Functional independence trajectories over 5 years in older veterans with traumatic brain injury: A model systems study.

Background: Research on older adults who sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) has predominantly been on civilian, nonveteran populations. Military populations experience higher rates of TBI and often experience the additive effects of TBI and other comorbid disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder and/or substance use that may increase disability over time.

Objective: To investigate predictors of functional independence trajectories over the 5 years after TBI in veterans 55 years or older at injury.

Protective factors for adverse childhood experiences: Scoping review and evidence gap map.

Objective: Adverse childhood experiences (ACES) negatively impact mental, physical, and behavioral health of adults. To develop empirically supported interventions to reduce the impact of ACES, we need to have a strong empirical base of research on modifiable protective factors that reduce the link between ACES and health outcomes. The current review is focused on assessing the state of the literature on modifiable protective factors on the ACE-health outcome relationship in adults.

Does the Chronic Stress of Everyday Discrimination or Race Itself Better Predict AD Onset Risk?

Using evidence from the Health and Retirement Study, we explore racial disparities in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) onset risk. From a stress process perspective, there is substantial evidence in the literature that everyday discrimination is a chronic strain for Black individuals that acts as a social determinant of illness. However, few studies have examined specific relationships between this social stressor, race, and AD onset risk.

Predictors of High School and College Graduation After Sustaining a Moderate-to-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: To identify early predictors of US high school and college graduation after moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation and community.

Participants: TBI Model Systems participants, aged 16 to 24 years, enrolled as high school or college students at time of injury.

Higher Frequency of Acute Occupational Therapy Services Is Associated With Reduced Hospital Readmissions.

Importance: Hospital readmissions are associated with poor patient outcomes, including higher risk for mortality, nutritional concerns, deconditioning, and higher costs.

Objective: To evaluate how acute occupational therapy service delivery factors affect readmission risk.

Design: Cross-sectional, retrospective study.

Topical clonazepam for burning mouth syndrome: Is it efficacious in patients with anxiety or depression?

Background: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic disorder characterised by pain in the oral cavity without clinically evident causative lesions. The aetiology of this condition is poorly understood, and treatment can be challenging.

Method: A retrospective review of the medical records of 82 patients with BMS was performed.

Meaning matters: Measuring the mental illness identity.

Drawing on stigma and identity research, we propose and examine quantitative measures of mental illness as a stigmatized identity. Using a web-based panel survey of 1453 adults, we ask individuals who identified as having mental health concerns (n = 1067) to rate adjective-pairs that represent stereotypes associated with mental illness derived from stigma research. Two dimensions of the mental illness identity emerged in our data: Dangerousness and Weakness.

Race/Ethnicity and Community Participation Among Veterans and Service Members With Traumatic Brain Injury: A VA Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems Study.

Objective: To examine racial/ethnic disparities in community participation among veterans and active duty service members with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Setting: Five Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) TBI Model Systems (TBIMS) Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers (PRCs). Participants: Three hundred forty-two community-dwelling adults (251 White, 34 Black, and 57 Hispanic) with TBI enrolled in the VA TBIMS National Database who completed a 1-year follow-up interview.

Employment, health outcomes, and life satisfaction after spinal cord injury: comparison of veterans and nonveterans.

Study Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To explore differences between veterans and nonveterans with spinal cord injury (SCI) for employment, health, and satisfaction with life outcomes after controlling for demographic and injury characteristics.

Setting: Hospitals in the Spinal Cord Injury Model System of care.

Evaluation of neutron and gamma dose in a new deuterium-deuterium fusion neutron generator facility using MCNP and experimental methods.

A deuterium-deuterium (D-D) neutron generator facility has been developed with a wide range of applications in mind. D-D neutron generators provide a safe, convenient, and low-cost solution for the production of thermal, epithermal, and fast neutrons for laboratory and industrial applications. The regulatory burden for operating one of these generators is small as it contains no radioactive material and produces no radiation when turned off.

Race/Ethnicity and Retention in Traumatic Brain Injury Outcomes Research: A Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Database Study.

Objective: To investigate the contribution of race/ethnicity to retention in traumatic brain injury (TBI) research at 1 to 2 years postinjury.

Setting: Community.

Participants: With dates of injury between October 1, 2002, and March 31, 2013, 5548 whites, 1347 blacks, and 790 Hispanics enrolled in the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Database.

Usability of a Smartphone Application to Support the Prevention and Early Intervention of Anxiety in Youth.

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric problems in youth, fail to spontaneously remit, and place some youth at risk for additional behavioral and emotional difficulties. Efforts to target anxiety have resulted in evidence-based interventions but the resulting prevention effects are relatively small, often weakening over time. Mobile health (mHealth) tools could be of use to strengthen the effects of anxiety prevention efforts.

'We have to discuss it': cancer patients' advance care planning impressions following educational information about cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Objective: Most cancer patients desire information about care options at the end of life, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Communicating such care options can be challenging and is part of advance care planning (ACP). Our prior studies with video educational media produced data on patients' categoric preferences (yes/no/unsure) for CPR; however, the thematic underpinnings of these educated preferences in patients treated for advanced cancer aren't well known.

Randomized controlled trials in adult traumatic brain injury: a review of compliance to CONSORT statement.

Objective: To describe the extent to which adherence to Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in adult traumatic brain injury (TBI) has improved over time.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases were searched from inception to September 2013.

Study Selection: Primary report of RCTs in adult TBI.

Pharmacogenomic modeling of circulating tumor and invasive cells for prediction of chemotherapy response and resistance in pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: Despite a challenging prognosis, modern cytotoxic therapy can induce tumor responses and extend life in pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Pharmacogenomic (PGx) modeling of tumor tissue can predict the efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents in preclinical cancer models. We hypothesized that PGx profiling of circulating tumor and invasive cells (CTIC) isolated from peripheral blood could predict tumor response, progression, and resistance.

Influence of biochemical composition on endplate cartilage tensile properties in the human lumbar spine.

Endplate cartilage integrity is critical to spine health and is presumably impaired by deterioration in biochemical composition. Yet, quantitative relationships between endplate biochemical composition and biomechanical properties are unavailable. Using endplate cartilage harvested from human lumbar spines (six donors, ages 51-67 years) we showed that endplate biochemical composition has a significant influence on its equilibrium tensile properties and that the presence of endplate damage associates with a diminished composition-function relationship.

A randomized controlled trial of a cardiopulmonary resuscitation video in advance care planning for progressive pancreas and hepatobiliary cancer patients.

Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an important advance directive (AD) topic in patients with progressive cancer; however such discussions are challenging.

Objective: This study investigates whether video educational information about CPR engenders broader advance care planning (ACP) discourse.

Methods: Patients with progressive pancreas or hepatobiliary cancer were randomized to an educational CPR video or a similar CPR narrative.

Allegation of ethnic minorities from 1993-2008: an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) study.

Background: Approximately 25% of working-aged Americans with disabilities work full or part time, yet still face discrimination despite the passing of the American's with Disabilities Act (ADA) over 20 years ago.

Objectives: To determine if the proportion of allegations of ADA Title I workplace discrimination with merit closed at any year between 1993 and 2008 differs among Whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians; to determine if there was a change over time from 1993 to 2008 in merit closure rate within each race/ethnicity group; and to determine whether changes over time between 1993 and 2008 in the merit closure rate differ among the race/ethnicity groups.

Methods: Logistic regression was used for this cross-sectional panel study to model the merit closure rate for each ethnic group from 1993 to 2008 using 318,587 charging parties from the EEOC database.

Randomized controlled trials in adult traumatic brain injury.

Background: To optimize strategies for achieving the effectiveness of interdisciplinary interventions, this study conducted a comprehensive literature review of all Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) over the past 30 years.

Method: Three major databases including Medline, PsycINFO and CINAHL were searched, yielding 1176 peer reviewed publications. One hundred RCTs were included, encompassing 55 pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic acute phase trials and 45 rehabilitation and pharmacologic post-acute trials.

Tailoring work-life interventions for culturally diverse caregivers of patients with traumatic brain injury.

With the increasing incidence of traumatic brain injury among culturally diverse families, there has also been increased attention to the dual demands of employment and caregiving. In this article, we contend that culturally diverse caregivers are an understudied group of workers. We examine literature to assist in conceptualizing the relationship between cultural orientation and caregiving, work-life stress, and organizational responses.