The effects on rehospitalization rate of transitional care using information communication technology in patients with heart failure: A scoping review.

Background: The number of people with heart failure is increasing. These patients have a high readmission rate and need ongoing health care and follow-up after hospital discharge. However, face-to-face nursing care is expensive; therefore, remote care options are required. Objective: To determine whether there are differences in the effects (rehospitalization rate and drug adherence) between face-to-face transitional care and remote technology, such as information and communication technologies, for transitional care in patients with heart failure within 30 days post-discharge. Design: A scoping review. Setting: Patients with heart failure who received an intervention using information and communication technologies within 30 days of discharge after being hospitalized for heart failure, based on published studies. Methods: Eight English, Japanese, and Chinese databases were searched for research papers published between January 2000 and November 2021 that examined outcomes such as readmission rates in patients with heart failure who received transitional care using remote technologies. This study followed the screening criteria outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines. Results: Seventeen studies were included in this review. Among them, 14 studies reported lower readmission rates in the transitional care group using information and communication technologies compared to the control group, and the difference was statistically significant in nine studies. In addition, one paper showed that the transitional care group experienced more significant improvements in patient satisfaction and quality of life. Conclusions: Transitional care using information and communication technologies can provide necessary guidance according to the patient's schedule, regardless of the patient's location and time. Patients can share their self-monitored information with medical practitioners and receive timely feedback and guidance. With continuous follow-up support from medical practitioners, patients can adjust their care plans to ensure optimal execution, and the patient's doubts and anxieties can be quickly resolved, increasing the patient's self-confidence. As a result, patients' self-care ability was improved, and controlling symptoms and preventing deterioration became easier. We inferred that the transitional care group achieved a higher self-care ability compared with the control group. Transitional care using remote technologies, such as information and communication technologies following discharge for heart failure patients, can help to reduce readmission rates within 30 days of discharge compared to face-to-face care. In addition, the study demonstrated that remote technologies may improve quality of life and patient satisfaction.

Proxy responses regarding quality of life of patients with terminal lung cancer: preliminary results from a prospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE: This prospective study used the EQ-5D utility and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scores to analyse the potential usefulness of proxy responses in quality of life assessments of Japanese patients with terminal lung cancer sufficiently healthy to communicate and reply by themselves. We did not investigate the potential usefulness of using proxy responses for patients who could not respond by themselves. DESIGN: A prospective observational study. SETTING: Single centre. PARTICIPANTS: The EQ-5D and VAS responses were gathered from 30 in-hospital patients with lung cancer for a total of three observation points. At nearly the same time, two nurses responded by providing proxy responses. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: EQ-5D and VAS responses. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the patients' and nurses' responses for EQ-5D utility and VAS scores. For the five dimensions of the EQ-5D, significant differences were found between the patients' and nurses' responses for usual activities (patients' response 1.64±0.07, nurses' response 1.41±0.05, p=0.03) and anxiety/depression (patients' response: 1.40±0.05, nurses' response: 1.19±0.03, p=0.02). There was a significant weak positive correlation between patients' and nurses' responses regarding changes in responses from the first to the third observation point (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient ρ=0.228; p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The results suggest that proxy responses are useful because there were no significant differences between the patients' and nurses' responses for EQ-5D utility and VAS scores at the three observation points. These findings should, however, be verified in future large-scale trials.

The heat shock protein inhibitor KNK437 induces neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells.

The nervous system is highly sensitive to various environmental stresses, such as ischemia. Stress response mechanisms that result in neuroprotection, including the induction of heat shock proteins (HSP), are not well understood. We examined the effect of KNK437, a compound that inhibits the synthesis of inducible heat shock proteins, on neuronal differentiation in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. KNK437 decreased the expression of HSP70, and induced the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells in the absence of stress stimulation, although with lower efficacy than nerve growth factor (NGF). Neurite outgrowth stimulated by KNK437 and NGF was blocked by inhibitors of ERK mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase, p38 MAP kinase, and glycogen synthase kinase 3beta signaling pathways. NGF, and not KNK437, induced acetylcholine esterase (AChE) activity, a functional differentiation marker, indicating that KNK437 utilizes a mechanism distinct from that of NGF. KNK437 enhanced the activity of low dose NGF treatment on neurite outgrowth induction and ERK phosphorylation in PC12 cells, a finding that identifies KNK437 as a possible nerve regeneration agent. This compound may be a useful tool for the investigation of neuronal differentiation and neuroprotection against environmental stress.

A new 3-(phenylseleno)allylic cation: its regioselective C-C bond formation reaction with nucleophiles.

Highly useful C-C bond formation using 2-ethoxy-3-(phenylseleno)prop-2-enal acetal 2 was examined with various Lewis acids. The reaction of 2 with the silyl enol ether in the presence of BF(3)*Et2O, ZnBr2, or SnBr4 regioselectively provided (Z)-3,4-diethoxy-5-(phenylseleno)pent-4-enophenone 5a in high yields. On the other hand, the reaction with other Lewis acids such as EtAlCl2 or SnCl4 gave 5-(phenylseleno)- 6 or non-selenopentane-1,4-dione 7, respectively. Novel prop-2-enal acetals 2-4 and 13-15 reacted with various nucleophiles to give pent-4-enophenones 5a,b, 10a, 12, and 16-18, S-ethyl pent-4-enoate 5b, alkylated vinylic sulfide 10b, 3-pentenenitrile 5d, and 10c. A versatile pent-4-enophenone 5a could be converted to tetrahydrofuran 20 and penta-2,4-dienophenone 19, the Diels-Alder reactions of which with dienophiles gave the adducts 24 and 25.