Human Papillomavirus Infection: Prevention, Barriers to Vaccination, and the Need for Education

While there is no known cure for HPV, prophylactic vaccination provides an effective method of primary prevention against HPV-related diseases. However, many females and males never receive the HPV vaccine as recommended. There are multiple barriers to vaccination, and these barriers can be identified as parental, provider, or system level. Understanding these barriers and developing strategies that provide accurate information about HPV, its risks, and the need for vaccination are essential in the form of sustained educational campaigns for parents, young adults, and providers

An Undergraduate Collaborative Team Model to Engage Nursing Students in Research

Purpose: Student-faculty collaboration on research is an effective model to engage undergraduate students in the research process outside of the traditional curriculum. Using this model, a student-faculty team developed a longitudinal study about college students’ alcohol use behaviors and implemented an intervention to influence the culture of drinking on campus. Methods: A longitudinal design was used to assess drinking behaviors and evaluate the effect of a mass media campaign with social norm messages and alcohol education. Undergraduate students on a faith-based, Midwestern campus completed baseline (N = 1,095) and post-intervention (N = 1,011) electronic surveys. Results: In addition to helping students learn about and develop enthusiasm for research, this project had an impact on the drinking culture on campus. Findings showed 88% of students observed media campaign messages with 82% viewing the printed posters, 47% viewing the outdoor displays, and 25% viewing messages on social media. There was a significant change in binge drinking from the pre- (72%) to post-intervention (40%) surveys. Conclusions: Collaborative undergraduate research teams are an effective model to help students learn how to carry out research and develop interest and enthusiasm for the process. The outcomes of the project demonstrated interventions were effective at influencing the drinking culture on campus. The development of a research program outside the required curriculum can be a successful strategy to engage students in all phases of the research process, increase enthusiasm for research, and enhance health care outcomes in various settings

Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Outbreak among US-bound Hmong Refugees, Thailand, 2005

Enhanced pre-immigration screening and program expansion decreased TB importation

Assessing ADHD symptoms in children and adults:Evaluating the role of objective measures

Background: Diagnostic guidelines recommend using a variety of methods to assess and diagnose ADHD. Applying subjective measures always incorporates risks such as informant biases or large differences between ratings obtained from diverse sources. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that ratings and tests seem to assess somewhat different constructs. The use of objective measures might thus yield valuable information for diagnosing ADHD. This study aims at evaluating the role of objective measures when trying to distinguish between individuals with ADHD and controls. Our sample consisted of children (n = 60) and adults (n = 76) diagnosed with ADHD and matched controls who completed self- and observer ratings as well as objective tasks. Diagnosis was primarily based on clinical interviews. A popular pattern recognition approach, support vector machines, was used to predict the diagnosis. Results: We observed relatively high accuracy of 79% (adults) and 78% (children) applying solely objective measures. Predicting an ADHD diagnosis using both subjective and objective measures exceeded the accuracy of objective measures for both adults (89.5%) and children (86.7%), with the subjective variables proving to be the most relevant. Conclusions: We argue that objective measures are more robust against rater bias and errors inherent in subjective measures and may be more replicable. Considering the high accuracy of objective measures only, we found in our study, we think that they should be incorporated in diagnostic procedures for assessing ADHD

Increase in pediatric recurrent fever evaluations during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in North America

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new diagnoses of recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases is largely unknown. The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) PFAPA/AID Working Group aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of pediatric patients evaluated for recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases in North America. The absolute number of new outpatient visits and the proportion of these visits attributed to recurrent fever diagnoses during the pre-pandemic period (1 March 2019–29 February 2020) and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (1 March 2020–28 February 2021) were examined. Data were collected from 27 sites in the United States and Canada. Our results showed an increase in the absolute number of new visits for recurrent fever evaluations in 21 of 27 sites during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. The increase was observed across different geographic regions in North America. Additionally, the proportion of new visits to these centers for recurrent fever in relation to all new patient evaluations was significantly higher during the first year of the pandemic, increasing from 7.8% before the pandemic to 10.9% during the pandemic year (p < 0.001). Our findings showed that the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a higher number of evaluations by pediatric subspecialists for recurrent fevers. Further research is needed to understand the reasons behind these findings and to explore non-infectious triggers for recurrent fevers in children

A Grounded Theory Investigation Into Depression in Freshman College Students

(excerpt) Freshman students may find adjusting to college a stressful experience. The stressors students face during this time of transition require the use of previously developed coping mechanisms, as well as the development of new strategies to effectively adjust to university lif

Journey of a Woman With Terminal Cervical Cancer

When a cervical cancer diagnosis is made during a terminal stage, a woman is faced with many challenges. Although a terminal illness has many negative effects, such as physical pain, scarring, fear, and sexual dysfunction, women may experience a positive impact on their life, such as improved well-being and a greater appreciation of daily life. The individual experience can lead to personal revelations. Sometimes, the diagnosis can even be seen as a blessing. Understanding a personal experience in a real-life context of the terminal stages of disease is important. This story shares the day-to-day journey of a woman living with a terminal illness of cervical cancer

The Cognitive Appraisal of Health Scale: Development and Psychometric Evaluation

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the psychometric properties of the Cognitive Appraisal of Health Scale (CAHS). The CAHS was developed to measure multiple dimensions of primary and secondary appraisals associated with health-related events. Items were generated for primary appraisal scales of threat, harm/loss, challenge, and benign/irrelevant, and secondary appraisal coping options and resources, The CAHS was tested in a sample of 201 women with breast cancer. Following tests of item analysis, reliability, and construct and concurrent validity, the CAHS was reduced to 28 items, During factor analysis a four-factor solution explained 60% of the total variance and represented the proposed primary appraisal dimensions. Intercorrelations among primary and secondary appraisals were consistent with theory (p \u3c .01). Support for concurrent validity was provided by the clinically relevant differences in appraisal by time since diagnosis. The primary appraisal scale estimates of internal consistency (theta) were all greater than .70. Findings indicated beginning support for reliability and validity of the CAHS as a measure of cognitive appraisal for health-related events. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc