Mortality and Function After Hip Fracture or Pneumonia in People With and Without Dementia.

Background: The extent to which disruptive surgical or medical events impact mortality and function is critical for anticipatory planning and informing goal-aligned care.

Methods: Using Health and Retirement Study data (2008-2018), we employed propensity score matching to compare the impact of hospitalization for hip fracture (a surgical event) or pneumonia (a medical event) among people with dementia to two groups: (1) people with dementia who did not experience these events; and (2) people without dementia who experienced an event. Dementia status was determined using validated cognitive assessments (Hurd method); hip fracture and pneumonia were identified from Medicare claims.

Do Physical Activities Prevent the Occurrence of Bothersome Pain?

We examined the associations between physical activity (PA)-measured through self-reported walking and vigorous activities-and pain occurrence (self-reported bothersome pain or frequent pain medication use), and persistent pain (pain occurring for two consecutive years). This analysis used a large, nationally representative sample of 2279 older adults from the National Health and Aging Trends Study of 2015-2018, and applied generalized estimating equation regression with propensity score weighting. Approximately 70% and 50% of the participants reported walking and vigorous activities respectively at baseline.

Neuromuscular junction visualization in paraffin-embedded thyroarytenoid muscle sections: Expanding options beyond frozen section analysis.

Objectives: The current gold standard for immunofluorescent (IF) visualization of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) in muscle utilizes frozen tissue sections with fluorescent conjugated antibodies to demarcate neurons and IF alpha-bungarotoxin (α-BTX) to demarcate motor endplates. Frozen tissue sectioning comes with inherent inescapable limitations, including cryosectioning artifact and limited sample shelf-life. However, a parallel approach to identify NMJs in paraffin-embedded tissue sections has not been previously described.

Building evidence-based interventions to improve staff well-being in paediatric critical care using the behaviour change wheel.

Background: Research has demonstrated that staff working in Paediatric Critical Care (PCC) experience high levels of burnout, post-traumatic stress and moral distress. There is very little evidence of how this problem could be addressed.

Aim: To develop evidence-based, psychologically informed interventions designed to improve PCC staff well-being that can be feasibility tested on a large scale.

The Yucatan Minipig: A Reliable Model for Studying Unilateral Vocal Fold Paralysis.

Objectives/hypothesis: Given the complex pathology underlying unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP), there has been limited systematic exploration of curative treatments in humans. Central to the investigation of experimental therapies includes establishing a reliable and analogous large animal model. The study goal was to create a standardized porcine model of UVFP by establishing characteristic pathophysiology and functional outcomes.