Shared Medical Appointments: An Academic-Community Partnership to Improve Care Among Adults With Type 2 Diabetes in California Central Valley Region.

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of ALDEA (Latinos con Diabetes en Acción), a Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) intervention, compared to usual primary care (UPC) for the treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes over a 6-month period. It was hypothesized that participants in the SMA will have greater reductions in A1C at 6 months post-intervention compared to the control group.MethodsThis study was a quasi-experimental design with a non-randomized matched control group that followed participants prospectively for 6 months. All adults living with type-2 diabetes receiving primary care at a 2 FQHC clinics were eligible for inclusion. Participants in the control group were matched retrospectively on baseline A1C and age.ResultsThe reductions in A1C were greater in the ALDEA SMA intervention group relative to the UPC control group at 6 months in both of the FQHC centers and in the combined sample.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that patients in the ALDEA program had a significantly greater reduction in A1C at 6 months compared to the control group. Despite its limitations, the ALDEA SMA program was successful in empowering patients and improving glycemic control

Specific Plateaus of the Quantum Hall Effect Induced by an Applied Bias

The spectrum and the eigenstates of a finite 2D tight-binding electronic system, with Dirichlet boundary conditions, in magnetic field and external linear potential are studied. The eigenstates show an equipotential character and may cross the plaquette in the direction perpendicular to the electric field. When leads are added to the plaquette, the channels carrying the current may be shortcut by equipotentials, resulting in additional plateaus situated inbetween the usual IQHE plateaus. This idea is confirmed by a numerical calculation within the four-terminal Landauer-B\"{u}ttiker approach.Comment: 9 pages, revtex, 2 gif figures and 5 postscript figure