Audit finds challenges continue with Medicaid eligibility determinations for long-term care
Challenges remain to improve the timeliness of Medicaid eligibility determinations for long-term care applicants, according to a recent state audit.
Memory helps us evaluate situations on the fly, not just recall the past: Widely known as crucial for long-term memory, hippocampus also supports short-term memory
Scientists have long known the brain’s hippocampus is crucial for long-term memory. Now a new Northwestern Medicine study has found the hippocampus also plays a role in short-term memory and helps guide decision-making. The findings shed light on how the hippocampus contributes to memory and exploration, potentially leading to therapies that restore hippocampal function, which […]
PROs for Cutaneous Chronic GVHD After Transplant Tied to Disease Severity, Mortality
Skin-involved chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) had a significant association with long-term impairment of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), which also had a prognostic association with mortality, a multicenter prospective study showed. Patients with sclerotic cGVHD had significantly worse scores on a validated quality-of-life (QOL) instrument compared with those who had epidermal-type cGVHD. Patients with combination GVHD subtypes […]
For Kids With Sickle Cell Disease Prescribed Opioids, No Patterns of Misuse Emerged
No patterns of long-term or increasing use of opioids were identified within 3 years among opioid-naive children with sickle cell disease (SCD) who were prescribed the drugs for an acute pain episode, according to a retrospective cohort study. In the cohort of 725 children, mean days’ supply of opioids over 3 years was 30, despite […]
Can Childhood Trauma Prime Brain Dynamics for Nicotine Dependence?
Childhood trauma-related emotion dysregulation may partly explain why some long-term smokers are unable to give up nicotine, a cross-sectional study suggested. Using 16-minute resting-state functional MRI to show the dynamic patterns of functional coordination among brain systems, researchers found that nicotine smokers spent approximately 25.63 more seconds in the frontoinsular default mode network (FI-DMN) state […]
TULSA Effective in Controlling Prostate Cancer Long-Term
WASHINGTON — Results from a long-term follow-up of the pivotal TACT trial showed that MRI-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA) was effective and durable in men with localized prostate cancer. The median prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level at 5 years was 0.63 ng/mL — a 90% reduction from the median PSA at baseline, reported Scott Eggener, MD, […]
Rare Syndrome After COVID Vaccines Described
People who experienced rare long-term adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination often had neurologic symptoms, survey data showed. Among 241 people who self-reported a post-vaccination syndrome (PVS), the five most common symptoms were exercise intolerance (71%), excessive fatigue (69%), numbness (63%), brain fog (63%), and neuropathy (63%), reported Harlan Krumholz, MD, of Yale School of Medicine […]
CPAP Turns in Mixed Results for Patients With Diabetic Eye Disease
Long-term use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) slowed the progression of eye disease in sleep apnea patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, a small randomized study showed, but patients who adhered to the intervention ended up with more retinal microhemorrhages. In the single-center trial, the group assigned to a year of CPAP atop usual care […]
Spravato Safety Holds Up Long-Term for Treatment-Resistant Depression
NASHVILLE — Esketamine nasal spray (Spravato) showed consistent long-term safety outcomes for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), according to follow-up data from the SUSTAIN-3 trial. In the open-label, phase III study, intermittent dosing of esketamine for up to 6.5 years had a similar safety profile as dosing for up to 1 year, according to Reina […]
Public Input Sought for Wyoming Long-Term Care Option – Wyoming Department of Health
Public Input Sought for Wyoming Long-Term Care Option August 7, 2023 The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) invites public input on a proposal meant to save state and federal dollars while also preventing or delaying nursing home stays for certain older Wyoming residents. The department is making what’s known as a Medicaid “waiver” application to […]