The etiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unclear. The emerging view is that cerebrovascular dysfunction is a feature not only of cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke, but also of ...neurodegenerative conditions, such as AD. In AD, there is impaired structure and function of cerebral blood vessels and cells in the neurovascular unit. These effects are mediated by vascular oxidative stress. Injury to the neurovascular unit alters cerebral blood flow regulation, depletes vascular reserves, disrupts the blood-brain barrier and reduces the brain's repair capacity. Such injury can exacerbate the cognitive dysfunction exerted by incident ischemia and coexisting neurodegeneration. This article summarises data regarding cardiovascular risk factors, vascular abnormalities and brain endothelial damage in AD. In view of accumulating evidence of vascular pathology in AD, we also review the literature (MEDLINE, EMBASE) for clinical evidence of impaired endothelial function in AD. A total of 15 articles investigating endothelial dysfunction in AD were identified. 10 of these articles showed impaired endothelial function in AD patients. The current literature suggests endothelial dysfunction may be involved in the pathogenesis of AD. This aspect of AD pathology is particularly interesting in view of its potential for therapeutic intervention. Future research on endothelial function in AD should concentrate on population-based analysis and combine multiple methods to evaluate endothelial function.
A best evidence topic was constructed according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether the configuration of bilateral internal thoracic arteries (BITAs) influences survival, ...patency or repeat revascularization in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. Five hundred and seventy-one papers were found using the reported searches, of which 8 represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. One systematic review, 4 randomized trials and 3 observational studies were selected. The authors, date, journal, study type, population, main outcome measures and results are tabulated. All 4 prospective randomized trials found no significant difference in graft patency or mortality when comparing Y-graft and in situ configurations. Three of the 4 randomized trials found no difference in major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events or repeat revascularization at follow-up. An exception was Glineur et al. (Bilateral internal thoracic artery configuration for coronary artery bypass surgery: a prospective randomized trial. Circ Cardiovasc Interv 2016;9:7), who found that the Y-configuration resulted in lower rates of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. All 3 observational studies reviewed found no alteration in survival, cardiac events or repeat revascularization between in situ and Y-graft BITA configurations. One systematic review found similar outcomes with respect to mortality, cardiac events and repeat revascularization with in situ and composite BITA. In summary, existing literature demonstrates no difference in clinical outcomes between composite and in situ graft configurations. Furthermore, the configuration of BITA does not affect mortality, graft patency or repeat revascularization.
Aim
Delay to closure of ileostomy following anterior resection for rectal cancer may impair postoperative bowel function and quality of life. We analysed time to ileostomy closure across the UK and ...investigated factors delaying closure.
Methods
For the retrospective cohort we assessed time to closure and incidence of non‐closure for patients who underwent anterior resection with defunctioning ileostomy during 2015. Multivariate linear/Cox regression analyses were performed. For the prospective cohort we captured patients undergoing ileostomy closure during a 3‐month period in 2018 to validate retrospective findings.
Results
The retrospective cohort involved 788 patients of whom 669 (84.9%) had bowel continuity restored, median time to closure 259 days. Recognized factors associated with delay and risk of non‐closure included anastomotic leak (hazard ratio HR 3.65, 2.61–5.08), chemotherapy (HR 2.62, 2.17–3.15) and cancer progression (HR 2.05, 1.62–2.58). Crucially, specific aspects of the surgical pathway were associated with time to closure; for example, waiting list entry prior to outpatient clinic review/imaging was associated with an estimated 133‐day shorter interval to closure (P < 0.001). In the prospective cohort 288 patients underwent closure, at a median of 271 days. Chemotherapy use and cancer progression were associated with delay to closure while listing for surgery prior to clinic and imaging was associated with an estimated shorter interval to closure of 168 days (P = 0.008).
Conclusions
Delays to closure of ileostomy are common in the UK. Listing patients for surgery only after follow‐up outpatient appointment, imaging or chemotherapy delays closure. Findings will inform consensus guidelines towards an optimum treatment pathway to reduce delay and improve post‐closure quality of life.
Aim
Delayed closure of ileostomy following an anterior resection for rectal cancer in the UK is common. The aims of this study were (i) to investigate the variation in patient pathways between ...hospitals, (ii) to identify the key learning points from units with the shortest time to closure and (iii) to develop guidance for a pathway to minimize delay in ileostomy closure.
Method
This was a mixed methods study. Thirty‐eight colorectal units in the UK completed a short online survey. Nine colorectal units in Wales filled in an additional, expanded version of the survey. Semi‐structured interviews were performed with clinicians from the six best performing units in terms of timely ileostomy closure. The optimal pathway suggested is based on the best evidence available and the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland guidelines.
Results
Qualitative analysis revealed that 5% of units (n = 2) have a local target time for ileostomy closure. Of all units, 90% (n = 34) would consider implementing a pathway if guidelines were developed. In‐depth interviews highlighted the importance of a multidisciplinary approach, a dedicated coordinator to facilitate timely booking, and consensus on whether closure should be performed before or after adjuvant chemotherapy.
Conclusion
There is a lack of national guidance in timing of contrast studies and ileostomy closure. Key aspects to consider are better information at consent regarding stoma closure timing, a dedicated person to track patients and the planning of contrast studies at discharge from initial surgery. With a dedicated approach closure of ileostomy within 10–12 weeks is feasible for most units.
The Director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Carmel Foley, said yesterday the current system of financial regulation has failed consumers and agreed with a contention by Fine Gael TD, Mrs Nora Owen, that the ...existing regulatory situation was farcical. Addressing a Dail committee on the issue of financial regulation, Ms Foley said that following the series of scandals which rocked the financial services sector in recent years, the only way to regulate the industry properly was through the establishment of a single regulatory authority (SRA) as a new greenfield organisation, and not through a restructuring of the Central Bank. However, governor of the Central Bank, Mr Maurice O'Connell, speaking to the same committee - on the issue of enterprise and small business - strongly questioned the necessity of dismantling a prudential regulatory system.
To develop and evaluate energy expenditure (EE) estimation models for a physical activity monitoring system (PAMS) in manual wheelchair users with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Cross-sectional study.
...University-based laboratory environment, a semistructured environment at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, and the participants' home environments.
Volunteer sample of manual wheelchair users with SCI (N=45).
Participants were asked to perform 10 physical activities (PAs) of various intensities from a list. The PAMS consists of a gyroscope-based wheel rotation monitor (G-WRM) and an accelerometer device worn on the upper arm or on the wrist. Criterion EE using a portable metabolic cart and raw sensor data from PAMS were collected during each of these activities.
Estimated EE using custom models for manual wheelchair users based on either the G-WRM and arm accelerometer (PAMS-Arm) or the G-WRM and wrist accelerometer (PAMS-Wrist).
EE estimation performance for the PAMS-Arm (average error ± SD: -9.82%±37.03%) and PAMS-Wrist (-5.65%±32.61%) on the validation dataset indicated that both PAMS-Arm and PAMS-Wrist were able to estimate EE for a range of PAs with <10% error. Moderate to high intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) indicated that the EE estimated by PAMS-Arm (ICC3,1=.82, P<.05) and PAMS-Wrist (ICC3,1=.89, P<.05) are consistent with the criterion EE.
Availability of PA monitors can assist wheelchair users to track PA levels, leading toward a healthier lifestyle. The new models we developed can estimate PA levels in manual wheelchair users with SCI in laboratory and community settings.
The goal of this trial was to present a case study of care coordination for children and youth with special health care needs from an exclusively pediatric accountable care organization, and compare ...precare and postcare data on their use of inpatient and emergency department services.
This pre-post comparison of the health care utilization included a subset of 733 children enrolled in Partners for Kids care coordination funded through a delegation arrangement with several Medicaid managed care plans. We compared inpatient admissions, hospital bed days, 30-day hospital readmissions, and emergency department visits during the 6 months before their enrollment in the coordination program versus the 6 months after enrollment.
Approximately 16 000 referrals to the Partners for Kids care coordination program were made for an estimated 12 000 children. A total of 3072 unique individual children were enrolled; the most common condition classification was mental, behavioral, and neurodevelopmental disorders (25% of enrolled children). Due to rapid turnover/churn in Medicaid managed care eligibility, the subset of children with continuous enrollment was limited to 733 children. Among this subset, the counts of inpatient admissions, bed days, and 30-day readmissions between the pre-enrollment and post-enrollment period decreased (
< .05).
These results suggest that it is possible for an accountable care organization to reduce inpatient and emergency department utilization. Going forward, the most important tasks of the care coordination team are to overcome obstacles to referral and participation and to develop methods to achieve better measures of patient-reported outcomes.
Abstract Availability of physical activity monitors for wheelchair users can potentially assist these individuals to track regular physical activity (PA), which in turn could lead to a healthier and ...more active lifestyle. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and validate algorithms for a physical activity monitoring system (PAMS) to detect wheelchair based activities. The PAMS consists of a gyroscope based wheel rotation monitor (G-WRM) and an accelerometer device (wocket) worn on the upper arm or on the wrist. A total of 45 persons with spinal cord injury took part in the study, which was performed in a structured university-based laboratory environment, a semi-structured environment at the National Veterans Wheelchair Games, and in the participants’ home environments. Participants performed at least ten PAs, other than resting, taken from a list of PAs. The classification performance for the best classifiers on the testing dataset for PAMS-Arm (G-WRM and wocket on upper arm) and PAMS-Wrist (G-WRM and wocket on wrist) was 89.26% and 88.47%, respectively. The outcomes of this study indicate that multi-modal information from the PAMS can help detect various types of wheelchair-based activities in structured laboratory, semi-structured organizational, and unstructured home environments.
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