Assessing the Usability of Web-Based Alcohol Education for Older Adults: A Feasibility Study.

Background: Older adults can experience unfavorable health effects from drinking at relatively low consumption levels because of age-related physiological changes and alcohol's potentially adverse interactions with declining health, increased medication-use and diminishing functional status. At the same time, alcohol use in older adults may be protective against heart disease, stroke, and other disorders associated with aging. We developed "A Toast to Health in Later Life! Wise Drinking as We Age," a web-based educational intervention to teach older adults to balance drinking risks and benefits.

Effect of health risk assessment and counselling on health behaviour and survival in older people: a pragmatic randomised trial.

Background: Potentially avoidable risk factors continue to cause unnecessary disability and premature death in older people. Health risk assessment (HRA), a method successfully used in working-age populations, is a promising method for cost-effective health promotion and preventive care in older individuals, but the long-term effects of this approach are unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of an innovative approach to HRA and counselling in older individuals for health behaviours, preventive care, and long-term survival.

Developing and Evaluating a Website to Guide Older Adults in Their Health Information Searches: A Mixed-Methods Approach.

This mixed-methods study developed and evaluated an online program to improve older adults' skills in identifying high-quality web-based health information. We conducted focus groups and individual interviews to collect data on older adults' preferences for online instruction and information. We used the findings to develop, pilot test, and evaluate an interactive website which was grounded in health behavior change models, adult education, and website construction.

Development of an Australian version of the Alcohol-Related Problems Survey: a comprehensive computerised screening tool for older adults.

Aim: The Alcohol-Related Problems Survey (ARPS) reliably classifies drinking as non-hazardous, hazardous or harmful using scoring algorithms that consider quantity and frequency of alcohol use alone and in combination with health conditions, medication-use and functional status. Because it has been developed using a 14-g US standard drink, it is not valid in Australia where a standard drink contains 10 g of ethanol.

Method: We recalibrated the ARPS scoring algorithms for a 10-g Australian standard drink and updated the list of medications.

A randomized trial of effects of health risk appraisal combined with group sessions or home visits on preventive behaviors in older adults.

Background: To explore effects of a health risk appraisal for older people (HRA-O) program with reinforcement, we conducted a randomized controlled trial in 21 general practices in Hamburg, Germany.

Methods: Overall, 2,580 older patients of 14 general practitioners trained in reinforcing recommendations related to HRA-O-identified risk factors were randomized into intervention (n = 878) and control (n = 1,702) groups. Patients (n = 746) of seven additional matched general practitioners who did not receive this training served as a comparison group.

Autosomal recessive hyponatremia due to isolated salt wasting in sweat associated with a mutation in the active site of Carbonic Anhydrase 12.

Genetic disorders of excessive salt loss from sweat glands have been observed in pseudohypoaldosteronism type I (PHA) and cystic fibrosis that result from mutations in genes encoding epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) subunits and the transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), respectively. We identified a novel autosomal recessive form of isolated salt wasting in sweat, which leads to severe infantile hyponatremic dehydration. Three affected individuals from a small Bedouin clan presented with failure to thrive, hyponatremic dehydration and hyperkalemia with isolated sweat salt wasting.

Familial neonatal isolated cardiomyopathy caused by a mutation in the flavoprotein subunit of succinate dehydrogenase.

Cardiomyopathies are common disorders resulting in heart failure; the most frequent form is dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), which is characterized by dilatation of the left or both ventricles and impaired systolic function. DCM causes considerable morbidity and mortality, and is one of the major causes of sudden cardiac death. Although about one-third of patients are reported to have a genetic form of DCM, reported mutations explain only a minority of familial DCM.

Social network assessment in community-dwelling older persons: results from a study of three European populations.

Background And Aims: In clinical practice, the status of living alone is often used as the only measure describing an older person's social network. We evaluated whether additional use of a brief social network measure provides relevant additional information in relation to social support and engagement.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey of 6982 community- dwelling adults 65 years or older living in London, UK; Hamburg, Germany; and Solothurn, Switzerland.

The self-administered 24-item geriatric pain measure (GPM-24-SA): psychometric properties in three European populations of community-dwelling older adults.

Objective: To explore the feasibility and psychometric properties of a self-administered version of the 24-item Geriatric Pain Measure (GPM-24-SA).

Design: Secondary analysis of baseline data from the Prevention in Older People-Assessment in Generalists' practices trial, an international multi-center study of a health-risk appraisal system.

Participants: One thousand seventy-two community dwelling nondisabled older adults self-reporting pain from London, UK; Hamburg, Germany; and Solothurn, Switzerland.

Preclinical disability as a risk factor for falls in community-dwelling older adults.

Background: Falls are common and serious problems in older adults. The goal of this study was to examine whether preclinical disability predicts incident falls in a European population of community-dwelling older adults.

Methods: Secondary data analysis was performed on a population-based longitudinal study of 1644 community-dwelling older adults living in London, U.

Geriatric Pain Measure short form: development and initial evaluation.

Objectives: To develop and evaluate a short form of the 24-item Geriatric Pain Measure (GPM) for use in community-dwelling older adults.

Design: Derivation and validation of a 12-item version of the GPM in a European and an independent U.S.

Adding an alcohol-related risk score to an existing categorical risk classification for older adults: sensitivity to group differences.

Objectives: To evaluate a new alcohol-related risk score for research use.

Design: Using data from a previously reported trial of a screening and education system for older adults (Computerized Alcohol-Related Problems Survey), secondary analyses were conducted comparing the ability of two different measures of risk to detect post-intervention group differences: the original categorical outcome measure and a new, finely grained quantitative risk score based on the same research-based risk factors.

Setting: Three primary care group practices in southern California.

The PRO-AGE study: an international randomised controlled study of health risk appraisal for older persons based in general practice.

Background: This paper describes the study protocol, the recruitment, and base-line data for evaluating the success of randomisation of the PRO-AGE (PRevention in Older people-Assessment in GEneralists' practices) project.

Methods/design: A group of general practitioners (GPs) in London (U.K.

Development, feasibility and performance of a health risk appraisal questionnaire for older persons.

Background: Health risk appraisal is a promising method for health promotion and prevention in older persons. The Health Risk Appraisal for the Elderly (HRA-E) developed in the U.S.

Performance of an abbreviated version of the Lubben Social Network Scale among three European community-dwelling older adult populations.

Purpose: There is a need for valid and reliable short scales that can be used to assess social networks and social supports and to screen for social isolation in older persons.

Design And Methods: The present study is a cross-national and cross-cultural evaluation of the performance of an abbreviated version of the Lubben Social Network Scale (LSNS-6), which was used to screen for social isolation among community-dwelling older adult populations in three European countries. Based on the concept of lack of redundancy of social ties we defined clinical cut-points of the LSNS-6 for identifying persons deemed at risk for social isolation.

Predicting the risk of hospital admission in older persons--validation of a brief self-administered questionnaire in three European countries.

Objectives: To validate the Probability of Repeated Admission (Pra) questionnaire, a widely used self-administered tool for predicting future healthcare use in older persons, in three European healthcare systems.

Design: Prospective study with 1-year follow-up.

Setting: Hamburg, Germany; London, United Kingdom; Canton of Solothurn, Switzerland.

An evaluation of an intervention to assist primary care physicians in screening and educating older patients who use alcohol.

Objectives: To evaluate whether providing physicians and older patients with personalized reports of drinking risks and benefits and patient education reduces alcohol-related risks and problems.

Design: Prospective comparison study.

Setting: Community primary care.

Identification of a locus for nongoitrous congenital hypothyroidism on chromosome 15q25.3-26.1.

Permanent congenital hypothyroidism is the most prevalent inborn endocrine disorder, and principally due to developmental defects leading to absent, ectopic or hypoplastic thyroid gland. Although commonly regarded as sporadic disease, nonsyndromic thyroid hypoplasia has, in rare cases, been attributed to inherited defects in PAX8 and the TSHR gene. The shared clinical picture caused by these defects is a variable degree of thyrotropin resistance (RTSH [MIM 275200]), accompanied in its severe form by thyroid gland hypoplasia.

Strategic mutations in the class I major histocompatibility complex HLA-A2 independently affect both peptide binding and T cell receptor recognition.

Mutational studies of T cell receptor (TCR) contact residues on the surface of the human class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule HLA-A2 have identified a "functional hot spot" that comprises Arg(65) and Lys(66) and is involved in recognition by most peptide-specific HLA-A2-restricted TCRs. Although there is a significant amount of functional data on the effects of mutations at these positions, there is comparatively little biochemical information that could illuminate their mode of action. Here, we have used a combination of fluorescence anisotropy, functional assays, and Biacore binding experiments to examine the effects of mutations at these positions on the peptide-MHC interaction and TCR recognition.

Comparing the alcohol-related problems survey (ARPS) to traditional alcohol screening measures in elderly outpatients.

Older drinkers may incur alcohol-related risks at low consumption levels, but commonly used screening measures do not address alcohol's effects among persons with declining health and increased medication use. We compared the newly developed Alcohol-Related Problems Survey (ARPS) to three validated alcohol screens: the Cut down, Annoyed, Guilty, Eye-opener (CAGE), Short-Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (SMAST), and Alcohol-Use Identification Test (AUDIT). The ARPS classifies drinking as non-hazardous, hazardous or harmful.