University of Haifa

About: University of Haifa is a education organization based out in Haifa, Israel. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 7558 authors who have published 27141 publications receiving 711629 citations. The organization is also known as: Haifa University & Universiṭat Ḥefah.

Polypharmacy in Nursing Home in Europe: Results From the SHELTER Study

Abstract: Background: This study assesses prevalence and patients characteristics related to polypharmacy in a sample of nursing home residents. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis on 4,023 nursing home residents participating to the Services and Health for Elderly in Long TERm care (SHELTER) project, a study collecting information on residents admitted to 57 nursing home in 8 countries. Data were collected using the interRAI instrument for long-term care facilities. Polypharmacy status was categorized in 3 groups: non-polypharmacy (0-4 drugs), polypharmacy (5-9 drugs) and excessive polypharmacy (≥ 10 drugs). Results: Polypharmacy was observed in 2,000 (49.7%) residents and excessive polypharmacy in 979 (24.3%) residents. As compared with non-polypharmacy, excessive polypharmacy was directly associated not only with presence of chronic diseases but also with depression (odds ratio [OR] 1.81; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.38-2.37), pain (OR 2.31; 95% CI 1.80-2.97), dyspnoea (OR 2.29; 95% CI 1.61-3.27), and gastrointestinal symptoms (OR 1.73; 95% CI 1.35-2.21). An inverse association with excessive polypharmacy was shown for age (OR for 10 years increment 0.85; 95% CI 0.74-0.96), activities of daily living disability (OR for assistance required vs independent 0.90; 95% CI 0.64-1.26; OR for dependent vs independent 0.59; 95% CI 0.40-0.86), and cognitive impairment (OR for mild or moderate vs intact 0.64; 95% CI 0.47-0.88; OR for severe vs intact 0.39; 95% CI 0.26-0.57). Conclusions: Polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy are common among nursing home residents in Europe. Determinants of polypharmacy status include not only comorbidity but also specific symptoms, age, functional, and cognitive status.

Covert attention increases spatial resolution with or without masks: Support for signal enhancement

Abstract: Visual attention can increase spatial resolution even when it leads to a decrease in performance. Whether this effect is mediated by reduction of external noise or by signal enhancement is an unsettled question. Although we previously demonstrated that attention can improve speed and accuracy in an acuity task, those experiments made use of a local postmask, which could be considered a source of external noise. In this work, a peripheral cue improved observers' abilities to indicate which side of a Landolt-square target had a gap whether or not a local postmask was used and with both central- and spread-neutral cues. In addition, we documented the presence of visual field inhomogeneities in a resolution task. Given that these experiments presented the target alone with no external noise added (i.e., without distracters or masks), our results indicate that transient attention enhanced the quality of the stimulus representation. Furthermore, because performance in the Landolt-square task indexes resolution, this attentional benefit indicates that transient attention can produce signal enhancement through finer spatial resolution.

Humoral immune response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in patients with multiple sclerosis treated with high-efficacy disease-modifying therapies

Abstract: Background and Aims:The National Multiple Sclerosis Society and other expert organizations recommended that all patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) should be vaccinated against COVID-19. However,...

Homage to santa anita: thermal sensitivity of sprint speed in agamid lizards

Abstract: Etude en Israel de l'evolution de la sensibilite thermique de 2 especes de lezards Agama savignyi et Stellio stellio en Israel