Coaching Pediatricians for Wellbeing: A Pilot Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

Objective: Organization-sponsored interventions have the potential to promote, and destigmatize seeking help for, wellbeing. Our study objective was to explore the acceptability and feasibility of a coaching intervention to improve wellbeing among faculty.

Methods: We conducted a pilot, pre/post design, study in a convenience sample of pediatric faculty at an academic medical center.

A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach to Hurricane Katrina: When Disasters, Environmental Health Threats, and Disparities Collide.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina resulted in long-term flooding of 80% of New Orleans, Louisiana. Mold-infested homes gave rise to concerns about increased childhood asthma. To address these concerns, a diverse community-academic partnership used a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to implement the Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) study in 2007.

Effectiveness of Evidence-Based Asthma Interventions.

Background And Objectives: Researchers often struggle with the gap between efficacy and effectiveness in clinical research. To bridge this gap, the Community Healthcare for Asthma Management and Prevention of Symptoms (CHAMPS) study adapted an efficacious, randomized controlled trial that resulted in evidence-based asthma interventions in community health centers.

Methods: Children (aged 5-12 years; = 590) with moderate to severe asthma were enrolled from 3 intervention and 3 geographically/capacity-matched control sites in high-risk, low-income communities located in Arizona, Michigan, and Puerto Rico.

From Design to Dissemination: Implementing Community-Based Participatory Research in Postdisaster Communities.

Objectives: To review how disasters introduce unique challenges to conducting population-based research and community-based participatory research (CBPR).

Methods: From 2007-2009, we conducted the Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) Study in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in a Gulf Coast community facing an unprecedented triple burden: Katrina's and other disasters' impact on the environment and health, historic health disparities, and persistent environmental health threats.

Results: The unique triple burden influenced every research component; still, most existing CBPR principles were applicable, even though full adherence was not always feasible and additional tailored principles govern postdisaster settings.

Adapting and implementing an evidence-based asthma counseling intervention for resource-poor populations.

Objective: To report implementation strategies and outcomes of an evidence-based asthma counseling intervention. The Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) intervention integrated asthma counseling (AC) capacity and addressed challenges facing children with asthma in post-disaster New Orleans.

Methods: The HEAL intervention enrolled 182 children (4-12 years) with moderate-to-severe persistent asthma.

Athletic equipment microbiota are shaped by interactions with human skin.

Background: Americans spend the vast majority of their lives in built environments. Even traditionally outdoor pursuits, such as exercising, are often now performed indoors. Bacteria that colonize these indoor ecosystems are primarily derived from the human microbiome.

Understanding cultivar-specificity and soil determinants of the cannabis microbiome.

Understanding microbial partnerships with the medicinally and economically important crop Cannabis has the potential to affect agricultural practice by improving plant fitness and production yield. Furthermore, Cannabis presents an interesting model to explore plant-microbiome interactions as it produces numerous secondary metabolic compounds. Here we present the first description of the endorhiza-, rhizosphere-, and bulk soil-associated microbiome of five distinct Cannabis cultivars.

Decreased pulmonary function measured in children exposed to high environmental relative moldiness index homes.

Background: Exposures to water-damaged homes/buildings has been linked to deficits in respiratory health. However, accurately quantifying this linkage has been difficult because of the methods used to assess water damage and respiratory health.

Purpose: The goal of this analysis was to determine the correlation between the water-damage, as defined by the Environmental Relative Moldiness Index (ERMI) value in an asthmatic child's home, and the child's pulmonary function measured by spirometry, "forced expiratory volume in one second, percent predicted" or FEV1%.

Development of cockroach immunotherapy by the Inner-City Asthma Consortium.

Background: Cockroach allergy is a key contributor to asthma morbidity in children living in urban environments.

Objective: We sought to document immune responses to cockroach allergen and provide direction for the development of immunotherapy for cockroach allergy.

Methods: Four pilot studies were conducted: (1) an open-label study to assess the safety of cockroach sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) in adults and children; (2) a randomized, double-blind biomarker study of cockroach SLIT versus placebo in adults; (3) a randomized, double-blind biomarker study of 2 doses of cockroach SLIT versus placebo in children; and (4) an open-label safety and biomarker study of cockroach subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) in adults.

Investigating the impact of storage conditions on microbial community composition in soil samples.

Recent advances in DNA sequencing technologies have allowed scientists to probe increasingly complex biological systems, including the diversity of bacteria in the environment. However, despite a multitude of recent studies incorporating these methods, many questions regarding how environmental samples should be collected and stored still persist. Here, we assess the impact of different soil storage conditions on microbial community composition using Illumina-based 16S rRNA V4 amplicon sequencing.

Pilates exercise or stationary cycling for chronic nonspecific low back pain: does it matter? a randomized controlled trial with 6-month follow-up.

Study Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Objective: This is the companion study to a previous publication that presented 8-week pain, disability, and trunk muscle motor control results. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of 8 weeks of specific trunk exercises and stationary cycling on outcomes measures of catastrophizing and fear-avoidance beliefs (FAB) in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain, and provide 6-month outcome data for all self-report measures.

Microbial hitchhikers on intercontinental dust: catching a lift in Chad.

Ancient mariners knew that dust whipped up from deserts by strong winds travelled long distances, including over oceans. Satellite remote sensing revealed major dust sources across the Sahara. Indeed, the Bodélé Depression in the Republic of Chad has been called the dustiest place on earth.

Development of a standardized approach for environmental microbiota investigations related to asthma development in children.

Standardized studies examining environmental microbial exposure in populations at risk for asthma are necessary to improve our understanding of the role this factor plays in disease development. Here we describe studies aimed at developing guidelines for high-resolution culture-independent microbiome profiling, using a phylogenetic microarray (PhyloChip), of house dust samples in a cohort collected as part of the NIH-funded Inner City Asthma Consortium (ICAC). We demonstrate that though extracted DNA concentrations varied across dust samples, the majority produced sufficient 16S rRNA to be profiled by the array.

Specific trunk and general exercise elicit similar changes in anticipatory postural adjustments in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.

Study Design: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To compare changes in self-rated disability, pain, and anticipatory postural adjustments between specific trunk exercise and general exercise in patients with chronic low back pain.

Summary Of Background Data: Chronic low back pain is associated with altered motor control of the trunk muscles.

The Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) study--methods and study population.

Background: In the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, and surrounding parishes (NOLA), children with asthma were perilously impacted by Hurricane Katrina as a result of disrupted health care, high home mold and allergen levels, and high stress.

Objectives: The Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) study was conducted to examine relationships between the post-Katrina environment and childhood asthma in NOLA and assess a novel asthma counselor intervention that provided case management and guidance for reducing home mold and allergen levels.

Methods: Children (4-12 years old) with moderate-to-severe asthma were recruited from NOLA schools.

Indoor environmental exposures for children with asthma enrolled in the HEAL study, post-Katrina New Orleans.

Background: Rain and flooding from Hurricane Katrina resulted in widespread growth of mold and bacteria and production of allergens in New Orleans, Louisiana, which may have led to increased exposures and morbidity in children with asthma.

Objectives: The goal of the Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) study was to characterize post-Katrina exposures to mold and allergens in children with asthma.

Methods: The homes of 182 children with asthma in New Orleans and surrounding parishes were evaluated by visual inspection, temperature and moisture measurements, and air and dust sampling.

Implementation of evidence-based asthma interventions in post-Katrina New Orleans: the Head-off Environmental Asthma in Louisiana (HEAL) study.

Background: Childhood asthma morbidity and mortality in New Orleans, Louisiana, is among the highest in the nation. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina created an environmental disaster that led to high levels of mold and other allergens and disrupted health care for children with asthma.

Objectives: We implemented a unique hybrid asthma counselor and environmental intervention based on successful National Institutes of Health asthma interventions from the National Cooperative Inner City Asthma (NCICAS) and Inner-City Asthma (ICAS) Studies with the goal of reducing asthma symptoms in New Orleans children after Hurricane Katrina.

The mentally ill and social exclusion: a critical examination of the use of seclusion from the patient's perspective.

Nurses in psychiatric settings have an important role to play in the application of seclusion, a measure that continues to be a frequently used intervention for the management of disturbing patient behaviours. Albeit a controversial measure, isolating patients remains a common institutional practice that has received widespread attention from a political, ethical, legal, and clinical standpoint. Although there is an abundance of scientific work on the subject, few studies have examined the experience of patients being confined.

Expression of the murine CB2 cannabinoid receptor using a recombinant Semliki Forest virus.

A recombinant Semliki Forest virus (SFV) RNA construct, SFV1-mCB(2) RNA, was employed for the high-level expression of the murine CB(2) (mCB(2)) cannabinoid receptor in baby hamster kidney cells. Biosynthetic radiolabel incorporation studies in concert with urea-sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (urea-SDS-PAGE) and western immunoblotting revealed that two major proteins of approximately 26 and 40kDa were produced by the construct. The 40kDa product, but not the 26kDa product, was glycosylated as determined by 2-deoxy-D-glucose incorporation and peptide-N-glycosidase F digestion analysis.

Delirium: pathophysiology, recognition, prevention and treatment.

Delirium, a clinical syndrome characterized by the acute onset of confusion, indicates that there is a disruption in physiological equilibrium that may lead to death unless quick and appropriate action is taken. Despite its frequent appearance, delirium often goes unrecognized, undetected and untreated, leading to poorer outcomes including longer lengths of hospitalization, persistent deficits in cognitive function and the need for nursing home placement following acute treatment. Prevention and treatment strategies do not need to be complex or expensive, but require well co-ordinated interventions from multiple disciplines including nursing, psychiatry, neurology and primary care, as well as the co-operation and significant effort of family and friends who know the affected individual well.

Factors associated with emergency department use in asthma: acute care interventions improving chronic disease outcomes.

Objective: To provide a literature review of the factors associated with childhood asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits and to identify elements of effective ED interventions that reduce the frequency of childhood ED visits while increasing primary health care utilization.

Data Source: English Medline articles from 1990 that cross-referenced with the terms asthma, emergency, intervention, pediatric, and/or acute care. Experts in the field of allergy and asthma were also consulted.

The sestamibi scan as a preoperative screening tool.

Sestamibi scan is generally recognized in the literature to play a role in the imaging of parathyroid adenoma. Most institutions quote sensitivities ranging from 80 to 100 per cent. There is still a question as to whether patients need preoperative localization studies.