A comparison of range of motion change across four posterior shoulder tightness measurements after external rotator fatigue.

Background: Several glenohumeral joint (GHJ) positions have been recommended for assessing and correcting posterior shoulder tightness (PST) however, there is no agreement on which position is better for differentiating posterior muscle tightness from posterior capsular tightness. The purpose of this study was to compare the range of motion change before and after an external humeral rotator muscle fatigue protocol in order to identify a position that shows maximum range of motion change.

Methods: ROM changes across four PST measurements were compared before, immediately after, at 24 hours after, and 48 hours after an external rotator fatigue protocol.

Soda consumption and risk of hip fractures in postmenopausal women in the Nurses' Health Study.

Background: The frequency of soda consumption remains high in the United States. Soda consumption has been associated with poor bone health in children, but few studies have examined this relation in adults, and to our knowledge, no study has examined the relation of soda consumption with risk of hip fractures.

Objective: We examined the association of soda, including specific types of soda, and risk of hip fracture in postmenopausal women.

Stress-induced increases in depression-like and cocaine place-conditioned behaviors are reversed by disruption of memories during reconsolidation.

Maladaptive behavioral responses characteristic of post-traumatic stress disorders are notably resistant to treatment. We hypothesized that the pharmacological disruption of memories activated during reconsolidation might reverse established stress-induced increases in depression-like behaviors and cocaine reward. C57BL/6J mice were subjected to repeated social defeat stress (SDS), and examined for time spent immobile in a subsequent forced swim test (FST).

Interdisciplinary medical social work: a working taxonomy.

Findings from a year-long exploratory study aimed at describing universal functions of medical social work with interdisciplinary teams in acute care settings are reported here. A universal taxonomy of interdisciplinary social work skills and competencies was empirically identified through a participatory action research framework. Findings support previous conceptual descriptions of medical social work's overarching and historical role to help interdisciplinary teams in acute care to consider patients' home environment, knowledge, beliefs, culture, and resources during assessment, treatment, and discharge planning.

Medicare's Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS): quality measurement and beneficiary attribution.

Purpose: To explore two issues that are relevant to inclusion of PQRS reporting in a value-based payment system: (1) what are the characteristics of PQRS reports and the providers who file them; and (2) could PQRS provide active attribution information to supplement existing attribution algorithms?

Design And Methods: Using data from five states for the years 2008 (the first full year of the program) and 2009, we examined the number and type of providers who reported PQRS measures and the types of measures that were reported. We then compared the PQRS reporting provider to the provider who supplied the plurality of the beneficiary's non-hospital evaluation and management (NH-E&M) visits.

Results: Although PQRS-reporting providers provide only 17 percent of the beneficiary's NH-E&M visits on average in 2009, the provider who provided the plurality of visits supplied only 50 percent of such visits, on average.

Instant noodle intake and dietary patterns are associated with distinct cardiometabolic risk factors in Korea.

The consumption of instant noodles is relatively high in Asian populations. It is unclear whether a higher intake of instant noodles is associated with cardiometabolic risk independent of overall dietary patterns. We therefore investigated the association using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV 2007-2009, a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of the Korean population with a clustered, multistage, stratified, and rolling sampling design.

Desired elements and timing of cancer survivorship care: one approach may not fit all.

Introduction: Although survivorship care recommendations exist, there is limited evidence about current practices and patient preferences.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed by survivors of lymphoma, head and neck, and gastrointestinal cancers at an academic cancer center. The survey was designed to capture patients' reports of receipt of survivorship care planning and their attitudes, preferences, and perceived needs regarding content and timing of cancer survivorship care information.

Role of nurse practitioners in encouraging use of personal health records.

With increased mobility, it is important that individuals keep their own personal health records (PHRs). Nurse practitioners are encouraged to assume greater responsibility for PHR adoption and recognize the key role they play in recommending PHR use. This article also briefly discusses college students' perceptions of their exposure to online PHRs.

Second order multivariate curve resolution of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic data of the photo-induced crosslinking of thymine functionalized polymers.

A meaningful characterization of the photo-induced curing process of materials based on styrene monomers functionalized with thymine and charged ionic groups was accomplished using FT-IR spectroscopy in combination with second-order multivariate calibration algorithms. The polymer composition as well as the irradiation dose effects on the photo-crosslinking of copolymer films was experimentally determined. Each FT-IR absorption spectra was decomposed into the contribution of individual species by means of chemometric algorithms.

Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Background: In 2010, overweight and obesity were estimated to cause 3·4 million deaths, 3·9% of years of life lost, and 3·8% of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) worldwide. The rise in obesity has led to widespread calls for regular monitoring of changes in overweight and obesity prevalence in all populations. Comparable, up-to-date information about levels and trends is essential to quantify population health effects and to prompt decision makers to prioritise action.

Science, pseudoscience, and the frontline practitioner: the vaccination/autism debate.

This article demonstrates how misinformation concerning autism and vaccinations was created and suggests that social workers may be perfectly poised to challenge pseudoscience interpretations. Utilizing social network theory, this article illustrates how erroneous research, mass media, and public opinion led to a decreased use of vaccinations in the United States and a seven-fold increase in measles outbreaks. It traces the dissemination of spurious research results and demonstrates how information was transmitted via a system of social network nodes and community ties.

A description of nurses' decision-making in managing electrocardiographic monitor alarms.

Aims And Objectives: To describe the cues and factors that nurses use in their decision-making when responding to clinical alarms.

Background: Alarms are designed to be very sensitive, and as a result, they are not very specific. Lack of adherence to the practice standards for electrocardiographic monitoring in hospital settings has been observed, resulting in overuse of the electrocardiographic monitoring.

Maternal WIC participation improves breastfeeding rates: a statewide analysis of WIC participants.

This study examined the association between length of exposure to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) services and breastfeeding initiation/duration. All women with singleton live births, first certified into MA WIC prenatally or postpartum (2001-2009), with complete breastfeeding and covariate data (maternal race, age, education, smoking status, BMI, HH income and size, birth weight, whether full or preterm, and sex) were included (n = 122,506). Regressions models were used to examine timing of WIC entry (i.

Associations between family food behaviors, maternal depression, and child weight among low-income children.

Although low-income children are at greater risk for overweight and obesity than their higher income counterparts, the majority of poor children are not overweight. The current study examined why such variation exists among diverse young children in poor families. Cross-sectional data were collected on 164 low-income, preschool aged children and their mothers living in two Rhode Island cities.

Discredited Assessment and Treatment Methods Used with Children and Adolescents: A Delphi Poll.

In the context of intense interest in identifying what works in mental health, we sought to establish a consensus on what doesnot work-discredited psychological assessments and treatments used with children and adolescents. Applying a Delphi methodology, we engaged a panel of 139 experts to participate in a two-stage survey. Participants reported their familiarity with 67 treatments and 35 assessment techniques and rated each on a continuum from not at all discredited to certainly discredited.

An adjustable gas-mixing device to increase feasibility of in vitro culture of Plasmodium falciparum parasites in the field.

A challenge to conducting high-impact and reproducible studies of the mechanisms of P. falciparum drug resistance, invasion, virulence, and immunity is the lack of robust and sustainable in vitro culture in the field. While the technology exists and is routinely utilized in developed countries, various factors-from cost, to supply, to quality-make it hard to implement in malaria endemic countries.

An investigation of activity profiles of older adults.

Objectives: In this study, we advance knowledge about activity engagement by considering many activities simultaneously to identify profiles of activity among older adults. Further, we use cross-sectional data to explore factors associated with activity profiles and prospective data to explore activity profiles and well-being outcomes.

Method: We used the core survey data from the years 2008 and 2010, as well as the 2009 Health and Retirement Study Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (HRS CAMS).

Dietary Patterns and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer.

Diet and lifestyle play a significant role in the development of colorectal cancer, but the full complexity of the association is not yet understood. Dietary pattern analysis is an important new technique that may help to elucidate the relationship. This review examines the most common techniques for extrapolating dietary patterns and reviews dietary pattern/colorectal cancer studies published between September 2011 and August 2012.

Bridging network divides: building capacity to support aging with disability populations through research.

Federal and state efforts to rebalance long-term services and supports (LTSS) in favor of home and community based over institutional settings has helped create structural bridges between the historically separated aging and disability LTSS networks by integrating and/or linking aging and disability systems. These changes present new opportunities to study bridging mechanisms and program related outcomes at national and local levels through federally sponsored LTSS initiatives termed Rebalancing programs. Rebalancing programs also offer opportunities to explore and understand the capacity of LTSS networks (age integrated or linked aging and disability systems) to serve aging with disability populations, persons who live with long-term chronic conditions or impairments such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Management of the hospitalized patient experiencing acute on chronic pain: a case study.

The ability to balance the patient's level of comfort while minimizing adverse outcomes related to overdosing remains the key to providing excellent post operative care for the patient with chronic pain. This article presents the case of a hospitalized patient with severe pain and the challenges her care presented to the nursing staff.

Mindfulness and rumination as predictors of persistence with a distress tolerance task.

Distress tolerance (DT) is a proposed transdiagnostic factor in psychopathology, yet sources of individual differences in DT are largely unknown. The present study examined mindfulness and rumination facets as predictors of persistence on a standardized DT task (mirror tracing). Acting with awareness (a facet of mindfulness) and reflection (a potentially adaptive form of rumination) predicted increased DT.

Do food blogs serve as a source of nutritionally balanced recipes? An analysis of 6 popular food blogs.

Objective: To determine whether sampled food blogs provide nutritionally balanced recipes.

Methods: Two entree recipes per season, per year (2010-2011) were selected from 6 highly ranked food blogs (n = 96). Food Processor Nutrition and Fitness software was used to analyze sodium, saturated fat, and energy content.

Modelling the returns on options for improving malaria case management in Ethiopia.

Background: Diverse opinions have emerged about the best way to scale up malaria interventions. Three controversies seem most important: (1) should the scale-up focus on a broader target of febrile illness (including infectious disease and pneumonia)? (2) should the scale-up feature a single intervention or be targeted to the situation? (3) should scale-up have a preference for one kind of delivery mechanism or another?

Methods: A decision model of 576 nodes describes the patterns of access, treatment and outcomes of an episode of febrile illness for a child below 5 years. Incremental costs and outcomes relative to baseline (2010) are computed for particular scenarios for Ethiopia using data from the literature.

The Mediterranean-style dietary pattern and mortality among men and women with cardiovascular disease.

Background: The role of the Mediterranean diet among individuals with previous cardiovascular disease (CVD) is uncertain.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the association between the Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED) score and all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality in men and women with CVD from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study and the Nurses' Health Study.

Design: This study included 6137 men and 11,278 women with myocardial infarction, stroke, angina pectoris, coronary bypass, and coronary angioplasty.