Hospice Family Caregiver Involvement in Care Plan Meetings: A Mixed-Methods Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background And Objective: Untrained family caregivers struggle with complicated medical management regimens for hospice patients. An intervention was tested to improve caregiver's perception of pain management and patient's pain.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The intervention was tested with a 2-group (usual care vs intervention) randomized controlled trial using parallel mixed-methods analysis of 446 caregivers in 3 Midwestern hospice programs representing rural and urban settings.

"I Have to Age in This Body": Lesbian and Bisexual Older Women's Perspectives on a Health Behavior Intervention.

Background: Despite the body of literature that suggests lesbian and bisexual (LB) women are more likely to be overweight or obese than heterosexual women and the overwhelming evidence that tailored interventions are most effective at changing behavior, a vacuum of culturally appropriate programs designed specifically for LB women still exists. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine LB women's perceptions of Project LOLA (Living Out, Living Actively), a 16-week intentional health promotion program tailored specifically for LB women aged 40 and older.

Methods: Researchers conducting this qualitative descriptive study employed a template approach to text analysis to capture insights into participants' perceptions of Project LOLA.

Pain in Hospice Patients With Dementia: The Informal Caregiver Experience.

Introduction: At the end of life, patients with dementia often experience high levels of pain due to complex interplay of disease processes and numerous barriers to symptom management. In the hospice setting, informal caregivers play an essential role in pain management. This study describes their experience managing pain in hospice patients with dementia.

Challenges and Strategies for Hospice Caregivers: A Qualitative Analysis.

Purpose: Family caregivers of hospice patients are responsible for the day-to-day care of their loved ones during the final months of life. They are faced with numerous challenges. The purpose of this study was to understand the challenges and coping strategies used by hospice caregivers as they care for their family members.

Ethical Considerations of Whole-Eye Transplantation.

Whole eye transplantation (WET) remains experimental. Long presumed impossible, recent scientific advances regarding WET suggest that it may become a clinical reality. However, the ethical implications of WET as an experimental therapeutic strategy remain largely unexplored.

The Influence of General Discrimination and Social Context on Young Urban Expecting Couples' Mental Health.

Young expecting parents face a great deal of challenges as they transition into parenthood. This paper sought to identify racial and gender differences in the relationship between general discrimination, neighborhood problems, neighborhood cohesion, and social support on the depressive and stress symptoms among young expecting couples. Results indicated perceived general discrimination and less social support was associated with increased stress and depression.

Parenting During Residency: Providing Support for Dr Mom and Dr Dad.

Background And Objectives: Parenting during family medicine residency is increasingly common. Relatively little is known about how the competing demands of work and family life affect residents.

Methods: We conducted an exploratory qualitative study of parenting family medicine residents at one program in the Midwest utilizing focus groups to understand residents' perceptions of the positive and negative characteristics of their roles as physicians and parents.

Response properties of whisker-associated primary afferent neurons following infraorbital nerve transection with microsurgical repair in adult rats.

The rodent whisker/trigeminal system, characterized by high spatial and temporal resolution, provides an experimental model for developing new therapies for improving sensory functions of damaged peripheral nerves. Here, we use controlled whisker stimulation and single-unit recordings of trigeminal ganglion cells to examine in detail the nature and time course of functional recovery of mechanoreceptive afferents following nerve transection with microsurgical repair of the infraorbital nerve (ION) branch of the trigeminal nerve in adult rats. Response measures include rapid vs.

PEG based anti-cancer drug conjugated prodrug micelles for the delivery of anti-cancer agents.

Due to the high cost and uncertain success of new drug development, tremendous effort is devoted to increasing the efficacy of established anti-cancer drugs. Development of polymer prodrug conjugates has evolved recently in the nano-medicine field for cancer diagnosis and treatment. The major advantage of using polymer drug conjugates is that the chemical and physical properties of polymers can be tuned to increase the efficacy and to reduce the toxicity of the drug.

Gender Differences in Caregiving at End of Life: Implications for Hospice Teams.

Background: Researchers have identified important gender differences in the experience of caring for a family member or friend living with advanced disease; however, trends suggest that these differences may be diminishing over time in response to changing gender roles. In addition, while many studies have found caregiving experiences and outcomes to be poorer among female caregivers, noteworthy exceptions exist.

Objective: The primary aim of this exploratory study was to determine how, if at all, current day caregiving at end of life varies by gender.

The Social Convoy for Family Caregivers Over the Course of Hospice.

Context: Family caregivers play a central role in the care of those in hospice care. Little is known about the social support networks for those providing this day-to-day care without training.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore changes in family and friend social networks among hospice caregivers over the course of the hospice stay.

Consensus on biomarkers for neuroendocrine tumour disease.

Management of neuroendocrine neoplasia represents a clinical challenge because of its late presentation, lack of treatment options, and limitations in present imaging modalities and biomarkers to guide management. Monoanalyte biomarkers have poor sensitivity, specificity, and predictive ability. A National Cancer Institute summit, held in 2007, on neuroendocrine tumours noted biomarker limitations to be a crucial unmet need in the management of neuroendocrine tumours.

A multimethod analysis of shared decision-making in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings including family caregivers.

Background: Much of the existing research on shared decision-making in hospice and palliative care focuses on the provider-patient dyad; little is known about shared decision-making that is inclusive of family members of patients with advanced disease.

Aim: We sought to describe shared decision-making as it occurred in hospice interdisciplinary team meetings that included family caregivers as participants using video-conferencing technology.

Design: We conducted a multimethod study in which we used content and thematic analysis techniques to analyze video-recordings of hospice interdisciplinary team meetings (n = 100), individual interviews of family caregivers (n = 73) and hospice staff members (n = 78), and research field notes.

Apoptotic Effects of Novel Dithiocarbamate Analogs of Emetine in Prostate Cancer Cell Lines.

Background/aim: Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death in American males. Emetine, a naturally-derived alkaloid from the Ipecacuanha plant, has been shown to have potential for anti-tumorigenic effects for cancer treatments. The objective of this study was to characterize novel emetine dithiocarbamate (EMTDTC) analogs for potent anti-tumorigenic activity with minimal toxicity to normal prostate cells and identify targeted apoptotic regulatory genes.

Coping Responses Among Hospice Family Caregivers: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Context: Hospice family caregivers must often cope with significant stressors. Research into the ways caregivers attempt to cope with these stressors has been challenged by pronounced difficulties conceptualizing, measuring, and categorizing caregiver coping.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to begin addressing these challenges by determining the structure of coping among hospice family caregivers.

Perspectives of Health Care Providers on US South Asians' Attitudes Toward Pain Management at End of Life.

A lack of research on pain management among seriously ill South Asians reveals a critical gap in the knowledge base regarding culturally responsive end-of-life care. This qualitative descriptive study investigated the perspectives of health care providers that have cared for seriously ill older South Asians, on the attitudes of US South Asians toward the management of pain experienced at end of life and the factors that influenced these attitudes. Thematic analysis of interviews and focus group discussions with 57 health care providers indicated that providers perceive South Asian patients and families to be generally reluctant to use medications to treat pain experienced at end of life.

Lessons learned from a secret Facebook support group.

The National Association of Social Workers developed practice standards for social workers using technology in their practice. These standards were derived from the foundation of the social work code of ethics and are helpful as social workers explore the use of new tools for the benefit of their clients. Hospice caregivers, both active and bereaved, are in great need of support but are often unable to attend traditional support groups.

Trends in Engagement in Advance Care Planning Behaviors and the Role of Socioeconomic Status.

We investigated the trends in advance care planning (ACP) between 2002 and 2010 and whether socioeconomic status explained such trends. We conducted a pooled regression analysis of Health and Retirement Study data from 6052 proxies of deceased individuals. We studied 3 ACP behaviors, discussing end-of-life (EOL) care preferences, providing written EOL care instructions, and appointing a durable power of attorney for health care (DPAHC).

Fine-tuning thermoresponsive functional poly(ε-caprolactone)s to enhance micelle stability and drug loading.

Block copolymers synthesized by the ring-opening polymerization of γ-2-[2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy]ethoxy-ε-caprolactone (MECL), γ-2-methoxyethoxy-ε-caprolactone (MECL), and ε-caprolactone (CL) are reported. Previously, diblock copolymers of PMECL-b-PMECL displayed excellent thermoresponsive tunability (31-43 °C) and self-assembled into micelles with moderate thermodynamic stability. In this report, two strategies are employed to enhance thermodynamic stability of PMECL/PMECL-type block copolymer micelles while maintaining their attractive thermoresponsive qualities: modification of the end group position and alteration of hydrophobic block composition by using both MECL and CL.

NIH Consensus development project on criteria for clinical trials in chronic graft-versus-host disease: II. The 2014 Pathology Working Group Report.

The 2005 National Institute of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference outlined histopathological diagnostic criteria for the major organ systems affected by both acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). The 2014 Consensus Conference led to this updated document with new information from histopathological studies of GVHD in the gut, liver, skin, and oral mucosa and an expanded discussion of GVHD in the lungs and kidneys. The recommendations for final histological diagnostic categories have been simplified from 4 categories to 3: no GVHD, possible GVHD, and likely GVHD, based on better reproducibility achieved by combining the previous categories of "consistent with GVHD" and "definite GVHD" into the single category of "likely GVHD.

Unique characteristics of informal hospice cancer caregiving.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the unique characteristics of informal hospice cancer caregiving.

Methods: Researchers conducted a secondary analysis of data drawn from a randomized clinical trial of an informal hospice caregiving intervention (N = 348). Demographic characteristics and measures of the informal caregiving experience of hospice patients and their informal caregivers were compared based on the patient's diagnosis using chi-square tests for association of categorical variables and t tests for continuous variables.