pressures of cost and market profitability, and there is a strong need for new antimicrobial therapies. The therapeutic use of bacteriophages has long been considered, with numerous anecdotal reports of success.

Potent antibody-mediated neutralization limits bacteriophage treatment of a pulmonary Mycobacterium abscessus infection.

An 81-year-old immunocompetent patient with bronchiectasis and refractory Mycobacterium abscessus lung disease was treated for 6 months with a three-phage cocktail active against the strain. In this case study of phage to lower infectious burden, intravenous administration was safe and reduced the M. abscessus sputum load tenfold within one month.

Toward a Phage Cocktail for Tuberculosis: Susceptibility and Tuberculocidal Action of Mycobacteriophages against Diverse Mycobacterium tuberculosis Strains.

The global health burden of human tuberculosis (TB) and the widespread antibiotic resistance of its causative agent warrant new strategies for TB control. The successful use of a bacteriophage cocktail to treat a infection suggests that phages could play a role in tuberculosis therapy. To assemble a phage cocktail with optimal therapeutic potential for tuberculosis, we have explored mycobacteriophage diversity to identify phages that demonstrate tuberculocidal activity and determined the phage infection profiles for a diverse set of strains spanning the major lineages of human-adapted strains of the complex.

The Prophage and Plasmid Mobilome as a Likely Driver of Mycobacterium abscessus Diversity.

is an emerging pathogen that is often refractory to antibiotic control. Treatment is further complicated by considerable variation among clinical isolates in both their genetic constitution and their clinical manifestations. Here, we show that the prophage and plasmid mobilome is a likely contributor to this variation.

Mycobacterium abscessus Strain Morphotype Determines Phage Susceptibility, the Repertoire of Therapeutically Useful Phages, and Phage Resistance.

is an opportunistic pathogen whose treatment is confounded by widespread multidrug resistance. The therapeutic use of bacteriophages against infections offers a potential alternative approach, although the spectrum of phage susceptibilities among isolates is not known. We determined the phage infection profiles of 82 recent clinical isolates and find that colony morphotype-rough or smooth-is a key indicator of phage susceptibility.

CRISPY-BRED and CRISPY-BRIP: efficient bacteriophage engineering.

Genome engineering of bacteriophages provides opportunities for precise genetic dissection and for numerous phage applications including therapy. However, few methods are available for facile construction of unmarked precise deletions, insertions, gene replacements and point mutations in bacteriophages for most bacterial hosts. Here we describe CRISPY-BRED and CRISPY-BRIP, methods for efficient and precise engineering of phages in Mycobacterium species, with applicability to phages of a variety of other hosts.

A Mycobacterial Systems Resource for the Research Community.

Functional characterization of bacterial proteins lags far behind the identification of new protein families. This is especially true for bacterial species that are more difficult to grow and genetically manipulate than model systems such as and To facilitate functional characterization of mycobacterial proteins, we have established a Mycobacterial Systems Resource (MSR) using the model organism This resource focuses specifically on 1,153 highly conserved core genes that are common to many mycobacterial species, including , in order to provide the most relevant information and resources for the mycobacterial research community. The MSR includes both biological and bioinformatic resources.

Speech-Language Pathologist Involvement in Multi-Tiered System of Supports Questionnaire: Advances in Interprofessional Practice.

Purpose This article describes the development and initial validation of the Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) Involvement in Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Questionnaire. It was developed to measure the extent to which SLPs are involved in MTSS at their school site(s). Method A total of 567 SLPs practicing in the United States responded to up to 39 Likert-type items meant to reflect six domains: scope of practice, professional development, leadership, consulting/collaborating, assessment and analysis, and intervention.