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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Creators: Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation
- Creators: Aldana, Lauren Michelle
Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a chow diet or a high fat diet (HFD) for ten weeks. Endothelium-dependent vasodilation was measured in isolated mesenteric arterioles that were treated with or without 80 µg/ml sumac in the superfusate throughout the experiment.
Results: Sumac did not improve vasodilation or in ex vivo arteries from rats fed a high fat diet. There were trends of improved vasodilation in sumac treated vessels from high fat diet rats, but sumac did not significantly improve vasodilation. In rats fed a chow diet, sumac prevented phenylephrine (PE) constriction in the vascular tissue. The most likely cause for this is the presence of Gallic acid in sumac. Another possible explanation is the presence of nitrates in sumac which may have prevented PE vasoconstriction.
Conclusions: Sumac did not significantly improve vasodilation in isolated arteries from rats fed a high fat diet. The results are inconclusive for the improvement of symptoms or risk of vascular dementia. In vivo treatment with sumac should be tested as results may differ.
DESIGN: Patient charts were reviewed to obtain demographic information, medications, and patients' progress throughout stay including pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions and results. Patients were then interviewed using the short portable mental status questionnaire.
SETTING: The prevalence and management of dementia and delirium was evaluated in 10 Hospice of the Valley inpatient settings.
RESULTS: Out of the 159 participants (mean age = 77.72 years), 93 (58.5%) presented with moderate to severe cognitive impairment, but only 38 participants (23.9%) had a formal diagnosis of dementia. Out of the 93 participants with significant cognitive impairment, 60 participants (65.6%) were treated with benzodiazepines and 82 (88.2%) were treated with opioids. Fifty-nine (63.4%) participants with cognitive impairment had documented non pharmacological interventions such as repositioning and reorientation, but only 22 (23.7%) participants received more meaningful non-pharmacological interventions such as hand massages, targeted videos, and favorite music.
CONCLUSIONS: The current study found a high prevalence of moderate to severe cognitive impairment without a diagnosis of dementia. A likely cause is the high frequency of opioids and benzodiazepines prescribed, causing drug-induced sedation and delirium which significantly impairs cognitive abilities. Safer alternatives, such as non-opioid pain medications, should be considered within the hospice population, especially given that age is a risk factor for delirium. A tool would be helpful to encourage staff to identify and document use of non-pharmacological interventions.
Minority mental health patients face many health inequities and inequalities that may stem from implicit bias and a lack of cultural awareness from their healthcare providers. I analyzed the current literature evaluating implicit bias among healthcare providers and culturally specific life traumas that Latinos and African Americans face that can impact their mental health. Additionally, I researched a current mental health assessments tool, the Child and Adolescent Trauma Survey (CATS), and evaluated it for the use on Latino and African American patients. Face-to-face interviews with two healthcare providers were also used to analyze the CATS for its’ applicability to Latino and African American patients. Results showed that these assessments were not sufficient in capturing culturally specific life traumas of minority patients. Based on the literature review and analysis of the interviews with healthcare providers, a novel assessment tool, the Culturally Traumatic Events Questionnaire (CTEQ), was created to address the gaps that currently make up other mental health assessment tools used on minority patients.
For those living lives devoted to taking care of others, it can be difficult to remember to take care of themselves. This thesis project is a review of quantitative and qualitative literature pertaining to self-care for the caregivers of Alzheimer's and dementia patients. Three nursing diagnoses and related nursing interventions were created using data from the evidence-based literature. With the proper knowledge and assistance, caregivers can better prepare for the future and participate in health-promoting self-care activities which may improve their quality of life.
Inflammatory genes are known to only show in African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites. The objective of this study was to observe the correlation from the obtained data of the prevalence of the APOE ε4 genotype. We examined cerebral free-water, a marker of neuroinflammation, hippocampal volume, and volume of white-matter hyperintensities in African Americans (AA) and non-Hispanic Whites who were categorized in groups based on whether they had APOE ε4 allele or not. AA had lower prevalence of APOE e4 genotype than non-Hispanic Whites. AA groups have a slightly higher hippocampal volume compared to the Non-Hispanic White (NHW) groups. African Americans also reported increased white-matter hyperintensities and cerebral free-water. Hippocampal atrophy is associated with Alzheimer's disease, this might suggest that the AA groups have a lower risk of Alzheimer's, although further research is needed to confirm this relationship. Lastly, our findings also suggest other potential socioeconomic factors that could contribute to increased incidence of dementia among AA and potential resilience factors early in the course of Alzheimer’s disease process.