The National Dementia Workforce Study: Development of Questionnaires for Home Care, Assisted Living, and Nursing Home Settings.

The growing aging population and rising prevalence of dementia are driving increased demand for long-term care services and supports in the United States. People with dementia require substantial support and care, often from direct care workers in private homes, assisted living communities, and nursing homes. Despite their crucial role, these workers receive highly variable training, particularly in dementia care, and face significant work-related challenges including stress, injury, and burnout.

The National Dementia Workforce Study: Overview.

Meeting the care needs of people with dementia is a major public health and societal challenge. In 2020, over 6 million Americans had Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia, and this is projected to increase to 14 million by 2060. Their care needs incur nearly $30,000 more in mean annual costs per person compared to peers without dementia, and overall costs are expected to rise to $1.

Methods for studying health disparities in U.S. nursing homes: a scoping review.

Background: Health disparities exist across healthcare settings, including nursing homes, contributing to preventable differences in care quality. Health disparities are a global issue, yet most studies on nursing home health disparities have been conducted in the United States. In this scoping review, our objective was to synthesize methods used in U.

Development of a Cervical Cancer Screening Program in Rural Guatemala.

Background: In San Lucas Tolimán (SLT), Guatemala, a rural municipality with a large Indigenous population, women seeking cervical cancer screening face many barriers. We describe the process from design to implementation of a culturally appropriate and accessible cervical cancer screening and treatment pilot program for women aged 30-49 years.

Methods: After conducting a community needs assessment, we trained community health workers (CHWs) on basic cervical cancer pathophysiology and human papillomavirus (HPV) self-swab kit use.

The National Dementia Workforce Study: Methods for Surveying Community Clinicians Who Provide Care to People With Dementia.

People with dementia have complex medical, functional, and social needs and experience highly variable care quality and outcomes across the U.S. health care system.

The Patient Driven Payment Model, Skilled Nursing Facility Coding Intensity, and Medicare Expenditures.

Importance: The Patient Driven Payment Model (PDPM), implemented in October 2019, fundamentally changed how Medicare reimburses skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) for postacute care, shifting from therapy volume-based payment to reimbursement based on patient clinical and functional characteristics. Understanding the relationship of the PDPM to SNF coding practices, Medicare expenditures, and clinical outcomes is essential for evaluating its policy and clinical implications.

Objective: To evaluate changes in SNF diagnostic coding intensity, Medicare expenditures, and patient outcomes before and after PDPM implementation.

Actin-microtubule synergy dominates force transmission and collagen strain in human trabecular meshwork.

Trabecular meshwork (TM) cells contribute to regulating intraocular pressure by generating contractile or traction forces on their collagen-rich extracellular matrix (ECM). The relative mechanical contributions of the three cytoskeletal filament systems, however, remain incompletely defined. We cultured normal human high-flow TM cells on type I collagen gels (elastic modulus 4.

Immigrant Staff in Nursing Homes: Mitigating Staffing Shortages During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated staffing shortages in U.S. nursing homes.

Management and outcomes of children hospitalised with COVID-19 including incidental and nosocomial infections in Australia 2020-2023: A national surveillance study.

Background: Management and outcomes of children hospitalised with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection may differ throughout the pandemic or with admission type (clinical COVID-19, incidental COVID-19 or nosocomial infection).

Objectives: Describe the severity, management and outcomes of hospitalised children with acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in Australia across the first 4 years of the pandemic and compare between admission types, SARS-CoV-2 variants, age groups and immune status.

Study Design: A multi-centre prospective cohort study of 6009 children aged 0-16 years between January 2020 and June 2023.

Non-Native Herpetofauna Continue to Proliferate in the World's Most Invaded Herpetofauna Community.

The spread of non-native species continues to increase around the globe, highlighting the importance of understanding both the dynamics of the invaded communities in which non-natives comprise a high percentage of the total fauna and the factors that may influence non-native establishment and spread. As the global hotspot for non-native reptiles and amphibians, South Florida's herpetofaunal community provides a unique opportunity to study native/non-native community dynamics. In addition, despite high levels of development and habitat loss, South Florida has a network of protected natural areas, allowing insight into the impacts of natural vs.

3D traction force microscopy in human trabecular meshwork tissues: Effects of ROCK and YAP/TAZ inhibition in normal and glaucomatous tissues.

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, with an estimated 112 million people projected to be affected by 2040. The primary risk factor for POAG is elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), which is primarily driven by increased resistance to aqueous humor outflow through the conventional outflow pathway. Despite its prevalence, the precise biomechanical mechanisms underlying this resistance remain unclear.

Approaches to Identify Nursing Home Specialists Using Medicare Claims Data.

Background: Physicians and advanced practice clinicians who practice in nursing homes (NHs) are becoming increasingly specialized. Studies have identified clinicians as NH specialists using multiple data sources; yet, researchers' access to several sources may be limited due to required data purchases.

Objective: Examine the concordance of 2 approaches to measure NH specialization versus a standard approach using clinician-level Medicare Data on Provider Practice and Specialty (MD-PPAS).

Community Health Workers Equipped with an mHealth Application Can Accurately Diagnose Hypertension in Rural Guatemala.

Background: Hypertension is a leading global cause of morbidity and mortality and is increasing in low- and middle-income countries, where unawareness of hypertension is a primary obstacle to management. Community health workers (CHWs) in combination with mobile health (mHealth) tools are increasingly used in LMIC health systems to strengthen primary care infrastructure. In this study, we applied this care model to hypertension in rural Guatemala by comparing the accuracy of CHWs equipped with an mHealth clinical decision support application in diagnosing hypertension to concurrent physician evaluation.

Nonperfused Retinal Capillaries-A New Method Developed on OCT and OCTA.

Purpose: This study aims to develop a new method to quantify nonperfused retinal capillaries (NPCs) and evaluate NPCs in eyes with AMD and diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Methods: We averaged multiple registered optical coherence tomography (OCT)/OCT angiography (OCTA) scans to create high-definition volumes. The deep capillary plexus slab was defined and segmented.

Development and Validation of the Parkinson's Disease Specific Anxiety Inventory (PDSAI).

BackgroundAnxiety is poorly recognized and inadequately treated in persons with Parkinson's disease (PD).ObjectiveThe present study aimed to develop and validate a new clinical screening and research outcome measure to identify triggers and manifestations of anxiety specific to PD, the Parkinson's disease Specific Anxiety Inventory (PDSAI).MethodData from PDSAI derived from 172 people with PD across Australia and the United States was used to assess the reliability and validity of the inventory.

Trends in hospital discharge outcomes among high-risk Medicare beneficiaries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Medicare beneficiaries face significant health risks and care disruptions during public health emergencies, but little is known about how care patterns evolved throughout the COVID-19 pandemic or differed between traditional Medicare (TM) and Medicare Advantage (MA).

Methods: Using Medicare claims data for over 20 million hospital discharges during 2018-2022, we examined trends in hospital length of stay, discharge disposition, and mortality among beneficiaries with 5 major comorbidities (dementia, diabetes, congestive heart failure, hip fracture, and stroke), stratified by COVID status and payer type.

Results: We found that COVID patients initially experienced substantially longer hospital stays (8.

Electroretinography of disease activity and treatment response in birdshot chorioretinopathy.

Purpose: To identify full-field electroretinographic (ffERG) biomarkers that differentiate active versus inactive birdshot chorioretinopathy (BSCR) and long-term efficacy of intravitreal versus systemic immunosuppression.

Methods: Patients with BSCR at Casey Eye Institute with ffERG between 1999-2019 were included (n = 29). A group of healthy patients was used as controls (n = 47).

"They Want in": Nursing Home Administrators' Experiences Managing COVID-19 Pandemic Visitation Restrictions.

Objectives: To assess how visitation restrictions and protocols were implemented by administrators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design: This qualitative study consisted of 156 semistructured interviews repeated at 3-month intervals from July 2020 to December 2021.

Setting And Participants: Interviewers were conducted with administrators of 40 nursing homes across 8 health care markets across the United States.

Structure and dynamics determine G protein coupling specificity at a class A GPCR.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) exhibit varying degrees of selectivity for different G protein isoforms. Despite the abundant structures of GPCR-G protein complexes, little is known about the mechanism of G protein coupling specificity. The β-adrenergic receptor is an example of GPCR with high selectivity for Gαs, the stimulatory G protein for adenylyl cyclase, and much weaker for the Gαi family of G proteins inhibiting adenylyl cyclase.

Rare Long-Term Data Reveal the Seasonal Dietary Plasticity of Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) in Response to Fruiting Tree Phenology.

Understanding primate dietary plasticity provides insights into trait evolution and resilience to environmental change. Here, we investigate the feeding ecology of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx), a species that forms groups of close to 1000 individuals, which presumably impacts feeding ecology by creating exceptionally high feeding competition. Mandrills are also threatened by habitat loss and climate change, and a full understanding of their dietary plasticity is essential to ongoing conservation efforts.

Impact of aging on anterior segment morphology and aqueous humor dynamics in human Eyes: Advanced imaging and computational techniques.

Objective: Aging results in significant structural and functional changes in the anterior segment of the eye, influencing intraocular pressure (IOP) and overall ocular health. Although aging is a well-established risk factor for primary open-angle glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness, the specific mechanisms through which aging drives morphological changes in anterior segment tissues and affects aqueous humor dynamics remain incompletely understood.

Methods: In this study, we employed cutting-edge light sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) to capture high-resolution, volumetric images of cleared human donor eyes' anterior segment tissues.

Reproductive counseling and decision making in females affected by X-linked inherited retinal disease: perspectives from carriers.

Introduction: X-linked inherited retinal diseases (XL-IRDs) are genetic disorders that typically present with higher disease burden in individuals assigned male at birth, often resulting in significant vision loss. Individuals assigned female at birth (AFAB) may also experience symptoms. Understanding the role of genetic counseling and testing in reproductive decision-making for AFAB individuals with XL-IRDs is crucial for improving reproductive empowerment.

A system for producing controlled elevation of intraocular pressure in awake Brown Norway rats.

Animal models that help us understand how elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) causes axonal injury will lead to new glaucoma therapies. Because reliable measurements are difficult to obtain in chronic models, we developed the controlled elevation of IOP (CEI) approach. Here, a cannula connected to an elevated balanced salt solution (BSS) reservoir is inserted into the anterior chamber of anesthetized Brown Norway rats.