Supportive care decision-making processes of persons with dementia and their caregivers.

Little is known about the decision-making processes around seeking more supportive care for dementia. Persons with dementia are often left out of decision-making regarding seeking more supportive care as their dementia progresses. This paper provides a description of findings from the Decision-making in Alzheimer's Research project (DMAR) investigating the process of decision-making about transitions to more supportive care.

Parallelohedra, old and new.

It is shown that from a skewed, skeletal (edges and vertices), truncated octahedron, skewed skeletons can be derived of the other four convex parallelohedra found by Fedorov in 1885. In addition, three new nonconvex parallelohedra are produced, a counterexample to a statement by Grünbaum. This opens several new ways to view atomic positions in crystals, and new avenues in geometry.

Older adults' personal health information management: The role and perspective of various healthcare providers.

The management of personal health information (PHI) by older adults (OAs) takes place within a socio-technical context and requires the support of various stakeholders, including healthcare providers. This study investigates provider roles in supporting OA personal health information management (PHIM), barriers they face, and related design implications for health information technology (HIT). We interviewed 27 providers serving OAs in Seattle, WA.

Challenges and opportunities in conducting research with older adults with dementia during COVID-19 and beyond.

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has created significant and new challenges for the conduct of clinical research involving older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). It has also stimulated positive adaptations in methods for engaging older adults with ADRD in research, particularly through the increased availability of virtual platforms. In this paper, we describe how we adapted standard in-person participant recruitment and qualitative data collection methods for virtual use in a study of decision-making experiences in older adults with ADRD.

Recruiting older adult participants through crowdsourcing platforms: Mechanical Turk versus Prolific Academic.

Background: Recruiting older adults (OA) into research is challenging.

Objective: To assess the feasibility of using two crowdsourcing platforms, Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and Prolific Academic (ProA), as efficient and low-cost venues for recruiting survey participants aged 65 and older.

Methods: We developed an online survey to investigate and compare the demographics, technology use, and motivations for research participation of OA on MTurk and ProA.

Personal health information management among healthy older adults: Varying needs and approaches.

Objective: With age, older adults experience a greater number of chronic diseases and medical visits, and an increased need to manage their health information. Technological advances in consumer health information technologies (HITs) help patients gather, track, and organize their health information within and outside of clinical settings. However, HITs have not focused on the needs of older adults and their caregivers.

Older Adult Health-Related Support Networks: Implications for the Design of Digital Communication Tools.

Background And Objectives: Digital communication tools facilitate the provision of health-related social support to older adults. However, little is known about what design features make such tools most useful and feasible. The purpose of this study was to describe health-related social support networks of older adults and outline recommendations for the design of tools that facilitate the giving and receiving of support.

Connected Personas: Translating the Complexity of Older Adult Personal Health Information Management for Designers of Health Information Technologies.

Human-centered design (HCD) can be used to communicate research study findings to designers of health information technologies (HIT). We used the HCD approach to develop personas, scenarios, and design guidelines for designers with the aim that it would lead to new HIT designs that support the autonomy and health of older adults. The foundation of the personas, scenarios, and design guidelines was a study that focused on understanding how older adults manage their health information and the role that stakeholders play in that process.

Home Care Nurses' Perspectives Regarding Health Information Management Among Older Adults.

Aging is associated with comorbidities and increased utilization of healthcare services, which results in a large amount of personal health information (PHI) to manage. Older adults often have difficulty managing this increased load of health information. Although many home healthcare nurses (HCNs) provide assistance to older adults after discharge from medical facilities, little is known about HCNs' experiences with older adults regarding the management and transfer of PHI in their homes.

Personal Health Information Management Practices of Older Adults: One Size Does Not Fit All.

Older adults are the largest consumers of health care, have the greatest number of chronic conditions, and generate the greatest amount of health data. Yet, information systems designed to aid health information management do not align with their needs and practices. We describe a process of identifying the personal health information management (PHIM) activities and objectives of older adults (60 years and older) from different residential settings.

A Closer Look at Health Information Seeking by Older Adults and Involved Family and Friends: Design Considerations for Health Information Technologies.

Older adults are the largest consumers of healthcare. As part of a broader study of personal health information management (PHIM), we interviewed older adults in King County, Washington, and their involved family and friends (FF), regarding health information (HI) sources they seek and utilize. Analysis of interview transcripts revealed four main themes: 1) older adults and FF consider healthcare providers the foundational source of HI; 2) older adults utilize FF for seeking, sharing, and interpreting HI, while FF serve as surrogate seekers and experience-based experts; 3) online searching is common for older adults and FF, but confidence in assessing the quality of online HI is often lacking; 4) a smorgasbord approach is frequently utilized by older adults and FF for gathering and clarifying HI.

Monitoring for change: the role of family and friends in helping older adults manage personal health information.

Objective: Although family and friends (FF) often play a significant support role in the health of older adults (OA), we know little about their role in personal health information management (PHIM). To address this gap and inform the design of PHIM tools, we describe the work, needs, and barriers of FF in the context of PHIM for OAs.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with 52 FF identified by OA as being important in their health and PHIM.

Integrated Model of Chemical Perturbations of a Biological Pathway Using 18 In Vitro High-Throughput Screening Assays for the Estrogen Receptor.

We demonstrate a computational network model that integrates 18 in vitro, high-throughput screening assays measuring estrogen receptor (ER) binding, dimerization, chromatin binding, transcriptional activation, and ER-dependent cell proliferation. The network model uses activity patterns across the in vitro assays to predict whether a chemical is an ER agonist or antagonist, or is otherwise influencing the assays through a manner dependent on the physics and chemistry of the technology platform ("assay interference"). The method is applied to a library of 1812 commercial and environmental chemicals, including 45 ER positive and negative reference chemicals.

Impact of New York State's new licensure regulations for laboratory professionals on staffing of clinical laboratories.

Licensing of laboratory professionals has been a controversial issue for the individuals working in these professions for many years. In New York State (NYS), licensing of laboratory professionals has been debated for over three decades and did not become law until 2005. The NYS licensure law stipulates specific educational requirements that include course work as well as curricular content areas.

Device for intervertebral assisted motion: technique and initial results.

Object: The DIAM is a polyester-encased silicone interspinous dynamic stabilization device that can unload the anterior column and reestablish the functional integrity of the posterior column.

Methods: The DIAM was implanted in 104 patients between May 1, 2001 and October 30, 2001. A retrospective evaluation was performed based on chart review and patient questionnaire at a median follow-up interval of 18.

Pandemic influenza preparedness in Maryland: improving readiness through a tabletop exercise.

In February 1999, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene initiated pandemic influenza planning for the state of Maryland. This process involved several major steps, including the development of the Maryland Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Plan, and culminated in a high-level tabletop exercise to test the plan in April 2004. During the tabletop exercise, participants were presented with nine different fictitious scripts encompassing a single scenario.

Acceptability and satisfaction with a telecarer approach to the management of type 2 diabetes.

Objective: To examine patients' views of the acceptability of and satisfaction with telephone care center support provided to improve blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: The Pro-Active Call-Center Treatment Support (PACCTS) Trial randomized patients from 47 general practices in a deprived urban area in northwest England to usual care or to proactive call center support in addition to usual care. Satisfaction with care was assessed in all 591 patients at baseline and the end of the study using the Diabetes Satisfaction and Treatment Questionnaire (DTSQ).

Pro-active call center treatment support (PACCTS) to improve glucose control in type 2 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To determine whether Pro-Active Call Center Treatment Support (PACCTS), using trained nonmedical telephonists supported by specially designed software and a diabetes nurse, can effectively improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes.

Research Design And Methods: A randomized controlled implementation trial of 1-year duration was conducted in Salford, U.K.

Learning from the experience of working with consumers in educational developments.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to report the experience of working with local parents as collaborators in an educationally focussed research study. This work subsequently led to the development of a new module aimed at professionals providing parenting support. The ensuing discussion centres on the involvement of healthcare consumers in the development of educational programmes.

Crystalline variational methods.

A surface free energy function is defined to be crystalline if its Wulff shape (the equilibrium crystal shape) is a polyhedron. All the questions that one considers for the area functional, where the surface free energy per unit area is 1 for all normal directions, can be considered for crystalline surface free energies. Such questions are interesting for both mathematical and physical reasons.

Development of a screening tool to assess risk of tardive dyskinesia.

This article gives an overview of antipsychotic medication and of tardive dyskinesia (TD). It examines the research available on TD as it relates to people with a learning disability (PWLD). The evidence identifies that specific groups of people are at an increased risk of developing TD.

A predominant role for Norwalk-like viruses as agents of epidemic gastroenteritis in Maryland nursing homes for the elderly.

Stool specimens from 156 Maryland nursing home residents, who became ill during 20 outbreaks of gastroenteritis from November 1987 through February 1988, were analyzed. All tested negative for astroviruses, enteroviruses, Group A rotaviruses, Sapporo-like caliciviruses, and enteric bacteria (i.e.