Design and development of a theory-informed peer-led falls prevention education programme to translate evidence into practice: A systematic approach

Peer-led education has been shown to be an effective approach for raising community-dwelling older adults’ beliefs, knowledge and intention to engage in falls prevention strategies in a recent intervention trial. This article outlines the design and development of the intervention, which was a peer-led falls prevention education programme designed to promote older adult’s motivation to change their behaviour in the area of falls prevention. The elements of the programme that contributed to its efficacy are also described. The programme was designed using a four-step approach and was based on the constructs of a theoretical framework (the COM-B model). Feedback from older adults was also incorporated into the programme development. Programme components developed were a workshop to train older adult peer educators to deliver falls prevention education, a one-hour peer-led falls prevention presentation, and supporting resources to aid programme delivery. A questionnaire measuring older adults’ responses to the presentation was concurrently developed and pilot-tested prior to implementation of the education programme. Finally, resources to monitor and evaluate fidelity at five points in the programme were developed. It was found that seeking older adult consumer involvement, and adopting a theoretical framework-driven approach contributes to effective design and delivery of falls prevention education programmes. This ensured that the programme was acceptable to older adults, feasible to deliver and allowed robust measurement of the effect of the education programme on important behavioural change components

Susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) for the assessment of iron loading in the brain of beta-thalassemia major patients

postprintThe 2010 Joint Annual Meeting of ISMRM-ESMRMB, Stockholm, Sweden, 1-7 May 2010

Single-breathhold myocardial T2 and T2* quantification in normal volunteer subjects at 3T

Myocardial Tissue Characterization: Fat, Hemorrhage & Edema - Poster presentationIncreased B0 and B1 inhomogeneity, together with increased motion artifacts, present challenges for cardiac imaging and quantitation at 3T. This study measured myocardial T2 in normal subjects at 3T using a novel single-breathhold black-blood hybrid TSE/MESE T2 measurement protocol. The average myocardial T2 was found to be 39.6±7.4ms, with peak-to-peak variations of the measured T2 values < 5%. The results demonstrate the feasibility of myocardial T2 quantitation at 3T.published_or_final_versionThe 17th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), Honolulu, HI., 18-24 April 2009. In Proceedings of ISMRM 17th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, 2009, p. 375

Brain connectivity during the processing of nouns and verbs: a dynamic Bayesian network analysis

Dynamic Bayesian network was used to study the connections among the brain regions activated during processing of nouns and verbs. Under simplifying assumptions, we arrived at a dynamic Bayesian network learning algorithm with reduced time complexity, which allowed us to test all possible connectivity models exhaustively and choose the best model based on the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) score. We found a posterior to anterior flow of processing of both nouns and verbs. The left medial frontal gyrus was found to play an important role in the network. For verb processing, strong involvements of motor cortex and cerebellum were found.published_or_final_versio

Discrepant FA reduction between the frontal and parietal lobes of post irradiation medulloblastoma survivors: preliminary findings of regional susceptibility?

In this study of 16 medulloblastoma survivors and corresponding age-matched control subjects, we tested the hypothesis that fractional anisotropy (FA) in the frontal lobe is more severely reduced than the parietal lobe after whole brain irradiation. Quantitative measurement of regional mean FA was performed using automatically generated masks. We found significant FA reduction in the frontal lobe, but not parietal lobe, in the medulloblastoma survivors compared to controls. Although more severe FA reduction in the frontal lobe was found, this difference did not achieve statistical significance. However, a trend of regional susceptibility of the frontal lobe to radiation was suggested.published_or_final_versio

Regional white matter anisotropy and general intelligence in preterm born children: a voxelwise analysis

published_or_final_versio

Efficacy of endoscopic sinus surgery for paranasal sinus mucocele including modified endoscopic Lothrop procedure for frontal sinus mucocele

This study evaluated the efficacy of the modified endoscopic Lothrop procedure (MELP) for complicated frontal mucoceles and endoscopic marsupialization for other paranasal sinus mucoceles. It was a retrospective, consecutive case review of sinus mucoceles treated endoscopically by a single surgeon over a four-year period (1998-2002). There were 41 mucoceles in 28 patients, including 24 frontal, eight frontoethmoidal, three ethmoidal, five maxillary and one frontal mucocele. Twenty-one patients underwent the modified Lothrop procedure for frontal mucoceles, and seven underwent simple drainage and marsupialization for frontoethmoidal, ethmoidal and maxillary mucoceles. At median follow-up of 16 months, all patients had a patent mucocele opening. Patients treated by drainage and marsupialization did not have any complications or mucocele recurrence. All patients treated by the modified endoscopic Lothrop procedure had improvement in symptoms and signs. Four patients had minor complications including epistaxis and adhesions and five required further surgery. The average hospital in-patient stay was 2 ± 1.4 days. Endoscopic techniques, including MELP are effective in the short term for the management of complex and simple paranasal sinus mucoceles. MELP has a useful place in the management of mucoceles with a significant bony partition from an adjacent sinus or nasal cavity. It is also indicated when the mucocele is associated with loss of lateral support in the sinus with risk of medial-wall collapse of the orbital contents obstructing drainage.Jwu Jin Khong, Raman Malhotra, Dinesh Selva and Peter John Wormal

Technical Efficiency of Resource-Conserving Technologies in Rice -Wheat Systems: The Case of Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh in India

This study has evaluated the technical efficiency of farmers engaged in rice-wheat cropping systems in North-eastern India, who are using Resource-Conserving Technologies (RCTs) such as Zero Tillage (ZT) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR). These technology promotions are being carried out under the intervention of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project, primarily funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The resource-conserving technologies are being promoted as part of conservation agriculture supported by the project. The data used in this study have been derived from the socioeconomic surveys conducted in Eastern Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar in North-eastern India during the kharif season of 2009 and rabi season of 2010. A stochastic frontier analysis was carried out to investigate and compare the determinants of technical efficiency among the farmers receiving intervention and those who are not. The study has revealed that farmers receiving CSISA intervention have realized higher levels of technical efficiency. Additionally, farmers who are receiving subsidies and farmers who are planting more diversified crops have higher levels of technical efficiency.Conservation agriculture, Direct seeded rice, India, Resource-conserving technology, Technical efficiency, Stochastic frontier, Zero tillage, Agricultural and Food Policy, O30, Q18, O22,

Ultrashort time-to-echo MRI of the cartilagenous endplate and relationship to degenerative disc disease and schmorl's nodes

Session - The Short of ItINTRODUCTION: The vertebral endplate is composed of an inner bony and outer cartilaginous endplates (CEP). The CEP supplies the intervertebral disc (IVD) with nutrients and metabolites, and is instrumental for metabolism, exchange of waste products and biomechanics of the disc 1. Lumbar disc degeneration on MRI is a risk factor for the development of low back pain 2. It has been previously hypothesized that changes in disc mechanics may be initiated by damage to the endplate 3, 4. Similarly, CEP defects may be involved in the formation of Schmorl’s nodes (SNs) (i.e. invagination of IVD material into the adjacent endplates) 5, which associated with severity of lumbar disc degeneration 6. The ultrashort time-to-echo (UTE) MRI is an imaging technique that enables improved visualization of tissues with short T2 relaxation that appear dark in signal on conventional T2-weighted (T2W) imaging. By employing this technique in the lumbar spine, we believe that the CEP, which appears hypointense in T2W MRI, may be observed as continuous high-signal and may thus be differentiated from the bony endplate. Although cadaveric studies have addressed the feasibility of UTE in assessing the CEP 7, studies addressing such technology in live human subjects …published_or_final_versionThe 19th Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM 2011), Montreal, QC., 7-13 May 2011. In Proceedings of the 19th ISMRM, 2011, v. 19, p. 57

Resident phenotypically modulated vascular smooth muscle cells in healthy human arteries.

Vascular interstitial cells (VICs) are non-contractile cells with filopodia previously described in healthy blood vessels of rodents and their function remains unknown. The objective of this study was to identify VICs in human arteries and to ascertain their role. VICs were identified in the wall of human gastro-omental arteries using transmission electron microscopy. Isolated VICs showed ability to form new and elongate existing filopodia and actively change body shape. Most importantly sprouting VICs were also observed in cell dispersal. RT-PCR performed on separately collected contractile vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and VICs showed that both cell types expressed the gene for smooth muscle myosin heavy chain (SM-MHC). Immunofluorescent labelling showed that both VSMCs and VICs had similar fluorescence for SM-MHC and αSM-actin, VICs, however, had significantly lower fluorescence for smoothelin, myosin light chain kinase, h-calponin and SM22α. It was also found that VICs do not have cytoskeleton as rigid as in contractile VSMCs. VICs express number of VSMC-specific proteins and display features of phenotypically modulated VSMCs with increased migratory abilities. VICs, therefore represent resident phenotypically modulated VSMCs that are present in human arteries under normal physiological conditions