Competencies for Training Juvenile Services on Justice-Involved Youth with Traumatic Brain Injury.

Research indicates young individuals with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) in juvenile justice settings lack essential support, mainly due to staff members' insufficient knowledge and skills in TBI-related areas stemming from a lack of relevant professional development. This study aimed to improve services for justice-involved youths with TBI in juvenile correction facilities by establishing empirically validated core competencies tailored to their needs. Through a Delphi study involving experts in juvenile services, juvenile corrections, TBI, transition services, and professional development, we identified and refined a set of 44 competencies distributed across six domains: knowledge (12 competencies), screening (6 competencies), eligibility (3 competencies), assessment (4 competencies), intervention (10 competencies), and community reentry (9 competencies).

Staff Traumatic Brain Injury Skill Builder: Evaluation of an Online Training Program for Paraprofessional Staff Serving Adults With Moderate-Severe TBI.

Objective: To evaluate the online, self-guided, interactive Staff TBI Skill Builder training program for paraprofessional staff.

Design: A within-subjects, nonexperimental evaluation involving 79 paraprofessionals and professionals working across a range of settings. Participants completed a pretest (T1), a posttest immediately upon program completion (T2), and follow-up (T3) 60 days after program completion.

A survey of the training experiences and needs of paraprofessionals serving adults with brain injury.

: To conduct a survey of the training experiences and needs of paraprofessionals (frontline staff) serving adults with moderate-severe TBI from the perspectives of four stakeholder groups: paraprofessionals, professionals, adults living with brain injury, and family members.: Participants were (a) 28 paraprofessionals, (b) 45 professionals, (c) 41 adults living with brain injury, and (d) 22 family members, for a total of 136 participants.: We conducted an online, nationwide survey containing closed and open-ended questions.

Case Study: Management of a Loose Upper Denture Opposed by a Shortened Dental Arch.

For many years, it has been considered necessary to restore posterior support with a bilateral free-end saddle when a full upper denture is opposed by a shortened dental arch. It was thought that this would provide occlusal stability and prevent anterior bite collapse and temporomandibular dysfunction. As free-end saddle partial dentures are often poorly tolerated by patients, this case study tests whether a retentive full-upper denture occluding with a shortened dental arch offers enough to fulfil a patient’s needs.

The development and evaluation of a web-based programme to support problem-solving skills following brain injury.

Background And Aim: Cognitive impairments following brain injury, including difficulty with problem solving, can pose significant barriers to successful community reintegration. Problem-solving strategy training is well-supported in the cognitive rehabilitation literature. However, limitations in insurance reimbursement have resulted in fewer services to train such skills to mastery and to support generalization of those skills into everyday environments.

Systematic instruction of assistive technology for cognition (ATC) in an employment setting following acquired brain injury: A single case, experimental study.

Background: Assistive technology for cognition (ATC) can be an effective means of compensating for cognitive impairments following acquired brain injury. Systematic instruction is an evidence-based approach to training a variety of skills and strategies, including the use of ATC.

Objective: This study experimentally evaluated systematic instruction applied to assistive technology for cognition (ATC) in a vocational setting.

Systematic instruction for individuals with acquired brain injury: results of a randomised controlled trial.

The goal of this study was to evaluate experimentally systematic instruction compared with trial-and-error learning (conventional instruction) applied to assistive technology for cognition (ATC), in a double-blind, pre-test-post-test, randomised controlled trial. Twenty-nine persons with moderate-severe cognitive impairments due to acquired brain injury (15 in systematic instruction group; 14 in conventional instruction) completed the study. Both groups received 12, 45-minute individual training sessions targeting selected skills on the Palm Tungsten E2 personal digital assistant (PDA).

The natural history of serum iron indices for HFE C282Y homozygosity associated with hereditary hemochromatosis.

Background & Aims: There are few longitudinal studies of serum ferritin (SF) and transferrin saturation (TS) levels in individuals homozygous for the C282Y mutation. We characterized the development of elevated iron measures in C282Y homozygotes followed for 12 years.

Methods: From 31,192 people aged 40-69 years at baseline, we identified 203 C282Y homozygotes (95 males), of whom 116 had SF and fasting TS levels measured at baseline (mean age, 55 years) and 86 were untreated and had iron measures at follow-up (mean, 12 years later).

The 2003 West Nile virus United States epidemic: the America's Blood Centers experience.

Background: A detailed assessment of West Nile virus (WNV) yield is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the WNV nucleic acid amplification technology (NAT) screening implemented in 2003.

Study Design And Methods: WNV NAT screening and donation data were compiled from members of America's Blood Centers, which collect nearly 50 percent of the US blood supply. WNV RNA screening was performed with either the Gen-Probe/Chiron Procleix transcription-mediated amplification assay or the Roche TaqScreen polymerase chain reaction.