Overcoming Barriers to Latino Participation in Alzheimer's Disease Research.

There is a critical need to increase Latino participation in research on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD). Applying principles of community-based participatory research, we convened a community advisory board (CAB) to identify barriers and recommend strategies to increase participation of older Latinos in a longitudinal observational research study of ADRD at the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Six major barriers were identified and programmatic changes to overcome them were implemented.

A survey of smartphone and interactive video technology use by participants in Alzheimer's disease research: Implications for remote cognitive assessment.

Introduction: Participants from a longitudinal cohort study were surveyed to evaluate the practical feasibility of remote cognitive assessment.

Methods: All active participants/informants at the University of California San Diego Alzheimer's Disease Research Center were invited to complete a nine-question survey assessing technology access/use and willingness to do cognitive testing remotely.

Results: Three hundred sixty-nine of 450 potential participants/informants (82%) completed the survey.

Community memory screening as a strategy for recruiting older adults into Alzheimer's disease research.

Background: Growing awareness of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has prompted a demand for quick and effective ways to screen for memory loss and cognitive decline in large numbers of individuals in the community. Periodic Memory Screening Day events provide free, brief cognitive screening aimed at those 65 years and older, and can serve as an opportunity to gauge participants' attitudes towards AD research and recruit them into ongoing research projects.

Methods: Over 6 single-day events in 2 years, more than 574 individuals were individually screened using the MoCA and a story recall task (immediate and delayed), given feedback about their performance, and introduced to AD research and opportunities to participate.

Engaging stakeholders to improve presentation of patient-reported outcomes data in clinical practice.

Purpose: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can promote patient-centered care, but previous research has documented interpretation challenges among clinicians and patients. We engaged stakeholders to improve formats for presenting individual-level PRO data (for patient monitoring) and group-level PRO data (for reporting comparative clinical studies).

Methods: In an iterative process, investigators partnered with stakeholder workgroups of clinicians and patients to address previously identified interpretation challenges.

Communicating patient-reported outcome scores using graphic formats: results from a mixed-methods evaluation.

Background: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) promote patient-centered care by using PRO research results ("group-level data") to inform decision making and by monitoring individual patient's PROs ("individual-level data") to inform care. We investigated the interpretability of current PRO data presentation formats.

Method: This cross-sectional mixed-methods study randomized purposively sampled cancer patients and clinicians to evaluate six group-data or four individual-data formats.

Impact of tobacco control interventions on smoking initiation, cessation, and prevalence: a systematic review.

Background: Policymakers need estimates of the impact of tobacco control (TC) policies to set priorities and targets for reducing tobacco use. We systematically reviewed the independent effects of TC policies on smoking behavior.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE (through January 2012) and EMBASE and other databases through February 2009, looking for studies published after 1989 in any language that assessed the effects of each TC intervention on smoking prevalence, initiation, cessation, or price participation elasticity.

Intrapulmonary pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of micafungin in adult lung transplant patients.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis is a life-threatening infection in lung transplant recipients; however, no studies of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PKPD) of echinocandins in transplanted lungs have been reported. We conducted a single-dose prospective study of the intrapulmonary and plasma PKPD of 150 mg of micafungin administered intravenously in 20 adult lung transplant recipients. Epithelial lining fluid (ELF) and alveolar cell (AC) samples were obtained via bronchoalveolar lavage performed 3, 5, 8, 18, or 24 h after initiation of infusion.