Is glycemia control in Canadians with diabetes individualized? A cross-sectional observational study.

Objective: Diabetes guidelines recommend individualized glycemic targets: tighter control in younger, healthier patients and consideration of more moderate control in the elderly and those with coexisting illnesses. Our objective was to examine whether glycemic control varied by age and comorbidities in Canadian primary care.

Research Design And Methods: Cross-sectional study using data from the electronic medical records of 537 primary care providers across Canada; 30 416 patients with diabetes, aged 40 or above, with at least one encounter and one hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measurement between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2013.

Mechanisms of Change in Diet and Activity in the Make Better Choices 1 Trial.

Objective: The Make Better Choices 1 trial demonstrated that participants with unhealthy diet and activity behaviors who were randomized to increase fruits/vegetables and decrease sedentary leisure achieved greater diet and activity improvement than those randomized to change other pairs of eating and activity behaviors. Participants randomized to decrease saturated fat and increase physical activity achieved the least diet-activity improvement. This study examined which psychological mechanisms mediated the effects of the study treatments on healthy behavior change.

Social embeddedness in an online weight management programme is linked to greater weight loss.

The obesity epidemic is heightening chronic disease risk globally. Online weight management (OWM) communities could potentially promote weight loss among large numbers of people at low cost. Because little is known about the impact of these online communities, we examined the relationship between individual and social network variables, and weight loss in a large, international OWM programme.

Technology Interventions to Curb Obesity: A Systematic Review of the Current Literature.

Obesity is a public health crisis that has reached epidemic proportions. Although intensive behavioral interventions can produce clinically significant weight loss, their cost to implement, coupled with resource limitations, pose significant barriers to scalability. To overcome these challenges, researchers have made attempts to shift intervention content to the Internet and other mobile devices.

Multiple health behaviours: overview and implications.

Background: More remains unknown than known about how to optimize multiple health behaviour change.

Methods: After reviewing the prevalence and comorbidities among major chronic disease risk behaviours for adults and youth, we consider the origins and applicability of high-risk and population strategies to foster multiple health behaviour change.

Results: Findings indicate that health risk behaviours are prevalent, increase with age and co-occur as risk behaviour clusters or bundles.

The potential of virtual reality technologies to improve adherence to weight loss behaviors.

A significant proportion of the global population is obese, foreshadowing an epidemic of chronic disease. Self-monitoring (of diet, exercise, and body weight), decreasing energy intake, and increasing energy expenditure are robust predictors of successful weight loss. However, few individuals consistently practice these behaviors, making long-term weight loss and maintenance unlikely.

Exercise and pharmacotherapy in patients with major depression: one-year follow-up of the SMILE study.

Objective: To examine a 1-year follow-up of a 4-month, controlled clinical trial of exercise and antidepressant medication in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: In the original study, 202 sedentary adults with MDD were randomized to: a) supervised exercise; b) home-based exercise; c) sertraline; or d) placebo pill. We examined two outcomes measured at 1-year follow-up (i.

Personality differences between surgery residents, nonsurgery residents, and medical students.

Background: The Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality may provide a useful framework to understand performance-related issues in academic medical settings. We examined the distribution of FFM personality traits among surgery residents compared with medicine residents, medical students, and community norms.

Methods: Two hundred and seventy-four residents in surgery, medicine, pediatrics, and anesthesiology and 207 medical students at a large tertiary care teaching hospital completed the Big Five Inventory, a well-validated 44-item measure of the FFM.

Anxious temperament and disease progression at diagnosis: the case of type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To examine the association between anxious temperament and disease progression at diagnosis for individuals with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: A sample of 204 individuals, newly diagnosed with T2DM, completed the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scales (BIS/BAS) and provided an A1C reading. Regression analyses were used to predict A1C levels from individual differences in BIS and BAS.

Psychometric properties of the social phobia inventory: further evaluation.

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Phobia Inventory [SPIN; Connor, K. M., Davidson, J.

Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale-20 in a community physiotherapy clinic sample.

The PASS-20 was developed to assess pain-related anxiety among a variety of pain populations. This measure was constructed by extracting 20 items from its 40-item parent measure (PASS). Initial studies of the PASS-20 suggest that the psychometric properties have been preserved.

PTSD and the experience of pain: research and clinical implications of shared vulnerability and mutual maintenance models.

It is common for individuals with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to present with co-occurring pain problems, and vice versa. However, the relation between these conditions often goes unrecognized in clinical settings. In this paper, we describe potential relations between PTSD and chronic pain and their implications for assessment and treatment.