Caregivers' Use of Personal and Social Resourcefulness: Differences by Care Recipient Condition

Although family caregivers who use both the personal and social resourcefulness skills have the best health outcomes, it is unknown whether their tendency toward personal or social resourcefulness varies by their care recipient's condition. This cross-sectional study of existing data from 234 caregivers of persons with various conditions examined five item pairs from the Resourcefulness Scale^© with responses capturing personal and social resourcefulness in relation to anxiety, anger, sadness, indecision, and financial distress. Caregivers were categorized by the recipient's condition (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cancer, dementia, mental illness, Parkinson's disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, other, or multiple conditions). Findings showed that across most groups, caregivers used both personal and social resourcefulness when angry, sad, or indecisive and personal resourcefulness when anxious or managing money. Caregivers of persons with cancer, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and mental illness differed. The findings provide a basis for future clinical trials across diverse caregiver groups.

Randomized clinical trial of a community navigation intervention to improve well-being in persons living with HIV and other co-morbidities

Long-term survival of people living with HIV (PLWH) is associated with the development of co-morbid conditions and need for symptom management and other efforts to enhance quality of life. We conducted a longitudinal, randomized trial over 36 months to evaluate the effect of a community-based navigator intervention to provide early palliative care to 179 PLWH and other chronic conditions. Outcomes included quality of life, symptom management, coping ability, social support, self-management, and completion of advance directives. Data were analyzed using SAS mixed effects model repeat measurement. Our navigator program showed variable improvement over time of three outcome variables, self-blame, symptom distress, and HIV self-management. However, the program did not improve overall quality of life, social support, or completion of advance directives.

Upstreaming and Normalizing Advance Care Planning Conversations-A Public Health Approach

As a society, we simply don’t talk about this universal experience called dying and death; in fact, we ignore it until we have to face it. Thus, it is often in a crisis experience when we have to make decisions while we are laden with uncertainty and intense emotions. Sixty percent of people say making sure their family is not burdened by tough decisions is extremely important, yet 56% of them have not held a conversation about its context. Instead of waiting to make end-of-life decisions, let us begin to think about what matters most while we are living, what we value most, and how we translate these values into conversations about what is important. As a public health concern, if we can upstream the advance care planning discussion into usual health promotion activities, perhaps, as a society, we can begin to normalize and reshape how we make decisions about the last chapters of our lives.

Understanding consumer preferences for communication channels to create consumer-directed health promotion efforts in psychiatric rehabilitation settings

People with serious mental illnesses experience increased rates of physical illnesses. Drop-in centers and psychosocial rehabilitation programs can serve as important settings for health promotion efforts, but such efforts should utilize communication strategies that are used by consumers and are perceived to be reliable. Focus groups involving 23 consumers at drop-in centers in Philadelphia were conducted to assess the perceived usefulness of health information from a variety of sources. Consumers especially liked getting information from other people, including health care professionals, friends, and family, and found the information to be reliable and useful. Print literature, the Internet, and a library had various limitations. Respondents were generally unfamiliar with community health fairs and related events. Consumers considered trustworthiness, proximity and availability, and the specificity and depth of information provided by a communication source when getting health information. Implications for health promotion efforts are discussed.

Formation and stability of pyrrole adducts in the reaction of levuglandin E2 with proteins

Levuglandin (LG) E2 is rapidly sequestered by covalent binding with proteins. The reaction of LGE2 with a protein in neutral aqueous solution exhibits two phases. A metastable adduct rapidly accumulates initially. In the second phase, a protein-bound pyrrole is generated. Pyrrole formation and stability were monitored with an immunoassay using antibodies that were raised against a stable isostere. That LG-derived pyrroles are the major products (> 76%) of the LGE2-protein reaction is suggested by the level of antibody binding found for LG-protein adducts compared with that found for a pyrrole derived from LGE2 and 6-amino-1-hexanol. Because the initial metastable LG-protein adduct is a reactive electrophile, it can be trapped with amines, such as glycine, to give stable ternary adducts that do not cross-react with the antibodies. Although highly alkylated pyrroles are chemically sensitive compounds, the protein-bound LG-derived pyrrole appears to be stable in aqueous solution at pH 7.4. Thus, it shows no decrease in immunoreactivity over several weeks. This discovery leads to the expectation that such pyrroles will accumulate in vivo, especially in proteins that do not turn over rapidly. Thus, the LG-derived protein-bound pyrrole may be a useful marker of oxidative lipid damage, and an immunoassay for this post-translational protein modification can be exploited as a mild, sensitive method for detecting and quantifying the generation of LGs in chronic inflammatory states.

Coronavirus-like particles associated with diarrhea in baby pigs in Quebec

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Lesions of the central nervous system induced in nonhuman primates by live influenza viruses

Intracerebral and intraspinal inoculations of non-neuropathic and neuropathic strains of influenza virus into rhesus, patas and cercopithecus monkeys resulted in an acute focal ependymitis, choroiditis and meningitis followed by focal ependymal denuding without parenchymal involvement. Aqueductal stenosis and moderate hydrocephalus developed in two animals as sequelae of ependymal cell loss.

Rapid diagnosis by electron microscopy of avian coronavirus infection

The election microscopic examination of allantoic fluid from embryonated hens' eggs inoculated with tissue homogenates from organs of birds suffering with infectious bronchitis, reveals the presence of coronaviruses as early as the first or the second passage. This method permits a rapid diagnosis and is as accurate as the standard technique.

Response of ferrets and monkeys to intranasal infection with human, equine and avian influenza viruses

Rhesus monkeys and ferrets were exposed to intranasal inoculation of several strains of egg-adapted avian, equine and human influenza viruses and to strains of mouse-adapted equine influenza viruses. Local replication of virus and seroconversion were observed in the majority of these animals. However, clinical infection was observed only in ferrets.