Differences in Home-based Family Caregiving Appraisal for Caregivers of the Elderly in Rural and Urban Japanese Communities

This quantitative study aimed to determine the differences between rural and urban residencies related to home-based appraisal (including care burden and positive appraisal) for Japanese primary family caregivers of the elderly with extensive care needs. The study examined a sample of 196 caregivers (106 rural, 90 urban), and stepwise multiple regression analysis was performed. Resident location was significantly associated with care burden, and each factor associated with the appraisal, especially care burden, differed between rural and urban areas. The social and physical environment is thus a necessary consideration to support family caregivers and the elderly requiring home-based care.Thesis of Imaiso, Junko / 今磯 純子 博士学位論文(金沢大学 / 大学院医薬保健学総合研究科

高齢者への家族介護者の在宅介護評価に関する地域差の検討

取得学位 : 博士(保健学), 学位授与番号 : 医博甲第2244 号, 学位授与年月日 : 平成24年3月22日, 学位授与大学 : 金沢大学, 審査結果の報告日 : 平成24年2月20

Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in human genetic transmissible spongiform encephalopathies

The 14-3-3 protein test has been shown to support the clinical diagnosis of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) when associated with an adequate clinical context, and a high differential potential for the diagnosis of sporadic CJD has been attributed to other cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins such as tau protein, S100b and neuron specific enolase (NSE). So far there has been only limited information available about biochemical markers in genetic transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (gTSE), although they represent 10–15% of human TSEs. In this study, we analyzed CSF of 174 patients with gTSEs for 14-3-3 (n = 166), tau protein (n = 78), S100b (n = 46) and NSE (n = 50). Levels of brain-derived proteins in CSF varied in different forms of gTSE. Biomarkers were found positive in the majority of gCJD (81%) and insert gTSE (69%), while they were negative in most cases of fatal familial insomnia (13%) and Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome (10%). Disease duration and codon 129 genotype influence the findings in a different way than in sporadic CJD