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Long-term Adjustment (long-term + adjustment)
Selected AbstractsLong-Term Adjustment to Work-Related Low Back Pain: Associations with Socio-demographics, Claim Processes, and Post-Settlement AdjustmentPAIN MEDICINE, Issue 8 2009John T. Chibnall PhD ABSTRACT Objective., Predict long-term adjustment (pain intensity, pain-related catastrophizing, and pain-related disability) from socio-demographic, claim process, and post-settlement adjustment variables in a cohort of 374 Workers' Compensation low back claimants. Methods., Age- and gender-matched subsamples of African Americans and Caucasians were randomly selected for long-term follow-up (6 years post-settlement) from a larger, existing cohort of Workers' Compensation low back claimants in Missouri. Computer-assisted telephone interviews were used to assess pain, catastrophizing, and disability. Path analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to predict long-term adjustment from socio-demographic variables (race, gender, age, and socioeconomic status), Workers' Compensation claim process variables (surgery, diagnosis, claim duration, treatment costs, settlement awards, and disability rating), and adjustment at baseline. Results., Poorer long-term adjustment (higher levels of pain, catastrophizing, and pain-related disability) was significantly predicted by relatively poorer adjustment at baseline, lower socioeconomic status, and African American race. African American race associations were also mediated through lower socioeconomic status. Higher levels of occupational disability, as measured by long-term rates of unemployment and social security disability, were also predicted by African American race (in addition to age and claim process factors). Conclusion., Long-term adjustment to low back pain in this cohort of Workers' Compensation claimants was stable, relative to short-term adjustment soon after settlement. Long-term adjustment was worse for people of lower socioeconomic status, particularly for economically disadvantaged African Americans, suggesting the possibility of race- and class-based disparities in the Workers' Compensation system. [source] THE DIVIDED WORLD OF THE CHILD: DIVORCE AND LONG-TERM PSYCHOSOCIAL ADJUSTMENTFAMILY COURT REVIEW, Issue 3 2010Gordon E. Finley This study evaluated the extent to which divorce creates the "divided world of the child," as well as consequences of this "divided world" for long-term adjustment. An ethnically diverse sample of 1,375 young-adult university students completed retrospective measures of parental nurturance and involvement, and current measures of psychosocial adjustment and troubled ruminations about parents. Results indicated that reports of maternal and paternal nurturance and involvement were closely related in intact families but uncorrelated in divorced families. Across family forms, the total amount of nurturance or involvement received was positively associated with self-esteem, purpose in life, life satisfaction, friendship quality and satisfaction, and academic performance; and negatively related to distress, romantic relationship problems, and troubled ruminations about parents. Mother-father differences in nurturance and involvement showed a largely opposite set of relationships. Implications for family court practices are discussed. [source] THE ANTARCTIC PSYCHROPHILE, CHLAMYDOMONAS RAUDENSIS ETTL (UWO241) (CHLOROPHYCEAE, CHLOROPHYTA), EXHIBITS A LIMITED CAPACITY TO PHOTOACCLIMATE TO RED LIGHT,JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, Issue 4 2005Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss The psychrophilic Antarctic alga, Chlamydomonas raudensis Ettl (UWO241), grows under an extreme environment of low temperature and low irradiance of a limited spectral quality (blue-green). We investigated the ability of C. raudensis to acclimate to long-term imbalances in excitation caused by light quality through adjustments in photosystem stoichiometry. Log-phase cultures of C. raudensis and C. reinhardtii grown under white light were shifted to either blue or red light for 12 h. Previously, we reported that C. raudensis lacks the ability to redistribute light energy via the short-term mechanism of state transitions. However, similar to the model of mesophilic alga, C. reinhardtii, the psychrophile retained the capacity for long-term adjustment in energy distribution between PSI and PSII by modulating the levels of PSI reaction center polypeptides, PsaA/PsaB, with minimal changes in the content of the PSII polypeptide, D1, in response to changes in light quality. The functional consequences of the modulation in PSI/PSII stoichiometry in the psychrophile were distinct from those observed in C. reinhardtii. Exposure of C. raudensis to red light caused 1) an inhibition of growth and photosynthetic rates, 2) an increased reduction state of the intersystem plastoquinone pool with concomitant increases in nonphotochemical quenching, 3) an uncoupling of the major light-harvesting complex from the PSII core, and 4) differential thylakoid protein phosphorylation profiles compared with C. reinhardtii. We conclude that the characteristic low levels of PSI relative to PSII set the limit in the capacity of C. raudensis to photoacclimate to an environment enriched in red light. [source] Leptin and Insulin Action in the Central Nervous SystemNUTRITION REVIEWS, Issue 2002Daniel Porte Jr M.D. Body adiposity is known to be carefully regulated and to remain relatively stable for long periods of time in most mammalian species. This review summarizes old and recent data implicating insulin and leptin as key circulating signals to the central nervous system, particularly the ventral hypothalamus, in communicating thesizeand thedistribution of body fat stores. This input ultimately alters food intake and energy expenditure to maintain constancy of the adipose depot. The key primary neurons in the arcuate nucleus containing NPY/AgRP and POMC/CART appear be critical constituents of the CNS regulating system, and are shown to contribute to anabolic and catabolic signaling systems to complete the feedback loop. New data to indicate shared intracellular signaling from leptin and insulin is provided. The satiety system for meals, consisting of neural afferents to the hind-brain from the gastrointestinal tract, is described and its effectiveness is shown to vary with the strength of the insulin and leptin signals. This provides anefferent mechanism that plays a key role in a complex feedback system that allows intermittent meals to vary from day to day, but provides appropriate long-term adjustment to need. Recently described contributions of this system to obesity are described and potential therapeutic implications are discussed. [source] Long-Term Adjustment to Work-Related Low Back Pain: Associations with Socio-demographics, Claim Processes, and Post-Settlement AdjustmentPAIN MEDICINE, Issue 8 2009John T. Chibnall PhD ABSTRACT Objective., Predict long-term adjustment (pain intensity, pain-related catastrophizing, and pain-related disability) from socio-demographic, claim process, and post-settlement adjustment variables in a cohort of 374 Workers' Compensation low back claimants. Methods., Age- and gender-matched subsamples of African Americans and Caucasians were randomly selected for long-term follow-up (6 years post-settlement) from a larger, existing cohort of Workers' Compensation low back claimants in Missouri. Computer-assisted telephone interviews were used to assess pain, catastrophizing, and disability. Path analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to predict long-term adjustment from socio-demographic variables (race, gender, age, and socioeconomic status), Workers' Compensation claim process variables (surgery, diagnosis, claim duration, treatment costs, settlement awards, and disability rating), and adjustment at baseline. Results., Poorer long-term adjustment (higher levels of pain, catastrophizing, and pain-related disability) was significantly predicted by relatively poorer adjustment at baseline, lower socioeconomic status, and African American race. African American race associations were also mediated through lower socioeconomic status. Higher levels of occupational disability, as measured by long-term rates of unemployment and social security disability, were also predicted by African American race (in addition to age and claim process factors). Conclusion., Long-term adjustment to low back pain in this cohort of Workers' Compensation claimants was stable, relative to short-term adjustment soon after settlement. Long-term adjustment was worse for people of lower socioeconomic status, particularly for economically disadvantaged African Americans, suggesting the possibility of race- and class-based disparities in the Workers' Compensation system. [source] Religious traditions and prenatal genetic counseling,AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS, Issue 1 2009Rebecca Rae Anderson Abstract Members of organized religious groups may look to their faith traditions for guidance regarding the moral implications of prenatal diagnosis and intervention. Many denominations have doctrinal statements relevant to these deliberations. In this article, common spiritual issues arising in the genetic counseling encounter are described. Representative doctrinal positions, derived from the responses of 31 U.S. religious denominations to a survey relating to prenatal genetic counseling, are given. Because the long-term adjustment of patients may be dependent in part on their ability to reconcile their actions with their faith traditions, genetic counselors best serve their patients when they invite discussion of matters of faith. Unless invited, patients may assume these topics are "off limits" or that care providers are indifferent to their beliefs. Although genetics professionals ought not assume the role of spiritual advisor, a working knowledge of doctrinal approaches should help counselors frame the issues, and avoid missteps. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] |