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Teenage partners' communication about sexual risk and condom use: the importance of parent-teenager discussions.

CONTEXT: Teenagers' communication with their partners about sex and their use of condoms may be influenced by the discussions teenagers have with their parents about sex. However, little is known about the process of parent-teenager communication on this topic. Understanding both what parents discuss with their children and how they discuss it may lead to a greater understanding of teenagers' sexual behavior. METHODS: Interviews were conducted with 372 sexually active black and Hispanic youth aged 14-17 from Alabama, New York and Puerto Rico. Regression analyses were used to examine parent-teenager discussions about sexuality and about sexual risk, and parental communication skills as predictors of teenagers' discussions about sexual risk with a partner and teenagers' condom use. RESULTS: Parent-teenager discussions about sexuality and sexual risk were associated with an increased likelihood of teenager-partner discussions about sexual risk and of teenagers' condom use, but only if parents were open, skilled and comfortable in having those discussions. Teenagers' communication with their partner about sexual risk also was associated with greater condom use, but the relationship between parent-teenager communication and teenagers' condom use was independent of this association. CONCLUSIONS: The influence on teenagers of parent-teenager discussions about sexuality and sexual risk depends on both what parents say and how they say it. Programs that foster parent-teenager communication about sexuality and sexual risk must emphasize both of these aspects.

Adolescent↗

The ERATO Systems Biology Workbench: enabling interaction and exchange between software tools for computational biology.

Researchers in computational biology today make use of a large number of different software packages for modeling, analysis, and data manipulation and visualization. In this paper, we describe the ERATO Systems Biology Workbench (SBW), a software framework that allows these heterogeneous application components--written in diverse programming languages and running on different platforms--to communicate and use each others' data and algorithmic capabilities. Our goal is to create a simple, open-source software infrastructure which is effective, easy to implement and easy to understand. SBW uses a broker-based architecture and enables applications (potentially running on separate, distributed computers) to communicate via a simple network protocol. The interfaces to the system are encapsulated in client-side libraries that we provide for different programming languages. We describe the SBW architecture and the current set of modules, as well as alternative implementation technologies.

Computational Biology↗

Use of an Electronic Medical Record to Facilitate Screening for Depression in Primary Care.

BACKGROUND: Screening programs for depression often fail to improve care because of lack of adequate communication and follow-up. The purpose of this study was to examine a primary care depression screening program that utilized an electronic medical record (EMR) to improve communication and follow-up. METHOD: All adult patients in a family practice office were screened for depression using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) during the period March 2000 through March 2001. Screening results were communicated to the primary physician via the EMR, and the physician communicated his or her plan back to the nurse via the EMR. In this retrospective cohort study, we included all persons who screened positive on the CES-D and examined their rate of new psychiatric diagnoses, new psychotropic medications, and change in CES-D scores 3 months after the initial screening. RESULTS: Of 1092 patients who completed the CES-D, 247 (22.6%) screened positive for depression. Among these, 35% had a new psychiatric diagnosis, 31% were prescribed new psychotropic medications, and 46% had a change in psychotropic medications. The vast majority of these were depression diagnoses and antidepressant medications. For the 94 persons who completed the CES-D at 3-month follow-up, there was a mean decrease in CES-D scores of 2.87 (p <.05). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates a positive impact of a depression screening program that utilized an EMR to facilitate communication and follow-up. Such programs could help to improve detection and treatment of depression in other primary care settings.

Journal Article↗

Automation of the collection and processing of X-ray diffraction data -- a generic approach.

With modern detectors and synchrotron sources, it is now routine to collect complete data sets in 10-30 min. To make the most efficient use of these resources, it is desirable to automate the collection and processing of the diffraction data, ideally to a level at which multiple data sets can be acquired without any intervention. A scheme is described to allow fully automated data collection and processing. The design is modular, so that it can easily be interfaced with different beamline-control programs and different data-processing programs. An expert system provides a communication path between the data-processing software and the beamline-control software and takes decisions about the data collection based on project information provided by the user and experimental data provided by the data-processing program.

Algorithms↗

Attrition from after school programs: characteristics of students who drop out.

A goal of many after-school programs is to provide supervision to youths who might potentially engage in delinquent activities during the afternoon hours. By comparing students who remained in a sample of Maryland after-school programs to students who withdrew prior to the end of the school year, this study provides evidence that after-school programs are serving a lower-risk population than intended. Findings indicate that prior to dropping out of the programs, dropouts scored in the more at-risk direction on 11 out of 12 indicators examined in this study and had significantly more peer drug models and days absent from school than students who stayed in the programs. Census data indicate that dropouts came from neighborhoods characterized by higher levels of social disorganization than students who stayed in the programs. Program attendance is also related to several of the risk-factors examined. The results suggest the need for improved communication with parents and further creativity in program planning as a means of retaining high-risk students.

Adolescent↗

Enhancing the effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention programs targeted to unique population groups in Thailand: lessons learned from applying concepts of diffusion of innovation and social marketing.

Diffusion of innovations theory and social marketing theory have been criticized for their limited applicability in influencing unique population groups (e.g., female commercial sex workers (CSWs) working in low-class brothels). This study investigated the applicability of these two theoretical frameworks in outreach efforts directed to unique populations at high risk for HIV/AIDS in Bangkok, Thailand. Further, this study examined Thai cultural characteristics that influence communication about HIV/AIDS prevention. The results suggest that certain concepts and strategies drawn from the two frameworks were used more or less by effective outreach programs, providing several policy-relevant lessons. Cultural constraints, such as the lack of visibility of the disease and traditional sexual practices, influenced communication about HIV/AIDS prevention.

Adolescent↗

The impact of vaccination strategy and methods of information on influenza and pneumococcal vaccination coverage in the elderly population.

We compared the coverage achieved with either an age-based, free-of-charge vaccination program offering influenza vaccine alone or with pneumococcal vaccine with a restricted risk disease-based influenza vaccination program supplemented by self-funded immunization. We also compared two means of informing the public, either using mailed personal reminders or through the mass media only. Forty-one administrative districts with a total of 41,500 persons aged 65 years or older participated in the study during three consecutive seasons from 1992 to 1994. The average vaccination coverage achieved by the risk disease-based program was 20%, by the age-based program with mass media information, 52%, and by the age-based program with mailed personal reminders 82%. The availability of free-of-charge vaccines is thus not sufficient to ensure a high vaccination rate. The effect of the personal reminders was restricted to the year they were sent. The addition of pneumococcal vaccine to the age-based influenza vaccination program had little influence on the acceptance rate.

Age Factors↗

Communicating nursing research: another look at the use of poster sessions in undergraduate programs.

Formal presentation of nursing research content in undergraduate curricula is a recent practice. Although some agreement exists that the focus of such research content should be on the students' development of beginning skills as critical consumers of nursing research, limited information has been available on how a faculty member might select learning experiences to foster these skills. The authors report on the use of the poster session as a successful teaching strategy in two undergraduate programs.

Audiovisual Aids↗

Establishment of disaster radio response program in the local government radio service for states, territories, and possessions: Federal Communications Commission. Final rule.

This document amends 2, 90, and 99 to allocate high frequency (HF) frequencies to be used by the States, Territories, and Possessions in meeting disaster communications needs. This action is necessary to provide these entities with frequency resources needed to fulfill disaster communications requirements.

Disaster Planning↗

Caribbean Public Health Laboratory Surveillance Project: a Department of Defense-sponsored humanitarian mission.

This report describes a Department of Defense humanitarian assistance project to develop and build a regional computer-assisted laboratory-based electronic disease surveillance system in the Caribbean basin. From 1997 through 2000, the project donated 146 computer systems and trained more than 250 personnel from 14 ministries of health to operate this system. This humanitarian mission provided the region with a sustainable and locally maintained and operated surveillance system having a broad and long-term impact on public health. It has improved data gathering, analysis, and reporting at the local, national, and regional level. Benefits to the region include the dissemination through the Internet of increasingly timely and accurate information on the incidence and prevalence of endemic, epidemic, and newly emerging diseases. This serves the Caribbean residents, travelers, and U.S. national interests. The project is a model for cooperative Department of Defense capacity building and training programs in support of partner countries and international public health agencies.

Altruism↗

[Nature and culture meet in emotional communication].

According to the modern affect theory, the human being is equipped from birth with a number of affect programmes which can be activated both by internal and external signals and by the memory. According to theory, facial expressions constitute an important component of the affect programme. Research findings suggest the human being to be biologically programmed both to send and receive communications via facial expressions. Emotional communication seems to occur at an unconscious level, and to precede conscious information processing. There is scientific evidence that the emotional components of information processing are faster and occur in phylogenetically older brain structures. The right hemisphere appears to be more closely related than the left hemisphere to the autonomic nervous system, and thus more intimately linked with the physiological and automatic components of the emotions. Modern psychodynamic theory, in which emotion and unconscious processes are seen as human driving forces, derives scientific support from emotion research based both upon experimental psychology and neuroscience.

Affect↗

Evaluation of parallel pelvic/breast and male genital/rectal teaching programs.

Pelvic/breast (PB) and male genital/rectal (GR) programs were evaluated to learn if male and female students differed in their reactions to the programs and if observations of the programs confirmed students' reactions. In-depth interviews were conducted with male and female teaching associates to uncover the need for program improvements beyond those suggested by observation and student reactions. Participating in the PB program were 74 men and 85 women; 79 men and 90 women took part in the GR program. Sex differences were found in the GR program: Female students admitted to greater anxiety about examining male genitalia prior to the program (p = .009) and expressed more dissatisfaction with the timing (too late in the curriculum p = .006). Male students were less likely than females to improve their ability to communicate as a result of the GR program (p = .009). Observations and interviews indicated that the programs were successful in teaching technical skills but that they needed further work in integrating technical and communication training, especially during GR examination training.

Breast↗

Improving the state of health programming by using diffusion theory.

Year by year, the gaps between what is known about behavior change and what is actually practiced in social programs grow larger, especially for community-based programs intended to help minority populations, the poor, and those living in inner-city and rural areas. Internationally, such gaps between the state of knowledge and the state of practice lead to disparities in health, education, and development among societal groups, demographic sub-populations, communities, and countries. Data about disparities are used as evidence of inequality. Here, I discuss uses of certain diffusion of innovation theory-based concepts to systematically redress problems of inequality and disparity by reducing the differences between evidence and practice in social programs that are implemented by intermediaries (practitioners) and communicated by them to needy populations. The emphasis here is on the integrated application of knowledge about innovation attributes, opinion leadership, and clustering from diffusion theory to achieve the objective of more extensive and more rapid diffusion of especially effective programs. A set of implementation steps are offered for researchers, funders of international health programs, and the intermediaries who implement health programs.

Communication↗

Australian issues in the provision of after-hours primary medical care services in rural communities.

OBJECTIVE: In 2003 the Rural Doctors Workforce Agency in South Australia (SA) facilitated the 'SA Rural Hospital After Hours Triage Education and Training Program'. It was designed to improve communication between rural general practitioners (GPs) and nurses undertaking after-hours triage, provide training in triage for rural nurses and develop local collaborative after-hours primary medical care models that can be applied in other settings. DESIGN: The program consisted of a series of three workshops. The first workshop provided an opportunity for GPs and nurses to discuss local issues relating to after-hours primary medical care service delivery. This was followed by a one-day workshop on triage for nurses. A follow-up refresher workshop was conducted approximately six months later. SETTING: Twenty-three rural communities in SA. PARTICIPANTS: Rural GPs and nurses working in rural communities. RESULTS: This paper reports on the issues highlighted by clinicians in providing after-hours primary medical care in rural and remote communities. These included community expectations, systems of care, scope of practice, private practice/public hospital interface, and medico legal issues. CONCLUSION: The issues facing after-hours health services in rural communities are not new. There are many opportunities for improvement of systems. A formal program including workshops and training has provided a useful forum to commence service improvements.

After-Hours Care↗

Pise: software for building bioinformatics webs.

Pise is interface construction software for bioinformatics applications that run by command-line operations. It creates common, easy-to-use interfaces to these applications for the Web, or other uses. It is adaptable to new bioinformatics tools, and offers program chaining, Unix system batch and other controls, making it an attractive method for building and using your own bioinformatics web services.

Computational Biology↗

Transport of critically ill patients in need of extracorporeal life support.

In the past 10 years, we have seen tremendous growth in the use of ECMO for neonatal cardiopulmonary failure, and new indications are being recognized for the use of ECMO and other forms of ECLS in older children and adults. The number of medical centers providing ECLS is and will always be limited, so services are needed to transport critically ill patients to ECLS centers. Transport teams should be thoroughly familiar with the pathophysiology of cardiac and respiratory failure. They should be equipped to continue the monitoring and treatment initiated at the referring center, to maintain that level of care during transfer, and to treat complications of the diseases or of the therapy itself. The responsibilities of the referring centers are to acquaint themselves with ECLS programs in their geographic areas and with transport services available. Early communication with complete and accurate information is essential. Developing a program for ECLS during transport is a huge undertaking that should be considered seriously. Not every ECLS center has the resources to embark on such a program. Timely referral should make such complex transfers unnecessary for most patients.

Adult↗