Are Sodium Alginate Solutions Effective in Reducing Postprandial Symptoms in Adults with Gastroesophageal Reflux?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not sodium alginate solutions are effective in reducing postprandial symptoms in adults with gastroesophageal reflux?STUDY DESIGN: A review of three English language studies published from 2006-2011. Includes two randomized, double-blind, controlled trials and one controlled case series.DATA SOURCES: Randomized, placebo-controlled studies evaluating the effectiveness and safety of sodium alginate solutions (Gaviscon) for managing gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) symptoms in adults were located using the PubMed, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases.OUTCOMES MEASURED: The primary measures of effectiveness used were the Reflux Severity Index Questionnaire and Reflux Disease Questionnaire. The secondary measures of effectiveness were the incidence of symptoms with time of onset and time until resolution. The measures of symptom reduction included heartburn (epigastric, substernal pain), acid taste in mouth, regurgitation, nausea, flatulence, hoarseness, excess mucous and throat clearing, and cough.RESULTS: Two randomized, controlled studies and one controlled case series comparing sodium alginate solutions to a placebo, proton pump inhibitor and H2 receptor antagonist were reviewed. Dettmar et al. noted a statistically significant decrease in incidence of esophageal symptoms compared to control and omeprazole. McGlashan and colleagues noted a mean reduction in severity of symptoms at two and six months after Gaviscon treatment compared with control. Kwiatek et al. noted a statistically significant reduction in an acid taste in patients’ mouths after Gaviscon treatment. All three studies also found sodium alginate solutions to be well tolerated. The majority of adverse events were mild; the most common events included mild nausea and headache.CONCLUSIONS: The results of all three studies in this review support a similar conclusion, that sodium alginate solutions are both effective and safe in the treatment of adults over 18 years of age diagnosed with GERD. Liquid alginate suspensions like Gaviscon formulations provide an alternative, non-systemic, barrier mode of action in the treatment of GERD. Further research regarding specific formulations available and the role in prevention of Barrett’s esophagus is warranted

Spot activity of the RS CVn star {\sigma} Geminorum

We model the photometry of RS CVn star $\sigma$ Geminorum to obtain new information on the changes of the surface starspot distribution, i.e., activity cycles, differential rotation and active longitudes. We use the previously published Continuous Periods Search-method (CPS) to analyse V-band differential photometry obtained between the years 1987 and 2010 with the T3 0.4 m Automated Telescope at the Fairborn Observatory. The CPS-method divides data into short subsets and then models the light curves with Fourier-models of variable orders and provides estimates of the mean magnitude, amplitude, period and light curve minima. These light curve parameters are then analysed for signs of activity cycles, differential rotation and active longitudes. We confirm the presence of two previously found stable active longitudes, synchronised with the orbital period $P_{\rm{orb}}=19.60$d and find eight events where the active longitudes are disrupted. The epochs of the primary light curve minima rotate with a shorter period $P_{\rm{min,1}}=19.47$d than the orbital motion. If the variations in the photometric rotation period were to be caused by differential rotation, this would give a differential rotation coefficient of $\alpha \ge 0.103$. The presence of two slightly different periods of active regions may indicate a superposition of two dynamo modes, one stationary in the orbital frame and the other one propagating in the azimuthal direction. Our estimate of the differential rotation is much higher than previous results. However, simulations show that this can be caused by insufficient sampling in our data.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to A&

The Cyclic Loading Behavior of Grouted Sand

A two-phased static and dynamic laboratory investigation of the behavior of a silicate grout stabilized sand has been undertaken. Through the use of load-controlled cyclic triaxial testing the dynamic strength, stiffness, and deformation characteristics have been assessed as a function of mix design, confinerrent level and loading history. Comparisons between static and dynamic properties are provided

Do Respondents use Extra Information Provided in Online Best-Worst Choice Experiments?

An issue of interest to researchers is the amount of explanatory information one needs to give respondents making decisions in choice tasks. One way to resolve this issue is to let people select only relevant information from interactive information sources. This resolution poses unanswered questions: e.g., will respondents use the extra information, and potential systematic differences in information users and non-users. To shed some light on this issue, we let respondents access optional descriptive information about attributes in the form of partial (verbal) and full (verbal plus visual) glossaries associated with a Best-Worst (BW) web survey. Only a small minority with higher subjective product knowledge accessed the glossary information. We found no significant difference between verbal and visual information in attractiveness of use or impact on choice

Immigrant Elder Women and Their Long-term Care Planning

The older adult population continues to grow in numbers and in diversity. In preparing for this increasingly larger and more diverse older adult population, it is important to understand what their long-term care needs, wants and expectation are. This research focuses on immigrant elder women and their long-term care plans. This is a descriptive study which utilized qualitative and quantitative research methods by interviewing 13 immigrant elder women. They were recruited primarily through the International Women's Club in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. This research has four major findings regarding immigrant elder women's long-term care plans. These immigrant elder women plan to remain living in the United States instead of returning to their county of nativity during older adulthood. These immigrant elder women plan to remain living in their own home for as long as possible, financially and medically. Immigrant elders do not wish to be dependent on their families to meet their long-term care needs. When the time arises that they may need paid care, these immigrant elder women are more concerned with having competent caregivers than with cultural issues. These findings parallel trends regarding long-term care plans and concerns of the general older adult population. This may be due to a combination of factors, such as: country of nativity, socio-economic status, availability of children as social supports, a multicultural identity, and level of acculturation and cultural allegiance. Recent policy developments support increasing home and community based long-term care services. These changes in policies and programs should continue to be expanded to better meet the needs current and future older adults, including immigrant elder women

The Evidence Chamber: Playful Science Communication and Research Through Digital Storytelling

In a courtroom, it is essential that the scientific evidence is both understandable and understood, so that the strengths and limitations of that evidence, within the context of a legal case, can inform decision making. The Evidence Chamber brings together entertainment, public engagement with science and research into a public performance activity that is centred around digital storytelling and science communication. This experience engages public audiences with science and allows a better understanding of how people interpret scientific evidence. In this paper, we discuss how we created this experience as an in-person and fully virtual performance through successful collaboration between forensic science research, public audiences, public engagement professionals, the legal profession, and digital performance artists

Voice Flows To And Around Leaders: Understanding When Units Are Helped Or Hurt By Employee Voice

In two studies, we develop and test theory about the relationship between speaking up, one type of organizational citizenship behavior, and unit performance by accounting for where employee voice is flowing. Results from a qualitative study of managers and professionals across a variety of industries suggest that voice to targets at different formal power levels (peers or superiors) and locations in the organization (inside or outside a focal unit) differs systematically in terms of its usefulness in generating actions to a unit's benefit on the issues raised and in the likely information value of the ideas expressed. We then theorize how distinct voice flows should be differentially related to unit performance based on these core characteristics and test our hypotheses using time-lagged field data from 801 employees and their managers in 93 units across nine North American credit unions. Results demonstrate that voice flows are positively related to a unit's effectiveness when they are targeted at the focal leader of that unitwho should be able to take actionwhether from that leader's own subordinates or those in other units, and negatively related to a unit's effectiveness when they are targeted at coworkers who have little power to effect change. Together, these studies provide a structural framework for studying the nature and impact of multiple voice flows, some along formal reporting lines and others that reflect the informal communication structure within organizations. This research demonstrates that understanding the potential performance benefits and costs of voice for leaders and their units requires attention to the structure and complexity of multiple voice flows rather than to an undifferentiated amount of voice.Business Administratio

Individual Goal Orientations, Team Empowerment, and Employee Creative Performance: A Case of Cross-Level Interactions

Intrigued by relationship between team motivational context and individual characteristics in the organizational reality, we developed and tested a cross-level model to investigate the interactive effects of team empowerment and individual goal orientations on individual creative performance through the mediating mechanism of an individual\u27s creative self-efficacy. Using multi-wave multi-source data from 63 R&D teams in three IT companies, we found that (1) team empowerment, individual learning goal orientation, and individual performance orientation are all positively related to individual creative performance through mediation of creative self-efficacy; (2) learning orientation and performance approach orientation could both supplement the effects of team empowerment on individual creative self-efficacy. Our findings point to the importance of individual goal orientation in shaping the effects of team motivation climates and provide insights for both scholars and practitioners. The specific practical implications include but are not limited to (1) individuals with learning and performance approach orientations should be identified during hiring procedures given that they could still thrive in less empowered teams and maintain a relatively high level of creative self-efficacy and creative outcomes; (2) managers should consider assigning employees who are more learning oriented to more empowering and open-ended tasks in order to obtain better creative results