Change in treatment burden among people with multimorbidity: a follow-up survey.

Background: Treatment burden is the effort required of patients to look after their health and the impact this has on their functioning and wellbeing. Little is known about change in treatment burden over time for people with multimorbidity.

Aim: To quantify change in treatment burden, determine factors associated with this change, and evaluate a revised single-item measure for high treatment burden in older adults with multimorbidity.

Change in treatment burden among people with multimorbidity: Protocol of a follow up survey and development of efficient measurement tools for primary care.

Background: Treatment burden is the effort required of patients to look after their health and the impact this has on their functioning and wellbeing. It is likely treatment burden changes over time as circumstances change for patients and health services. However, there are a lack of population-level studies of treatment burden change and factors associated with this change over time.

Treatment burden for patients with multimorbidity: cross-sectional study with exploration of a single-item measure.

Background: Treatment burden is the effort required of patients to look after their health, and the impact this has on their wellbeing. Quantitative data on treatment burden for patients with multimorbidity are sparse, and no single-item treatment burden measure exists.

Aim: To determine the extent of, and associations with, high treatment burden among older adults with multimorbidity, and to explore the performance of a novel single-item treatment burden measure.

The Utility of Pain Scale to Assess Verifiable vs Non-Verifiable Pain in United States Emergency Departments.

Introduction: We sought to examine the utility of self-reported pain scale by comparing emergency department (ED) triage pain scores of self-reported but non-verifiable painful conditions with those of verifiable painful conditions using a large, nationally representative sample.

Methods: We analyzed the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) 2015. Verifiable painful conditions were identified based on the final diagnoses in the five included International Classification of Diseases 9th revision codes.

Recurrent ocular syphilis in a patient living with HIV.

A 26-year-old male living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and who had previously been treated for ocular syphilis presented to the Emergency Department with progressive vision loss and uveitis. The efficacy of standard management for neurosyphilis in HIV and recurrence was examined.

Health-related quality of life, functional impairment and comorbidity in people with mild-to-moderate chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To determine the associations between comorbidities, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and functional impairment in people with mild-to-moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) in primary care.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis at 5-year follow-up in a prospective cohort study.

Setting: Thirty-two general practitioner surgeries in England.

International prescribing patterns and polypharmacy in older people with advanced chronic kidney disease: results from the European Quality study.

Background: People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at high risk of polypharmacy. However, no previous study has investigated international prescribing patterns in this group. This article aims to examine prescribing and polypharmacy patterns among older people with advanced CKD across the countries involved in the European Quality (EQUAL) study.

Microfluidic investigation of the deposition of asphaltenes in porous media.

The deposition of asphaltenes in porous media, an important problem in science and macromolecular engineering, was for the first time investigated in a transparent packed-bed microreactor (μPBR) with online analytics to generate high-throughput information. Residence time distributions of the μPBR before and after loading with ~29 μm quartz particles were measured using inline UV-Vis spectroscopy. Stable packings of quartz particles with porosity of ~40% and permeability of ~500 mD were obtained.

An association between occupancy rates in the emergency department and rates of violence toward staff.

Background: Studies have explored possible causes of violent acts in the emergency department (ED), however, the association of violence with ED crowding has not been studied. Although the total number of violent acts would be expected to increase, it is not clear if the rate of violent acts also increases as occupancy levels rise.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if there is an association between occupancy rates in the ED and rates of violence toward staff.

Biomaterials for the decorporation of (85)Sr in the rat.

Although four stable isotopes of strontium occur naturally, Sr is produced by nuclear fission and is present in surface soil around the world as a result of fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. It can easily transfer to humans in the event of a nuclear/radiological emergency or through the plant-animal-human food chain causing long-term exposures. Strontium is chemically and biologically similar to calcium, and is incorporated primarily into bone following internal deposition.

Evaluation of Cuprimine and Syprine for decorporation of (60)Co and (210)Po.

The acknowledged risk of deliberate release of radionuclides into local environments by terrorist activities has prompted a drive to improve novel materials and methods for removing internally deposited radionuclides. These decorporation treatments will also benefit workers in the nuclear industry, should an exposure occur. Cuprimine and Syprine are oral therapeutics based on the active ingredients D-penicillamine and N,N'-bis-(2-aminoethyl)-1,2-ethanediamine dihydrochloride, respectively.

Aminothiol receptors for decorporation of intravenously administered (60)Co in the rat.

This report provides a comparison of the oral decorporation efficacy of L-glutathione (GSH), L-cysteine (Cys), and a liposomal GSH formulation (ReadiSorb) toward systemic (60)Co to that observed following intravenous administration of GSH and Cys in F344 rats. Aminoacid L-histidine (His) containing no thiol functionality was tested intravenously to compare in vivo efficacy of the aminothiol (GSH, Cys) chelators with that of the aminoimidazole (His) chelator. In these studies, (60)Co was administered to animals by intravenous injection, followed by intravenous or oral gavage doses of a chelator repeated at 24-h intervals for a total of 5 doses.

Investigation of chitosan for decorporation of 60Co in the rat.

With the increased threat of terrorist release of radioactive materials, there is a need for non-toxic decorporation agents to treat internal contamination with radionuclides. In this study, low molecular weight chitosan was evaluated for decorporation of radioactive cobalt (60Co). The affinity of chitosan for Co(II) was tested in vitro using spectrophotometric and potentiometric titration techniques.

Platelet activation in cystic fibrosis.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by a mutation of the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). We examined platelet function in CF patients because lung inflammation is part of this disease and platelets contribute to inflammation. CF patients had increased circulating leukocyte-platelet aggregates and increased platelet responsiveness to agonists compared with healthy controls.

HFE mutation and dietary iron content interact to increase ischemia/reperfusion injury of the heart in mice.

Hereditary hemochromatosis is an inherited pathological condition characterized by iron overload in several vital organs including heart. To increase our understanding of the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of hereditary hemochromatosis, we used a HFE gene knockout mouse model that replicates hereditary hemochromatosis. A group of mice with no copies of HFE gene and corresponding wild-type mice were maintained either on low-iron (30 ppm) or high-iron (300 ppm) diet since birth.

Oxidative damage in colon and mammary tissue of the HFE-knockout mouse.

The HFE mutation is common and, when homozygous, can lead to a morbid accumulation of body iron and the disease hereditary hemochromatosis. Heterozygotes compose 10-15% of the European-American population, and have evidence of elevated body iron compared to homozygous normal people. Dietary iron content was hypothesized to interact with the HFE genotype to influence oxidative damage in mammary and colon tissue.

Genotoxic potential of 1.6 GHz wireless communication signal: in vivo two-year bioassay.

Timed-pregnant Fischer 344 rats (from nineteenth day of gestation) and their nursing offspring (until weaning) were exposed to a far-field 1.6 GHz Iridium wireless communication signal for 2 h/day, 7 days/week. Far-field whole-body exposures were conducted with a field intensity of 0.

Establishment of a novel clonal murine bone marrow stromal cell line for assessment of p53 responses to genotoxic stress.

The p53 protein is widely regarded as an important sensor of genotoxic damage in cells, and mutations in p53 are the most frequent observed in human cancers. Rapid assays for evaluating the potential of a chemical or physical agent to alter the transcriptional regulatory role of p53 may therefore serve as useful tools in toxicological research. In this study, the use of enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as a live cell reporter to assess the transactivation response of p53 to chemical and physical agents was evaluated.