Functional Impairments as Symptoms in the Symptom Cluster Analysis of Patients Newly Diagnosed With Advanced Cancer.

Functional Impairments as Symptoms in the Symptom Cluster Analysis of Patients Newly Diagnosed With Advanced Cancer.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

J Pain Symptom Manage. 2013 Feb 1;
Fodeh SJ, Lazenby M, Bai M, Ercolano E, Murphy T, McCorkle R

CONTEXT: Symptoms and subsequent functional impairment have been associated with the biological processes of a disease, including the interaction between the disease and treatment in a measurement model of symptoms. However, hitherto cluster analysis has primarily focused on symptoms. OBJECTIVES: This study among patients within 100 days of diagnosis with advanced cancer explored whether self-reported physical symptoms and functional impairments formed clusters at the time of diagnosis. METHODS: We applied the cluster analysis to self-reported symptoms and activities of daily living of 111 patients newly diagnosed with advanced gastrointestinal (GI), gynecological, head and neck, and lung cancers. Based on the content, expert evaluations, the best techniques, variables were identified, yielding the best solution. RESULTS: The best cluster solution used a K-means algorithm and cosine similarity and yielded five clusters of physical as well as emotional symptoms and functional impairments. Cancer site formed the predominant organizing principle of composition for each cluster. The top five symptoms and functional impairments in each cluster were Cluster 1 (GI): outlook, insomnia, appearance, concentration, and eating/feeding; Cluster 2 (GI): appetite, bowel, insomnia, eating/feeding, and appearance; Cluster 3 (gynecological): nausea, insomnia, eating/feeding, concentration, and pain; Cluster 4 (head and neck): dressing, eating/feeding, bathing, toileting, and walking; and Cluster 5 (lung): cough, walking, eating/feeding, breathing, and insomnia. CONCLUSION: Functional impairments in patients newly diagnosed with late-stage cancers behave as symptoms during the diagnostic phase. Health care providers need to expand their assessments to include both symptoms and functional impairments. Early recognition of the functional changes may accelerate diagnosis at an earlier cancer stage.
HubMed – eating

 

Efficacy of a mouthwash containing 0.8% arginine, PVM/MA copolymer, pyrophosphates, and 0.05% sodium fluoride compared to a negative control mouthwash on dentin hypersensitivity reduction. A randomized clinical trial.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

J Dent. 2012 Dec 7;
Hu D, Stewart B, Mello S, Arvanitidou L, Panagakos F, De Vizio W, Zhang YP, Mateo LR, Yin W

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this eight week, single-center, two-cell, double-blind, and randomized clinical study was to evaluate the dentin hypersensitivity reduction efficacy of a mouthwash using Pro-Argin™ Mouthwash Technology containing 0.8% arginine, PVM/MA copolymer, pyrophosphates, and 0.05% sodium fluoride in an alcohol-free base (“Arginine Mouthwash”) compared to an ordinary mouthwash without any active ingredients (“Negative Control”). METHODS: Qualifying subjects who presented two hypersensitive teeth with a tactile hypersensitivity score between 10 and 50g of force, and an air blast hypersensitivity score of 2 or 3 participated in this study and were randomized into one of two treatment groups. Subjects brushed with the toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste provided and then rinsed with 20mL of their assigned mouthwash for 30s twice daily. Subjects refrained from eating or drinking for 30min after rinsing. Dentin hypersensitivity assessments, as well as examinations of oral hard and soft tissues, were conducted at the baseline visit and again after two weeks, four weeks and eight weeks of product use. RESULTS: Ninety (90) subjects entered and completed the eight week study. After two weeks, four weeks and eight weeks of product use, subjects in the Arginine Mouthwash group exhibited statistically significant (p<0.05) improvements in mean tactile and air blast hypersensitivity scores as compared to the Negative Control Mouthwash. CONCLUSION: The results of this study support the conclusion that the Arginine Mouthwash provides a significant reduction in dentin hypersensitivity after eight weeks of product use as compared to a Negative Control mouthwash. HubMed – eating

 

Food Intake Norms Increase and Decrease Snack Food Intake in a Remote Confederate Study.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Appetite. 2013 Feb 1;
Robinson E, Benwell H, Higgs S

Social factors have been reported to influence food intake. In the remote confederate paradigm, naive participants are led to believe that previous study participants have consumed a small or large amount of food. To date, there has been no demonstration using this paradigm that information about how much previous participants eat (food intake norms) both increase and decrease food intake in the same study. In the present experiment, we tested sixty-four undergraduate psychology students using a remote confederate design. We investigated the effect of both a high intake and low intake norm on food intake under the same conditions. We also tested whether a variable shown previously to predict food intake matching amongst eating partners (trait empathy) predicted the influence of food intake norms on intake. Compared with a no norm control condition, leading participants to believe that the intake norm was to eat a lot of cookies increased cookie intake and leading participants to believe the intake norm was to eat few cookies reduced intake. Trait empathy did not moderate the influence of food intake norms on consumption. These findings add to evidence that perceived intake norms exert strong bi-directional effects on food intake.
HubMed – eating

 

Are maternal weight, eating and feeding practices associated with emotional eating in childhood?

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Appetite. 2013 Feb 1;
Kröller K, Jahnke D, Warschburger P

BACKGROUND: Research concerning children’s emotional eating behavior has shown its negative impact on weight-related problems. Taking the model of Birch and Davison (2001) into account, we focus on the role of maternal feeding behavior on the association between emotional eating of the mother and the child. METHODS: 482 mothers and their children participated in this cross-sectional study. The mothers were asked about their feeding strategies, their children’s and their own emotional eating and weight. We tested a structural equation model for different feeding strategies. RESULTS: In addition to an expected direct association between the mother’s and child’s emotional eating, the maternal feeding strategies are related to the child’s eating behavior. A higher maternal restriction of food or its monitoring was associated with a higher level of children’s emotional eating, while allowing the child more control about their eating was linked to less pronounced emotional eating behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The results highlight the relevance of maternal feeding behavior on emotional eating in childhood. In terms of preventing weight-related problems, the findings indicate the necessity of training parents in allowing their children more control and avoiding the restriction of food.
HubMed – eating

 

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