Death Rates from Alzheimers

Since 1999, Alzheimer’s disease has become more of a talking point in our society. This could be because death by Alzheimer’s disease has increased gradually over the years in the United States (NCHS, 2022). We hypothesized that mortality rates due to Alzheimer’s disease will increase as life expectancy rises. This is due to the fact that individuals under the age of fifty-five are highly unlikely to develop this disease. The dataset we examined and analyzed, Leading Causes of Death, comes from the National Center for Health Statistics and showcases the causes of death in each state in America from 1999 to 2017. The dataset includes the year, cause of death, amount of deaths, and the age-adjusted death rate in each individual state. By comparing the rate of Alzheimer’s related deaths from 1999 versus 2017 we see a clear increase, especially in the southeastern region of the United States. There could be several cultural, economic, and environmental factors at play causing this phenomenon, such as the average population age being older in this specific region. Death by Alzheimer’s disease is rapidly increasing across the United States. How can we implement psychological programs within our older population to prevent the onset of this disease in the U.S.

Focus On Me

In the modern world, distractions are all around us. Screens and notifications are a constant presence, competing for attention. Companies have taken advantage of people’s addiction to devices by creating advertisements designed to distract from the task at hand. Whether scrolling through social media, watching television, searching the internet, or reading online articles, there are a slew of advertisements. Previous research demonstrates that advertisements have the ability to divert one’s attention, and this process can be affected by many factors, like placement, relatability, and difficulty of task. Switching attention between stimuli can impact other mental processes, but the extent of this effect is not well-studied regarding on-screen advertisements. Thus, the current study aimed to evaluate the effect of on-screen advertisements on recall memory. Participants read two passages, one with pop-up advertisements and one with no advertisements. Eye tracking software was used to track eye movements, such as points and duration of fixations. To test memory, participants answered comprehension questions about each passage and the advertisements shown. We hypothesized that comprehension scores will be lower for the passage with advertisements than the passage without advertisements due to the passage with advertisements having significant time spent focusing on the advertisements rather than the passage. Results are currently being analyzed

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease

Azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Background Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatory actions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19. Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients were randomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once per day by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatment groups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment and were twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants and local study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to the outcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936. Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) were eligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was 65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomly allocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall, 561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days (rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median 10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days (rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, no significant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilation or death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24). Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or other prespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restricted to patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication. Funding UK Research and Innovation (Medical Research Council) and National Institute of Health Research