Expressive Art to Facilitate the Development of the Occupational Profile: A Scoping Review

Background. The American Occupational Therapy Association and the American Medical Association have changed CPT codes to require a completed occupational profile at every evaluation and re-evaluation session for reimbursement as of January 1, 2017. A revitalization of art in occupational therapy has led to a recent increase in the evidence supporting the use of expressive art in practice. The benefits of expressive art can directly enhance the occupational profile required by these changing reimbursement requirements. Methods. A scoping review method was applied in the current study. Out of 347 initial articles, 12 met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed through critical appraisal of topics and use of a matrix. Results. Analysis of the data elucidated emergent themes of expressive art’s positive effects on verbal communication, the client’s therapeutic reflection, the accuracy of information, the clinician’s use of prompting, the therapeutic relationship, and client engagement. Conclusion. Expressive art can strengthen the occupational profile and information-gathering process. The benefits related to using art in occupational therapy may enhance the complexity of the overall evaluation process, as described by newly changing CPT codes. Expressive art techniques can facilitate the development of client-centered goals and individualized intervention planning, creating an overall positive service delivery process

Keeping Clubhouses Open: Toward a Roadmap for Sustainability

Clubhouses are recovery centers that help persons with serious mental illness obtain and maintain community-based employment, education, housing, social integration, and other services. Key informants from U.S. clubhouses were interviewed to create a conceptual framework for clubhouse sustainability. Survival analyses tested this model for 261 clubhouses. Clubhouses stayed open significantly longer if they had received full accreditation, had more administrative autonomy, and received funding from multiple rather than sole sources. Cox regression analyses showed that freestanding clubhouses which were accredited endured the longest. Budget size, clubhouse size, and access to managed care did not contribute significantly to sustainability

Transient Premature Ovarian Insufficiency Post-COVID-19 Infection.

Anti-ovarian antibodies (AOAs) have been linked to autoimmune premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). This report details a case in which a patient experienced transient POI after a COVID-19 infection and tested positive for AOA. After treatment with oral contraceptives and subsequent high-dose oral corticosteroids, the patient underwent fertility treatment with in vitro fertilization (IVF). A total of 23 oocytes were retrieved. Two euploid blastocysts and three untested blastocysts were successfully created. This report hypothesizes the connection between autoimmune POI, AOA, and COVID-19. Conflicting data have been reported linking COVID-19 and ovarian injury. However, it is suggested that COVID-19 transiently impacts the menstrual cycle and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels. Treatment to overcome poor ovarian response due to AOA has not been adequately determined; however, similar autoimmune conditions have been successfully treated with corticosteroids

Sulfonation and Phosphorylation of Regions of the Dioxin Receptor Susceptible to Methionine Modifications*S⃞

Tagged murine dioxin receptor was purified from mammalian cells, digested with trypsin, and analyzed by capillary HPLC-MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS and -MS/MS. Several chromatographically distinct semitryptic peptides matching two regions spanning residues Glu409–Arg424 and Ser547–Arg555 of the dioxin receptor were revealed by de novo sequencing. Methionine residues at 418 and 548 were detected in these peptides as either unmodified or modified by moieties of 16 (oxidation) or 57 amu (S-carboxamidomethylation) or in a form corresponding to degradative removal of 105 amu from the S-carboxamidomethylated methionine. MS/MS spectra revealed that the peptides containing modified methionine residues also existed in forms with a modification of +80 amu on serine residues 411, 415, and 547. The MS/MS spectra of these peptide ions also revealed diagnostic neutral loss fragment ions of 64, 98, and/or 80 amu, and in some instances combinations of these neutral losses were apparent. Taken together, these data indicated that serines 411 and 547 of the dioxin receptor were sulfonated and serine 415 was phosphorylated. Separate digests of the dioxin receptor were prepared in H216O and H218O, and enzymatic dephosphorylation was subsequently performed on the H216O digest only. The digests were mixed in equal proportions and analyzed by capillary HPLC-MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS and -MS/MS. This strategy confirmed assignment of sulfonation as the cause of the +80-amu modifications on serines 411 and 547 and phosphorylation as the predominant cause of the +80-amu modification of serine 415. The relative quantitation of phosphorylation and sulfonation enabled by this differential phosphatase strategy also suggested the presence of sulfonation on a serine other than residue 411 within the sequence spanning Glu409–Arg424. This represents the first description of post-translational sulfonation sites and identification of a new phosphorylation site of the latent dioxin receptor. Furthermore this is only the second report of serine sulfonation of eukaryotic proteins. Mutagenesis studies are underway to assess the functional consequences of these modifications

The Role of Acculturation and Family Functioning in Predicting HIV Risk Behaviors Among Hispanic Delinquent Youth

The present study examined the relationship between Berry’s acculturation typology and HIV risk behaviors and whether family functioning mediated any such effects. A total of 235 high risk Hispanic adolescents were categorized into one of Berry’s four acculturation typologies through the use of cut-off scores on measures of Hispanicism and Americanism. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the effects of acculturation typology on HIV risk behaviors and the indirect effects of acculturation typology on HIV risk behaviors through family functioning. Acculturation typology was related to HIV risk behaviors. Family functioning partially mediated the effects of acculturation typology on the HIV risk behavior outcomes. These findings suggest that both Americanism and Hispanicism play an important role in the etiology of HIV risk behaviors among Hispanic youth and that both, along with family functioning, are important to consider when designing preventive interventions for this population