Enabling research in care homes : an evaluation of a national network of research ready care homes

© 2014 Davies et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise statedIn the UK care homes are one of the main providers of long term care for older people with dementia. Despite the recent increase in care home research, residents with dementia are often excluded from studies. Care home research networks have been recommended by the Ministerial Advisory Group on Dementia Research (MAGDR) as a way of increasing research opportunities for residents with dementia. This paper reports on an evaluation of the feasibility and early impact of an initiative to increase care home participation in researchPeer reviewe

Long-Term Observation of the Adirondack Ecosystem - Data from the SUNY ESF Newcomb Campus

The Adirondack Ecological Center (AEC) at ESF’s Newcomb Campus has one of the oldest and broadest records of scientific field research in North America. Located on the Anna and Archer Huntington Wildlife Forest, AEC is a biological field station and multi-disciplinary platform for research, education and outreach where the most pressing environmental challenges facing our society can be directly examined and understood. The Newcomb Campus (www.esf.edu/newcomb) includes the AEC, Northern Forest Institute, public Adirondack Interpretive Center and Forest Operations Adirondack Properties unit. The campus’ professional staff and scientists collectively maintain extensive data archives from a century of observation. This paper provides a “road map” for researchers, students, historians and others on what resources exist and how to access them

Brain Vital Signs in Elite Ice Hockey: Towards Characterizing Objective and Specific Neurophysiological Reference Values for Concussion Management.

Background: Prior concussion studies have shown that objective neurophysiological measures are sensitive to detecting concussive and subconcussive impairments in youth ice-hockey. These studies monitored brain vital signs at rink-side using a within-subjects design to demonstrate significant changes from pre-season baseline scans. However, practical clinical implementation must overcome inherent challenges related to any dependence on a baseline. This requires establishing the start of normative reference data sets. Methods: The current study collected specific reference data for N = 58 elite, youth, male ice-hockey players and compared these with a general reference dataset from N = 135 of males and females across the lifespan. The elite hockey players were recruited to a select training camp through CAA Hockey, a management agency for players drafted to leagues such as the National Hockey League (NHL). The statistical analysis included a test-retest comparison to establish reliability, and a multivariate analysis of covariance to evaluate differences in brain vital signs between groups with age as a covariate. Findings: Test-retest assessments for brain vital signs evoked potentials showed moderate-to-good reliability (Cronbach's Alpha > 0.7, Intraclass correlation coefficient > 0.5) in five out of six measures. The multivariate analysis of covariance showed no overall effect for group (p = 0.105), and a significant effect of age as a covariate was observed (p < 0.001). Adjusting for the effect of age, a significant difference was observed in the measure of N100 latency (p = 0.022) between elite hockey players and the heterogeneous control group. Interpretation: The findings support the concept that normative physiological data can be used in brain vital signs evaluation in athletes, and should additionally be stratified for age, skill level, and experience. These can be combined with general norms and/or individual baseline assessments where appropriate and/or possible. The current results allow for brain vital sign evaluation independent of baseline assessment, therefore enabling objective neurophysiological evaluation of concussion management and cognitive performance optimization in ice-hockey

Can networks of research active care homes for older people be created and sustained?

Background: In the UK care homes are one of the main providers of long term care for older people with dementia. Despite the recent increase in care home research, residents with dementia are often excluded (Gordon et al, 2012). Networks of research enabled care homes may increase recruitment of people with dementia (MAGDR, 2009). Internationally, comparable networks of nursing homes focus on education and training. The ENRICH research network is an England wide initiative to promote care home participation in research. Methods: The ENRICH care home network was piloted in four regions of England. An evaluation was commissioned to assess the impact of the networks and describe the implementation process. A mixed method approach was used: •Phase 1 mapped current care home involvement in research across England using online searches, interviews with researchers and care home staff •Phase 2 evaluated the impact of the networks on recruitment to studies, staff engagement, and costs. Results: Thirty three out of 42 research studies identified were confirmed as including care homes (January 2011 to June 2012). Their research focus, methods and numbers varied considerably. Care homes were recruited to the research networks through corporate engagement and individual invitation. Recruitment costs were calculated for individual networks. Care home managers were keen to be involved in research, especially if it provided support for staff or direct benefits for residents. Conclusion: Care home research networks have the potential to increase recruitment to research studies and develop partnerships between health care services and care home providers.Non peer reviewe