Early clinical and quality impacts of the Age-Friendly Health System in a Veterans Affairs skilled nursing facility.

Background: Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are an ideal setting to implement the Age-Friendly Health System (AFHS) approach, an initiative by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) centered on the 4Ms: what matters, mobility, mentation, and medication. AFHS implementation has not been well studied in SNFs.

Methods: A 112-bed VA SNF implemented a facility-wide AFHS initiative including the following: (1) participating in a national IHI Age-Friendly Action Community; (2) establishing an AFHS workgroup centered on the 4Ms; (3) identifying meaningful clinical tools and frameworks for capturing each M; and (4) developing sustainment methods.

Reexploring Female Pathways to Incarceration: Assessing the Role of Mental Illness.

The pathways framework represents an emerging body of work that emphasizes gendered-based influences on crime and incarceration. To date, studies on female pathways often minimize or exclude the role of mental illness. The current study employs Life Course Theory and the use of Life History Calendar to examine the pathways of a sample of 15 female prison inmates diagnosed with serious and persistent mental health conditions.

Improving Access to Bariatric Surgery for Rural and Remote Patients: Experiences from a State-Wide Bariatric Telehealth Service in Australia.

Background: The state of Queensland, Australia, is large (1.85 million km). The provision of bariatric care across the state is difficult as most major hospitals are concentrated in the capital city of Brisbane.

Altering the availability or proximity of food, alcohol, and tobacco products to change their selection and consumption.

Background: Overconsumption of food, alcohol, and tobacco products increases the risk of non-communicable diseases. Interventions to change characteristics of physical micro-environments where people may select or consume these products - including shops, restaurants, workplaces, and schools - are of considerable public health policy and research interest. This review addresses two types of intervention within such environments: altering the availability (the range and/or amount of options) of these products, or their proximity (the distance at which they are positioned) to potential consumers.

Altering the availability or proximity of food, alcohol, and tobacco products to change their selection and consumption.

Background: Overconsumption of food, alcohol, and tobacco products increases the risk of non-communicable diseases. Interventions to change characteristics of physical micro-environments where people may select or consume these products - including shops, restaurants, workplaces, and schools - are of considerable public health policy and research interest. This review addresses two types of intervention within such environments: altering the availability (the range and/or amount of options) of these products, or their proximity (the distance at which they are positioned) to potential consumers.

Nutritional labelling for healthier food or non-alcoholic drink purchasing and consumption.

Background: Nutritional labelling is advocated as a means to promote healthier food purchasing and consumption, including lower energy intake. Internationally, many different nutritional labelling schemes have been introduced. There is no consensus on whether such labelling is effective in promoting healthier behaviour.

Associations of maternal obesity and smoking status with perinatal outcomes.

Maternal obesity and smoking are associated with adverse perinatal outcomes. These prevalent conditions contribute to health disparities. In this study, we examine whether maternal BMI moderates the impact of smoking cessation on short-term perinatal outcomes.

Immediate effects of alcohol marketing communications and media portrayals on consumption and cognition: a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies.

Background: Restricting marketing of alcoholic products is purported to be a cost-effective intervention to reduce alcohol consumption. The strength of evidence supporting this claim is contested. This systematic review aimed to assess immediate effects of exposure to alcohol marketing on alcoholic beverage consumption and related cognitions.

Evaluation of TIMIT sentence list equivalency with adult cochlear implant recipients.

Background: Current measures used to determine sentence recognition abilities in cochlear implant recipients often include tests with one talker and one rate of speech. Performance with these measures may not accurately represent the speech recognition abilities of the listeners. Evaluation of cochlear implant performance should include measures that reflect realistic listening conditions.

Strongyloides fuelleborni kellyi and other intestinal helminths in children from Papua New Guinea: associations with nutritional status and socioeconomic factors.

This survey examined the prevalence and intensity of Strongyloides fuelleborni kellyi and other intestinal helminths in children 5 years of age or under living near Kanabea, Papua New Guinea. Of 179 samples, 27% of the children tested positive for Strongyloides, with 81% of these children being a year or less in age. Overall, 68% of the children had one or more infections including Ascaris lumbricoides and hookworm (Necator americanus) as well as Strongyloides.

Nutritional status of children from Papua New Guinea: associations with socioeconomic factors.

Growth faltering has been well documented in children from Papua New Guinea, although there is evidence that broad processes of modernization, such as cash cropping, have resulted in increased body size. It is not clear, however, what household socioeconomic factors may be associated with larger body size in populations undergoing early stages of modernization. This cross-sectional study examined the nutritional status of children between birth and 5 years of age living near Kanabea, Papua New Guinea, a relatively remote outpost in the highland fringe experiencing a limited cash economy.