Disparities in risk of and survival from oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: Oropharyngeal cancer has a low 5-year survival rate in the United States, indicating that much remains to be learned about risk and survival factors. The purpose of this research was to identify factors that contribute to risk of and survival from this disease in a region associated with high tobacco use.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of 221 subjects with diagnosis of head and neck cancer at a regional University Medical Center during a 10-year period (1986 to 1995) was performed to identify relationships between risk and survival factors of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

Sensation seeking, puberty, and nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana use in adolescence.

Objective: To examine the relationship among nicotine, alcohol, and marijuana use; level of sensation seeking (SS); and pubertal development.

Method: Subjects were early and middle adolescent males and females recruited from a psychiatric clinic (n = 77) and two general pediatric clinics (n = 131). SS was measured by using the Sensation Seeking Scale for Children.

Efficacy of a wax containing benzocaine in the relief of oral mucosal pain caused by orthodontic appliances.

During orthodontic treatment, pain and discomfort of the oral mucosa can be experienced as a result of trauma from the appliances caused by increased friction between mucosal tissue and the surface of the brackets. Currently, orthodontists have few remedies to prevent or relieve this mucosal irritation. The orthodontist can give the patient wax to cover the brackets as a prophylactic measure or to use as needed on specific irritating appliances.

Efficacy of training and fidelity of implementation of the life skills training program.

This study assessed the effectiveness of a model for diffusing the Life Skills Training (LST) Program into middle schools, examined implementation fidelity, and explored factors associated with involvement in training and program implementation. A convenience sample of master trainers (n = 44) and teachers (n = 45) from 16 Kentucky counties participated. Teachers were observed for content and process fidelity, and trainers and teachers completed questionnaires to assess factors related to training and program implementation.

The effects of infant feeding decisions on infant growth.

Issues And Purpose: To determine the effects of feeding decisions on infant growth in the first 6 months of life.

Design And Methods: Growth measurements were collected twice during the first 6 months of infancy as part of a larger investigation of infant feeding practices (N = 52).

Results: Infants who received solid foods before the age of 4 to 6 months weighed less than those who received solid foods after 4 to 6 months.

Nurse practitioner peer review: process and evaluation.

Purpose: To describe the initiation and evaluation of a nurse practitioner (NP) peer review program for a group of 15 NPs practicing at a Veteran's Affairs Medical Center.

Data Sources: Using a standardized review form, 15 NPs performed a peer review on a total of 163 medical records; each review was re-reviewed by 2 researchers who were also NPs. To determine the congruency of the reviews among the 15 NPs, the data were analyzed with Intraclass correlations (ICC) and ANOVA.

Legislators' views on tobacco policy: are there regional differences in Kentucky?

Background: Tobacco-growing states have few tobacco control laws, which are relatively weak compared with those in non-tobacco-growing states. Region of the country has been shown to be a predictor of legislators' intentions to vote for cigarette tax increases.

Methods: A total of 116 lawmakers (84%) participated in face-to-face interviews before the 1998 Kentucky General Assembly.

Agricultural Disability Awareness and Risk Education (AgDARE) for high school students.

Objective: Develop and test a farm health and injury prevention educational intervention for high school agriculture students.

Setting: Twenty one high schools in Kentucky, Iowa, and Mississippi.

Methods: A quasiexperimental crossover design was used to test the effectiveness of two sets of instructional materials designed through participatory action research with agriculture teachers and students.

Preventing depression in high-risk college women: a report of an 18-month follow-up.

The authors tested the long-term effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral group intervention in reducing depressive symptoms, decreasing negative thinking, and enhancing self-esteem in 92 college women aged 18 to 24 years who ere at risk for clinical depression. The women were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a no-treatment control group. The experimental group participated in a 6-week cognitive-behavioral intervention that targeted identification and reduction of negative thinking, using such techniques as thought stopping and affirmations.

Consumer satisfaction with services in a regional psychiatric hospital: a collaborative research project in Kentucky.

Consumer satisfaction with mental health services is a dimension of outcome. This report is on a university and state mental health department research project that involved development of the Kentucky Consumer Satisfaction Instrument (KY-CSI) and a retrospective, cross-sectional study designed to measure consumer satisfaction with services at a regional psychiatric hospital. Triangulation of methods guided the survey of participants (N = 189) near discharge from the hospital during a 6-month period.

Negative thinking mediates the effect of self-esteem on depressive symptoms in college women.

Background: One of every three women between 18 and 24 years of age may be significantly depressed. Younger women have shown increasing rates of unipolar depression since the 1950s, and the average age of onset continues to decline.

Objectives: To examine the prevalence and correlates of high depressive symptoms in single college women 18 to 24 years of age.

Reducing negative thinking and depressive symptoms in college women.

Purpose: Although cognitive-behavioral interventions have been successful in treating depression, no studies were found that focused solely on reducing negative thinking via group intervention as a means of preventing depression in at-risk groups. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to test the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral group intervention in reducing depressive symptoms, decreasing negative thinking, and enhancing self-esteem in young women at risk for depression.

Design: A randomized controlled trial with 92 college women ages 18 to 24 who were at risk for depression was conducted.

Cerebrovascular disease in young, HIV-infected, black Africans in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa.

The objective of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms of an ischemic stroke in a human immunodeficiency virus, type 1 (HIV)-infected population. Several clinical and autopsy studies have suggested an increased incidence of strokes in HIV-infected persons. These studies have been performed on diverse populations with numerous confounds for strokes, including, drug abuse and coexistent opportunistic infection.

Card Perseveration Task performance and post-task feeling states: relationship to drug use in adolescents.

This study examined whether performance on the Card Perseveration Task (Card Task) and self-report of feeling state after the task are related to self-report of drug use. The evaluation was of 64 adolescents from an adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinic (40 males, aged 15.5 years, SD = 1.

The hexadentate hydroxypyridinonate TREN-(Me-3,2-HOPO) is a more orally active iron chelator than its bidentate analogue.

Bidentate hydroxypyridinone chelators effectively complex and facilitate excretion of trivalent iron. To test the hypothesis that hexadentate chelators are more effective than bidentate chelators at low concentrations, urinary and biliary Fe excretions were determined in Fe-loaded rats before and after administration of a bidentate chelator, Pr-(Me-3,2-HOPO), or its hexadentate analogue, TREN-(Me-3,2-HOPO). The bidentate chelator slightly increased biliary Fe excretion in Fe-loaded rats after IV (90 micromol/kg) and PO (90 or 270 micromol/kg) administration, but chelation efficiency did not exceed 1%.

Kindergarten children's knowledge and perceptions of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

Kindergarten children's knowledge and perceptions of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATODs) were assessed and the congruence between parent ATOD use and children's knowledge of ATODs was examined. Data were collected during the pre-intervention phase of an ATOD prevention trial with 5- and 6-year-old children and their parents. Three elementary schools were randomly selected from a population of 15 high-risk elementary schools in Lexington, Ky.

Public opinion and legislators' views on tobacco policy.

We explored the relationship between public opinion and Kentucky state legislators' views on increasing the cigarette excise tax to curb smoking, local option to pass stricter youth access to tobacco laws, and smoking restrictions in public places. The relationship of gender, education, political party affiliation, tobacco use, and tobacco allotment ownership to public and legislators' opinions was examined using logistic regression. Data from the random, statewide University of Kentucky Public Opinion Poll (n = 628 Kentucky adults) and a Delphi study of Kentucky legislators (n = 116 members of the Kentucky General Assembly) were used in this study.

The physical health of rural mothers and their low birth weight children.

The purpose of this research was to examine the physical health of rural mothers and their low birth weight children (< 2,500 gm). The health of rural mothers is of concern because rural families have poorer health than urban ones, and as the primary caregiver for the low birth weight child, mother's health affects the child's care and potentially the child's health. In this cross-sectional, exploratory study, in-home interviews were conducted with 48 mothers between 2 weeks and 18 months after their children were discharged from their birth hospitalization.

Consensus for tobacco policy among former state legislators using the policy Delphi method.

Objective: To test a novel approach for building consensus about tobacco control policies among legislators.

Design: A pilot study was conducted using a two-round, face-to-face policy Delphi method.

Participants: Randomly selected sample of 30 former Kentucky legislators (60% participation rate).

Kentucky legislators' views on tobacco policy.

Context: Kentucky leads the nation in adult and teen smoking prevalence. Even though Kentucky is one of the most tobacco-dependent states, tobacco policy is subject to change in light of possible national tobacco legislation.

Objective: To describe the degree of agreement among Kentucky legislators regarding tobacco control and tobacco farming policy, and to discover whether use of the policy Delphi method produces a shift toward consensus on tobacco policy.

Intrarater reliability of selected clinical outcome measures following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Study Design: Single group repeated measures following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the intrarater reliability of selected clinical outcome measures in patients having ACL reconstruction.

Background: Several investigations have reported the reliability of isokinetic testing and knee ligament arthrometry.

Prevalence of infective endocarditis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: Compared with the general population, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE, have an increased prevalence of functionally impaired cardiac valves due to the presence of Libman-Sacks lesions. These lesions may place patients with SLE at risk of developing infective endocarditis, or IE.

Methods: The authors performed a retrospective chart review to determine the association between SLE with valvulopathy and IE.

Potential for abusive parenting by rural mothers with low-birth-weight children.

Purpose: To describe factors influencing the potential for abusive parenting by rural mothers of low-birth-weight children (< 2,500 gm). Low-birth-weight (LBW) children are at risk for child abuse. However, little is known about the added risks created for these children by rural residency.

Psychometrics for two short forms of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale.

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D; L. S. Radloff, 1977) assesses the presence and severity of depressive symptoms occurring over the past week.