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Objective: This article provides an overview of tactile displays. Its goal is to assist human factors practitioners in deciding when and how to employ the sense of touch for the purpose of information representation. The article also identifies important research needs in this area.Background: First attempts to utilize the sense of touch as a medium for communication date back to the late 1950s. For the next 35 years progress in this area was relatively slow, but recent years have seen a surge in the interest and development of tactile displays and the integration of tactile signals in multimodal interfaces. A thorough understanding of the properties of this sensory channel and its interaction with other modalities is needed to ensure the effective and robust use of tactile displays.Methods: First, an overview of vibrotactile perception is provided. Next, the design of tactile displays is discussed with respect to available technologies. The potential benefit of including tactile cues in multimodal interfaces is discussed. Finally, research needs in the area of tactile information presentation are highlighted.Results: This review provides human factors researchers and interface designers with the requisite knowledge for creating effective tactile interfaces. It describes both potential benefits and limitations of this approach to information presentation.Conclusion: The sense of touch represents a promising means of supporting communication and coordination in human-human and human-machine systems.Application: Tactile interfaces can support numerous functions, including spatial orientation and guidance, attention management, and sensory substitution, in a wide range of domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To examine community/racial differences in adolescent marijuana use and the variations in factors underlying the observed differences, a questionnaire survey study was conducted with 9th to 12th graders (n = 1,936) from two communities in New Jersey. Marijuana use was significantly higher among suburban (mostly White) students than among their urban (mostly Black) counterparts. Significant differences in marijuana use between the two community sub-samples were explained by differences in type of risk factors, mean number of risk factors, and the strength of the association (slopes) between risk factors and marijuana use. Social-environmental factors (including positive after-school activities and negative peer influences) and, to a lesser degree, family factors (including family income, parental and sibling drug use), accounted for most community/racial differences in marijuana use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A critical look at the use of Ritalin with ADD individuals. Recommends that RT/CT be used as the first intervention step instead of reliance on medication Ritalin belongs to a class of drugs known as "stimulants," and is closely related to the drug "amphetamine." Interestingly, it is thought to have a paradoxical effect on people, i.e., it serves to "calm" children, but usually has an "excitatory" effect on adults. Stimulants like Ritalin, caffeine, and amphetamines, for example, seem to have a generalized effect on people's organ systems, particularly in their heart, blood vessels, and brain; in short, they all seem to increase blood pressure, while minimizing states of drowsiness (Diller, 1999). Over the last few decades, there have been some noteworthy developments regarding the instances of "Attention Deficit Disorders" or "Hyperactivity Disorders," More specifically, this disorder has been found to increase over 500% in the last thirty years. Notably, since Ritalin has been the "drug of choice" by many physicians in the treatment of this disorder, Ritalin's production has likewise increased over the same time period. The unfortunate part of this scenario is that those using Ritalin are actually buying into an idea that they can "live better through chemistry," and that it is okay to have your life regulated by a drug, and by others who administer it, with little thought given about the "free will" and "personal choices" that recipients ultimately give up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Executive impairments have been reported in affective illness, but the influence of attention on executive performance has not been fully considered. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether executive impairments in affective illness were independent of attention impairments, and whether independent executive impairments were specific to bipolar (BP) affective illness.MethodForty-two individuals with major affective disorders [20 unipolar (UP) depression and 22 BP disorder] were compared with 40 healthy controls on measures of attention and executive function. None of the patients were currently experiencing an episode of affective illness. RESULTS: As expected, both UP and BP patient groups showed significant neuropsychological impairments relative to controls. Significant differences in performance on executive function measures were also observed between UP and BP patients, even after the influence of attention had been taken into account. These impairments were not attributable to current levels of affective symptomatology or to medication. CONCLUSIONS: A single neuropsychological dissociation appears to be present between UP and BP affective illness, with BP individuals showing a specific executive deficit that is independent of attention impairment on the Hayling Sentence Completion Test (HSCT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue Addressed: To evaluate the effectiveness of a brief intervention using a pedometer and step-recording diary on promoting physical activity in people with type 2 diabetes or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT).Methods: People with type 2 diabetes or IGT who attended the Illawarra Diabetes Service were invited to participate. Participants in the intervention group received a pedometer and a diary to record their daily steps for a two-week period. Both the intervention and comparison group received advice on physical activity. Physical activity levels were measured using the Active Australia Survey at baseline, and at two and 20 weeks.Results: A total of 226 participants were recruited. At two-week follow-up the mean self-reported minutes of walking was significantly higher in the intervention group than the comparison group (223 minutes versus 164 minutes; p=0.01), as was the percentage of intervention participants achieving recommended levels of moderate-intensity physical activity (63.5% versus 41.8%, p=0.02) and the percentage of intervention participants achieving adequate levels of total physical activity (68.9% versus 48.0%, p=0.04). There were no differences between study groups for any physical activity measure at 20-week follow-up.Conclusions: A pedometer and a step-recording diary were useful tools to promote short-term increase in physical activity in people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or IGT. Future studies need to examine whether a longer intervention, individualised physical activity counselling and support for achieving step goals could result in increasing physical activity over the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Previous research has shown that general practitioners (GPs) hold negative attitudes towards patients with schizophrenia, which do not simply reflect the nature or chronic aspects of the illness. This study aimed to describe the attitudes and predicted behaviour of medical students towards patients with mental illness in a primary care setting and to investigate whether these were affected by the students' level of training. Methods A sample of 1239 students from the University of Birmingham Medical School were each given one of four case vignettes, all of which were identical except that the patient involved was described as having a previous diagnosis of, respectively, schizophrenia, depression, diabetes or no illness. Students rated their level of agreement with 12 attitudinal statements relating to the vignette. Results A total of 1081 (88%) students responded to the questionnaire. Students were generally less favourable in their responses to patients with either schizophrenia or depression. They would not be as happy to have them on their list, believed they would consume more time and considered they would be less likely to comply with advice and treatment. They expressed more concern about the risk of violence, the potential welfare of children and the possibility of illegal drug and excessive alcohol use. General clinical and psychiatric training had little effect on these reactions. Conclusions Patients with mental illness provoke less favourable responses in medical students, which are not altered by furthering education. Undergraduate primary care-based mental health education should be re-evaluated to ensure that students develop an empathetic and positive approach to mental health patients and their treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapidly changing demographics in the United States and diverse cultural beliefs impact hospice utilization and end-of-life care. Healthcare professionals and clinicians need a connecting framework to understand patients' and their famiiy's perspectives regarding utilization of those services. This framework will assist healthcare workers in providing cuiturally sensitive and appropriate information to patients nearing the end of life, so that they and their ioved ones can make informed decisions for optimal care during this passage of life. Considering the variables in this framework may also help facilitate communication between healthcare professionals and patients and reduce misunderstanding among the surviving family members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Evidence is lacking that a dietary pattern high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in total fat can influence breast cancer recurrence or survival.Objective: To assess whether a major increase in vegetable, fruit, and fiber intake and a decrease in dietary fat intake reduces the risk of recurrent and new primary breast cancer and all-cause mortality among women with previously treated early stage breast cancer.Design, Setting, and Participants: Multi-institutional randomized controlled trial of dietary change in 3088 women previously treated for early stage breast cancer who were 18 to 70 years old at diagnosis. Women were enrolled between 1995 and 2000 and followed up through June 1, 2006.Intervention: The intervention group (n = 1537) was randomly assigned to receive a telephone counseling program supplemented with cooking classes and newsletters that promoted daily targets of 5 vegetable servings plus 16 oz of vegetable juice; 3 fruit servings; 30 g of fiber; and 15% to 20% of energy intake from fat. The comparison group (n = 1551) was provided with print materials describing the "5-A-Day" dietary guidelines.Main Outcome Measures: Invasive breast cancer event (recurrence or new primary) or death from any cause.Results: From comparable dietary patterns at baseline, a conservative imputation analysis showed that the intervention group achieved and maintained the following statistically significant differences vs the comparison group through 4 years: servings of vegetables, +65%; fruit, +25%; fiber, +30%, and energy intake from fat, -13%. Plasma carotenoid concentrations validated changes in fruit and vegetable intake. Throughout the study, women in both groups received similar clinical care. Over the mean 7.3-year follow-up, 256 women in the intervention group (16.7%) vs 262 in the comparison group (16.9%) experienced an invasive breast cancer event (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.80-1.14; P = .63), and 155 intervention group women (10.1%) vs 160 comparison group women (10.3%) died (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.72-1.15; P = .43). No significant interactions were observed between diet group and baseline demographics, characteristics of the original tumor, baseline dietary pattern, or breast cancer treatment.Conclusion: Among survivors of early stage breast cancer, adoption of a diet that was very high in vegetables, fruit, and fiber and low in fat did not reduce additional breast cancer events or mortality during a 7.3-year follow-up period.Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00003787. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a case involving a 45-year-old man with a 12-year history of Wegener granulomatosis, who developed a carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder after long-term cyclophosphamide therapy. Cyclophosphamide is well recognized as an etiologic agent for urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder. However, only 5 cases of carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder following cyclophosphamide therapy have been reported. We used loss of heterozygosity studies and microsatellite markers to define the molecular basis of this rare neoplasm. These studies revealed evidence supporting a monoclonal origin for the 2 components of this tumor. We also demonstrated allelic loss of chromosome 9p. This loss associated with carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder is in agreement with previous studies, suggesting a possible role for the tumor suppressor gene p16 in the pathogenesis of this tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]