361 research outputs found
Development, reliability and validity of the Safe Use of Mobility Aids Checklist (SUMAC) for 4-wheeled walker use in people living with dementia
Background
Balance and gait problems are common and progressive in dementia. Use of a mobility aid provides physical support and confidence. Yet, mobility aid use in people with dementia increases falls three-fold. An assessment tool of mobility aid safety in people with dementia does not currently exist. The objectives of this study were: 1) to develop a tool for the evaluation of physical function and safe use of a 4-wheeled walker in people with dementia, and 2) to evaluate its construct and criterion validity, inter-rater and test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change.
Methods
Healthcare professionals (HCP) experienced in rehabilitation of people with dementia participated in focus groups for item generation of the new tool, The Safe Use of Mobility Aid Checklist (SUMAC). The SUMAC evaluates physical function (PF) and safe use of the equipment (EQ) on nine tasks of daily life. Reliability was evaluated by HCP (n = 5) scored participant videos of people with dementia (n = 10) using a 4-wheeled walker performing the SUMAC. Inter-rater and test-retest reliability was assessed using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). Construct validity evaluated scores of the HCPs to a consensus HCP panel using Spearman’s rank-order correlations. Criterion validity evaluated SUMAC-PF to the Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA) gait subscale using Spearman’s rank-order correlations.
Results
Three focus groups (n = 17) generated a tool comprised of nine tasks and the components within each task for physical function and safe use. Inter-rater reliability was statistically significant for SUMAC-PF (ICC = 0.92, 95%CI (0.81, 0.98), p < 0.001) and SUMAC-EQ. (ICC = 0.82, 95%CI (0.54, 0.95), p < 0.001). Test-retest reliability was statistically significant for SUMAC-PF (ICC = 0.89, 95%CI (0.81, 0.94), p < 0.001) and SUMAC-EQ. (ICC = 0.88, 95%CI (0.79, 0.93), p < 0.001). As hypothesized, the POMA gait subscale correlated strongly with the SUMAC-PF (rs = 0.84), but not EQ (rs = 0.39).
Conclusions
The focus groups and research team developed a tool of nine tasks with evaluation on physical function and safe use of a 4-wheeled walker for people with dementia. The SUMAC tool has demonstrated content validity for the whole scale and good construct and criterion validity for the SUMAC-PF and SUMAC-EQ. The subscores of the SUMAC demonstrated excellent to good inter-rater and test-retest reliability
Coexistence of superconductivity and weak anti-localization at KTaO3 (111) interfaces
The intersection of two-dimensional superconductivity and topologically
nontrivial states hosts a wide range of quantum phenomena, including Majorana
fermions. Coexistence of topologically nontrivial states and superconductivity
in a single material, however, remains elusive. Here, we report on the
observation of two-dimensional superconductivity and weak anti-localization at
the TiOx/KTaO3(111) interfaces. A remnant, saturating resistance persists below
the transition temperature as superconducting puddles fail to reach phase
coherence. Signatures of weak anti-localization are observed below the
superconducting transition, suggesting the coexistence of superconductivity and
weak anti-localization. The superconducting interfaces show roughly one order
of magnitude larger weak anti-localization correction, compared to
non-superconducting interfaces, alluding to a relatively large coherence length
in these interfaces
Oxygen vacancy-induced anomalous Hall effect in a non-magnetic oxide
The anomalous Hall effect, a hallmark of broken time-reversal symmetry and
spin-orbit coupling, is frequently observed in magnetically polarized systems.
Its realization in non-magnetic systems, however, remains elusive. Here, we
report on the observation of anomalous Hall effect in nominally non-magnetic
KTaO3. Anomalous Hall effect emerges in reduced KTaO3 and shows an extrinsic to
intrinsic crossover. A paramagnetic behavior is observed in reduced samples
using first principles calculations and quantitative magnetometry. The observed
anomalous Hall effect follows the oxygen vacancy-induced magnetization
response, suggesting that the localized magnetic moments of the oxygen
vacancies scatter conduction electrons asymmetrically and give rise to
anomalous Hall effect. The anomalous Hall conductivity becomes insensitive to
scattering rate in the low temperature limit (T<5 K), implying that the Berry
curvature of the electrons on the Fermi surface controls the anomalous Hall
effect. Our observations describe a detailed picture of many-body interactions,
triggering anomalous Hall effect in a non-magnetic system
AXL modulates extracellular matrix protein expression and is essential for invasion and metastasis in endometrial cancer
The receptor tyrosine kinase AXL promotes migration, invasion, and metastasis. Here, we evaluated the role of AXL in endometrial cancer. High immunohistochemical expression of AXL was found in 76% (63/83) of advanced-stage, and 77% (82/107) of high-grade specimens and correlated with worse survival in uterine serous cancer patients. In vitro, genetic silencing of AXL inhibited migration and invasion but had no effect on proliferation of ARK1 endometrial cancer cells. AXL-deficient cells showed significantly decreased expression of phospho-AKT as well as uPA, MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9. In a xenograft model of human uterine serous carcinoma with AXL-deficient ARK1 cells, there was significantly less tumor burden than xenografts with control ARK1 cells. Together, these findings underscore the therapeutic potentials of AXL as a candidate target for treatment of metastatic endometrial cancer
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