If We Build It, Why They Do Not Come? An American College of Surgeons National Quality Improvement Collaborative to Understand Barriers to Completion of Cancer Treatment.

Purpose: Many patients face barriers to cancer care, leading to disparities in cancer-specific outcomes. Specifically, missing multiple radiation treatments can be associated with increased locoregional recurrence. We sought to assess the frequency and reasons for missed radiotherapy among accredited cancer programs participating in a national quality improvement (QI) collaborative addressing barriers to care.

Vitamin D, periodontitis and tooth loss in older Irish adults.

The aim of this study is to investigate whether 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) is associated with periodontitis and tooth loss in older adults. A total of 2346 adults underwent a detailed dental examination as part of the health assessment of a national population study - The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing. 25(OH)D analysis was performed on frozen non-fasting total plasma using LC-MS.

Cardiovascular Autonomic Function and Progression of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in The Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing (TILDA).

Purpose: To examine if changes in hemodynamic measures during an orthostatic challenge were associated with progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) over a 4-year period in The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

Methods: Participants with AMD who underwent an active stand (AS) test at wave 1 (2009/2010) and retinal photographs at both wave 1 and wave 3 (2014/2015) were included (N = 159: 121 with no AMD progression and 38 with progression). Beat-to-beat hemodynamic data were non-invasively collected using a Finometer MIDI device during the AS at wave 1, recording systolic blood pressure (sBP), diastolic blood pressure (dBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and heart rate.

Examining mental health and autonomic function as putative mediators of the relationship between sleep and trajectories of cognitive function: findings from the Irish longitudinal study on ageing (TILDA).

Objectives: This study investigates the mediating roles of autonomic function and mental health in the association between sleep and cognitive decline in adults aged 50 and above.

Method: A total of 2,697 participants with observations on sleep and mediators at baseline and repeated measures of cognitive function (MMSE) were included. Clusters of individuals with similar cognitive trajectories (high-stable, mid-stable and low-declining) were identified.

Sleep duration and disturbance are associated with orthostatic heart rate recovery: Findings from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing.

Objective: To examine a novel measurement of autonomic innervation, the early heart rate response to orthostasis, in relation to sleep duration and disturbance (actigraphy-based and self-reported) in healthy older adults.

Design: Cross-sectional analyses of a nationally representative prospective cohort study, the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA).

Participants: Nine hundred sixty community-dwelling adults aged 50 and over (mean age 65.