METHODS: This study was based on a secondary data analysis of the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services database, comparing women who had a mammogram within 2 years with women who had not on variables related to the ecological model. Bivariate analyses, logistic regression, and assessment of interactions were performed.

RESULTS: The study sample's (n = 2907) mean age was 54.7 years; 58% lived in 24-hour residential settings, 52% received nursing health coordination, and more than 25% had clinical examination needs (eg, sedation). Residential setting, health coordination, and recent influenza vaccination were all associated with mammography. Having a guardian, higher level of activities of daily living needs, and examination needs (requiring sedation or limited wait time for examinations) were associated with lower rates. Interactions between health coordination and examination needs confirmed the potential of the nurse to ameliorate barriers to mammography.

CONCLUSION: Several system-level variables were significantly associated with mammography and, in some cases, seemed to ameliorate intrapersonal/behavioral barriers to mammography. Community agencies caring for intellectually disabled women have potential to impact mammography rates by using health coordination.

DESIGN: Patients who completed a behavioral weight loss program were approached to complete questionnaires on ADHD and eating habits. Medical charts were reviewed to obtain weight at pre- and post-treatment.

RESULTS: Participants (N=63) were 75% female, mean age was 49 (SD=10.3), mean body mass index (BMI) was 41.4 kg/m² (SD=6.8) and 30% screened positive for ADHD on the Adult ADHD Symptom Rating Scale. Participants screening positive for ADHD did not have a higher BMI at baseline (p=0.41), but reported more previous weight loss attempts (p=0.01) and lost less weight (p=0.02) than participants who screened negative. Participants screening positive also reported consuming fast food meals more frequently (p=0.04), higher levels of emotional eating (p=0.002), greater difficulty with weight control skills (p=0.01), and lower eating self-efficacy (p=0.001).

CONCLUSION: Attention-related problems appear to be common among weight treatment-seeking samples and represent a significant barrier to weight control that has not yet been addressed in the literature.

METHODS: Fifty-one participants, which included 22 children (aged 6-17 years) and 29 adults (aged 19-83 years) living in gold mining areas of Ecuador where Hg is widely used in amalgamation, were screened using ASR immittance procedures.

RESULTS: Mean blood mercury (HgB) level in the children was 15.6 mug/L (SD, 21.3; median, 7 mug/L; range, 2.0-89 mug/L), and in the adults 8.5 mug/L (SD, 7.1; median, 6 mug/L; range, 2.0-32 mug/L). Mean contralateral ASR thresholds (ASRT) for the screening frequency of 2000 Hz in the children (39 ears) was 92.9 dB HL (SD, 6.1; range, 80-105 dB HL), and in the adults (53 ears) 90.0 dB HL (SD, 6.4; range, 65-105 dB HL). The ASRT in the children increased significantly with HgB level (rho = 0.433; p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION: The results suggested mercury (Hg)-induced anomalies in the brainstem-mediated acoustic stapedius muscle reflex in children.

METHOD: Thirty nondisabled children searched for symbols representing emotions within an 8-choice array. On some trials, a color cue signaled the valence of the emotion (positive vs. negative). Additionally, the symbols were either (a) organized with the negatively valenced symbols at the top and the positive symbols on the bottom of the display or (b) distributed randomly throughout. Dependent variables were accuracy and speed of responses.

RESULTS: The speed with which children could locate a target was significantly faster for displays in which symbols were clustered by valence, but only when the symbols had white backgrounds. Addition of a background color cue did not facilitate responses.

CONCLUSIONS: Rapid search was facilitated by a spatial organization cue, but not by the addition of background color. Further examination of the situations in which color cues may be useful is warranted.

STUDY DESIGN: Food selectivity was operationalized to include food refusal, limited food repertoire, and high-frequency single food intake using a modified food frequency questionnaire and a 3-day food record. Food selectivity was compared between 53 children with ASDs and 58 typically developing children age 3-11 years. Nutrient adequacy was assessed relative to the dietary reference intakes.

RESULTS: The children with ASDs exhibited more food refusal than typically developing children (41.7% of foods offered vs 18.9% of foods offered; P

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that food selectivity is more common in children with ASDs than in typically developing children, and that a limited food repertoire may be associated with nutrient inadequacies.

METHODS: We tallied the total number of medical problems and medications listed in the patients' discharge summaries. Because longer stays are disruptive, costly and associated with greater overall impairment, we examined the relationship between length of stay and frequency of discharge medical diagnoses. We also assessed whether or not the number of psychoactive medications correlated with the number of medical diagnoses. The effects of other demographic and diagnostic variables on rates of medical diagnoses and medications were also evaluated, including gender, age group (16-25, 26-45, 46-60, >60), level of ID (mild, moderate or severe ID) and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder or Down syndrome (DS).

RESULTS: Inpatients with a higher number of medical diagnoses had longer lengths of stay (Spearman r = +0.32, P < 0.0001). There was a significant correlation between number of psychoactive medications and number of medical problems (Spearman r = +0.32, P < 0.0001). The most frequent medical comorbidity was constipation, reported in 60% of the inpatients (n = 118), while gastro-esophageal reflux disease was identified in 38% (n = 75). Older inpatients had an increased number of medical problems, as might be expected, but a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder, gender and level of ID had no detectible effect on rates of either medical diagnoses or medications. There were only 13 inpatients with DS; in this modest sample, it was found that they had higher rates of osteoarthritis, cardiac problems, hearing loss, hypothyroidism and sleep apnoea than peers without DS, as is consistent with previous findings on overrepresented conditions in this trisomy.

CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, individuals with ID admitted for inpatient psychiatric care exhibited high rates of medical problems, and these were associated with duration of inpatient stay. Based on these findings, further investigation of the effects of medical problems on behaviour among individuals with ID admitted for inpatient psychiatric care is warranted.

METHOD: Nineteen college students observed 8 photographs in which a human figure appeared near 1 or more items that might be expected to compete for visual attention (such as a Christmas tree or a table loaded with food). Eye-tracking technology allowed precise recording of participants' gaze. The fixation duration over a 7-s viewing period and latency to view elements in the photograph were measured.

RESULTS: Participants fixated on the human figures more rapidly and for longer than expected based on the size of these figures, regardless of the other elements in the scene.

CONCLUSIONS: Human figures attract attention in a photograph even when presented alongside other attractive distracters. Results suggest that humans may be a powerful means to attract visual attention to key elements in VSDs.

Hierarchical regression results revealed that the Double ABCX model of family adaptation accounted for a substantial amount of the variance in family functioning (28%) and parental distress (46%).

Findings suggest that child behavior problems and reframing are most strongly associated with family outcomes. Clinical implications for working with these families, including the use of strength-based approaches, are discussed.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of a telephone-based health coaching disease management program on healthcare utilization and expenditures in Medicaid members with chronic conditions.

RESEARCH DESIGN: Using a difference-in-differences analysis, we examined changes in hospitalizations, emergency department (ED) visits, ambulatory care visits, and Medicaid expenditures among program members for 1 year before and 2 years after their enrollment compared with a matched comparison group.

SUBJECTS: Medicaid members aged 18 to 64 with a diagnosis of qualifying chronic conditions and 2 acute health service events of hospitalizations and/or ED visits within a 12-month period.

RESULTS: Changes in acute hospitalizations, ambulatory care visits, and Medicaid expenditures before and after program enrollment were similar between the 2 study groups. However, during the second year after enrollment, program members had a significantly smaller decrease in ED visits than the comparisons (8% in program members and 23% in comparisons, P value=0.03).

CONCLUSIONS: Compared with a matched comparison group, the telephone-based health coaching disease management program did not demonstrate significant effects on healthcare utilization and expenditures in Medicaid members with chronic conditions.

METHODS: Reaction times to the detection of basic auditory (A), visual (V), and combined auditory-visual (AV) stimuli were examined in a group of normally hearing children, and in two groups of cochlear implanted children: (1) early implanted children in whom cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) fell within normal developmental limits, and (2) late implanted children in whom CAEPs were outside of normal developmental limits. Miller's test of the race model inequality was performed for each group in order to examine the effects of auditory deprivation on multisensory integration abilities after implantation.

RESULTS: Results revealed a significant violation of the race model inequality in the normally hearing and early implanted children, but not in the group of late implanted children.

CONCLUSION: These results suggest that coactivation to multi-modal sensory input cannot explain the decreased reaction times to multi-modal input in late implanted children. These results are discussed in regards to current models for coactivation to redundant sensory information.