Publications by authors named "Falls A"

Objective: Many have found racial differences in clinician-patient communication using validated codebooks that represent effective communication. No codebooks used for examining racial differences, however, have included patient input. In this paper, we describe creating codebook with Black patient advocates to determine if we could reliably code discriminatory/valuing communication and assess racial differences in these behaviors.

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Objective: Many have reported racial disparities in self-reported trust in clinicians but have not directly assessed expressions of trust and distrust in physician-patient encounters. We created a codebook to examine racial differences in patient trust and distrust through audio-recorded cardiologist-patient interactions.

Methods: We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial of audio-recorded outpatient cardiology encounters (50 White and 51 Black patients).

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Article Synopsis
  • Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is often marked by positive antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and Raynaud's phenomenon, but a case is presented of a patient with severe, rapidly progressive SSc despite negative ANA and absent RP.
  • The patient experienced serious complications including scleroderma renal crisis, leading to dialysis and a kidney transplant, as well as significant gastrointestinal issues requiring specialized feeding methods.
  • Successful treatment involved multiple medications and resulted in improved skin condition and positive follow-up outcomes, highlighting the need to recognize diverse manifestations of SSc to reduce mortality risks.
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Background/objective: To examine rates of counseling on driving for individuals with osteoarthritis (OA) and/or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and evaluate the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ-DI) as a screening tool for further driving evaluation.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed by individuals recruited via ResearchMatch (a national web-based recruitment tool) between March 5 and April 20, 2020. Individuals with a current US driver's license, ≥18 years old, with self-reported OA and/or RA diagnosis were surveyed about driving difficulty and vehicle modification and completed a HAQ-DI assessment.

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Purpose: To evaluate the 1- and 2-year patency and reintervention rates with the Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent (DES) in long complex femoropopliteal disease.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of 89 consecutive patients (mean age 68.7±9.

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A major goal in the study of human diseases is to assign functions to genes or genetic variants. The model organism Caenorhabditis elegans provides a powerful tool because homologs of many human genes are identifiable, and large collections of genetic vectors and mutant strains are available. However, the delivery of such vector libraries into mutant strains remains a long-standing experimental bottleneck for phenotypic analysis.

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The quick ascendance of the World Wide Web as the dominant vehicle for internet communication has recently made experimentation in a multimedia environment feasible on the Internet. Although web sites containing online psychology demonstrations and experiments for non-handicapped individuals have appeared in recent years (especially in the areas of cognitive and social psychology), there appear to have been few attempts to conduct online experimentation with special populations. We recently completed two online pilot studies of families with Down syndrome or Williams syndrome members: a) A survey that asks (via Likert rating scales, adjective checklists, multiple-choice style questions, and text-entry boxes) about family background, computer use, and temperament of the special needs family member; and b) An experiment (completed by an individual with special needs) that includes auditory and visual digit span tasks and a memory-for-orientation task in which responses are entered via mouse clicks.

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A fast-freeze, cold-stage transmission electron microscopy technique which can incorporate in situ freeze-drying of the sample is described. Its use in elucidating structure in unstained and stained, hydrated and freeze-dried, aqueous vesicular dispersions of biological and chemical interest is demonstrated with vesicles of L-alpha-phosphatidylcholine (bovine phosphatidylcholine) and of the synthetic surfactant sodium 4-(1'-heptylnonyl)benzenesulfonate (SHBS). The contrast features observed in transmission electron microscope images of frozen, hydrated samples are identified and explained with the dynamical theory of electron diffraction.

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