Dennisgreer0350

Intrusive thoughts about food can trigger cravings and result in unhealthy eating behaviour. Here we tested whether Load Theory of attention can be applied to the eating behaviour literature and reduce intrusive appetitive-related thoughts. Load Theory predicts that high levels of perceptual load in a task exhaust attentional capacity and so reduces interference from a range of stimuli, including intrusive thoughts. Therefore, this study aimed to test whether perceptual load reduced appetitive-related intrusive thoughts about chocolate. Sixty female participants were first given a chocolate bar to interact with for 2 min, before rating their levels of hunger, craving and liking for chocolate. They were then asked to avoid thinking about chocolate and instead focus attention on a visual search task. Perceptual load was manipulated within-subjects by varying the search set size. Appetitive-related thoughts were measured using both self-caught and probe-caught measures, allowing us to index load effects at varying levels of meta-awareness. Across subjects, the level of appetitive-related thoughts seen in the high load condition was significantly reduced, to less than half the level seen in the low load condition, on both probe and self-caught measures. Furthermore, self-reported hunger, craving and liking for the chocolate were positively correlated with appetitive-related thoughts under low load, but high perceptual load eliminated these state individual differences. Therefore, engaging in perceptually demanding tasks may be a worthwhile strategy for those wanting to disrupt the cycle of craving at the earliest stage. OBJECTIVE Preliminary data suggest that Asian/Asian American report among the highest rates of loss of control (LOC) eating, yet the psychosocial and sociocultural correlates of LOC eating are currently understudied. The present study sought to examine the link between emotion dysregulation and LOC eating in Asian/Asian American men. Adherence to traditional Asian cultural values and ethnic identity were evaluated as potential moderators. METHODS 266 Asian/Asian American men (Mage = 24.4 ± 3.6y; MBMI = 24.2 ± 5.6 kg/m2) participated in the current study and completed an online survey. RESULTS Negative binomial regression models generally supported the positive link between emotion dysregulation and LOC eating in Asian/Asian American men. However, lack of emotional awareness when distressed was found to be significantly and inversely associated with LOC eating frequency. Adherence to Asian cultural values moderated the association between emotional impulsivity and LOC eating frequency; this link was positive among those with low adherence to Asian values, and negative among those with high adherence to Asian values. Exploration of one's ethnic identity moderated the link between emotional awareness when distressed and LOC eating frequency; the association was flat among men with low exploration of their ethnic identity, and inverse among those with high exploration of their ethnic identity. DISCUSSION Although mechanistic and prospective studies are needed, these findings provide support for the affect regulation model of LOC eating in Asian/Asian American men and suggest that there are culture-specific factors that may be relevant to the development and/or maintenance of this disordered eating behavior. PURPOSE To determine whether a mobile app can reduce the need for in-person visits and examine the resulting societal cost differences between mobile and conventional follow-up for post-operative ACL reconstruction patients. METHODS Study design was a single-centre, two-arm parallel group randomized controlled trial. All patients undergoing ACL reconstruction aged 16-70 were screened for inclusion in the study. Competent use of a mobile device and ability to communicate in English was required. Patients were randomly assigned to receive follow-up via a mobile app or through conventional appointments. Analysis was intention-to-treat. The primary outcome was the number of in-person visits to any healthcare professional during the first six post-operative weeks. Secondary outcomes included analysis of costs incurred by the healthcare system and personal patient costs related to both methods of follow-up. Patient-reported satisfaction and convenience scores, rates of complications, and clinical outcomes were also analyzed. read more RESULTS Sixty patients were analyzed. Participants in the app group attended a mean of 0.36 in-person visits versus 2.44 in-person visits in the conventional group (95% CI 0.08-0.28; P less then 0.0001). On average, patients in the app group spent CAD $211 less than the conventional group over 6 weeks (p less then 0.0001) on personal costs related to follow-up. Healthcare system costs were also significantly less in the app group (CAD $157.5 versus CAD $202.2; p less then 0.0001). There was no difference between groups in patient satisfaction, convenience, complication rates, or clinical outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS Mobile follow-up can eliminate a significant number of in-person visits during the first six post-operative weeks in patients undergoing ACL reconstruction with cost savings to both the patient and healthcare system. This method should be considered for dissemination among similar orthopaedic procedures during early post-operative care. AIMS To determine if mathematical optimization of in-hospital defibrillator placements can reduce in-hospital cardiac arrest-to-defibrillator distance compared to existing defibrillators in a single hospital. METHODS We identified treated IHCAs and defibrillator placements in St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada from Jan. 2013 to Jun. 2017 and mapped them to a 3-D computer model of the hospital. An optimization model identified an equal number of optimal defibrillator locations that minimized the average distance between IHCAs and the closest defibrillator using a 10-fold cross-validation approach. The optimized and existing defibrillator locations were compared in terms of average distance to the out-of-sample IHCAs. We repeated the analysis excluding intensive care units (ICUs), operating theatres (OTs), and the emergency department (ED). We also re-solved the model using fewer defibrillators to determine when the average distance matched the performance of existing defibrillators. RESULTS We identified 433 treated IHCAs and 53 defibrillators.