The Hidden Pandemic: A Qualitative Study on How Middle-Aged Women Make Sense Of Managing Their Long Covid Symptoms

Long covid is a challenging and debilitating health condition because of its remitting and relapsing nature and a person living with long covid can feel like they are getting better and recovering only to relapse again. The aim of the research was to explore how non hospitalised middle-aged women who contracted covid in the first wave of the pandemic, from March 2020, are managing their long covid symptoms. A Qualitative research study with an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis approach was utilised to explore how the women made sense of managing their condition and health seek behaviours. Participants were recruited from long covid Facebook groups and semi-structured Interviews were conducted remotely by Teams audio which were digitally recorded and transcribed by hand with prior informed consent. 9 women were interviewed and four themes and 8 sub themes emerged from the data. The four emerging themes were: Inequality and inconsistent medical treatment; Uncertainty and ambiguity of managing long covid symptoms; Managing other people’s expectations and perceptions of long covid and The changing identity. Overall, these results indicated a general mistrust in health care services to provide adequate support and individualised treatment plans leading women to self-advocacy and to seek alternative support and treatment. This article raised important questions about the nature of how women are still being unfairly treated when seeking medical attention

Investigation of the Caregivers’ Quality of Life in Patients with Renal Failure

The care of patients with chronic renal failure is a specialized field in the field of health with significant peculiarities. The initial aim of the study is the investigation of the caregivers’ quality of life in patients with renal failure, which arises both from the stress of the progression of the disease itself and from the burdens of care. The main variables of the research, the burden/fatigue of the caregivers and the general health index, are concepts that can be quantified, thanks to the special psychometric tools that have been developed for their measurement. The study was conducted from January 2022 until May 2022. The final sample of the present study is 100 caregivers of patients with renal failure. The need for permanent and continuous care requires on the part of the caregiver’s daily engagement, the dedication of hours, neglect of personal needs or social activities and generally permanent changes in his life and daily life. Caregivers are at high risk of deteriorating quality of life due to their time and energy in providing care. The result of the correlation analysis confirms the research hypotheses that the health status of the caregivers is negatively affected by the burden and fatigue they receive from their work

“Turbulence even in a bubble”: A reflexive thematic analysis with family caregivers of people with dementia in the United Kingdom during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic

Objective: This study aimed to understand how family caregivers of people with dementia managed changes caused by COVID-19 restrictions and how they adjusted to the lifting of restrictions. A particular focus of the study was on understanding the impact of social isolation, a reduction of social interactions, and reduced access to healthcare services. Methods and measures: Fourteen voluntary caregivers (nine women) were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. Results: Five themes were identified based on reflexive thematic analysis: i) Outlets to cope with lockdown; ii) “Not all doom and gloom”: A silver lining amid COVID-19; iii) Optimism helps provide resilience; iv) The challenges and joys of reopening; and v) Caregiving toward a new normality. Conclusion: The research highlighted difficulties reported by family caregivers and people with dementia during COVID-19, while also showing how such carers coped. Interviews also identified ways that family caregivers often used optimism to help navigate through lockdown and to tackle the reopening stage. Family caregivers in this study reported coping well overall, but welcomed the lifting of restrictions

Bioactive supramolecular peptide nanofibers for regenerative medicine

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Recent advances in understanding of cell-matrix interactions and the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in regulation of cellular behavior have created new perspectives for regenerative medicine. Supramolecular peptide nanofiber systems have been used as synthetic scaffolds in regenerative medicine applications due to their tailorable properties and ability to mimic ECM proteins. Through designed bioactive epitopes, peptide nanofiber systems provide biomolecular recognition sites that can trigger specific interactions with cell surface receptors. The present Review covers structural and biochemical properties of the self-assembled peptide nanofibers for tissue regeneration, and highlights studies that investigate the ability of ECM mimetic peptides to alter cellular behavior including cell adhesion, proliferation, and/or differentiation. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

The national comprehensive cancer network distress thermometer as a screening tool for the evaluation of quality of life in uveal melanoma patients

Purpose To assess quality of life (QoL) status via the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN ) distress thermometer as a psychooncological screening tool in uveal melanoma patients. Methods One hundred and six consecutive patients suffering from uveal melanoma completed the distress thermometer between 04/2018 and 12/2018. Practical, emotional, family concerned, spiritual, physical and overall distress levels, distribution of distress and subgroup analyses defining groups of potential high distress levels in need of intervention were assessed. Descriptive statistics, cross‐tabulations, chi‐square and Fisher's exact test as well as correlation coefficients (Spearman's rho) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC ) were used for analysis. Results Patients with higher T‐category had significantly more emotional problems and spiritual concerns (p = 0.046 and p = 0.023, respectively). Female patients accounted for higher rates of physical issues (p = 0.034). Lower best corrected visual acuity (BCVA ) was correlated with higher distress levels (p = 0.037). Patients resulting in loss of BCVA of ≥3 lines reported higher distress levels (p = 0.029). A distress threshold of 5 on the basis of ROC analysis showed a corresponding sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 76%. Conclusion The NCCN distress thermometer could be integrated well into our clinical routine and proved to be a rapid, yet sensible screening tool for emotional and physical distress in patients with uveal melanoma. Special attention should be paid to patients with higher T‐category and patients resulting in lower levels of BCVA . As in patients with different tumour entities, the established distress threshold of ≥5 proposing intervention proved to be adequate for uveal melanoma patients

Evaluating the feasibility of a web-based weight loss programme for naval service personnel with excess body weight.

Overweight and obesity are a major concern that may influence the operational capacity of the UK Naval Service (NS). This study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of trialling and implementing a modified web-based weight loss programme for overweight and obese NS personnel.Royal Navy; University of Southampto

Evaluating the feasibility of a web-based weight loss programme for naval service personnel with excess body weight.

Overweight and obesity are a major concern that may influence the operational capacity of the UK Naval Service (NS). This study was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of trialling and implementing a modified web-based weight loss programme for overweight and obese NS personnel.Royal Navy; University of Southampto

Hertel-exophthalmometry-like multi-detector-row-CT-exophthalmometry: inter-disciplinary inter-observer reproducibility of measurements

Objectives: To investigate the interdisciplinary interobserver reproducibility of Hertel-exophthalmometry-like protrusion measurements on multidetector-row-computed-tomography- (MDCT-) images of the orbit to facilitate structured evaluation of the orbit and mid-face. Methods: Respective reproducibility of base-length along the interfronto-zygomatic line, right and left ocular protrusion, and deriving interocular difference was measured in this retrospective (04/2009-03/2020) single-centre observational study. MDCT-series and slice-positions were selected independently, using picture-archiving-and-communication-system- (PACS-) tools on tilt-corrected axial MDCT-images (slice-thickness 0.6–3.0 mm, window/centre 350/50 HU) in 37 selected adult patients (24 female, age 57 ± 13 years, average±standard-deviation) with clinical indication for Hertel-exophthalmometry, by one radiology-attending, two ophthalmology-attendings, one critical-care-attending, and one ear-nose-throat-surgery resident, respectively. Bland-Altman plots and Wilcoxon-matched-pairs-signed-rank-tests compared interobserver results. Results: Mean and median interobserver and intraobserver (radiology-attending) deviations were within 1 mm of respective averages of base-length (98 ± 4 mm), right and left ocular protrusion (21 ± 4 mm) and interocular difference (2 ± 1 mm). Relative interobserver deviations were within 2.0% of average (all patients) for base-length, and 5.0% (>80% of patients) for ocular protrusion. Pairwise interobserver comparison showed no significant differences between interocular differences of protrusion. Conclusions: Respective measurements of base-length, ocular protrusion, and deriving interocular difference show high interdisciplinary interobserver reproducibility in tilt-corrected axial MDCT-images of the orbit or mid-face. Advances in knowledge: Hertel-exophthalmometry-like protrusion measurements did not depend on the years of experience or the medical subspecialty of the observer. Measurements are objective, well reproducible and important for multiple medical disciplines and should thus be included in pertinent radiology reports

Caregiving in multiple sclerosis and quality of life: a meta-synthesis of qualitative research

Objective: The lack of adequate conceptualisation and operationalisation of quality of life (QoL) limits the ability to have a consistent body of evidence to improve QoL research and practice in informal caregiving for people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Thus, we conducted a meta-synthesis of qualitative research to improve the conceptual understanding of the experiences of MS carers and to identify factors that affect carers' QoL. Design: Systematic searches of five electronic databases yielded 17 qualitative studies which were synthesised using the principles of meta-ethnography. Results: The synthesis resulted in nine inter-linking themes: Changes and losses; challenges revolving around MS; caregiving demands; burden of care; future concerns; external stressors; experiences of support; strategies used in managing the caregiving role; and motivating factors. Our findings suggest that MS carers can have both positive and negative experiences which may bring challenges and rewards to the carers. Conclusion: We present a proposed QoL model for MS caregiving which can be used to inform the development of interventions for MS carers to improve their QoL. However, further empirical research is needed to examine the utility of this model and to explore the concept of QoL in MS carers in more detail

University makes me angry: Investigating stimulus-response (S-R) and cognitive-mediation (C-M) emotion beliefs in undergraduate students

Emotion regulation through cognitive reappraisal is well-studied, but less so are the predispositional and superordinate beliefs that influence reappraisal. Recently, researchers developed the cognitive mediation beliefs questionnaire (CMBQ), which measures two emotion beliefs, namely stimulus-response (S-R) generation beliefs and cognitive mediation (C-M) change beliefs. In working populations S-R generation beliefs are inversely related to cognitive reappraisal tendencies and positive mental health, and positively related to emotion reactivity. C-M change beliefs are positively related to cognitive reappraisal tendencies, and inversely related to emotion reactivity and positive mental health. As yet, there is no evidence for the validity of the CMBQ within student samples, or for the associations between its subscales and cognitive reappraisal, emotion reactivity, and positive mental health. Therefore, in the present study the CMBQ is tested for factorial, convergent (associations with cognitive reappraisal), and concurrent (associations with emotion reactivity and positive mental health) validity in a cohort of 621 undergraduate students in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Results indicate support for the factorial and convergent validity of the CMBQ, with mixed evidence for the concurrent validity of the CMBQ. A CM-SR discrepancy score appeared to provide a promising variable when associated with emotion reactivity and positive mental health. The findings are discussed in terms of practical and research implications of the findings