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.

The cost of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in community dwelling Alzheimer's disease patients

Abstract: Introduction Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are highly prevalent in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. They are a source of distress for the caregivers and one of the main reasons for nursing home placement, which is the major component of the cost of Alzheimer's disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the direct and indirect cost related to the care of BPSD within a prospective study examining the overall cost of AD in Israel. Methods Seventy-one community dwelling AD patients were interviewed. Interviews covered information about the number of caregivers' hours invested in caring for the patient and amount of expenditure such as in-house paid help and payments for day care. Effort devoted to BPSD was defined as the number of hours spent by primary and secondary caregivers in a typical week dealing with BPSD (managing aggression, pacing, attempts to leave the house under inappropriate circumstances, or comforting a hallucinating, depressed or anxious patient). Results The annual indirect cost for management of BPSD in an AD patient was approximately $2665—over 25% of the total annual indirect cost of care ($10 520). The annual direct cost of BPSD of an AD patient was approximately $1450—over 35% of the total annual direct cost of care ($3900). Conclusions Approximately 30% ($4115) of the total annual cost of AD ($14 420) is invested in the direct management of BPSD. Given the importance of BPSD as one of the main components of the cost of AD, future cost studies should be designed to measure the cost of specific components of BPSD and verify which are the most costly aspects of the disease. Despite the considerable methodological difficulties in disentangling the costs of the specific symptoms of AD, cost effectiveness studies of different interventions should be conducted in order to determine the optimal intervention with relation to cost. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Music therapy for people with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract: Background The central impairments of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affect social interaction and communication. Music therapy uses musical experiences and the relationships that develop through them to enable communication and expression, thus attempting to address some of the core problems of people with ASD. The present version of this review on music therapy for ASD is an update of the original Cochrane review published in 2006. Objectives To assess the effects of music therapy for individuals with ASD. Search methods We searched the following databases in July 2013: CENTRAL, Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, LILACS, PsycINFO, CINAHL, ERIC, ASSIA, Sociological Abstracts, and Dissertation Abstracts International. We also checked the reference lists of relevant studies and contacted investigators in person. Selection criteria All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or controlled clinical trials comparing music therapy or music therapy added to standard care to 'placebo' therapy, no treatment, or standard care for individuals with ASD were considered for inclusion. Data collection and analysis Two authors independently selected studies, assessed risk of bias, and extracted data from all included studies. We calculated the pooled standardised mean difference (SMD) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) for continuous outcomes to allow the combination data from different scales and to facilitate the interpretation of effect sizes. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I² statistic. In cases of statistical heterogeneity within outcome subgroups, we examined clients' age, intensity of therapy (number and frequency of therapy sessions), and treatment approach as possible sources of heterogeneity. Main results We included 10 studies (165 participants) that examined the short- and medium-term effect of music therapy interventions (one week to seven months) for children with ASD. Music therapy was superior to 'placebo' therapy or standard care with respect to the primary outcomes social interaction within the therapy context (SMD 1.06, 95% CI 0.02 to 2.10, 1 RCT, n = 10); generalised social interaction outside of the therapy context (SMD 0.71, 95% CI 0.18 to 1.25, 3 RCTs, n = 57, moderate quality evidence), non-verbal communicative skills within the therapy context (SMD 0.57, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.85, 3 RCTs, n = 30), verbal communicative skills (SMD 0.33, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.49, 6 RCTs, n = 139), initiating behaviour (SMD 0.73, 95% CI 0.36 to 1.11, 3 RCTs, n = 22, moderate quality evidence), and social-emotional reciprocity (SMD 2.28, 95% CI 0.73 to 3.83, 1 RCT, n = 10, low quality evidence). There was no statistically significant difference in non-verbal communicative skills outside of the therapy context (SMD 0.48, 95% CI -0.02 to 0.98, 3 RCTs, n = 57, low quality evidence). Music therapy was also superior to 'placebo' therapy or standard care in secondary outcome areas, including social adaptation (SMD 0.41, 95% CI 0.21 to 0.60, 4 RCTs, n = 26), joy (SMD 0.96, 95% CI 0.04 to 1.88, 1 RCT, n = 10), and quality of parent-child relationships (SMD 0.82, 95% CI 0.13 to 1.52, 2 RCTs, n = 33, moderate quality evidence). None of the included studies reported any adverse effects. The small sample sizes of the studies limit the methodological strength of these findings. Authors' conclusions The findings of this updated review provide evidence that music therapy may help children with ASD to improve their skills in primary outcome areas that constitute the core of the condition including social interaction, verbal communication, initiating behaviour, and social-emotional reciprocity. Music therapy may also help to enhance non-verbal communication skills within the therapy context. Furthermore, in secondary outcome areas, music therapy may contribute to increasing social adaptation skills in children with ASD and to promoting the quality of parent-child relationships. In contrast to the studies included in an earlier version of this review published in 2006, the new studies included in this update enhanced the applicability of findings to clinical practice. More research using larger samples and generalised outcome measures is needed to corroborate these findings and to examine whether the effects of music therapy are enduring. When applying the results of this review to practice, it is important to note that the application of music therapy requires specialised academic and clinical training.

Groups, measures, and the NIP

Abstract: We discuss measures, invariant measures on definable groups, and genericity, often in an NIP (failure of the independence property) environment. We complete the proof of the third author’s conjectures relating definably compact groups G in saturated o-minimal structures to compact Lie groups. We also prove some other structural results about such G, for example the existence of a left invariant finitely additive probability measure on definable subsets of G. We finally introduce a new notion “compact domination” (domination of a definable set by a compact space) and raise some new conjectures in the o-minimal case.