Examination of balance ability evaluated by a stipulated tempo step test

This study is aimed at examining the correlation between age and gait time using a Single-leg forward step (SFS) test. Two groups consisting of sixty healthy elderly women (age 71.4 ± 6.4 years) and twenty young women (age 20.2 ± 0.9 years) performed the step test. The test subjects put one leg forward and returned it to its original position while matching varying metronome tempos (40. bpm, 60. bpm, and 120. bpm) for 10. s. As an evaluation parameter, the time difference between the metronome sound and the time when the subject\u27s foot hits the ground was used. A significant time difference was found only in the group of elderly women. The time differences were greater in the 40. bpm and 120. bpm step tests than in the 60. bpm step test. The time variances showed significantly low correlations with gait time (r=. 0.33-0.42). Since the SFS test purposefully produces balance instability via shifts in one\u27s center of gravity through forward and backward movements, the elderly with inferior balancing ability as well as a diminished ability to walk might have difficulty succeeding in this test. In conclusion, the SFS test is deemed effective in evaluating elderly subjects\u27 balancing ability. © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd

Sex and age-level differences of walking time in preschool children on an obstacle frame

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stepping over an obstacle is a kind of compound movement that makes walking more difficult, especially for preschool children. This study examines sex and age-level differences in walking time in preschool children on an obstacle frame.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The participants included 324 healthy preschool children: four-year-old boys (51) and girls (51), five-year-old boys (50) and girls (60), and six-year-old boys (62) and girls (50). A 5 cm- or 10 cm-high obstacle (depth 11.5 cm, width 23.5 cm) was set at the halfway point of a 200 cm × 10 cm walking course.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The participants walked to the end of the course and back as fast as possible under three conditions: no obstacle, low obstacle and high obstacle. Walking time showed age-level differences in all conditions, but there were no differences in sex. Age levels were divided into two groups, with one group within the first six months of their birthday, and the second group within the last six months of that year. Walking time for children in the first half of their fourth year was longer than that of the five- and six-year-old children. In addition, for children in the last half of their fourth year, walking time was longer than both sexes in the last half of their fifth and sixth years. The children in the latter half of their fifth year had a longer walking time in the high obstacle condition than those in the last half of their sixth year. In the four-year-old participants, walking time was shorter with no obstacles than with a high obstacle frame.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In the above data, obstacle course walking time does not show a gender difference, except that the four-year-old participants needed longer than the five- and six-year-old children. Setting the obstacle 10 cm high also produced a different walking time in the five- and six-year-old participants. The high obstacle step test (10 cm) best evaluated the dynamic balance of preschool children.</p

Semiconductor clusters: Synthetic precursors for colloidal quantum dots

Semiconductor clusters have been implicated as reaction intermediates between molecular precursors and colloidal quantum dots (CQDs). The success of isolation of semiconductor clusters have enabled detailed investigation of the atomic information of semiconductor clusters. The identification of atomic information has emerged as an important topic because knowledge of the structure-function relationship of intermediate clusters has been helpful to reveal the synthetic mechanism of CQDs. Recently, they have been utilized as the synthetic precursors for CQDs, which was not readily achieved using conventional molecular precursors. This mini review briefly introduces the current understanding of their atomic information such as the composition, structure, and surface. We then discuss advantages, limitations, and the perspective of semiconductor clusters as a precursor for synthesis of CQDs

Age and sex differences in various stepping movements of the elderly.

金沢大学人間社会研究域人間科学系Aim: This study aimed to examine sex and age differences of various stepping movements in the elderly and to clarify useful stepping movements for evaluation of their dynamic balance. Methods: Two hundred and eighty-six healthy elderly subjects who could walk independently (male mean age = 71.2 ± 7.1 years; female mean age = 71.5 ± 6.0) performed the following stepping tests: back and forth; up and down with a 5 cm tall step; and in-place stepping matching three tempos (44, 66 and 132 b.p.m.). Step number, single and double support times in the former two stepping tests, and time difference between metronome sound and grounding time in the latter tempo stepping tests were selected as evaluation parameters. Results: An insignificant sex difference was found in all parameters. Hence, the data of men and women was pooled to examine age differences. Significant age differences were found in the step number and double support time of back and forth and up and down stepping tests and in the time difference of three tempo stepping tests. The step number in younger age groups and the support times in older age groups tended to be larger. Conclusion: No sex difference was found in evaluation parameters of all stepping tests, and all parameters tended to be superior in the younger elderly. The elderly experienced more difficulty matching slow tempos than fast tempos in the in-place stepping test. The back and forth, up and down and in-place matching tempo stepping tests may be useful for evaluating dynamic balance ability of the elderly. © 2008 Japan Geriatrics Society

Long-term variation study of fine-mode particle size and regional characteristics using AERONET data

© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).To identify the long-term trend of particle size variation, we analyzed aerosol optical depth (AOD, τ) separated as dust (τD) and coarse-(τPC) and fine-pollution particles (τPF) depending on emission sources and size. Ångström exponent values are also identified separately as total and fine-mode particles (αT and αPF). We checked these trends in various ways; (1) first-order linear regression analysis of the annual average values, (2) percent variation using the slope of linear regression method, and (3) a reliability analysis using the Mann–Kendall (MK) test. We selected 17 AERONET sun/sky radiometer sites classified into six regions, i.e., Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia. Although there were regional differences, τ decreased in Europe and Asian regions and increased in the Middle East, India, and North Africa. Values of τPC and τPF, show that aerosol loading caused by non-dust aerosols decreased in Europe and Asia and increased in India. In particular, τPF considerably decreased in Europe and Northeast Asia (95% confidential levels in MK-test), and τPC decreased in Northeast Asia (Z-values for Seoul and Osaka are −2.955 and −2.306, respectively, statistically significant if |z| ≥ 1.96). The decrease in τPC seems to be because of the reduction of primary and anthropogenic emissions from regulation by air quality policies. The meaningful result in this paper is that the particle size became smaller, as seen by values of αT that decreased by −3.30 to −30.47% in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East because αT provides information on the particle size. Particle size on average became smaller over India and Asian regions considered in our study due to the decrease in coarse particles. In particular, an increase of αPF in most areas shows the probability that the average particle size of fine-mode aerosols became smaller in recent years. We presumed the cause of the increase in αT is because relatively large-sized fine-mode particles were eliminated due to air quality policies.Peer reviewe

Setting the criterion for fall risk screening for healthy community-dwelling elderly

金沢大学人間社会研究域人間科学系This study aimed to develop a criterion for screening high risk elderly using Demura\u27s fall risk assessment chart (DFRA), compared with the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of gerontology (TMIG) fall risk assessment chart. Participants included 1122 healthy elderly individuals aged 60 years and over (380 males and 742 females) 15.8% of whom had experienced a fall. We assessed fall risk of the elderly by DFRA and TMIG. To develop a criterion for screening high fall risk subjects among community-dwelling elderly, receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted using fall experience (separated into the categories of faller and non-faller) and the following fall risk scale scores: (1) TMIG score, (2) DFRA score, and (3) potential for falling score according to the DFRA (summing the scores of three items). In ROC analyses, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for evaluating the potential for falling gave a value of 0.797 (95% CI = 0.759-0.834) which proved better than the evaluation of the overall TMIG (0.654, 95% CI = 0.600-0.706) and DFRA scores (0.680, 95% CI = 0.633-0.727). Assessment of the potential for falling and fall experience are of benefit in screening for elderly persons deemed to be at a high fall risk. Further examinations based on the prospective data setting will be required. © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Determination of Persons at a High Risk of Falling in a Population of Healthy Community-Dwelling Elderly Japanese

Background: Falling is an important social issue for the elderly. This study\u27s aim is to determine useful risk factors that could be used to screen for the elderly at high risk of falling. Methods: Participants included 965 healthy elderly individuals ≥ 60 years of age (349 males and 616 females; men age: 70.1 ± 7.1 years). We assessed fall risk in these elderly using Demura et al\u27s fall-risk assessment scale (DFRA), which consists of previous experiences with falls and 50 other fall-risk assessment items representing the five risk factors related to the potential for falling, physical function, disease and physical symptoms, environment, and behavior and character (Demura et al., 2010). Receiver-operating characteristics analysis was conducted using previous experiences with falls (faller or non-faller) as the dependent variable and each fall-risk factor score in the DFRA as the independent variable. Results: The potential for falling was calculated as the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) (AUC = 0.80; sensitivity = 0.87; specificity = 0.75). However, it was difficult to screen for the elderly as high risk of falling using other fall-risk factor scores. Conclusion: These results suggest that the potential for falling is a useful risk factor that can be used to screen for the elderly at high risk of falling. © 2012

Erratum to: Macroscopic and microscopic assessments of the glenohumeral and subacromial synovitis in rotator cuff disease

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made

Macroscopic and microscopic assessments of the glenohumeral and subacromial synovitis in rotator cuff disease

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.Abstract Background Whereas synovitis is one of most common findings during arthroscopic surgery in patients with rotator cuff diseases, no study has investigated its characteristics. We propose a macroscopic assessment system for investigating the characteristics of synovitis. Methods Fifty-four patients with a full-thickness rotator cuff tear undergoing arthroscopic rotator cuff repair with an average age of 62.5 ± 7.0 years were included. For the macroscopic assessment, 3 parameters, villous hypertrophy, hyperemia, and density, were measured and translated into grades in 3 regions-of-interest (ROI) in the glenohumeral joint and 4 ROIs in the subacromial space. For the microscopic assessments, 4 commonly used microscopic assessment systems were used. The reliability and association between the macroscopic and microscopic assessments were investigated. Results The inter- and intra-observer reliability of all of the macroscopic and microscopic assessments were excellent. The severity of synovitis was significantly greater in the glenohumeral joint than that in the subacromial space, 1.54 ± 0.61 versus 0.94 ± 0.56 (p < 0.001). Synovitis varied with respect to location, and was generally more severe near the tear with the macroscopic assessment system. Meanwhile, none of the microscopic assessment systems demonstrated differences between different ROIs in both the glenohumeral joint and the subacromial space. Conclusions The macroscopic assessment system for synovitis in rotator cuff disease in this study showed excellent reliability. It critically described characteristics of synovitis that microscopic assessment systems could not. Therefore, this system could be a useful tool for investigating synovitis in rotator cuff disease