Specific Support Measures Research Articles

Support Needs of Individuals With Mild and Moderate Intellectual Disabilities and Challenging Behaviors

This exploratory study examined relationships between support needs assessed with the French version of the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS; Thompson et al., 2004) and challenging behaviors as assessed with the Scales of Independent Behavior--Revised (Bruininks, Woodcock, Weatherman, & Hill, 1996). The Sample included 191 persons between 16 and 75 year old, with either a mild or moderate intellectual disability. Using correlation and inferential analysis, it was found overall that high frequency in challenging behaviors was related to a need for greater support intensity, particularly social support, and maintenance of emotional well-being. The findings highlighted the importance of establishing specific support measures that target social skills, receptive and expressive communication, and the management of stress and anger.

Socioeconomic inequality and short‐term outcome in Hodgkin's lymphoma

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a determinant of outcome in various types of cancer. The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of the SES in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). From 2001 to 2005, 194 consecutive patients were prospectively followed in 5 institutions. Patients answered a questionnaire with a set of items used to determine the SES, and were then divided in 2 groups according to their SES score. There were 151 patients (78%) with a higher SES and 43 patients (22%) with a lower SES. The complete remission (CR) rate was 82%. Patients with a higher SES had a higher CR rate than those with a lower SES (85 vs. 72%, crude odds ratio = 2.27, p = 0.046). A lower SES and the performance status >1 were independently associated with a trend towards a lower CR, even when controlled for the other covariables of interest. Ten patients (5%) died during treatment. Death during treatment was associated with a lower SES (16 vs. 2%, p = 0.001), a performance status >1 (p < 0.0001), a lower lymphocyte count (p = 0.012) and weakly with a lower albumin level (p = 0.065). With a median follow-up of 1.7 years, a higher SES was associated with a better 2-year overall survival (93 vs. 79%, p = 0.01). In underprivileged countries, patients with a lower SES require a more careful monitoring during treatment, possibly with specific support measures. Regimens more intense than doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine and dacarbazine could pose a prohibitive risk of complications in this group of patients. (c) 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Transmission of Monetary Policy Shocks in Finland: Evidence from Bank Level Data on Loans

We use a panel of quarterly time series observations spanning the period from 1995 to 2000 on Finnish banks to estimate reduced form equations for the growth rate of bank loans. By allowing for individual bank specific effects in the models that we estimate we specifically seek evidence of a bank-lending channel for the transmission of monetary policy shocks in Finland during the latter half of the 1990s. On the basis of our estimation results, we conclude that there is at most weak evidence in favour of the bank-lending channel for monetary policy shocks. Since our data overlaps with the post crisis recovery of the Finnish banking sector with specific government support measures still active during the good part of the sample period, we try to capture the effects of these measures through incorporating a policy dummy variable in our empirical model. This policy dummy enters the estimated equations highly significantly, suggesting that the measures themselves may have contributed to the growth rate of bank loans during the sample period.

Physical Fitness, Cognitive Function, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Older Adults

It has been suggested that physical and cognitive functions are associated with health-related quality of life (HRQL). Previous work examining the relationship between physical ability and HRQL is equivocal, and information about cognitive function in relation to HRQL is largely restricted to people with cognitive impairments. We investigated the relationships of physical ability and cognitive performance to HRQL in 44 older adults (72-93 years). The results suggest significant relationships between the endurance item of the AAHPERD test and the physical mobility and pain components of HRQL and between AAHPERD agility scores and the physical mobility component of HRQL. Visual simple-reaction time and the backward digit-span memory test were found to be related to physical mobility. The subject-performed-tasks memory test was related to the social component of HRQL. These data support the use of the AAHPERD test for characterizing physical ability of older adults as it relates to HRQL and identify specific cognitive support measures that reflect the relationship between cognition and HRQL in older adults.

Objective and subjective quality of life of first-admitted women and men with schizophrenia.

Empirical studies have shown that there are differences between women and men with respect to the onset of schizophrenia and the development of their mental and social conditions. It was therefore the goal of this study to assess the objective life situation and subjective quality of life, as well as the differences, similarities and interrelations, at the onset of schizophrenia in women and men. Ninety schizophrenic patients were interviewed between the second and fourth weeks of their first hospital stay using the Berlin Quality of Life Profile, and rated according to the BPRS. Areas of social problems (work, living circumstances, safety and drug abuse) had become manifest with several of the patients, particularly among the young men, prior to first admission. Although objective conditions, gender and psychopathology have an impact on the subjective quality of life, it cannot be fully explained by them. Multivariate analyses have demonstrated that the factors influencing it are probably different for women and men, and schizophrenic women appraise their life circumstances in a different manner from men, as is true for differences between the statements of acutely and chronically ill patients. It can be concluded from the results of this study that psychiatric services should offer specific social support measures before or at first hospital admission and not after the illness has become chronic. The subjective construct of global quality of life apparently differs from one sample to another, and gender-related aspects, among others, have an impact on it.

Other aspects of metabolic monitoring in critically ill patients

Cardiopulmonary monitoring remains the mainstay of intensive-care unit utilization of clinical chemistry resources. Its focus has been on the restoration and maintenance of oxygen transport. Metabolic monitoring, a relatively new area of application for clinical chemistry technology, focuses on cell metabolism and on cell-cell interaction as a mechanism of metabolic regulation. This latter application of monitoring is developing as a result of a better understanding of the pathogenesis of organ dysfunction and disease processes in intensive-care unit patients. Some of the clinical chemistry technologies used include analyses for amino acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, measurement of cytokine concentration and activity, nutritional assessment and monitoring, more sensitive monitors of liver function, and assessment of altered immunity in critically ill patients. Use of these technologies, along with specific support measures, offers new avenues for decreasing infectious complications and reducing mortality and morbidity of patients in intensive-care units.