Association Between Long-Term Cognitive Decline in Vietnam Veterans With TBI and Caregiver Attachment Style.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether a caregiver's attachment style is associated with patient cognitive trajectory after traumatic brain injury (TBI). SETTING: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. PARTICIPANTS: Forty Vietnam War veterans with TBI and their caregivers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Cognitive performance, measured by the Armed Forces Qualification Test percentile score, completed at 2 time points: preinjury and 40 years postinjury. DESIGN: On the basis of caregivers' attachment style (secure, fearful, preoccupied, dismissing), participants with TBI were grouped into a high or low group. To examine the association between cognitive trajectory of participants with TBI and caregivers' attachment style, we ran four 2 × 2 analysis of covariance on cognitive performances. RESULTS: After controlling for other factors, cognitive decline was more pronounced in participants with TBI with a high fearful caregiver than among those with a low fearful caregiver. Other attachment styles were not associated with decline. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION: Caregiver fearful attachment style is associated with a significant decline in cognitive status after TBI. We interpret this result in the context of the neural plasticity and cognitive reserve literatures. Finally, we discuss its impact on patient demand for healthcare services and potential interventions.

Breath acetone to monitor life style interventions in field conditions: An exploratory study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess whether breath acetone concentration can be used to monitor the effects of a prolonged physical activity on whole body lipolysis and hepatic ketogenesis in field conditions. METHODS: Twenty-three non-diabetic, 11 type 1 diabetic, and 17 type 2 diabetic subjects provided breath and blood samples for this study. Samples were collected during the International Four Days Marches, in the Netherlands. For each participant, breath acetone concentration was measured using proton transfer reaction ion trap mass spectrometry, before and after a 30-50 km walk on four consecutive days. Blood non-esterified free fatty acid (NEFA), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BOHB), and glucose concentrations were measured after walking. RESULTS: Breath acetone concentration was significantly higher after than before walking, and was positively correlated with blood NEFA and BOHB concentrations. The effect of walking on breath acetone concentration was repeatedly observed on all four consecutive days. Breath acetone concentrations were higher in type 1 diabetic subjects and lower in type 2 diabetic subjects than in control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Breath acetone can be used to monitor hepatic ketogenesis during walking under field conditions. It may, therefore, provide real-time information on fat burning, which may be of use for monitoring the lifestyle interventions.

IPH response to DHSSPS and Food Standards Agency (NI) Front of Pack Labelling consultation

From 2016, it will be mandatory for most pre-packed food to carry nutrition labelling.  This provides an opportunity to review the provision of additional nutrition labelling that is provided voluntarily on the front of packs.  The Governments across the UK are committed to the provision of nutritional information to help consumers make better informed food choices. Key points from IPH response Obesity and related chronic conditions are already very prevalent and are expected to increase over the next decade, placing greater financial burden on health care services. Helping consumers to make informed choices about their diet is an important aspect of tackling obesity. Providing clear consistent and easy to understand front of pack (FoP) nutrition information is important in helping consumers to make healthy choices. IPH would support FoP nutrition information using the traffic light labelling scheme and High/Medium/Low text. FoP nutrition labelling should be supported by a public information campaign to educate consumers about portion sizes and recommended daily intakes of fat, sugar and salt. IPH would support a nutrition labelling approach which empowers and enables consumers to take responsibility for their own health through informed dietary choices. The FoP traffic light labelling scheme has the potential to encourage healthier product formulation as manufacturers pursue market share. This in turn would contribute to wider availability of healthier products.

Les délits commis par les employés dans les secteurs commercial et financier : certaines formes de la criminalité économique à la lumière d'une étude de victimisation et de prévention dans les entreprises du canton de Genève

Summary: Victims of crime are not only physical persons. Firms also experience some different forms of victimization either from outsiders or front employees. Crimes committed inside the firm are various: theft, embezzlement, fraud, fraudulent management, money laundering, vandalism etc. Assessed damage could be considerable. But in general, most of the criminological studies relating to victimization have been interested in individuals as victims. In Switzerland, to date, research on firms'victimization is simply rare and traditional research methods such as victimization survey, self-reported delinquency or controlled experiments are not very much utilized in Swiss white-collar crime studies. Thus, in order to improve the situation, we have decided to start a victimization study on white-collar crime committed in firms of the canton of Geneva. To narrow the field of research, our project seeks to apprehend white-collar crime as a series of offences committed by employees inside the firm, by fraud or deceit, aiming at an illegitimate enrichment. The phenomenon of white-collar crime perpetrated has been evaluated by examining the presence of risk factors and prevention strategies. Furthermore, the correlation between the victimization rate and some aspects of vulnerability has also been investigated. Using data collected from the victimization survey carried out in 2005, some of the key research questions are the following: - which are the types of offences committed? - Which types of measure of prevention are the most efficient to prevent such offences ? - Which type of business is more vulnerable? - Which are the risk factors? - Which is the profile of the authors? - Which are the motivations?, etc. Findings show that companies which valorize their employees and pursue a transparent management style suffer a lower victimization rate. Further, the retail sector seems to be more affected than the financial sector and big firms are more vulnerable.

The Identity Style Inventory (ISI-3) and the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS): Factor structure, reliability, and convergent validity in French-speaking college students

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factor structure and the reliability of the French versions of the Identity Style Inventory (ISI-3) and the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS) in a sample of college students (N = 457, 18 to 25 years old). Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the hypothesized three-factor solution of the ISI-3 identity styles (i.e. informational, normative, and diffuse-avoidant styles), the one-factor solution of the ISI-3 identity commitment, and the three-factor structure of the U-MICS (i.e. commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment). Additionally, theoretically consistent and meaningful associations among the ISI-3, U-MICS, and Ego Identity Process Questionnaire (EIPQ) confirmed convergent validity. Overall, the results of the present study indicate that the French versions of the ISI-3 and UMICS are useful instruments for assessing identity styles and processes, and provide additional support to the cross-cultural validity of these tools.

Warm Front, Better Health: Health Impact Evaluation of the Warm Front Scheme

About 4 million households in the UK cannot adequately heat their homes in winter due to low income and poor quality housing, the two main causes of fuel poverty. The primary impact of fuel poverty is cold homes in winter which can lead to various health problems and even death among the vulnerable young and the elderly population. The government launched the Warm Front scheme in 2000 to tackle fuel poverty among the vulnerable households in England by providing energy efficiency measures in the forms insulation and modern heating system(??). By 2004, about 770,000 households had benefited from the Warm Front scheme and a total of 2 million households are still expected to benefit by 2010. Since 2001, the Bartlett has been investigating with London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Sheffield Hallam University, the health and the environmental impact of the Warm Front scheme. This investigative study is the most detailed to date on fuel poor dwellings based on detailed surveys of household and dwelling data, fuel consumption record and monitored temperature and relative humidity from 3,100 dwellings before and after the energy efficiency measures. The Warm Front investigation was expected to continue until the end of 2007. The findings from the investigation indicated that the Warm Front scheme was likely to have benefits in terms of improved thermal comfort and well-being as a result of mean temperature rise of 1.6C in the living room and 2.8C in the bedroom. Warm Front also lead to a decrease in indoor relative humidity mainly from the increased temperature since there appeared to be little impact on vapour pressure from changes in air tightness. Pressure test results indicated that the effects of air tightness measures such as draught stripping and cavity wall insulation were offset by the installation of a central heating system, particularly when the pipe work feeding radiators was installed below timber floors.

Clinicobiological progression and prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma in relation to the tumor invasive front: impact on prognosis

CONCLUSION: There are several factors that influence the final outcome when treating oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Invasive front phenomena and more importantly their clinicopathological translation can have a direct impact on survival, and subsequently on the decision for an adjuvant treatment. OBJECTIVES: In recent years, the concept of tumor-host interaction has been the subject of substantial efforts in cancer research. Tumoral behavior may be better understood when studying the changes occurring at the tumor-host interface. This study evaluated the influence of several clinicopathological features on the outcome of OSCCs. METHODS: The clinical records and pathology specimens of 54 patients with OSCC treated by primary resection were reviewed retrospectively. The pathologic features reviewed were: invasive front grading (IFG), stromal reaction, lymphovascular invasion (LVI), perineural invasion (PNI), margin status, and depth of invasion. RESULTS: High IFGs had a significant relationship with pT status and pN status. High IFGs were strongly correlated with nodal metastases (odds ratio (OR) = 4.77; confidence interaval (CI) = 1.37-16.64). Concerning survival, IFG had a strong impact on disease-free survival in patients treated unimodally, as did the depth of invasion in the same group. Lymphovascular involvement was found to have a negative impact on overall survival in patients treated multimodally.

Life-style factors associated with overweight and obesity among Spanish adults

OBJECTIVES To assess the relationship between life styles and eating habits with the overweight and obesity prevalence in a Spanish adult population. METHODS A population-based, cross-sectional study conducted on 2640 subjects older than 15 years, in Cádiz (Spain). Surveys were conducted in subjects' homes to obtain life styles, eating habits, and anthropometric data. Logistic regression has been used to study the association between the life style variables and overweight and obesity. RESULTS Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Cadiz is 37% and 17%, respectively; higher in males and increases with age. BMI has an inverse relationship with educational level (PR = 2.3, 1.57-2.38). The highest levels of obesity are associated with daily alcohol consumption (PR = 1.39, 1.29-1.50), greater consumption of television,and sedentary pursuit (PR 1.5, 1.07-1.24). A lower prevalence of obesity is observed among those with active physical activity (10.9% vs 21.6%), with differences between sex. Following a slimming diet is more frequent in the obese and in women but dedicate more hours than men to passive activities. In men is greater the consumption of alcohol, high energy foods and snacks. Overweight and obesity is associated with the male sex (OR = 3.35 2.75-4.07), high consumption of alcohol (OR = 1.38 1.03-1.86) and watching television (OR = 1.52 1.11-2.07), and foods likes bread and cereals (OR = 1.47 1.13-1.91). Exercise activities is a protective factor (OR = 0.76 0.63-0.98). CONCLUSIONS Life styles factors associated with overweight and obesity present different patterns in men and women and is necessary to understand them to identify areas for behavioural intervention in overweight and obesity patients.

Devolatilization-induced pressure build-up: Implications for reaction front movement and breccia pipe formation

Generation of fluids during metamorphism can significantly influence the fluid overpressure, and thus the fluid flow in metamorphic terrains. There is currently a large focus on developing numerical reactive transport models, and with it follows the need for analytical solutions to ensure correct numerical implementation. In this study, we derive both analytical and numerical solutions to reaction-induced fluid overpressure, coupled to temperature and fluid flow out of the reacting front. All equations are derived from basic principles of conservation of mass, energy and momentum. We focus on contact metamorphism, where devolatilization reactions are particularly important owing to high thermal fluxes allowing large volumes of fluids to be rapidly generated. The analytical solutions reveal three key factors involved in the pressure build-up: (i) The efficiency of the devolatilizing reaction front (pressure build-up) relative to fluid flow (pressure relaxation), (ii) the reaction temperature relative to the available heat in the system and (iii) the feedback of overpressure on the reaction temperature as a function of the Clapeyron slope. Finally, we apply the model to two geological case scenarios. In the first case, we investigate the influence of fluid overpressure on the movement of the reaction front and show that it can slow down significantly and may even be terminated owing to increased effective reaction temperature. In the second case, the model is applied to constrain the conditions for fracturing and inferred breccia pipe formation in organic-rich shales owing to methane generation in the contact aureole.

Finding the right interactional temperature: do colder patients need more warmth in physician communication style?

Being aware of which communication style should be adopted when facing more difficult patients is important for physicians; it can help prevent patient reactions of dissatisfaction, mistrust, or non-adherence that can be detrimental to the process of care. Past research suggests that less agreeable patients are especially critical towards, and reactive to, their physician's communication style, compared to more agreeable patients. On the basis of the literature, we hypothesized that less agreeable patients would react more negatively than agreeable patients to lower levels of affiliativeness (i.e., warmth, friendliness) in the physicians, in terms of satisfaction with the physician, trust in the physician, and determination to adhere to the treatment. Thirty-six general practitioners (20 men/16 women) working in their own practice in Switzerland were filmed while interacting with 69 patients (36 men/33 women) of different ages (M = 50.7; SD = 18.19; range: 18-84) and presenting different medical problems (e.g., back pain, asthma, hypertension, diabetes). After the medical interview, patients filled in questionnaires measuring their satisfaction with the physician, their trust in the physician, their determination to adhere to the treatment, and their trait of agreeableness. Physician affiliativeness was coded on the basis of the video recordings. Physician gender and dominance, patient gender and age, as well as the gravity of the patient's medical condition were introduced as control variables in the analysis. Results confirmed our hypothesis for satisfaction and trust, but not for adherence; less agreeable patients reacted more negatively (in terms of satisfaction and trust) than agreeable patients to lower levels of affiliativeness in their physicians. This study suggests that physicians should be especially attentive to stay warm and friendly with people low in agreeableness because those patients' satisfaction and trust might be more easily lowered by a cold or distant physician communication style.