Smithepstein2508

To understand patients' and caregivers' experiences with and perceptions of a federally-mandated program within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that provides educational and monetary support to family caregivers of post-9/11 Veterans.

Twenty-six Veterans and their family caregivers were recruited to participate in individual and dyadic interviews. Interviews lasted between 60 and 90min and took place between August 2016 and July 2018 in Oregon and Louisiana. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded by multiple team members. Recurrent themes and categories were identified through close examination of coded text and comparison within and across transcripts.

Three main themes emerged in the data 1) appreciation of the caregiver program for validating and compensating family caregiver work; 2) perception that some caregiving activities are less visible, and thus go unrecognized and uncompensated; 3) concern about loss of benefits.

Implications and policy recommendations for programs to support family caregivers, both within the VA and in the context of the broader national movement to support family caregivers, are discussed.

Implications and policy recommendations for programs to support family caregivers, both within the VA and in the context of the broader national movement to support family caregivers, are discussed.Healthcare providers across a wide variety of settings face a common challenge the need to provide real time care for complex problems that are not adequately addressed by existing protocols. In response to these intervention gaps, frontline providers may utilize existing evidence to develop new approaches that are tailored to specific problems. It is imperative that such approaches undergo some form of evaluation, ensuring quality control while permitting ongoing adaptation and refinement. Selleckchem Ac-FLTD-CMK "Dynamic diffusion" is an innovative approach to intervention improvement and dissemination whereby care practices are delivered and continuously evaluated under real-world conditions as part of a structured network experience. This "dynamic diffusion network" (DDN) promotes cross-pollination of ideas and shared learning to generate relatively rapid improvements in care. The pilot Mental Health and Chaplaincy DDN was developed to advance suicide prevention efforts and moral injury care practices being conducted by 13 chaplain-mental health professional teams across the Veterans Health Administration. Lessons learned from the pilot DDN include the importance of the following geographic and cultural diversity among innovation collaborators to ensure the broadest possible relevance of solutions; leadership support to facilitate engagement of frontline providers in quality improvement efforts; and participation in a community of practice to motivate providers and offer opportunities for direct collaboration and cross-pollination of ideas.Paper made of cellulose has the advantages of substantial resource, good biocompatibility, large operation scale, and low production cost, however, it is usually hindered to replace plastic due to its inferior stability to water and poor mechanical strength. Herein, commercial filter paper (FP) was reacted with methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) to fabricate modified paper with tunable hydrophobicity and enhanced wet tensile strength. Due to the formation of urethane linkages in the reaction, both hydrophobicity and wet mechanical properties can be tuned and improved by varying the MDI cross-linking agent, exhibiting highest water contact angle of 137.0° and wet tensile strength of 4.8 MPa. In addition, the modified MDI-FPs exhibited excellent antibacterial performance against Escherichia coli compared with the original FP. Overall, this study provides a more simple approach to modify cellulose paper to produce versatile cellulose-based materials that can potentially replace the non-biodegradable plastics.While bacterial cellulose (BC) is a widely used, high-value product, its industrial production is hindered by the limited properties and productivity. Herein, by combining optimized fermentation methods and adding XG for in situ modification during submerged fermentation of Enterobacter sp. FY-07 (FY-07), homogeneously modified BC/xanthan gum (XG) nanocomposites with enhanced productivity and properties were obtained. The relationship between BC productivity and the contact area between the bacteria and objects was explored. The productivity of BC reached 3.2 g/L/d under optimal conditions. Compared to BC, the BC/XG nanocomposite exhibited coarser fibers along with significantly higher hardness, chewiness, resilience, and tensile strength, making the nanocomposite more suitable for food and other applications. The findings provide a low-cost, simple, and efficient strategy to improve the properties and productivity of BC. This work has significant implications for the in situ modification and production of BC in the biopolymer industry.Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic disease affecting joint functionality and often managed with hyaluronic acid (HA) administration. In this study, a hydrogel based on a lactose-modified chitosan (CTL) reticulated with boric acid has been developed as a viscosupplement for OA treatment. The rheological characterization allowed to identify a composition whose properties were in line with those of commercial products (in the order of tens of Pascal). The selected CTL-hydrogel showed biocompatibility and antioxidant activity in vitro, and it did not influence cytokines release by macrophages. Degradation studies carried out over 24 h pointed out its higher resistance to chemical degradation with respect to HA samples. Overall, this study underlines the advantages of the CTL-hydrogel to address the treatment of OA and shed light on an innovative application of CTL polymer, which is one of the main component of the proposed hydrogel system and not used in mixture with other molecules.Although many preparation methods have been reported till date, it is still a great challenge to prepare silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) that simultaneously possess high stability and enhanced applicability. We report a rapid and efficient synthesis of AgNPs containing polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-guar gum (GG) smart hydrogel composite, which exhibited pH-dependent swelling and enhanced mechanical strength. The AgNPs were synthesized in situ in the PVA-GG hydrogel from various concentrations of the AgNO3 precursor solution in the presence of NaBH4. Stable AgNPs (90 days) of 10-20 nm uniformly dispersed in PVA-GG hydrogel was obtained. Simultaneously, at the optimum concentration of AgNO3 (0.01 M), the tensile strength and elongation at break were enhanced by 74 % and 11 %, and swelling capacity was increased by 18 % as compared to PVA-GG hydrogel (control). The PVA-GG-AgNPs hydrogel composite exhibited excellent catalytic activity and antibacterial property, which makes them a suitable candidate for industrial applications.