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  • Leth Denton posted an update 1 day, 1 hour ago

    Handwashing with soap is an important preventive health behavior, and yet promoting this behavior has proven challenging. We report the results of a program that trained teachers to deliver a handwashing with soap behavior change program to children in primary schools in Bihar, India. Ten intervention schools selected along with ten nearby control schools, and intervention schools received the “School of Five” program promoting handwashing with soap using interactive stories, games, and songs, behavioral diaries to encourage habit formation, and public commitment. Households with children aged 8-13 attending the nearby school were enrolled in the study. Handwashing with soap was measured using sticker diaries before eating and after defecation 4 weeks after the intervention was completed. Children in the treatment reported 15.1% more handwashing with soap on key occasions (35.2%) than those in the control group (20.1%) (RR 1.77, CI (1.22, 2.58), p = .003). There was no evidence that handwashing with soap after defecation was higher in the treatment group than the control group (RR 1.18, CI (0.88, 1.57), p = .265), but there was strong evidence that handwashing with soap was greater in the treatment than in the control before eating (RR 2.68, 95% CI (1.43, 5.03), p = .002). Rates of handwashing increased both at home (RR 1.63, CI 1.14, 2.32), p = .007) and at school (RR 4.76, 95% CI (1.65, 17.9), p = .004), though the impact on handwashing with soap at key occasions in schools was much higher than at home. Promoting handwashing with soap through teachers in schools may be an effective way to achieve behavior change at scale.OBJECTIVES To compare remission status at completion of chemotherapy for multiple myeloma (MM) with changes in total diffusion volume (tDV) calculated from whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging (WB-DWI) and fat fraction (FF) of lumbar bone marrow (BM) by modified Dixon Quant (mDixon Quant) soon after induction of chemotherapy, and to assess the predictive value of MRI. METHODS Fifty patients (mean age, 66.9 ± 10.5 years) with symptomatic myeloma were examined before and after two cycles of chemotherapy. From WB-DWI data, tDV was obtained with the threshold for positive BM involvement. Mean FF was calculated from lumbar BM using the mDixon Quant sequence. At the completion of chemotherapy, patients were categorized into a CR/very good PR (VGPR) group (n = 15; mean age, 67.6 ± 10.3 years) and a PR, SD or PD group (n = 35; mean age, 69.1 ± 8.6 years). ROC curves were plotted to assess performance in predicting achievement of CR/VGPR. RESULTS At second examination, serum M protein, β2-microglobulin, and tDV were significantly decreased and hemoglobin, mean ADC, and FF were significantly increased in the CR/VGPR group and serum M protein was significantly increased in the PR/SD/PD group. The general linear model demonstrated that percentage changes in FF and M protein contributed significantly to achieving CR/VGPR (P = 0.02, P = 0.04, respectively). AUCs of ROC curves were 0.964 for FF and 0.847 for M protein. CONCLUSIONS Early change in FF of lumbar BM and serum M protein soon after induction of chemotherapy contributed significantly to prediction of CR/VGPR.The visual system optimizes its functioning for a given environment through processes collectively called adaptation. It is currently unknown, however, whether adaptation is affected by the particular task the observer performs within that environment. PT2977 chemical structure Two experiments tested whether this is the case. Observers adapted to high contrast grating patterns, and the decay of adaptation was measured using a version of the tilt-aftereffect, while they performed two different secondary tasks. One task involved judging the luminance of a small circular spot at fixation, and was expected to be unaffected by adaptation. The other secondary task involved judging a low contrast grating, and adaptation was expected to make this task difficult by reducing the visibility of the grating. Identical displays containing both a fixation spot and a grating were used for both tasks. Tilt-aftereffects were smaller when subjects concurrently performed the grating task than when they performed the fixation task. These results suggest that the control of adaptation, in this case its decay, is sensitive to the nature of the task the observer is performing. Adaptation may attempt to optimize vision with respect to many different criteria simultaneously; task is likely one of the criteria included in this process.BACKGROUND Non-adherence with medications in pregnancy is increasingly recognized and often results in a higher rate of preventable maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Non-adherence with prophylactic aspirin amongst high-risk pregnant women is associated with higher incidence of preeclampsia, preterm delivery and intrauterine growth restriction. Yet, the factors that influences adherence with aspirin in pregnancy, from the women’s perspective, remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVE The study is aimed at understanding the factors, from the women’s perspective, that influenced adherence with prophylactic aspirin in their pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN A sequential-exploratory designed mixed methods quantitative (n = 122) and qualitative (n = 6) survey of women with recent high-risk pregnancy necessitating antenatal prophylactic aspirin was utilized. Women recruited underwent their antenatal care in one of three high-risk pregnancy clinics within the South Western Sydney Local Health District, Australia. The quanating factors that had potentials to negatively influence adherence with aspirin in pregnancy. CONCLUSION This study identified factors that both positively and negatively influenced adherence with aspirin amongst high-risk pregnant women. Is highlights the importance in recognizing the impact of pill burden in pregnancy and the need to counsel women on the utility of reminder strategies to minimize non-intentional omission. Importantly, it emphasizes on the importance of a positive patient-HCP relationship through effective and consistent communication to achieve the desired maternal and fetal outcomes.