Supporting Optimal Aging through the Innovative Use of Virtual Reality Technology

Although virtual reality (VR) technology has been implemented as a tool to address the health issues of older adults, its applicability to social connectedness is underrepresented in the literature, and less is known about its efficacy in this area in contributing to overall wellness and well-being in later life. Expanding the VR possibilities beyond traditional entertainment purposes holds considerable potential for the older adult market. Technological tools have been employed in the elder health care field for many years, and cutting-edge developments such as virtual and augmented reality have begun to be used to facilitate optimal wellness in aging. Such technological advances have the potential to significantly impact one of the most important issues that older people face: social isolation and loneliness. This paper will serve as an introductory exploration of what is currently known about the use of virtual reality technology with an older cohort

On the road again: assessing driving ability in patients with neurological conditions

Clinicians may not be aware of the specialised methods and adaptations that are used to help people with disabilities to drive a car. We describe a driving assessment process as carried out by one of the UK’s flagship assessment centres, including an overview of the available assessments, adaptations and relevant legislation to guide practitioners about how best to signpost and counsel their patients appropriately about driving

Compatibility Determination: Considerations for Siting Coastal and Ocean Uses (DRAFT)

This draft report is one of several prepared under contract to the Massachusetts Ocean Partnership (MOP) to support the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) in its development of the integrated coastal ocean management plan mandated by the MA Oceans Act of 2008. Among other requirements, the Oceans Act states that the plan shall “identify appropriate locations and performance standards for activities, uses and facilities allowed under sections 15 and 16 of chapter 132A.” To fulfill this requirement, the EOEEA planning team wanted to utilize compatibility determinations as a tool for considering the appropriate locations for activities, uses and facilities relative to one another. This report was prepared for Massachusetts ocean planning purposes but contains information that may be useful to coastal ocean resource managers in other locations

Allergy and Risk of Childhood Leukaemia: Results from the UKCCS

We investigated the relationship between childhood leukaemia and preceding history of allergy. A nationwide case-control study of childhood cancers was conducted in the United Kingdom with population-based sampling of cases (n = 839) and controls (n = 1,337), matched on age, sex and region of residence. Information about clinically diagnosed allergies was obtained from primary care records. More than a third of subjects had at least one allergy diagnosed prior to leukaemia diagnosis (cases) or pseudo-diagnosis (controls). For both total acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) and common-ALL/precursor B-cell ALL (c-ALL), a history of eczema was associated with a 30% significant reduction in risk: the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 0.70 (0.51-0.97) and 0.68 (0.48-0.98), respectively. Similar associations were observed for hayfever (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.26-0.85 and OR = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.33-1.16 for ALL and c-ALL, respectively). No such patterns were seen either for asthma and ALL, or for any allergy and acute myeloid leukaemia. A comparative analysis of primary care records with parents recall of allergy revealed only moderate agreement with contemporaneous clinical diagnoses for both cases and controls - confirming the unreliability of parental report at interview. Our finding of a reciprocal relationship between allergy and ALL in children is compatible with the hypothesis that a dysregulated immune response is a critical determinant of childhood ALL

Are older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain less active than older adults without pain? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To compare the overall levels of physical activity of older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain and asymptomatic controls. Review Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted using a Cochrane methodology and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Major electronic databases were searched from inception until December 2012, including the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, EBSCO, EMBASE, Medline, PubMed, PsycINFO, and the international prospective register of systematic reviews. In addition, citation chasing was undertaken, and key authors were contacted. Eligibility criteria were established around participants used and outcome measures focusing on daily physical activity. A meta-analysis was conducted on appropriate studies. Results: Eight studies met the eligibility criteria, four of these reported a statistically lower level of physical activity in the older adult sampl e with chronic pain compared with the asymptomatic group. It was possible to perform a non-heterogeneous meta-analysis on five studies. This established that 1,159 older adults with chronic pain had a significantly lower level of physical activity (−0.20, confidence interval 95% = −0.34 to −0.06, p = 0.004) compared with 576 without chronic pain. Conclusion: Older adults with chronic pain appear to be less active than asymptomatic controls. Although this difference was small, it is likely to be clinically meaningful. It is imperative that clinicians encourage older people with chronic pain to remain active as physical activity is a central non-pharmacological strategy in the management of chronic pain and is integral for healthy aging. Future research should prioritize the use of objective measurement of physical activity

Planning Framework Options for The Massachusetts Ocean Plan (DRAFT)

The Massachusetts Ocean Partnership (MOP) Planning Frameworks Team, in consultation with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), and based on collective experience and a review of ocean, coastal and resource management programs from the US and other countries, suggests that nine elements are essential components of the framework for the Massachusetts Ocean Plan and its implementation. While management plans and programs generally have these elements in common, there are a range of options for carrying out each program component. These options were presented to structure and inform the development of the Massachusetts Ocean Plan. For the most part, the range of options represents those that were considered to be appropriate under the Commonwealth’s existing legal and administrative structure and responsive to the requirements of the Massachusetts Ocean Act. However, the general concepts these options represent are likely to be transferable to other jurisdictions (especially in the United States) and can inform future ocean management and planning in Massachusetts. Additionally, options or their core elements can be combined to create additional alternatives within one of the nine planning components

Fermi Large Area Telescope Constraints on the Gamma-ray Opacity of the Universe

The Extragalactic Background Light (EBL) includes photons with wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared, which are effective at attenuating gamma rays with energy above ~10 GeV during propagation from sources at cosmological distances. This results in a redshift- and energy-dependent attenuation of the gamma-ray flux of extragalactic sources such as blazars and Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). The Large Area Telescope onboard Fermi detects a sample of gamma-ray blazars with redshift up to z~3, and GRBs with redshift up to z~4.3. Using photons above 10 GeV collected by Fermi over more than one year of observations for these sources, we investigate the effect of gamma-ray flux attenuation by the EBL. We place upper limits on the gamma-ray opacity of the Universe at various energies and redshifts, and compare this with predictions from well-known EBL models. We find that an EBL intensity in the optical-ultraviolet wavelengths as great as predicted by the "baseline" model of Stecker et al. (2006) can be ruled out with high confidence.Comment: 42 pages, 12 figures, accepted version (24 Aug.2010) for publication in ApJ; Contact authors: A. Bouvier, A. Chen, S. Raino, S. Razzaque, A. Reimer, L.C. Reye

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy