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Objectives: Ambient assisted living technologies (AALTs) are being used to help community-dwelling older adults (OAs) age in place. Although many AALT are available, their acceptance (perceived usefulness, ease of use, intention to use and actual usage) is needed to improve their design and impact. This study aims to 1) identify AALTs that underwent an acceptance evaluation in rehabilitation contexts, 2) identify methodological tools and approaches to measure acceptance in ambient assisted living (AAL) in rehabilitation research, and 3) summarize AALT acceptance results in existing rehabilitation literature with a focus on peer-reviewed scientific articles., Methods: A scoping review was conducted in the following databases: Medline, Embase, Cinahl, and PsycInfo, following the Arksey and O'Malley framework (2009). Four acceptance attributes were extracted: 'user acceptance', 'perceived usefulness', 'ease of use', and 'intention to use'. Data regarding AALT, participants, acceptance evaluation methods and results were extracted., Results: A total of 21 articles were included among 634 studies retrieved from the literature. We identified 51 AALTs dedicated to various rehabilitation contexts, most of which focused on monitoring OAs' activities and environmental changes. Acceptance of AALT was evaluated using interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, informal feedback, observation, card sort tasks, and surveys. Although OAs intend to use - or can perceive the usefulness of - AALTs, they are hesitant to accept the technology and have concerns about its adoption., Discussion and Conclusions: The assessment of AALT acceptance in contexts of rehabilitation requires more comprehensive and standardized methodologies. The use of mixed-methods research is encouraged to cover the needs of particular studies. The timing of acceptance assessment should be considered throughout technology development phases to maximize AALT implementation., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Recurrent angioedema (RA) is an important clinical problem in routine care and emergency medicine. As of recently, the only validated tools to specifically assess disease status in patients with RA were diary-type activity assessments and angioedema-related quality-of-life questionnaires. Although these tools are particularly helpful in clinical studies, they were not designed to determine disease control or to guide treatment decisions. To close this gap, the Angioedema Control Test (AECT) was published recently., Objective: To test the AECT for its validity and reliability, and to identify a cutoff value to aid treatment decisions., Methods: Two AECT versions with a recall period of 4 weeks (AECT-4wk) and 3 months (AECT-3mo) were tested for their internal consistency and test-retest reliability, convergent and known-groups validity as well as screening accuracy in 81 patients with RA with bradykinin-mediated angioedema, mast cell mediator-mediated angioedema, or idiopathic angioedema., Results: Both AECT versions showed excellent internal consistency reliability with a Cronbach alpha value of more than 0.85 and test-retest reliability with an intraclass correlation coefficient greater than 0.9. The convergent validity of both AECT versions was high. Both tools showed strong correlations with anchors of disease control, angioedema frequency, and health-related quality of life. A stratification of AECT scores into different levels of disease control together with a receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis suggested a cutoff value of 10 or more points to identify patients with well-controlled RA versus less than 10 points to identify patients with poorly controlled disease for both AECT versions., Conclusions: The AECT is the first valid and reliable patient-reported outcome measure to assess disease control in patients with RA., (Copyright © 2020 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Recurrent angioedema (AE) is an important clinical problem in the context of chronic urticaria (mast cell mediator-induced), ACE-inhibitor intake and hereditary angioedema (both bradykinin-mediated). To help patients obtain control of their recurrent AE is a major treatment goal. However, a tool to assess control of recurrent AE is not yet available. This prompted us to develop such a tool, the Angioedema Control Test (AECT)., Methods: After a conceptional framework was developed for the AECT, a list of potential AECT items was generated by a combined approach of patient interviews, literature review and expert input. Subsequent item reduction was based on impact analysis, inter-item correlation, additional predefined criteria for item performance, and a review of the item selection process for content validity. Finally, an instruction section was generated, and an US-American-English version was developed by a structured translation process., Results: A 4-item AECT with recall periods of 4 weeks and 3 months was developed based on 106 potential items tested in 97 patients with mast cell mediator-induced (n = 49) or bradykinin-mediated recurrent AE (n = 48). Eighty-four items were excluded based on impact analysis. The remaining 22 items could be further reduced by a method-mix of inter-item correlation, additional predefined criteria for item performance and review for content validity., Conclusions: The AECT is the first tool to assess disease control in recurrent AE patients. Its retrospective approach, its brevity and its simple scoring make the AECT ideally suited for clinical practice and trials. Its validity and reliability need to be determined in future independent studies., (© 2019 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.)

Background: Infections are one of the most common clinical problems in patients with rheumatic diseases who need to be treated with glucocorticoids in an intensive care unit. To date, there are no recommendations for the standardized control of glucocorticoid treatment in such situations., Objective: Based on a literature search this paper provides an overview of evidence-based and eminence-based recommendations for the control of glucocorticoid treatment under intensive care conditions using the example of systemic lupus erythematosus., Methods: A systematic literature search was carried out using a MeSH term search in the PubMed database., Results: Infections are one of the most common causes for the treatment of patients with rheumatic diseases in intensive care units. In the case of systemic lupus erythematosus it is particularly challenging to distinguish the infection from increased disease activity or to treat the parallel occurrence. Patients in an intensive care unit are exposed to an increased level of physical stress due to the severity of the disease, which is why special attention should be paid to symptoms of adrenocortical insufficiency. Evidence-based recommendations for prophylaxis of an adrenal crisis only exist in relation to perioperative procedures and not for the situation of severe infections., Conclusion: The use of glucocorticoids in systemic lupus erythematosus is often chronic and there is an increased risk of infections. In the case of infections (or simultaneous disease flare) adequate anti-infective treatment should be administered, the treatment with glucocorticoids should be adjusted accordingly and symptoms of adrenocortical insufficiency should simultaneously be looked for.

Background: The efficacy of omalizumab (anti-IgE) and increased IgE levels in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) suggest autoallergic mechanisms., Objective: We sought to identify autoallergic targets of IgE in patients with CSU., Methods: Serum samples of patients with CSU together with those of patients with idiopathic anaphylaxis and healthy control subjects (7 of each) were screened for IgE autoantibodies by using an array of more than 9000 proteins. Sera of 1062 patients with CSU and 482 healthy control subjects were used in an IgE-anti-IL-24-specific ELISA to investigate the association of IgE-anti-IL-24 and CSU., Results: By using array analyses, more than 200 IgE autoantigens were found in patients with CSU that were not found in control subjects. Of the 31 IgE autoantigens detected in more than 70% of patients, 8 were soluble or membrane bound and expressed in the skin. Of these, only IgE autoantibodies to IL-24 were found in all patients with CSU. In vitro studies showed IL-24 to release histamine from human mast cells sensitized with purified IgE of patients with CSU but not control subjects. By using ELISA, mean ± SD levels of IgE-anti-IL-24 were 0.52 ± 0.24 IU/mL in patients with CSU and 0.27 ± 0.08 IU/mL in control subjects, with 80% of patients with CSU but only 20% of control subjects having levels greater than 0.33 IU/mL (P < .0001). IgE-anti-IL-24 showed acceptable predictive properties for CSU, with a likelihood ratio of 3.9. Clinically, IgE-anti-IL-24 levels showed an association with disease activity, as assessed by the urticaria activity score and with reduced basophil counts., Conclusion: Our findings show that patients with CSU frequently exhibit IgE autoantibodies against many autoantigens and that IL-24 is a common, specific, and functional autoantigen of IgE antibodies in patients with CSU., (Crown Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A retrospective chart review was done to determine the infection rate and the use of prophylactic antibiotics in consecutive laparoscopic cholecystectomies done in a single community. Incisional infections were discovered in 11 of 566 cases, 10 of whom had received prophylactic antibiotics. The infected patients were significantly older, had longer procedures, and had more comorbidity than the uninfected patients. They were also more likely to have a palpable mass preoperatively and past biliary surgery. A second, prospective study was done to evaluate the efficacy of the use of antibiotic prophylaxis in low-risk patients. Fifty-three patients were randomized into two double-blinded groups. No incisional infections occurred in either group within 30 days postoperatively. This suggests prophylactic antibiotics are not needed to prevent infections for low-risk patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Background: Past review has shown that one half of the fetuses and nearly that many mothers died of pheochromocytoma if the tumor was not detected in the mother before delivery. The rarity of the occurrence adds to the potential danger because experience with diagnosis and management is unusual. However, the diagnosis is straightforward when considered because pregnancy does not alter diagnostic levels of catecholamines. Management must be individualized and can be done safely., Methods: The cases of five patients with pheochromocytomas during pregnancy are presented here. Diagnosis was made by urinary catecholamine measurement. Localization methods included caval catheterization and ultrasonography. Blood pressure control was done with alpha- and beta-adrenergic blockers. Treatment strategy was planned by a team of internists, obstetricians, surgeons, and anesthesiologists., Results: All five mothers and three fetuses survived. The two fetal deaths were planned terminations. Two mothers and one fetus had multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B syndrome. One mother had two recurrences, one of which was involved with the pregnancy., Conclusions: Pregnancy does not alter urinary catecholamine levels to confuse the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma. Localization by ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging is safe to the fetus. alpha- And beta-adrenergic blockers are well tolerated. Every effort should be made to save a normal fetus when the tumor is first discovered during the third trimester. Timing of excision is a decision best done by team planning.

Fifty patients with pheochromocytomas have had their conditions diagnosed and have been treated by these authors during a 13-year peneod. Three patients died in the postoperative period, for an overall mortality of 6%. Thirty-two patients underwent primary excision without fatality. Eighteen patients had more complicated illnesses associated with recurrences, notable other disease, acute catecholamine crisis, and/or pregnancy. All three postoperative deaths occurred in this group. Diagnosis was made by urinary catecholamine analysis of epinephrine, norepinephrine, metanephrine, and normetanephrine. Localization was done by plain films, ultrasonograms, computerized tomograms, radioactive isotope scans, intravenous pyelograms, caval samples, venograms, and arteriograms. Management of these complicated cases requires prompt and accurate diagnosis, availability of sophisticated methods of tumor localization, and thoughtful awareness of the potential outcome by an experienced team of surgeons and anesthesiologists.

The diagnosis of multiple endocrine neoplasia type II (MEN-II) was made in 18 patients from 1966 through 1978 at the University of Michigan Medical Center. Eight patients had adrenal medullary disease. Seven had bilateral adrenal pheocyromocytomas (two with concomitant medullary hyperplasia) and one had a unilateral pheochromocytoma with contralateral medullary hyperplasia. No malignant or extraadrenal pheochromocytomas were found. Pheochromocytomas in patients with MEN-II are multiple and involve both adrenal glands. Adrenal venography is advocated as the primary diagnostic tool for localization of adrenal medullary disease in MEN-II patients.