AN EXPLORATION OF SLOVENIAN OLDER PEOPLE’S OCCUPATIONS AND THE INFLUENCE OF TRANSITION INTO A CARE HOME ON THEIR OCCUPATIONAL ENGAGEMENT

This research explored older Slovenians’ occupations, including the ways in which the transition into a care home influenced their occupational engagement. The research encompassed three stages. Stage 1 investigated Slovenian older people’s individual experiences of occupational engagement, with a particular emphasis on their personally meaningful occupations. Stage 2 aimed to enhance understanding of the impact of transition into a care home on older Slovenians’ meaningful occupations. Finally, Stage 3 sought to provide an insight into older people’s occupational engagement in one Slovenian care home. The first two stages of this research took a phenomenological approach; focusing on the participants’ individual experiences of occupational engagement; using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to approach and analyse the data. Ten older adults were interviewed in Stage 1 and six older adults were interviewed in Stage 2 at three time points: before the relocation into a care home, one month after and six months after the relocation. The final stage was ethnographic in nature; exploring occupational engagement among Slovenian care home residents as a culture-sharing group; using observations for collecting the data and analysing the resulting field notes using Thematic Analysis. The findings consistently highlighted the significance of occupations and routines in participants’ everyday lives as important parts of their identities. The first two stages highlighted the importance of a continuous experience of meaning in occupation, across participants’ lives and throughout their transition into a care home. Some of these meanings were specific to Slovenian socio-cultural, historic and geographical context. The participants especially valued productive occupations such as gardening, family-related occupations such as looking after and passing knowledge to younger generations and occupations related to particular places, such as spending time at their weekend cottages and home surroundings, walking familiar pathways or hiking Slovenian mountains. These Slovenian older adults purposefully engaged in health-promoting occupations in order to maintain their health, in turn influencing their occupational engagement. Since their everyday routines were related to particular places, Stages 2 and 3 highlighted that some of these occupations were disrupted by their new living environment. The care home residents managed this situation by trying to maintain their engagement in occupations that they perceived personally meaningful and enjoyable. This research is foundational in the Slovenian context, with the findings also being transferrable to individuals and contexts outside Slovenia. From exploring the impact of older people’s living environments on their meaningful occupational engagement, the findings contribute original knowledge to occupational science regarding the link between occupation, place, identity and the transactional perspective of occupation. This indicates the need to develop further therapeutic programmes and services for older people making the transition to care home living

Izkušnje zaposlenih z uporabo metode montessori pri delu s starejšimi in osebami z demenco v domu starejših občanov

Uvod: Pristop, usmerjen k uporabniku, prispeva h kakovosti življenja starejših in oseb z demenco v domu starejših občanov ter k dobremu počutju zaposlenih na delovnem mestu. Namen raziskave je bil ugotoviti izkušnje zaposlenih v domu starejših občanov z uporabo metode montessori pri delu s starejšimi in osebami z demenco. Metode: Narejena je bila študija primera v domu starejših občanov, kjer uporabljajo metodo montessori. Delno strukturirani intervjuji so bili izvedeni z enajstimi zaposlenimi v enem izmed domov za starejše občane v Sloveniji. Za analizo podatkov je bila uporabljena metoda analize vsebine. Rezultati: Identificirane so bile štiri kategorije: (1) vsebinski in organizacijski vidiki metode montessori pri obravnavi starejših in oseb z demenco; (2) sodelovanje med zaposlenimi, stanovalci in svojci; (3) osebni razvoj zaposlenih; (4) pomen izobraževanja za zaposlene. Raziskava pri izkušnjah zaposlenih v obravnavi starejših in oseb z demenco pokaže preplet vseh kategorij.kategorij. Diskusija in zaključek: Ugotovitve prispevajo novo znanje na področju uporabe metode montessori v domovih za starejše občane. Izkušnje zaposlenih so pokazale, da uporaba metode montessori pripomore k boljšemu razumevanju pomena sodelovanja, izobraževanja ter s tem povezanega osebnega razvoja zaposlenih. V praksi je priporočeno sistematično uvajati metodo montessori za starejše in osebe z demenco s poudarkom na izobraževanju, ki je nujna podlaga za praktično delo. Predlagamo nadaljnje raziskovanje izkušenj zaposlenih ter iskanje možnosti za uvajanje metode tudi v druge domove starejših občanov.

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in cancer

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) have long been considered to solely mediate neurotransmission. However, their widespread distribution in the human body suggests a more diverse physiological role. Additionally, the expression of nAChRs is increased in certain cancers, such as lung cancer, and has been associated with cell proliferation, epithelial-to-mesenchymal cell transition, angiogenesis and apoptosis prevention. Several compounds that interact with these receptors have been identified as potential therapeutic agents. They have been tested as drugs for treating nicotine addiction, alcoholism, depression, pain and Alzheimer\u27s disease. This review focuses on nAChR-mediated signalling in cancer, presenting opportunities for the development of innovative nAChR-based anticancer drugs. It displays the differences in expression of each nAChR subunit between normal and cancer cells for selected cancer types, highlighting their possible involvement in specific cases. Antagonists of nAChRs that could complement existing cancer therapies are summarised and critically discussed. We hope that this review will stimulate further research on the role of nAChRs in cancer potentially leading to innovative cancer therapies

Toxins in microalgae

The aim of the project is to develop a detection system for the toxic algae Alexandrium minutum which can be than used as part of biosensor. First, we will isolate a single-domain antibody from a pre-immune library, then subclone its sequence in different vectors and produce it. Finally, we will design alternative ELISA methods and choose the most suitable to quantify the microalgae in water samples

The efficient magneto-mechanical actuation of cancer cells using a very low concentration of non-interacting ferrimagnetic hexaferrite nanoplatelets

Magneto-mechanical actuation (MMA) using the low-frequency alternating magnetic fields (AMFs) of magnetic nanoparticles internalized into cancer cells can be used to irreparably damage these cells. However, nanoparticles in cells usually agglomerate, thus greatly augmenting the delivered force compared to single nanoparticles. Here, we demonstrate that MMA also decreases the cell viability, with the MMA mediated by individual, non-interacting nanoparticles. The effect was demonstrated with ferrimagnetic (i.e., permanently magnetic) barium-hexaferrite nanoplatelets (NPLs, ~50 nm wide and 3 nm thick) with a unique, perpendicular orientation of the magnetization. Two cancer-cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and HeLa) are exposed to the NPLs in-vitro under different cell-culture conditions and actuated with a uniaxial AMF. TEM analyses show that only a small number of NPLs internalize in the cells, always situated in membrane-enclosed compartments of the endosomal-lysosomal system. Most compartments contain 1–2 NPLs and only seldom are the NPLs found in small groups, but never in close contact or mutually oriented. Even at low concentrations, the single NPLs reduce the cell viability when actuated with AMFs, which is further increased when the cells are in starvation conditions. These results pave the way for more efficient in-vivo MMA at very low particle concentrations

Staff perceptions towards virtual reality-motivated treadmill exercise for care home residents: a qualitative feedback study with key stakeholders and follow-up interview with technology developer

Objectives Health and care resources are under increasing pressure, partly due to the ageing population. Physical activity supports healthy ageing, but motivating exercise is challenging. We aimed to explore staff perceptions towards a virtual reality (VR) omnidirectional treadmill (MOTUS), aimed at increasing physical activity for older adult care home residents.Design Interactive workshops and qualitative evaluation.Settings Eight interactive workshops were held at six care homes and two university sites across Cornwall, England, from September to November 2021.Participants Forty-four staff participated, including care home, supported living, clinical care and compliance managers, carers, activity coordinators, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.Interventions Participants tried the VR treadmill system, followed by focus groups exploring device design, potential usefulness or barriers for care home residents. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. We subsequently conducted a follow-up interview with the technology developer (September 2022) to explore the feedback impact.Results The analysis produced seven key themes: anticipated benefits, acceptability, concerns of use, concerns of negative effects, suitability/unsuitability, improvements and current design. Participants were generally positive towards VR to motivate care home residents’ physical activity and noted several potential benefits (increased exercise, stimulation, social interaction and rehabilitation). Despite the reported potential, staff had safety concerns for frail older residents due to their standing position. Participants suggested design improvements to enhance safety, usability and accessibility. Feedback to the designers resulted in the development of a new seated VR treadmill to address concerns about falls while maintaining motivation to exercise. The follow-up developer interview identified significant value in academia–industry collaboration.Conclusion The use of VR-motivated exercise holds the potential to increase exercise, encourage reminiscence and promote meaningful activity for care home residents. Staff concerns resulted in a redesigned seated treadmill for those too frail to use the standing version. This novel study demonstrates the importance of stakeholder feedback in product design