Using an Adjunctive Treatment to Address Psychological Distress in a National Weight Management Program: Results of an Integrated Pilot Study.

Introduction: Obesity is highly comorbid with psychological symptoms in veterans, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Obese veterans with comorbid psychological symptoms often display suboptimal weight loss and poor physical functioning when participating in weight management programs. The MOVE! program aims to increase healthy eating and physical activity to promote weight loss in obese veterans.

Psychometric Study of the Pain Drawing.

Purpose: The objectives of the study were to (1) assess the extent to which interrater reliability of pain drawing location and dispersion scoring methods are similar across pain disciplines in a sample of patients with cancer treatment-induced neuropathic pain ( = 56) and (2) investigate indicators of validity of the pain drawing in this unique sample.

Methods: Patients undergoing cancer therapy completed the Brief Pain Inventory Body Map, the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory, and the McGill Pain Questionnaire.

Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients among medical and psychology professionals ranged from .

Disease burden and pain in obese cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Purpose: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) and obesity are prevalent in cancer survivors and decrease quality of life; however, the impact of the co-occurrence of these conditions has garnered little attention. This study investigated differences between obese and non-obese cancer survivors with CIPN and predictors of symptom burden and pain.

Methods: Patients with CIPN were administered the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory and a modified version of pain descriptors from the McGill Pain Inventory.

Decisions to Transfer Nursing Home Residents to Emergency Departments: A Scoping Review of Contributing Factors and Staff Perspectives.

Objectives: Nursing home (NH) residents are a frail and vulnerable population often faced with iatrogenic effects of hospital stays when transferred to emergency departments for acute changes in health status. Avoidable or unnecessary transfers of care need to be identified and defined to prevent unintended harm. The aim of this scoping review was to identify characteristics of avoidable or unnecessary transitions of NH residents to emergency departments, and examine factors influencing decision-making by NH staff, residents, and their family members to transfer nursing home residents to emergency departments.

Effectiveness of Splanchnic Nerve Neurolysis for Targeting Location of Cancer Pain: Using the Pain Drawing as an Outcome Variable.

The effectiveness of splanchnic nerve neurolysis (SNN) for cancer-related abdominal pain has been investigated using numeric pain intensity rating as an outcome variable. The outcome variable in this study used the grid method for obtaining a targeted pain drawing score on 60 patients with pain from pancreatic or gastro-intestinal primary cancers or metastatic disease to the abdominal region. Results demonstrate excellent inter-rater agreement (intra-class correlation [ICC] coefficient at pre-SNN = 0.

The Power of Community Voices for Enhancing Community Health Needs Assessments.

As required by the Affordable Care Act, Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs) are formalized processes nonprofit hospitals must perform at least every 3 years. CHNAs are designed to help hospitals better tailor health services to the needs of local residents. However, CHNAs most often use quantitative, population-level data, and rarely incorporate the actual voices of local community members.

Mental health utilization among older Veterans with coexisting depression and dementia.

Objective: We compared mental health service utilization among older, depressed Veterans (60 years or older) with and without coexisting dementia.

Methods: This retrospective study examined data from the 2010 Veterans Health Administration National Patient Care Database outpatient treatment files of Veterans with a newly recognized diagnosis of depression (N = 177,710).

Results: Approximately 48.

Implementing a Community-Driven Research Partnership: The Backyard Initiative Community Health Survey Methods and Approach.

Background: In community-based participatory research (CBPR), issues such as creating a setting where community members drive decisions and creating culturally relevant processes remain largely underachieved. The Backyard Initiative (BYI) provided the setting for implementing a community-centered collaborative research process. The BYI is a partnership between Allina Health, the Cultural Wellness Center (CWC), and community residents to improve health.

Are Child Cognitive Characteristics Strong Predictors of Responses to Intervention? A Meta-Analysis.

We conducted a meta-analysis of 28 studies comprising 39 samples to ask the question, "What is the magnitude of the association between various baseline child cognitive characteristics and response to reading intervention?" Studies were located via literature searches, contact with researchers in the field, and review of references from the National Reading Panel Report. Eligible participant populations included at-risk elementary school children enrolled in the third grade or below. Effects were analyzed using a shifting unit of analysis approach within three statistical models: cognitive characteristics predicting growth curve slope (Model 1, mean r r = .

The Relationship between Diabetes Self-efficacy and Diabetes Self-care in American Indians and Alaska Natives.

The objective of the present study was to investigate how American Indian/Alaska Natives' (AI/ANs') attitudes and beliefs might influence how they experience and manage diabetes, with particular attention paid to their attitudes about disease causality. An AI/AN sample of 119 participants completed an anonymous survey that examined the impact of judgments of personal responsibility for disease onset, anger, self-blame, social support, and diabetes self-efficacy on diabetes self-care. Our primary model was tested using structural equation modeling.

Mortality, admission rates and outpatient use among frequent users of emergency departments: a systematic review.

Objective: This systematic review examines whether frequent emergency department (ED) users experience higher mortality, hospital admissions and outpatient visits than non-frequent ED users.

Design: We published an a priori study protocol in PROSPERO. Our search strategy combined terms for 'frequent users' and 'emergency department'.

The Flynn effect: a meta-analysis.

The Flynn effect refers to the observed rise in IQ scores over time, which results in norms obsolescence. Although the Flynn effect is widely accepted, most efforts to estimate it have relied upon "scorecard" approaches that make estimates of its magnitude and error of measurement controversial and prevent determination of factors that moderate the Flynn effect across different IQ tests. We conducted a meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of the Flynn effect with a higher degree of precision, to determine the error of measurement, and to assess the impact of several moderator variables on the mean effect size.

Genetic engineering of an immunotoxin to eliminate pulmonary vascular leak in mice.

Vascular leak syndrome is a major and often dose-limiting side effect of immunotoxins and cytokines. We postulated that this syndrome is initiated by damage to vascular endothelial cells. Our earlier studies identified a three-amino acid motif that is shared by toxins, ribosome-inactivating proteins, and interleukin-2, all of which cause this problem.

The system of care and services for frail older persons in Canada and Quebec.

Since the early 70s, Canada has had a public health care system that guarantees all Canadians universal access to hospital and medical services free of charge. The same values and principles have governed the organization of health and social services in Quebec, including long-term care and services. Over time, changes have occurred within the Quebec system in order to adapt services to new realities more effectively; such changes involve a diversification of services oriented towards helping individuals remain in the community, and services provided close to clients' own environments.

Inactivation of the Streptococcus mutans fxpC gene confers resistance to xylitol, a caries-preventive natural carbohydrate sweetener.

Xylitol is transported by Streptococcus mutans via a constitutive phosphoenolpyruvate:fructose phosphotransferase system (PTS) composed of a IIABC protein. Spontaneous xylitol-resistant strains are depleted in constitutive fructose-PTS activity, exhibit additional phenotypes, and are associated with the caries-preventive properties of xylitol. Polymerase chain-reactions and chromosome walking were used to clone the fxp operon that codes for the constitutive fructose/xylitol-PTS.

Xylitol disturbs protein synthesis, including the expression of HSP-70 and HSP-60, in Streptococcus mutans.

Xylitol, a natural sugar alcohol and a caries-preventive carbohydrate sweetener, inhibits xylitol-sensitive wild-type Streptococcus mutans but also selects for its natural xylitol-resistant mutants. The aim of the work was to verify the influence of xylitol on heat shock proteins HSP-60 (GroEL-like) and HSP-70 (DnaK-like) in xylitol-sensitive and xylitol-resistant strains. Cells from fresh isolate S.

Identification of mutans and other oral streptococci by random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis.

The identification and classification of the non-haemolytic or viridans group of streptococci have long been recognised as difficult and unsatisfactory. Phenotypic and genotypic heterogeneity have resulted in ambiguous speciation, particularly with mutans streptococci and other oral streptococci. This study was done to determine whether random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis is useful to identify and even classify oral and other streptococci.

Growth of xylitol-resistant versus xylitol-sensitive Streptococcus mutans strains in saliva.

Five Streptococcus mutans pairs (serotype c S. mutans 10449 and four clinical isolates of S. mutans: 123.

Effects of xylitol, xylitol-sorbitol, and placebo chewing gums on the plaque of habitual xylitol consumers.

Xylitol reduces plaque but the reduction mechanism is largely unknown. The main aim of the present study was to determine whether the xylitol-induced reduction in the amount of plaque and the number of mutans streptococci could be demonstrated in subjects with (presumably) high levels of xylitol-resistant (XR; not inhibited by xylitol) mutans streptococci acquired following previous xylitol consumptions. 37 healthy dental students participated in the double-blind study.

Emergence of multiple xylitol-resistant (fructose PTS-) mutants from human isolates of mutans streptococci during growth on dietary sugars in the presence of xylitol.

The growth inhibition of mutans streptococci is one of the proposed mechanisms of action of xylitol, a caries-preventive natural carbohydrate sweetener. Xylitol is taken up and accumulated as non-metabolizable, toxic xylitol phosphate via a constitutive fructose PTS, and selects, during in vitro growth at the expense of glucose, for natural xylitol-resistant mutants that lack constitutive fructose PTS activity. Since long-term xylitol consumption leads to the emergence of xylitol-resistant mutans populations in humans in an oral environment containing sugars of dietary origin, we wanted to test the hypothesis that xylitol-resistant cells could be selected from mutans streptococci strains during in vitro growth on fructose, sucrose, or lactose.

Inverse correlation between the proportion of salivary bacteria inhibiting Streptococcus mutans and the percentage of untreated carious teeth.

To evaluate the role of inhibitory substances produced by bacteria in the oral cavity, we estimated, by a deferred test on Todd-Hewitt agar enriched with hemin and vitamin K, the proportion of bacteria that inhibited or stimulated the growth of Streptococcus mutans and Porphyromonas gingivalis, from the saliva of 109 patients (54 males and 55 females) attending our dental clinics. The patients, aged from 8 to 75 years old (mean: 31 +/- 18 years), were randomly selected whatever the reason for their visit. The results, evaluated with the Spearman rank test, indicated that there was no statistically significant (P > 0.