Oral Health Status of Children and Adolescents by Rural Residence, United States

CONTEXT: The limited information available on the oral health status of rural children in the United States makes it difficult to devise policy strategies to address perceived problems. PURPOSE: To document the oral health status and dental care utilization of US children by place of residence, METHODS: Data from National Health Interview Surveys for 1995, 1997, and 1998, and from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994) were analyzed. FINDINGS: Children residing in rural areas were more likely to be uninsured for dental care than were children from urban areas (41.1% versus 34.7%). A greater percentage of rural than urban children reported unmet dental needs (7.5% versus 5.6%); there was no difference in self-reported poor dental status. Urban children were more likely than rural children to have visited the dentist in the past year (73.6% versus 69.9%) and were also more likely to be regular users of dental care (61.7% versus 51.4%). Differences in percentage of rural and urban children with caries lesions and caries experience were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Children residing in rural areas have less access to and utilization of dental care compared to children residing in urban areas. Moreover, poor rural children display less utilization of dental services than poor urban children. Differences in the sum of decayed and filled primary teeth and the sum of decayed, missing, and filled permanent teeth were not significant.     

The effect of awareness of measurement error on physical therapists' confidence in their decisions.

This study examined whether physical therapists understand the meaning of measurement error and whether information about measurement error affects their decisions. One of four versions of two physical therapy problems was mailed to 500 randomly selected physical therapists. Therapists were asked to define reliability and error of measurement, to estimate the error of measurement of two assessments, and to make decisions about an intervention based on specific measurements. They were also asked to rate their confidence in those decisions. Problems varied on the presence or absence of measurement information and on the difference between an observed measurement and a criterion measurement against which the observed measurement must be compared to make a decision. The response rate was 62%; respondents represented a typical profile of practicing physical therapists. The therapists understood reliability, but they did not correctly describe the relationship between reliability and error of measurement. Their estimates of the error of measurement of the two assessments were reasonable for only one procedure. The presence or absence of measurement information and difference between observed and criterion measurements affected their confidence, albeit inappropriately, in only one problem. Confidence was not affected by the therapists' level of experience, type of reading, formal study, or degree earned. Therapists responded to the two problems differently. The problems involved different measures, roles, utilities, and structures. The process of decision making does not generalize to all decision types. Measurement principles and strategies of use in decision making must be emphasized in physical therapy curricula so that physical therapists can consider the quality of their assessment data in making clinical decisions.     

Acute hepatic failure: the emerging role of orthotopic liver transplantation

From 1985 through 1987, we diagnosed acute hepatic failure in 13 patients. Spontaneous recovery occurred in three of these patients. Eight patients underwent liver transplantation, five of whom survived and three of whom died. In addition, two patients died before undergoing transplantation. The survival rate of 62% was better than that among our previous series of similar patients. This improvement seems to be related to the use of orthotopic liver transplantation as a therapeutic alternative among these patients. One of the three patients who died after liver transplantation had normal liver function, but respiratory failure caused by Pneumocystis carinii developed 4 months after the transplantation. The surgical procedure was less difficult in patients with acute fulminant hepatitis than in those with chronic liver disease because fewer problems arose from adhesions, venous collaterals, and ascites. The emerging role of orthotopic liver transplantation in patients with acute hepatic failure is demonstrated by the improvement of survival rates observed by various groups, including ours, when this therapeutic modality is available.     

Radical cystectomy after coronary artery bypass graft

Nine patients have undergone single-stage radical cystectomy and ileal conduit urinary diversion two to fifty-one months after coronary artery bypass procedures. Two patients presenting with intractable angina at the time their malignant disease was being evaluated required bypass surgery before cystectomy could be undertaken. No significant cardiac morbidity occurred postoperatively, and all remain alive without evidence of malignant disease.     

The use of albumin microspheres in the treatment of carrageenan-induced inflammation in the rat.

Free hydrocortisone, hydrocortisone incorporated into microspheres and empty microspheres have been administered orally to rats with carrageenan-induced hindpaw inflammation. Hydrocortisone administered in particles was effective at a lower dose than free steroid in reducing inflammation. Inflammatory exudates were able to release steroid from the microspheres by proteolytic degradation.     

Getting to Dissemination

The combination of a stage model of psychotherapy and treatment manualization has been a major step forward in treatment development and efficacy testing, but not in dissemination. I argue that the technological model of treatment development makes research on the practical application of these technologies difficult. If we continue on our present course, research on dissemination will be uncommon, expensive, and largely irrelevant to the practical issues that need to be faced. It makes more sense to proceed directly to dissemination research. Alternative methods, including manipulated training designs, will permit this, but these fundamentally challenge the implicit assumptions of the stage model.