Knowledge and beliefs of African-American and American Indian parents and supporters about infant safe sleep.

To investigate, by using qualitative methods, beliefs among African-American and American Indian families about infant safe sleep practices, barriers to acceptance of prevention recommendations, and more effective messaging strategies. Seventy-three mothers and supporters participated in focus groups. Participants discussed infant sleep practices and effectiveness of safe sleep messages.

Identification of alternative transcripts of rat CD9 expressed by tumorigenic neural cell lines and in normal tissues.

CD9 is the best-studied member of the tetraspanin family of transmembrane proteins. It is involved in various fundamental cellular processes and its altered expression is a characteristic of malignant cells of different origins. Despite numerous investigations confirming its fundamental role, the heterogeneity of CD9 or other tetraspanin proteins was considered only to be caused by posttranslational modification, rather than alternative splicing.

Medium-sized deletion in the BRCA1 gene: Limitations of Sanger sequencing and MLPA analyses.

We describe a family with a history of breast and ovarian cancer in which MLPA analysis of the BRCA1 gene pointed to a deletion including a part of exon 11. Further characterization confirmed a loss of 374 bp in a region completely covered by conventional sequencing which had not revealed the deletion. Because this alteration was only detected serendipitously with an MLPA probe, we calculated the probabilities of detecting medium-sized deletions in large exons by methods including initial PCR amplification.

Primary care physicians and elder abuse: current attitudes and practices.

Context: while estimates suggest that between 1.4% and 5.4% of older adults experience abuse, only 1 of 14 cases of elder abuse or neglect is ever reported to authorities.

Translating infant safe sleep evidence into nursing practice.

The authors describe a 4-year demonstration project (2004-2007) to reduce infant deaths related to sleep environments by changing attitudes and practices among nurses who work with African American parents and caregivers in urban Michigan hospitals. An approach was developed for creating sustainable change in nursing practice by implementing nursing practice policies that could be monitored through quality improvement processes already established within the hospital organization. Following the policy change effort, nurses changed their behavior and placed infants on the back to sleep.

Elder abuse education in residency programs: how well are we doing?

Purpose: To understand whether education is at the heart of underreporting elder abuse by surveying Michigan residency program directors to learn about their elder abuse curricula.

Method: In 2006, a questionnaire was mailed to 71 residency program directors in Michigan. Participants responded to closed-ended or Likert-type items about program demographics, elder abuse curricula, desire for additional related program materials, and related clinical experience.

Elder abuse education in primary care residency programs: a cluster group analysis.

Background And Objectives: Elder abuse is a serious issue, affecting up to 10% of community-dwelling older adults. This project sought to understand if elder abuse under-reporting was related to physician specialty and residency training.

Methods: A 17-item survey focusing on program demographics, current curriculum, priority of elder abuse education, clinical and didactic experiences, and triage resources was mailed to directors of all Michigan primary care residencies approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

Attitudes, experiences, and interest in geriatrics of first-year allopathic and osteopathic medical students.

A cross-sectional survey was designed to assess interest in geriatric medicine of allopathic and osteopathic medical students and to determine whether their career interests were related to past experiences with and current attitudes toward older adults. The study was conducted at an allopathic and osteopathic medical school with 231 first-year medical students. Experiences with elderly people were measured using survey questions assessing amount and quality of experiences with grandparents, as well as experiences caring for, volunteering with, or having a paid position working with older adults.

Sense of community in clubhouse programs: member and staff concepts.

Psychological sense of community within psychosocial rehabilitation clubhouse programs was examined using concept mapping with 18 members and 18 staff from 10 programs. Members identified four concepts: Recovery, social connections, membership, and tasks and roles. Members described hope and healing as aspects of recovery.

Involvement in 12-step programs among persons with dual diagnoses.

Although many people with substance use problems are referred to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA), few studies have examined characteristics of persons who comply with such referrals. In particular, little is known about self-help meeting attendance by persons with dual diagnoses. This study examined rates of AA and NA attendance among 351 persons with dual diagnoses who were treated in a hospital setting.