Research interests, experience, and training of Community Health Workers: a mixed Method Approach.

The Affordable Care Act includes a call for community health care workers (CHWs) to be integrated into health care delivery systems to improve health care quality. In recent years, there have been increasing calls for community-based participatory research (CBPR) and patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR), as such types of research hold much potential for identifying interventions to reduce health and health care disparities. Yet, little is known about the research training, knowledge, experience, and even interest of CHWs in these types of research or in health research in general (HR). Thus, the purposes of this study include determining if there are differences between participating CHWs (N = 202) in their levels of training, knowledge, experience, and interest in relation to CBPR, PCOR and HR. Findings suggest that certified CHWs, as compared to non-certified CHWs, have significantly higher knowledge levels across all three types of research (ß = 1.3, p = .007). Additionally, participants had significantly higher knowledge of HR compared to CBPR (ß = 0.5, p = .015), but not higher than their knowledge of PCOR (p > .5). Qualitative data analyses performed to determine research areas of interest among the participating CHWs resulted in eighteen major research interest themes. Examples of these major themes are chronic illness (n = 95), health promotion (n = 39), healthcare services and administration (n = 30), mental health (n = 29), and research evaluation and methodology (n = 26). Together, the findings suggest that though CHWs have an interest in a wide range of health research areas, they could benefit from research trainings tailored to their responsibilities and interests.

Estimation of genetic parameters based on individual and group mean records in laying hens.

(1) The study was conducted to estimate the heritability, genetic correlations and breeding values of laying hens based on individual records and group mean records. (2) Records of two pure lines from a commercial breeding programme of White Leghorns from three generations housed in single cages and in group cages were used. A total of 8483 and 8817 individual records of lines A and D, respectively, and a total of 1358 (line A) and 1161 (line D) group mean records were analysed. (3) An animal model using Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) was used to estimate variance components of individual records. Group mean records were analysed using the sire model, taking heterogeneity of error variance and correlated residual effects into account. Breeding values of sires were estimated based on the BLUP method using a multivariate sire model. Spearman Rank correlations were used to compare sire breeding values estimated from individual records and from group mean records. The traits studied were monthly egg production, cumulative production and egg weight. (4) Heritability estimates based on individual records were higher than from group mean records. Heritabilities for cumulative production records were higher than for monthly production, based on individual as well as group mean records. The estimates of genetic correlations between monthly egg production and cumulative production were moderate to high. Egg production and egg weight recorded individually were highly genetically correlated with those recorded on group means. Sire breeding values estimated from individual records showed high correlations with those from group mean records. (5) Differences in the ranking of sire breeding values estimated from individual vs group mean records were negligible, indicating that no genotype x environment interaction exists. Selection based on individual performance records of laying hens housed in single cages could give a good response on performance of laying hens housed in group cages. Cumulative egg production over periods 1 to 6 is the best trait for the selection programme.

Disposicao da veia interventricular anterior em relacao a ponte miocardica. / Anatomical relationship between the interventricular vein and the myocardial bridges

Os autores estudam a relacao entre a veia interventricular anterior e ponte miocardica Para o estudo, foram dissecados 50 coracoes colhidos em sala de necropsia. Destes, 29 (58%) apresentavam ponte miocardica sobre o ramo interventricular anterior da arteria coronaria esquerda. Em 27 deles a veia situouse sobre as fibras musculares da ponte, a esquerda da arteria interventricular anterior.Em apenas dois coracoes, um deles apresentando duas pontes, a veia tambem se dispos sob as fibras musculares. Os autores chamam a atencao para esta disposicao venosa, ate entao nao referida, quando discutem a importancia da ponte muscular como fator de isquemia miocardica e realcam a importancia destes dados de sintopia durante a cirurgia da revascularizacao do miocardio