Breast care screening for underserved African American women: Community-based participatory approach.

Traditional health promotion models often do not take into account the importance of shared cultural backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences unique to underserved African American women when designing community-based cancer screening and prevention programs. Thus, the purpose of this study was the development, implementation, and evaluation of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) program designed to increase breast cancer screening awareness in an underserved African American population by providing culturally appropriate social support and information. The study includes 357 African American women who participated in the program and completed the 6-month follow-up questionnaire.

Decoding the Type 2 Diabetes Epidemic in Rural India.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is an escalating public health problem in India, associated with genetic susceptibility, dietary shift, and rapid lifestyle changes. Historically a disease of the urban elite, quantitative studies have recently confirmed rising prevalence rates among marginalized populations in rural India. To analyze the role of cultural and sociopolitical factors in diabetes onset and management, we employed in-depth interviews and focus groups within a rural community of Tamil Nadu.

Healthful dietary patterns and long-term weight change among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus.

Background/objective: Diet represents a key strategy for the prevention of obesity and type 2 diabetes among women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), although effective dietary patterns to prevent weight gain in the long term are largely unknown. We sought to evaluate whether improvement in overall diet quality is associated with less long-term weight gain among high-risk women with prior GDM.

Subjects/methods: Women with a history of GDM (N=3397) were followed from 1991 to 2011, or until diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or other chronic disease.

A randomized controlled trial of culturally adapted motivational interviewing for Hispanic heavy drinkers: Theory of adaptation and study protocol.

Background: The NIH Strategic Plan prioritizes health disparities research for socially disadvantaged Hispanics, to reduce the disproportionate burden of alcohol-related negative consequences compared to other racial/ethnic groups. Cultural adaptation of evidence-based treatments, such as motivational interviewing (MI), can improve access and response to alcohol treatment. However, the lack of rigorous clinical trials designed to test the efficacy and theoretical underpinnings of cultural adaptation has made proof of concept difficult.

Temper Loss and Persistent Irritability in Preschoolers: Implications for Diagnosing Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder in Early Childhood.

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) is a new and controversial child psychiatric disorder characterized by persistent irritability and frequent temper loss. Among the controversies surrounding DMDD is whether the age of onset criterion-that DMDD may not be diagnosed before age 6 years-is justified. This study examined DMDD symptoms and associated patterns of psychiatric comorbidity, behavioral, and family functioning in a sample of 139 preschoolers (ages 4-0 to 5-11 years) admitted to an early childhood psychiatric day treatment program.

Mental health and breast cancer screening utilization among older Hispanic women.

Considerable racial and ethnic differences exist in the way the burden of cancer is experienced in the United States for older Hispanic women. This study utilized data from the 2008 wave of the Health and Retirement Study to investigate the mental health factors associated with older Hispanic women's participation in breast cancer screening services. Logistic regression models were used.

Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality.

Importance: Defining what represents a macronutritionally balanced diet remains an open question and a high priority in nutrition research. Although the amount of protein may have specific effects, from a broader dietary perspective, the choice of protein sources will inevitably influence other components of diet and may be a critical determinant for the health outcome.

Objective: To examine the associations of animal and plant protein intake with the risk for mortality.

Clinicians' strategies for managing their emotions during difficult healthcare conversations.

Objectives: To examine strategies employed by clinicians from different disciplines to manage their emotions during difficult healthcare conversations.

Methods: Self-report questionnaires were collected prior to simulation-based Program to Enhance Relational and Communication Skills (PERCS) workshops for professionals representing a range of experience and specialties at a tertiary pediatric hospital. In response to an open-ended prompt, clinicians qualitatively described their own strategies for managing their emotions during difficult healthcare conversations.

Teaching Accelerated Second-Degree Nursing Students: Educators From Across the United States Share Their Wisdom.

Problem: Over the past decade, there has been a proliferation of accelerated second-degree (ASD) nursing programs. These programs are designed to educate students with prior degrees in increasingly shorter periods of time than they have traditionally been educated. As a result, nurse educators and administrators in these programs need to tailor their approaches to best meet the educational needs of this unique cohort.

Time to abandon the hygiene hypothesis: new perspectives on allergic disease, the human microbiome, infectious disease prevention and the role of targeted hygiene.

Aims: To review the burden of allergic and infectious diseases and the evidence for a link to microbial exposure, the human microbiome and immune system, and to assess whether we could develop lifestyles which reconnect us with exposures which could reduce the risk of allergic disease while also protecting against infectious disease.

Methods: Using methodology based on the Delphi technique, six experts in infectious and allergic disease were surveyed to allow for elicitation of group judgement and consensus view on issues pertinent to the aim.

Results: Key themes emerged where evidence shows that interaction with microbes that inhabit the natural environment and human microbiome plays an essential role in immune regulation.

Mediterranean diet and mortality risk in metabolically healthy obese and metabolically unhealthy obese phenotypes.

Background: The Mediterranean diet has been consistently associated with reduced mortality risk. Few prospective studies have examined whether the benefits from a Mediterranean diet are equally shared by obese individuals with varying metabolic health.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between Mediterranean diet, metabolic phenotypes and mortality risk in a representative obese US population.

Food quality score and the risk of coronary artery disease: a prospective analysis in 3 cohorts.

Background: Currently, there are few diet quality assessment tools that are predictive of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk that do not require nutrient analysis and substantial time to administer in clinical settings.

Objective: To inform the development of such a tool, we prospectively examined the association between a food-based diet quality score and risk of CAD in 3 separate large US cohort studies.

Design: Between 1984 and 2012, 71,415 women (aged 43-63 y in 1984), 42,945 men (aged 40-75 y in 1986), and 93,131 younger women (aged 27-44 y in 1991) without a history of cardiovascular disease were followed up to 28 y.

"The Wisdom of Age": Perspectives on Aging and Growth among Lesbian Older Adults.

Older lesbian-identified women are a health disparate yet resilient population about whom knowledge is limited and emerging. Among the areas in need of research are older lesbians' experiences of later life and stress-related growth. This article presents the findings from a qualitative study that investigated older lesbians' experiences of adversity and adaptation as they age.

Persistence of Plasmodium falciparum parasitemia after artemisinin combination therapy: evidence from a randomized trial in Uganda.

Artemisinin resistance is rapidly spreading in Southeast Asia. The efficacy of artemisinin-combination therapy (ACT) continues to be excellent across Africa. We performed parasite transcriptional profiling and genotyping on samples from an antimalarial treatment trial in Uganda.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and Apolipoprotein E: Associations with eventual Alzheimer's disease development.

Objective: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the result of neurodegeneration, which manifests clinically as deficits in memory, thinking, and behavior. It was hypothesized that neuropsychiatric symptoms and the apolipoprotein E genotype increase the likelihood of Alzheimer's disease development.

Methods: Utilizing data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center, information from evaluations of 11,453 cognitively intact participants was analyzed.

Dispositional Mindfulness Uncouples Physiological and Emotional Reactivity to a Laboratory Stressor and Emotional Reactivity to Executive Functioning Lapses in Daily Life.

Both dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness training may help to uncouple the degree to which distress is experienced in response to aversive internal experience and external events. Because emotional reactivity is a transdiagnostic process implicated in numerous psychological disorders, dispositional mindfulness and mindfulness training could exert mental health benefits, in part, by buffering emotional reactivity. The present studies examine whether dispositional mindfulness moderates two understudied processes in stress reactivity research: the degree of concordance between subjective and physiological reactivity to a laboratory stressor (Study 1); and the degree of dysphoric mood reactivity to lapses in executive functioning in daily life (Study 2).

Healthy Aging in Community for Older Lesbians.

Purpose: In Boston and Outer Cape, Massachusetts, we explored the expectations of lesbians 60 years and older regarding healthy aging and community importance.

Methods: Focus groups were conducted with participants after completing an anonymous demographic questionnaire. Thematic analysis was used to generate themes and identify how they varied by urban versus rural settings.

The concept of stigma in mental illness as applied to Haitian Americans.

Aim: To report on the analysis of the concept of the stigma of mental illness within the Haitian American community.

Background: Mental illness is a highly stigmatized condition within certain communities making it challenging for individuals to seek effective treatment. The consequences of such stigma can have lifelong corollaries for the individuals, the families and the communities.

Associations between depression, sleep disturbance, and apolipoprotein E in the development of Alzheimer's disease: dementia.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative brain disease that causes cognitive impairment and dementia. Within the US, AD is the most common form of dementia in the elderly, affecting 1 in 10 people over the age of 65. Sleep disturbance has been called a "public health epidemic" and, like depression, is a prodromal symptom of AD but may also contribute to the risk of developing AD.

Assessing DNP impact using program evaluations to capture healthcare system change.

The doctor of nursing practice (DNP) degree was formalized in 2004. Data evaluating the impact of DNP-prepared nurses on individual patient care, population health, and healthcare system outcomes are limited. This article demonstrates how the DNP Essentials can be used to frame DNP program evaluation data.

Complicated and messy politics of inclusion: Michfest and the Boston Dyke March.

Unlabelled: To illustrate the challenge of political organizing that grapples with identity politics and inclusion, I focus on two women-centered annual events with very different politics of inclusion: the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and the Boston Dyke March.

Main Points: (1) arguments made by marginalized people for inclusion into established oppressed identity groups must be constructed with due care to avoid further marginalizing yet other liminal identities; (2) protesting/boycotting other oppressed groups for the purpose of achieving inclusion is often a problematic strategy; (3) the most effective strategy for honoring all people is to support organizations committed to the ideal of inclusion.