Strengthening the Frontline Response to Elder Abuse: Qualitative Insights From Australian Paramedics.

In this research we identified the training needs of paramedics in Australia regarding elder abuse identification and response. Ten qualitative interviews with paramedics and paramedic educators from each state and territory were conducted between January and March 2024. Participants encountered elder abuse in their professional capacity, often manifesting as neglect although responses were variable, influenced by the jurisdiction, whether the paramedic had specialist training, how much "scene time" was permitted, workload pressures, and if there were clear protocols and guidelines from the ambulance service on how to respond to elder abuse.

Codesigning training for health providers to improve detection and response to elder abuse.

Background And Objectives: Screening for elder abuse can improve detection, but many health providers lack the necessary skills and confidence. To address this, training for health providers on elder abuse screening was co-designed as part of a trial aimed at improving elder abuse detection and response.

Research Design And Methods: Between March and April 2023, 7 health providers and 10 older people and family carers participated in two national Australian online codesign workshops.

Recruitment, retention and reporting of variables related to ethnic diversity in randomised controlled trials: an umbrella review.

Objective: This umbrella review synthesises evidence on the methods used to recruit and retain ethnically diverse participants and report and analyse variables related to ethnic diversity in randomised controlled trials.

Design: Umbrella review.

Data Sources: Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Cochrane and Campbell Libraries for review papers published between 1 January 2010 and 13 May 2024.

The impact of elder abuse training on subacute health providers and older adults: study protocol for a randomized control trial.

Background: Elder abuse often goes unreported and undetected. Older people may be ashamed, fearful, or otherwise reticent to disclose abuse, and many health providers are not confident in asking about it. In the No More Shame study, we will evaluate a co-designed, multi-component intervention that aims to improve health providers' recognition, response, and referral of elder abuse.

"We are not invited": Australian focus group results on how to improve ethnic diversity in trials.

Objectives: Lack of ethnic diversity in trials may contribute to health disparities and to inequity in health outcomes. The primary objective was to investigate the experiences and perspectives of ethnically diverse populations about how to improve ethnic diversity in trials.

Study Design And Setting: Qualitative data were collected via 16 focus groups with participants from 21 ethnically diverse communities in Australia.

Australian Frontline Service Response to Elder Abuse During COVID-19: Learnings, Successes, and Preparedness for Disaster.

This study examines how service providers in Victoria, Australia, undertook early intervention and response to elder abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021. This study comprised two phases: (a) interviews with 29 staff members from 23 frontline service organizations about their experience responding to the needs of vulnerable older people during COVID-19; followed by (b) a co-design workshop with 15 service providers to discuss and endorse recommendations to improve sector preparedness for early intervention and responses to elder abuse during disasters. Participants reported that the severity and frequency of elder abuse increased during the pandemic, and that remoteness of services undermined comprehensive risk assessments, especially for older people who were not proficient in English and/or current digital platforms.

Preclinical development and characterization of a human plasma-derived high-purity factor X concentrate for therapeutic use.

Introduction: Hereditary factor X deficiency is a rare bleeding disorder, with limited treatment options. This paper describes the approach to pre-clinical development and characterization of a high-purity plasma-derived factor X concentrate, to achieve orphan drug marketing authorization for the treatment of hereditary factor X deficiency.

Methods: A chromatographic process was developed, to purify factor X from human plasma for fractionation.

Hair regrowth treatment efficacy and resistance in androgenetic alopecia: A systematic review and continuous Bayesian network meta-analysis.

Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) affects almost half the population, and several treatments intending to regenerate a normal scalp hair phenotype are used. This is the first study comparing treatment efficacy response and resistance using standardized continuous outcomes.

Objective: To systematically compare the relative efficacy of treatments used for terminal hair (TH) regrowth in women and men with AGA.

Proposed mechanism for rare thrombotic events after use of some Covid-19 vaccines.

Administration of AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Covid-19 vaccines which use an adenovirus vector for DNA delivery has been associated with very rare thromboembolic complications coupled with an immune response to platelet factor 4 protein. The cause of this has not yet been identified. It is known that binding of coagulation factor proteins to the surface of some adenoviruses can protect their function.

Safety and efficacy of ALRV5XR in men with androgenetic alopecia: A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common hair loss disorder seen in men. It can have an early onset but has also been associated with ageing and senescence. It often induces pronounced psychological impact.

Safety and efficacy of ALRV5XR in women with androgenetic alopecia or telogen effluvium: A randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Background: Scalp hair loss (alopecia) in women is a common ageing and senescing condition. It usually presents as androgenetic alopecia (AGA) or telogen effluvium (TE) and often has pronounced psychological consequences. ALRV5XR is a novel treatment aiming to regenerate a normal hair phenotype by targeting multiple molecular pathways linked to hair growth promotion and hair follicle stem cell activation.

iConnect CKD - virtual medical consulting: A web-based chronic kidney disease, hypertension and diabetes integrated care program.

Aims: Chronic kidney disease patients overwhelm specialist services and can potentially be managed in the primary care (PC). Opportunistic screening of high risk (HR) patients and follow-up in PC is the most sustainable model of care. A 'virtual consultation' (VC) model instead of traditional face to face (F2F) consultations was used, aiming to assess efficacy and safety of the model.

A meta-analysis of the consistency of atomoxetine treatment effects in pediatric patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder from 15 clinical trials across four geographic regions.

Objective: Atomoxetine has been approved as a treatment for children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the United States, throughout Europe, and in other countries. This meta-analysis was to assess the consistency of the treatment effect of atomoxetine across four global geographic regions.

Methods: Data from 15 acute, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials were pooled (2 in Asia, 4 in Europe, 8 in North America, and 1 in Russia), yielding 2569 pediatric patients with ADHD.

A systematic narrative review of consumer-directed care for older people: implications for model development.

Consumer-directed care is increasingly becoming a mainstream option in community-based aged care. However, a systematic review describing how the current evaluation research translates into practise has not been published to date. This review aimed to systematically establish an evidence base of user preferences for and satisfaction with services associated with consumer-directed care programmes for older people.

Treatment-completion rates with olanzapine long-acting injection versus risperidone long-acting injection in a 12-month, open-label treatment of schizophrenia: indirect, exploratory comparisons.

Background: Little is known about the comparative effectiveness of atypical antipsychotics in long-acting injection formulation. Due to the absence of head-to-head studies comparing olanzapine long-acting injection and risperidone long-acting injection, this study was intended to make exploratory, indirect, cross-study comparisons between the long-acting formulations of these two atypical antipsychotics in their effectiveness in treating patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: Indirect, cross-study comparisons between olanzapine long-acting injection and risperidone long-acting injection used 12-month treatment-completion rates, because discontinuation of an antipsychotic for any cause is a recognized proxy measure of the medication's effectiveness in treating schizophrenia.

Comparison of patients undergoing switching versus augmentation of antipsychotic medications during treatment for schizophrenia.

It is often difficult to determine whether a patient may best benefit by augmenting their current medication or switching them to another. This post-hoc analysis compares patients' clinical and functional profiles at the time their antipsychotic medications were either switched or augmented. Adult outpatients receiving oral antipsychotic treatment for schizophrenia were assessed during a 12-month international observational study.

Responses to antipsychotic therapy among patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and either predominant or prominent negative symptoms.

Patients with schizophrenia who have predominant negative symptoms are often considered less responsive to treatment. This analysis of patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder compares changes in symptom severity between those with predominant versus merely prominent negative symptoms. Prominent negative symptoms were defined by a baseline score of ≥4 on at least 3, or ≥5 on at least 2, of the 7 Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) negative subscale items.

Factors associated with adherence to treatment with olanzapine and other atypical antipsychotic medications in patients with schizophrenia.

Objectives: Poor treatment response is an important factor contributing to lack of treatment adherence. The goals of this research were to determine whether improvements in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) symptom domains predict the likelihood of staying on treatment and whether differential responses to treatment with various atypical antipsychotics in specific symptom domains account for differences in discontinuation rates or treatment adherence.

Methods: We conducted a post-hoc analysis of pooled data from 5 randomized, double-blind, 24- to 28-week clinical trials in 1103 olanzapine-treated and 1090 risperidone-, quetiapine-, ziprasidone-, or aripiprazole-treated adult patients with schizophrenia.

Patient perspectives on antipsychotic treatments and their association with clinical outcomes.

This analysis examined patient-reported attitudes toward antipsychotic medication and the relationship of these attitudes with clinical outcomes and pharmacotherapy adherence. The analysis included three randomized, double-blind studies in patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or schizophreniform disorder diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition and randomly assigned to treatment with olanzapine 5-20 mg/day or another antipsychotic (haloperidol 2-20 mg/day, risperidone 2-10 mg/day, or ziprasidone 80-160 mg/day). Patient-reported improvements were significantly greater for olanzapine (n = 488) versus other treatments (haloperidol n = 145, risperidone n = 158, or ziprasidone n = 271) on multiple Drug Attitude Inventory items.