Further Evidence of Feasibility, Validity, and Reliability of Quality of Life-Aged Care Consumers: Evidence From Home-Based Care Settings.

Objectives: The Quality of Life-Aged Care Consumers (QOL-ACC) is an aged-care-specific preference-based instrument currently being rolled out in residential care across Australia as part of the aged care Quality Indicator program. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the feasibility, reliability, and construct validity of the QOL-ACC in a large national sample of older adults receiving aged care services at home.

Methods: Older adults receiving in-home aged care services completed a survey including the QOL-ACC, Quality of Care Experience-ACC, adult social care outcome tool, EQ-5D-5L, and 2 global single item measures of health and quality of life.

Burden of skin disease in two remote primary healthcare centres in northern and central Australia.

The burden of skin infections across all age groups in remote Australian Indigenous communities is currently unknown. In a retrospective audit of 439 residents from two remote communities presenting to health clinics, skin conditions were the most common reason for presentation (1603/7392, 22%) and 330/439 (75%) residents presented at least once with a skin infection. Skin infections are an under-appreciated and dominant reason for presentation to primary healthcare centres in these indigenous communities and public health campaigns to address this should incorporate all age groups.

Heating of Newborn Infants due to Blue Light-Emitting Diode Fibreoptic Phototherapy Pads.

Background: Surface temperatures of fibreoptic phototherapy pads using a high intensity blue light-emitting diode (LED) light source have not been studied.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to measure the temperature of LED fibreoptic phototherapy pads during phototherapy in a bench-top study, and to determine temperature effects on babies during phototherapy.

Methods: A commercially available LED fibreoptic phototherapy system was tested.

Prior exposure to hyperglycaemia attenuates the relationship between glycaemic variability during critical illness and mortality.

Objective: Our primary objective was to determine the impact of prior exposure to hyperglycaemia on the association between glycaemic variability during critical illness and mortality. Our secondary objectives included evaluating the relationships between prior hyperglycaemia and hyperglycaemia or hypoglycaemia during critical illness and mortality.

Design And Participants: A single-centre, retrospective, observational study in a tertiary intensive care unit.

Gene silencing of EXTL2 and EXTL3 as a substrate deprivation therapy for heparan sulphate storing mucopolysaccharidoses.

Neurological pathology is characteristic of the mucopolysaccharidoses (MPSs) that store heparan sulphate (HS) glycosaminoglycan (gag) and has been proven to be refractory to systemic therapies. Substrate deprivation therapy (SDT) using general inhibitors of gag synthesis improves neurological function in mouse models of MPS, but is not specific to an MPS type. We have investigated RNA interference (RNAi) as a method of targeting SDT to the HS synthesising enzymes, EXTL2 and EXTL3.