• Strauss Mcdowell posted an update 1 week ago

    Rehabilitation plays a vital role in the mitigation and improvement of functional limitations associated with aging and chronic conditions. PND-1186 Moderating factors such as sex, age, the medical diagnosis, and rehabilitation timing for admission status, as well as the expected change related to inpatient rehabilitation, are examined to provide a valid basis for the routine assessment of the quality of medical outcomes.

    An observational study was carried out, placing a focus on general and disease-specific health measurements, to assess representative results of multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation. Aspects that were possibly confounding and introduced bias were controlled based on data from a quasi-experimental (waiting) control group.

    Existing data or general health indicators were extracted from medical records. The indicators included blood pressure, resting heart rate, self-assessed health, and pain, as well as more disease-specific indicators of physical function and performance (eg, activities of n, patients who received rehabilitation showed greater improvements in 2 independent areas, general and disease-specific health measures, regardless of their diagnosis, age, and sex. Due to the study design and the use of a nonrandomized waiting group, causal conclusions must be drawn with caution. However, the comparability and stability of the presented results strongly support the validity of the observed improvements associated with inpatient rehabilitation.

    Nursing homes (NHs) are critical end-of-life (EOL) care settings for 70% of Americans dying with Alzheimer’s disease/related dementias (ADRD). Whether EOL care/outcomes vary by NH/market characteristics for this population is unknown but essential information for improving NH EOL care/outcomes. Our objectives were to examine variations in EOL care/outcomes among decedents with ADRD and identify associations with NH/market characteristics.

    Cross-sectional.

    Place-of-death (hospital/NH), presence of pressure ulcers, potentially avoidable hospitalizations (PAHs), and hospice use at EOL. Key covariates were ownership, staffing, presence of Alzheimer’s units, and market competition.

    Long-stay NH residents with ADRD, age 65+ years of age, who died in 2017 (N=191,435; 14,618 NHs) in NHs or hospitals shortly after NH discharge.

    National Medicare claims, Minimum Data Set, public datasets. Descriptive analyses and multivariable logistic regressions.

    As ADRD severity increased, adjusted rates of in-hospital dnce of Alzheimer’s units is warranted to identify mechanisms possibly promoting higher-quality EOL care.

    Decedents with ADRD in NHs that were nonprofit, had Alzheimer’s units, higher licensed nurse staffing, and in more competitive markets, had better EOL care/outcomes. Modifications to state Medicaid NH payments may promote better EOL care/outcomes for this population. Future research to understand NH care practices associated with presence of Alzheimer’s units is warranted to identify mechanisms possibly promoting higher-quality EOL care.The contemporary long-term care provider and interdisciplinary team are well aware of the recent focus on antibiotic use in their settings. Regulatory changes implemented by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services beginning in 2016 have required long-term care settings to look at antibiotic use in a more comprehensive way and to align their programs with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Core Elements for Antibiotic Stewardship for Nursing Homes. As long-term care settings have worked to develop antibiotic stewardship programs over the past several years, there have been many discoveries about the processes involved in gathering data about antibiotic use and associated attributes, including dose, duration of therapy, and indication for use. Attempts to align these attributes with appropriateness may require integration of data elements from pharmacy records and the individual resident’s electronic medical record. In this article, we systematically discuss relevant antibiotic use metrics, sources of antibiotic use data, collecting and reporting antibiotic use data, concluding with implications for policy, practice, and research. Only by measuring antibiotic use can we start to assess the effectiveness of antibiotic stewardship program to induce meaningful change in the care of residents in long-term care.Enhanced recovery (ER) after elective surgery has been a real revolution in peri-operative care. This concept, initially called “fast-track surgery”, has evolved into “enhanced recovery or rehabilitation” (ER), which highlights the improvement of post-operative procedures rather than the simple shortening of hospital stay. The main benefit of ER is the reduction of the impact of surgical trauma with an attendant reduction of post-operative complications. This result has been demonstrated based on a good level of evidence for multiple surgical specialties. Mild complications are the most impacted by this program. The reduction in the duration of stay is thus the result of the improvement in post-operative care. This update illustrates the benefits of ER by taking three examples of elective surgery in three major surgical specialties colorectal surgery, orthopedics and gynecological surgery. The post-operative complications impacted by ER programs and the mechanisms of this effect are also discussed.Emerging evidence suggests that the DNA-sensing pathway plays a crucial role in innate immunity against multiple diseases, especially infectious diseases. Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), as a DNA sensor, and stimulator of interferon (IFN) genes (STING), as an adaptor protein, are the central components that link DNA sensing to immunologic functions – including, but not limited to, the type I IFN response. Recently, a series of studies have revealed that genomic DNA from protozoan parasites triggers the cGAS-STING pathway, and these studies identified the positive and negative regulators that modulate the signaling in parasite infection. Here, we summarize current understanding of the critical functions and potential applications of the cGAS-STING axis in parasitic diseases, specifically those caused by malaria parasites.