Monday, December 27, 2010 Our new national goal: Defeating Alzheimer's in 10 years (The Washington Post, 12-17-2010)
Our new national goal: Defeating Alzheimer's in 10 years
By Sandra Day O'Connor and Maria Shriver
The Washington Post, Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010 USM Muskie School receives federal grant to improve patient safety among elderly
Portland, Maine — Researchers at the USM Muskie School have received a two-year grant from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop and test patient safety practices that improve communication and information flow during transitions of patients and care between nursing facilities, emergency medical services and critical access hospitals.
Hands-off and care transition errors are among the most common and consequential errors in health care. Transfers between nursing homes and hospitals present significant challenges because they involve multiple settings, many different health care providers and exchange of patient care information.
“The quality of care during the transfer can be affected by missing or inaccurate information, which can then snowball into other problems,” said Judy Tupper, a project director at the Muskie School. “This is particularly important for Maine as an older, rural state. Rural elders are more likely to reside in nursing facilities and face more frequent transfers to the hospital.”
Full story: http://blogs.usm.maine.edu/publicaffairs/archives/5206 Monday, August 16, 2010 NYT: Moose Offer Trail of Clues on Arthritis
The moose of Isle Royale have something to say — well, their bones do. Many of the moose, it turns out, have arthritis. And scientists believe their condition’s origin can help explain human osteoarthritis — by far the most common type of arthritis, affecting one of every seven adults 25 and older and becoming increasingly prevalent.
The arthritic Bullwinkles got that way because of poor nutrition early in life, an extraordinary 50-year research project has discovered. That could mean, scientists say, that some people’s arthritis can be linked in part to nutritional deficits, in the womb and possibly throughout childhood.
The moose conclusion bolsters a small but growing body of research connecting early development to chronic conditions like osteoarthritis, which currently affects 27 million Americans, up from 21 million in 1990.
Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/health/research/17moose.html?src=me&ref=health |