Development of the functional progress measure for residents with dementia in long-term care facilities (FPM-D)

Aside from a change in their physical environment from home to a long-term care facility, most clients with dementia in a long-term care (LTC) setting experience an advanced level of degenerative change in both cognitive and body functions, which leads to increasing challenges in engagement in occupation. To analyze their occupational performance, establish therapy goals, and measure the outcomes of intervention, occupational therapy practitioners use assessment tools in the therapy process (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2014). However, there is the significant mismatch between existing assessment tools and the clinical need to properly capture functional progress in residents with dementia in a LTC setting. Therefore, this project introduces the FPM-D, which was specifically designed for residents with moderate to moderately severe dementia in LTC facilities. To maximize the usefulness of this new instrument, the author reviewed previous attempts made to address the need and obtained feedback from current occupational therapy practitioners in this setting. This new assessment tool is 1) designed to assess the function of clients with dementia; 2) has a progress-tracking feature with different timelines; 3) takes less than 15 minutes for administration; 4) allows customization of target activities, 5) includes only items appropriate for a LTC setting; and 6) assesses both cognitive and physical aspects of function based on the Cognitive Model in occupational therapy practice (Lazzarini, 2005). Along with the development process, this project includes plans for evaluation and dissemination. The follow-up study for evaluation aims to investigate the usefulness of the instrument in the LTC clinical setting and dissemination activities focus on disseminating this innovation in occupational therapy practice. The author believes that this new instrument will make a positive contribution to the quality of occupational therapy services in LTC facilities by effectively meeting the clinical needs of residents with dementia

Exploring Cohesive Subgraphs in Hypergraphs: The (k,g)-core Approach

Identifying cohesive subgraphs in hypergraphs is a fundamental problem that has received recent attention in data mining and engineering fields. Existing approaches mainly focus on a strongly induced subhypergraph or edge cardinality, overlooking the importance of the frequency of co-occurrence. In this paper, we propose a new cohesive subgraph named (k,g)-core, which considers both neighbour and co-occurrence simultaneously. The $(k,g)$-core has various applications including recommendation system, network analysis, and fraud detection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to combine these factors. We extend an existing efficient algorithm to find solutions for $(k,g)$-core. Finally, we conduct extensive experimental studies that demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our proposed algorithm.Comment: 5 page

The Rhizome Mixture of Anemarrhena asphodeloides

We investigated the effect of DWac on the gut microbiota composition in mice with 2,3,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid- (TNBS-) induced colitis. Treatment with DWac restored TNBS-disturbed gut microbiota composition and attenuated TNBS-induced colitis. Moreover, we examined the effect of DWac in mice with mesalazine-resistant colitis (MRC). Intrarectal injection of TNBS in MRC mice caused severe colitis, as well as colon shortening, edema, and increased myeloperoxidase activity. Treatment with mesalazine (30 mg/kg) did not attenuate TNBS-induced colitis in MRC mice, whereas treatment with DWac (30 mg/kg) significantly attenuated TNBS-induced colitis. Moreover, treatment with the mixture of mesalazine (15 mg/kg) and DWac (15 mg/kg) additively attenuated colitis in MRC mice. Treatment with DWac and its mixture with mesalazine inhibited TNBS-induced activation of NF-κB and expression of M1 macrophage markers but increased TNBS-suppressed expression of M2 macrophage markers. Furthermore, these inhibited TNBS-induced T-bet, RORγt, TNF-α, and IL-17 expression but increased TNBS-suppressed Foxp3 and IL-10 expression. However, Th2 cell differentiation and GATA3 and IL-5 expression were not affected. These findings suggest that DWac can ameliorate MRC by increasing the polarization of M2 macrophage and correcting the disturbance of gut microbiota and Th1/Th17/Treg, as well as additively attenuating MRC along with mesalazine

Lifestyle Modification in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a disorder in which the upper respiratory tract is closed repeatedly during sleep. Treatment of OSA includes continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), intraoral devices, and upper respiratory tract surgery, among which CPAP is known as the most effective treatment method. However, even in the case of CPAP, adherence rates during long-term follow-up are lowered considerably due to inconvenience of wearing, and low adherence rates limit its therapeutic effect. Therefore, studies have been carried out to confirm the effect of lifestyle modification which corrects modifiable risk factors of OSA, such as obesity. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of weight loss and aerobic exercise to improve the severity of OSA, and to examine the effect of drinking and smoking on OSA. In consideration of the difficulty of modifying one’s lifestyle through traditional individual counseling, we propose the use of smart devices in the management of patients’ lifestyles

An Active and Soft Hydrogel Actuator to Stimulate Live Cell Clusters by Self-folding

The hydrogels are widely used in various applications, and their successful uses depend on controlling the mechanical properties. In this study, we present an advanced strategy to develop hydrogel actuator designed to stimulate live cell clusters by self-folding. The hydrogel actuator consisting of two layers with different expansion ratios were fabricated to have various curvatures in self-folding. The expansion ratio of the hydrogel tuned with the molecular weight and concentration of gel-forming polymers, and temperature-sensitive molecules in a controlled manner. As a result, the hydrogel actuator could stimulate live cell clusters by compression and tension repeatedly, in response to temperature. The cell clusters were compressed in the 0.7-fold decreases of the radius of curvature with 1.0 mm in room temperature, as compared to that of 1.4 mm in 37 degrees C. Interestingly, the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-2 (IGFBP-2) in MCF-7 tumor cells exposed by mechanical stimulation was expressed more than in those without stimulation. Overall, this new strategy to prepare the active and soft hydrogel actuator would be actively used in tissue engineering, drug delivery, and micro-scale actuators

DECAY FACTOR WITH EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLES IN TWO CIRCULATING FLUIDIZED BED (CFB) RISERS

The effects of the riser inlet velocity, solid mass flux and particle size on the axial solid holdup profile and decay factor were investigated using two circulating fluidized beds (CFBs) with FCC (Geldart A) particles as the bed materials. Based on the experimental results from the two-CFBs, the axial solid holdup in the two CFBs were compared with the correlations of previous studies. Also, an empirical correlation was proposed for decay factor that exhibited a good agreement with experimental data