Lumbar Facet Joint Fluid: A Reliable Sign of Lumbar Instability.

Lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis (LDS) is a prevalent condition among the elderly population. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is often the first investigative modality if indicated clinically. However, the standard supine position used during an MRI may fail to detect dynamic instability.

Family physicians' and trainees' experiences regarding cancer screening with patients with intellectual disability: An interpretive description study.

People with intellectual disability receive breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening at lower rates relative to the general population, although the reasons for this disparity are largely unknown. Research, both with the general population and specific to people with intellectual disability, has revealed that a family physician's recommendation for cancer screening or continuity of primary care may increase screening rates. We interviewed family physicians and family medicine trainees regarding their experiences recommending cancer screening to patients with intellectual disability.

Primary care providers' attitudes towards individuals with intellectual disability: Associations with experience and demographics.

Primary care providers are the main point of contact with the healthcare system for individuals with intellectual disability, and they may have pre-existing attitudes towards this group that impacts care. We examined whether participants' gender, age, professional status and experience with individuals with intellectual disability were associated with attitudes by surveying 95 family physicians, family medicine trainees and advanced practice nursing students across a Canadian province. Younger participants were more likely to feel that those with intellectual disability are similar to themselves and that individuals with intellectual disability should be empowered to take control of their lives.

Decision making on detection and triage of oral mucosa lesions in community dental practices: screening decisions and referral.

Unlabelled: Oral cancer is a substantial, often unrecognized issue globally, with close to 300 000 new cases reported annually. It is a management conundrum: a cancer site that is easily examined; yet more than 40% of oral cancers are diagnosed at a late stage when prognosis is poor and treatment can be devastating. Opportunistic screening within the dental office could lead to earlier diagnosis and intervention with improved survival.

Fasting insulin and endogenous hormones in relation to premenopausal breast density (Canada).

Purpose: Mammographic breast density (BD) is associated with increased risk of breast cancer. This study asks which circulating metabolic and reproductive biomarkers are associated with BD, particularly dense breast area, in premenopausal women not taking exogenous hormones.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 299 premenopausal women aged 40-49 completed questionnaires, provided a fasting blood sample, had height, weight, percentage body fat, waist and hip measurements taken, and attended a screening mammogram.

Changing communication needs and preferences across the cancer care trajectory: insights from the patient perspective.

Purpose: In this program of research, we sought to expand our understanding of how cancer patients' communication needs and preferences change across the course of their illness trajectory. To address known limitations in the empirical knowledge base, we designed a study capitalizing on representative patient reports as they occurred within time and across experience obtaining care for this disease.

Methods: We used a longitudinal cohort design informed by interpretive description methodology to follow 125 patients over a multi-year period as they reflected on their ongoing experiences with cancer care communication.

Influence of fluorescence on screening decisions for oral mucosal lesions in community dental practices.

Background: Quality of oral screening examinations is dependent upon the experience of the clinician and can vary widely. Deciding when a patient needs to be referred is a critical and difficult decision for general practice clinicians. A device to aid in this decision would be beneficial.

Of Guinea pigs and gratitude: the difficult discourse of clinical trials from the cancer patient perspective.

In an ongoing longitudinal qualitative cohort study of cancer patients' needs and preferences across the cancer journey, we harvested a subset of accounts pertaining to conversations between patients and their clinicians around clinical trials. Recognising these conversations as a departure from the more routine discourses of clinical care, in that they enter into new dimensions of investment and motivation on the part of clinicians, we engaged in both secondary analysis of banked data and focussed interviewing of cancer patients to better understand how cancer patients describe communications in relation to decisions pertaining to clinical trials participation. Using constant comparative techniques informed by the interpretive description approach to applied qualitative methodology to guide a systematic analysis of this set of data, we documented patterns and themes across patient accounts.

Poor communication in cancer care: patient perspectives on what it is and what to do about it.

Background: Communication in cancer care is a recognized problem for patients. Research to date has provided limited relevant knowledge toward solving this problem.

Objective: Our research program aims to understand helpful and unhelpful communication from the patient perspective and to document changes in patient needs and priorities over time.

Homelessness as viewed by incarcerated women: participatory research.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the development, by incarcerated women who were members of a prison participatory health research team, of a survey tool regarding homelessness and housing, the survey findings and recommendations for policy.

Design/methodology/approach: A survey was developed by incarcerated women in a minimum/medium security women's prison in Canada. Associations were examined between socio-demographic factors and reports of difficulty finding housing upon release, homelessness contributing to a return to crime, and a desire for relocation to another city upon release.

The prognostic effect of ethnicity for gastric and esophageal cancer: the population-based experience in British Columbia, Canada.

Background: Gastric and esophageal cancers are among the most lethal human malignancies. Their epidemiology is geographically diverse. This study compares the survival of gastric and esophageal cancer patients among several ethnic groups including Chinese, South Asians, Iranians and Others in British Columbia (BC), Canada.

Prostate cancer support groups, health literacy and consumerism: are community-based volunteers re-defining older men's health?

In this article we describe the connections between prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) and men's health literacy and consumer orientation to health care services. The study findings are drawn from participant observations conducted at 16 PCSGs in British Columbia, Canada and 54 individual interviews that focused on men's experiences of attending group meetings. Men's communication and interactions at PCSGs provide important insights for how men talk about and conceptualize health and illness.

Comparison of two diverse populations, British Columbia, Canada, and Ardabil, Iran, indicates several variables associated with gastric and esophageal cancer survival.

Background: Geographic variation and temporal trends in the epidemiology of esophageal and gastric cancers vary according to both tumor morphology and organ subsite. This study compares 1-year survival of gastric and esophageal cancers between two distinct populations: British Columbia (BC), Canada, and Ardabil, Iran.

Methods: Data for invasive primary esophageal and gastric cancer patients were obtained from the population-based cancer registries for BC and Ardabil.

Masculinities, diet and senior Punjabi Sikh immigrant men: food for Western thought?

The high rates of diabetes and cardiovascular disease among Punjabi Sikh (PS) men are often linked to diet. Although some high fat and sugar foods in both traditional and Western foods negatively influence these illnesses, little is known about what underpins PS immigrant men's dietary practices. This article details the connections between masculinities and diet to reveal how varying gendered ideals can inform and influence the practices of senior PS Canadian immigrant men who attended community-based men's groups.

Breast cancer treatment and ethnicity in British Columbia, Canada.

Background: Racial and ethnic disparities in breast cancer incidence, stage at diagnosis, survival and mortality are well documented; but few studies have reported on disparities in breast cancer treatment. This paper compares the treatment received by breast cancer patients in British Columbia (BC) for three ethnic groups and three time periods. Values for breast cancer treatments received in the BC general population are provided for reference.

Family history, mammographic density, and risk of breast cancer.

Purpose: Mammographic density is a strong and highly heritable risk factor for breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which mammographic density explains the association of family history of breast cancer with risk of the disease.

Subjects And Methods: We carried out three nested case-control studies in screening programs that included in total 2,322 subjects (1,164 cases and 1,158 controls).

Primary health care: applying the principles within a community-based participatory health research project that began in a Canadian women's prison.

Objectives: the purpose of this research was to determine the feasibility of engaging incarcerated women in community-based participatory research and to identify, by and with the women, the health concerns to be addressed.

Design: the integration of primary health care, community-based participatory research, a settings approach to health promotion and transformative action research guided the overall design of this study.

Participants: Incarcerated women, correctional centre staff and academic researchers participated collaboratively.

Comparison of breast cancer survival in two populations: Ardabil, Iran and British Columbia, Canada.

Background: Patterns in survival can provide information about the burden and severity of cancer, help uncover gaps in systemic policy and program delivery, and support the planning of enhanced cancer control systems. The aim of this paper is to describe the one-year survival rates for breast cancer in two populations using population-based cancer registries: Ardabil, Iran, and British Columbia (BC), Canada.

Methods: All newly diagnosed cases of female breast cancer were identified in the Ardabil cancer registry from 2003 to 2005 and the BC cancer registry for 2003.

Sources of health information among Chinese immigrants to the Pacific Northwest.

Background: Chinese immigrants to North America experience cancer-related health disparities and underutilize preventive care. Little is known about Chinese immigrants' sources of health information.

Methods: A population-based survey of Chinese immigrants was conducted in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Seattle, Washington.

Helpful communications during the diagnostic period: an interpretive description of patient preferences.

With a diagnosis of cancer, life changes for patients in a profound manner. The window of time known as cancer diagnosis is one of considerable turbulence and distress for patients. Therefore, diagnosis constitutes a time during which communication with healthcare professionals is of particular importance in setting the stage for the way cancer illness will be experienced.

Patient real-time and 12-month retrospective perceptions of difficult communications in the cancer diagnostic period.

Communication is a notoriously complex challenge in the cancer care context. Our program of research involves exploration of patient-provider communications across the cancer trajectory from the patient perspective.Toward this end, we have been following a cohort of 60 cancer patients, representing a range of tumor sites, from immediately after diagnosis through to recovery, chronic, or advanced disease.

A cross-border comparison of hepatitis B testing among chinese residing in Canada and the United States.

Background: The Western Pacific region has the highest level of endemic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the world, with the Chinese representing nearly one-third of infected persons globally. HBV carriers are potentially infectious to others and have an increased risk of chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Studies from the U.

How prostate cancer support groups do and do not survive: British Columbian perspectives.

Many prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) have formed in North America during the past decade, yet their operation or factors influencing sustainability are poorly understood. This article reports micro (intragroup), meso (intergroup), and macro (group/structure) analyses drawn from the fieldwork and participant observations conducted for an ethnographic study of PCSGs based in British Columbia, Canada. The findings indicate that effective group leadership is integral to group sustainability and the recruitment and retention of attendees.

Time-related communication skills from the cancer patient perspective.

Objective: Although it is well recognized that skilled communication is an essential element of effective cancer care, lack of time to communicate is often cited as an explanation for the ongoing cancer care communications problems patients report. In this study, we sought to answer the question: How do cancer patients describe and explain the effects of health care communication upon their experience of time?

Methods: We conducted a qualitative secondary analysis, using interpretive description methodology, on a large data set that comprised transcribed interview data from two studies of cancer communication from the patient perspective. One primary study represented a cross-sectional study of helpful and unhelpful communications (n=200) and the other a longitudinal study of changes in communication needs and preferences over the illness trajectory (n=60).

Connecting humor, health, and masculinities at prostate cancer support groups.

Objective: Many commentaries about men's health practices and masculinities indicate that men do not typically engage with self-health or acknowledge illness, let alone openly discuss their health concerns with other men. Prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) appear to run contrary to such ideals, yet the factors that influence men's attendance and engagement at group meetings are poorly understood. As part of a larger PCSG study, we noticed that humor was central to many group interactions and this prompted us to examine the connections between humor, health, and masculinities.