A Video-Observed Treatment Strategy to Improve Adherence to Treatment Among Persons Who Inject Drugs Infected With Hepatitis C Virus: Qualitative Study of Stakeholder Perceptions and Experiences.

Background: Direct-acting antiviral medications have the potential to eliminate the hepatitis C virus (HCV) epidemic among people who inject drugs; yet, suboptimal adherence remains a barrier. Directly observed treatment (DOT), an effective strategy for optimizing adherence, has been frequently implemented in opioid treatment programs but less commonly in community health settings due to the heavy burden of daily visits. An alternative is video-observed therapy (VOT), which uses mobile health technology to monitor adherence.

Adherence to adding inhaled corticosteroids to rescue therapy in a pragmatic trial with adults with asthma: A pilot study.

Background: Underuse of guideline-recommended inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) controller therapy is a risk factor for greater asthma burden. ICS concomitantly used with rescue inhalers (Patient-Activated Reliever-Triggered ICS ['PARTICS']) reduced asthma exacerbations in efficacy trials, but whether PARTICS is effective in pragmatic trials is unknown.

Objective: We conducted this pilot to determine the feasibility of executing a large-scale pragmatic PARTICS trial and to improve study protocols.

Experimental evidence for species-dependent responses in leaf shape to temperature: Implications for paleoclimate inference.

In many woody dicot plant species, colder temperatures correlate with a greater degree of leaf dissection and with larger and more abundant leaf teeth (the serrated edges along margins). The measurement of site-mean characteristics of leaf size and shape (physiognomy), including leaf dissection and tooth morphology, has been an important paleoclimate tool for over a century. These physiognomic-based climate proxies require that all woody dicot plants at a site, regardless of species, change their leaf shape rapidly and predictably in response to temperature.

A Qualitative Study of New York Medical Student Views on Implicit Bias Instruction: Implications for Curriculum Development.

Background: For at least the past two decades, medical educators have worked to improve patient communication and health care delivery to diverse patient populations; despite efforts, patients continue to report prejudice and bias during their clinical encounters. Targeted instruction in implicit bias recognition and management may promote the delivery of equitable care, but students at times resist this instruction. Little guidance exists to overcome this resistance and to engage students in implicit bias instruction; instruction over time could lead to eventual skill development that is necessary to mitigate the influence of implicit bias on clinical practice behaviors.

Comparison of hand hygiene monitoring using the 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene method versus a wash in-wash out method.

Background: One strategy to promote improved hand hygiene is to monitor health care workers' adherence to recommended practices and give feedback. For feasibility of monitoring, many health care facilities assess hand hygiene practices on room entry and exit (wash in-wash out). It is not known if the wash in-wash out method is comparable with a more comprehensive approach, such as the World Health Organization's My 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene method.

An integrative medicine approach to asthma: who responds?

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to develop a better understanding of which patients with chronic illness tend to respond to integrative medicine interventions, by identifying a set of characteristics or qualities that are associated with a positive outcome in a randomized clinical trial of an integrative medicine approach to asthma that incorporated journaling, yoga breathing instruction, and nutritional manipulation and supplementation.

Design: The study used qualitative analysis using a grounded-theory approach comparing a group of responders in the parent trial (based on the Asthma Quality of Life Scale) to a group of nonresponders.

Results: Twelve (12) responders and 8 nonresponders were interviewed.