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Background Black women have a disproportionately higher incidence of cardiovascular disease-related mortality than other groups, yet they are less likely to receive culturally proficient education and competent preventive care. Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine feasibility of the Midlife Black Women's Stress and Wellness intervention (B-SWELL); a culturally adapted, 8-week group intervention leveraging stress reduction and goal setting to increase awareness and adoption of Life's Simple 7 (LS7) healthy lifestyle behaviors. Methods A randomized feasibility trial was conducted. Participants (N = 48, mean age = 55 years) were randomized to the B-SWELL or a group wellness (WE) intervention that lacked stress reduction and goal setting instruction. We hypothesized that B-SWELL participants would achieve a lower perceived stress, greater self-efficacy, improved LS7 scores, fewer symptoms (depression and unhealthy days), and greater perceived general health compared to WE participants. Survey data were collected at three timepoints: baseline, 8 weeks, and 12 weeks. Results Both B-SWELL and WE groups had low attrition and navigated the online platform well. Further, both groups experienced lower perceived stress, improved LS7 scores, reduced depressive symptoms, and greater perceived general health from baseline to 8 weeks. Based on data trends, participants in the B-SWELL had more improvement in perceived stress, self-efficacy, and mental and physical unhealthy days compared to WE participants. Conclusion The B-SWELL is a feasible intervention for midlife Black women. Positive data trends were found for both B-SWELL and WE groups. Based on observations from the feasibility study, a larger outcomes-based study is planned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coach Theo Burke was standing outside his classroom during break when he noticed Josie across the hall, pinned up against a locker. One of the varsity basketball players, Jatarius, was [...]

A YEAR BEFORE JACOB'S SON, Tommy, was arrested for raping a fifteen-year-old girl, the sheriff came to his shop about the dog. Tommy's dog--a pit bull bitch. Tommy had brought [...]

There are currently a multitude of tests used to assess readiness to return to sport (RTS) following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). The aim of this study was to establish the extent to which movement strategies transfer between three common assessment tasks to help improve design of athlete testing batteries following ACLR. A cohort of 127 male patients 8–10 months post‐ACLR and 45 non‐injured controls took part in the study. Three movement tasks were completed (unilateral and bilateral drop jump, and 90° pre‐planned cut), while ground reaction forces and three‐dimensional kinematics (250 Hz) were recorded. Compared to the bilateral drop jump and cut, the unilateral drop jump had a higher proportion of work done at the ankle (d = 0.29, p < 0.001 and d = −1.87, p < 0.001, respectively), and a lower proportion of work done at the knee during the braking phase of the task (d = 0.447, p < 0.001 and d = 1.56, p < 0.001, respectively). The ACLR group had higher peak hip moments than the non‐injured controls, although the proportion of work done at the ankle, knee and hip joints were similar. Movement strategies were moderately and positively related at the ankle (rs = 0.728, p < 0.001), knee (rs = 0.638, p < 0.001) and hip (rs = 0.593, p < 0.001) between the unilateral and bilateral drop jump, but there was no relationship at the ankle (rs = 0.10, p = 0.104), knee (rs = 0.106, p = 0.166) and hip (rs = −0.019, p = 0.808) between the unilateral drop jump and the cut. Clinicians could therefore consider omitting one of the drop jumps from assessment batteries but should include both jumping and cutting tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stroke family caregivers often neglect their own health while providing care. Rigorous reviews have focused on stroke caregiver needs and outcomes; however, a comprehensive review of stroke caregiver health is lacking. The purpose of this integrative review was to determine factors associated with stroke family caregiver health. Using a PRISMA flow diagram and Rayyan software, 41 studies were identified published from January 2000 to December 2020. Databases included Cochrane Reviews, Cochrane Trials, PsycINFO, Ovid MEDLINE, PubMed, EBSCOhost MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL. Rigorous guidelines were used to critique the 41 articles. Health measures were global in nature, lacking details regarding health promotion activities important to stroke family caregiver health. Common factors associated with caregiver health were depressive symptoms and burden. Further research is needed to design more situation-specific instruments to measure stroke family caregiver health, as well as interventions to reduce depressive symptoms and burden while promoting caregiver health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How can a brand go from being the most recognised in its category to winning consumers' hearts? That was the challenge faced by AustralianSuper, Australia's largest superannuation (pension) fund. While the Fund was clearly outperforming the market, its 'voice of customer insights' revealed Emotional connection to the brand was not increasing at the same rate as rational drivers. For Ubiquity Lab, this posed an opportunity, particularly in light of Binet and Field's (Binet, L., and Field, P. (2013, June 11) 'The Long and the Short of it: Balancing Short and Long-Term Marketing Strategies', IPA, London) findings that emotional campaigns yield stronger long-term effects. Paramount to the project's success was a focus on consumer intent and market orientation that would leverage AustralianSuper's existing work and meld current and new inputs. This meant designing a customer-led paid, owned and earned (POE) strategy that would monetise emotion to reach more people within the target market, while differentiating, building salience and, ultimately, increasing sales and profit. A 'brand experience map' methodology was used to correlate data against the digital consumer journey and sales funnel, ultimately unlocking insights to optimise POE tactics. The goal was to arrive at a set of emotional territories that AustralianSuper could begin to 'own', winning hearts and minds and deepening the relationship between accumulating super and its purpose — to enable people to live their best retirement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The current COVID-19 pandemic has placed enormous strain on healthcare systems worldwide. Understanding of COVID-19 is rapidly evolving. Pneumonia associated with COVID-19 may lead to respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. The rise in patients requiring mechanical ventilation may lead to an increase in tracheostomies being performed in patients with COVID-19. Performing tracheostomy in patients with active SARS-CoV-2 infection poses a number of challenges.Methods: These guidelines were written following multidisciplinary agreement between Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Respiratory Medicine and the Department of Anaesthetics and Critical Care Medicine in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. A literature review was performed and a guideline for elective tracheostomy insertion in patients with COVID-19 proposed.Conclusion: The decision to perform tracheostomy in patients with COVID-19 should be undertaken by senior members of the multidisciplinary team. Steps should be taken to minimise risks to healthcare workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African Americans and people of color have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As the second wave of the virus raged across the nation, there was a renewed effort to increase adherence to social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines. A community-based study led by members of the local National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) was conducted in a Midwest metropolitan city to identify barriers to mask-wearing experienced by business owners and employees in predominantly African American neighborhoods. Neighborhood business owners and their employees are essential to the life of a community as they provide needed goods and services from convenient neighborhood locations. Thus, attitudes and behaviors exhibited by business owners, supervisors, and other employees are important to combat COVID-19 in underserved communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 39 business owners or supervising employees. Simple content analysis was used to identify codes and themes from the narrative data. Responses to the question 'What can make mask-wearing easier for your business and businesses in the neighborhood?' yielded three themes. Themes included 'a sense of community', the 'need for external support', and 'internal leadership'. These themes can be used to develop interventions to improve mask-wearing behaviors, support business owners and their customers, and lower the spread of COVID-19 in high-risk communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological invasions resulting from anthropogenic activities are one of the greatest threats to maintaining ecosystem functioning and native biodiversity. Invasions are especially problematic when the invading species behaves as an ecosystem engineer that is capable of transforming ecosystem structure, function, and community dynamics. Of particular concern is the spread of emergent wetland grasses whose root systems alter hydrology and structural stability of soils, modify ecosystem functions, and change community dynamics and species richness. To address the threats posed to ecosystems across the globe, management practices focus on the control and removal of invasive grasses. However, it remains unclear how severely invasive grasses alter ecosystem functions and whether alterations persist after invasive grass removal, limiting our ability to determine if management practices are truly sufficient to fully restore ecosystems. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to quantify ecological alterations and the efficacy of management following the invasion of Spartina alterniflora and Phragmites australis, two common and pervasive invaders in coastal wetlands. Our results indicate that S. alterniflora and P. australis significantly alter measures of ecosystem functioning and organismal abundance. Invaded ecosystems had significant elevations in abiotic carbon and nitrogen fixation and uptake in areas with invasive grasses, with differential photosynthetic pathways of these two grass species further explaining carbon fluxes. Moreover, evidence from our analyses indicates that management practices may not adequately promote recovery from invasion, but more data are needed to fully assess management efficacy. We call for future studies to conduct pairwise comparisons between uninvaded, invaded, and managed systems and provide research priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Most patients with heart failure (HF) have symptoms. Poor self-care has been associated with the development or worsening symptoms. Thus, to improve HF symptoms, it may be critical to understand self-care and interventions targeting improvements in HF symptoms needed from patients' perspectives. To explore patients' perceptions of self-care strategies of individual symptoms, HF symptom improvement, and interventions needed to improve HF symptoms in patients with HF. Methods and results Qualitative data were collected from 20 patients with HF using a semi-structured open-ended interview guide. Data were analysed using content analysis. Five themes appeared: (i) use of a variety of strategies with some knowledge deficit and inefficiency, (ii) uncertainty in symptom improvement, (iii) consideration of several possible self-care strategies, (iv) use of situation-specific strategies in seeking treatment, and (v) willingness to receive comprehensive and realistic interventions. Patients used a variety of self-care strategies, including taking medication, reducing activities, and changing diet and position, but many reported having a lack of knowledge and multiple HF symptoms. Several patients were uncertain whether symptoms could be improved, but all patients reported that they would participate in comprehensive and realistic intervention sessions to gain knowledge about their symptoms and management strategies, and to receive emotional support from healthcare providers and peer patients. Conclusion Patients with HF used several self-care strategies with the hope of symptom improvements but were uncertain about the effectiveness. More effective, comprehensive, and realistic interventions need to be delivered to patients with HF to enhance their ability to manage their symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]