Jeffrey Lidicker

Decreased scholastic achievement in overweight middle school students.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether overweight students achieved a lower relative degree of scholastic achievement compared to nonoverweight students. Subjects consisted of 6th and 7th grade students enrolled in a large public middle school in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We compared grade point averages (GPAs), nationally standardized reading scores, school detentions, school suspensions, school attendance, tardiness to school, physical fitness test scores, and participation on school athletic teams among nonoverweight, at risk for overweight, and overweight students. Overweight students achieved lower grades (P < 0.001) and lower physical fitness scores (P < 0.0001) than their nonoverweight peers. Overweight students demonstrated a 0.4 letter grade lower GPA (on a 4.00 scale) and 11% lower national percentile reading scores than their nonoverweight peers. The overweight students also demonstrated significantly more detentions, worsened school attendance, more tardiness to school, and less participation on school athletic teams than their nonoverweight peers. Our study suggests that body mass is an important indicator of scholastic achievement, attendance, behavior, and physical fitness among middle school students, reiterating the need for healthy lifestyle intervention and prevention measures.

Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder in Episodic and Chronic Migraine

Objective.— To assess and contrast the relative frequency of self‐reported post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in patients with episodic migraine and chronic/ transformed migraine.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Migraine

Objective.— To evaluate the relative frequency of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in episodic migraine (EM) and chronic daily headache (CDH) sufferers and the impact on headache‐related disability.

A Retrospective, Comparative Study on the Frequency of Abuse in Migraine and Chronic Daily Headache

Objective.—To assess and contrast the relative frequency of a past history of physical and/or sexual abuse in patients with chronic daily headache (CDH) versus migraine.

An Analysis of Cluster Headache Information Provided on Internet Websites

Objective.— To evaluate the quality of websites providing cluster headache information for patients and healthcare providers.

Access Impediments to Health Care and Social Services Between Anglophone and Francophone African Immigrants Living in Philadelphia with Respect to HIV/AIDS

Objectives To describe the social and cultural differences between Anglophone and Francophone African immigrants which define the impediments that Francophone African immigrants face trying to access health and human services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Methods Surveys and personal interviews were administered to participants in social events, community meetings, and health centers. A Chi-squared analysis was used to contrast the communities. Results Francophone Africans demonstrated less acculturation, education, English fluency, and more legal documentation problems, and thus face greater challenges accessing health care. Anglophone Africans had a higher level of acculturation, fewer language problems, and perceived fewer barriers in accessing health care than Francophone Africans. Conclusions Educating new immigrants, through a more culturally sensitive infectious disease treatment and prevention program, is integral to achieving a higher access and utilization rates of available services; especially in recent Francophone immigrants. A larger study is needed to extend the findings to other cities where immigrants with similar backgrounds or acculturation issues reside.

Functional MRI of Sensory Motor Cortex: Comparison Between Finger-to-Thumb and Hand Squeeze Tasks

An important imaging technique that has advanced decision‐making for noninvasive preoperative evaluation is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Preoperative fMRI imaging based on blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) fMRI is routinely used to map a variety of eloquent cortex brain functions such as language, visual, and sensory‐motor regions.

Skin-impedance in Fabry Disease: A prospective, controlled, non-randomized clinical study

BackgroundWe previously demonstrated improved sweating after enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) in Fabry disease using the thermo-regularity sweat and quantitative sudomotor axon reflex tests. Skin-impedance, a measure skin-moisture (sweating), has been used in the clinical evaluation of burns and pressure ulcers using the portable dynamic dermal impedance monitor (DDIM) system.MethodsWe compared skin impedance measurements in hemizygous patients with Fabry disease (22 post 3-years of bi-weekly ERT and 5 ERT naive) and 22 healthy controls. Force compensated skin-moisture values were used for statistical analysis. Outcome measures included 1) moisture reading of the 100th repetitive reading, 2) rate of change, 3) average of 60–110th reading and 4) overall average of all readings.ResultsAll outcome measures showed a significant difference in skin-moisture between Fabry patients and control subjects (p < 0.0001). There was no difference between Fabry patients on ERT and patients naïve to ERT. Increased skin-impedance values for the four skin-impedance outcome measures were found in a small number of dermatome test-sites two days post-enzyme infusions.ConclusionThe instrument portability, ease of its use, a relatively short time required for the assessment, and the fact that DDIM system was able to detect the difference in skin-moisture renders the instrument a useful clinical tool.

Business Model for Subscription Service for Electric Vehicles Including Battery Swapping, for San Francisco Bay Area, California

A proposed strategy for facilitating the introduction of electric-drive vehicles calls for vehicle purchasers to own the vehicle but to lease the battery from a third party to help reduce the first-cost hurdle to consumers. A further extension of this concept for all-battery electric vehicles (EVs) would include the ability for consumers to exchange their discharged batteries for charged ones at battery swap stations. This factor would extend the driving range for EV service subscribers but with increased costs to build and operate the stations. This analysis centers around a base-case scenario from 2012 to 2027 that includes a set of assumptions about subscriber membership levels, gasoline and electricity prices, corporate level expenditures, and the capital costs of batteries, charging stations, and battery swap stations. The base-case set of assumptions is then systematically varied, and a few combinations are explored to determine whether and how such a service might be economically viable. Key sensitivities include buildup of the number of subscribers, the price of gasoline, capital costs of the batteries, distribution of total annual driving mileage of subscribers, and the number of corporate employees needed to operate and manage the subscription service business. Focusing on a network in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, the analysis suggests that, with current gasoline prices and the base-case scenario assumptions, the economics of this business model are challenging.

Can We Use a Catheter to Do the Q-Tip Test?

OBJECTIVE: To compare two commonly used modifications to the standard Q-tip test for urethral hypermobility: catheter alone and catheter with Q-tip. METHODS: All women referred for the evaluation of urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse were included in the study. A postvoid residual urine was collected on each patient and the angle of the urethra with the horizontal plane was measured at rest and with Valsalva with the Q-tip, catheter alone, and catheter with Q-tip. The test was considered positive if the angle of excursion was 30 degrees or more. RESULTS: In this group of 100 consecutive women with urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse, the mean change in the angle was significantly different from the standard Q-tip test (51 degrees) when catheter alone (35 degrees, P<.001) or catheter with Q-tip modifications were used (44 degrees, P<.001). This difference was due to a significant reduction in the resting and Valsalva maneuver angles with the catheter alone, and a significant decrease only in the Valsalva maneuver angle with the catheter with Q-tip method (P<.001). The percentage of positive tests for the standard Q-tip test (92%) was significantly different from the catheter only method (63%, P<.001), and from the catheter with Q-tip technique (83%, P=.021). The “best match” values of 10 degrees for the catheter alone, and 15 degrees for the catheter with Q-tip methods produce the best equivalent results at this time. CONCLUSION: The use of a catheter, instead of a Q-tip, in the evaluation of urethral hypermobility resulted in reduced angles of excursion from resting to Valsalva maneuver. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III