A Hearing Intervention and Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults: A Secondary Analysis of the ACHIEVE Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Health-related quality of life is a critical health outcome and a clinically important patient-reported outcome in clinical trials. Hearing loss is associated with poorer health-related quality-of-life in older adults.

Objective: To investigate the 3-year outcomes of hearing intervention vs health education control on health-related quality of life.

Recruitment and baseline data of the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) study: A randomized trial of a hearing loss intervention for reducing cognitive decline.

Introduction: Hearing loss is highly prevalent among older adults and independently associated with cognitive decline. The Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) study is a multicenter randomized control trial (partially nested within the infrastructure of an observational cohort study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities [ARIC] study) to determine the efficacy of best-practice hearing treatment to reduce cognitive decline over 3 years. The goal of this paper is to describe the recruitment process and baseline results.

Loneliness and Social Network Characteristics Among Older Adults With Hearing Loss in the ACHIEVE Study.

Background: Hearing loss is linked to loneliness and social isolation, but evidence is typically based on self-reported hearing. This study quantifies the associations of objective and subjective hearing loss with loneliness and social network characteristics among older adults with untreated hearing loss.

Methods: This study uses baseline data (N = 933) from the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) study.

Prioritized Task-Scheduling Algorithm in Cloud Computing Using Cat Swarm Optimization.

Effective scheduling algorithms are needed in the cloud paradigm to leverage services to customers seamlessly while minimizing the makespan, energy consumption and SLA violations. The ineffective scheduling of resources while not considering the suitability of tasks will affect the quality of service of the cloud provider, and much more energy will be consumed in the running of tasks by the inefficient provisioning of resources, thereby taking an enormous amount of time to process tasks, which affects the makespan. Minimizing SLA violations is an important aspect that needs to be addressed as it impacts the makespans, energy consumption, and also the quality of service in a cloud environment.

Examining COVID-19 vaccine attitude using SEM-Artificial Neural Networks approach: a case from Reddit community.

As new coronavirus variants continue to emerge, in order to better address vaccine-related concerns and promote vaccine uptake in the next few years, the role played by online communities in shaping individuals' vaccine attitudes has become an important lesson for public health practitioners and policymakers to learn. Examining the mechanism that underpins the impact of participating in online communities on the attitude toward COVID-19 vaccines, this study adopted a two-stage hybrid structural equation modeling (SEM)-artificial neural networks (ANN) approach to analyze the survey responses from 1037 Reddit community members. Findings from SEM demonstrated that in leading up to positive COVID-19 vaccine attitudes, sense of online community mediates the positive effects of perceived emotional support and social media usage, and perceived social norm mediates the positive effect of sense of online community as well as the negative effect of political conservatism.

Defining Audiology through Occupational and Health Policy Action.

Many barriers to accessibility exist for Medicare beneficiaries seeking hearing and balance care such as availability of providers, coverage for services, and ability to pay. Other statutory and administrative barriers exist including the need for physician orders to have audiology services covered, the classification of audiologists as suppliers of "other diagnostic tests" under Medicare payer policy, and non-coverage of certain audiologic management and treatment services. Nearly two decades of legislative efforts have not resulted in any substantial changes to U.

Belongingness is a Mediating Factor Between Religious Service Attendance and Reduced Psychological Distress During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to test whether pre-pandemic religious service attendance relates to both lesser impact from the COVID-19 pandemic and lower levels of psychological distress among a sample of 645 American adults across nine US regions. A second aim was to test whether belongingness mediated these relationships. First, it was expected that more frequent pre-pandemic religious service attendance relates to belongingness, which mediates the religious service attendance and psychological distress association.

Theories of Community Collaboration to Advance Age-Friendly Community Change.

The age-friendly communities movement has grown rapidly in global prominence over the past 2 decades. However, theories to guide multisectoral action toward age-friendly community change have been slower to develop. We demonstrate the value of drawing on theories of community collaboration to inform age-friendly community efforts across engagement, planning, implementation, and measurement.

U.S. Policy Considerations for Telehealth Provision in Audiology.

The demand for telehealth services will continue to grow alongside an increased need for audiology services among both children and adults. Insurance coverage policies for audiologic services are specific to each payer and vary widely in the level of coverage provided for both in-person and telehealth-based audiology services. While benefits for children are fairly comprehensive, coverage for audiology services for adults is generally poor.

Individual Risk, Country-Level Social Support, and Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimization Among Youths: A Cross-national Study.

Unlabelled: This study examined the relationships between three life domains-physical health, risky/deviant lifestyle, and psychosocial adjustment-and traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization among youths in 23 countries.

Methods: We first estimated logistic regression models that examined the relationships between indicators of physical health, risky/deviant lifestyle, and psychosocial adjustment using 23 distinct national samples. This analysis also allowed us to observe patterns of similarity and dissimilarity across countries regarding the correlates of for traditional bullying and cyberbullying victimization.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Hearing Loss Self-Management Patient Education Materials: Development of the Caja de Instrumentos de Pérdida Auditiva.

Purpose The lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate interventions contributes to unsatisfactory hearing health care service delivery and outcomes for Spanish-speaking persons from Hispanic/Latino background. To address this issue, our objective was to cross-culturally adapt a "Hearing Loss Toolkit for Self-Management" for use with Spanish-speaking adults seen in a clinical setting. In this clinical focus article, we describe a process for translation and cross-cultural adaptation of patient education materials based on current best practices guidelines.

First report of lionfish prey from Western Florida waters as identified by DNA barcoding.

DNA barcoding was used to identify prey fragments recovered from the stomachs of lionfish harvested during the 2016 Sarasota Lionfish Derby. A total of 305 prey fragments were recovered from 50 stomachs (mean = 4.6 per stomach), of which 184 (60.

Entrepreneurship Education in the Transformation of Incarcerated Individuals: A Review of the Literature and Future Research Directions.

This article draws upon the theories of entrepreneurial cognition, planned behavior, and criminal desistance to understand the role of entrepreneurship education in the behavioral and cognitive transformation of incarcerated individuals. Specifically, this article considers how participation in an entrepreneurship education program should influence entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, cognitive transformation, and institutional misconduct. It suggests these changes are more likely to influence an incarcerated person's entrepreneurial intentions and criminal desistance.

The Hearing Intervention for the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders Randomized Control Trial: Manualization and Feasibility Study.

Objectives: This work describes the development of a manualized best-practice hearing intervention for older adults participating in the Aging and Cognitive Health Evaluation in Elders (ACHIEVE) randomized controlled clinical trial. Manualization of interventions for clinical trials is critical for assuring intervention fidelity and quality, especially in large multisite studies. The multisite ACHIEVE randomized controlled trial is designed to assess the efficacy of a hearing intervention on rates of cognitive decline in older adults.

Quantitative determination of concordance in localizing epileptic focus by component-based EEG-fMRI.

Background And Objective: Accurate seizure onset zone (SOZ) localization is an essential step in pre-surgical assessment of patients with refractory focal epilepsy. Complex pathophysiology of epileptic cerebral structures, seizure types and frequencies have not been considered as influential features for accurate identification of SOZ using EEG-fMRI. There is a crucial need to quantitatively measure concordance between presumed SOZ and IED-related BOLD response in different brain regions to improve SOZ delineation.

Motor Imagery Practice and Increased Tongue Strength: A Case Series Feasibility Report.

Purpose The aim of the study was to determine the effects of a 6-week progressive resistance tongue exercise protocol in mental practice form on tongue strength. Investigation begins in typically aging adults, a population susceptible to reduced tongue strength and dysphagia secondary to age-related changes in the swallowing mechanism. It was hypothesized that typically aging adults who perform a 6-week progressive resistance tongue exercise protocol in mental practice form would increase tongue strength.

Generational Distinctions on the Importance of Age-Friendly Community Features by Older Age Groups.

In 2006, the World Health Organization initiated an international movement to enhance active aging and the age-friendliness of communities by focusing efforts on the built, social, and service environment. The global model requires soliciting older adults' preferences regarding community features although findings are typically aggregated across all aged respondents despite mounting distinctions between the generations. This study aimed to examine the differential salience of community features by older generational age groups including Baby Boomers ( = 639) and Silent and Government or General Issued (GI) Generation ( = 488) in an age-friendly community in which more than half of its residents are age 50 or older.

Hearing Aid Prevalence and Factors Related to Use Among Older Adults From the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos.

Importance: Hearing loss is highly prevalent in the rapidly growing and aging Hispanic/Latino population in the United States. However, little is known or understood about hearing aid use among US adults from Hispanic/Latino backgrounds.

Objective: To describe hearing aid prevalence and factors associated with hearing aid use among US adults of Hispanic/Latino backgrounds.

Development of a hearing help-seeking questionnaire based on the theory of planned behavior.

Objective: Our objective was to develop and assess a questionnaire measuring the constructs of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) regarding older adults' behaviours towards seeking a hearing test.

Design: Older adults who failed a hearing screening completed a newly developed Theory of Planned Behavior-Hearing Help Seeking (TPB-HHS) questionnaire. A principal components analysis (PCA) examined the factor structure of the questionnaire, and a reliability analysis determined the internal consistency of the factors.

Effects of host blood meal source on reproductive output, nutrient reserves and gut microbiome of West Nile virus vector Culex quinquefasciatus.

Female mosquitoes feed on blood from vertebrates, including humans, as a protein source to provision eggs. Through blood feeding, mosquitoes may transmit pathogens to humans and other animals. In diseases like malaria and dengue, humans are the main hosts and mosquitoes that preferentially feed on humans transmit the pathogens.

Development and Formative Assessment of the Hearing Loss Toolkit for Self-Management.

Hearing aids are a demonstrated efficacious intervention for age-related hearing loss, and research suggests that good hearing loss self-management skills improve amplification satisfaction and outcomes. One way to foster self-management skills is through the provision of patient education materials. However, many of the available resources related to the management of hearing loss do not account for health literacy and are not suitable for use with adults from varying health literacy backgrounds.