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Rationale: The informal caregivers who provide unpaid support for persons living with dementia (PLWD) are often unprepared to appropriately manage symptoms and navigate health services to support themselves or the PLWD. Aim: To understand informal caregivers' perceived capabilities of handling dementia symptomology and perceived support from providers. Methods: We identified and surveyed caregivers of primary care patients in the Mass General Brigham health system. We included a self‐efficacy questionnaire to assess caregivers' ability and confidence in access to dementia care, symptom management, and provider support. Results: Respondents indicated that although their provider had knowledge of dementia and memory care, they were least likely to agree (39.2%) that their provider helped them with these challenging symptoms. Those who live with the care recipient were least likely to receive advice about common symptoms (43.6%) and to access community services (63.8%), and in general felt moderately knowledgeable about the progression of the disease (47.9%). Conclusions: The findings imply that caregivers are aware of disease progression, dementia symptoms, and do not feel supported by their providers in managing care or accessing support services. There is opportunity to support informal caregivers in a primary care setting by appropriately uptraining providers in dementia care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adults' access to medical care services by presence and type of disability which showed that adults with disabilities experienced significant disparities in delayed and unmet need for medical care. Topics covered include the factors contributing to inequities in delaying medical care and unmet needs, the limitations of the study and the implications for policy and practice.

Liquid-phase crystallized silicon on glass (LPCSG) presents a promising material to fabricate high quality silicon thin films, e.g., for solar cells and modules. Using continuous wave line focus laser irradiation at 808 nm, about 10 μm thick microcrystalline silicon layers are fabricated by liquid-phase crystallization of amorphous or nanocrystalline silicon layers deposited by electron beam evaporation on Borofloat 33 glass. To achieve high solar cell efficiencies with such thin silicon layers, effective light trapping structures at the silicon surface are needed to enhance the light absorption and thereby the current in the solar cell. At the same time, these surface structures must provide low surface recombination velocity to maintain high open circuit voltage ( Voc). Light trapping structures in LPCSG absorber prepared by conventional KOH texturing and by nanowire structuring of the solar cell backside are investigated. The impact of structures on short circuit current density ( Isc) is determined from optical measurements. As a new approach, effective carrier lifetime is measured in LPCSG absorbers using the quasi steady-state photoconductance method to determine the impact of structuring on surface recombination and implied Voc of solar cell precursors. Carrier lifetimes in the range of 300-400 ns are measured indicating a carrier diffusion length of more than 20 μm, which is 2-3 times larger than the layer thickness. It is found that a slight pyramidal surface texture by KOH solution provides a high level of light trapping increasing Isc by 17-18% and maintaining high Voc (>600 mV). The potential for current enhancement of nanowire structuring is higher (≈20%), but further optimization of nanowire dimensions and of surface cleaning of nanowire structures is needed to overcome higher surface recombination and the resulting Voc losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum due band-to-band recombination in an only 8 μm thick liquid-phase crystallized silicon on glass solar cell absorber is measured over 3 orders of magnitude with a thin 400 μm thick optical fiber directly coupled to the spectrometer. High PL signal is achieved by the possibility to capture the PL spectrum very near to the silicon surface. The spectra measured within microcrystals of the absorber present the same features as spectra of crystalline silicon wafers without showing defect luminescence indicating the high electronic material quality of the liquid-phase multi-crystalline layer after hydrogen plasma treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the new guideline ruling in the conduct of opencast operations in the Rhenish lignite-mining area.

Abstract: As Germany's most important, domestic fossil energy carrier, lignite plays a crucial role in electricity and heat production. Even though its share of the overall power production is decreasing due to a rising feed‐in from renewable energy sources, fossil energy carriers will go on providing base load and back‐up electricity in times when renewable energies are not able to produce enough electricity. Lignite and byproducts can also be used for material utilization. The production of hydrocarbons or extraction of important raw materials are examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report here on an approach targeting the host reactive cysteinome to identify inhibitors of host factors required for the infectious cycle of Flaviviruses and other viruses. We used two parallel cellular phenotypic screens to identify a series of covalent inhibitors, exemplified by QL-XII-47, that are active against dengue virus. We show that the compounds effectively block viral protein expression and that this inhibition is associated with repression of downstream processes of the infectious cycle, and thus significantly contributes to the potent antiviral activity of these compounds. We demonstrate that QL-XII-47's antiviral activity requires selective, covalent modification of a host target by showing that the compound's antiviral activity is recapitulated when cells are preincubated with QL-XII-47 and then washed prior to viral infection and by showing that QL-XII-47R, a non-reactive analog, lacks antiviral activity at concentrations more than 20-fold higher than QL-XII-47's IC 90 . QL-XII-47's inhibition of Zika virus, West Nile virus, hepatitis C virus, and poliovirus further suggests that it acts via a target mediating inhibition of these other medically relevant viruses. These results demonstrate the utility of screens targeting the host reactive cysteinome for rapid identification of compounds with potent antiviral activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]