Autism Patients Share Common Pattern Of Brain Inflammation

From Sarah Klein, Senior Editor, Health and Fitness, for the Huffington Post;

While science has yet to pinpoint the exact cause of autism, a new study reveals that the brains of people with the disorder share a common pattern of inflammation from an overactive immune response. 

Johns Hopkins and University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers analyzed data from autopsied brains of 72 people, 32 of whom had autism. In the brains of people with autism, they found genes for inflammation permanently activated in certain cells. The study, published in the online journal Nature Communications on Dec. 10, is the largest so far of gene expression in autism. 

"There are many different ways of getting autism, but we found that they all have the same downstream effect," Dan Arking, Ph.D., an associate professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute for Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine said in a statement. "What we don't know is whether this immune response is making things better in the short term and worse in the long term." 

Inflammation is not likely a root cause of autism, but a consequence of a gene mutation, Arking stressed. To better understand inflammation's effects, researchers will want to find out whether treating it makes autism symptoms any better, he said.

Go here to read the rest of the article.  

Nursing Home Worker Faces Homicide Charges in Violent Death of Resident

An alleged physical altercation between a New York nursing home aide and a resident has reportedly resulted in the resident's death.  Cherrylee Young, 41, now faces negligent homicide charges and is scheduled to appear before a grand jury.  According to authorities the physical altercation caused the resident to fall and fatally impale himself on part of a table. 

According to the New York Times, the fight broke at the 46-bed University Nursing Home in the Bronx on December 8th, allegedly after 77-year-old Frank Mercado repeatedly set off his bed alarm.  Workers reportedly found Young and Mercado on the floor, with Young repeatedly punching the resident.

The Medical Examiner determined that a table was knocked over during the altercation, and a rod attached to the table  tore the resident's rectum, causing fatal internal bleeding. According to the Daily News, Police claimed that it took hours for nursing home staff to notice Mercado's deteriorating health and send him to the hospital.

Young, arrested Dec. 9, appeared Monday in Bronx Criminal Court, claiming that Mercado attacked her and that she acted in self-defense. She agreed to testify before a grand jury, but said she will plead not guilty if indicted for negligent homicide. The charges could change depending on the grand jury's findings, according to Bronx Assistant District Attorney Nancy Borko.

University Nursing Home released a statement expressing “profound regret” over the incident, and offering condolences to the family of Mercado, a four-year resident.  "The University Nursing Home, which has a five-star rating from Medicare.gov and an exemplary healthcare history, is assisting the NYPD and the medical examiner in their investigation of this matter," the statement read. 

Advocates Seek Better Notification for Those Nearing Medicare Eligibility

Forty-four organizations, including the Medicare Rights Center, urged the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration to implement a system for notifying individuals approaching Medicare eligibility to inform them of their rights and obligation as they near enrollment.

The organizations asked that the agencies to ensure that all individuals nearing Medicare eligibility receive timely and complete notice about Medicare enrollment. According to the letter, such a system will ensure that fewer people new to the Medicare program are saddled with higher health care costs or go without needed health care services due to gaps in coverage and late enrollment penalties resulting from missing enrollment windows.

In particular, the letter suggests the following:

• Provide notice about nearing Medicare eligibility to all individuals turning age 65;

• Ensure that notices include key messages about coordination of benefits and delaying enrollment;

• Carefully engage other messengers, including health plans, employers and states;

• Strengthen notice for those who are auto-enrolled into Medicare; and

• Develop notices and educational materials in additional languages and alternate formats.

The Medicare Rights Center is a national, nonprofit consumer service organization that works to ensure access to affordable health care for older adults and people with disabilities through counseling and advocacy, educational programs and public policy initiatives.  Click here to read the letter.

A Holiday Gift from an ABLE Congress!

Sara Wolff (center) calling on Congress to allow disabled
 Americans to save and still receive benefits like
 Social Security Disability Insurance payments and Medicaid

The following is a reprint from the blog of Michael Morris, the Executive Director of the National Disability Institute (NDI) in Washington:

Last night, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passed (76-16) the Achieving Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act. The bill now goes to President Obama for signing into law. Not since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990 has Congress moved forward with a change in public policy as important and unprecedented as ABLE. The ABLE Act represents the first time there is clear recognition and sensitivity to the extra costs of living with a disability for children and adults with significant disabilities and their families. Every day, all across America, parents raising a child with a disability are confronted with costs not covered by insurance and various public assistance or benefits. The costs are as varied as modifying a home to be more accessible to using adaptive equipment and assistive technology that enhances learning, mobility, hearing and the ability to use a computer, all which improve quality of life experience. 

For adults with significant disabilities, extra costs can also include additional hours of personal assistance support to get out of bed, help with cooking and other daily living needs, as well as accessible transportation, housing and employment supports. 

The ABLE Act responds to these significant daily and weekly out-of-pocket expenses by creating, for the first time, a tax-advantaged savings account (an ABLE account). This account would cover the extra costs of living with a significant disability without adversely affecting continued eligibility for government benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid (health care). 

No piece of legislation before this Congress had more cosponsors – 380 House Members and 74 Senators – or received more bipartisan support across both the Democratic and Republican parties. ABLE is, above all, about fairness. Families raising children with significant disabilities do not want a handout and public assistance that comes with a life sentence in poverty. The disability community wants a hand up so they can be included in the economic mainstream as productive and valued members of inclusive workplaces and communities. ABLE offers, for some individuals and families (eligibility is limited to age of onset of disability by 26 years of age), an opportunity to plan for the future by setting aside up to $100,000 for expenses that may accrue over a lifetime, without the interest being taxed when the funds are removed. For some five million plus individuals and families who are likely to establish an ABLE account in the future, it is truly an early holiday present.

Thank you to Congress for passing the ABLE Act and improving the financial security of millions of Americans with significant disabilities and their families.

The National Disability Institute is a national not for profit corporation that is dedicated to "changing thinking and behavior that advance the financial stability and economic strength of persons with disabilities across the country.  Leveraging public and private resources, NDI is uniquely and singularly focused on promoting REAL ECONOMIC IMPACT for persons across the full spectrum of disabilities."  NDI's Real Economic Impact Blog is just one part of that mission.

Let us all join in the growing chorus of voices thanking Congress for this holiday gift.  You can read more about the ABLE Act here.  This blog will later carry a final description of the law as signed by the President.

Hasbro Creates Online Program for Children With Disabilities

Hasbro, Inc.,  creator of Mr. Potato Head, Play-Doh, Monopoly, and Connect 4, is releasing a series of online videos and other tools to help children with disabilities effectively engage with both toys  and other children.

The project, “ToyBox Tools”, “is designed to help kids learn what each toy is all about, how to put the item together and presents children with alternative ways to engage independently or with peers,” according to an article on DisabilityScoop.com. According to the Hasbro website:

"Hasbro’s fundamental mission is to bring joy and play to children and their families around the world. But for some children play can be challenging. For children with a developmental disability, play isn’t always accessible out of the box, relegating countless toys to the back of the closet or the donation bin. More importantly, the joy and benefits that play can bring, the connection between peers, siblings and other generations may be lost.” 

The initiative, “emerged from employees at Hasbro concerned that kids with developmental disabilities were losing out on valuable opportunities to connect with others through play, the company said.” “Believing that we could do more, a passionate group of Hasbro employees from across the Company, came together to team up with Autism Project – a long term philanthropic partner of the Hasbro Children’s Fund, to figure out a way to help,” said Hasbro’s site. The team, Hasbro said, “learned that many classic Hasbro toys were being widely used by teachers and occupational therapists working in the field and that they were creating their own supportive play tools which provided structure that is critical to the way certain children manipulate concepts to help them understand play.” The program is available online for free, and “Hasbro officials described the effort as a pilot program and said they will continue to refine the tools.” 

See more here. 

Nearly Forty Percent of Elderly Suffer At Least One Disability

Download Percentage of  County Population Age 65
 and Over with a Disability: 2008-2012

Nearly 40 percent of people age 65 and older had at least one disability, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report that covered the period 2008 to 2012. Of those 15.7 million people, two-thirds of them say they had difficulty in walking or climbing.

Difficulty with independent living, such as visiting a doctor’s office or shopping, was the second-most cited disability, followed by serious difficulty in hearing, cognitive difficulty, difficulty bathing or dressing, and serious difficulty seeing.

While populous states such as California, Florida, New York and Texas had the largest number of older people with a disability, high disability rates were seen in Southern counties, especially in central Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta.

Older Americans With a Disability: 2008-2012, a report based on data collected during the American Community Survey, examines disability status by age, sex and selected socio-economic characteristics, such as marital status, living arrangement, educational attainment and poverty status.

“The statistics provided in this report can help anticipate future disability prevalence in the older population,” said Wan He, a demographer from the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “The figures can be used to help the older population with a disability, their families, and society at-large plan strategies and prepare for daily life tasks and old-age care.”

The following are some of the statistical highlights gleaned from the report:

• More than half (54.4 percent) of the older population who had not graduated from high school had a disability, twice the rate of those with a bachelor’s degree or higher (26.0 percent). This inverse relationship between educational attainment and likelihood of having a disability was found across age, sex, race and Hispanic origin.

• More than one-third of those 85 and older with a disability lived alone, compared with one-fourth of those age 65 to 74.

• About 13 percent of the older household population with a disability lived in poverty; in contrast, 7 percent of those without a disability were in poverty.

• The older population with a disability was disproportionately concentrated among those 85 and older. This group represented 13.6 percent of the total older population but accounted for 25.4 percent of the older population with a disability.

• Women 65 and older were more likely than men 65 and older to have five of the six types of disability included in the American Community Survey, especially ambulatory difficulty. Older women’s higher rates for disability are, in part, because women live longer.

• Older men’s higher likelihood for having a hearing disability may reflect the lifelong occupational differentials between men and women, where men may be more likely to have worked in industries that cause noise-induced hearing loss.

• Disability rates were lower for married older people than for those widowed or in other categories of marital status.

Most long term care insurance policies and benefits require that the insured be unable to perform without assistance two Activities of Daily Living (ADL's), such as transferring, toileting, bathing, continence, dressing and eating. If you have such a policy you should retain a copy of the actual policy in order to see for yourself how the benefit "triggers" and what ADL limitation is described.  A single disability may or may not impair more than one ADL.

The Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health commissioned this report and also supports other Census Bureau reports on aging research.

Long Term Care Facilities Must Recognize and Respect Same Sex Marriages Under Proposed Rule

Long-term care facilities are required to recognize certain same-sex marriages in order to participate in Medicare and Medicaid under a recently proposed rule.

The rule would also apply to hospices and other types of providers and suppliers. The 26-page rule and policy statement was drafted in response to the 2013 United States v. Windsor Supreme Court ruling, which struck down portions of the Defense of Marriage Act and paved the way for gay married couples to be recognized under federal law.

Among the conditions of participation related to long-term care is a section on resident rights, including rights to communicate with and have access to people “inside and outside a facility.” A proposed addition to this section would specify that a same-sex spouse has the same rights as opposite-gender spouses, if the same-sex marriage was valid in the jurisdiction where it took place.

A proposed revision for hospices would ensure that a same-sex spouse can make the decision to terminate care for an incapacitated person.

“Our goal is to provide equal treatment to spouses, regardless of their sex, whenever the marriage was valid in the jurisdiction in which it was entered into, without regard to whether the marriage is also recognized in the state of residence or the jurisdiction in which the healthcare provider or supplier is located,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services writes in the proposed rule.

The proposed rule is available here. It is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register. Comments can be submitted through Feb. 10.