The Effects of Fall Health Belief and Knowledge of Fall on the Prevention of Fall in the Elderly: Mediating and Moderating Effects of Fall Fear

Purpose: This descriptive study investigated the mediating and moderating effects of fear of fall on the relationships between health belief on fall, fall-related knowledge and fall prevention behaviors among older adults Methods: We enrolled 229 older adults residing in a senior citizen hall and community welfare center, and investigated their health belief on fall, fall-related knowledge, fall prevention behavior, and fear of fall. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA and t-test were used to analyze differences in variables. Pearson correlation and multiple regression were used to investigate mediating and moderating effects of the fear of fall on the relationships between health belief on fall, fall-related knowledge, and fall prevention behaviors. Results: The fear of fall significantly mediated the health belief on fall and fall prevention behaviors, but there was no significant mediation between knowledge of fall and fall prevention behaviors. The fear of fall did not have a moderating effect on the relationships between health belief on fall, knowledge of fall, and fall prevention behaviors. Conclusion: It is important to investigate and implement health belief on fall and fear of fall among older adults to improve their fall prevention behaviors

Risks for Depression Among Ostomates in South Korea

AIM: This study explored the factors that are associated with the depressive status among older adult ostomates in South Korea. METHODS: The study was a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional study with 217 ostomates who were aged ≥55 years from September 2, 2013 to October 30, 2013. The general characteristics, daily routines, and depressive status were assessed in order to identify the factors that were contributing to a depressed mood among the older adult ostomates in South Korea. The general characteristics included their sex, age group, educational level, financial status, employment, outing hours, perceived social isolation, leisure activity, and perceived health status. The daily routines included living environment inconvenience, leisure activity satisfaction, body image satisfaction, sleep satisfaction, exercise involvement, intimacy with a spouse, sexual satisfaction, and satisfaction with quality of life. RESULTS: The prevalence of depressive status in older adult ostomates was 50.7%, but 40.8% in the same-age population without an ostomy. The factors that were associated with a depressed mood among the older adult ostomates in South Korea were social isolation, perceived poor health status, perceived low quality of life, dissatisfaction with leisure activities, and poor financial status. The participants\u27 sex, age, and educational level were not associated with depression. CONCLUSION: Nurses need to encourage older adults with an ostomy to reduce their social isolation and to increase leisure activities by helping them to use resources, such as support groups and psychological support, in collaboration with interdisciplinary team members

Distinct features of B cell receptors in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder among CNS inflammatory demyelinating diseases

Background Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) stands out among CNS inflammatory demyelinating diseases (CIDDs) due to its unique disease characteristics, including severe clinical attacks with extensive lesions and its association with systemic autoimmune diseases. We aimed to investigate whether characteristics of B cell receptors (BCRs) differ between NMOSD and other CIDDs using high-throughput sequencing. Methods From a prospective cohort, we recruited patients with CIDDs and categorized them based on the presence and type of autoantibodies: NMOSD with anti-aquaporin-4 antibodies, myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) with anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies, double-seronegative demyelinating disease (DSN), and healthy controls (HCs). The BCR features, including isotype class, clonality, somatic hypermutation (SHM), and the third complementarity-determining region (CDR3) length, were analyzed and compared among the different disease groups. Results Blood samples from 33 patients with CIDDs (13 NMOSD, 12 MOGAD, and 8 DSN) and 34 HCs were investigated for BCR sequencing. Patients with NMOSD tended to have more activated BCR features compare to the other disease groups. They showed a lower proportion of unswitched isotypes (IgM and IgD) and a higher proportion of switched isotypes (IgG), increased clonality of BCRs, higher rates of SHM, and shorter lengths of CDR3. Notably, advanced age was identified as a clinical factor associated with these activated BCR features, including increased levels of clonality and SHM rates in the NMOSD group. Conversely, no such clinical factors were found to be associated with activated BCR features in the other CIDD groups. Conclusions NMOSD patients, among those with CIDDs, displayed the most pronounced B cell activation, characterized by higher levels of isotype class switching, clonality, SHM rates, and shorter CDR3 lengths. These findings suggest that B cell-mediated humoral immune responses and characteristics in NMOSD patients are distinct from those observed in the other CIDDs, including MOGAD. Age was identified as a clinical factor associated with BCR activation specifically in NMOSD, implying the significance of persistent B cell activation attributed to anti-aquaporin-4 antibodies, even in the absence of clinical relapses throughout an individuals lifetime.This study was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) (2023R1A2C2007798); Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HR18C0016, HR21C0198); and Asan Institute for Life Science (2022IF0019, 2019IP0853-1), Asan Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea. This research was supported by a grant of the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (grant number: HI22C0553). This study was supported by a Medical Scientist Training Program from the Ministry of Science & ICT of Korea

Cancer Screening Program Delivered by Community Health Workers for Chinese Married Immigrant Women in Korea

This quasi-experimental study used a cancer prevention program delivered by community health workers (CHWs) as an intervention to improve health literacy and increase screening uptake. The intervention group was educated by trained CHWs and received information about the nearby hospitals. After education, participants received telephone counseling once a month for 6 months. In the intervention group, CHWs met the participants individually and delivered the CD-ROM containing conversation scenarios with voice during the cancer screening test. The control group was provided educational materials related to breast and cervical cancers and a booklet containing information on mammography and Pap test. This study assessed the difference in mammography and Pap tests between the intervention and control groups. The results showed that the participants’ knowledge improved, and the rate of cancer screening tests did not decrease in the intervention group. Therefore, it is necessary to develop and apply various programs that train CHWs and apply them to immigrant women to promote health-related behaviors under the health system that they are not familiar with while living in another country

A Site of Bounded Imaginaries: Local Narratives of Buan after Protests against a Nuclear Waste Repository

This paper examines a historical case where local residents in South Korea had been alienated from the decision-making processes in nuclear policy as their sociotechnical visions remained marginalized. Narratives of nuclear experts, activists in environmental NGOs (ENGOs), and local residents supporting or resisting against the siting of a repository in a southwestern rural town, Buan, from 2003 to 2005 were used for our comparative textual analyses. Imaginaries of desirable forms of life and order that constitute nationally-shared visions of "good society" profoundly delimit the shapes of futures by enabling key political decisions of a nation. With our findings, we argue that ethical problems of how to recognize and compensate for what has already happened to people around (candidate) sites of nuclear facilities remains a source of latent social conflict. Buan residents' visions of a "good society" attainable through their practices around nuclear technology were collectively held and publicly narrated yet failed to become widely shared in the nation. If local people's understanding of what the past has been and what the future should be like continue to stay marginalized, Korean nuclear governance with participatory initiatives will remain in its current form of "partial" inclusiveness

In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of PEGylated Starch-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photothermal Cancer Therapy

Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) possess versatile utility in cancer theranostics, thus, they have drawn enormous interest in the cancer research field. Herein, we prepared polyethylene glycol (PEG)-conjugated and starch-coated IONPs (“PEG–starch–IONPs”), and assessed their applicability for photothermal treatment (PTT) of cancer. The prepared PEG–starch–IONPs were investigated for their physical properties by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and dynamic light scattering (DLS). The pharmacokinetic study results showed a significant extension in the plasma half-life by PEGylation, which led to a markedly increased (5.7-fold) tumor accumulation. When PEG–starch–IONPs were evaluated for their photothermal activity, notably, they displayed marked and reproducible heating effects selectively on the tumor site with laser irradiation. Lastly, efficacy studies demonstrated that PEG–starch–IONPs-based PTT may be a promising mode of cancer therapy

Disposition of Aerosols of Isothiazolinone-Biocides: BIT, MIT and OIT

Biocides are widely used in everyday life, and accordingly, human exposure to them is inevitable. Especially, the inhalational exposure of humans to biocides and resultant respiratory toxicity are gaining public interest due to the recent catastrophe associated with humidifier disinfectants. Aerosolized chemicals are subject to gravitational deposition and chemical degradation. Therefore, the characterization of the disposition of aerosols is essential to estimate the inhalational exposure to biocides. Here, we compared the disposition of aerosols of one of the commonly used biocide classes, isothiazolinone-based biocides, BIT, MIT, and OIT. An acrylic chamber (40 cm × 40 cm × 50 cm) was created to simulate the indoor environment, and a vacuum pump was used to create airflow (1 LPM). Biocides were sprayed from a vertical nebulizer placed on the ceiling of the chamber, and the distribution of particle sizes and volume was measured using the Optical Particle Sizer (OPS) 3330 device. During and after the aerosol spraying, airborne biocides and those deposited on the surface of the chamber were sampled to measure the deposition using LC-MS/MS. As a result, the broad particle size distribution was observed ranging from 0.3 to 8 μm during the nebulization. The inhalable particle faction (>2 μm) of the isothiazolinones was 32–67.9% in number but 1.2 to 6.4% in volume. Most of the aerosolized biocides were deposited on the chamber’s surface while only a minimal portion was airborne (<1%) after the nebulization. More importantly, significant amounts of MIT and OIT were degraded during aerosolization, resulting in poor total recovery compared to BIT (31%, 71% vs. 97% BIT). This result suggests that some isothiazolinones may become unstable during nebulization, affecting their disposition and human exposure significantly

Antimicrobial Activity of a Halocidin-Derived Peptide Resistant to Attacks by Proteases ▿

Cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have attracted a great deal of interest as a promising candidate for a novel class of antibiotics that might effectively treat recalcitrant infections caused by a variety of microbes that are resistant to currently available drugs. However, the AMPs are inherently limited in that they are inevitably susceptible to attacks by proteases generated by human and pathogenic microbes; this vulnerability severely hinders their pharmaceutical use in human therapeutic protocols. In this study, we report that a halocidin-derived AMP, designated HG1, was found to be resistant to proteolytic degradation. As a result of its unique structural features, HG1 proved capable of preserving its antimicrobial activity after incubation with trypsin, chymotrypsin, and human matrix metalloprotease 7 (MMP-7). Additionally, HG1 was observed to exhibit profound antimicrobial activity in the presence of fluid from human skin wounds or proteins extracted from the culture supernatants of Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Greater understanding of the structural motifs of HG1 required for its protease resistance might provide feasible ways to solve the problems intrinsic to the development of an AMP-based antibiotic

Graphene Potentiates the Myocardial Repair Efficacy of Mesenchymal Stem Cells by Stimulating the Expression of Angiogenic Growth Factors and Gap Junction Protein

Stem cell therapy has emerged as a potential modality for myocardial infarction treatment. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) exert reparative actions in the injured myocardium mainly through the secretion of paracrine factors. In addition, the overexpression of connexin 43 (Cx43), a gap junction protein, promotes cardiac repair and function restoration. It is known that MSCs in a spheroid form, which have enhanced cell-cell interaction, exhibit enhanced expression of paracrine factors and Cx43. However, cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions, which also contribute to growth factor expression, are very limited in MSC spheroids. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) shows high affinity toward ECM proteins, such as fibronectin (FN), and high electrical conductivity. In this study, by incorporating FN-adsorbed RGO flakes into MSC spheroids, it is possible to enhance the cell-ECM interactions and, subsequently, the paracrine factor expression in the MSCs in spheroids. Cx43 is also upregulated likely due to the enhanced paracrine factor expression and electrical conductivity of RGO. The injection of MSC-RGO hybrid spheroids into the infarcted hearts enhances cardiac repair compared with the injection of RGO flakes or MSC spheroids. This study demonstrates that RGO can effectively improve the therapeutic efficacy of MSCs for ischemic heart diseases

In situ hybridization of carbon nanotubes with bacterial cellulose for three-dimensional hybrid bioscaffolds

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have shown great potential in biomedical fields. However, in vivo applications of CNTs for regenerative medicine have been hampered by difficulties associated with the fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds of CNTs due to CNTs' nano-scale nature. In this study, we devised a new method for biosynthesis of CNT-based 3D scaffold by in situ hybridizing CNTs with bacterial cellulose (BC), which has a structure ideal for tissue-engineering scaffolds. This was achieved simply by culturing Gluconacetobacter xylinus, BC-synthesizing bacteria, in medium containing CNTs. However, pristine CNTs aggregated in medium, which hampers homogeneous hybridization of CNTs with BC scaffolds, and the binding energy between hydrophobic pristine CNTs and hydrophilic BC was too small for the hybridization to occur. To overcome these problems, an amphiphilic comb-like polymer (APCLP) was adsorbed on CNTs. Unlike CNT-coated BC scaffolds (CNT-BC-Imm) formed by immersing 3D BC scaffolds in CNT solution, the APCLP-adsorbed CNT-BC hybrid scaffold (CNT-BC-Syn) showed homogeneously distributed CNTs throughout the 3D microporous structure of BC. Importantly, in contrast to CNT-BC-Imm scaffolds, CNT-BC-Syn scaffolds showed excellent osteoconductivity and osteoinductivity that led to high bone regeneration efficacy. This strategy may open a new avenue for development of 3D biofunctional scaffolds for regenerative medicine. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved