Effects of Patient Characteristics on Outpatient Rehabilitation Outcomes in Patients with Lumbar Impairments

Lumbar spine impairments affect an individual’s ability to perform activities of daily living, making it pertinent to understand the importance of rehabilitation and variables influencing clinical outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine variables (demographics, health conditions, and biopsychosocial) that contribute to larger functional status (FS) improvement for patients with lumbar spine impairments seeking outpatient rehabilitation therapy. This study was a secondary data analysis of data collected by FOTO Inc. (Knoxville, TN, USA). A sample of 221,168 participants with lumbar spine impairments were analyzed. Correlations were performed to examine the strength of the linear relationship between variables of interest and functional status change (FSCH) at discharge. Multi-linear regression was used to create regression equations that predict FSCH at discharge. Results revealed that patients who were younger, had more acute conditions, fewer comorbidities, fewer surgeries, lower FS at admission, a lower pain rating at worst and within 24 hours, lower Modified Oswestry Low Back Pain Disability Questionnaire (MOS) score at admission and higher pain rating at best experienced greater improvement at discharge. A final linear regression model equation was identified, with symptom acuity, FS admission score and MOS admission score being the three factors that explain the most variance

Local walking and cycling by residents living near urban motorways: cross-sectional analysis

Abstract: Background: Everyday activities, such as walking or cycling, may be a feasible and practical way to integrate physical activity into everyday life. Walking and cycling for transport or recreation in the area local to a person’s home may have additional benefits. However, urban planning tends to prioritise car use over active modes. We explored the cross-sectional association between living near an urban motorway and local walking and cycling. Methods: In 2013, residents living in an area (a) near a new urban motorway (M74), (b) near a longstanding urban motorway (M8), or (c) without a motorway, in Glasgow, Scotland, were invited to complete postal surveys assessing local walking and cycling journeys and socio-demographic characteristics. Using adjusted regression models, we assessed the association between motorway proximity and self-reported local walking and cycling, as well as the count of types of destination accessed. We stratified our analyses according to study area. Results: One thousand three hundred forty-three residents (57% female; mean age: 54 years; SD: 16 years) returned questionnaires. There was no overall association between living near an urban motorway and the likelihood of local walking or cycling, or the number of types of local destination accessed by foot or bicycle. In stratified analyses, for those living in the area around the new M74 motorway, increasing residential proximity to the motorway was associated with lower likelihood of local recreational walking and cycling (OR 0.63, 95% CI: 0.39 to 1.00) a pattern not found in the area with the longstanding M8 motorway. In the area near the M8 motorway residential proximity was statistically significantly (p = 0.014) associated with a 12% decrease in the number of types of destination accessed, a pattern not found in the M74 study area. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that associations between living near a motorway and local walking and cycling behaviour may vary by the characteristics of the motorway, and by whether the behaviour is for travel or recreation. The lack of associations seen in the study area with no motorway suggests a threshold effect whereby beyond a certain distance from a motorway, additional distance makes no difference

From the Empire State to the North Star State: Voter Engagement in the 2016 Election

Voter engagement has the potential to be a fundamental part of social work practice and key to the professional socialization of social work students. This article describes a classroom-based voter engagement project conducted in two undergraduate social work programs in different U.S. states with significantly different voting laws. We describe the rationale, process of implementing the project, evaluation, and review the results in the context of the 2016 election. We suggest future research that can help develop best practices and methods for implementation of voter engagement in social work practice and education in the future

Creating a Culture of Voting in Direct and Generalist Practice: Training Field Instructors

Social workers have an ethical responsibility to be engaged in policy change, regardless of their practice area or specialization. Voter engagement and the importance of political power through voting is often overlooked in the literature as a valid and important component of social work practice. Creating a culture of nonpartisan voter engagement in practice settings can help empower individuals who have been historically and intentionally disenfranchised from our electoral system. Training for field instructors, faculty, and field staff is a key aspect of voter engagement in social work education. Unfortunately, social work education is unlikely to include substantive content on voter engagement or its connection to social work practice and impact. This article presents one component of a model for integrating voter engagement into social work education: the provision of training for field instructors on nonpartisan voter engagement at two universities over two years. Evaluation findings suggest that pre-existing levels of political efficacy affect the reaction of field instructors to nonpartisan voter engagement training. Furthermore, findings indicate that field instructors who receive voter engagement training are more likely to serve as resources for their students and to consider voter engagement as part of their own practice. We offer evidence on the important role field educators can play in the success of the larger national effort to integrate voter engagement in social work education. Increasing awareness of what social workers, nonprofit, and public agencies are allowed--or even required--to do is a critical first step

Access and utilisation of maternity care for disabled women who experience domestic abuse:a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Although disabled women are significantly more likely to experience domestic abuse during pregnancy than non-disabled women, very little is known about how maternity care access and utilisation is affected by the co-existence of disability and domestic abuse. This systematic review of the literature explored how domestic abuse impacts upon disabled women’s access to maternity services. METHODS: Eleven articles were identified through a search of six electronic databases and data were analysed to identify: the factors that facilitate or compromise access to care; the consequences of inadequate care for pregnant women’s health and wellbeing; and the effectiveness of existing strategies for improvement. RESULTS: Findings indicate that a mental health diagnosis, poor relationships with health professionals and environmental barriers can compromise women’s utilisation of maternity services. Domestic abuse can both compromise, and catalyse, access to services and social support is a positive factor when accessing care. Delayed and inadequate care has adverse effects on women’s physical and psychological health, however further research is required to fully explore the nature and extent of these consequences. Only one study identified strategies currently being used to improve access to services for disabled women experiencing abuse. CONCLUSIONS: Based upon the barriers and facilitators identified within the review, we suggest that future strategies for improvement should focus on: understanding women’s reasons for accessing care; fostering positive relationships; being women-centred; promoting environmental accessibility; and improving the strength of the evidence base

The Lantern, 2020-2021

One Thousand and One is Never Enough • House on Hazel Ave. • Crooked Men at Crooked Alley • Home • Honeybee • The Witch\u27s Daughter • Traveling to Reyu • December 31st, 2019 • The Dominator Rolls the Dice Again • Red Flowers • Military Ball • Drowning in Color • Early Bird • Introspection • Hot Water • Reaching Into Space • Floating Marigolds Before COVID-19 • Smokestack 4 • Longing • His Fifth Year on Amstel Road • Wonderful Moments • Clean Glass • Betty, the Debutante • Teakettles Have it Easy • Fuimos, Somos y Seramos Parte de la Historia de la Isla • Kitchen Table • She Couldn\u27t • Cooling Down • Not so Precious Stones • Domestic Wild • Violet Eater • I Will be Sweet • Flavor of Life • Clogged Artery • All Twenty-Six • The Greatest • From Ashes of War to Golden Cities • A Good Thing • Introduction • Devotion • Life of the Gambler • Impressions: Or a Dining Table\u27s Soliloquy • Looking Glass • Montgomery Pie • Under the Hill • Paperback Lesbian • Girl With Pearl Earring • Your Mirror • Jacket • Illusions • Strawberry Girl (Raw Sugar, Shattered Glass) • I Don\u27t Jam With Instagram • The Morning After Saturday • A Brisk Monday Morning • Emergence • Politeness and Pattern Recognition • Douglas Adams\u27 Guide to Florida • A Love Story With Femininity • Roots • Dysmorphia IIIhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/lantern/1189/thumbnail.jp

Interdisciplinary views of fNIRS: Current advancements, equity challenges, and an agenda for future needs of a diverse fNIRS research community

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an innovative and promising neuroimaging modality for studying brain activity in real-world environments. While fNIRS has seen rapid advancements in hardware, software, and research applications since its emergence nearly 30 years ago, limitations still exist regarding all three areas, where existing practices contribute to greater bias within the neuroscience research community. We spotlight fNIRS through the lens of different end-application users, including the unique perspective of a fNIRS manufacturer, and report the challenges of using this technology across several research disciplines and populations. Through the review of different research domains where fNIRS is utilized, we identify and address the presence of bias, specifically due to the restraints of current fNIRS technology, limited diversity among sample populations, and the societal prejudice that infiltrates today's research. Finally, we provide resources for minimizing bias in neuroscience research and an application agenda for the future use of fNIRS that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival