A Geospatial Analysis of the Association between Access to Tanning Bed Facilities and Melanoma in the United States New England Region.

Substantial geographic disparities in melanoma incidence and access to tanning bed facilities exist. In this spatial ecological study, we evaluate the relationship between access to tanning bed facilities and melanoma incidence. New England county-level melanoma incidence rates (2014-2018), tanning bed facilities location, demographic data, socioeconomic data, and geographic data were obtained from the National Cancer Institute State Cancer Profiles, Data Axle, American Community Survey, and United States Geological Survey.

Assessing the Feasibility and Effectiveness of Screening for Indoor Tanning in the Primary Care Setting: A Report of Preliminary Findings.

Introduction: Indoor tanning is a major modifiable risk factor in the development of both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers. Investigation of behavior-altering interventions is an area of active research. As with other preventive measures, screening of high-risk populations can be an important aspect of a multimodality public health intervention.

Performance measurement part II: A guide to developing dermatology performance measures.

Throughout the 21st century, national and local governments, private health sectors, health insurance companies, healthcare professionals, labor unions, and consumers have been striving to develop an effective approach to evaluate, report, and improve the quality of healthcare. As medicine improves and health systems grow to meet patient needs, the performance measurement system of care effectiveness must also evolve. Continual efforts should be undertaken to effectively measure quality of care to create a more informed public, improve health outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.

Performance measurement part I: Foundational knowledge for measure development.

As medicine is moving toward performance and outcome-based payment and is transitioning away from productivity-based systems, value is now being appraised in healthcare through "performance measures." Over the past few decades, assessment of clinical performance in health care has been essential in ensuring safe and cost-effective patient care. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is further driving this change with measurable, outcomes-based national payer incentive payment systems.

Understanding melanoma in situ: Lentigo maligna surgical treatment terminology and guideline adherence, a targeted review.

Background: Malignant melanoma in-situ, lentigo maligna (MMIS-LM) can be successfully treated with several different surgical techniques; however, the literature is inconsistent in defining them.

Objective: To comprehensively define and describe the national guideline recommended surgical techniques used to treat MMIS-LM to help clarify and standardize this terminology to ensure compliance with the guidelines.

Methods: A targeted literature review was performed from 1990 to 2022 focusing on articles that discussed the national guideline recommended surgical techniques of wide local excision, Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS), modified Mohs surgery, and staged excision/Slow-Mohs for MMIS-LM, as well as the related methods of tissue processing.

Locomotor and energetic consequences of behavioral thermoregulation in the sanguivorous leech Hirudo verbana.

Medicinal leeches (Hirudo verbana) thermoregulate with respect to their sanguivorous feeding behavior. Immediate postprandial preferences are for warmer than their initial acclimation temperature (T, 21°C, Petersen et al. 2011), while unfed leeches have a lower preferred temperature (T, 12.

Social Support and Relationship Satisfaction as Moderators of the Stress-Mood-Alcohol Link Association in US Navy Members.

The present study examined associations between stress and problematic alcohol use among US Navy members anticipating deployment, whether depressive symptoms mediated the stress-alcohol link, and whether social support and relationship satisfaction moderated associations between stress, depressive symptoms, and problematic alcohol use. Participants were 108 US Navy members assigned to an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer anticipating an 8-month deployment after Operational Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom. Stress was indirectly related to problematic alcohol use such that higher levels of stress were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms, which were further associated with higher levels of alcohol use.

Evaluating more naturalistic outcome measures: A 1-year smartphone study in multiple sclerosis.

Objective: In this cohort of individuals with and without multiple sclerosis (MS), we illustrate some of the novel approaches that smartphones provide to monitor patients with chronic neurologic disorders in their natural setting.

Methods: Thirty-eight participant pairs (MS and cohabitant) aged 18-55 years participated in the study. Each participant received an Android HTC Sensation 4G smartphone containing a custom application suite of 19 tests capturing participant performance and patient-reported outcomes (PROs).

Subthreshold posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic review of DSM-IV prevalence and a proposed DSM-5 approach to measurement.

Subthreshold posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic condition that is often ignored, the cumulative effects of which can negatively impact an individual's quality of life and overall health care costs. However, subthreshold PTSD prevalence rates and impairment remain unclear due to variations in research methodology. This study examined the existing literature in order to recommend approaches to standardize subthreshold PTSD assessment.

Drug use and childhood-, military- and post-military trauma exposure among women and men veterans.

Background: The current study was undertaken to examine whether posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and depressive symptoms mediated the association between trauma exposure (combat-related trauma and non-combat traumas occurring before, during, and after military service), and drug abuse symptoms use among male and female veterans.

Methods: Participants were 2304 (1851 male, 453 female) veterans who took part in a multi-site research study conducted through the Department of Veterans Affairs Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (VISN 6 MIRECC). Path analytic models were used to determine the association between problematic past-year drug use and combat-related and non-combat trauma experienced before, during, or after the military and whether current post-traumatic stress symptoms or depressive symptoms mediated these associations.

Trade-offs between performance and variability in the escape responses of bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus).

Successful predator evasion is essential to the fitness of many animals. Variation in escape behaviour may be adaptive as it reduces predictability, enhancing escape success. High escape velocities and accelerations also increase escape success, but biomechanical factors likely constrain the behavioural range over which performance can be maximized.

Systematic review of women veterans' mental health.

Background: Given recent, rapid growth in the field of women veterans' mental health, the goal of this review was to update the status of women veterans' mental health research and to identify current themes in this literature. The scope of this review included women veterans' unique mental health needs, as well as gender differences in veterans' mental health needs.

Methods: Database searches were conducted for relevant articles published between January 2008 and July 2011.

The impact of social support on psychological distress for U.S. Afghanistan/Iraq era veterans with PTSD and other psychiatric diagnoses.

This study aimed to examine the degree to which posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects the relationship between social support and psychological distress for U.S. Afghanistan/Iraq era veterans with and without co-occurring psychiatric disorders.

Self-reported pain complaints among Afghanistan/Iraq era men and women veterans with comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.

Objective: Research has shown significant rates of comorbidity among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and pain in prior era veterans but less is known about these disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan war era veterans. This study seeks to extend previous work by evaluating the association among PTSD, MDD, and pain (back, muscle, and headache pain) in this cohort.

Method: A sample of 1,614 veterans, recruited from 2005 to 2010, completed a structured clinical interview and questionnaires assessing trauma experiences, PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, and pain endorsement.

Variation in fast-start performance within a population of polyphenic bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus).

Bluegill sunfish Lepomis macrochirus exhibit intraspecific variation in their morphology and swimming performance based on habitat. The pelagic form has a relatively streamlined, fusiform body shape associated with greater steady-state swimming speed and energy economy. In contrast, littoral bluegill have deeper bodies with fins located farther from their center of mass to enhance maneuverability among littoral vegetation.

Hypokinetic circulation in persons with paraplegia.

Introduction: It is well established that hemodynamic dysfunction, resulting in diminished upper-extremity work capacity, occurs in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) as compared with those who are nondisabled (ND). Although it has been shown that persons with paraplegia display higher values of heart rate (HR) with lower values of stroke volume (SV) during exercise, it is not resolved whether there is adequate compensation to produce similar values of cardiac output (.Q) as in ND.