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This study aimed to explore how foster carers conceptualize and engage in self-care using interviews with 8 participants. Results suggest that self-care practices are an important component of maintaining the physical and mental health of foster carers, preventing burn-out and enhancing therapeutic parenting practices. Several barriers to self-care are identified, including systemic barriers as well a foster carers' own feelings of guilt for prioritizing their own needs. Results indicate that self-care requires a collaborative approach between foster carers and the broader child welfare system. Improved self-care specific training, resources and coaching from agencies were also identified as important outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim was to profile transient accommodative axial length changes from early adulthood to advanced presbyopia and to determine whether any differences exist between the responses of myopic and emmetropic individuals.Methods: Ocular biometry was measured by the LenStar biometer (Haag-Streit, Switzerland) in response to zero, 3.00 and 4.50 D accommodative stimuli in 35 emmetropes and 37 myopes, aged 18 to 60 years. All results were corrected to reduce errors arising from the increase in crystalline lens thickness with accommodation. Accommodative responses were measured sequentially by the WAM 5500 Auto Ref/Keratometer (Grand Seiko, Hiroshima, Japan).Results: Axial length increased significantly with accommodation (p < 0.001), with a mean corrected increase in axial length of 2 ± 18 µm and 8 ± 16 µm observed at 3.00 and 4.50 D, respectively. The magnitude of accommodative change in axial length was not dependent on refractive error classification (p = 0.959); however, a significant reduction in the magnitude and variance of axial length change was evident after 43 to 44 years of age (p < 0.002).Conclusion: The negative association between transient increase in axial length and age, in combination with reduced variance of data after age 43 to 44 years, is consistent with a significant increase in posterior ocular rigidity, which may be influential in the development of presbyopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether trial of labor after cesarean (TOLAC) is associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes for small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates.Methods: This secondary analysis of a multicenter prospective observational study evaluated SGA neonates born to women with a single prior cesarean delivery. Nonanomalous, singleton pregnancies delivered at 24-41 weeks were included. The primary exposure was whether women underwent planned cesarean versus attempted TOLAC. Log-linear regression models were developed to characterize the relationship between TOLAC and neonatal outcomes. The primary outcome was a composite measure of neonatal morbidity and/or mortality, including death, respiratory complications, treated hypoglycemia, sepsis, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission and hospital stay >5 days.Results: Of 1009 patients identified, 258 underwent repeat cesarean; 751 attempted TOLAC. Controlling for age, race, body mass index, smoking, maternal disease, prior vaginal birth after cesarean, corticosteroids, prematurity and nonreassuring fetal status as indication for delivery, the composite adverse outcome was similarly likely in both groups (adjusted risk ratio (RR) 0.99, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.88-1.12, p = 0.93).Conclusions: SGA infants born to women who TOLAC have similar neonatal outcomes to those who deliver by planned repeat cesarean. We conclude that TOLAC is an acceptable option for women with a prior cesarean and suspected SGA neonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reading achievement and neural activation during a reading task were evaluated among boys with isolated cleft palate only (iCP) in comparison to unaffected controls. Ten boys with iCP and 10 unaffected boys between the ages of 8 and 16 years old were assessed. Standardized assessments of intelligence and reading achievement were administered and participants underwent a block-design functional magnetic resonance imaging protocol using non-word rhyming and judgment of line tasks. Among the 10 boys with iCP, reading fluency correlated with phonological awareness and visual memory. Neural activation was increased in regions of the brain associated with a non-fluent/dyslexic reading pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Restaurant sales contests (RSCs) have no substantive body of literature to confirm or disconfirm their effectiveness. In U.S. organizations overall, sales contest (SC) popularity has been documented for decades, increasing in overall expenditure. In U.S. restaurants, the literature notes little more than that SC initiatives are widespread in current use, remaining popular throughout the past decade. However, serious concerns surface when examining the basic tenets that underlie RSC use and the lack of generalizability in SC studies of the business disciplines. In an attempt to open a wide area of fruitful potential research benefiting both theory and practice, we critically analyze the topic of RSCs from a scholarly and practitioner-based perspective, presenting propositions that integrate theoretical and empirical SC works with current understandings of restaurant organizations and their human resource objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tel Miqne (Khirbet Muqanna), the largest Iron Age site in Israel, is identified as biblical Ekron, one of the cities of the Philistine pentapolis. Sediment samples were collected from different contexts with a twofold objective in mind. First, confirmation was sought for the identification of particular Philistine loci as occupation surfaces. Since little is known about Philistine daily life, the second objective was to discern through phytolith analysis the plant or plants that contributed phytoliths to the sediments. Phytoliths from the sediments were compared to those extracted from a reference collection of modern grasses, sedges, and rushes known to occur in Israel. In particular, the possibility was explored that the Philistines may have used a reedgrass, Phragmites australis, that currently grows in the adjacent wadifor mats, thatch, and basketry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To examine the time to first disease-modifying drug (DMD) treatment and to identify factors associated with early DMD initiation in newly-diagnosed patients with MS.Methods: This retrospective cohort study included newly-diagnosed patients with MS from a US administrative claims database, aged 18-65 years, with a first MS diagnosis (ICD-9-CM code: 340.xx) between January 1, 2007 and June 30, 2013 (index date), continuous eligibility for 12 months pre- and 24 months post-index, and initiated DMD treatment within 2 years. Time to first DMD within 24 months post-index was evaluated. A logistic regression model predicted earlier initiation of DMD treatment (within 60 days of MS diagnosis).Results: In total, 37.4% of patients initiated DMD treatment within 2 years of MS diagnosis and were included in the primary analysis (n = 7,124). Mean (standard deviation [SD]) time from MS diagnosis to first DMD was 112.6 (148.3) days (median = 51); 30.7% received first DMD in <30 days, 55.1% in <60 days, and 18.5% not until ≥180 days after diagnosis. Logistic regression found that younger age; not living in the Northeast; diagnoses of balance disorders, numbness, and optical neuritis; the absence of musculoskeletal diagnoses; and a neurologist visit or MRI within 90 days before diagnosis were associated with DMD initiation within 60 days.Conclusions: In this population of patients initiating DMD treatment within 2 years of MS diagnosis, mean time to first DMD was 112.6 days. Identifying factors associated with delayed treatment may provide better understanding of the reasons for delay, leading to improved disease management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current Web-based survey investigated the association between team or individual sport participation (or both) and self-reported alcohol and tobacco use among high school athletes (N = 1,275) transitioning to college. Peak blood alcohol concentration, weekly drinking, and alcohol-related problems were significantly lower among athletes in individual sports compared to other groups. Athletes competing in both team and individual sports reported greater lifetime tobacco use and combined alcohol/tobacco use compared to individual or team sports alone. Preventive strategies targeting high school athletes in general and those participating in team sports in particular may be useful in minimizing future alcohol use and related problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]