A planned program for developing word perception in grade one

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

Test-retest reliability of a questionnaire to assess physical environmental factors pertaining to physical activity

BACKGROUND: Despite the documented benefits of physical activity, many adults do not obtain the recommended amounts. Barriers to physical activity occur at multiple levels, including at the individual, interpersonal, and environmental levels. Only until more recently has there been a concerted focus on how the physical environment might affect physical activity behavior. With this new area of study, self-report measures should be psychometrically tested before use in research studies. Therefore the objective of this study was to document the test-retest reliability of a questionnaire designed to assess physical environmental factors that might be associated with physical activity in a diverse adult population. METHODS: Test and retest surveys were conducted over the telephone with 106 African American and White women and men living in either Forsyth County, North Carolina or Jackson, Mississippi. Reliability of self-reported environmental factors across four domains (e.g., access to facilities and destinations, functionality and safety, aesthetics, natural environment) was determined using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) overall and separately by gender and race. RESULTS: Generally items displayed moderate and sometimes substantial reliability (ICC between 0.4 to 0.8), with a few differences by gender or race, across each of the domains. CONCLUSION: This study provides some psychometric evidence for the use of many of these questions in studies examining the effect of self-reported physical environmental measures on physical activity behaviors, among African American and White women and men

Training workshop "Safety of food contact materials: exposure assessment of chemicals in foods and the use of FACET for exposure assessment"

Two concurrent Workshops on " Safety of food contact materials: migration testing and exposure assessment of chemicals in foods" are organised by the JRC's European Reference Laboratory for Food Contact Materials on 07-08 October 2014 in Ispra. These workshops were dedicated to training and exchange of information capacity building for National Reference Laboratories, Member States and stakeholders in the area of safety of food contact materials. It also includes a special opportunity for participation under EC's Enlargement & Integration activities. This report presents the specific workshop on the use of FACET. The Flavourings, Additives, food Contact materials Exposure Tool (FACET) is a novel exposure tool which was created as an FP7 EU funded research project which ran from 2008 to 2012. The JRC, beyond its participation as project partner, was designated as responsible entity for the dissemination and sustainability of the tool. A workshop was offered on the newest exposure tool for the prediction of exposure assessment of chemicals in foods including food contact materials. A demonstration of the tool was dedicated for the first time to NRLs and/or Member States and could include optional participation to other interested stakeholders including opportunity for participation under EC's Enlargement & Integration activities.JRC.I.1-Chemical Assessment and Testin

Exploring disability from the perspective of adults living with HIV/AIDS: Development of a conceptual framework

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Efficacy of treatment in an opioid –dependent population group using the Maudsley Addiction Profile (MAP) tool

A pilot study was performed to assess the effectiveness of treatment in an opioid dependent population using the Maudsley Addiction Profile (MAP) tool1

The development and process evaluation of PEER : a camp-based programme for adolescents impacted by cancer

Adolescents impacted by their own or a relative’s cancer diagnosis experience significant psychosocial needs. Residential programmes provide opportunities to address these, yet limited evaluation research and unclear reporting of therapeutic and theoretical underpinnings complicate efforts to understand programme effects. This paper reports the development and process evaluation of PEER, a four-day programme with psychosocial (acceptance and commitment therapy, self-compassion) and recreational components for adolescents impacted by their own or a parent/sibling’s cancer. Staff (N = 51) and adolescents (N = 148, 12–17 years) who attended a PEER programme participated in this evaluation. The evaluation of fidelity included measures of facilitators’ confidence to deliver content, adherence to the programme manual, quality of programme delivery, participants’ engagement, and overall satisfaction. The process evaluation included assessment of quality of life, distress, and process variables (psychological flexibility, mindfulness, self-compassion) at pre-programme, post-programme, and two-month follow-up, as well as qualitative feedback from participants and facilitators. Moderation analyses identified predictors of clinically significant improvement in psychosocial outcomes. The programme was delivered with good fidelity, and participants reported high satisfaction and engagement. Approximately 15–20% of participants experienced clinically-meaningful improvements in distress and quality of life; those who reported higher distress and lower baseline psychological flexibility, mindfulness and self-kindness experienced greater improvements. Qualitative feedback additionally evidenced the value of peer connection and support. The evaluation evidences PEER’s feasibility, acceptability and value for adolescents impacted by cancer, particularly those experiencing greater distress. Its success indicates the potential of the therapeutic approaches used, and for community organisations to develop interventions complementing services offered by healthcare systems

How do existing HIV-specific instruments measure up? Evaluating the ability of instruments to describe disability experienced by adults living with HIV

Background: Despite the multitude of health challenges faced by adults living with HIV, we know of no HIV-specific instrument developed for the purpose of describing the health-related consequences of HIV, a concept known as disability. In a previous phase of research, adults living with HIV conceptualized disability as symptoms/ impairments, difficulties carrying out day-to-day activities, challenges to social inclusion, and uncertainty that may fluctuate on a daily basis and over the course of living with HIV. In this paper, we describe the extent to which existing HIV-specific health-status instruments capture the experience of disability for adults living with HIV. Methods: We searched databases from 1980 to 2006 for English language, HIV-specific, self-reported questionnaires consisting of at least two items that were tested for reliability and validity. We then conducted a content analysis to assess how well existing questionnaires describe disability as defined by the Episodic Disability Framework, a framework that conceptualizes this experience from the perspective of adults living with HIV. We matched items of the instruments with categories of the framework to evaluate the extent to which the instruments capture major dimensions of disability in the framework. Results: We reviewed 4274 abstracts, of which 30 instruments met the inclusion criteria and were retrieved. Of the four major dimensions of disability, symptoms/impairments were included in all 30 instruments, difficulties with day-to-day activities in 16, challenges to social inclusion in 16, and uncertainty in 9. Seven instruments contained at least 1 item from all 4 dimensions of disability (breadth) however, the comprehensiveness with which the dimensions were represented (depth) varied among the instruments. Conclusions: In general, symptoms/impairments and difficulties carrying out day-to-day activities were the disability dimensions characterized in greatest depth while uncertainty and challenges to social inclusion were less well represented. Although none of the instruments described the full breadth and depth of disability as conceptualized by the Episodic Disability Framework, they provide a foundation from which to build a measure of disability for adults living with HIV

Associations of adult physical activity with perceived safety and police-recorded crime: the Multi-ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis

Abstract Background Due to the inconsistent findings of prior studies, we explored the association of perceived safety and police-recorded crime measures with physical activity. Methods The study included 818 Chicago participants of the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis 45 to 84 years of age. Questionnaire-assessed physical activity included a) transport walking; b) leisure walking; and c) non-walking leisure activities. Perceived safety was assessed through an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Police-recorded crime was assessed through 2-year counts of selected crimes (total and outdoor incivilities, criminal offenses, homicides) per 1000 population. Associations were examined using generalized estimating equation logistic regression models. Results Perceiving a safer neighborhood was positively associated with transport walking and perceiving lower violence was associated with leisure walking. Those in the lowest tertile of total or outdoor incivilities were more likely to report transport walking. Models with both perceived safety and police-recorded measures of crime as independent variables had superior fit for both transport walking and leisure walking outcomes. Neither perceived safety nor police-recorded measures of crime were associated with non-walking leisure activity. Conclusions Perceived and police-recorded measures had independent associations with walking and both should be considered in assessing the impact of neighborhood crime on physical activity.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112746/1/12966_2012_Article_681.pd

Total versus superficial parotidectomy for stage III melanoma

BackgroundThe primary purpose of this study was to describe the parotid recurrence rates after superficial and total parotidectomy.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was performed on patients with cutaneous melanoma metastatic to the parotid gland who underwent parotidectomy from 1998 through 2014. Primary outcome was parotid bed recurrence. Secondary outcomes were facial nerve function postoperatively and at last follow‐up.ResultsOne hundred twenty‐nine patients were included in the study. Thirty‐four patients (26%) underwent a total parotidectomy and 95 patients underwent superficial parotidectomy. Twelve patients (13%) developed parotid bed recurrence after superficial parotidectomy alone versus zero after total parotidectomy (P = .035). Facial nerve function, clinically detected disease, stage, and adjuvant treatment were not statistically different between the groups (P = .32, .32, .13, and 0.99, respectively).ConclusionParotid bed melanoma recurrence was more common after superficial parotidectomy compared to total parotidectomy, and recurrence resulted in significant facial nerve functional deficit. Our results support total parotidectomy when metastatic melanoma involves the parotid nodal basin.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137735/1/hed24810_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/137735/2/hed24810.pd

Secretory leucoprotease inhibitor binds to NF-κB binding sites in monocytes and inhibits p65 binding

Secretory leucoprotease inhibitor (SLPI) is a nonglycosylated protein produced by epithelial cells. In addition to its antiprotease activity, SLPI has been shown to exhibit antiinflammatory properties, including down-regulation of tumor necrosis factor α expression by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in macrophages and inhibition of nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation in a rat model of acute lung injury. We have previously shown that SLPI can inhibit LPS-induced NF-κB activation in monocytic cells by inhibiting degradation of IκBα without affecting the LPS-induced phosphorylation and ubiquitination of IκBα. Here, we present evidence to show that upon incubation with peripheral blood monocytes (PBMs) and the U937 monocytic cell line, SLPI enters the cells, becoming rapidly localized to the cytoplasm and nucleus, and affects NF-κB activation by binding directly to NF-κB binding sites in a site-specific manner. SLPI can also prevent p65 interaction with the NF-κB consensus region at concentrations commensurate with the physiological nuclear levels of SLPI and p65. We also demonstrate the presence of SLPI in nuclear fractions of PBMs and alveolar macrophages from individuals with cystic fibrosis and community-acquired pneumonia. Therefore, SLPI inhibition of NF-κB activation is mediated, in part, by competitive binding to the NF-κB consensus-binding site