Did “Kayoinoba” Prevent the Decline of Mental and Physical Functions and Frailty for the Home-Based Elderly during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The purpose of this study is to grasp the management situation of “Kayoinoba” under the conditions of self-quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also to clarify the efficacy of “Kayoinoba” using the Kihon Checklist (KCL) for the assessment of mental and physical functions in the elderly. The respondents were 136 elderly people aged 65 years and over who lived in A City, a standard rural area in Japan. The age, gender, living style, affluence for living, and the frequency of participation in “Kayoinoba” were examined by using the KCL as a self-completed questionnaire. Finally, 101 respondents were included in the final analysis. There was no difference in the participation status before and after the spread of COVID-19. The frailty ratio tended to decrease from 23.8% to 19.8% between the two periods, but there was no difference in the frailty ratio. It is suggested that the participants in “Kayoinoba” may have suppressed the deterioration of mental and physical conditions, excluding physical activity. This would prevent the frailty of the elderly, even during self-quarantine due to the spread of COVID-19

Local Regeneration of Dentin-Pulp Complex Using Controlled Release of FGF-2 and Naturally Derived Sponge-Like Scaffolds

Restorative and endodontic procedures have been recently developed in an attempt to preserve the vitality of dental pulp after exposure to external stimuli, such as caries infection or traumatic injury. When damage to dental pulp is reversible, pulp wound healing can proceed, whereas irreversible damage induces pathological changes in dental pulp, eventually requiring its removal. Nonvital teeth lose their defensive abilities and become severely damaged, resulting in extraction. Development of regeneration therapy for the dentin-pulp complex is important to overcome limitations with presently available therapies. Three strategies to regenerate the dentin-pulp complex have been proposed; regeneration of the entire tooth, local regeneration of the dentin-pulp complex from amputated dental pulp, and regeneration of dental pulp from apical dental pulp or periapical tissues. In this paper, we focus on the local regeneration of the dentin-pulp complex by application of exogenous growth factors and scaffolds to amputated dental pulp

研究速報 : Lab-on-a-chip : Towards the Miniaturization and Integration of Fluorescence Spectroscopy Based Detection Method onto Portable Device

特集2 日仏マイクロメカトロニクス国際共同研究組織(LIMMS