717 research outputs found
A roadmap to develop dementia research capacity and capability in Pakistan: a model for low- and middle-income countries
Objective
To produce a strategic roadmap for supporting the development of dementia research in Pakistan.
Background
While global research strategies for dementia research already exist, none is tailored to the specific needs and challenges of low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) like Pakistan.
Methods
We undertook an iterative consensus process with lay and professional experts to develop a Theory of Change-based strategy for dementia research in Pakistan. This included Expert Reference Groups (ERGs), strategic planning techniques, a “research question” priority survey, and consultations with Key Opinion Leaders.
Results
We agreed on ten principles to guide dementia research in Pakistan, emphasizing pragmatic, resource sparing, real-world approaches to support people with dementia, both locally and internationally. Goals included capacity/capability building. Priority research topics included raising awareness and understanding of dementia, and improving quality of life.
Conclusion
This roadmap may be a model for other LMIC health ecosystems with emerging dementia research cultures
Goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation in early-stage dementia: study protocol for a multi-centre single-blind randomised controlled trial (GREAT).
yesBackground: Preliminary evidence suggests that goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation (CR) may be a clinically
effective intervention for people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease, vascular or mixed dementia and their carers.
This study aims to establish whether CR is a clinically effective and cost-effective intervention for people with
early-stage dementia and their carers.
Methods/design: In this multi-centre, single-blind randomised controlled trial, 480 people with early-stage
dementia, each with a carer, will be randomised to receive either treatment as usual or cognitive rehabilitation
(10 therapy sessions over 3 months, followed by 4 maintenance sessions over 6 months). We will compare the
effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation with that of treatment as usual with regard to improving self-reported and
carer-rated goal performance in areas identified as causing concern by people with early-stage dementia;
improving quality of life, self-efficacy, mood and cognition of people with early-stage dementia; and reducing stress
levels and ameliorating quality of life for carers of participants with early-stage dementia. The incremental
cost-effectiveness of goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation compared to treatment as usual will also be examined.
Discussion: If the study confirms the benefits and cost-effectiveness of cognitive rehabilitation, it will be important
to examine how the goal-oriented cognitive rehabilitation approach can most effectively be integrated into routine
health-care provision. Our aim is to provide training and develop materials to support the implementation of this
approach following trial completion.
Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN2102748
Windsurfing : an extreme form of material and embodied interaction?
This paper makes reference to the development of water based board sports in the world of adventure or action games. With a specific focus on windsurfing, we use Parlebas (1999) and Warnier's (2001) theoretical interests in the praxaeology of physical learning as well as Mauss' (1935) work on techniques of the body. We also consider the implications of Csikzentimihalyi's notion of flow (1975). We argue that windsurfing equipment should not merely be seen as protection but rather as status objects through which extreme lifestyles are embodied and embodying
Care burden, loneliness, and social isolation in caregivers of people with physical and brain health conditions in English-speaking regions: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
BACKGROUND: Public health restrictions due to the COVID-19 (SARS CoV-2) pandemic have disproportionately affected informal caregivers of people living with long term health conditions. We aimed to explore levels of care burden, loneliness, and social isolation among caregivers of people with enduring physical and brain health conditions in English-speaking regions worldwide, by investigating outcomes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: A cross-sectional anonymous online survey data from 2287 English-speaking caregivers of people with long term health conditions from four English-speaking regions (UK, Ireland, USA, New Zealand) included measures of care burden, loneliness, and social isolation, reported before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyses were descriptive, followed by an ordinal regression model for predictors of burden. RESULTS: Compared to pre-pandemic levels, all caregivers experienced a significant increase in burden, loneliness, and isolation. Caregivers of people with both brain health and physical conditions were the most burdened and had the highest levels of loneliness and isolation compared to caregivers of people with either a brain health or physical condition only. The increase in care burden among caregivers of people with brain health challenges was associated with caregiver's gender, moderate and severe emotional loneliness, magnitude and frequency of isolation during the pandemic, and care circumstances (cohabitation with the care recipient, restrictions on the ability to provide care). CONCLUSIONS: Health and social care interventions should target caregivers' care circumstances and psychological outcomes, particularly in women, accounting for the significant additional burden of care, loneliness, and isolation resulting from pandemic-related restrictions
The Reality of Neandertal Symbolic Behavior at the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, France
The question of whether symbolically mediated behavior is exclusive to modern humans or shared with anatomically archaic populations such as the Neandertals is hotly debated. At the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, France, the Châtelperronian levels contain Neandertal remains and large numbers of personal ornaments, decorated bone tools and colorants, but it has been suggested that this association reflects intrusion of the symbolic artifacts from the overlying Protoaurignacian and/or of the Neandertal remains from the underlying Mousterian
Synthetic biology: Building the language for a new science brick by metaphorical brick
Changes in the biosciences and their relations to society over the last decades provide a unique opportunity to examine whether or not such changes leave traces in the language we use to talk about them. In this article we examine metaphors used in English-speaking press coverage to conceptualize a new type of (interdisciplinary) bioscience: synthetic biology. Findings show that three central metaphors were used between 2008 and May 2010. They exploit social and cultural knowledge about books, computers and engines and are linked to knowledge of three revolutions in science and society (the printing, information and industrial revolutions). These three central metaphors are connected to each other through the concepts of reading/writing, designing and mass production and they focus on science as a revolutionary process rather than on the end results or products of science. Overall, we observed the use of a complex bricolage of mixed metaphors and chains of metaphors that root synthetic biology in historical events and achievements, while at the same time extolling its promises for the future. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
In-depth mesocrystal formation analysis of microwave-assisted synthesis of LiMnPO4nanostructures in organic solution
In the present work, we report on the preparation of LiMnPO4 (lithiophilite) nanorods and mesocrystals composed of self-assembled rod subunits employing microwave-assisted precipitation with processing times on the time scale of minutes. Starting from metal salt precursors and H3PO4 as phosphate source, single-phase LiMnPO4 powders with grain sizes of approx. 35 and 65 nm with varying morphologies were obtained by tailoring the synthesis conditions using rac-1-phenylethanol as solvent. The mesocrystal formation, microstructure and phase composition were determined by electron microscopy, nitrogen physisorption, X-ray diffraction (including Rietveld refinement), dynamic light scattering, X-ray absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and other techniques. In addition, we investigated the formed organic matter by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry in order to gain a deeper understanding of the dissolution\u2013precipitation process. Also, we demonstrate that the obtained LiMnPO4 nanocrystals can be redispersed in polar solvents such as ethanol and dimethylformamide and are suitable as building blocks for the fabrication of nanofibers via electrospinning
Classifying organisms and artefacts by their outline shapes
We often wish to classify objects by their shapes. Indeed, the study of shapes is an important part of many scientific fields, such as evolutionary biology, structural biology, image processing and archaeology. However, mathematical shape spaces are rather complicated and nonlinear. The most widely used methods of shape analysis, geometric morphometrics, treat the shapes as sets of points. Diffeomorphic methods consider the underlying curve rather than points, but have rarely been applied to real-world problems. Using a machine classifier, we tested the ability of several of these methods to describe and classify the shapes of a variety of organic and man-made objects. We find that one method, based on square-root velocity functions (SRVFs), outperforms all others, including a standard geometric morphometric method (eigenshapes), and that it is also superior to human experts using shape alone. When the SRVF approach is constrained to take account of homologous landmarks it can accurately classify objects of very different shapes. The SRVF method identifies a shortest path between shapes, and we show that this can be used to estimate the shapes of intermediate steps in evolutionary series. Diffeomorphic shape analysis methods, we conclude, now provide practical and effective solutions to many shape description and classification problems in the natural and human sciences.</p
- …