Internal consistency reliability of the P300 to novelty in infants: The influence of trial number and data loss due to artifacts.

The P300 is an event-related potential component that reflects attention to motivationally salient stimuli and may be a promising tool to examine individual differences in cognitive-affective processing very early in development. However, the psychometric properties of the P300 in infancy are unknown, a fact that limits the component's utility as an individual difference measure in developmental research. To address this gap, 38 infants completed an auditory three-stimulus oddball task that included frequent standard, infrequent deviant, and novel stimuli. We quantified the P300 at a single electrode site and at region of interest (ROI) and examined the internal consistency reliability of the component, both via split-half reliability and as a function of trial number. Results indicated that the P300 to standard, deviant, and novel stimuli fell within moderate to high internal consistency reliability thresholds, and that scoring the component at an ROI led to slightly higher estimates of reliability. However, the percentage of data loss due to artifacts increased across the course of the task, suggesting that including more trials will not necessarily improve the reliability of the P300. Together, these results suggest that robust and reliable measurement of the P300 will require designing tasks that minimize trial number and maximize infant tolerability.

The JFK BIG study: the impact of LSVT BIG® on dual task walking and mobility in persons with Parkinson's disease.

[Purpose] The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that Lee Silverman Voice Treatment-BIG decreases the negative impact of hypokinesia on dual task performance in persons with Parkinson's disease. [Subjects and Methods] The records of 114 patients with Parkinson's admitted to outpatient rehabilitation at a suburban hospital were reviewed. Demographics and data for 8 outcome measures were extracted for subjects that completed 14 of 16 sessions of BIG. 93 of these subjects had records of pre and post-test Timed Up and Go, Timed Up and Go Motor, and Timed Up and Go Cognitive scores. Average age was 68.4 years (SD=10.6) and average disease duration was 4.9 years (SD=5.3). [Results] Subjects demonstrated statistically significant improvements for Timed Up and Go (3.3 SD=4.5), Timed Up and Go Motor (4.4 SD=5.8) and Timed Up and Go Cognitive (4.7 SD=5.4). Concurrent motor and cognitive performance remained stable. Dual task cost decreased at a statistically significant level for Timed Up and Go Cognitive (7% SD=31%) but not Motor (4% SD=32%). [Conclusion] These findings suggest that cueing strategies associated with LSVT BIG become internalized and decrease the negative impact of hypokinesia on mobility and cognitive performance while performing two tasks simultaneously in persons with Parkinson's.

Prevalence and molecular characterization of Staphylococcus aureus in commercially available meat over a one-year period in Iowa, USA.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a leading cause of infectious disease morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have confirmed the presence of S. aureus, including MRSA, on raw meat products. We investigated the prevalence and molecular epidemiology of S. aureus and MRSA in commercially-distributed antibiotic-free and conventional raw meat products (n = 3290) purchased in 8 Iowa retail stores weekly for a period of one year. Isolates were characterized using spa typing, and PCR was used to detect the presence of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) and mecA genes. Quantitation of S. aureus on meat products was carried out one week per month. The prevalence of S. aureus on meat samples was 27.8% (913/3290). Compared to antibiotic-free meat samples, higher prevalence of both MRSA and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) were found in conventional meat samples. Among the S. aureus isolates, 18 were PVL-positive (1.9%) and 41 (4.5%) carried mecA. Phenotypic oxacillin resistance was observed for 17.1% (41/239) of the isolates tested, while 23% (55/239) were multi-drug resistant. A total of 132 spa types were detected from 913 contaminated meat samples. Overall, t002 was the most common spa type identified (137; 15.0%). The number of colony-forming units (CFU) per 10 g meat ranged from 2 to 517 (median: 8 CFU per 10 g of meat; mean: 28) with the highest bacterial load observed on turkey samples. These data reinforce the need to consider meat products as potential vehicles of S. aureus transmission from farm into human households, and the potential need for public health intervention programs pre and post-slaughter in meat processing facilities.

An approach to improve parent participation in a childhood obesity prevention program.

PURPOSE: Engaging parents in interventions can be difficult because of various barriers. An engaging children's program that runs parallel to a parent program may facilitate parent participation. In this study, we assessed parents' perception of the children's component of Parents and Tots Together (PTT), a family-based obesity prevention program. METHODS: Fifteen of the 16 ethnically diverse parents who participated in an uncontrolled trial of PTT completed a survey assessing their satisfaction with the PTT children's component. More detailed information was obtained from one-on-one qualitative interviews with seven parents. RESULTS: Attendance at program sessions was relatively high; 69% of parents attended six or more of the nine sessions. Survey data revealed that 87% of parents were "very satisfied" with the children's group. Approximately 73% of parents reported that the program was "very useful" in helping their child learn the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. In qualitative interviews, many parents identified the children's program as a motivator for attendance at the program sessions. CONCLUSIONS: The interactive children's program was well received by parents and may serve as a catalyst for parent participation. Larger, randomized trials are needed to determine the effectiveness of children's programming for enhancing parent participation.

"I can't remember the last time I was comfortable about being home": lived experience perspectives on thriving following homelessness.

PURPOSE: Strategies for preventing and ending homelessness are frequently measured by their effectiveness on indices of tenancy sustainment. To shift this narrative, we conducted research to identify what is needed to "thrive" following homelessness from the perspectives of persons with lived experience in Ontario, Canada. METHODS: Conducted in the context of a community-based participatory research study aimed at informing the development of intervention strategies, we interviewed 46 persons living with mental illness and/or substance use disorder [n = 25 (54.3%) unhoused; n = 21 (45.7%) housed following homelessness] using qualitative interviews. A subsample of 14 participants agreed to engage in photovoice interviews. We analysed these data abductively using thematic analysis informed by health equity and social justice. RESULTS: Participants described experiences of "living in a state of lack" following homelessness. This essence was expressed through four themes: 1) housing as part one of the journey to home; 2) finding and keeping "my people"; 3) meaningful activity as critical for thriving following homelessness; and 4) struggling to access mental health supports in the context of challenging circumstances. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals struggle to thrive following homelessness in the context of insufficient resources. There is a need to build on existing interventions to address outcomes beyond tenancy sustainment.

Healthy Habits, Happy Homes: methods and baseline data of a randomized controlled trial to improve household routines for obesity prevention.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a home-based intervention for parents of 2-5 year old children to promote household routines to prevent overweight/obesity. METHODS: We recruited 121 children from health centers in Boston between 2011 and 2012 and randomized 62 to intervention and 59 to the control condition. The 6-month intervention included 1) motivational coaching at home and by phone with a health educator, 2) mailed educational materials, and 3) weekly text messages. The intervention promoted three household routines: eating meals as a family, obtaining adequate sleep, and limiting screen time. RESULTS: Of the 121 children, mean (SD) age was 4.0 (1.1) years; 52% were Hispanic, 34% Black, and 14% White/Other. Nearly 60% of the sample had annual household incomes ≤ $20,000. Approximately 64% of families reported eating together ≥ 7 times per week, however, many meals were eaten in front of a TV. Over half of the children slept less than the recommended 11h/night and 78% viewed ≥ 2 h/day of screen time. CONCLUSIONS: Household routines that increase obesity risk were prevalent among low-income families in this study. If proven to be effective, promotion of household routines related to family meals, sleep, and screen time may prevent young children from becoming overweight/obese.

'We stick people in a house and say okay, you're housed. The problem is solved': A qualitative study of service provider and organisational leader perspectives on thriving following homelessness.

Research aimed at identifying and evaluating approaches to homelessness has predominately focused on strategies for supporting tenancy sustainment. Fewer studies focus on strategies for enabling thriving following homelessness, and the perspectives of service providers and organisational leaders (SPOL) on this topic are rare. We conducted this study in the context of a community-based participatory research project in two cities in Ontario, Canada. This research was aimed at identifying the strengths and challenges of existing supports in enabling thriving following homelessness, followed by co-designing a novel intervention alongside persons with lived experience of homelessness (PWLEH) and SPOL. The current study presents the findings of interviews conducted in 2020-2021 with SPOL in organisations serving PWLEH. We interviewed 60 individuals including service providers (n = 38; 63.3%) and organisational leaders (n = 22; 36.7%) using semi-structured qualitative interviews. Interviews were conducted and recorded on Zoom to align with physical distancing protocols associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Recordings were transcribed verbatim and analysed abductively informed by the lenses of social justice and health equity. The essence of our findings is represented by a quote from a research participant: 'We stick people in a house and say okay, you're housed. The problem is solved'. This essence was expressed through five themes: (1) stuck in a system that prevents thriving, (2) substance use as an important coping strategy that prevents tenancy sustainment and thriving, (3) the critical importance of targeting community integration following homelessness, (4) incorporating peer expertise as imperative and (5) people need to be afforded options in selecting housing and services following homelessness. Our findings indicate that SPOL envision possibilities of thriving following homelessness yet are embedded within a system that often prevents them from supporting individuals who are leaving homelessness to do so. Research, practice and policy implications are discussed.

Prospective multicenter surveillance identifies Staphylococcus aureus infections caused by livestock-associated strains in an agricultural state.

We conducted a surveillance study to investigate the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus infections in Iowa, using a convenience sample. Diagnostic laboratories submitted 20 S. aureus isolates per month for a 20-month period between 2011 and 2013. Of the 2226 isolates analyzed, 73.6% were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and 26.4% were methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA). S. aureus infections in 25 patients (1%) were caused by ST398- and ST9-associated strain types, and appeared to be a common occurrence in areas of the state with the highest numbers of hogs and hog farms. Twenty nine (5.1%) of MSSA isolates and 10 (40.0%) livestock-associated strains were multi-drug resistant.

Epidemiology of necrotizing infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes at an Iowa hospital.

The present study was performed to characterize the epidemiology of necrotizing soft tissue infection caused by Streptococcus pyogenes (n=14) and Staphylococcus aureus (n=14) isolates collected at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. An additional 9 S. pyogenes isolates were collected from patients being treated for mild respiratory infections and served as a comparison sample in the analysis. Patient data corresponding to the isolates (n=37) were also collected in order to identify risk factors or comorbid conditions possibly correlated with necrotizing fasciitis (NF). The prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus among the study isolates was 35.7% (5/14), and the prevalence of the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene was 57% (8/14). The S. pyogenes NF (wound) isolates (n=14) belonged to 10 different emm types, none of which appeared to be associated with more severe disease when compared to the milder infection (throat) samples (n=9). Comorbid conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease were significantly associated with NF. The results indicate that there may be a high prevalence of the PVL virulence factor in NF infections and that spa type t008 may be responsible for the increasing incidence of S. aureus NF infections in Iowa.

Healthy Habits, Happy Homes: randomized trial to improve household routines for obesity prevention among preschool-aged children.

IMPORTANCE: Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities exist across risk factors for childhood obesity. OBJECTIVE: To examine the effectiveness of a home-based intervention to improve household routines known to be associated with childhood obesity among a sample of low-income, racial/ethnic minority families with young children. DESIGN: Randomized trial. SETTING: The intervention was delivered in the families' homes. PARTICIPANTS: The study involved 121 families with children aged 2 to 5 years who had a television (TV) in the room where he or she slept; 111 (92%) had 6-month outcome data (55 intervention and 56 control). The mean (SD) age of the children was 4.0 (1.1) years; 45% were overweight/obese. Fifty-two percent of the children were Hispanic, 34% were black, and 14% were white/other. Nearly 60% of the families had household incomes of $20,000 or less. INTERVENTIONS: The 6-month intervention promoted 4 household routines, family meals, adequate sleep, limiting TV time, and removing the TV from the child's bedroom, using (1) motivational coaching at home and by phone, (2) mailed educational materials, and (3) text messages. Control subjects were mailed materials focused on child development. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Change in parent report of frequency of family meals (times/wk), child sleep duration (hours/d), child weekday and weekend day TV viewing (hours/d), and the presence of a TV in the room where the child slept from baseline to 6 months. A secondary outcome was change in age- and sex-adjusted body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). RESULTS: Compared with control subjects, intervention participants had increased sleep duration (0.75 hours/d; 95% CI, 0.06 to 1.44; P = .03), greater decreases in TV viewing on weekend days (-1.06 hours/d; 95% CI, -1.97 to -0.15; P = .02), and decreased body mass index (-0.40; 95% CI, -0.79 to 0.00; P = .05). No significant intervention effect was found for the presence of a TV in the room where the child slept or family meal frequency. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Our results suggest that promoting household routines, particularly increasing sleep duration and reducing TV viewing, may be an effective approach to reduce body mass index among low-income, racial/ethnic minority children. Longer-term studies are needed to determine maintenance of behavior change. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01565161.

Systematic review of effective strategies for reducing screen time among young children.

Screen-media use among young children is highly prevalent, disproportionately high among children from lower-income families and racial/ethnic minorities, and may have adverse effects on obesity risk. Few systematic reviews have examined early intervention strategies to limit TV or total screen time; none have examined strategies to discourage parents from putting TVs in their children's bedrooms or remove TVs if they are already there. In order to identify strategies to reduce TV viewing or total screen time among children <12 years of age, we conducted a systematic review of seven electronic databases to June 2011, using the terms "intervention" and "television," "media," or "screen time." Peer-reviewed intervention studies that reported frequencies of TV viewing or screen-media use in children under age 12 were eligible for inclusion. We identified 144 studies; 47 met our inclusion criteria. Twenty-nine achieved significant reductions in TV viewing or screen-media use. Studies utilizing electronic TV monitoring devices, contingent feedback systems, and clinic-based counseling were most effective. While studies have reduced screen-media use in children, there are several research gaps, including a relative paucity of studies targeting young children (n = 13) or minorities (n = 14), limited long-term (>6 month) follow-up data (n = 5), and few (n = 4) targeting removing TVs from children's bedrooms. Attention to these issues may help increase the effectiveness of existing strategies for screen time reduction and extend them to different populations.

MRSA in conventional and alternative retail pork products.

In order to examine the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus on retail pork, three hundred ninety-five pork samples were collected from a total of 36 stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey. S. aureus was isolated from 256 samples (64.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 59.9%-69.5%). S. aureus was isolated from 67.3% (202/300) of conventional pork samples and from 56.8% (54/95) of alternative pork samples (labeled "raised without antibiotics" or "raised without antibiotic growth promotants"). Two hundred and thirty samples (58.2%, 95% CI 53.2%-63.1%) were found to carry methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA). MSSA was isolated from 61.0% (183/300) of conventional samples and from 49.5% (47/95) of alternative samples. Twenty-six pork samples (6.6%, 95% CI 4.3%-9.5%) carried methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). No statistically significant differences were observed for the prevalence of S. aureus in general, or MSSA or MRSA specifically, when comparing pork products from conventionally raised swine and swine raised without antibiotics, a finding that contrasts with a prior study from The Netherlands examining both conventional and "biologic" meat products. In our study spa types associated with "livestock-associated" ST398 (t034, t011) were found in 26.9% of the MRSA isolates, while 46.2% were spa types t002 and t008--common human types of MRSA that also have been found in live swine. The study represents the largest sampling of raw meat products for MRSA contamination to date in the U.S. MRSA prevalence on pork products was higher than in previous U.S.-conducted studies, although similar to that in Canadian studies.

Health information technology to guide pediatric obesity management.

The purpose of this study was to examine pediatricians' familiarity with expert committee recommendations on the management of childhood obesity and their use of health information technology for obesity-related care. The authors interviewed 35 pediatricians from 17 primary care practices using an electronic health record; immersion crystallization facilitated analysis of the qualitative data. Nearly all pediatricians were unfamiliar with expert recommendations; however, all participants reported using growth charts and providing nutrition and physical activity counseling. Most participants wanted easy access to educational materials they could print for patients. The majority of participants were in favor of an electronic alert to identify obese patients, remind clinicians of current guidelines, and facilitate ordering, believing it would help standardize care. Concerns included "alert fatigue," distraction, and disruption of workflow. Suggestions for future electronic functions included tailored educational materials and physical activity resources customized by patient address.