The Grizzly, January 28, 1991

Policies and Statistics, A Security Concern: New Quad Regulations; Crime Report Released • Sonia Sanchez: Poet for Peace • Gulf Dialogue Continues • Independence Dogs • Financial Aid Month • You Asked for it: You Got It!! • New Quad Policy • Presidency Symposium • When is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u27s Birthday? • Who\u27s Who Announced • Mission Conference Held • Back to the Basics • The Innocent • Swimmers on Win Streak • Women Hope for Good Things to Come • A Roller Coaster Season for the Hoopsters • Women Rounding-out Season • The Dream Lives On • Letter: Bundle Up! • Researchers Psyched Out • The Technology of War • A Wasted Solution?https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1268/thumbnail.jp

Differences in Medicare Expenditures During the Last 3 Years of Life

OBJECTIVE: To examine age, gender, race, and area income differences in Medicare expenditures in the 3 years before death. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of aged Medicare beneficiaries who died 1996 to 1999, N = 241,047. MEASURES: We estimate differences in mean Medicare expenditures by year before death and by age, gender, race, and area income, adjusting for comorbidities and Medicaid enrollment. RESULTS: Expenditures for blacks are lower in the second and third years before death and are not significantly different from whites in the last year of life (LYOL) (y3 = 70%, P < .0001; y2 = 82%, P < .0001; LYOL = 119%, P = .098). Differences in expenditures between decedents with area incomes over $35,000 compared to under$20,000 attenuate by the LYOL (y3 = 116%, P < .0001; y2 = 107%, P < .0001; LYOL = 96%, P < .0001). Expenditure patterns for women versus men vary by age. Among the younger cohorts (68 to 74 and 75 to 79), expenditures are higher for women in all 3 years before death. This difference attenuates among older cohorts; in the oldest cohort (90+), expenditures for men exceed those for women by 11% in the LYOL (P < .0001). Older beneficiaries have higher expenditures in the second and third years before death but lower expenditures in the LYOL. On average, the youngest cohort expended $8,017 more in the LYOL relative to the oldest cohort, whereas in the third year before death, the oldest cohort's expenditures were$5,270 more than those for the youngest cohort (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Age-associated differences in aggregate Medicare payments for end-of-life care are more substantial than other differences. The fact that other differences attenuate in the LYOL may reflect having overcome barriers to health care, or reflect an effective ceiling on the opportunities to provide services for persons with overwhelming illness

ENLIGHT: A consensus checklist for reporting laboratory-based studies on the non-visual effects of light in humansResearch in context

Summary: Background: There is no consensus on reporting light characteristics in studies investigating non-visual responses to light. This project aimed to develop a reporting checklist for laboratory-based investigations on the impact of light on non-visual physiology. Methods: A four-step modified Delphi process (three questionnaire-based feedback rounds and one face-to-face group discussion) involving international experts was conducted to reach consensus on the items to be included in the checklist. Following the consensus process, the resulting checklist was tested in a pilot phase with independent experts. Findings: An initial list of 61 items related to reporting light-based interventions was condensed to a final checklist containing 25 items, based upon consensus among experts (final n = 60). Nine items were deemed necessary to report regardless of research question or context. A description of each item is provided in the accompanying Explanation and Elaboration (E&E) document. The independent pilot testing phase led to minor textual clarifications in the checklist and E&E document. Interpretation: The ENLIGHT Checklist is the first consensus-based checklist for documenting and reporting ocular light-based interventions for human studies. The implementation of the checklist will enhance the impact of light-based research by ensuring comprehensive documentation, enhancing reproducibility, and enabling data aggregation across studies. Funding: Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study (NETIAS) Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) programme; Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship (Wellcome Trust, 204686/Z/16/Z); Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development VENI fellowship (2020–09150161910128); U.S. Department of Defense Grant (W81XWH-16-1-0223); National University of Singapore (NUHSRO/2022/038/Startup/08); and National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF2022-THE004-0002)