Smoking Cessation Support in Social and Community Service Organizations: Potential Activities, Barriers, and Facilitators.

INTRODUCTION: Social and Community Service Organizations (SCSOs) are a potential setting to reach and support people with a low socioeconomic position who smoke, yet smoking cessation is not widely supported by SCSO professionals. AIMS AND METHODS: This study aims to identify SCSO professionals' (1) potential activities to support smoking cessation and (2) barriers and facilitators in undertaking these activities. Between July and November 2022, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 professionals recruited through SCSOs in Amsterdam North, including participation workers, welfare workers, parent and child counselors, budget coach, debt counselor, welfare work, community sports, and community center coordinators. Data were analyzed using a thematic approach. RESULTS: Eight activities were identified that could support the client either directly (ie, recognizing smoking clients, discussing smoking and smoking cessation, referring clients, providing smoking cessation counseling, offering help around services) or indirectly (ie, collaboration with relevant network partners, implementing smoke-free environments, enhancing professional skills). Various barriers and facilitators were identified related to the (1) client and their environment (ie, clients' readiness and social environment), (2) interaction between professional and client (ie, topic sensitivity), (3) professional (ie, professional is non-smoker, knowledge, and self-efficacy), (4) professionals' work environment (ie, necessity, responsibility, priority, and time), and (5) smoking cessation services (ie, availability of appropriate services and referral process). CONCLUSIONS: There is potential for SCSO professionals to support smoking cessation, but several barriers hinder their efforts. To address these barriers, it is essential to take into account the factors that SCSO professionals believe facilitate the provision of smoking cessation support. IMPLICATIONS: This study provides insight into how the potential of SCSOs in Amsterdam North to support smoking cessation efforts among people with a low socioeconomic position can be harnessed. Barriers were found at multiple levels (client, professional, client-professional interaction, and organizational) and these findings imply that stakeholders across these levels will need to prioritize smoking cessation to facilitate and stimulate SCSO professionals in supporting smoking cessation. A concrete action would be to offer SCSO professionals additional training in conversational skills to discuss smoking. As a prerequisite, easily accessible and suitable smoking cessation services should be available in the neighborhood.

Placement of an artificial urethral sphincter for treatment of passive urinary incontinence after inadvertent prostatectomy and balloon dilation treatment for stricture formation in a 5-month-old dog.

OBJECTIVE: Describe the management of incontinence with several therapies, culminating with the apparently successful treatment utilizing artificial sphincter placement following an inadvertent prostatectomy. ANIMAL: 5-month-old 7.5-kg male neutered Miniature Schnauzer. CLINICAL PRESENTATION, PROGRESSION, AND PROCEDURES: The patient was referred for dysuria and persistent stranguria following an iatrogenic total prostatectomy and urethrectomy. An extra pelvic urethral anastomosis was performed, followed by hospitalization for 2 weeks with a urinary catheter. The patient was further investigated for persistent stranguria, and a contrast urethrogram revealed a urethral stricture at the anastomosis site, which was treated with fluoroscopic balloon dilation. The stranguria resolved, but an acute nocturnal grade 3 passive urinary incontinence occurred, which was nonresponsive to medical management of phenylpropanolamine hydrochloride and estriol. An artificial urethral sphincter was placed, leading to continence after 5 top-ups to a total volume of 0.9 mL. The patient remained continent for 5.5 weeks before abrupt incontinence recurred, which was resolved by another 0.1-mL top-up. No further signs of incontinence occurred in the 11 months following. TREATMENT AND OUTCOME: The placement of an artificial urethral sphincter successfully managed urinary incontinence in this patient. Continence was achieved with no significant complications other than a transient loss of continence. Long-term follow-up 14 months after sphincter placement revealed that the patient had remained continent since the final sphincter top-up. The owner reported a significant improvement in the patient's quality of life following successful incontinence management. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: This case highlighted the benefits of placing an artificial urethral sphincter in managing urinary incontinence after select cases of prostatectomy in dogs that are unresponsive to medical management.

Prognostic factors for continence after surgical correction of ectopic ureters of 51 dogs with long-term follow-up.

BACKGROUND: An ectopic ureter is a congenital malformation characterized by caudal displacement of one or both ureteral orifices and is the most common cause of urinary incontinence in young dogs. Complete resolution of incontinence after surgery has been reported in 25-82% of dogs. The aim of this study was to identify preoperative prognostic factors for continence after surgical treatment of dogs with an ectopic ureter. Dogs were included if surgical correction of an ectopic ureter was performed and at least 1 year follow-up was available. RESULTS: Fifty-one dogs met the inclusion criteria. The ectopic ureters were either intramural (91%) or extramural (9%). The ectopic ureters were bilateral in 49% of cases. Overall median follow-up time after surgery was 6.5 years (range 1-13 years). Surgical correction alone resolved urinary incontinence in 47% of cases. Low grade pre-operative incontinence, male sex and pre-operative presence of ureteral or renal pyelum dilation were significantly associated with urinary continence after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Dogs with severe preoperative incontinence were less likely to become completely continent after surgery, whereas male sex and preoperative dilation of the ureter or renal pyelum were positive prognostic indicators for continence. These results may assist in predicting outcome after surgical correction of ectopic ureters and suggest assessment of pre-operative urethral pressure profiling in future studies.

Contrast-enhanced CT findings in a dog with a wood foreign body in the vertebral canal.

An 8-year-old Border collie was presented with progressive tetraparesis, 6 days after oropharyngeal trauma with a wooden stick. Contrast-enhanced CT of the head and the cervical spine showed heterogeneous enhancement of the soft tissues surrounding the C1 through C3 region, with extension into the ventral vertebral canal at this level. Two separate, small, foreign bodies were visible; one of which was located within the vertebral canal. Surgical exploration confirmed the presence of wooden foreign bodies within the para-vertebral soft tissues and within the vertebral canal. The dog was clinically normal 6 months postoperatively.

Resection of urachal anomalies in dogs with recurrent lower urinary tract disease.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether surgical removal of urachal anomalies improves the outcomes of dogs with recurrent lower urinary tract disease (LUTD) and bacterial urinary tract infection (BUTI). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. ANIMALS: Thirty-three dogs with urachal anomalies and recurrent LUTD or BUTI. METHODS: Medical records of dogs with LUTD or BUTI and a diagnosis of urachal anomaly treated by partial cystectomy were reviewed. A minimum follow-up of 9 months was required for inclusion. RESULTS: Median age at onset of clinical signs was 12 months (range, 1 month to 10 years). Urachal anomalies were detected with histopathology in 20 of 28 (71%) dogs. At a median follow-up of 22 months (range, 9-114), 21 of 28 (64%) dogs were free of signs of LUTD. Nine (27%) dogs exhibited reduced signs of LUTD; in three (9%) dogs, no clinical improvement was observed. Among the 25 dogs with confirmed preoperative BUTI, 22 clinically improved with surgery. CONCLUSION: Partial cystectomy reduced the long-term severity of clinical signs and risk of recurrence of LUTD or BUTI in dogs with confirmed or suspected urachal anomalies. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Partial cystectomy should be considered as an adjunct to the treatment of LUTD and BUTI in dogs.

Evaluation of prognostic indicators using validated canine insulinoma tissue microarrays.

Tissue microarray (TMA) technology allows analysis of multiple tumour samples simultaneously on a single slide. The aim of the present study was to develop and assess a TMA containing 32 primary canine insulinomas and 13 insulinoma metastases. The results of histopathological and immunohistochemical analyses of triplicate core biopsies were compared with those of individual tissue sections using weighted κ statistics. Inter-observer agreement of TMA immunohistochemistry scores were assessed for chromogranin A (CgA), insulin, growth hormone (GH), growth hormone receptor (GHR) and Ki67 index, as well as the prognostic utility of clinicopathological, histopathological and immunohistochemical criteria. There was substantial agreement of scores for histopathological parameters (κ = 0.64-0.70) and a substantial to near-perfect agreement for homogenous immunohistochemical parameters (κ = 0.69-1.00). Except for GH, which demonstrated heterogeneous staining, there was good to excellent inter-observer agreement for all other immunohistochemical staining scores (intra-class correlation coefficients: 0.70-1.00). On univariate analysis, the presence of nuclear atypia was significantly predictive of disease-free intervals (DFIs) for canine insulinoma, while tumour size, TNM stage, necrosis and Ki67 index were significant in terms of prognosis, with respect to both DFI and survival time. On multivariate analysis, tumour size and Ki67 index retained predictive power for survival time, as did tumour size for DFI. This study confirms the applicability of TMA technology for evaluation of canine insulinoma.

Human hand modelling: kinematics, dynamics, applications.

An overview of mathematical modelling of the human hand is given. We consider hand models from a specific background: rather than studying hands for surgical or similar goals, we target at providing a set of tools with which human grasping and manipulation capabilities can be studied, and hand functionality can be described. We do this by investigating the human hand at various levels: (1) at the level of kinematics, focussing on the movement of the bones of the hand, not taking corresponding forces into account; (2) at the musculotendon structure, i.e. by looking at the part of the hand generating the forces and thus inducing the motion; and (3) at the combination of the two, resulting in hand dynamics as well as the underlying neurocontrol. Our purpose is to not only provide the reader with an overview of current human hand modelling approaches but also to fill the gaps with recent results and data, thus allowing for an encompassing picture.

The long-term mechanical integrity of non-reinforced PEEK-OPTIMA polymer for demanding spinal applications: experimental and finite-element analysis.

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a novel polymer with potential advantages for its use in demanding orthopaedic applications (e.g. intervertebral cages). However, the influence of a physiological environment on the mechanical stability of PEEK has not been reported. Furthermore, the suitability of the polymer for use in highly stressed spinal implants such as intervertebral cages has not been investigated. Therefore, a combined experimental and analytical study was performed to address these open questions. A quasi-static mechanical compression test was performed to compare the initial mechanical properties of PEEK-OPTIMA polymer in a dry, room-temperature and in an aqueous, 37 degrees C environment (n=10 per group). The creep behaviour of cylindrical PEEK polymer specimens (n=6) was measured in a simulated physiological environment at an applied stress level of 10 MPa for a loading duration of 2000 hours (12 weeks). To compare the biomechanical performance of different intervertebral cage types made from PEEK and titanium under complex loading conditions, a three-dimensional finite element model of a functional spinal unit was created. The elastic modulus of PEEK polymer specimens in a physiological environment was 1.8% lower than that of specimens tested at dry, room temperature conditions (P<0.001). The results from the creep test showed an average creep strain of less than 0.1% after 2000 hours of loading. The finite element analysis demonstrated high strain and stress concentrations at the bone/implant interface, emphasizing the importance of cage geometry for load distribution. The stress and strain maxima in the implants were well below the material strength limits of PEEK. In summary, the experimental results verified the mechanical stability of the PEEK-OPTIMA polymer in a simulated physiological environment, and over extended loading periods. Finite element analysis supported the use of PEEK-OPTIMA for load-bearing intervertebral implants.