Informal ready-to-eat food vending governance in urban Nigeria: Formal and informal lenses guiding the practice.

Informal ready-to-eat food vending is an important, cheap, convenient, accessible and readily available urban food supply sector that has become an increasingly important part of the diets of people in developing cities in Africa and throughout other contexts in the Global South. Over decades, despite challenges associated with health and hygiene, street foods have been informally accepted as part of the urban food supply system, particularly among the urban poor. Despite the importance of street foods to food security and employment needs in urban Nigeria and elsewhere, very little is known about the governance arrangements (whether formal or informal) revolving around their food provisioning practices.

Informal ready-to-eat food vending: a social practice perspective on urban food provisioning in Nigeria.

The way people access food in Nigeria is of central relevance for food security, health and sustainability. One key trend is the shift from household-based to primarily out-of-home food consumption as an increasing majority of the urban poor derive their daily nutrient intake from street foods. However, few studies have yet explored the role of the ready-to-eat food vending sector in urban food systems and the diets of the urban poor.

Using needs assessment surveys to understand priorities for pregnant and parenting community college students: Comparing US and foreign-born parents.

Objective: To better understand differing needs of US and foreign-born pregnant and/or parenting community college students.

Participants/methods: We conducted online survey with 608 students living in a rural Midwestern state who were pregnant and/or parenting, 15% of whom were born outside of the United States. We used chi-square tests to determine differences between US and foreign-born students.

Perspectives on Implementation: Challenges and Successes of a Program Designed to Support Expectant and Parenting Community College Students in Rural, Midwestern State.

Objectives: Expectant and parenting students (EPS) at community colleges are an underserved and often under-resourced group. In a rural, Midwestern state, the department of public health was awarded the Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) grant to assist this population. This paper outlines the results of the implementation evaluation and offers suggestions for programs and evaluators working with this population in the community college setting.

Left Main Chronic Total Occlusion Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Case Series.

Background: Left main coronary artery (LMCA) chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has received limited study.

Methods: We reviewed 4436 CTO-PCIs performed in 4340 patients between 2012 and 2018 at 25 sites. LMCA-CTO-PCI was performed in 20 cases (0.

Leveraging digital technology to intervene on personality processes to promote healthy aging.

The scientific evidence is clear that personality processes (particularly conscientiousness and neuroticism) play an important role in healthy aging. Assuming it would be desirable to assist individuals to change their personality in directions that would promote healthy aging, the next step is designing interventions for the task. During the past decade, technological advances have made it possible to develop and evaluate interventions delivered via web and mobile digital technologies.

MySafeRx: a mobile technology platform integrating motivational coaching, adherence monitoring, and electronic pill dispensing for enhancing buprenorphine/naloxone adherence during opioid use disorder treatment: a pilot study.

Background: While buprenorphine/naloxone (B/N) is approved for opioid use disorder treatment, effective delivery of B/N comes with significant challenges. Most notably, many patients do not take medication daily as prescribed; this non-adherence worsens treatment outcomes, increases healthcare costs, and leads to persistent worries of diversion among providers and policymakers. The present study examines the feasibility, usability, and acceptability of MySafeRx-a mobile technology platform integrating motivational coaching, adherence monitoring, and electronic pill dispensing designed to address the challenges of office-based opioid treatment (OBOT) with B/N.

Applying novel technologies and methods to inform the ontology of self-regulation.

Self-regulation is a broad construct representing the general ability to recruit cognitive, motivational and emotional resources to achieve long-term goals. This construct has been implicated in a host of health-risk behaviors, and is a promising target for fostering beneficial behavior change. Despite its clear importance, the behavioral, psychological and neural components of self-regulation remain poorly understood, which contributes to theoretical inconsistencies and hinders maximally effective intervention development.

Brief Web-Based Interventions for Young Adult Smokers With Severe Mental Illnesses: A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Study.

Significance: About 50% of young adults with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other severe mental illnesses smoke tobacco, but few studies have evaluated interventions for this group.

Methods: We conducted a randomized pilot study among 58 young adult smokers with severe mental illnesses comparing a brief interactive web-based motivational tool, Let's Talk About Smoking, to computerized standard education from the National Cancer Institute. An additional 23 subjects received minimal tobacco assessment at baseline and no intervention, providing a comparison condition for naturalistic cessation behavior.

Factors Associated With Classification of Hyperplastic Polyps as Sessile Serrated Adenomas/Polyps on Morphologic Review.

Background: Distinguishing sessile serrated adenomas/polyp (SSA/P), a subset of serrated polyps, from hyperplastic polyps (HPs) remains a challenge and has surveillance implications. Our goal was to identify clinical and pathologic factors associated with serrated polyps originally read as HPs being reassessed as SSA/Ps versus confirmed as HPs.

Methods: Data were collected from consecutive patients with a right-sided HP and a corresponding comparison group with conventional adenomas between 1993 and 2003.

Prevalence and Quality of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Supported Employment in the United States.

The individual placement and support (IPS) model of supported employment for people with serious mental illness is an evidence-based practice. Factors including a national learning community promoting IPS and enforcement of the Supreme Court's Olmstead decision have spurred the growth of IPS nationwide. In this study we first evaluated the national prevalence and quality of IPS programs.

Characteristics and Predictors of Intention to use Cessation Treatment among Smokers with Schizophrenia: Young Adults Compared to Older Adults.

Background: Over half of young adults with schizophrenia smoke. Quitting before age 30 could prevent some of the disparate morbidity and mortality due to smoking-related diseases. However, little research has addressed smoking in this group nor evaluated strategies to help young adults with schizophrenia quit smoking.

Barriers and Facilitators to Sustainment of an Evidence-Based Supported Employment Program.

Large-scale initiatives to expand evidence-based practices are often poorly implemented and rarely endure. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived barriers and facilitators to sustainment of an evidence-based supported employment program, Individual Placement and Support (IPS). Within a 2-year prospective study of sustainment among 129 IPS programs in 13 states participating in a national learning community, we interviewed IPS team leaders and coded their responses to semi-structured interviews using a conceptual framework adapted from another large-scale implementation study.

Sustaining and Expanding Evidence-Based Supported Employment: The Role of State Leaders Participating in a Learning Community.

State leaders often promote implementation of evidence-based practices but have difficulty sustaining and expanding them over time. This paper examines the activities of leaders in 13 states that have successfully implemented, sustained, and expanded evidence-based supported employment, known as Individual Placement and Support (IPS), for 4 to 12 years. We interviewed state leaders from 13 states participating in a learning community regarding the composition of their leadership team, participation in the learning community, interagency collaboration, state policy alignment, financing, training, and monitoring of fidelity and outcome.

Change in P wave morphology after convergent atrial fibrillation ablation.

Convergent atrial fibrillation ablation involves extensive epicardial as well as endocardial ablation of the left atrium. We examined whether it changes the morphology of the surface P wave. We reviewed electrocardiograms of 29 patients who underwent convergent ablation for atrial fibrillation.

The financial impact of a clinical academic practice partnership.

New strategies to provide clinical experiences for nursing students have caused nursing schools and hospitals to evaluate program costs. A Microsoft Excel model, which captures costs and associated benefits, was developed and is described here. The financial analysis shows that the Clinical Academic Practice Program framework for nursing clinical education, often preferred by students, can offer financial advantages to participating hospitals and schools of nursing.

Telephone outreach to increase colon cancer screening in medicaid managed care organizations: a randomized controlled trial.

Purpose: Health Plans are uniquely positioned to deliver outreach to members. We explored whether telephone outreach, delivered by Medicaid managed care organization (MMCO) staff, could increase colorectal cancer (CRC) screening among publicly insured urban women, potentially reducing disparities.

Methods: We conducted an 18-month randomized clinical trial in 3 MMCOs in New York City in 2008-2010, randomizing 2,240 MMCO-insured women, aged 50 to 63 years, who received care at a participating practice and were overdue for CRC screening.

A clinical academic practice partnership: a clinical education redesign.

The clinical academic practice partnership (CAPP), a clinical redesign based on the dedicated education unit concept, was developed and implemented by large, private school of nursing in collaboration with 4 clinical partners to provide quality clinical education, to explore new clinical models for the future, and to test an innovative clinical education design. An executive steering committee consisting of nursing leaders and educators from the school of nursing and the clinical institutions was established as the decision-making and planning components, with several collaborative task forces initiated to conduct the work and to accomplish the goals. This article will describe methods to initiate and to organize the key elements of this dedicated education unit-type clinical model, providing examples and an overview of the steps and elements needed as the development proceeded.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis--heterogeneity revealed through whole genome sequencing.

The emergence of whole genome sequencing (WGS) technologies as primary research tools has allowed for the detection of genetic diversity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) with unprecedented resolution. WGS has been used to address a broad range of topics, including the dynamics of evolution, transmission and treatment. Here, we have analyzed 55 publically available genomes to reconstruct the phylogeny of Mtb, and we have addressed complications that arise during the analysis of publically available WGS data.

Barriers to colorectal cancer screening among publicly insured urban women: no knowledge of tests and no clinician recommendation.

Objectives: To assess barriers to colorectal cancer screening among urban publicly insured women and to evaluate how barriers among underscreened urban women have changed between 2001 and 2007-2008.

Methods: Eligible women were selected using Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MMCO) administrative data. MMCO outreach staff interviewed women by phone between October 2007 and February 2008, and assessed their barriers to colorectal cancer screening.

Human cytomegalovirus US28 found in glioblastoma promotes an invasive and angiogenic phenotype.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infections are seen often in glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) tumors, but whether the virus contributes to GBM pathogenesis is unclear. In this study, we explored an oncogenic role for the G-protein-coupled receptor-like protein US28 encoded by HCMV that we found to be expressed widely in human GBMs. Immunohistochemical and reverse transcriptase PCR approaches established that US28 was expressed in approximately 60% of human GBM tissues and primary cultures examined.

Matching colonoscopy and pathology data in population-based registries: development of a novel algorithm and the initial experience of the New Hampshire Colonoscopy Registry.

Background: The quality of polyp-level data in a population-based registry depends on the ability to match each polypectomy recorded by the endoscopist to a specific diagnosis on the pathology report.

Objective: To review impediments encountered in matching colonoscopy and pathology data in a population-based registry.

Design: New Hampshire Colonoscopy Registry data from August 2006 to November 2008 were analyzed for prevalence of missing reports, discrepancies between colonoscopy and pathology reports, and the proportion of polyps that could not be matched because of multiple polyps submitted in the same container.