This article explores economic aspects of the market for long-term care (LTC) in Japan. As the world's most rapidly aging nation, it is of interest to understand that country's current LTC system and projections of LTC utilization patterns and costs, as well as their potential drivers. Since Japan appears likely to experience important shortfalls in LTC in the future, the authors also discuss a...

BACKGROUND Large-tip (10 mm) catheters (LTCs) and open-irrigation-tip catheters (OITCs), both capable of creating large lesions, are more effective than conventional catheters for cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation. However, it is not clear whether complete CTI block can be achieved more efficiently using an LTC or an OITC. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency of radiofrequ...

BACKGROUND Nonpharmacological therapies are often recommended as a first-line treatment for neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) of dementia in long term care (LTC); however, little is known about which nonpharmacological interventions are most effective for NPS in LTC or the feasibility of interventions, given the availability of resources in typical LTC environments. METHODS We searched the elec...

This paper examines the design of macroeconomic policies after the enlargement of the EU by Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). We consider scenarios with and without CEECs being members of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). For the European Central Bank, we analyze consequences of monetary versus inflation targeting. For European fiscal policies, we assume that the gov...

Dementia is considered to be a significant cause of disability and dependency for older people worldwide it raises difficulties in providing adequate formal informal assistance. Research on the experience long-term care (LTC)services with dementia scarce Eastern European countries. This study aimed understand system from perspective health social workers LTC services Lithuania. A total 72 prima...

Comparative measurements of different types of hematopoietic progenitors present in human fetal liver, cord blood, and adult marrow showed a large (up to 250-fold), stage-specific, but lineage-unrestricted, amplification of the colony-forming cell (CFC) compartment in the fetal liver, with a higher ratio of all types of CFC to long-term culture-initiating cells (LTC-IC) and a lower ratio of tot...

The effect of IL-3 on hematopoiesis in long-term culture (LTC) was studied by cocultivating normal human marrow cells with human marrow fibroblast feeders engineered to constitutively produce IL-3 and by adding soluble IL-3 to LTC according to a variety of dose-time schedules. Feeders stably producing 7 ng/ml IL-3, or LTC to which 10 ng/ml IL-3 was added daily for 5 wk, but not once or twice we...

We studied the effects of LPS on cysteinyl leukotriene (LT) synthesis and LTC(4) synthase expression in mononuclear phagocytes. Conditioning of the monocyte-like cell line, THP-1, with LPS for 7 days resulted in significantly decreased ionophore-stimulated LTC(4) release. The putative LPS receptor, Toll-like receptor 4, was expressed in THP-1 cells. LPS down-regulated LTC(4) synthase mRNA in TH...

OBJECTIVES Time trade-off (TTO) methods are often used for utility assessments of different health states to measure quality of life (QOL). They have not generally been used to assess social preferences with respect to options for health care delivery, although the need for quantifying these preferences is arguably just as important. Policymakers are increasingly faced with decisions about how ...