Initial validation of the dimensions of home measure.

Background: Research has established a need to consider further aspects of the home environment in home modification provision and evaluation. The Dimensions of Home Measure (DOHM) was developed as a self-report outcome measurement tool for home modification practice to meet this need. Its development was informed by a literature review and qualitative exploration which identified six dimensions of the home environment: the physical, social, personal, temporal, occupational and societal dimensions which contribute to one's experience of home.

Exploring the meaning of community for older Australians.

Background/aim: As the population ages, older adults are being encouraged through policy to remain living in their home and community. Occupational therapists are in a position to support individuals to engage in meaningful occupations, acknowledging the influence of personal and environmental factors on community participation. The purpose of this study was to understand the meaning and experience of community for older Australian adults.

Depression and the risk of severe infections: prospective analyses on a nationwide representative sample.

Background: Preliminary research suggests an association between depression and subsequent increased risk of infections, yet little is known on this topic. This study investigated the association between depression and risk of various types of infections, including temporal and dose-response relationships.

Methods: A prospective population-based study including 976,398 individuals, of whom 142,169 had a history of depression between 1995 and 2012, was conducted using linked Danish registries.

Evaluation of the Microvascular Blood Flow, Oxygenation, and Survival of Tarsoconjunctival Flaps Following the Modified Hughes Procedure.

Purpose: For the modified Hughes procedure, a tarsoconjunctival flap from the upper eyelid is used to reconstruct large, full-thickness, lower eyelid defects. The conjunctival pedicle is divided once vascularization is deemed to be adequate. The importance of maintaining a flap pedicle to ensure adequate perfusion of the graft has been questioned.

The probability of readmission within 30 days of hospital discharge is positively associated with inpatient bed occupancy at discharge--a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Previous work has suggested that given a hospital's need to admit more patients from the emergency department (ED), high inpatient bed occupancy may encourage premature hospital discharges that favor the hospital's need for beds over patients' medical interests. We argue that the effects of such action would be measurable as a greater proportion of unplanned hospital readmissions among patients discharged when the hospital was full than when not. In response, the present study tested this hypothesis by investigating the association between inpatient bed occupancy at the time of hospital discharge and the 30-day readmission rate.

Crucial contextual attributes of nursing leadership towards a care ethics.

Background: It is of importance to understand and communicate caring ethics as a ground for qualitative caring environments. Research is needed on nursing attributes that are visible in nursing leadership since it may give bases for reflections related to the patterns of specific contexts.

Aim: The aim of this study was to illuminate the meaning of crucial attributes in nursing leadership toward an ethical care of patients in psychiatric in-patient settings.

Pharmacogenetics of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) in resource-limited settings: Influence on antiretroviral therapy response and concomitant anti-tubercular, antimalarial and contraceptive treatments.

The burden of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is mainly concentrated to resources-limited countries where the response to available antiretroviral therapy is often limited by the occurrence of toxicity or by the emergence of HIV drug resistance. Efavirenz and nevirapine are the antiretroviral drugs most prescribed in resources-limited countries as part of antiretroviral combination therapy. Their metabolism and conjugation are largely influenced by enzymatic genetic polymorphisms.

Synthesis and Pharmacological Properties of Silicon-Containing GPR81 and GPR109A Agonists.

The GPR81 and GPR109A receptors mediate antilipolytic effects and are potential drug targets for the treatment of metabolic disorders such as dyslipidemia and type 2 diabetes. There is still a need to identify potent GPR81 agonists as pharmacological tools. A high-throughput screen identified an acylurea-based GPR81 agonist lead series, with activities at the GPR109A receptor as well.

A fast and sensitive method for quantifying lumefantrine and desbutyl-lumefantrine using LC-MS/MS.

A sensitive liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for quantification of lumefantrine (LUM) and its metabolite desbutyl-lumefantrine (DBL) in human plasma. Sample preparation was done by protein precipitation using acetonitrile containing deuterated lumefantrine (LUM-d18) and desbutyl-lumefantrine (DBL-d9) as internal standards. Total chromatography time was 2.

Family members' needs and experiences of driving disruption due to health conditions or ageing.

Purpose: Family members often assume the caregiving role and provide practical assistance and emotional support when an individual is experiencing driving disruption due to health conditions or ageing. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences, viewpoints and needs of family members with regards to an individual undergoing driving disruption across various population groups.

Method: A scoping review was conducted through searching across six databases and hand searching articles published from 1985 to 2013.

Archiving Primary Data: Solutions for Long-Term Studies.

The recent trend for journals to require open access to primary data included in publications has been embraced by many biologists, but has caused apprehension amongst researchers engaged in long-term ecological and evolutionary studies. A worldwide survey of 73 principal investigators (Pls) with long-term studies revealed positive attitudes towards sharing data with the agreement or involvement of the PI, and 93% of PIs have historically shared data. Only 8% were in favor of uncontrolled, open access to primary data while 63% expressed serious concern.

Depression and the risk of autoimmune disease: a nationally representative, prospective longitudinal study.

Background: Autoimmune diseases are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, yet the etiology remains unclear. Depression has been implicated as a risk factor for various immune-related disorders but little is known about the risk of autoimmune disease. This study examined the association between depression and the risk of autoimmune disease, and investigated the temporal and dose-response nature of these relationships.

Development of a computerised decisions support system for renal risk drugs targeting primary healthcare.

Objectives: To assess general practitioners (GPs) experience from the implementation and use of a renal computerised decision support system (CDSS) for drug dosing, developed for primary healthcare, integrated into the patient's electronic health record (EHR), and building on estimation of the patient's creatinine clearance (ClCG).

Design: Qualitative research design by a questionnaire and a focus group discussion.

Setting And Participants: Eight GPs at two primary healthcare centres (PHCs).

The stability of the G-matrix: The role of spatial heterogeneity.

The temporal stability of the genetic variance-covariance matrix (G) has been discussed for a long time in the evolutionary literature. A common assumption in all studies, including empirical ones, is that spatial heterogeneity is minor such that the population can be represented by a single mean and variance. We use the well-established allocation-acquisition model to analyze the effect of relaxing of this assumption, simulating a case where the population is divided into patches with a variance in quality between patches.

Two consecutive randomized controlled pertussis booster trials in children initially vaccinated in infancy with an acellular vaccine: The first with a five-component Tdap vaccine to 5-year olds and the second with five- or monocomponent Tdap vaccines at age 14-15 years.

Prior study children from a DTaP efficacy trial were recruited at ages 5 and 15 years to randomized booster trials addressing immunogenicity and reactogenicity; 475 preschool children received mixed or separate injections of a reduced antigen vaccine (Tdap5, Sanofi Pasteur MSD) and an inactivated polio vaccine, and 230 adolescents received the same or another booster vaccine (Tdap1, SSI, Denmark). Pre-vaccination antibody concentrations against pertussis antigens were significantly higher at 15 than 5 years of age, probably due to natural boosting between the studies. Tdap5 induced comparable anti-PT concentrations at both ages, but antibody responses were significantly higher to filamentous haemagglutinin, pertactin and fimbriae 2/3 in adolescents.

Poor quality of referral from mental to somatic hospitals.

Introduction: Concomitant somatic and mental illness is associated with excess mortality compared with the general population. To prevent this, a number of health initiatives relating to somatic illness in psychiatric patients have recently been introduced. One of the means used to screen for and treat somatic disease in psychiatric patients is highly qualified referral for somatic specialist assessment.

Mortality and secular trend in the incidence of bipolar disorder.

Background: The world-wide interest in bipolar disorder is illustrated by an exponential increase in publications on the disorder registered in Pubmed since 1990. This inspired an investigation of the epidemiology of bipolar disorder.

Methods: This was a register-based cohort study.

Receptors involved in the modulation of guinea pig urinary bladder motility by prostaglandin D2.

Background And Purpose: We have described a urothelium-dependent release of PGD2 -like activity which had inhibitory effects on the motility of guinea pig urinary bladder. Here, we have pharmacologically characterized the receptors involved and localized the sites of PGD2 formation and of its receptors.

Experimental Approach: In the presence of selective DP and TP receptor antagonists alone or combined, PGD2 was applied to urothelium-denuded diclofenac-treated urinary bladder strips mounted in organ baths.

Maternal Age-Related Depletion of Offspring Genetic Variance in Immune Response to Phytohaemagglutinin in the Blue Tit ().

Studies examining age-specific patterns in genetic variance have focussed primarily on changes in the genetic variance within cohorts. It remains unclear whether parental age may affect the genetic variance among offspring. To date, such an effect has been reported only in a single study performed in a wild bird population.

Biological legacies buffer local species extinction after logging.

Clearcutting has been identified as a main threat to forest biodiversity. In the last few decades, alternatives to clearcutting have gained much interest. Living and dead trees are often retained after harvest to serve as structural legacies to mitigate negative effects of forestry.