Near-Peer Teaching in Radiation Oncology: a Proof of Principle Study for Learning Treatment Planning.

Radiotherapy techniques are expanding in range and complexity; therefore, protecting learning environments where residents nurture treatment planning skills is critical. The evidence base for 'near-peer' teaching (NPT), where professionals at a similar career stage assist in each other's learning, is growing in hospital-based disciplines, but has not been reported in radiation oncology. The feasibility of a resident-led teaching programme for developing treatment planning skills was investigated herein with quality improvement (QI) methodology.

Inhaled Epoprostenol to Facilitate Safe Transport in Legionnaires' Disease.

Hypoxemic patients often desaturate further with movement and transport. While inhaled epoprostenol does not improve mortality, improving oxygenation allows for transport of severely hypoxemic patients to tertiary care centers with a related improvement in mortality rates. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) use is increasing in frequency for patients with refractory hypoxemia, and with increasing regionalization of care, safe transport of hypoxemic patients only becomes more important.

Characterizing computer-mediated communication, friendship, and social participation in adults with traumatic brain injury.

Background: Adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) report loss of friendship and reduced social participation after injury, but there is limited information regarding quantity of friends and methods of communication. Our objective was to characterize friendship networks, social participation, and methods of communication, including computer-mediated communication (CMC), used by adults with TBI compared to uninjured adults.

Methods: Participants were 25 adults with TBI and 26 uninjured healthy comparisons (HC) adults, who completed the Participation Assessment with Recombined Tools-Objective (PART-O) and the Social Network Questionnaire (SNQ).

Friendship Quality, Friendship Quantity, and Social Participation in Adults with Traumatic Brain Injury.

Adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) often report reduced social participation and loss of friends, but little is known about quality of friendship after TBI. Our objective was to characterize social participation, friendship quantity, and friendship quality of adults with TBI and a comparison group of uninjured adults. Participants included 18 adults with moderate to severe TBI and 16 of their informant friends; and 18 uninjured adults and 11 of their informant friends.

Perceptions of Psychological Abuse: The Role of Perpetrator Gender, Victim's Response, and Sexism.

It is commonly assumed that male abuse is more damaging than female abuse, just as it previously has been assumed that physical abuse is more harmful than psychological abuse. We sought to examine gender assumptions given that they may cause people to overlook the harm that men experience with a psychologically abusive partner. The current experiment compared perceptions of male and female perpetrators of psychological abuse, and examined whether gendered perceptions were affected by sexist beliefs or participants' own sex.

Interrelationship of homocysteine-cobalamin-folate indices in human subjects of various ages: can hyper-homocyteinemia be relieved with B-12 supplementation?

Objective: To find the effect of aging, nutrition, and gender on Homocysteine-Cobalamin-Folate (HCF) Triad and to determine if B-12 supplementation decreases high levels of homocysteine.

Methods: In 192 subjects, blood indices were determined to study the relationship of HCF triad to age and gender, 28 had low holotranscobalmin (TC II), and five had low serum cobalamin. Thirty-nine of the subjects who had hyperhomocysteinemia were daily given 100 mcg B-12 for three months.

Transcobalamin II 775G>C polymorphism and indices of vitamin B12 status in healthy older adults.

A common polymorphism (775G>C) in the vitamin B12 transport protein, transcobalamin II (TCII), has been identified in which proline replaces arginine at codon 259. We determined the influence of TCII genotype on indices of B12 status, including total serum B12, the amount of B12 bound to TCII (holoTCII), methylmalonic acid, and homocysteine, in 128 healthy older adults (ages 40-88 years). Mean total B12 and homocysteine concentrations were not significantly different among the 3 genotypes.