A scoping review of dementia caregiving for Korean Americans and recommendations for future research.

Objectives: This scoping review aims to examine the caregiving experiences of Korean American caregivers of persons with dementia.

Methods: A comprehensive electronic search was conducted within 5 databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Embase, PsycINFO-ProQuest) for papers published from 01/01/00 -01/24/22. Seventeen articles met the inclusion criteria.

Projecting Informal Care Demand among Older Koreans between 2020 and 2067.

Background: The number of Korean older people receiving informal care is expected to rise sharply due to aging population. This study makes projections of demand for informal care in community-dwelling older people aged 65 and over in Korea until 2067.

Method: The study drew on data collected from waves 4-6 of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (2012-2016, = 12,975).

The Health and Productivity Burden of Depression in South Korea.

Objectives: Major depression in South Korea, which remains under-diagnosed and under-treated, increases the risk of premature death, and reduces quality of life and work productivity. The aim of this study was to quantify the depression-related health and productivity loss in South Korea in terms of life-years lost and productivity-adjusted life-years (PALYs) lost.

Method: Age and sex-specific life table models simulated follow-up of South Koreans with depression aged 15 to 54 years, until 55 years.

Knowledge and Attitudes toward Advance Directives among Middle-Aged Women.

Purpose: This study investigated knowledge of and attitudes toward advance directives (ADs) among middle-aged women in South Korea, their willingness to write ADs in the future, and the factors related to knowledge of and attitudes toward ADs.

Methods: Data were collected using a self-administrated questionnaire completed by 154 middle-aged women aged 50 to 64 from February to March 2020. The questionnaire asked about participants' knowledge of and attitude toward ADs, willingness to write ADs in the future, experiences with life-sustaining treatment within their families, experience making decisions about life-sustaining treatment, and demographic characteristics.

Inclusion of palliative care in health care policy for older people: A directed documentary analysis in 13 of the most rapidly ageing countries worldwide.

Background: Palliative care is insufficiently integrated in the continuum of care for older people. It is unclear to what extent healthcare policy for older people includes elements of palliative care and thus supports its integration.

Aim: (1) To develop a reference framework for identifying palliative care contents in policy documents; (2) to determine inclusion of palliative care in public policy documents on healthcare for older people in 13 rapidly ageing countries.

Electrostatic shock acceleration of ions in near-critical-density plasma driven by a femtosecond petawatt laser.

With the recent advances in ultrahigh intensity lasers, exotic astrophysical phenomena can be investigated in laboratory environments. Collisionless shock in a plasma, prevalent in astrophysical events, is produced when a strong electric or electromagnetic force induces a shock structure in a time scale shorter than the collision time of charged particles. A near-critical-density (NCD) plasma, generated with an intense femtosecond laser, can be utilized to excite a collisionless shock due to its efficient and rapid energy absorption.

Spatiotemporal characteristics of high-density gas jet and absolute determination of size and density of gas clusters.

Properties of gas clusters such as the size and number density when expanding into the vacuum after passing through a conical nozzle are analyzed for argon at an average density of 10/cm. Temporally and spatially resolved size and density distribution were measured from all-optical methods of Rayleigh scattering measurement and Nomarski interferometry using a CW laser. At the gas backing pressure of 80 bar, Ar clusters as large as 100 nm were obtained, which differs significantly from the size estimated by the conventional Hagena scaling law.

Caregiving for Community-Dwelling Older Persons in South Korea: Current Formal and Informal Care Use and Expectation.

The aim of this study is to examine formal and informal care use among community-dwelling older Korean adults. Older adults aged between 65 and 85 ( = 516) in mid-size city, selected using the probability proportional sampling method, were interviewed in person. One third reported having at least one caregiver.

Place of death for people with HIV: a population-level comparison of eleven countries across three continents using death certificate data.

Background: With over 1 million HIV-related deaths annually, quality end-of-life care remains a priority. Given strong public preference for home death, place of death is an important consideration for quality care. This 11 country study aimed to i) describe the number, proportion of all deaths, and demographics of HIV-related deaths; ii) identify place of death; iii) compare place of death to cancer patients iv), determine patient/health system factors associated with place of HIV-related death.

Laboratory Study on Disconnection Events in Comets.

When comets interacting with solar wind, straight and narrow plasma tails will be often formed. The most remarkable phenomenon of the plasma tails is the disconnection event, in which a plasma tail is uprooted from the comet's head and moves away from the comet. In this paper, the interaction process between a comet and solar wind is simulated by using a laser-driven plasma cloud to hit a cylinder obstacle.

Differences in place of death between lung cancer and COPD patients: a 14-country study using death certificate data.

Unlabelled: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer are leading causes of death with comparable symptoms at the end of life. Cross-national comparisons of place of death, as an important outcome of terminal care, between people dying from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer have not been studied before. We collected population death certificate data from 14 countries (year: 2008), covering place of death, underlying cause of death, and demographic information.

Place of death of children with complex chronic conditions: cross-national study of 11 countries.

Unlabelled: Cross-national understanding of place of death is crucial for health service systems for their provision of efficient and equal access to paediatric palliative care. The objectives of this population-level study were to examine where children with complex chronic conditions (CCC) die and to investigate associations between places of death and sex, cause of death and country. The study used death certificate data of all deceased 1- to 17-year-old children (n = 40,624) who died in 2008, in 11 European and non-European countries.

Estimating the need for palliative care at the population level: A cross-national study in 12 countries.

Background: To implement the appropriate services and develop adequate interventions, detailed estimates of the needs for palliative care in the population are needed.

Aim: To estimate the proportion of decedents potentially in need of palliative care across 12 European and non-European countries.

Design: This is a cross-sectional study using death certificate data.

A broadband gamma-ray spectrometry using novel unfolding algorithms for characterization of laser wakefield-generated betatron radiation.

We present a high-flux, broadband gamma-ray spectrometry capable of characterizing the betatron radiation spectrum over the photon energy range from 10 keV to 20 MeV with respect to the peak photon energy, spectral bandwidth, and unique discrimination from background radiations, using a differential filtering spectrometer and the unfolding procedure based on the Monte Carlo code GEANT4. These properties are experimentally verified by measuring betatron radiation from a cm-scale laser wakefield accelerator (LWFA) driven by a 1-PW laser, using a differential filtering spectrometer consisting of a 15-filter and image plate stack. The gamma-ray spectra were derived by unfolding the photostimulated luminescence (PSL) values recorded on the image plates, using the spectrometer response matrix modeled with the Monte Carlo code GEANT4.

Place of death in the population dying from diseases indicative of palliative care need: a cross-national population-level study in 14 countries.

Background: Studying where people die across countries can serve as an evidence base for health policy on end-of-life care. This study describes the place of death of people who died from diseases indicative of palliative care need in 14 countries, the association of place of death with cause of death, sociodemographic and healthcare availability characteristics in each country and the extent to which these characteristics explain country differences in the place of death.

Methods: Death certificate data for all deaths in 2008 (age ≥1 year) in Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain (Andalusia), the USA and Wales caused by cancer, heart/renal/liver failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diseases of the nervous system or HIV/AIDS were linked with national or regional healthcare statistics (N=2,220,997).

Place of death of people living with Parkinson's disease: a population-level study in 11 countries.

Background: Most people prefer to receive end-of-life care in familiar surroundings rather than in hospital. This study examines variation in place of death for people dying from Parkinson's disease (PD) across 11 European and non-European countries.

Methods: Using death certificate data of 2008 for Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Mexico, South Korea and Spain for all deaths with PD as an underlying cause (ICD-10 code: G20) cross-national differences in place of death were examined.

International variation in place of death of older people who died from dementia in 14 European and non-European countries.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine variation in place of death of older people dying from dementia in countries across 4 continents.

Design: Study of death certificate data.

Methods: We included deaths of older (65 + years) people whose underlying cause of death was a dementia-related disease (ICD-10: F01, F02, F03, G30) in Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Wales, France, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, New Zealand, United States, Canada, Mexico and South Korea.

Psychotropic medication burden and factors associated with antipsychotic use: an analysis of a population-based sample of community-dwelling older persons with dementia.

Objectives: To estimate the proportion of community-dwelling older adults with dementia being prescribed a psychotropic and to identify patient and caregiver factors associated with antipsychotic use.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS) from 2002 to 2004 designed to assess dementia severity and service use of community-dwelling older adults. The frequency of psychotropic medication (antipsychotics, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and benzodiazepines) use was tabulated and weighted to the U.

Estimating the quantity and economic value of family caregiving for community-dwelling older persons in the last year of life.

Objectives: To estimate the quantity and economic value of informal care provided to older persons during their final year of life in the community.

Design: Retrospective analysis of publicly available nationally representative survey data.

Setting: This retrospective study used data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative, longitudinal study of community-dwelling older people.

Narcotic drug use among patients with lower back pain in employer health plans: a retrospective analysis of risk factors and health care services.

Objective: This study examines the risk factors of narcotic drug use, medical and pharmacy claim costs, and health services use among lower back pain (LBP) patients who use narcotic medications.

Methods: This retrospective study used administrative claims data between September 2002 and March 2004 from 3 employer health plans that collectively contained records of 165,569 employees 18 to 64 years of age. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to examine risk factors and health care services use consequences of narcotic drug use in patients with LBP.

Simple method for the temporal characterization of amplified spontaneous emission in femtosecond terawatt Ti:sapphire lasers.

We have analyzed the temporal characteristics of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) in femtosecond terawatt Ti:sapphire lasers by using a simple method based on fast photodiodes. Instead of measuring ASE directly with fast photodiodes, we created a narrow gap in the spectrum of seed pulses and, after amplification, detected the pure ASE signal through the gap by using a fast photodiode covered with a bandpass filter with high transmission at the gap. Because the detected ASE signal was completely separated from amplified main pulses, preceding and even trailing ASEs could be characterized quantitatively in a single-shot measurement.

Organizational change and quality improvement in nursing homes: approaching success.

Nursing home residents' quality of life (QoL) is directly related to the quality improvement (QI) processes mandated by federal law. This article describes a 3-year longitudinal study of QI process innovations in two nursing homes and highlights details of a successful 6-month initiative. The initial QI initiatives were based on the principles of staff empowerment, enhanced ability through training, and financial incentives.

Brief communication: the relationship between having a living will and dying in place.

Background: Living wills, a type of advance directive, are promoted as a way for patients to document preferences for life-sustaining treatments should they become incompetent. Previous research, however, has found that these documents do not guide decision making in the hospital.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that people with living wills are less likely to die in a hospital than in their residence before death.