Local and global limits on visual processing in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia has been linked to impaired performance on a range of visual processing tasks (e.g. detection of coherent motion and contour detection). It has been proposed that this is due to a general inability to integrate visual information at a global level. To test this theory, we assessed the performance of people with schizophrenia on a battery of tasks designed to probe voluntary averaging in different visual domains. Twenty-three outpatients with schizophrenia (mean age: 40±8 years; 3 female) and 20 age-matched control participants (mean age 39±9 years; 3 female) performed a motion coherence task and three equivalent noise (averaging) tasks, the latter allowing independent quantification of local and global limits on visual processing of motion, orientation and size. All performance measures were indistinguishable between the two groups (ps>0.05, one-way ANCOVAs), with one exception: participants with schizophrenia pooled fewer estimates of local orientation than controls when estimating average orientation (p = 0.01, one-way ANCOVA). These data do not support the notion of a generalised visual integration deficit in schizophrenia. Instead, they suggest that distinct visual dimensions are differentially affected in schizophrenia, with a specific impairment in the integration of visual orientation information

Improving Health Outcomes for Children (IHOC): Summary of Pediatric Quality Measures for Children Enrolled in MaineCare FFY 2009 - FFY 2012

his report, authored by USM Muskie School research staff, presents the results of the 16 CHIPRA Core Measures that were collected using MaineCare claims or Vital Statistics data and reported in the State of Maine’s FFY 2012 CHIP Annual Report to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Also included in this report are an additional three measures from the Improving Health Outcomes for Children (IHOC) project’s Master List of Pediatric Measures. In addition to presenting results in graphs and narrative, this report also provides measure definitions and background information about each measure topic. The goal of this document is to present the claims- and vital statistics-based CHIPRA and IHOC measure results in a user-friendly format for IHOC project stakeholders. Measures are grouped by topic. For each topic, a Background section provides a brief description and rationale for collection. (The background discussion for CHIPRA Core Measures is drawn from the Background Report for the Initial, Recommended Core Set of Children’s Healthcare Quality Measures for Voluntary Use by Medicaid and CHIP Programs

Bending Stiffness in Cadaveric and Composite Long Bones Following Total Joint Replacement

Several biomechanics studies have utilized commercially available replicate bone models as an alternative to cadaveric tissue specimens, in part due to their ease of handling and reduced expense. In an effort to validate the use of replicate bone specimens in biomechanics research, a number of studies have compared material properties of whole tibia and femur specimens to those of similar cadaveric specimens. Many of these validation studies have ascertained that the material properties of whole bone composite models fall within the range of those properties of cadaveric specimens, while offering reduced interspecimen variability. Current literature lacks, however, the direct comparison between cadaveric and composite specimens after the implantation of joint replacement components. Because of this, the interactions between orthopaedic implant and replicate bone model, and how those interactions compare with those between implants and cadaveric tissue, are relatively unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of composite femur specimens in test scenarios aside from the whole-bone instances currently evaluated in the literature. Six cadaveric and six composite tibias and femurs were tested at different stages of surgical intervention. Flexural rigidity was measured using a 4-point bending test as a whole bone, after unicompartimental cut and implantation (UKA), and after total knee cut and implantation (TKA) or total hip arthroplasty (THA). The data did not show a definite trend between tests and specimens but is conclusive enough to use composite models for cadaveric specimens

Children Served by MaineCare, 2007: Survey Findings

This report presents findings from a telephone survey of children currently enrolled in or recently disenrolled from MaineCare, the State‘s Medicaid and State Children‘s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The sample was randomly selected, and stratified to include children enrolled in MaineCare through the Medicaid eligibility category, and through two SCHIP eligibility categories, Medicaid Expansion and the Separate Child Health Program (CHP). 1 These three eligibility categories include children ages 18 or under living in households with income up to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. Income eligibility limits are lowest for the Medicaid eligibility category, followed by the Medicaid Expansion and the Separate Child Health Program categories.2 Between May and September 2007 telephone interviews were completed with 1,531 parents of enrolled children and 259 parents of disenrolled children

Impact of Employment Transitions on Health Insurance Coverage of Rural Residents

Numerous studies have found that rural residents are more likely to be uninsured than urban residents. This coverage difference is generally due to more limited access for rural workers to employer-sponsored health insurance. Lower wages, and the tendency for rural residents to work for small employers, account for this reduced access. While we have substantial information on static insurance coverage rates for rural residents, our knowledge about how coverage changes with employment transitions is limited. Prior research indicates that loss of a job puts workers at greater risk of becoming uninsured, and there is some evidence that this risk is even greater for rural workers. Other studies suggest that access to health insurance plays an important role in determining whether a worker decides to change. Whether this relationship is any different for urban versus rural workers has not been well-studied. In the past 20 years, much of the federal-level policy attention related to health insurance coverage has emphasized ensuring continuity of coverage for individuals that experience an employment transition. For example, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), passed in 1985, ensured that those with employer-sponsored coverage could retain that coverage even if that employment ceased. Similarly, the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guaranteed individual coverage for those who leave a group plan. However, both of these key policy interventions are inapplicable to the smaller employers that are the backbone of rural economies. Thus, rural workers may be more likely than urban workers to experience disruptions in health insurance coverage following an employment transition. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides a new background against which to consider the issues of job change, job loss, health insurance portability and coverage of rural residents. Understanding how changes in employment status impact insurance coverage for rural workers can help to identify potential challenges and opportunities for implementing ACA in rural areas

Rural Families More Likely to be Uninsured and Have Different Sources of Coverage

This study used the 2001/2002 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), to examine the patterns of insurance coverage within rural families and to assess differences in family-level insurance status for rural and urban families (including comparisons between rural families living adjacent to and not adjacent to an urban area). Among partially uninsured families, we examined rural-urban differences in the sources of family coverage for insured family members (Medicare, Medicaid/ SCHIP, private, or a combination)

Many Urban and Rural Workers Lose Health Insurance During Job Transitions

Numerous studies have found that rural residents are more likely to be uninsured than urban residents, in part because rural workers are more likely to be employed by a small business or have low wages and thus have more limited access to employer coverage.1-5 Yet, our knowledge about how coverage changes with employment transitions is limited. Prior research indicates that loss of a job puts workers at greater risk of becoming uninsured,6 and there is some evidence that this risk is even greater for rural workers.7 In the past 20 years, much of the federal-level policy attention related to health insurance coverage (e.g. the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) has emphasized ensuring continuity of coverage for individuals that experience an employment transition. However, these key policy interventions do not apply to smaller employers that are the backbone of rural economies. !us, rural workers may be more likely than urban workers to experience disruptions in health insurance coverage following an employment transition. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of changes in employment status on insurance coverage for rural and urban workers, and the factors behind any differences. !e Affordable Care Act (ACA) provides a new backdrop against which to consider the issues of job change, job loss, health insurance portability and coverage of rural residents. Our findings provide important information about the health insurance coverage challenges that rural workers may face, and may help to identify potential challenges and opportunities for implementing ACA in rural areas