Plantar Fasciitis: Low-Cost Treatment Interventions in Primary Care

Plantar fasciitis, the most common diagnosis of chronic heel pain, is at an epidemic proportion. The condition affects 1 in 6 Americans regardless of age or activity level, resulting in over 1 million outpatient visits annually. Plantar fasciitis is a common presentation in primary care and is frequently diagnosed and managed by nurse practitioners. Treatment options include a myriad of interventions ranging from conservative, noninvasive therapies to invasive, surgical modalities. For those affected, the majority will have symptom resolution in 12 to 18 months with conservative treatments. The decision of an individualized treatment plan based on best practice measures can be intricate and time-consuming, especially if the patient is uninsured or underinsured. This article applies the currently available evidence to discuss low-cost, noninvasive treatment interventions for use in the primary care nurse practitioner’s office.     

‘I feel safer in the streets than at home’: Rethinking harm reduction for women in the urban margins

ABSTRACT

Through qualitative data collected with women affected by drug use and drug-related violence in Bogotá, this article explores the convergence of harm reduction rationales and violence prevention programming in the urban margins to advocate for women’s health empowerment and health rights as victims of intergenerational trauma and violence. We propose a methodological shift of public health praxis from street-based outreach models to intimate spaces of intervention for health outcomes embodiment ¹ 1 Drawing from Krieger’s (2004) conceptualisation, we define embodiment as the stories our bodies hold and how they interact with the urban environment. as we continue to develop our community health model to work with marginalised communities in the urban global South. Through this work committed to social justice in marginalised urban communities, we seek to support women’s health needs through harm reduction in historically marginalised communities in urban settings. Our results expose how multi-level gender-based violence affects women’s health in their living spaces in the urban margins. Drawing from women’s voices and narratives of urban violence, we call for a feminist alternative to traditionally masculinist and public-space oriented harm reduction practice for health empowerment in the urban margins.     

Transapical aortic balloon valvuloplasty in a 890‐gram infant: Hybrid is better!

Balloon aortic valvuloplasty has become in many centers the treatment of choice for neonates with critical or severe aortic stenosis. Usual approaches both antegrade and retrograde can be problematic in preterms extremely low birth weight babies. We describe a novel approach for dilating the aortic valve in an 890 grams baby. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Addiction treatment outcomes,process and change: Texas Institute of Behavioral Research at Texas Christian University

For more than 40 years the Texas Institute of Behavioral Research (IBR) has given special attention to assessment and evaluation of drug user populations, addiction treatment services and various cognitive and behavioral interventions. Emphasis has been on studies in real‐world settings and the use of multivariate methodologies to address evaluation issues within the context of longitudinal natural designs. Historically, its program of addiction treatment research may be divided into three sequential epochs—the first era dealt mainly with client assessment and its role in treatment outcome and evaluation (1969–89), the second focused upon modeling the treatment process and the importance of conceptual frameworks (1989–2009) in explaining the relationships among treatment environment, client attributes, treatment process and outcome, and the third (and current) era has expanded into studying tactical deployment of innovations and implementation. Recent projects focus upon adapting and implementing innovations for improving early engagement in adolescent residential treatment settings and drug‐dependent criminal justice populations. Related issues include the spread of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome and other infectious diseases, organizational and systems functioning, treatment costs and process related to implementation of evidence‐based practices.     

Interventions for alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD): Do specific approaches restrict the evolution of comprehensive patient care?

Aims: The prevalence of alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) is recognized to be increasing in the Western world. The aim of this article is to review the evidence concerning interventions in ARBD. Design and methods: Systematic review. Findings: About 469 papers were identified of which 49 were suitable for inclusion. About 20 concerned neuropsychological interventions; 5 detailed psychosocial interventions; and 24 focussed on pharmacological interventions. The findings suggest that a range of cognitive rehabilitation strategies can facilitate new learning and improve memory functioning, while psychosocial interventions and supported accommodation can improve mental and physical health. Conclusions: This review demonstrates the need for a comprehensive approach to ARBD rehabilitation and indicates that the management of this condition has not been investigated in a holistic manner.