Elder Caregiving Frequency, Labor Force Participation, and Work.

Unpaid eldercare provided by family comes with costs to caregivers, including the limitations eldercare responsibilities may place on labor force participation and work hours. This study examines the relationship between the frequency of unpaid eldercare and work behavior for previously full-time workers using multivariate regression and 2011-2018 American Time Use Survey data. High-frequency eldercare provision is associated with a decreased probability of being in the labor force for both men and women, and 5.

Brief Electrical Stimulation Promotes Nerve Regeneration Following Experimental In-Continuity Nerve Injury.

Background: Brief electrical stimulation (ES) therapy to the nerve may improve outcome in lacerated, repaired nerves. However, most human nerve injuries leave the nerve in continuity with variable and often poor functional recovery from incomplete axon regeneration and reinnervation.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of brief ES in an experimental model for neuroma-in-continuity (NIC) injuries in rodents.

Testing the effectiveness and the contribution of experimental supercharge (reversed) end-to-side nerve transfer.

Objective: Supercharge end-to-side (SETS) transfer, also referred to as reverse end-to-side transfer, distal to severe nerve compression neuropathy or in-continuity nerve injury is gaining clinical popularity despite questions about its effectiveness. Here, the authors examined SETS distal to experimental neuroma in-continuity (NIC) injuries for efficacy in enhancing neuronal regeneration and functional outcome, and, for the first time, they definitively evaluated the degree of contribution of the native and donor motor neuron pools.

Methods: This study was conducted in 2 phases.

Improved method to track and precisely count Schwann cells post-transplantation in a peripheral nerve injury model.

Background: To optimize survival evaluation of Schwann cells (SCs) in vivo, we tested fluorescent labeling of the nucleus as an improved method of tracking and counting the transplanted SCs at sciatic nerve injury sites in rodents. We also investigated if co-administering cells with the glial growth factor Neuregulin-1 β (NRG1β) improves in vivo survival.

New Method: We transduced SCs using a Lentiviral vector with a nuclear localization signal (NLS) fused with mCherry and transplanted them in the sciatic nerve of rat post-crush injury (bilateral) either in the presence or absence of NRG1β in the injectate media.

Skin derived precursor Schwann cells improve behavioral recovery for acute and delayed nerve repair.

Previous work has shown that infusion of skin-derived precursors pre-differentiated into Schwann cells (SKP-SCs) can remyelinate injured and regenerating axons, and improve indices of axonal regeneration and electrophysiological parameters in rodents. We hypothesized that SKP-SC therapy would improve behavioral outcomes following nerve injury repair and tested this in a pre-clinical trial in 90 rats. A model of sciatic nerve injury and acellular graft repair was used to compare injected SKP-SCs to nerve-derived Schwann cells or media, and each was compared to the gold standard nerve isograft repair.