Improving child weight management uptake through enhanced National Child Measurement Programme parental feedback letters: A randomised controlled trial.

This single-blind, pragmatic, cluster randomised controlled trial aims to investigate uptake of children's weight management services in response to enhanced National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) letters providing weight status feedback to parents in three English counties in 2015. Parents of 2642 overweight or very overweight (obese) children aged 10-11 years received an intervention or control letter informing them of their child's weight status. Intervention letters included (i) a visual tool to help weight status recognition, (ii) a social norms statement, and for very overweight children, (iii) a prepopulated booking form for weight management services. The primary outcome was weight management service enrolment. Additional outcome measures included attendance at and contact made with weight management services, and a number of self-report variables. A small effect was observed, with intervention parents being significantly more likely to enrol their children in weight management services (4.33% of Intervention group) than control parents (2.19% of Control group) in both unadjusted (OR = 2.08, p = .008) and adjusted analyses (AOR = 2.48, p = .001). A similar picture emerged for contact with services (4.80% Intervention vs. 2.41% Control; OR = 2.10, p = .003; AOR = 2.46, p < .001) and attendance at services, although group differences in the latter measure were not significant after corrections for multiple comparisons (1.89% Intervention vs. 1.02% Control; AOR = 2.11, p = .047). No effects were found on self-report variables. Theoretically informed weight status feedback letters appear to be an effective strategy to improve enrolment in paediatric weight management services.

An unusual incident: breached 22Na sealed source.

A typical laboratory contamination with radioactive materials in an academic institution is the result of a spill or other handling errors with unsealed radioactive materials. An unusual incident occurred in late January 2002 at our institution when a 22Na sealed source was breached, and a small portion of the contents accidentally migrated to various locations in the very large laboratory. Damage control provided a challenge to radiation safety personnel. Resources of the Radiation Safety Office were severely taxed during both the immediate reaction and the subsequent several months of decontamination prior to release of the laboratory for unrestricted use of radioactive materials once again. Salient features of this incident are described in conjunction with a portrayal of measures taken during early damage control and the following deliberate remediation.

Social organization, reproduction and rearing strategies of Callimico goeldii: new clues from the wild.

The callitrichines are a specialized radiation of primates that are characterized in part by variable social systems and cooperative infant care. Callimico goeldii, unlike the other callitrichines, have single rather than twin offspring, reducing the need for allocare and permitting synchronous breeding within groups. Low mortality rates among offspring and unstable social groups are suggested to be possible factors that have led to single births among C. goeldii. Single offspring may benefit from greater maternal investment and more frequent food sharing than twin offspring, factors that may help to explain why C. goeldii reaches sexual maturity more rapidly than other callitrichines. In addition, increased breeding opportunities for young C. goeldii females may have selected for rapid maturation rates among this species. Postpartum ovulation and aseasonal resource availability appear to permit females to have biannual birth seasons, further increasing the potential reproductive output.

Energy cost of propulsion in standard and ultralight wheelchairs in people with spinal cord injuries.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Wheelchair- and subject-related factors influence the efficiency of wheelchair propulsion. The purpose of this study was to compare wheelchair propulsion in ultralight and standard wheelchairs in people with different levels of spinal cord injury. SUBJECTS: Seventy-four subjects (mean age=26.2 years, SD=7.14, range=17-50) with spinal cord injury resulting in motor loss (30 with tetraplegia and 44 with paraplegia) were studied. METHOD: Each subject propelled standard and ultralight wheelchairs around an outdoor track at self-selected speeds, while data were collected at 4 predetermined intervals. Speed, distance traveled, and oxygen cost (VO2 mL/kg/m) were compared by wheelchair, group, and over time, using a Bonferroni correction. RESULTS: In the ultralight wheelchair, speed and distance traveled were greater for both subjects with paraplegia and subjects with tetraplegia, whereas VO2 was less only for subjects with paraplegia. Subjects with paraplegia propelled faster and farther than did subjects with tetraplegia. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: The ultralight wheelchair improved the efficiency of propulsion in the tested subjects. Subjects with tetraplegia, especially at the C6 level, are limited in their ability to propel a wheelchair.

A comparison of coping assessed by ecological momentary assessment and retrospective recall.

Recent research suggests that retrospective coping assessments may not correspond well with day-to-day reports. The authors extended this work by examining the correspondence between short-term (within 48 hr) retrospective coping reports and momentary reports recorded via a palm-top computer close in time to when the stressor occurred. There was relatively poor correspondence between the 2 assessments. Some reports of momentary coping were not reported retrospectively, and some coping reported retrospectively was not reported at the time the stressor occurred. Cognitive coping was more likely to be underreported retrospectively; behavior coping was overreported. Participants were consistent in their discrepancies, but there was no correspondence between discrepancy rates and demographic or personality variables.

Telephone hotline assessment and counselling of suicidal military service veterans in the USA.

Studies show that suicide occurs more frequently among people who are elderly, male, single, divorced or widowed, alienated, and among those with a life-threatening illness. Military service veterans are not spared these conditions; in some respect, they represent the 'down and out', the lonely and, increasingly, the older isolated people. This correlational descriptive study sought to identify the characteristic profile of telephone hotline users among veterans, their triggering crisis events, and whether the methods commonly used in suicide attempts relate to certain types of crisis. The random sample consisted of 271 veterans of the US military service, ranging in age from 20 to 79 years. Data were collected from nursing notes documented in the hotline suicide telephone call assessment records. The findings portray a sociodemographic profile of military veterans at risk of suicide attempts. Loneliness, alcoholism and unemployment topped the list of triggering events. The most common method used was drug overdose; shooting was a close second. These findings could serve as a base for development of suicide-prevention-focused programmes and optimal use of telephone hotlines for assessment and timely intervention of persons in great crisis.

Reactive effects of diary self-assessment in chronic pain patients.

Several studies of experimental and acute clinical pain have indicated reactive effects of self-assessment on pain intensity and tolerance. A recent study of chronic pain patients (vonBaeyer 1994), however, failed to show these effects. The present investigation sought to determine whether reactive effects can be produced in chronic pain patients by an intensive self-assessment protocol. Using the methodology of ecological momentary assessment (EMA; Stone and Shiffman 1994), thirty-five chronic rheumatoid arthritis patients completed diaries of pain and mood seven times a day for 1 wk. Eighteen patients were included in the final sample because they responded to at least half of the number of hourly prompts for each of the 7 days. Using repeated measures analysis of the daily means, no significant effects of time were found for any measures. Reactive effects that result in an average change in pain levels over time, therefore, do not appear to be produced by intensive self-assessment in a naturalistic context. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive and behavioral theories of pain reactivity.

Effect of chronic stress associated with unemployment on salivary cortisol: overall cortisol levels, diurnal rhythm, and acute stress reactivity.

This study examined the effect of chronic stress associated with unemployment on the magnitude of salivary cortisol excretion, on the diurnal rhythm of cortisol, and on cortisol reactivity to acute naturalistic stressors using Experience Sampling Methodology (ESM). Employed (N = 60) and unemployed (N = 60) subjects were studied for 2 days. Subjects were beeped 6 times per day by a preprogrammed wristwatch to assess acute stressors; 25 minutes after each ESM-beep, subjects were beeped a second time for saliva samples. The groups did not differ in their overall cortisol excretion or in cortisol reactivity to acute daily stressors. Compared to employed subjects, unemployed subjects had a diurnal pattern of cortisol excretion with relatively higher morning and lower evening levels. Subjects' daily activities and their locations were associated with diurnal rhythm differences.