Early Predictors of Performance Deficiencies in Academic Faculty: Pre-Employment Red Flags.

Objective: To determine whether faculty who had red flags (unprofessional behavior, delayed response to queries, or delayed submission of required documentation) during pre-employment were more likely to have performance deficiencies than faculty who did not have red flags.

Methods: The study included 187 faculty consecutively hired in a Department of Pediatrics in a large academic health system from 2013 to 2018. Faculty with and without pre-employment red flags were compared to identify the proportion who had subsequent performance deficiencies related to documentation, unprofessional behavior, performance, or premature departure from the faculty.

The Effect of the Move More Pack on the Physical Activity of Cancer Survivors: Protocol for a Randomized Waiting List Control Trial with Process Evaluation.

Background: Physical activity can improve many common side effects of cancer treatment as well as improve physical function and quality of life (QOL). In addition, physical activity can improve survival rate and reduce cancer recurrence. Despite these benefits, only 23% of cancer survivors in England are active to recommended levels.

Physical activity levels and barriers to exercise referral among patients with cancer.

Objective: Physical activity after cancer is associated with a lower rate of adverse effects and better survival. The objectives of this study were to assess the exercise levels of people living with and beyond cancer attending a local oncology unit, and explore their attitudes to supervised exercise referral.

Methods: 134 patients attending the oncology unit over a 2 month period were approached to complete a questionnaire about their exercise levels and barriers to exercise.

Non-specific mechanisms in orthodox and CAM management of low back pain (MOCAM): theoretical framework and protocol for a prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Components other than the active ingredients of treatment can have substantial effects on pain and disability. Such 'non-specific' components include: the therapeutic relationship, the healthcare environment, incidental treatment characteristics, patients' beliefs and practitioners' beliefs. This study aims to: identify the most powerful non-specific treatment components for low back pain (LBP), compare their effects on patient outcomes across orthodox (physiotherapy) and complementary (osteopathy, acupuncture) therapies, test which theoretically derived mechanistic pathways explain the effects of non-specific components and identify similarities and differences between the therapies on patient-practitioner interactions.

The role of behavioural modification and exercise in the management of cancer-related fatigue to reduce its impact during and after cancer treatment.

Background: Fatigue is a symptom that can occur during treatment as an acute side effect but can also result in persistent fatigue as a long-term side effect or late effect.

Materials And Methods: We undertook a narrative review of the current literature and discuss the current evidence of assessment of fatigue and we specifically focus on the role of promoting behavioural change and focused rehabilitation to minimise these long-term effects and update the literature relating to this area from 2012 to date.

Results: We suggest there are behavioural change models that can be scaled up to enable patients to manage long-term fatigue using exercise.

Evaluating eHealth: how to make evaluation more methodologically robust.

In the third in a series of articles on evaluating eHealth, Richard Lilford and colleagues consider the evaluation of health IT systems as they are rolled out following preimplementation testing.

Structural magnetic resonance imaging-derived biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease.

The development and validation of biomarkers for prediction, diagnosis and tracking of progression of Alzheimer's disease are both increasingly important. As potential pharmaceutical agents are developed for Alzheimer's disease, their efficacy needs to be assessed. When medications become available, those subjects who may derive most benefit from such treatments need to be selected and their response to treatment monitored.