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Fecal pollution contributes to global degradation of water quality and requires identification of the source(s) for predicting human health risk, tracking disease, and developing management strategies. While fecal indicator bacteria are commonly used to detect fecal pollution, they cannot identify sources. Novel approaches, such as microbial source tracking (MST), can be applied to evaluate the origin of fecal pollution. This study examined fecal pollution in the coral reef lagoons of Norfolk Island, Australia where reef health decline has been related to nutrient input. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the host sensitivity and specificity of two human wastewater-associated marker genes (Bacteroides HF183 (HF183) and cross-assembly phage (crAssphage)) and four animal feces associated marker genes targeting avian, ruminant, dog, and pig (Helicobacter-associated GFD (GFD), Bacteroides BacR (BacR), Bacteroides DogBact (DogBact), and Bacteroides Pig-2-Bac (Pig-2-Bac)) in wastewater and animal fecal samples collected from Norfolk Island. The prevalence and concentrations of these marker genes along with enterococci genetic marker (ENT 23S rRNA) of general fecal pollution and human adenovirus (HAdV), which is considered predominantly a pathogen but also a human-wastewater associated marker gene, were determined in surface, ground, and marine water resources. A secondary objective of this study was to assess the sources and pathways of fecal pollution to a sensitive marine environment under rainfall events. HF183, crAssphage, HAdV, and BacR demonstrated absolute host sensitivity values of 1.00, while GFD and Pig-2-Bac had host sensitivity values of 0.60, and 0.20, respectively. Host specificity values were > 0.94 for all marker genes. Human and animal (avian, ruminant, dog) fecal sources were present in the coral reef lagoons and surface water whereas groundwater was polluted by human wastewater markers. This study provides understanding of fecal pollution in water resources on Norfolk Island, Australia after precipitation events. The results may aid in effective water quality management, mitigating potential adverse effects on both human and environmental health.
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Águas Residuárias , Poluição da Água , Animais , Humanos , Cães , Suínos , Poluição da Água/análise , Recifes de Corais , Esgotos/microbiologia , Austrália , Fezes/microbiologia , Ruminantes , Microbiologia da Água , Monitoramento Ambiental/métodosRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Pricing policies have been shown to be an effective lever for promoting healthier dietary choices in consumer food environments. It is not yet well understood how pricing can be used to encourage healthier substitute purchases. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of a retailer-led relative pricing intervention on weekly purchases of targeted snack foods and beverages. METHODS: This was an ecological analysis in a real-world large tertiary hospital consumer food environment setting in urban Canada, comprised of four retail outlets: two large cafeterias, one smaller cafeteria, and one grab-and-go café. An interrupted time series analysis was designed to evaluate the effect of Snacking Made Simple, a retailer-led relative pricing intervention applied to 10 popular snack foods and beverages (n = 87 weeks, 66 weeks baseline and 21 weeks intervention, April 2018 to December 2019), on weekly purchase differences between healthier and less healthy targeted items, adjusted for weekly sales volume. Five healthier items were price discounted, alongside a price increase for five less healthy items. The intervention was actively merchandised in keeping with behaviour change theory. RESULTS: Weekly purchases of targeted snacks became healthier during the intervention period (ß = 21.41, p = 0.0024). This followed a baseline period during which weekly purchases of less healthy targeted snacks had outpaced over time those of healthier targeted snacks (ß = -11.02, p = 3.68E-14). We estimated that, all else being equal, a hypothetical 9.43 additional weeks of the intervention would be required to transition to net-healthier targeted snack purchases in this environment. The effects of the intervention varied by retail outlet, and the outcome appears driven by specific food items; further, examining merchandising implementation, we posited whether direct versus indirect substitution may have affected purchasing outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Relative pricing may be a promising way to incentivize healthier substitute purchasing in the consumer food environment. Added attention to merchandising strategy as well as value-add factors within food categories and their effects on price salience may be an important factor in effective intervention design.
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Bebidas , Lanches , Humanos , Análise de Séries Temporais Interrompida , Preferências Alimentares , Comércio , Hospitais , Custos e Análise de Custo , Comportamento do ConsumidorRESUMO
The aim of this work was to assess the feasibility and effect of applying a nationally representative and highly disaggregated food costing measure across Canada, through the novel application of web-scraping technology to the methods of the National Nutritious Food Basket (NNFB). Further, this study tested the hypothesis that a product-matched digital NNFB (dNNFB) correlates with existing market basket measures and quantified any differences in costs. This was an observational cross-sectional study using web scraped food price data collected in November 2021. Food price data was collected from the majority of Loblaw's banners across Canada, resulting in a final store sample of 751 stores sourced from 11 retail banners. Stores were located across all five Statistics Canada regions, including all provinces and territories with the exception of Nunavut. Store-level dNNFB costs were computed, adjusted by age-sex group, and summarized by geographic region and banner. dNNFB costs were then compared with existing national statistics office estimates (Market Basket Measure thresholds for reference families). dNNFB costs varied widely across the country, with notable differences by regional, store-level, and age-sex group characteristics. When compared to reported national statistics, our estimates exceeded the national market basket measure in every comparison in corresponding sub-national geography across the country, with correlation varying from 0.49 to 0.78 dependent on summary comparator. Digital collection of food price data was a feasible strategy for market basket costing. Our findings suggest we may be routinely underestimating the impact of food inflation for consumers, particularly those restricted to certain food environments.
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INTRODUCTION: Poor diet is a leading preventable risk for the global burden of non-communicable disease. Robust measurement is needed to determine the effect of COVID-19 on dietary intakes and consumer purchasing, given the widespread changes to consumer food environments and economic precarity. The research objectives are as follows: (1) describe dietary intakes of foods, beverages and nutrients of concern during the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) quantify change in diet during COVID-19 as compared with prepandemic, previously captured in the provincial samples of the population-representative 2015 Canadian Community Health Survey-Nutrition and (3) examine how household purchasing practices predict dietary intakes during COVID-19. METHODS AND ANALYSES: Observational study of diet, using a population-based stratified probability sampling strategy allocated via dual-frame (landline and cellphone) calls to random-digit dialled numbers, followed by age-sex group quotas. The base population comprises the four provinces of the Atlantic region of Canada, jurisdictions with an excess burden of pre-existing dietary risk, compared with the rest of Canada. Our aim is n=1000 to obtain reliable estimates at a regional level to describe intakes and compare with prepandemic baseline. Data collection entails 12 weeks participation: (1) enrolment with sociodemographics (key dietary risk predictors such as age, sex, gender, pre-COVID-19 income, employment, household composition, receipt of economic relief, rural residence); (2) two 24hour diet recalls using the online ASA-24 Canada 2018 tool; and (3) online uploads of household food purchase receipts over the 12 weeks enrolled. Participation incentives will be offered. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This research protocol received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (FRN VR5 172691) and ethics review approval from the Dalhousie University Research Ethics Board. Study protocol and instruments and a de-identified dataset will be made publicly available. We will submit the findings to peer-reviewed journals, as well as conferences geared towards scientific and decision-maker audiences.
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COVID-19 , COVID-19/epidemiologia , COVID-19/prevenção & controle , Canadá/epidemiologia , Dieta , Ingestão de Alimentos , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Estudos Observacionais como Assunto , PandemiasRESUMO
Public health initiatives aim to improve health outcomes for populations by preventing disease and ill-health consequences of environmental hazards and natural or human-made disasters. Whilst public health initiatives have been used successfully to modify behaviours for chronic diseases, many initiatives targeting reduced dementia risk in older adults suffer from conceptual and statistical flaws that greatly limit their usefulness. The limited success in modifying lifestyle dementia risk factors has led us to fall short in building a successful roadmap to dementia risk reduction. Here we argue for adopting a population-level, holistic approach to dementia risk reduction strategies across the lifespan. This approach is supplemented by 10 strategies that focus on improving social policies, harnessing existing policy, legislature and incentive schemes, and identifying feasible approaches to increase recreational and transport-related physical activity to creating best practice health care that supports healthy brain ageing for all.
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Demência , Saúde Pública , Idoso , Austrália , Demência/diagnóstico , Demência/prevenção & controle , Humanos , Estilo de Vida , Comportamento de Redução do RiscoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate a protocol change that mandated routine incorporation of head computed tomography angiography (CTA) for the work-up of suspected blunt cerebrovascular injury (BCVI) at an academic Level I trauma center. METHODS: The BCVI screening guidelines at our institution changed in 2018 to include the addition of a head CTA for all patients receiving a neck CTA as part of our BCVI screening guidelines. We performed a retrospective chart review of patients between 2018 and 2019 who were 18 years or older and met screening criteria for BCVI based on our institutional guidelines. The head CTAs of this cohort were assessed for findings that could potentially alter the course of the patients' treatment. RESULTS: A total of 319 patients fit this criterion and had a head CTA as part of their trauma workup. Findings that could potentially alter a patient's clinical course were identified in 6.6% (n = 21) of the head CTA's. These included decreased arterial perfusion (n = 9), active bleeds (n = 6), vessel occlusions (n = 1), aneurysms (n = 1), and vasospasms (n = 2). Of these 21 patients, 8 had clinically significant findings that affected their course of management (2.5% of total sample). They also had a higher mortality rate and ISS compared to the rest of the cohort. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with clinically suspected BCVI, the addition of head CTA to the existing BCVI screening guideline identified clinically significant vascular abnormalities that affected management in 2.5% of cases.
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Traumatismo Cerebrovascular , Ferimentos não Penetrantes , Angiografia , Traumatismo Cerebrovascular/diagnóstico por imagem , Angiografia por Tomografia Computadorizada , Humanos , Estudos Retrospectivos , Ferimentos não Penetrantes/diagnóstico por imagemRESUMO
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) can cause acute and chronic infection that is associated with considerable liver-related morbidity and mortality. In recent years, there has been a shift in the treatment paradigm with the discovery and approval of agents that target specific proteins vital for viral replication. We employed a cell culture-adapted strain of HCV and human hepatoma-derived cells lines to test the effects of our novel small-molecule compound (AO13) on HCV. Virus inhibition was tested by analyzing RNA replication, protein expression, and virus production in virus-infected cells treated with AO13. Treatment with AO13 inhibited virus spread in cell culture and showed a 100-fold reduction in the levels of infectious virus production. AO13 significantly reduced the level of viral RNA contained within cell culture fluids and reduced the cellular levels of HCV core protein, suggesting that the compound might act on a late step in the viral life cycle. Finally, we observed that AO13 did not affect the release of infectious virus from infected cells. Docking studies and molecular dynamics analyses suggested that AO13 might target the NS5B RNA polymerase, however, real-time RT-PCR analyses of cellular levels of HCV RNA showed only an â¼2-fold reduction in viral RNA levels in the presence of AO13. Taken together, this study revealed that AO13 showed consistent, but low-level antiviral effect against HCV, although the mechanism of action remains unclear. IMPORTANCE The discovery of curative antiviral drugs for a chronic disease such as HCV infection has encouraged drug discovery in the context of other viruses for which no curative drugs currently exist. Since we currently face a novel virus that has caused a pandemic, the need for new antiviral agents is more apparent than ever. We describe here a novel compound that shows a modest antiviral effect against HCV that could serve as a lead compound for future drug development against other important viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.
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Antivirais/farmacologia , Técnicas de Cultura de Células , Hepacivirus/efeitos dos fármacos , Replicação Viral/efeitos dos fármacos , Antivirais/uso terapêutico , Carcinoma Hepatocelular , Linhagem Celular , Hepacivirus/genética , Hepacivirus/fisiologia , Hepatite C/tratamento farmacológico , Hepatite C/virologia , Humanos , Estágios do Ciclo de Vida , Fígado , Neoplasias Hepáticas , Simulação de Acoplamento Molecular , RNA Viral , SARS-CoV-2 , Proteínas não Estruturais Virais , Liberação de Vírus/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
Telemental health is a ubiquitous form of treatment that has been around for over a half-century, but there remains minimal research on videoconferencing and relational therapy. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify how telemental health therapists would implement experiential interventions for children, couples, and families. Twelve trainees (n = 12) that participated in a yearlong telemental health practicum were prompted on three experiential interventions to understand how students adapt relational interventions for telemental health delivery. Intervention prompts included couple de-escalation, family sculpt, and sand tray. Using thematic analysis, five themes emerged to describe the implementation of the interventions: (a) adapting verbal communication skills, (b) grand expressions: adapting nonverbal communication, (c) additional preparations to facilitate interventions, (d) flexibility, and (e) self-of-the-therapist. Study findings, limitations, and clinical implications are discussed in further detail.
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Terapia Familiar , Comunicação por Videoconferência , Criança , Comunicação , Humanos , Pesquisa QualitativaRESUMO
Supervision has long been considered essential to developing effective mental health practice, especially among COAMFTE accredited training programs. But with telemental health rapidly being accepted as a standard treatment medium for couple and family therapy, there is little guidance about how to supervise clinicians who are engaged in telemental health practice. This paper presents an important step toward increasing the effectiveness of the supervision of therapists who are delivering relational therapies online through the identification of relational competencies unique to this delivery medium. These competencies have been adopted and integrated into a COAMFTE accredited master's degree program that has been providing training in telemental health since 2008. The competencies are described, and supervision strategies that can be utilized and developmentally assessed throughout the program will be detailed.
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Competência Clínica , Terapia Familiar , HumanosRESUMO
There are large disparities in access to mental health care, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Telemental health is a viable solution to reducing these disparities, but quality research demonstrating its effectiveness is needed. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of a telemental health approach in a rural region of Brazil. Primary care providers referred patients diagnosed with depression and anxiety to a 12-session family systems-oriented telemental health program developed by the researchers. Participants (n = 10) received therapy by family systems trained therapists. While sessions were delivered via telemental health, each received one face-to-face session as part of the treatment regimen. Results from the one-tailed t-tests indicate reductions in psychosocial symptoms and improvements in family functioning with medium and large effect sizes. Findings reveal that a family systems-oriented telemental health approach is a promising intervention for improving mental health outcomes in a middle-income country.
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Ansiedade , População Rural , Brasil , Humanos , Projetos PilotoRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Chronic pain is a major public health concern, as is the associated use of opioid medications, highlighting the importance of alternative treatments, such as spinal cord stimulation (SCS). Here, we present the final 24-month results of the Avalon study, which investigated the use of the first closed-loop SCS system in patients with chronic pain. The system measures the evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) elicited by each stimulus pulse and drives a feedback loop to maintain the ECAP amplitude near constant. METHODS: Fifty patients were implanted with the Evoke system (Saluda Medical) and followed over 24-months. Pain, quality of life (QOL), function, sleep, and medication use were collected at baseline and each scheduled visit. ECAP amplitudes and programming adjustments were also monitored. RESULTS: At 24 months, responder rates (≥ 50% pain reduction) and high responder rates (≥ 80% pain reduction) for overall pain were 89.5% and 68.4%, respectively, the latter up from 42.2% at 3 months. Significant improvements from baseline were observed in QOL, function, and sleep over the 24 months, including ≥ 80% experiencing a minimally important difference in QOL and > 50% experiencing a clinically significant improvement in sleep. At 24 months, 82.8% of patients with baseline opioid use eliminated or reduced their opioid intake. Over the course of the study, reprogramming need fell to an average of less than once a year. CONCLUSION: Over a 24-month period, the Evoke closed-loop SCS maintained its therapeutic efficacy despite a marked reduction in opioid use and steady decrease in the need for reprogramming.
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Dor Crônica , Estimulação da Medula Espinal , Analgésicos Opioides/uso terapêutico , Dor Crônica/tratamento farmacológico , Humanos , Estudos Prospectivos , Qualidade de Vida , Medula Espinal , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Healthcare organizations engage in continuous quality improvement to improve performance and value-for-performance, but the pathway to change is often rooted in challenging the way things are "normally" done. In an effort to propel system-wide change to support healthy eating, Nova Scotia Health developed and implemented a healthy eating policy as a benchmark to create a food environment supportive of health. This article describes the healthy eating policy and its role as a benchmark in the quality improvement process. The policy, rooted in health promotion, sets a standard for healthy eating and applies to stakeholders both inside and outside of health. We explain how the policy offers nutrition but also cultural benchmarks around healthy eating, bringing practitioners throughout Nova Scotia Health together and sustaining collaborative efforts to improve upon the status quo.
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Dieta Saudável , Promoção da Saúde/normas , Melhoria de Qualidade , Gestão da Qualidade Total , Benchmarking , Promoção da Saúde/economia , Humanos , Nova Escócia , Política Nutricional , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
It has recently been demonstrated through invasive electrophysiology that visual stimulation with extended patches of uniform colour generates pronounced gamma oscillations in the visual cortex of both macaques and humans. In this study we sought to discover if this oscillatory response to colour can be measured non-invasively in humans using magnetoencephalography. We were able to demonstrate increased gamma (40-70 Hz) power in response to full-screen stimulation with four different colour hues and found that the gamma response is particularly strong for long wavelength (i.e. red) stimulation, as was found in previous studies. However, we also found that gamma power in response to colour was generally weaker than the response to an identically sized luminance-defined grating. We also observed two additional responses in the gamma frequency: a lower frequency response around 25-35 Hz that showed fewer clear differences between conditions than the gamma response, and a higher frequency response around 70-100 Hz that was present for red stimulation but not for other colours. In a second experiment we sought to test whether differences in the gamma response between colour hues could be explained by their chromatic separation from the preceding display. We presented stimuli that alternated between each of the three pairings of the three primary colours (red, green, blue) at two levels of chromatic separation defined in the CIELUV colour space. We observed that the gamma response was significantly greater to high relative to low chromatic separation, but that at each level of separation the response was greater for both red-blue and red-green than for blue-green stimulation. Our findings suggest that the stronger gamma response to red stimulation cannot be wholly explained by the chromatic separation of the stimuli.
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Percepção de Cores , Estimulação Luminosa , Córtex Visual/fisiologia , Adulto , Cor , Feminino , Humanos , Magnetoencefalografia , Masculino , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Pacific walruses (Odobenus rosmarus divergens) play a vital role in Arctic marine ecosystems and the subsistence lifestyle of Alaska Native communities. Museum collections contain numerous archaeological and historic walrus specimens that have proven useful in a variety of studies; however, for many cases, the sex of these specimens is unknown. Sexes of adult (> 5 years determined by tooth aging) Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) have been accurately determined in previous studies using mandible measurements. We tested the validity of this approach for Pacific walruses, and used full fusion of the mandibular symphysis to define adults. Using high precision digital calipers (± 0.01 mm), four measurements were taken either on the left or right side of 91 walrus mandibles: 80 modern mandibles (70 known-sex specimens; 10 unknown-sex specimens) and 11 archaeological mandibles of unknown sex. We used linear discriminant function analysis (LDFA) to determine what measurements best distinguished Pacific walrus males from females. Minimum mandible thickness had the most predictive power, whereas mandible length, height, and depth, were less predictive. Posterior probabilities indicated that LDFA classified the known-sex Pacific walruses with 100% accuracy, and unknown sex with ≥ 90% probability. The ability to define the sex of unknown individuals accurately could greatly increase the sample size of future projects dealing with skeletal remains, and will improve future research efforts.
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BACKGROUND: Consumer-wearable activity trackers are small electronic devices that record fitness and health-related measures. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the validity and reliability of commercial wearables in measuring step count, heart rate, and energy expenditure. METHODS: We identified devices to be included in the review. Database searches were conducted in PubMed, Embase, and SPORTDiscus, and only articles published in the English language up to May 2019 were considered. Studies were excluded if they did not identify the device used and if they did not examine the validity or reliability of the device. Studies involving the general population and all special populations were included. We operationalized validity as criterion validity (as compared with other measures) and construct validity (degree to which the device is measuring what it claims). Reliability measures focused on intradevice and interdevice reliability. RESULTS: We included 158 publications examining nine different commercial wearable device brands. Fitbit was by far the most studied brand. In laboratory-based settings, Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Samsung appeared to measure steps accurately. Heart rate measurement was more variable, with Apple Watch and Garmin being the most accurate and Fitbit tending toward underestimation. For energy expenditure, no brand was accurate. We also examined validity between devices within a specific brand. CONCLUSIONS: Commercial wearable devices are accurate for measuring steps and heart rate in laboratory-based settings, but this varies by the manufacturer and device type. Devices are constantly being upgraded and redesigned to new models, suggesting the need for more current reviews and research.
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Monitores de Aptidão Física , Dispositivos Eletrônicos Vestíveis , Metabolismo Energético , Frequência Cardíaca , Humanos , Reprodutibilidade dos TestesRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Commercially available business (CAB) datasets for food environments have been investigated for error in large urban contexts and some rural areas, but there is a relative dearth of literature that reports error across regions of variable rurality. The objective of the current study was to assess the validity of a CAB dataset using a government dataset at the provincial scale. DESIGN: A ground-truthed dataset provided by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) was used to assess a popular commercial dataset. Concordance, sensitivity, positive-predictive value (PPV) and geocoding errors were calculated. Measures were stratified by store types and rurality to investigate any association between these variables and database accuracy. SETTING: NL, Canada. PARTICIPANTS: The current analysis used store-level (ecological) data. RESULTS: Of 1125 stores, there were 380 stores that existed in both datasets and were considered true-positive stores. The mean positional error between a ground-truthed and test point was 17·72 km. When compared with the provincial dataset of businesses, grocery stores had the greatest agreement, sensitivity = 0·64, PPV = 0·60 and concordance = 0·45. Gas stations had the least agreement, sensitivity = 0·26, PPV = 0·32 and concordance = 0·17. Only 4 % of commercial data points in rural areas matched every criterion examined. CONCLUSIONS: The commercial dataset exhibits a low level of agreement with the ground-truthed provincial data. Particularly retailers in rural areas or belonging to the gas station category suffered from misclassification and/or geocoding errors. Taken together, the commercial dataset is differentially representative of the ground-truthed reality based on store-type and rurality/urbanity.
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Comércio/estatística & dados numéricos , Conjuntos de Dados como Assunto/normas , Abastecimento de Alimentos/estatística & dados numéricos , População Rural/estatística & dados numéricos , Meio Social , Bases de Dados Factuais , Governo , Humanos , Terra Nova e Labrador , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , População Urbana/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
There is mounting evidence that telemental health is an effective delivery method for treating a variety of mental, emotional, behavioral, and relational health problems. While many of the therapeutic skills leading to the effectiveness of face-to-face treatments are transferable, the effectiveness of telemental health requires unique skills. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine the experience of learning how to use videoconferencing to deliver relationally focused mental health care. Participants included 10 graduates of a COAMFTE-accredited master's degree program emphasizing training in telemental health. Each student had practicum placements that required videoconferencing to deliver relationally based psychotherapy. Analysis of interview data revealed (a) personal reservations about distance delivery; (b) the importance of scaffolding student learning through curriculum, supervision, and mental health-care delivery protocols; (c) the technological barriers associated with this delivery method; and (d) overcoming technological barriers through intentionality.
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Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Currículo , Serviços de Saúde Mental , Psicoterapia/educação , Telemedicina , Comunicação por Videoconferência , Adulto , Currículo/normas , Educação de Pós-Graduação , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Serviços de Saúde Mental/normas , Psicoterapia/normas , Telemedicina/normasRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) activates the dorsal column fibers using electrical stimuli. Current SCS systems function in fixed-output mode, delivering the same stimulus regardless of spinal cord (SC) activation. OBJECTIVE: To present long-term outcomes of a novel closed-loop SCS system that aims to maintain the SC activation near a set target level and within a therapeutic window for each patient. SC activation is measured through the evoked compound action potential (ECAP) generated by each stimulus pulse. METHODS: Fifty patients with lower back and/or leg pain who were successfully trialed received a permanent system (Evoke; Saluda Medical, Sydney, Australia). Ratings of pain (visual analog scale), quality of life, function, sleep, and medication use were collected at baseline and at each visit. SC activation levels were reported in summary statistics. The therapeutic window for each individual patient was defined as the range of ECAP amplitudes between sensation threshold and uncomfortably strong stimulation. RESULTS: At 12 mo, the proportion of patients with ≥50% relief was 76.9% (back), 79.3% (leg), and 81.4% (overall), and the proportion with ≥80% pain relief was 56.4% (back), 58.6% (leg), and 53.5% (overall). Patients spent a median of 84.9% of their time with stimulation in their therapeutic window, and 68.8% (22/32) eliminated or reduced their opioid intake. Statistically significant improvements in secondary outcomes were observed. CONCLUSION: The majority of patients experienced more than 80% pain relief with stable SC activation, as measured by ECAP amplitude at 12 mo, providing evidence for the long-term effectiveness of the Evoke closed-loop SCS system.
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Dor Crônica/diagnóstico , Dor Crônica/terapia , Manejo da Dor/métodos , Medição da Dor/métodos , Estimulação da Medula Espinal/métodos , Adulto , Idoso , Dor Crônica/epidemiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Estudos Prospectivos , Qualidade de Vida , Medula Espinal/fisiologia , Estimulação da Medula Espinal/tendências , Fatores de Tempo , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Neonates with hypoxic-ischaemic (HI) brain injury were monitored using a broadband near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system in the neonatal intensive care unit. The aim of this work is to use the NIRS cerebral oxygenation data (HbD = oxygenated-haemoglobin - deoxygenated-haemoglobin) combined with arterial saturation (SaO2) from pulse oximetry to calculate cerebral blood flow (CBF) based on the oxygen swing method, during spontaneous desaturation episodes. The method is based on Fick's principle and uses HbD as a tracer; when a sudden change in SaO2 occurs, the change in HbD represents a change in tracer concentration, and thus it is possible to estimate CBF. CBF was successfully calculated with broadband NIRS in 11 HIE infants (3 with severe injury) for 70 oxygenation events on the day of birth. The average CBF was 18.0 ± 12.7 ml 100 g-1 min-1 with a range of 4 ml 100 g-1 min-1 to 60 ml 100 g-1 min-1. For infants with severe HIE (as determined by magnetic resonance spectroscopy) CBF was significantly lower (p = 0.038, d = 1.35) than those with moderate HIE on the day of birth.