Vaccination in the elderly population

It is known that the immune systems tend to weaken over time, putting elderly patients at higher risk for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular (CV) diseases, diabetes, chronic renal disorders and their complication as well as infectious disease leading to an increased mortality and morbidity rates in patients over 65 years old. Vaccination, a prophylactic treatment strategy, means that immunogenic materials from pathogens (or tumours) are administered to generate an adequate immune response specifically to these antigens. Vaccine-preventable diseases which can affect the elderly population are influenza, pneumococcal disease, tetanus, hepatitis B and zona zoster. It is recommended that all adults over 65 years old, and for adults younger than 65 years who have certain chronic health conditions receive seasonal influenza vaccination annually, pneumococcal vaccines and zoster vaccine. Also tetanus vaccine administration is recommended every 10 years in adults

33 Questions about Triglycerides and Cardiovascular Effects: Expert Answers

WOS: 000396440800002PubMed ID: 2844673

33 Questions about Triglycerides and Cardiovascular Effects: Expert Answers

Education professionals are concerned about the dropping levels of motivation and engagement students experience as they go through schooling. Sustained low motivation across the student population leads to increased dropout rates, which in turn leads to many detrimental consequences. The literature shows clear correlations between low self-efficacy and low motivation, alongside a lack of tools to address the problem. This thesis tested a student-centered intervention composed of a goal setting instrument, an expressive writing instrument, and several coping mechanisms. Self-efficacy was tested in eight 16-year-old Finnish students before and after the intervention using a validated self-efficacy scale. A thematic analysis was conducted to assess the importance and effects of each of the components of the intervention, and to account for external variables. All the participants showed an increase in self-efficacy after the intervention, which was attributed to be the main cause. The goal setting instrument was reported to have the strongest effect on self-efficacy, followed by the expressive writing instrument. The coping mechanisms showed null effects. The results suggest that the goal setting instrument causes new appraisals of the most influential source of self-efficacy: performance attainments. Additionally, expressive writing serves as a foundational previous step to goal setting. However, further research is required to confirm the validity of these findings. The small sample size, the strong localization, and the fact that self-efficacy is not directly observable, severely limit the results of the study. In addition, a longer study should be conducted to observe the durability of the effects of the intervention