Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment Among Elderly Chinese Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

ObjectiveTo determine the prevalence and attributes of cognitive impairment in elderly continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients.MethodsThe Cantonese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (CMMSE) was used to assess the cognitive function of 81 elderly CAPD patients and 66 healthy elderly (age ≥ 65 years). The maximum score is 30, with a higher score indicating better cognitive performance. Other study variables included demographic data, duration of dialysis, dialysis adequacy (Kt/V), albumin and hemoglobin levels, comorbid medical conditions, days of hospital stay, and episodes of peritonitis and exit site infection.ResultsThe CAPD group had lower CMMSE scores than the healthy elderly group (p < 0.001); 32.1% of CAPD patients and 7.6% of the healthy elderly were identified as cognitively impaired according to CMMSE cutoff points (p < 0.001). Logistic regression revealed that increased age (odds ratio, OR, 1.1; 95% confidence interval, 95% CI, 1.02-1.3; p = 0.018) and female gender (OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.1-9.9; p < 0.03) were significantly and positively associated with cognitive impairment. Protective factors included years of education (OR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.65–0.94; p < 0.009). After adjusting for the effects of age, gender and education, CAPD patients were at greater risk for cognitive impairment than the healthy elderly (OR, 7.7; 95% CI, 2.4-24.8; p < 0.001). Education was positively correlated with CMMSE score (r = 0.52; p < 0.001), while days of hospital stay showed an inverse relationship (r = −0.243; p = 0.03). The duration of dialysis, Kt/V, albumin and hemoglobin levels, and the number of comorbid conditions were not correlated with CMMSE score.ConclusionThere is a high prevalence of cognitive impairment in elderly CAPD patients. It is imperative that a cognitive screening test be incorporated into nursing assessments for early detection of cognitive changes

Older persons\u27 perceptions of their future : a qualitative study in Hong Kong

This study examines older persons’ hopes, fears and expectations for the future, a topic little explored in Hong Kong. The study of twenty-five people aged 65-85 years adopts a qualitative approach to explore the experiences that shape older persons’ views of their future lives. Three models emerged from the empirical study, namely The Model of Resignation, The Model of Predestination and The Model of Adaptation. The findings suggest that respondents who had and still have little social support from friends tend to live very much in the present; they do not look forward to the future nor do they have a strong anticipatory sense of it. In addition, the research identifies “turning points” related to life events mainly in the domain of marriage, health, work and living arrangements that shape people’s attitudes toward their future. Turning points are identified by individuals as a moment when life is redirected into a different path. Turning points continue to influence subsequent events over their life-course. The concept of turning points helps us understand the life trajectories and transitions throughout the life-course. The research also identifies variables that influence respondents’ perceptions of their future. This research indicates that current living environment and living environment does not appear to play an important part in how respondents view their future. Respondents who believed they had performed their responsibilities to their family and society or have strong religious belief did not report any fears related to their health. Respondents who failed to maintain good marital relationships in the past or in the present did not create future hopes in the domain of social relationships. The study further investigates how older people translate their future hopes into daily activities and how they obstruct fears of the future. Furthermore, the research finds that respondents reported their own health and the well-being of their family members as the most important life domain. The research provides both formal and informal caregivers with ideas suited to motivating older persons to think positively about their daily lives and their future

QR Codes in Education

QR codes, developed by a Japanese company, have been around for over fifteen years. With the advent of smart and Web capable mobile devices, we witness a steady growth of interesting commercial applications using QR codes. As the movement of using QR codes in education is still in its infancy, this paper serves to be one of the first comprehensive papers in journal publication to fully delineate (a) the user characteristics of QR codes, (b) the processes of making and reading QR codes, (c) the survey of commercial applications using QR codes, (d) the literature review of educational applications using QR codes, and (e) offer suggestions and implementations of QR codes in school education

Antidiarrhoeal activities of aqueous extract of Stereospermum kunthianum (Cham, Sandrine Petit) stem bark in rodents

The antidiarrhoeal effect of the aqueous extract of Stereospermum kunthianum (Cham, Sandrine Petit) stem bark was investigated in in vivo experimentally-induced diarrhoeal models using mice and rats.The extract (100, 200 or 400 mg/kg) dose-dependently reduced castor oil-induced intestinal transit in mice, with the greatest effect observed with the 200 mg/kg body weight of the extract. The pretreatmentof mice with the extract (100, 200 or 400 mg/kg) caused a dose-dependent and significant (p < 0.05) delay in the onset of diarrhoea, frequency of stooling, decreased weight of wet stools and the general diarrhoeal score in mice. The effect of the extract on the normal intestinal transit in mice was not significant. However, in the phenol red meal test in rats, the extract (100, 200 or 400 mg/kg) in a doserelatedmanner, significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the normal intestinal transit in rats, without a significant effect on the gastric emptying compared to loperamide (5 mg/kg) treated rats. The extract produced no significant effect on the castor oil-induced fluid accumulation in rats. Also, the extract produced no mortalities in mice at a maximum oral dose of 8 g/kg; it is therefore well tolerated and relatively safe by oral route. The results indicate that the aqueous extract possesses antidiarrhoealactivity. This is a possible reason for its antidiarrhoeal use in traditional medicine

Using words clarification and questioning strategies to enhance reading ability of junior secondary school students in classical Chinese poetry = 運用字詞澄清與提問閱讀策略提升初中學生古詩閱讀能力

Thesis (B. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2013.Zhi dao lao shi: Luo Yanqin.Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-45)指導老師: 羅燕琴.published_or_final_versionB.Ed. in Language Educatio

SMILEtrack: SiMIlarity LEarning for Occlusion-Aware Multiple Object Tracking

Despite recent progress in Multiple Object Tracking (MOT), several obstacles such as occlusions, similar objects, and complex scenes remain an open challenge. Meanwhile, a systematic study of the cost-performance tradeoff for the popular tracking-by-detection paradigm is still lacking. This paper introduces SMILEtrack, an innovative object tracker that effectively addresses these challenges by integrating an efficient object detector with a Siamese network-based Similarity Learning Module (SLM). The technical contributions of SMILETrack are twofold. First, we propose an SLM that calculates the appearance similarity between two objects, overcoming the limitations of feature descriptors in Separate Detection and Embedding (SDE) models. The SLM incorporates a Patch Self-Attention (PSA) block inspired by the vision Transformer, which generates reliable features for accurate similarity matching. Second, we develop a Similarity Matching Cascade (SMC) module with a novel GATE function for robust object matching across consecutive video frames, further enhancing MOT performance. Together, these innovations help SMILETrack achieve an improved trade-off between the cost ({\em e.g.}, running speed) and performance (e.g., tracking accuracy) over several existing state-of-the-art benchmarks, including the popular BYTETrack method. SMILETrack outperforms BYTETrack by 0.4-0.8 MOTA and 2.1-2.2 HOTA points on MOT17 and MOT20 datasets. Code is available at https://github.com/pingyang1117/SMILEtrack_Officia

Effects of voluntary running on plasma levels of neurotrophins, hippocampal cell proliferation and learning and memory in stressed rats

Previous studies have shown that a 2-week treatment with 40mg/kg corticosterone (CORT) in rats suppresses hippocampal neurogenesis and decreases hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and impairs spatial learning, all of which could be counteracted by voluntary wheel running. BDNF and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) have been suggested to mediate physical exercise-enhanced hippocampal neurogenesis and cognition. Here we examined whether such running-elicited benefits were accompanied by corresponding changes of peripheral BDNF and IGF-1 levels in a rat model of stress. We examined the effects of acute (5days) and chronic (4weeks) treatment with CORT and/or wheel running on (1) hippocampal cell proliferation, (2) spatial learning and memory and (3) plasma levels of BDNF and IGF-1. Acute CORT treatment improved spatial learning without altered cell proliferation compared to vehicle treatment. Acute CORT-treated non-runners showed an increased trend in plasma BDNF levels together with a significant increase in hippocampal BDNF levels. Acute running showed no effect on cognition, cell proliferation and peripheral BDNF and IGF-1 levels. Conversely, chronic CORT treatment in non-runners significantly impaired spatial learning and suppressed cell proliferation in association with a decreased trend in plasma BDNF level and a significant increase in hippocampal BDNF levels. Running counteracted cognitive deficit and restored hippocampal cell proliferation following chronic CORT treatment; but without corresponding changes in plasma BDNF and IGF-1 levels. The results suggest that the beneficial effects of acute stress on cognitive improvement may be mediated by BDNF-enhanced synaptic plasticity that is hippocampal cell proliferation-independent, whereas chronic stress may impair cognition by decreasing hippocampal cell proliferation and BDNF levels. Furthermore, the results indicate a trend in changes of plasma BDNF levels associated with a significant alteration in hippocampal levels, suggesting that treatment with running/CORT for 4 weeks may induce a change in central levels of hippocampal BDNF level, which may not lead to a significant change in peripheral levels.postprin

Anti-CD47 antibody suppresses tumor growth and augments the effect of chemotherapy treatment in hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often associated with metastasis and recurrence leading to a poor prognosis. Therefore, development of novel treatment regimens is urgently needed to improve the survival of HCC patients. In this study, we aimed to investigate the in vitro and in vivo effects of anti-CD47 antibody alone and in combination with chemotherapy in HCC. METHODS: In this study, we examined the functional effects of anti-CD47 antibody (B6H12) on cell proliferation, sphere formation, migration and invasion, chemosensitivity, macrophage-mediated phagocytosis, and tumorigenicity both in vitro and in vivo. The therapeutic efficacy of anti-CD47 antibody alone or in combination with doxorubicin was examined in patient-derived HCC xenograft. RESULTS: Blocking CD47 with anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody (B6H12) at 10mug/mL could suppress self-renewal, tumorigenicity and migration and invasion abilities of MHCC-97L and Huh-7 cells. Interestingly, anti-CD47 antibody synergized the effect of HCC cells to chemotherapeutic drugs including doxorubicin and cisplatin. Blockade of CD47 by anti-CD47 antibody induced macrophage-mediated phagocytosis. Using a patient-derived HCC xenograft mouse model, we found that anti-CD47 antibody (400mug/mouse) in combination with doxorubicin (2mg/kg) exerted maximal effects on tumor suppression, as compared with doxorubicin and anti-CD47 antibody alone. CONCLUSIONS: Anti-CD47 antibody treatment could complement chemotherapy which may be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HCC patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.postprin

A novel risk factor associated with colonization by Carbapenemase-Producing Enterobacteriaceae: Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors in addition to Antimicrobial Treatment

published_or_final_versio

Polysaccharides from Lycium barbarum attenuates hepatic steatosis, fibrosis and inflammation in a non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD) rat model

Topic: 4.a Basic ScienceThis journal suppl. entitled: APASL Liver Week 2013BACKGROUND/AIMS: Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) are derivative from Wolfberry with antioxidant and neuroprotective properties. Although it shows beneficial effects against aging and oxidative stress in neuron, but whether LBP possesses protective effects in chronic liver injury, such as in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, (NAFLD), is still unknown. We aimed to investigate the protective effects of ...postprin