Area-level Poverty and Functional Limitations: Exploring Gender-Specific Mechanisms.

Area-level socioeconomic disadvantage is an established risk factor for functional limitations. Yet, mechanisms underlying this association and whether such processes vary by gender is unknown. Guided by stress process theory, we examine whether county- and tract-level poverty rates are differentially associated with functional limitations by gender and whether secondary ecological stressors (e.

Benefits of individualized counseling by the pharmacist on the treatment outcomes of hyperlipidemia in Hong Kong.

A prospective controlled study on the benefits of pharmacists' individualized counseling on drug compliance, cholesterol concentration reduction, attainment of National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals, and patient satisfaction was carried out in a private community hospital in Hong Kong. All patients who were newly prescribed with lipid-lowering drugs for primary prevention were included. The patients in the individualized counseling group received "intense" counseling and follow-up of cholesterol concentration by a pharmacist for 3 months.