Evaluation of a virtual reality E-cigarette prevention game for adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To test preliminary efficacy and acceptability of Invite Only VR: A Vaping Prevention Game (Invite Only VR), an electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) prevention game that uses virtual reality (VR) hardware. METHODS: 285 adolescents (146 boys; ages 11-14; M = 12.45 years; SD = 0.57) were enrolled in this non-equivalent control groups design through their middle school. Participants who played Invite Only VR for 1.5 h were compared to treatment as usual at 4 timepoints: baseline, post gameplay, 3 and 6 months. Evidence of the efficacy of the game to influence e-cigarette use, e-cigarette knowledge, nicotine addiction knowledge, perceived addictiveness of e-cigarettes, perceived likelihood of using e-cigarettes, perceptions of harm, self-efficacy to refuse, social approval of e-cigarettes, and e-cigarette social perceptions was assessed using mixed between-within subjects ANOVAS. Intervention acceptability was indicated by measures of gameplay experience/satisfaction, VR experience, and perceived responsibility for game-based decisions. RESULTS: From baseline to 6 months, Invite Only VR players improved in e-cigarette knowledge, nicotine addiction knowledge, perceived addictiveness of e-cigarettes, perceptions of harm, and social perceptions about e-cigarette use compared to the control group. No significant changes were observed for the other dependent variables, including e-cigarette use. Ratings of gameplay experience and satisfaction, VR experience, and game-based decisions were high. CONCLUSIONS: Invite Only VR may help players develop knowledge about e-cigarettes and nicotine addiction, as well as encourage the development of healthy harm and social perceptions regarding e-cigarette use that persist 6 months beyond gameplay. Adolescents' satisfaction with the VR gameplay indicates preliminary intervention acceptability.

Using Motion Tracking to Measure Avoidance in Children and Adults: Psychometric Properties, Associations With Clinical Characteristics, and Treatment-Related Change.

Avoidance is implicated in many areas of psychopathology, particularly anxiety and its disorders. Accurate, reliable, valid, and objective measurement of avoidance behavior poses methodological challenges. Two key technological advances, increased computing power and the advent of motion-tracking technology, offer novel solutions to these challenges. We describe a series of three studies using a novel motion-tracking system to measure avoidance in children and adults. The first study examined behavioral avoidance of spider stimuli in large samples of children and adults (N = 200 each; the adults were the mothers of the children). Behavioral avoidance was associated with self-rated fear of spiders and increased state anxiety from before to after the task. The second study examined avoidance of threat faces in children and adults (N = 35 each; the adults were the mothers of the children) and test-retest reliability in the adults. Avoidance of threat faces was associated with broadband anxiety symptom severity. Test-retest correlations in behavioral avoidance measured 6 weeks apart was high and significant. The third study examined behavioral avoidance of spiders in clinically anxious children (N = 25) before and after cognitive-behavioral therapy for childhood anxiety disorders. Behavioral avoidance was significantly reduced following cognitive-behavioral therapy and reduction in behavioral avoidance correlated significantly with improvement in child-rated anxiety symptoms. Taken together, these studies provide strong support for the promise of motion-tracking technology to enable a new phase of behavioral avoidance research with sensitive, valid, reliable, and cost- and time-effective measurement of behavioral avoidance across the lifespan.

[Innovative immunotherapies of respiratory allergic diseases]. / Immunothérapies innovantes des maladies allergiques respiratoires.

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is an effective method in the treatment of respiratory allergic diseases (asthma, rhinitis and conjunctivitis). In addition to reducing symptoms, AIT can alter the course of allergic disease and remains efficient long after it has been discontinued by inducing specific tolerance to the allergen. In current clinical practice, immunotherapy is administered by subcutaneous or sublingual routes. The duration of efficacy is 7 to 12 years. It can prevent the development of both asthma and sensitization to new allergens. Despite recent progresses, other approaches are needed, especially for allergies (atopic dermatitis, food allergies). The new AIT improvement approaches involve the use of adjuvants or recombinant allergies, peptides and new routes of administration.

[The implementation gap in asthma prevention and control?]. / Prévenir et contrôler l'asthme, quels sont les obstacles ? Comment les surmonter ?

Asthma and allergic diseases generally start early in life and persist throughout life but, for reasons we do not yet understand, they sometimes appear later Prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of these major chronic respiratory diseases is a recognized priority for EU public health policy and for the United Nations. As factors favoring allergy (rapid urbanization, pollution, climate change and infections) are not expected to change in the foreseeable future, it is crucial to develop, strengthen and optimize prevention and treatment. We have developed tools to control asthma but are still unable to prevent children from developing asthma and allergic diseases. This article examines what works and what does not, and analyzes the "missing links" between the creation and effective implementation of a prevention program, otherwise known as the implementation gap.

The Lourdes medical cures revisited.

This article examines the cures recorded in Lourdes, France, between 1858, the year of the Visions, and 1976, the date of the last certified cure of the twentieth century. Initially, the records of cures were crude or nonexistent, and allegations of cures were accepted without question. A Medical Bureau was established in 1883 to examine and certify the cures, and the medical methodology improved steadily in the subsequent years. We discuss the clinical criteria of the cures and the reliability of medical records. Some 1,200 cures were said to have been observed between 1858 and 1889, and about one hundred more each year during the "Golden Age" of Lourdes, 1890-1914. We studied 411 patients cured in 1909-14 and thoroughly reviewed the twenty-five cures acknowledged between 1947 and 1976. No cure has been certified from 1976 through 2006. The Lourdes phenomenon, extraordinary in many respects, still awaits scientific explanation. Lourdes concerns science as well as religion.

Supporting work practices through telehealth: impact on nurses in peripheral regions.

BACKGROUND: In Canada, workforce shortages in the health care sector constrain the ability of the health care system to meet the needs of its population and of its health care professionals. This issue is of particular importance in peripheral regions of Quebec, where significant inequalities in workforce distribution between regions has lead to acute nursing shortages and increased workloads. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are innovative solutions that can be used to develop strategies to optimise the use of available resources and to design new nursing work practices. However, current knowledge is still limited about the real impact of ICTs on nursing recruitment and retention. Our aim is to better understand how work practice reorganization, supported by ICTs, and particularly by telehealth, may influence professional, educational, and organizational factors relating to Quebec nurses, notably those working in peripheral regions. METHODS/DESIGN: First, we will conduct a descriptive study on the issue of nursing recruitment. Stratified sampling will be used to select approximately twenty innovative projects relating to the reorganization of work practices based upon ICTs. Semi-structured interviews with key informants will determine professional, educational, and organizational recruitment factors. The results will be used to create a questionnaire which, using a convenience sampling method, will be mailed to 600 third year students and recent graduates of two Quebec university nursing faculties. Descriptive, correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses will be performed to identify factors influencing nursing graduates' intentions to practice in peripheral regions. Secondly, we will conduct five case studies pertaining to the issue of nursing retention. Five ICT projects in semi-urban, rural, and isolated regions have been identified. Qualitative data will be collected through field observation and approximately fifty semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. DISCUSSION: Data from both parts of this research project will be jointly analysed using triangulation of researchers, theoretical approaches, methods, and results. Continuous exchanges with decision makers and periodic knowledge transfer activities are planned to facilitate the dissemination and utilization of research results in policies regarding the nursing recruitment and retention.

[Contribution of epidemiology to the prevention of drug allergies]. / Contribution de la recherche épidémiologique à la prévention des allergies médicamenteuses.

Drug allergies are heterogeneous and multifactorial. They can be life-threatening and lead to market withdrawal of particularly risky drugs. Immunological research has improved our understanding of drug allergies but has not yet been able to prevent them. In contrast, epidemiological research not only provides information on the incidence and risk factors of such reactions, but can now, in conjunction the most recent immunological data, also help to prevent some of them. For example, prior pholcodine consumption has been shown to increase the risk of anaphylaxis due to neuromuscular blocking agents during general anesthesia. This review examines the place of interventional epidemiology in the field of drug allergy, taking as examples both myorelaxant-induced anaphylaxis and abacavir-induced DRESS.

[Allergen-specific immunotherapy or desensitization]. / L'immunothérapie spécifique aux allergènes ou désensibilisation des maladies allergiques.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy or desensitization represents an etiological treatment option for patients with allergic respiratory diseases. First introduced in 1911, it was widely disparaged until its mechanism of action was better understood and its efficacy on both allergic rhinoconjunctivitis and allergic asthma was demonstrated in double-blind placebo-controlled studies. Its indications are now widely agreed and practical rules have been established. Several factors have contributed to its increasing use in patients with respiratory allergies, including better-quality allergen extracts, better understanding of the mechanism of action, the introduction of oral tablet forms, and rationalization of prescriptions. Specific immunotherapy can benefit patients with severe allergic respiratory diseases in whom pharmacological treatment is ineffective or poorly accepted. Further well-designed and strictly conducted randomized trials in adults and children with allergic rhinitis and asthma are needed, using patient-important endpoints. More information is also needed on patient selection, the treatment duration, and dosing schedules.

[Nasal allergy and asthma: one or two diseases?]. / Allergie nasale et asthme: maladies uniques ou différentes?

Epidemiological studies have shown that rhinitis and asthma are associated. At least four out of five asthmatics suffer from rhinitis and one out of four rhinitic subjects develop asthma. Recent progress in cellular and molecular biology confirms that the same inflammatory cells and similar mechanisms participate in the pathophysiology of the two diseases. Histological findings show that although nasal inflammation resembles bronchial inflammation, specific remodelling features that are present in asthma are lacking in rhinitis. This may be due to the different embryologic origin of the two organs. These similarities explain certain clinical interactions and are the basis of the ARIA (Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma)--WHO guidelines recommending that symptoms of rhinitis be sought in asthmatic subjects and symptoms of asthma in rhinitic subjects.

[Identifying and understanding drug allergies]. / Identifier et comprendre les allergies médicamenteuses.

Drug hypersensitivity reactions frequently occur in hospitalized and out-patients. Clinical presentations are numerous and heterogeneous, from a mild urticaria to a dramatic anaphylactic shock and an extensive bullous skin disease. Allergic reactions are unpredictable reactions, related to immunologic mechanisms. Some reactions mimic allergic reactions but no drug specific antibody or T cell proliferation can be demonstrated. A true diagnosis is rarely set up and the tools for it are lacking. In this review, we will focus on the available epidemiological data concerning these reactions, including data on incidence and mortality and on the most recent advances in the pathophysiology and allergy diagnosis of drug hypersensitivity reactions.

Las alergias: el fin de un enigma / The allergy: the end of the enigma

La alergología ha adquirido considerable predicamento.Explican aquí los misterios de esas afecciones desconcertantes y caprichosas, responsables todos los años de millones de jornadas de trabajo perdidas y de millones de malestares entre la gente. Nuevas técnicas de desensibilización y medicamentos irreemplazables. Contiene:Alergia, una palabra de moda. La alergia imnmediata. Polvo doméstico, acaros y mohos. La alergia a los animales. De insectos a serpientes, picaduras, mordeduras. La alergia polínica. Alergias alimentarias: las verdaderas y las falsas. La alergia debida a los medicamentos. Algo mas para asociar con la alergia. La alergia: diagnóstico, principios de tratamiento y prevención. Medicamentos y medicinas antialérgicas. El asma alergica. Alergias de la nariz. De los ojos. De la piel. Otras alergias imprevistas. Alergia y sol

Las alergias: el fin de un enigma / The allergy: the end of the enigma

La alergología ha adquirido considerable predicamento.Explican aquí los misterios de esas afecciones desconcertantes y caprichosas, responsables todos los años de millones de jornadas de trabajo perdidas y de millones de malestares entre la gente. Nuevas técnicas de desensibilización y medicamentos irreemplazables. Contiene:Alergia, una palabra de moda. La alergia imnmediata. Polvo doméstico, acaros y mohos. La alergia a los animales. De insectos a serpientes, picaduras, mordeduras. La alergia polínica. Alergias alimentarias: las verdaderas y las falsas. La alergia debida a los medicamentos. Algo mas para asociar con la alergia. La alergia: diagnóstico, principios de tratamiento y prevención. Medicamentos y medicinas antialérgicas. El asma alergica. Alergias de la nariz. De los ojos. De la piel. Otras alergias imprevistas. Alergia y sol