Fear of Falling, Fall-Related Efficacy, and Functional Mobility in a Falls Prevention Program: A Matter of Balance Volunteer Lay Leader Model

Reducing fear of falling and improving fall-related efficacy (i.e., the confidence of carrying out daily activity without falling) are essential parts of maintaining an active lifestyle among older adults. A Matter of Balance Volunteer Lay Leader (AMOB/VLL) model is an evidence-based program that aims to reduce fear of falling and promote daily activities among community-dwelling older adults. It has been implemented across the US since 1998, yet the statistical synthesis of the individual studies, the role of fall-related efficacy, and factors related to changes in functional mobility in the AMOB/VLL had not been fully examined. The following topics were investigated to fill the research gaps: 1) the magnitude of the overall program effect on improving fall-related efficacy, 2) the mediating role of fall-related efficacy between fear of falling and functional mobility, and 3) factors associated with improvement in functional mobility. The secondary data of 522 older adults who enrolled in the AMOB/VLL in Central Texas were analyzed. A small to moderate program effect of improving fall-related efficacy was found. Variability in effects among the studies was partially due to outcome measures used for program evaluation. The mediating role of fall-related efficacy between fear of falling and functional mobility was confirmed. Three dimensions of fall-related efficacy, including steadiness/balance, gait, falls management, were identified using the Perceived Ability to Prevent and Manage Fall Risks scale. Improvement in functional mobility was particularly significant among older adults who were older, perceived poorer health, had mobility limitation and had lower levels of fall-related efficacy. Findings may provide guidance to program implementers in communities charged with selecting appropriate fall prevention programs to meet the needs of older adults. Greater consistency is needed regarding outcome measures. Such consistency will provide more definitive fall prevention programming recommendations for different settings and populations. The findings of the mediation testing also may help to further develop theories and models explaining a cognitive behavioral approach for reducing fall risks in older adults. More research is needed to further understand factors associated with improvement of mobility performance in older persons using an objectively measured functional assessment

Senior Citizens' Adaptive Strategies to Get Around in Their Communities: A Case Study of Yao City, Japan

This study investigated the relationship between seniors' travel behaviors and living environments and the ways they successfully adapt to the environments, using a sequential mixed method in which qualitative methods follow quantitative analyses. The data were collected from the members of social clubs who regularly visit a community center for the elderly in a mid-size city in Osaka prefecture, Japan. One hundred ninety three seniors participated in the questionnaire survey asking about their daily travel patterns, personal backgrounds, social relations, and environmental information. Twenty-one seniors shared their perceptions of the city and the ways in which they get around through face-to-face interviews, sketch mapping, and one-week travel diary. The findings highlighted cultural and gender influences on seniors' mobility and the proactive nature of their travel behaviors. The participants were relatively healthy and active seniors who travel primarily by bicycle. The statistical analyses indicated that gender did not determine overall or average travel frequency but did identify factors related to high travel frequency. Living near a bus stop and the perception of going out more often than in the past predicted men's high travel frequency (going out every day), while women's high travel frequency was predicted by travel modes (bicycling and walking), sidewalk safety, chores (grocery shopping), and social network (seeing friends and having fewer relatives). Furthermore, the results of qualitative analyses revealed that seniors invented, modified, and applied various adaptive strategies to maintain or enhance their mobility. The positive perceptions of their communities such as favorable memories and beautiful scenery fostered seniors' familiarity and sense of belonging. Seniors used and modified social and environment resources to ensure travel safety. In addition, changes in senior's life stages and travel means manifested gender differences in their adaptive strategies. Men tended to focus on maintaining good health to keep their driver's license, representing their social role as a provider, while women's adaptations related to adjustment to widowhood and travel safety

Three-dimensional visualization of thoracodorsal artery perforators using photoacoustic imaging

Introduction: Diagnostic imaging modalities to evaluate the three-dimensional distribution of thoracodorsal artery perforators (TDAPs) are lacking. In this study, TDAPs were visualized and characterized using photoacoustic imaging. Material and methods: In this study, 34 sites in the lateral chest wall of 18 individuals were analyzed. The region extending 5 cm ventral and 5 cm dorsal to the lateral edge of the latissimus dorsi (LD) and 5–15 cm from the posterior axillary fold was scanned using photoacoustic imaging. The largest perforator closest to the edge of the LD was characterized. The location of the stem portion and the orientation of the longest cutaneous branch of the perforator were described. The relationship between the maximal depth of delineation on photoacoustic images and the depth of the deep fascia was assessed. Results: On average, 2.6 perforators (range, 1–5 perforators) were visualized in the region of interest. The distribution of the TDAP stem portion was similar to that in previous studies. Cutaneous branches were preferentially oriented in a medial-caudal direction. The length of delineated cutaneous branches varied (range, 7–78 mm) depending on the thickness of the subcutaneous layer. Vessels under the LD were observed when the subcutaneous layer was thin. Conclusion: Photoacoustic imaging can successfully visualize TDAPs in three dimensions. Visualization of TDAPs varied by the thickness of the subcutaneous layer. A thin deep fascia of the LD might be a cause of deep laser penetration

A Study on High School and Undergraduate Students’ Learning Motivation : A Case of Joint Management of the Educational Relationship between K Agricultural High School and A University for the “K Agricultural High School & A University Program"

This paper introduces the joint management of an educational relationship between K Agricultural High School and A University, and reports the program's effects to increase students' motivation for learning at both schools. In the program, first, the high school students presented the results of their project based learning, and the university students and university instructor gave comments. Next, the high school students received a lecture from the university instructor and a research report from the university student. Finally, the high school students, university students, and instructors attended a social gathering. An analysis of responses to the study questionnaire suggests that students’ motivation for learning increased at both schools, except the university students who have high motivation originally

X-Ray and Near-Infrared Observations of GX 339-4 in the Low/Hard State with Suzaku and IRSF

X-ray and near-infrared ($J$-$H$-$K_{\rm s}$) observations of the Galactic black hole binary GX 339--4 in the low/hard state were performed with Suzaku and IRSF in 2009 March. The spectrum in the 0.5--300 keV band is dominated by thermal Comptonization of multicolor disk photons, with a small contribution from a direct disk component, indicating that the inner disk is almost fully covered by hot corona with an electron temperature of $\approx$175 keV. The Comptonizing corona has at least two optical depths, $\tau \approx 1,0.4$. Analysis of the iron-K line profile yields an inner disk radius of $(13.3^{+6.4}_{-6.0}) R_{\rm g}$ ($R_{\rm g}$ represents the gravitational radius $GM/c^2$), with the best-fit inclination angle of $\approx50^\circ$. This radius is consistent with that estimated from the continuum fit by assuming the conservation of photon numbers in Comptonization. Our results suggest that the standard disk of GX 339--4 is likely truncated before reaching the innermost stable circular orbit (for a non rotating black hole) in the low/hard state at $\sim$1% of the Eddington luminosity. The one-day averaged near-infrared light curves are found to be correlated with hard X-ray flux with $F_{\rm Ks} \propto F_{\rm X}^{0.45}$. The flatter near infrared $\nu F_{\nu}$ spectrum than the radio one suggests that the optically thin synchrotron radiation from the compact jets dominates the near-infrared flux. Based on a simple analysis, we estimate the magnetic field and size of the jet base to be $5\times10^4$ G and $6\times 10^8$ cm, respectively. The synchrotron self Compton component is estimated to be approximately 0.4% of the total X-ray flux.Comment: 17pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Suzaku and MAXI Special Issue

Synthesis and pharmacological characterization of potent, selective, and orally bioavailable isoindoline class dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors

Focused structure-activity relationships of isoindoline class DPP-IV inhibitors have led to the discovery of 4b as a highly selective, potent inhibitor of DPP-IV. In vivo studies in Wistar/ST rats showed that 4b was converted into the strongly active metabolite 4l in high yield, resulting in good in vivo efficacy for antihyperglycemic activity

Willingness to accept novel H1N1 influenza A vaccine by Japanese athletic and non-athletic students in 2009

We gave questionnares to 503 female students （326 athletes, 177 non athletes） regarding their willingness to receive novel influenza A（ H1N1） vaccine. A chi-squared test was used to examine the characteristics between athletic and non-athletic students based on their answers. A total of 261 students （51.9%） answered that they did not want to receive the vaccine, while willingness to accept the vaccine was significantly greater among non-athletic（ 56.5%） as compared to athletic （43.6%） students. That finding might have been due the necessities of vaccitinization for other viruses such as rubella and measles, causing them miss taking an important examination to acquire a registered dietitian certificate. Consciousness of accepting other viral vaccines might be related to acceptance of receiving the novel influenza A（ H1N1） vaccine. In addition, our results suggest that non-athletic students have a higher level of consciousness of being willing to receive both the new influenza A（ H1N1） vaccine and seasonal influenza vaccine. The athletic students in our study showed a higher level of willingness to receive the seasonal influenza vaccine, which may contribute to preventing seasonal influenza from spreading among athletes. Individuals not willing to receive the novel influenza A（ H1N1） vaccine should clearly understand that they do not have substantial cross tolerance from receiving the seasonal influenza vaccination. Students in both groups showed a favorable attitude in 2009 for the H1N1 vaccination, though further study is needed

Speech corpora in NINJAL, Japan demonstration of corpus concordance systems : Chunagon and Kotonoha

National Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsNational Institute for Japanese Language and LinguisticsThe National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, Japan (NINJAL, Japan) provides a demonstration site in the LPSS 2019 conference. This manuscript presents an overview of the demonstration of three corpora: Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese, Corpus of Everyday Japanese Conversation, and Corpus of Japanese Dialects.NINJAL also demonstrates two concordance systems. The first is "Chunagon (中納言)" which is a morpheme based concordance system that was made publicly available in 2011. The second is the currently developing system "Kotonoha" released in 2018 that enables query of multiple corpora in terms of register type and period

運動負荷モデルラットの必須微量元素FeおよびZnの体内変動

目的：体内必須微量元素FeとZnが習慣化した激しい運動によってどの程度変動するのか、また、その体内分布について研究した報告はほとんどない。本研究では雄ラットをトレッドミルで強度が異なる運動をさせた時に、生体内のバイオパラメータはどのように変動するのか、FeとZnが体内でどのような挙動を示すのか、運動強度による体内存在量に違いが生じるのかについて検証を行った。方法：6週齢Wistar系雄ラットを非運動群（n=4）、低強度運動群（n＝4）、高強度運動群（n=4）に分類し、1日1回、週5日の頻度で運動させた。飼育12週間後、解剖を行い、血液、臓器を採取し、血球成分、FeおよびZn量などを測定した。結果：赤血球（RBC）、ヘモグロビン（HGB）、ヘマトクリット（HCT）は運動強度に応じて減少し、平均赤血球容積（MCV）、平均赤血球ヘモグロビン量（MCH）は運動強度に応じて増加する傾向が見られた。Fe濃度は脾臓が最も高く、Zn濃度は骨が最も高かった。結論：高強度運動群は貧血を発症していることが考えられ、激しい運動を行う男性スポーツ選手の貧血によるパフォーマンス低下を軽減させるため、今後、FeおよびZnの体内分布を詳細に検討し、データを蓄積する必要がある