Self-management skills in adolescents with chronic rheumatic disease: A cross-sectional survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>For adolescents with a diagnosis of lifelong chronic illness, mastery of self-management skills is a critical component of the transition to adult care. This study aims to examine self-reported medication adherence and self-care skills among adolescents with chronic rheumatic disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cross-sectional survey of 52 adolescent patients in the Pediatric Rheumatology Clinic at UCSF. Outcome measures were self-reported medication adherence, medication regimen knowledge and independence in health care tasks. Predictors of self-management included age, disease perception, self-care agency, demographics and self-reported health status. Bivariate associations were assessed using the Student's t-test, Wilcoxon rank sum test and Fisher exact test as appropriate. Independence in self-management tasks were compared between subjects age 13-16 and 17-20 using the chi-squared test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Subjects were age 13-20 years (mean 15.9); 79% were female. Diagnoses included juvenile idiopathic arthritis (44%), lupus (35%), and other rheumatic conditions (21%). Mean disease duration was 5.3 years (SD 4.0). Fifty four percent reported perfect adherence to medications, 40% reported 1-2 missed doses per week, and 6% reported missing 3 or more doses. The most common reason for missing medications was forgetfulness. Among health care tasks, there was an age-related increase in ability to fill prescriptions, schedule appointments, arrange transportation, ask questions of doctors, manage insurance, and recognize symptoms of illness. Ability to take medications as directed, keep a calendar of appointments, and maintain a personal medical file did not improve with age.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study suggests that adolescents with chronic rheumatic disease may need additional support to achieve independence in self-management.</p

Gene fusion in Helicobacter pylori: Making the ends meet

10.1007/s10482-005-9021-2Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, International Journal of General and Molecular Microbiology891169-18

Thermodynamics and Thermoelectricity

Thermoelectric (TE) effects result from the interference of electrical current and heat flow in various materials. This chapter presents a retrospective view on some of the milestones in the development of thermoelectricity. It reviews the thermodynamic theory of galvano- and thermomagnetic effects. As for TE materials, the galvano- and thermomagnetic effects can be found to be more pronounced in semiconductor materials. The chapter considers a basic thermodynamic system and thermodynamics of the ideal Fermi gas. Classical thermodynamics, which is useful for describing equilibrium states, provides very incomplete information on the actual physical phenomena, which are characterized by irreversibility and nonequilibrium states. Since the TE process implies the coupling of the heat flux and electric current, these two fluxes should be driven optimally. They derived two key parameters of the compatibility approach, the relative current and the TE potential