Keeping Your Glass Half Full: Cognitive Strategy Intervention for Older Adults.

When older adults experience memory dysfunction it often compromises their confidence. Older adults' confidence in their memory can be improved through interventions designed to teach strategies for improving everyday memory functioning. The present study examines the efficacy of a five-session cognitive strategy program designed to be optimistic and inclusive for older adults living in a residential community. The memory self-efficacy of participants in the intervention group improved significantly relative to a control group. Additionally, participants' knowledge of memory strategies improved overall after completion of this program. Such findings highlight the benefits of practical cognitive-behavioral interventions for bolstering older adults' confidence and knowledge of memory strategies.

Laparoscopic repair for parastomal hernia with ongoing barbed suture followed by sandwich-technique: 'Sandwich-plus-technique'.

The incidence of parastomal hernias after a permanent stoma is between 50% and 80% depending on the type of stoma, the definition of the hernia (clinical or radiological), and the length of the follow-up. Surgical therapy is complex and involves several techniques with different recurrence rates. We present three cases where we have closed the hernia gap with continuous, non-resorbable, self-retaining sutures with subsequent use of the sandwich technique ('Sandwich-plus-technique'). There were pronounced parastomal hernias in three female patients (mean age was 72 years and the range was 63-78 years) with permanent colostomata. After laparoscopic adhesiolysis, the closure of the hernia defect was completed with ongoing, barbed non-resorbable 1-0 sutures (polybutester) followed by the sandwich technique. There were no intraoperative complications and currently no clinical or radiological evidence for recurrences of the parastomal hernia. Closure of the hernia gap leads to the additional reconstruction of the lateral abdominal wall, resulting in a larger contact surface for integration of the keyhole mesh and thus prior to implantation of the Sugarbaker mesh. The laparoscopic augmentation of large parastomal hernias using the 'Sandwich-plus-technique' is technically complex but achieves very good results in our case series. Further studies and long-term results should prove that the low recurrence rate of the sandwich technique can be further reduced.

Continuous Laparoscopic Closure of the Linea Alba with Barbed Sutures Combined with Laparoscopic Mesh Implantation (IPOM Plus Repair) As a New Technique for Treatment of Abdominal Hernias.

Despite extensive experience and significant reduction of complications in recent years, laparoscopic treatment of complex abdominal hernias is a challenge even for the experienced endoscopic surgeon. Patients with severe incisional hernias or symptomatic rectus diastasis benefit from the closure of the linea alba as a morphological and physiological reconstruction of the abdominal wall followed by mesh implantation. Occasionally, an additional component separation is necessary. In open surgery, this is associated with very large wound areas, postoperative seromas, poor wound healing and, in the worst case, mesh infections. To avoid these complications, we operate these complex reconstructions completely endoscopically. Our concept is based on a laparoscopic closure of the linea alba through an ongoing, barbed non-resorbable 1-0 suture (polybutester) and final reinforcement by an intraperitoneal-onlay mesh (IPOM-Plus). For the treatment of complex abdominal hernias with a width of more than 10 cm, we performed an endoscopic anterior bilateral component separation. This allows the surgeon to combine the advantages of the open abdominal wall reconstruction with those of laparoscopic hernia repair. Between May 2015 and June 2017, we treated 42 patients with abdominal hernias by laparoscopic continuous hernia defect closure and complementary mesh implantation, whereby a complex reconstruction with additional endoscopic anterior component separation was performed in five patients. In this article, we will present this innovative technique of endoscopic/laparoscopic hernia repair in complex abdominal hernias.