Service Utilization and Consumer-Reported Unmet Needs in Medicaid Home- and Community-Based Services for Older Adults.

Home- and community-based services (HCBS) are increasingly favored over nursing home care by older consumers and by policymakers. Consumer-reported unmet service needs in HCBS are important service quality and person-centeredness indicators. Yet, we know little about consumer-reported unmet needs among HCBS users.

Differences in ongoing thought between autistic and non-autistic adults.

Autistic people may be distinguishable from non-autistic individuals in the content and modality of their thoughts. Such differences potentially underlie both psychological vulnerability and strengths, motivating the need to better understand autistic thought patterns. In non-clinical undergraduates, a recent study found that autistic traits were associated with thinking more in words than images.

"I'm Trying to Reach Out, I'm Trying to Find My People": A Mixed-Methods Investigation of the Link Between Sensory Differences, Loneliness, and Mental Health in Autistic and Nonautistic Adults.

Background: Rates of loneliness are substantially higher among autistic compared with nonautistic individuals. This observation refutes the persistent stereotype that autistic individuals are not motivated to seek meaningful social relationships. More plausibly, social environments systematically exclude people with higher levels of sensory differences, impeding on opportunities for autistic individuals to form meaningful relationships.

A Proposed Decision-Making Framework for the Translation of In-Person Clinical Care to Digital Care: Tutorial.

The continued demand for digital health requires that providers adapt thought processes to enable sound clinical decision-making in digital settings. Providers report that lack of training is a barrier to providing digital health care. Physical examination techniques and hands-on interventions must be adjusted in safe, reliable, and feasible ways to provide digital care, and decision-making may be impacted by modifications made to these techniques.

ST-2560, a selective inhibitor of the Na1.7 sodium channel, affects nocifensive and cardiovascular reflexes in non-human primates.

Background And Purpose: The voltage-gated sodium channel isoform Na1.7 is a high-interest target for the development of non-opioid analgesics due to its preferential expression in pain-sensing neurons. Na1.

The extent and growth of prior authorization in Medicare Advantage.

Objectives: To assess trends in the use of prior authorization requirements among Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.

Study Design: Descriptive quantitative analysis.

Methods: Data were from the CMS MA benefit and enrollment files for 2009-2019, supplemented with area-level data on demographic and provider market characteristics.

Checking nasogastric tube safety in children cared for in the community: a re-examination of the evidence base.

Nasogastric tube feeding is generally considered safe provided a nasogastric aspirate with a pH ≤5.5, which indicates that the end of tube is correctly located in the stomach, can be obtained. When this is not possible, hospital attendance or admission is usually required so that an X-ray can be undertaken to check the tube's position.

Development of a Digital Health Intervention to Support Patients on a Waitlist for Orthopedic Specialist Care: Co-Design Study.

Background: The demand for orthopedic specialist consultations for patients with osteoarthritis in public hospitals is high and continues to grow. Lengthy waiting times are increasingly affecting patients from low socioeconomic and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who are more likely to rely on public health care.

Objective: This study aimed to co-design a digital health intervention for patients with OA who are waiting for an orthopedic specialist consultation at a public health service, which is located in local government areas (LGAs) of identified social and economic disadvantage.

First safety outcomes for rigicon conticlassic® artificial urinary sphincter.

The Rigicon ContiClassic® is a new sphincteric device designed to treat male stress urinary incontinence. This study evaluates the surgical outcomes and safety profile of the first 116 patients who received the implant between September 2021 and April 2022. Data were collected from patient information forms completed at the time of the implant and submitted by implanting surgeons, nursing staff in the Operating Room or company representatives present during the surgery.

Demographic, social, and behavioral correlates of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity in a representative, population-based study of Minnesota residents.

Background: Monitoring COVID-19 infection risk in the general population is a public health priority. Few studies have measured seropositivity using representative, probability samples. The present study measured seropositivity in a representative population of Minnesota residents prior to vaccines and assess the characteristics, behaviors, and beliefs of the population at the outset of the pandemic and their association with subsequent infection.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in a Population-Based Study of Minnesota Residents.

COVID-19 continues to be a public health concern in the United States. Although safe and effective vaccines have been developed, a significant proportion of the US population has not received a COVID-19 vaccine. This cross-sectional study aimed to describe the demographics and behaviors of Minnesota adults who have not received the primary series of the COVID-19 vaccine, or the booster shot using data from the Minnesota COVID-19 Antibody Study (MCAS) collected through a population-based sample between September and December 2021.

Comparing Dementia Classification by Self-Report and Administrative Records in the National Core Indicators-Aging and Disability Survey: A Predictive Modeling Approach.

Policymakers are interested in the long-term services and supports (LTSS) needs of people living with dementia. The National Core Indicators-Aging and Disability (NCI-AD) survey is conducted to evaluate LTSS care needs. However, dementia reporting in NCI-AD varies across states, and is either obtained from state administrative records or self-reported during the survey.

Elucidating the Origin of Plasmon-Generated Hot Holes in Water Oxidation.

Plasmon-generated hot electrons in metal/oxide heterostructures have been used extensively for driving photochemistry. However, little is known about the origin of plasmon-generated hot holes in promoting photochemical reactions. Herein, we discover that, during the nonradiative plasmon decay, the interband excitation rather than the intraband excitation generates energetic hot holes that enable to drive the water oxidation at the Au/TiO interface.

Technological advances in penile implants: past, present, future.

Attempts to "cure" erectile dysfunction (ED) are as old as recorded history. The history of penile prosthetic devices dates back over 500 years, when a French military surgeon designed the first known wooden prosthesis to support micturition. There have since been a great many technological advancements in penile prosthetics.

Patient-facing job role is associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity among healthcare workers in long term care facilities in Minnesota, August-December, 2020.

Objective: Healthcare workers (HCWs) in long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are disproportionately affected by severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). To characterize factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 positivity among LTCF HCWs, we performed a retrospective cohort study among HCWs in 32 LTCFs in the Minneapolis-St Paul region.

Methods: We analyzed the outcome of SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity among LTCF HCWs during weeks 34-52 of 2020.

Association of Primary Care Visit Length With Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing.

Importance: Time is a valuable resource in primary care, and physicians and patients consistently raise concerns about inadequate time during visits. However, there is little evidence on whether shorter visits translate into lower-quality care.

Objective: To investigate variations in primary care visit length and quantify the association between visit length and potentially inappropriate prescribing decisions by primary care physicians.

Examining Satisfaction and Quality in Home- and Community-Based Service Programs in the United States: A Scoping Review.

Background And Objectives: Long-term services and supports in the United States are increasingly reliant on home- and community-based services (HCBS). Yet, little is known about the quality of HCBS. We conducted a scoping review of the peer-reviewed literature to summarize HCBS consumer, provider, and stakeholder satisfaction with services as a means of assessing quality.

Unmet Needs for Help With Mobility Limitations Among Older Adults Aging in Place: The Role of Rurality.

Objectives: This study identifies differences in unmet mobility needs among older adults living in rural versus urban areas.

Methods: We used data from Round 9 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), limiting our analyses to respondents who had not moved since baseline (average housing tenure of 27 years; = 3343). We conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses to detect rural/urban differences in unmet mobility needs, adjusting for socio-demographics, health status, and housing characteristics.

Discovery of Selective Inhibitors of Na1.7 Templated on Saxitoxin as Therapeutics for Pain.

The voltage-gated sodium channel isoform Na1.7 has drawn widespread interest as a target for non-opioid, investigational new drugs to treat pain. Selectivity over homologous, off-target sodium channel isoforms, which are expressed in peripheral motor neurons, the central nervous system, skeletal muscle and the heart, poses a significant challenge to the development of small molecule inhibitors of Na1.

An Evaluation of Ethograms Measuring Distinct Features of Enrichment Use by Captive Chimpanzees ().

Environmental enrichment provides mental stimulation and minimizes abnormal behaviors in captive animals. In captive chimpanzees, individual animals may vary in the ways in which they benefit from enrichment or use enrichment devices, so investigating nuances in enrichment use may improve the welfare of captive chimpanzees. In the current study, three ethograms measuring distinct features of enrichment use (i.

Vapor Sorption-Desorption Phenomena of HD and GB Simulants from Polyurethane Thin Films on Aluminum Oxide via a Quartz Crystal Microbalance.

Protection and decontamination of surfaces after exposure to chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are of considerable interest to the homeland defense and battlespace operation communities. In this work, polyurethane was spin-coated onto aluminum oxide quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensors. Polyurethane film thickness was varied by altering the concentration of the polymer/chloroform solution used for spin-coating.

Associations Between Use of Paid Help and Care Experiences Among Medicare-Medicaid Enrolled Older Adults With and Without Dementia.

Objectives: Community-living older Medicare and Medicaid enrollees ("dual-enrollees") have high care needs and commonly receive paid and unpaid long-term services and supports (LTSS) to help with routine activities. Little is known about whether receiving paid help or individuals' state and neighborhood environmental context ("LTSS environment") relates to dual-enrollees' care experiences.

Methods: We examine a sample of n = 979 community-dwelling dual-enrollees with disabilities from 2011 to 2015 National Health and Aging Trends Study, linked to measures of neighborhood disadvantage and state Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS) generosity.