Consecutive primes in tuples

In a recent advance towards the Prime $k$-tuple Conjecture, Maynard and Tao have shown that if $k$ is sufficiently large in terms of $m$, then for an admissible $k$-tuple $\mathcal{H}(x) = \{gx + h_j\}_{j=1}^k$ of linear forms in $\mathbb{Z}[x]$, the set $\mathcal{H}(n) = \{gn + h_j\}_{j=1}^k$ contains at least $m$ primes for infinitely many $n \in \mathbb{N}$. In this note, we deduce that $\mathcal{H}(n) = \{gn + h_j\}_{j=1}^k$ contains at least $m$ consecutive primes for infinitely many $n \in \mathbb{N}$. We answer an old question of Erd\H os and Tur\'an by producing strings of $m + 1$ consecutive primes whose successive gaps $\delta_1,\ldots,\delta_m$ form an increasing (resp. decreasing) sequence. We also show that such strings exist with $\delta_{j-1} \mid \delta_j$ for $2 \le j \le m$. For any coprime integers $a$ and $D$ we find arbitrarily long strings of consecutive primes with bounded gaps in the congruence class $a \bmod D$.Comment: Revised versio

Role Of Digital Health Wearables In The Wellbeing And Quality Of Life Of Older People And Carers

The number of adults aged 65 and over has increased by 2% across Europe in the past 15 years, and in Northern Ireland by 22% between 2003-2013. The proportion of the population in this age group is projected to increase by 63% to just under 0.5 million by 2033 – which will be a quarter of the population in Northern Ireland. Given Northern Ireland’s Active Ageing Strategy (2015-2021), there is an increasing focus on encouraging physical activity as we get older to preserve mobility and motor skills, and to enjoy the benefits of living longer and to minimise health problems associated with ageing. Over the last two years, we have been investigating the role of wearable activity tracking technologies in self-monitoring of activity by people aged over 55. Example technologies include activity trackers from Fitbit, Garmin and Samsung, and smart watches. Typically, these devices record steps walked, sleep patterns, calories expended and heart rate. Based on empirical investigations, this policy paper describes the benefits of activity monitors for people aged over 55 for self-monitoring of physical activity, for adopting healthy lifestyles, and for increasing or maintaining physical activity as a way to avoid high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and other medical conditions associated with weight or lower physical activity. It outlines the role of activity trackers in post-operative monitoring of mobility during rehabilitation, in caring, and for possible use of the data for diagnosis and medical interventions. It then discusses the challenges for adoption of these technologies, given currently, off-the-shelf devices are designed and calibrated for use by physically fit (typically young active people) with unrealistic fitness targets for the older generation

Investigating the influence of wearable activity - tracking technologies on behaviour change in people aged 55 and over

Our research project (http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-health-wearables/) at UK’s Open University and in collaboration with Age UK Milton Keynes aims to investigate whether behaviour changes in people aged over 55 years through the use of wearable activity-tracking technologies. Example technologies include those from Fitbit, Jawbone, or smart watches from Apple or Samsung. Typically, these devices record steps walked, sleep patterns, or calories expended.    The benefits of regular physical activity for older adults and those with chronic disease and/or mobility limitations are indisputable. Regular physical activity attenuates many of the health risks associated with obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression and anxiety, and cognitive decline. As physical activity levels among older adults (both with and without chronic disease) are low, facilitating an increase in activity levels is an important public health issue. Walking has been identified as an ideal means of low-impact, low-risk physical activity that can boost physical and mental wellbeing. An author of a recent study said: “Physical activity may create a ‘reserve’ that protects motor abilities against the effects of age-related brain damage”. Walking has been shown to improve cognitive performance in older people. Our previous research has shown that walking with others can help reduce social isolation and loneliness among people aged 55 and over. In our year-long project (May 2016 – April 2017) and funded by the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, we have given activity-trackers to 17 participants in the age range from 55 – 80. Through monthly workshops, diaries that the participants are maintaining and sharing with us on a weekly basis, and through one-to-one interviews with them, we are investigating how the behaviours of our participants is changing – whether there is an increase in their activity such as walking or gardening, lifestyle changes, attitudes towards food/diet, and so on. There is already some evidence emerging such as: increase in activity levels in all the participants; increased awareness of food intake; and sharing of data with the GPs to diagnose the non-optimal sleep patterns (one of them now has a treatment plan in place for poor sleep). A couple of participants have joined the gym when they realised that their desk-based work-life doesn’t give them the opportunity to stay active during the week. In addition, we have conducted two surveys: the first survey is aimed at people aged 55 years and over who are already using these devices - to investigate their experiences and the changes in their behaviours that they perceive; and the second survey is aimed at medical professionals to explore whether they use the data from these devices for diagnosis and intervention. Most importantly, do medical professionals use data from these devices to determine the behaviour or lifestyle changes in people aged over 55 years? The Open University's Human Research Ethics Committee has approved the research design of this project (HREC/2016/2191/Minocha/1)

Social isolation and loneliness in people aged 55 and over in Milton Keynes: the way forward

The Ageing Well and Living Well Scoping Workshop was organised by Gail Addison, Head of Public Health – Delivery, People Directorate, Milton Keynes Council in collaboration with Age UK Milton Keynes. The aims of the workshop were to: • Explore the connectivity between the Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB) and existing Partnership and Programme Boards across Milton Keynes • Explore the remit of the Partnership and Programme Boards in order to identify commonalities and fit with the HWB Board’s Strategic Implementation Plan and Priorities, including; • Social Isolation (Priority focus for Ageing Well partnership) • Reducing Obesity (Priority focus for Living Well partnership) • Identify next steps and commitment to action At this workshop, Professor Shailey Minocha of The Open University along with Jane Palmer, CEO, Age UK Milton Keynes led the track on social isolation and loneliness in people aged over 55 years in Milton Keynes. We highlighted the effects of social isolation and loneliness on the well-being and quality of life of people. For example, individuals lacking social contact carry a health risk equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes in a day. We discussed the societal impacts of social isolation such as increased use of health and social care services, higher number of emergency admissions and GP consultations, slower discharge from hospitals which causes pressure on financial resources and health services. We outlined the risk factors of social isolation and particularly in the context of Milton Keynes. Drawing on from our report (http://oro.open.ac.uk/43925/), we emphasised the challenges for the community and for older people due to the increasing population of older people in Milton Keynes. We presented possible solutions for addressing the problem of social isolation and loneliness in Milton Keynes in three categories: one-to-one interventions (e.g. visits by community home visitors, regular phone conversations, visits by neighbours); group interventions (e.g. Men in sheds, lunch clubs, coffee mornings, inter-generational initiatives – for example, learning to get online, walking groups, local history society) and wider community and neighbourhood interventions such as encouraging older people to be volunteers; co-designing the programmes with older people - e.g. neighbouhood watch programmes and design of age-friendly design of spaces – local neighbourhoods and city centre in Milton Keynes

Social isolation and loneliness in people aged 55 and over in the UK

In association with Age UK Milton Keynes, we have conducted research to investigate the conditions that lead to social isolation and loneliness among older people (55 years and above) in Milton Keynes, and to recommend possible strategies and solutions to prevent and mitigate isolation. The project was funded by the Milton Keynes Council and commissioned by the Senior Joint Commissioner, Adult Community Services. The research has involved a review of academic and policy literature on social isolation and loneliness, and an information gathering exercise that included expert workshops, individual and group interviews, and site visits. This talk will be based on the project's report (http://oro.open.ac.uk/43925/) and will discuss several case studies of older people and interventions for social isolation and loneliness within Milton Keynes. We hope that the recommendations and the resources from our report and in this talk would be useful for other communities, towns and cities, who may also be facing the challenges of supporting an ageing population. Taking the example of an online photo journal which encourages users to document their life with just one photo each day, we will discuss how online social interactions influence the lives of older people, the challenges that they face, and the concerns that they have about being online

Social isolation and loneliness in people aged 55 and over in Milton Keynes: developing an action plan

In this workshop, we outlined the conditions that lead to social isolation and loneliness among older people (55 years and above) in Milton Keynes, and recommended possible strategies and solutions to prevent and mitigate isolation. The findings are based on the Milton Keynes Council-commissioned report http://oro.open.ac.uk/43925/. The research involved a review of academic and policy literature on social isolation and loneliness, and an information gathering exercise that included expert workshops, individual and group interviews, and site visits. The general risk factors that affect Milton Keynes residents include: low income, low literacy, poor health and disability, losses and bereavement, family, social and neighbourhood change, unemployment or redundancy, and aspects of the built environment and infrastructure. Specific additional challenges for Milton Keynes include: rapidly ageing population (from a low base); the pace of development of Milton Keynes and neighbourhood changes; structural elements including the design of and balance between the city centre, housing estates, and satellite villages; community diversity from deprived to affluent areas; a diverse and growing population of older people from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups; and the crucial on-going transport issues. We discussed services to alleviate social isolation and which cater to different kinds of needs, including one-to-one services (e.g. visits by community home visitors, regular phone conversations, walking ‘partner’ – e.g. after the bereavement of a pet), group services (e.g. lunch clubs, coffee mornings, Men in sheds, knitting club, walking groups, local history society), and wider social activities (e.g. capturing sporting memories or reminiscing). We identified a need for continuity of several of these services, and that new services should be developed to bridge gaps in provision. We recommended that Milton Keynes Council should consider: paying attention to events in the lives of older people, designing a variety of services for different age groups, life stages and health (55+, 65+, 75+, 85+, …), inter-generational initiatives, being gender-aware, focussing on the quality rather than the quantity and recognising that families play a key role. We suggested factors for successful service design: developing services that are co-designed and led by older people, council-provided framework for delivery of the services (e.g. ‘neighbourhood watch’ in West Bletchley), developing volunteering capacity within communities and training for the volunteers (e.g. by Age UK Milton Keynes). Further, we suggested that it is important to know the social and economic impact of the service and, therefore, evaluation should be integral when the service is being designed and delivered. We emphasised that there is a need for a ‘simple’ and low cost evaluation toolkit: e.g. well-being questionnaire or workshops to determine the reach and impact of the service. This evaluation will feed into the improvement of the service and possibly more funding to grow and sustain the service. We listed three key messages from our research: co-designing services with older people that match with their requirements; evaluation should be integral when the service is being designed and delivered and imparting digital skills to people aged over 55 years (http://oro.open.ac.uk/44009/) which would influence and possibly improve their interactions with the local government, help in cultivation of their interests, and facilitate social interactions

Investigating the role of wearable activity-tracking technologies in the well-being and quality of life of people aged 55 and over

In the Sir Halley Stewart Trust funded project on digital health wearables (http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-health-wearables/), we have been investigating whether and how wearable activity-tracking technologies (e.g. smart watches or activity trackers from Fitbit, Garmin, etc.) can facilitate self-monitoring of activity and health by people aged 55 years and over, and by carers for monitoring the health and activity of the people they care for. On the Sir Halley Stewart Trust-funded project (May 2016 - July 2017), through empirical investigations and in collaboration with Age UK Milton Keynes (MK), Carers MK, and GPs and healthcare professionals, we have identified: • challenges for adoption of these technologies; • the need to design for age-related impairments (e.g. vision, hearing, memory, dexterity); • concerns related to data management, security and data privacy; • positive behavioural changes of using activity monitoring devices, and, in general; • the role of digital health wearables in caring, self-management of health, post-operative monitoring of mobility, and for monitoring movement and locations in conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Ageing population, retaining independence of older people, support to carers, and using internet-enabled technologies to transform healthcare services are some of the national concerns. We are now involved in a multi-way knowledge-exchange (KE) programme (April 2017 - January 2018) through an ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Award to set up dialogues with/between key stakeholders including manufacturers for improving the design of digital health wearables for older users, carers and medical professionals

Facial Mobility and Recovery in Patients with Unilateral Facial Paralysis

Objective: (a) To quantify longitudinal 3D changes in facial soft tissue movements in adults with unilateral facial paralysis, and (b) to compare the patients’ movements with an age- and sex-frequency matched control group. Settings and Sample Population: Prospective 3D facial movement data of 36 patients and 68 control participants. Patients’ data were collected within 6 weeks of onset of symptoms (baseline) and then at 3 and 12 weeks after baseline. Materials and Methods: The 3D facial movement data were collected during different facial animations. Mean group measurements of displacement, velocity and asymmetry were computed. Two sample t tests were used to test for significant group differences, and linear mixed models were fit to test for significant changes over time in the patient group. Also, 3D dynamic modelling and vector plots were computed to isolate the patients’ abnormal movements and/or paralysis. Results: The patients’ mean baseline movements were significantly less for both the paralysed and contralateral sides of the face with much greater movement asymmetry than the controls. Patients’ mean measures improved significantly from baseline to 12 weeks. The measures were closer to, but fell short of, the control values. Conclusion: In unilateral facial paralysis, the contralateral facial side was affected by the paralysis and may be tethered or limited in its movement by the paralysed side. The comprehensive measurement set and 3D facial mapping effectively tracked patient recovery and isolated paralysed facial regions. The 3D measures can be used for diagnosis and outcome assessment of different treatments.</p

Role of wearable activity-tracking technologies in the well-being and quality of life of people aged 55 and over

We discussed our project that involves investigating the role of wearable activity-tracking technologies in the well-being and quality of life of people aged 55 and over: how such devices may promote behaviour change but also the challenges associated with making sense of the data, the ethical issues of sharing the data and the perceived risks. We outlined our project’s plans for the empirical investigations with older people, family members, carers and medical professionals. The Sir Halley Stewart Trust has funded this project. The views expressed in this presentation and any follow-on publications are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Trust. More details of the project are here: http://www.shaileyminocha.info/digital-health-wearables