Choosing treatment and screening options congruent with values: Do decision aids help? Sub-analysis of a systematic review.

Objective: To understand how well patients make value congruent decisions with and without patient decision aids (PtDAs) for screening and treatment options, and identify issues with its measurement and evaluation.

Methods: A sub-analysis of trials included in the 2014 Cochrane Review of Decision Aids. Eligible trials measured value congruence with chosen option.

Pilot Study of a Peer-Led Wheelchair Training Program to Improve Self-Efficacy Using a Manual Wheelchair: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of a peer-led wheelchair training program on self-efficacy of manual wheelchair (MWC) use and to explore influences of the intervention on MWC skills, life-space mobility, and satisfaction with participation.

Design: Pilot randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Rehabilitation center and community.

The cost-effectiveness of patient decision aids: A systematic review.

The Affordable Care Act includes provisions to encourage patient-centered care through the use of shared decision making (SDM) and patient decision aids (PtDA). PtDAs are tools that can help encourage SDM by providing information about competing treatment options and elucidating patients׳ values and preferences. Implementing PtDAs into routine practice may incur additional costs through training or increases in physician time.

Physician attitudes toward shared decision making: A systematic review.

Objective: Although evidence suggests that shared decision-making (SDM) can improve patient outcomes, uptake to date has been sparse. The purpose of this review was to determine the reported opinions of physicians regarding the use of SDM in clinical practice and to identify strategies to promote uptake.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review, including papers published between 2007 and 2014.

Associations of sedentary time patterns and TV viewing time with inflammatory and endothelial function biomarkers in children.

Objective: Investigate associations of TV viewing time and accelerometry-derived sedentary time with inflammatory and endothelial function biomarkers in children.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 164 7-10-year-old children. TV viewing time was assessed by parental proxy report and total and patterns of sedentary time accumulation (e.

Exploiting order effects to improve the quality of decisions.

Objective: To examine the effect of ordering information in a patient decision aid (PtDA) about treatments for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Methods: We recruited 643 individuals to imagine that they had been diagnosed with OSA and to choose between treatment options. A value clarification exercise was used to determine which attributes of treatment mattered most to each individual.

Challenges with cost-utility analyses of behavioural interventions among older adults at risk for dementia.

Background: Cognitive decline is one of the most prominent healthcare issues of the 21st century. Within the context of combating cognitive decline through behavioural interventions, physical activity is a promising approach. There is a dearth of health economic data in the area of behavioural interventions for dementia prevention.

Allocating limited resources in a time of fiscal constraints: a priority setting case study from Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine.

Facing a projected $1.4M deficit on a $35M operating budget for fiscal year 2011/2012, members of the Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine developed and implemented an explicit, transparent, criteria-based priority setting process for resource reallocation. A task group that included representatives from across the Faculty of Medicine used a program budgeting and marginal analysis (PBMA) framework, which provided an alternative to the typical public-sector approaches to addressing a budget deficit of across-the-board spending cuts and political negotiation.

Examining "success" in post-hip fracture care transitions: a strengths-based approach.

Transitions between health care settings are a high-risk period for care quality and patient safety (Coleman, 2003; Picker Institute, 1999), particularly for older patients - such as those with hip fracture - who have complex needs and may undergo multiple care transitions. We sought to understand the key elements of "success" in care transition. Using a strengths-based perspective (Rapp, 1998; Saleebey, 2006), we focused on interprofessional health care providers' perspectives of what constitutes a "good" care transition for elderly hip fracture patients.

The p110α and p110β isoforms of class I phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase are involved in toll-like receptor 5 signaling in epithelial cells.

Background: Bacterial flagellin triggers inflammation in mammalian cells via Toll-like receptor (TLR) 5. Release of the chemokine IL-8 in response to flagellin involves NF-κB, p38 MAP kinase, and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). However, PI3K has been reported to be either pro- or anti-inflammatory in different model systems.

Resistance training and executive functions: a 12-month randomized controlled trial.

Background: Cognitive decline among seniors is a pressing health care issue. Specific exercise training may combat cognitive decline. We compared the effect of once-weekly and twice-weekly resistance training with that of twice-weekly balance and tone exercise training on the performance of executive cognitive functions in senior women.

Asthma exacerbations . 4: Prevention.

Asthma exacerbations are common. They account for a significant morbidity and contribute a disproportionate amount to the cost of asthma management. The optimal strategies for the prevention of asthma exacerbations include the early introduction of anti-inflammatory treatment-most commonly, low dose inhaled corticosteroids.

The value of thoracic computed tomography scans in clinical diagnosis: a prospective study.

Background: Computed tomography (CT) scans are used extensively to investigate chest disease because of their cross-sectional perspective and superior contrast resolution compared with chest radiographs. These advantages lead to a more accurate imaging assessment of thoracic disease. The actual use and evaluation of the clinical impact of thoracic CT has not been assessed since scanners became widely available.

Angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker inhibits pulmonary injury.

Purpose: Pulmonary damage and fibrosis may be the result of diverse forms of injury and there is an association between pulmonary diseases and cardiovascular events. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker, valsartan, on systemic, cellular, and fibrotic consequences of pulmonary injury induced by the anti-neoplastic antibiotic, bleomycin.

Methods: Sprague Dawly rats were used in the classical bleomycin model of pulmonary fibrosis.