There is biochemical evidence that the acute phase protein, a1-antichymotrypsin (ACT), is involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. Inflammation increases the level of ACT in the plasma, and it has been suggested that AD provokes chronic neuroinflammation. One of the key proteins in AD is beta-amyloid which associates with ACT in the senile plaques characteristic of AD. Studies to demonstrate a genetic association between polymorphisms in the ACT gene and AD have, to date, been inconclusive and contradictory. The discovery, in our laboratory, of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the promoter region of ACT suggested a new marker to test for a genetic association between ACT and AD. To determine if the ACT promoter polymorphism had a functional effect which could modify the risk of AD, the promoter region was cloned into reporter constructs and transfected into mammalian cells in culture. These included hepatocytes, astrocytes, neuronal cells and mixed population neural cells, and these were stimulated with oncostatin M. In astrocytes, the T allele of the promoter allele demonstrates 208% and 146% higher activity than the G allele under basal and stimulated conditions, respectively. In neuronal cells these values are 37% and 46%. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated differences in binding affinity of a DNA-binding protein, probably TFIIB, and the two alleles of the ACT promoter polymorphism. However, an analysis of ACT promoter genotypes in AD cases (n= 389) and controls (n= 335) revealed no significant difference in the distribution of genotypes between cases and controls (p= 0.250), nor did any ACT promoter genotype appear to modify the age of onset of AD (p= 0.997). The association between the ACT -51bp polymorphism and early onset AD was not investigated, due to the small number of EOAD cases in the population studied.

UK care home residents are frail, dependent and multimorbid. General practitioners (GPs) provide their healthcare but there is evidence that existing provision fails to meet their needs. Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) comprises comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment, goal setting and frequent review. This thesis considers a possible role for CGA in UK care homes through three research projects. The Care Home Literature Review (CHoLiR) was a systematic mapping review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in care homes. It found no evidence supporting CGA as a whole but described some CGA components supported by RCTs: advanced care planning; interventions to reduce prescribing; staff education around dementia and end-of-life; calcium/vitamin D and alendronate in preventing fractures and osteoporosis; vaccination/neuraminidase inhibitors in preventing influenza; functional incidental and bladder training for incontinence; and risperidone/olanzapine for agitation. The Care Home Outcome Study (CHOS) was a longitudinal cohort study recording dependency, cognition, behaviour, diagnoses, prescribing, nutrition and healthcare resource use in 227 residents across 11 care homes over six months. It reported high levels of dependency, cognitive impairment, malnutrition, multimorbidity and frequent behavioural disturbance. Polypharmacy and prescribing errors were common. Variability between homes and individuals was significant for most baseline and outcome measures. Staff Interviews in Care Homes (STICH) was a qualitative interview study of 32 staff working with care homes including: GPs; care home managers and nurses; NHS community nurses and specialist practitioners. It described care defined by discontinuity and lack-of-anticipation; driven by communication failure, inadequate training and expertise in frail older patients, and arbitrary boundaries between care homes and the NHS which interfered with care. Using the findings of these studies, the author proposes a model of care which is multidisciplinary, guided by comprehensive assessment, reinforced by frequent review and delivered by experts in the care of frail older patients: CGA has a role in UK care homes.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg 2016 / Introduction: The African continent, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, is facing a high burden of disease from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic and nutritional deficiencies, while at the same time, facing ever increasing rates of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The mortality rates from CVD are almost equal to the death rates from communicable diseases. In Sub-Saharan countries CVD prevention and management faces many barriers. One such difficulty is the shortage of data for the descriptive epidemiology of CVD risk factors. In an attempt to address this shortage of data, we established the Heart of Soweto (HOS) study in one of the largest African urban communities in South Africa. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe some of the factors contributing to the emergence of chronic diseases of lifestyle, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity in a black urban African population, within the framework of the HOS study. We also investigated the impact of a dietary intervention on cardiac function in subjects with chronic heart failure (CHF) in this black urban cohort. Methods: Data was collected as part of the “Heart of Soweto” (HOS) study, which was a prospectively designed registry that recorded data relating to the presentation, investigation and treatment of patients with newly diagnosed cardiovascular disease presenting to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital (CHBH), Soweto in 2006. Data collected included socio-demographic profile and all major cardiovascular diagnoses. Heart disease was defined as non-communicable (ND) e.g. coronary artery disease or communicable (CD) e.g. rheumatic heart disease. A survey was also conducted on consecutive patients attending two pre-selected primary care clinics in Soweto (644 and 667 patients from the Mandela Sisulu and Michael Maponya clinics, respectively). Data collected included, ethnicity, duration of residence in Soweto, highest level of education and employment status. Clinical data collected included prior or current diagnoses of diabetes and hypertension and pharmacological therapy related to the treatment of hypertension, as well as smoking status and exposure to second-hand smoking. Weight, height, and waist and hip circumference were measured. Questions were asked regarding the duration of night-time sleep and napping during the day. Descriptive studies were undertaken at the Heart Failure Clinic at CHBH, Soweto to firstly describe the food choices and macro-and micronutrients intake of 50 consecutive patients presenting with heart failure using an interviewer-administered quantitative food frequency questionnaire (QFFQ). Food data were translated into nutrient data using the Medical Research Council (MRC) Food Finder 3, 2007, which is based on South African food composition tables. Secondly we performed a randomized controlled study of a multidisciplinary, community-based, chronic HF management program in Soweto, compared with usual care, at CHBH Heart Failure Clinic located at the Soweto Cardiovascular Research Unit (SOCRU), or at the General Cardiac ix Clinic (standard care) in Soweto. In this study 49 consenting, eligible patients were individually randomized on a 1:1 basis to either usual care or to the study intervention and cardiac function was measured before and after the intervention. Results: Data collected at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital (CHBH) cardiology clinic from 5328 suspected cases of heart disease, demonstrated that the most prevalent form of heart disease was hypertensive heart failure (22.0%). It was found that those participants who presented with ND (35.0%) were older and had higher BMI and mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) than those with CD (39.0%; all comparisons p<0.001). Within this cohort of 5328 de novo cases of heart disease, 2505 (47%) were diagnosed with HF, of which 697 (28%) were diagnosed with r i g h t h e a r t f a i l u r e ( RHF). There were more women than men diagnosed with RHF (379 vs. 318 cases), and on an adjusted basis, compared with the remainder of the Heart of Soweto cohort (n = 4631), RHF cases were more likely to be African (adjusted OR 2.33, 95% CI 1.59 – 3.41), with a history of smoking (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.42 – 2.10), a lower body mass index (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.94 – 0.97 per kg/m2) and were less likely to have a family history of heart disease (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.64 – 0.96). Data collected at 2 primary health care clinics in Soweto from 862 women (mean age 41 ± 16 years and mean BMI 29.9 ± 9.2 kg/m2) and 449 men (38 ± 14 years and 24.8 ± 8.3 kg/m2) indicated that in females, former smokers had a higher BMI (p<0.001) than current smokers, while exposure to second hand smoking was associated with a lower BMI (p<0.001) in both genders. Longer sleep duration in females was associated with a lower BMI (p=0.01). Napping during the day for > 30 minutes in males was related to a lower BMI and waist circumference (β=-0.03, p<0.05 for both) and lower systolic (β=-0.02, p<0.05) and diastolic BP (β=-0.02, p<0.05). Longer night time sleep duration was associated with lower diastolic (β=0.004, p<0.01) and systolic BP (β=0.003, p<0.05) in females. Within this same cohort, o b e s i t y w a s m o r e p r e v a l e n t i n f e m a l e s ( 4 1 . 8 % ) t h a n m a l e s ( 1 4 . 1 % ; p < 0 . 0 0 1 ) , 16% (n = 205) had an abnormal 12- lead ECG with more men than women showing a major abnormality (24% vs. 11%; OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.89–3.46). Of 99 cases (7.6%) subject to advanced cardiologic assessment, 29 (2.2%) had newly diagnosed heart disease which included hypertensive heart failure (13 women vs. 2 men, OR 4.51 95% CI 1.00–21.2), coronary artery disease (n = 3), valve disease (n = 3), dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 3) and 2 cases of acute myocarditis. Nutritional deficiencies were observed in a cohort presenting with HF at the cardiology outpatient clinic, CHBH. In women, food choices likely to negatively impact on heart health included added sugar [consumed by 75%: median daily intake (interquartile range) 16 g (10–20)], sweet drinks [54%: 310 ml (85–400)] and salted snacks [61%: 15 g (2–17)]. Corresponding figures for men were added sugar [74%: 15 g (10–15)], sweet drinks [65%: 439 ml (71–670)] and salted snacks [74%: 15 g (4–22)]. The women’s intake of calcium, vitamin C and vitamin E was only 66%, 37% and 40% of the age-specific requirement, respectively. For men, equivalent figures were 66%, 87% and 67%, respectively. Mean sodium intake was 2 372 g/day for men and 1 972 g/day for women, 470 and 294% respectively, of daily recommended intakes (DRI). In men, vitamin C intake was 71 ± 90 (79% of DRI). Similarly, in women vitamin C intake was 66 ± 80 (88% of DRI). Data collected from our HF management programme study supported the deficient intake of vitamin C in African subjects presenting with heart failure. Thus, plasma vitamin C concentrations (normal range 23 – 85 μmol/L) were markedly deficient in both standard care [6.53 (3.80, 9.22) μmol/L] and managed care [3.65 (1.75, 8.23) μmol/L] groups. In terms of clinical presentation, males were significantly older (49.9 ± 10.9 years; p<0.005) than females (37.2 ± 12.8) and at follow-up females had a significantly higher ejection fraction (34.8 ± 9.56 %) than males (29.5 ± 8.27; p<0.05) and when the groups were combined, the ejection fraction was significantly higher (32.2 ± 9.27; p<0.05) at follow-up compared to baseline (29.9 ± 8.80). We found that heart rate was significantly lower at follow-up (89.9 ± 14.6 beats/min) compared to baseline (93.4 ± 17.2; p<0.05) only in the managed care group. Furthermore, if diastolic blood pressure increased over the follow-up period, ejection fraction fell by 5.98% (p=0.009) in comparison to cases where diastolic blood pressure remained the same or fell. In addition, thiamine levels at baseline correlated negatively with systolic blood pressure (r=-0.68, p=0.04) at follow-up. Conclusion: Non-communicable heart disease and other diseases of lifestyle, such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes, are drastically increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and in a black urban African community, such as Soweto, specifically. Soweto can clearly be described as a community in epidemiological and nutrition transition and is facing a double or even triple burden of disease. This is a community that is still being burdened by historically prevalent forms of communicable or infectious diseases juxtaposed against people who have lived their whole lives in Soweto and are increasingly suffering from newer or non-communicable diseases of lifestyle. Women seem to be especially burdened by this increase in non-communicable diseases, with a predominance of women suffering from heart disease and obesity. Certain exacerbating risk factors have been identified from the HOS in this community, namely the gender specific effects of sleep, smoking and other environmental factors on BMI and blood pressure, and the adverse effects of changing dietary patterns particularly the increased consumption of refined and processed foods, high in sugar, salt and fats and insufficient intakes of fruits and vegetables. Although there are some limitations to our HF management study, it serves as an indication that targeted, culturally sensitive care, adapted to an urban African population, might contribute to improved patient outcomes. However, prevention should always be our first priority through community-based and gender specific screening and the development and implementation of targeted prevention programs. / MT2017

Thesis advisor: Sara Moorman / Improved survival for medical conditions that were previously fatal in infancy has led to more individuals living longer with chronic illnesses. These individuals, some of whom have largely unapparent, unpredictable, and yet severe symptoms from birth, may experience a unique set of physical, social, and emotional impacts associated with their condition as compared to youth with less severe, treatable pediatric conditions or individuals with adult-onset conditions. This dissertation explores these challenges using the case of youth with Barth Syndrome (BTHS), a rare, severe, genetic condition in males associated with life-limiting and life-threatening symptoms. Research questions explored: (1) how symptom severity, visibility, and controllability informed individuals’ social management and legitimization of BTHS; (2) how awareness regarding their limited, uncertain prognosis impacted life planning for youth with BTHS; and (3) which coping strategies individuals with BTHS used to manage the physical, social, and emotional impacts associated with their incurable, life-limiting condition. Thirty-three sixty-minute interviews were conducted in two groups: individuals with BTHS ≤15 years of age (n=18) and/or their caregivers, and individuals with BTHS ≥16 years of age (n=15). Interview transcripts were analyzed using Atlas.ti. Results demonstrated that (1) the severity, visibility, and lack of control over BTHS symptoms was associated with individuals needing to seek social support for their condition, rather than attempting to pass as healthy as other males with chronic conditions have been found to do; (2) individuals opted to forgo socially “on-time” goals (i.e., long-term, knowledge-based goals) based on their perceptions of their limited, uncertain time horizons and struggled to identify alternative goals; and (3) individuals used secondary coping strategies (i.e., regulating their emotional responses to their external stressor rather than controlling the stressor itself) to cope with the impacts associated with having an incurable, severe, and chronic health condition. These results can be used to inform practices for providing increased social and institutional support to chronically ill youth, including promoting positive coping strategies and facilitating meaningful, attainable, goal selection. These interventions may alleviate some of the challenges faced by the growing number of youth living with chronic illnesses seeking to safely and meaningfully engage in the realms of work, family, education, and social life. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

A THESIS Submitted to the School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, South Africa 2016 / Background: South Africa has a dual high burden of HIV and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In a response to the dual burden of these chronic diseases, the National Department of Health (NDoH) introduced a pilot of the Integrated Chronic Disease Management (ICDM) model in June 2011 in selected Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities, one of the first of such efforts by an African Ministry of Health. The main aim of the ICDM model is to leverage the successes of the innovative HIV treatment programme for NCDs in order to improve the quality of chronic disease care and health outcomes of adult chronic disease patients. Since the initiation of the ICDM model, little is known about the quality of chronic care resulting in the effectiveness of the model in improving health outcomes of chronic disease patients. Objectives: To describe the chronic disease profile and predictors of healthcare utilisation (HCU) in a rural population in a South African municipality; and assess quality of care and effectiveness of the ICDM model in improving health outcomes of chronic disease patients receiving treatment in PHC facilities. Methods: An NDoH pilot study was conducted in selected health facilities in the Bushbuckridge municipality, Mpumalanga province, northeast South Africa, where a part of the population has been continuously monitored by the Agincourt Health and Socio-Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) since 1992. Two main studies were conducted to address the two research objectives. The first study was a situation analysis to describe the chronic disease profile and predictors of healthcare utilisation in the population monitored by the Agincourt HDSS. The second study evaluated quality of care in the ICDM model as implemented and assessed effectiveness of the model in improving health outcomes of patients receiving treatment in PHC facilities. This second study had three components: (1) a qualitative and (2) a quantitative evaluation of the quality of care in the ICDM model; and a (3) quantitative assessment of effectiveness of the ICDM model in improving patients‘ health outcomes. The two main studies have been categorised into three broad thematic areas: chronic disease profile and predictors of healthcare utilisation; quality of care in the ICDM model; and changes in patients‘ health outcomes attributable to the ICDM model. In the first study, a cross-sectional survey to measure healthcare utilisation was targeted at 7,870 adults 50 years and over permanently residing in the area monitored by the Agincourt HDSS in 2010, the year before the ICDM model was introduced. Secondary data on healthcare utilisation (dependent variable), socio-demographic variables drawn from the HDSS, receipt of social grants and type of medical aid (independent variables) were analysed. Predictors of HCU were determined by binary logistic regression adjusted for socio-demographic variables. The quantitative component of the second study was a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2013 in the seven PHC facilities implementing the ICDM model in the Agincourt sub-district (henceforth referred to as the ICDM pilot facilities) to better understand the quality of care in the ICDM model. Avedis Donabedian‘s theory of the relationships between structure, process, and outcome (SPO) constructs was used to evaluate quality of care in the ICDM model exploring unidirectional, mediation, and reciprocal pathways. Four hundred and thirty-five (435) proportionately sampled patients ≥ 18 years and the seven operational managers of the PHC facilities responded to an adapted satisfaction questionnaire with measures reflecting structure (e.g. equipment), process (e.g. examination) and outcome (e.g. waiting time) constructs. Seventeen dimensions of care in the ICDM model were evaluated from the perspectives of patients and providers. Eight of these 17 dimensions of care are the priority areas of the HIV treatment programme used as leverage for improving quality of care in the ICDM model: supply of critical medicines, hospital referral, defaulter tracing, prepacking of medicines, clinic appointments, reducing patient waiting time, and coherence of integrated chronic disease care (a one-stop clinic meeting most of patients‘ needs). A structural equation model was fit to operationalise Donabedian‘s theory using patient‘s satisfaction scores. The qualitative component of the second study was a case study of the seven ICDM pilot facilities conducted in 2013 to gain in-depth perspectives of healthcare providers and users regarding quality of care in the ICDM model. Of the 435 patients receiving treatment in the pilot facilities, 56 were purposively selected for focus group discussions. An in-depth interview was conducted with the seven operational managers within the pilot facilities and the health manager of the Bushbuckridge municipality. Qualitative data were analysed, with MAXQDA 2 software, to identify 17 a priori dimensions of care and emerging themes. In addition to the emerging themes, codes generated in the qualitative analysis were underpinned by Avedis Donabedian‘s SPO theoretical framework. A controlled interrupted time-series study was conducted for the 435 patients who participated in the cross-sectional study in the ICDM pilot facilities and 443 patients proportionately recruited from five PHC facilities not implementing the ICDM model (Comparison PHC facilities in the surrounding area outside the Agincourt HDSS) from 2011-2013. Health outcome data for each patient were retrieved from facility records at 30-time points (months) during the study period. We performed autoregressive moving average (ARMA) statistical modelling to account for autocorrelation inherent in the time-series data. The effect of the ICDM model on the control of BP (<140/90 mmHg) and CD4 counts (>350 cells/mm3) was assessed by controlled segmented linear regression analysis. Results: Seventy-five percent (75%) of the 7,870 eligible adults 50+ responded to the health care utilization survey in the first study. All 5,795 responders reported health problems, of whom 96% used healthcare, predominantly at public health facilities (82%). Reported health problems were: chronic non-communicable diseases (41% - e.g. hypertension), acute conditions (27% - e.g. flu), other conditions (26% - e.g. musculoskeletal pain), chronic communicable diseases (3% e.g. HIV and TB) and injuries (3%). Chronic communicable (OR=5.91, 95% CI: 1.44, 24.32) and non-communicable (OR=2.85, 95% CI: 1.96, 4.14) diseases were the main predictors of healthcare utilisation. Out of the 17 dimensions of care assessed in the quantitative component of the quality of care study, operational managers reported dissatisfaction with patient waiting time while patients reported dissatisfaction with the appointment system, defaulter-tracing of patients and waiting time. The mediation pathway fitted perfectly with the data (coefficient of determination=1.00). The structural equation modeling showed that structure correlated with process (0.40) and outcome (0.75). Given structure, process correlated with outcome (0.88). Patients‘ perception of availability of equipment, supply of critical medicines and accessibility of care (structure construct) had a direct influence on the ability of nurses to attend to their needs, be professional and friendly (process construct). Patients also perceived that these process dimensions directly influenced coherence of care provided, competence of the nurses and patients‘ confidence in the nurses (outcome construct). These structure-related dimensions of care directly influenced outcome-related dimensions of care without the mediating effect of process factors. In the qualitative study, manager and patient narratives showed inadequacies in structure (malfunctioning blood pressure machines and staff shortage); process (irregular prepacking of drugs); and outcome (long waiting times). Patients reported anti-hypertension drug stock-outs; sub-optimal defaulter-tracing; rigid clinic appointments; HIV-related stigma in the community resulting from defaulter-tracing activities; and government nurses‘ involvement in commercial activities in the consulting rooms during office hours. Managers reported simultaneous treatment of chronic diseases by traditional healers in the community and thought there was reduced HIV stigma because HIV and NCD patients attended the same clinic. In the controlled-interrupted time series study the ARMA model showed that the pilot facilities had a 5.7% (coef=0.057; 95% CI: 0.056,0.058; P<0.001) and 1.0% (coef=0.010; 95% CI: 0.003,0.016; P=0.002) greater likelihood than the comparison facilities to control patients‘ CD4 counts and BP, respectively. In the segmented analysis, the decreasing probabilities of controlling CD4 counts and BP observed in the pilot facilities before the implementation of the ICDM model were respectively reduced by 0.23% (coef = -0.0023; 95% CI: -0.0026,-0.0021; P<0.001) and 1.5% (Coef= -0.015; 95% CI: -0.016,-0.014; P<0.001). Conclusions: HIV and NCDs were the main health problems and predictors of HCU in the population. This suggests that public healthcare services for chronic diseases are a priority among older people in this rural setting. There was poor quality of care reported in five of the eight priority areas used as leverage for the control of NCDs (referral, defaulter tracing, prepacking of medicines, clinic appointments and waiting time); hence, the need to strengthen services in these areas. Application of the ICDM model appeared effective in reducing the decreasing trend in controlling patients‘ CD4 counts and blood pressure. Suboptimal BP control observed in this study may have been due to poor quality of care in the identified priority areas of the ICDM model and unintended consequences of the ICDM model such as work overload, staff shortage, malfunctioning BP machines, anti-hypertension drug stock-outs, and HIV-related stigma in the community. Hence, the HIV programme should be more extensively leveraged to improve the quality of hypertension treatment in order to achieve optimal BP control in the nationwide implementation of the ICDM model in PHC facilities in South Africa and, potentially, other LMICs. / MT2017

Purpose: To study this locally unexplored scenario and provide a platform of knowledge base and information on physical restraint use, securing relevant information of essence to the older person, care provider and policy makers within care homes. Aims and objectives: This dissertation focuses on care providers’ observations and perceptions concerning (a) the types of restraint devices used in government and privately managed long term care homes for older persons in Malta, (b) their mode and extent of application, (c) older person characteristics which may be conducive to physical restraint use, (d) older persons’ reactions to restraint use (e) care providers’ perceptions to physical restraint use within the context of work, environmental and safety concerns, and (f) how the effects of physical restraint use could influence the older person’s rights, autonomy and integrity. Relevance: The demand for long term care for older persons increases as the population ages. This, coupled with an increasing demand for human resources, aggravates the risk for less humane care for frail and vulnerable older persons. Person centred care is the fulcrum for the quality of service delivery in the care of older persons. It recognises the distinctiveness of each and every person irrespective of mental and functional capabilities, and moves away from the routine-driven, task-oriented and depersonalised services to focus on specific personal needs. Although there is an increasing international body of literature, exploring the concept of physical restraint use in care homes, there is a lack of research-based evidence exploring care providers’ holistic approach to physical restraint use in long term care settings in Malta. More importantly, published papers fail to captivate the human and humane elements of the physically restrained older person. The relevance of physical restraint use is central within care home environments. The knowledge of the framework within which this use operates is necessary for the establishment of a paradigm that places the older person within the hubs of her/his care. Study design: A questionnaire booklet incorporating quantitative and qualitative components was developed, designed and adopted. The questionnaire was anonymous and self-administered by care providers within all Maltese care homes (n=13), managed by the government and private sectors. All care providers within these care homes were eligible for study participation, (medical, allied health, nursing, and nursing support staff). Care providers have direct contact with the older persons, and are therefore in a position to provide first-hand information about the use of physical restraints. Participants were requested to complete and return ‘Physical Restraint Use’ (PRU) questionnaire booklet developed for this study. Four hundred and thirty four questionnaire booklets were distributed and 180 booklets were returned over a 3 month time frame, providing a response rate of 41.5%. Findings: A high observed incidence of physical restraint devices particularly for bed rails and harnesses was registered within both the government and privately managed care homes. Moreover, respondents acknowledged the use of 16 different types of devices, which raised questions as to multiple use of restraining. Privately managed care homes reported a slightly higher incidence of observed devices in use. The observed total duration of restraints in excess of 2 hours by far exceeded durations less than 2 hours in both government and privately managed care homes. Data pertaining to the private care homes points to the existence of potential continual application of restraint. With respect to observations of modalities of physical restraint use (person recommending, explaining, monitoring and deciding, and documentation), within government and privately managed care homes, a consistent statistically higher involvement of management staff in all of the procedures related to the use of restraining was reported. This was however not evident with respect to documenting restraint use within the private sector. Additionally family members/substitute decision makers had a greater influence on recommending restraint use and its removal within privately managed care homes. Nursing support staff offered a greater contribution to monitoring, documenting restraint use in private than in government managed care homes, whilst nurses in government homes contributed more to monitoring restraint use than their professional counterparts within private homes. Care providers’ attitudes on the use of restraining were reported to be the strongest advocators for using physical restraints within care homes, rather than issues related to older persons themselves such as mobility and physical limitations, cognitive problems, continence issues, problems with communication/hearing/vision and activity participation and pharmacological treatment. Respondents also acknowledged observing adverse reactions to restraint use. Care providers reported restlessness to be the most observed reaction from older persons to physical restraint use (87.9%), followed by physical and cognitive consequences (66.7%) and apathy (30.3%). Participants were uncertain that there would be no serious concerns related to work, environment, safety, and caring, should restraints be reduced, scoring between 3.0 and 4.0 on a 5-point Likert scale, with high scores expressing high concerns. Further analysis revealed that both care home sectors tended to favour least restraint use but were reluctant to remove restraint completely. Similarly, private care home respondents disagreed more than government care home respondents with the statement that the majority of physical restraints in use are necessary while nursing and nursing support staff showed a higher agreement with physical restraining being an invasion of a human right than did managers. Training did not impact on the use of restraining within the care homes. . Conclusion: This study highlighted the sensitivity surrounding physical restraint use. It substantiated published data and also offered novel contributions to the body of knowledge pertaining to the physical restraints and their use. Primarily, the study indicated that training had no impact to effecting restraint minimisation approaches within the care homes. Secondly, respondents acknowledged the use of 16 different types of restraining devices. Also, arguments that bed rail use was not considered a restraining device, having become unconditionally and unquestionably the accepted norm within care homes was corroborated through the high reported observed incidence of use. The study also offered a fresh insight into the modalities of physical restraint use, (recommendation to, explaining on, and monitoring/removing restraint device). Few insights into the impact of physical restraining on the human and humane aspects of older person care were captivated in this study, more so as the sensitivity surrounding physical restraining required that the investigation be carried out through care providers’ observations. This situation, within this project, was perhaps the biggest contribution yet, moreover when the study was indicative that care providers’ attitudes towards restraint use were reported to be the strongest advocator for their use. At its most basic level, physical restraining is tantamount to blocking or limiting a person’s free ability to move as she/he pleases, thus infringing on the older person’s human rights. Indeed, physical restraining is the inability of care providers’ to identify and address the needs of the older persons and provide innovative paradigms of care. Restraining implies a failure in people relationships and consequently in the system of care delivery. The message in the bottle must address the urgent provision for personalised services that enable the older person to make full decisions about her/his care through the support of care providers when called for and at later stages through advocates. It is only through these approaches that policies and guidelines could be put in place and managed effectively and efficiently.

Background Falls in older people result in harm for individuals and are a major public health problem, but there is little published data on the recording and incidence of falls seen in primary care, with which to consider the implications of recent policy initiatives. A range of factors contribute to falls risk. Amongst these, the role of some medications is well established, but the evidence base regarding the effects of some of the most commonly prescribed medications remains meagre and inconsistent. Aims The project aims to quantify the overall incidence and distribution of recorded falls among older people in primary care in the UK, and the associated risk of death. The falls risk profile of more recently introduced serotonin noradrenalin reuptake inhibitors (SNRls) is explored to assess whether it is more favourable than that of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRls). Similarly, prescribing of subclasses of antihypertensive medication is explored to establish whether any of them modify risk of falling. Finally, other classes or sub-classes of medication prescribed in primary care are identified whose apparent falls risk warrants further investigation. Methods Analysis of falls and prescribing history in the electronic records of patients aged 60 years and over from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) using cohort, survival, case-control and case series study designs. Results Amongst people aged >60 years the overall crude incidence rate of recorded falls was 3.58/100 person-years (3.56-3.61), higher in older age groups, in women and least advantaged social groups, and was constant in the period 2003-2006. Fallers experienced a substantial increase in mortality (two-fold increase for recurrent fallers, and more than five-fold for those aged 60-74 years). This increase is independent of fractures recorded at the time of the fall or subsequently. People who fall have an increased rate of subsequent fracture (approximately three-fold and, for recurrent fallers aged 60-74 years more than eight-fold). There was an increased risk of current prescribing of SNRls (adjusted OR 1.79, 1.42 - 2.25) in first fall cases compared with controls. This was similar in magnitude to that seen with tricyclic antidepressants and SSRls. The increase in risk was apparent within the first 28 days after first prescription. The effects were also apparent in the self-controlled case series analysis: the incidence risk ratio for the period 1-28 days after initiation of treatment compared with unexposed periods was 1.49 (1.15 - 1.93). There was an increased risk of current prescribing of thiazides (adjusted OR 1.28, 1.16-1.42). At 3 weeks after first prescribing the adjusted risk remained 4.28 (1.19-15.42). In the case series analysis the incidence risk ratio for the period 21 days after first prescription was 2.80 (1.7 - 4.57). We found a reduced risk for current prescribing of beta blockers (adjusted OR 0.90; 0.85- 0.96), but a weakly positive effect in the case series analysis for the corresponding period IRR 1.23 (1.02-1.48). Taken together, the case-control and case series analyses of other subclasses of antihypertensives provided weak or no evidence for an effect on falls. In the hypothesis generating case-control analysis of other medication classes, unadjusted odds ratios of greater than 1.7 were found in a number of classes of medication including: laxatives, antifungals, corticosteroids, insulin, antibiotics for mild to moderate acne, and vaccines for influenza and other infections. Conclusions Older people with a recorded fall represent a group who are at increased risk of death, irrespective of whether they have a subsequent fracture. Nevertheless the incidence of falls recorded in primary care suggests that guidance about asking patients if they have fallen in the last year appears not to have been followed during the study period. The fact that the incidence rate of falls is strongly associated with social disadvantage suggests the need to target the design and delivery of interventions accordingly. The falls risk profile of SNRls, which is similar to that of SSRls and TCAs, suggests that clinicians initiating prescribing of SNRls should be alert to the increased risk of falls. Similarly, clinicians initiating prescribing of thiazides in older people, which has generally been considered a 'safe' option for older patients, should be alert to the possibility of an increased risk of falls in the first three weeks of prescribing. Case series analysis of recurrent periodic exposures can elucidate bias in classis case-control analysis of the same data, and will be useful in assessing the falls risk profile of other medications such as insulin. Given the small size of sources of detailed data about older people who fall and the imprecision in their measurement of exposure to medications and potential confounders, case-control and case series analysis of first falls in THIN represents a valuable source of new evidence about medication risk factors.

The objective of this thesis was to better understand the epidemiology of caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) and its economic effects on the Australian sheep industries. The work also sought to apply this knowledge to better understand how to control the disease in Australian sheep flocks. The occurrence of CLA in some other species, as a comparison to CLA in sheep, is described in the literature review. However a comprehensive review of research on CLA in all livestock species is not needed to meet the aims of the thesis. The research used serological tests developed in the 1970s and ‘80s to examine the epidemiology and costs of CLA in Western Australian sheep flocks. Epidemiological techniques were used to determine the main risk factors associated with high incidences of CLA. Controlled experimentation was used to better understand the spread of CLA within flocks. Prevalence data collected at abattoirs and survey techniques were employed to better understand how CLA was being controlled in Australian sheep flocks. It was shown that toxin and cell wall ELISA tests for CLA were useful tools to study the spread of CLA in sheep flocks. Using the serological tests it was estimated that 80 per cent of CLA spread occurs after the second and third shearings. This knowledge was used to design a risk factor study which identified two significant factors associated with high CLA spread, that is in dips and close contact after shearing. These tests also facilitated the study of new CLA infection on wool production. It was found that sheep produce approximately five per cent less clean wool in the year in which they are infected. The main routes for the spread of CLA were from sheep with lung abscesses to those with skin cuts and through dips, rather than from an environment contaminated with Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis bacteria. A survey of sheep producers found that the prevalence of CLA had decreased from over 50% in the 1970s to approximately 20% in the late 1990s. It also found that current vaccines were being used inefficiently. Large increases in the efficiency of control can be achieved by approximately 70 per cent of producers by using commercially available vaccines and the recommended vaccination programs of two

Can we reduce obesity and chronic disease risk factors without "going on a diet?" Appropriate management of obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains a challenging issue for public health. Interventions demonstrating reductions in weight generally rely on labour-intensive, individualised counselling and usually feature highlyprescriptive diet/exercise plans which are time and cost-intensive to deliver, and potentially unsustainable at the community level. Moreover, there is limited evidence from randomised trials on the importance of active follow-up following initial intervention. This thesis describes the effectiveness of a 1-year randomised controlled trial incorporating an initial 16-week active lifestyle modification program on body composition and cardio-metabolic health.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Univ., 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.