Abstract
Family caregivers for persons with dementia often times experience stress and burden while caregiving. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this situation with increased physical and social ...isolation, further resulting in health risks in this population. Technology-based interventions have become more commonplace in today’s world to address ongoing caregiver needs although gaps in technological literacy and usage still exist among many users. This case study aims to report on the implementation of an ongoing Smarthealth technology intervention for two older adult family caregivers of persons with dementia and to explore their experiences with this system. Data were collected through acoustic monitoring, survey administration, and semi-structured interviews. Intervention effects on changes in emotional states will be discussed. Study findings showed the intervention improved self-awareness of emotional care and reactions to care recipients. Findings in this study highlight the importance and challenges of real-time technology-based intervention implementation in older adult caregiving populations.
The present study was designed to evaluate the effect of So-Cheong-Ryong-Tang (SCRT, also called Sho-Seiryu-To or Xiao-Qing-Long-Tang) on helper T cell development by monitoring Th1/Th2-specific ...cytokine secretion patterns in artificially induced Th1 or Th2 polarized conditions. The results demonstrated that Th2 cells were dramatically underpopulated in the Th2-driven condition triggered by SCRT treatment, while the Th1 cells were not altered in the Th1-skewed condition. Furthermore, under Th2-skewed conditions the levels of interleukin-4 were considerably decreased with SCRT treatment. The expression of GATA-3, a transcription factor that plays a pivotal role in Th2 lineage programming, did not change with SCRT treatment, while the expression of another Th2 transcription factor, c-Maf, was dramatically suppressed. These data suggest that SCRT modulates Th2 development by suppressing c-Maf expression. This study implies that the SCRT effect on CD4+ T cells is a key pharmacologic point of effect for treating IgE-mediated allergic asthma. These results also suggest that SCRT might be a useful agent for the correction of Th2-dominant pathologic disorders.
Mentorship is important for doctoral education and development. Students in Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nursing programs traditionally receive formal mentorship from more experienced faculty ...mentors, creating a top-down, mentor-mentee relationship. Peer mentorship, characterized by a mentor-mentee relationship between peers in similar career stages, provides unique opportunities for career development and socialization. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic limited in-person interactions and introduced new, complex challenges to peer mentorship. The authors, current and recently graduated PhD in Nursing students, were forced to create new ways of connecting with peers and sought to explore how other PhD in Nursing students experienced and maintained peer mentorship in their respective programs during the pandemic. In this article, the authors share their personal experiences with peer mentorship during the pandemic, their process of creating a formal peer mentor model, and findings from a national, cross-sectional survey on COVID-related, peer mentorship experiences among PhD in Nursing students from other academic institutions. Most respondents were able to maintain peer mentorship throughout the pandemic, however, less than half reported receiving faculty support to do so. Recommendations for PhD in Nursing program administrators are provided, based on the experiences of the authors and survey results from PhD in Nursing students across the United States.
•Peer mentorship is important for career development in PhD in Nursing programs.•The COVID-19 pandemic introduced complex challenges to peer mentor relationships.•Formalized peer mentorship may be essential if in-person interactions are limited.•PhD in Nursing students creatively continued peer mentorship during the pandemic.•Administrators can provide financial and administrative support of peer mentorship.
Chung-Yeul-Gue-Soup-Sa-Gan-Tang (CYT), a traditional Korea herbal medicine, has been widely used in Korea for the treatment of various immunological disorders, including allergic asthma. In this ...study, CYT was examined in vitro and tested for possible immunological effects. The results demonstrated that CYT had no mitogenic effects on unstimulated CD4+ T cells, but rather increased CD4+ T cell proliferation upon activation with anti-CD3/CD28 antibody. Under the Th0 condition, CYT also enhanced expression of interleukin (IL)-2 in purified murine CD4+ T cells assayed by real-time PCR, suggesting that CYT moderately increases the activity of helper T cells upon T cell receptor ligation under the neutral condition. However, the Th1 cells were overpopulated following CYT treatment under the Th1 condition, while Th2 cells were under-populated in the Th2 driven condition. In addition, under Th1/Th2-skewed conditions, the levels of IL-4 were considerably decreased, while the expression of T-bet and interferon-γ were increased with CYT treatment. Thus, CYT enhances Th1 lineage development from naive CD4+ T cells both by increasing Th1 specific cytokine secretion and repressing Th2 specific cytokine production. These results suggest that CYT is a desirable agent for the correction of Th2 dominant pathological disorders.
Abstract
African Americans (AA) family caregivers provide the bulk of unpaid care to persons living with dementia (PLWD). This role leaves little time for the adoption of self-care behaviors—critical ...to the prevention and management of chronic diseases. In this systematic review, we appraise caregiver self-care interventions that include AA caregivers of PLWD. PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Cochrane, and Embase databases were searched. Terms included AA/Black, self-care, caregiving, lifestyle, intervention, psychological stress, and faith/community. We initially found 250 references and after application of exclusion criteria and removal of redundant references, 18 articles were analyzed. Most interventions focused on impacting levels of caregiver burden, depression, physical activity, anxiety, or wellbeing. Psychoeducation, physical activity, and spiritually-focused interventions were most effective in improving outcomes in caregivers. Future studies should examine the impact of interventions on the prevention and management of chronic disease in AA caregivers of PLWD.
Abstract
Caregiving stress from repetitive and heavy caregiving workloads can trigger poor emotional health, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, leading to higher caregiver mortality rates. ...Interest in technology-based interventions for this population has increased among researchers due to availability, acceptability, and flexibility compared to in-person services, especially now, during an unprecedented pandemic. Our study focuses on in-home SmartHealth technologies for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias, delivered using Ecological Momentary Assessment and a novel acoustic monitoring, mood recognition, and self-learning recommendation system. The system provides mindfulness-based stress management in response to interpersonal conflict in real-time. We will report challenges and solutions of creating and deploying a SmartHealth system for older adults in their home during the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential effects of this system on caregivers' emotional health are also examined. Findings suggest SmartHealth technologies may assist caregiving populations adapt and thrive in a new, more isolated normal.
Synthesis of the C1–C13 fragment of eribulin mesylate has been accomplished. It features a highly stereoselective construction of a trans-dihydropyran framework using three key reactions: (1) ...Sharpless epoxidation, (2) regioselective ring opening, and (3) olefin metathesis.
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Silicon german ium (SiGe) has attracted significant attention for applications in the source/drain (S/D) regions of p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (p-MOSFETs). However, in ...SiGe, as the Ge concentration increases, high-density defects are generated, which limit its applications. Therefore, several techniques have been developed to minimize defects; however, these techniques require relatively thick epitaxial layers and are not suitable for gate-all-around FETs. This study examined the effect of Ge concentration on the embedded SiGe source/drain region of a logic p-MOSFET. The strain was calculated through nano-beam diffraction and predictions through a simulation were compared to understand the effects of stress relaxation on the change in strain applied to the Si channel. When the device performance was evaluated, the drain saturation current was approximately 710 µA/µm at an off current of 100 nA/µm with a drain voltage of 1 V, indicating that the current was enhanced by 58% when the Ge concentration was optimized.
The prognostic role of aberrant serum miRNA expression for predicting response to sorafenib treatment in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients has not been well characterized. We aimed to ...identify specific serum miRNAs that are associated with positive radiologic responses or improved survival in sorafenib-treated HCC patients. miR-18a, miR-21, miR-139-5p, miR-221, miR-224, and miR-10b-3p, were selected for analysis. Serum samples from 24 patients with advanced stage HCC and 25 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) were analyzed. All of the miRNAs except miR-21 were found to be upregulated in serum samples from HCC patients. None of the miRNAs assayed differed significantly in terms of expression between the responder and non-responder groups among HCC patients. However, miR-10b-3p levels were significantly higher in the subgroup of HCC patients with worse overall survival (fold change = 5.8, P = 0.008). Serum miRNA-10b-3p was upregulated in the presence of macrovascular invasion (MVI), and those with higher serum miRNA-10b-3p had significantly shorter survival during treatment (P = 0.042). Although no single serum miRNA was predictive of response to sorafenib treatment, analysis of serum miR-10b-3p levels may be valuable for diagnosis of HCC and prediction of survival of sorafenib-treated patients.
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