A randomized controlled trial of a specific reminiscence approach to promote the well-being of nursing home residents with dementia

Background: To date, no firm conclusions can be reached regarding the effectiveness of reminiscence for dementia. Researchers have emphasized that there is an urgent need for more systematic research in the area. Objective and Method: A single-blinded, parallel-groups (one intervention, one comparison, and one no-intervention group) randomized controlled trial (RCT) was adopted to investigate whether a specific reminiscence program leads to higher levels of psychosocial well-being in nursing home residents with dementia. The intervention adopted a life-story approach, while the comparison group provided friendly discussions to control for any changes in outcome as a result of social contacts and attention. The Social Engagement Scale (SES) and Well-being/Ill-being Scale (WIB) were the outcome measures used. The outcomes of the groups were examined with reference to the baseline (T0), immediately (T1), and six weeks (T2) after intervention. The final sample had 101 subjects (control group: n=30; comparison group: n=35; intervention group: n=36). Using multivariate analysis with repeated measures, no significant differences in outcome were found between groups at either T1 or T2. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were performed for each group comparing outcomes between T1 and T0, T2 and T1, and T2 and T0. Significant differences were observed in the intervention group when comparing T1 and T0 WIB (p=.014), but not for the other groups. Conclusion: Although the intervention did not lead to significant differences between the three groups over time, there was a significant improvement in psychosocial well-being for the intervention group.published_or_final_versio

Efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty for normal tension glaucoma: 1 year results

BACKGROUND: Normal tension glaucoma (NTG) is commonly treated with anti-glaucoma medications. Recently, selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) has been demonstrated to lower the intraocular pressure (IOP) and medication use in NTG. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a single session of SLT for NTG at 1 year. METHODS: This prospective cohort study recruited NTG patients taking anti-glaucoma medication. Potential subjects were excluded if they had had previous glaucoma surgery or laser and also if intraocular surgery or additional SLT procedures were performed after the first treatment. All subjects underwent a 1-month washout. A 30% IOP reduction was set as the target IOP. A single session of SLT was performed to 360 degrees of the trabecular meshwork. At 1-month after SLT, medication was resumed to achieve the target IOP. The IOP was measured every 3 months, and the number of medications was recorded at 3, 6, and 12 months. Only the right eye was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: In 41 right eyes, the mean pre-study IOP was 14.3 +/- 3.4 mmHg while on 1.5 +/- 0.8 eye drops. The post-washout IOP was 16.2 +/- 2.2 mmHg. A mean of 191.1 +/- 26.3 SLT shots at 1.0 +/- 0.07 mJ were applied. There was significant IOP reduction at all time intervals following SLT when compared to the post-washout IOP (P < 0.0001). The number of medications was significantly reduced at all time intervals following SLT when compared to the pre-study level (P < 0.0001). At 12 months, the mean IOP was 12.2 +/- 2.2 mmHg while on 1.1 +/- 0.9 eye drops. CONCLUSIONS: A single session of SLT for NTG achieved an additional 15% IOP reduction while using 27% less medication at 1 year compared to pre-study levels.Trial registration: The Clinical Trials Register of the University of Hong Kong HKCTR1847The European Clinical Trials Database 2014-003305-15 (August 11, 2014) (https://eudract.ema.europa.eu/).published_or_final_versio

Epidemiology of acute primary angle-closure glaucoma in the Hong Kong Chinese population: prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence of acute primary angle-closure glaucoma in the Hong Kong Chinese population, and to identify risk factors for this condition. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: University teaching hospital, Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with acute primary angle-closure glaucoma presenting between 1 March 1998 and 29 February 2000. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Demographic data, presenting symptoms and signs, temporal details of the presentation, and precipitating factors. The crude regional incidence was calculated according to the Hong Kong population census of 1991 and the age-specific incidence was calculated. RESULTS: Seventy-two cases (72 eyes of 72 patients) of acute primary angle-closure glaucoma were recruited. The crude incidence was 10.4 per 100,000 per year in the population aged 30 years and older. Patients at higher risk of attacks were those aged 70 years or older (age-specific incidence, 58.7 per 100,000 per year) and females, who had a relative risk of 3.8 compared with males (95% confidence interval, 1.7-8.4). Only four (5.6%) patients had a positive family history of acute primary angle-closure glaucoma. Seventeen (23.6%) patients were noted to have an upper respiratory tract infection before the attack, and 25 (34.7%) patients had taken antitussive agents. There was a statistically significant inverse correlation between the monthly attack rate and the monthly rate of influenza (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient = -0.388; P=0.031). CONCLUSION: There is a high incidence of acute primary angle-closure glaucoma among Chinese residents of Hong Kong, with elderly females at highest risk. A significant proportion of patients reported upper respiratory tract infection or the use of antitussive medication prior to attacks.published_or_final_versio

Switching characteristics and efficiency improvement with auxiliaryresonant snubber based soft-switching inverters

The auxiliary resonant snubber inverter (RSI) has demonstrated superiority in reduction of switching losses and dv/dt. It was found that the overall inverter system efficiency might not be improved if the resonant current was not controlled in accordance with the load current. This paper proposes an improved control scheme to minimize the operation of auxiliary circuit for efficiency improvement. The principle of this control scheme is to vary the resonant current with variable timing control based on the load current magnitude and to disable the auxiliary circuit operation when diode freewheeling occurs after switching. To illustrate the operation of this control scheme, this paper compares the switching characteristics and inverter power loss of hard-switching inverter, RSI with fixed-timing and variable-timing control and RSI with the proposed control scheme. Experimental results fully agree with the analyses and prove that the proposed control scheme is suitable for RSI to achieve better operating conditions.published_or_final_versio

Non-viral Smad7 gene delivery and attenuation of postoperative peritoneal adhesion in an experimental model

Background: Postoperative intra-abdominal adhesion is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Smad7, a protein that occupies a strategic position in fibrogenesis, inhibits the transforming growth factor (TGF) β/Smad signalling pathway. In this study the therapeutic potential of exogenous Smad7 in preventing fibrogenesis in postoperative intra-abdominal adhesion was investigated. Methods: Intra-abdominal adhesion was induced in a rodent model by peritoneal abrasion. Smad7 was delivered into the peritoneal cavity by a non-viral ultrasound-microbubble-mediated naked gene transfection system. The effect of Smad7 transgene on adhesion formation was studied by measuring changes in TGF-β, fibrogenic factors, α-SMA and Smad2/3 activation in the anterior abdominal wall. Results: Four weeks after surgical abrasion, all rats developed significant peritoneal adhesion with enhanced TGF-β expression, increased levels of extracellular matrix components and activated myofibroblasts, accompanied by decreased Smad7 expression and increased Smad2/3 activation. In rats treated with the Smad7 transgene, the incidence and severity of peritoneal adhesion were significantly reduced, with biochemical downregulation of fibrogenic factors and inhibition of Smad2/3 activation. Serial quantitation using magnetic resonance imaging revealed a significant reduction in adhesion areas from day 14 onwards. Conclusion: Ultrasound-microbubble-mediated gene transfection provides timely targeted gene delivery for the treatment of postoperative peritoneal adhesions. Copyright © 2009 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.postprin

MRI detection of peritoneal adhesion with dialysate enhancement

This study investigated the use of clinical peritoneal dialysis fluid (dialysate) as a peritoneal contrast agent to visualize peritoneal adhesions in rats at 7 Tesla. Intraperitoneal injection of dialysate (~0.1 mL/g) allowed the MR detection of peritoneal adhesions that were surgically induced in all rats studied (N = 6). MR measurements of adhesion surface areas correlated well with the postmortem estimations (R = 0.99). T1 and T2 values of undiluted dialysate were found to be 3017.5¡Ó35.3 ms and 108.4¡Ó2.0 ms, respectively. These findings demonstrated dialysate-enhanced MRI as a potentially valuable technique in clinical detection and evaluation of post-surgical peritoneal adhesion and to monitor therapeutic interventions (i.e., against peritoneal adhesion) in future preclinical research.published_or_final_versio

A randomized control trial to evaluate the effect of adjuvant selective laser trabeculoplasty versus medication alone in primary open-angle glaucoma: preliminary results

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of adjuvant selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) versus medication alone on intraocular pressure (IOP) control, medication use, and quality of life in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma. METHODS: This prospective, randomized control study recruited 41 consecutive primary open-angle glaucoma subjects with medically-controlled IOP /=0.4) or between the two treatment groups (P>/=0.2). CONCLUSION: A single session of adjuvant SLT provided further reductions in IOP and medication without substantial changes in quality of life or medication tolerability at 6 months.published_or_final_versio

Effect modifications of smoking on risk of mortality associated with influenza

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Influenza is well known to cause heavy disease burden in both temperate and tropical/subtropical regions. Although smoking has been found to increase susceptibility to influenza infection, its role in modifying the mortality risk associated with influenza remains unexplored. This study examined the effect modifications of cigarette smoking on influenza-associated mortality in a cohort of older …postprin

A new mib allele with a chromosomal deletion covering foxc1a exhibits anterior somite specification defect

mibnn2002, found from an allele screen, showed early segmentation defect and severe cell death phenotypes, which are different from previously known mib mutants. Despite distinct morphological phenotypes, the typical mib molecular phenotypes: her4 down-regulation, neurogenic phenotype and cold sensitive dlc expression pattern, still remained. The linkage analysis also indicated that mibnn2002 is a new mib allele. Failure of specification in anterior 7-10 somites is likely due to lack of foxc1a expression in mibnn2002 homozygotes. Somites and somite markers gradually appeared after 7-10 somite stage, suggesting that foxc1a is only essential for the formation of anterior 7-10 somites. Apoptosis began around 16-somite stage with p53 up-regulation. To find the possible links of mib, foxc1a and apoptosis, transcriptome analysis was employed. About 140 genes, including wnt3a, foxc1a and mib, were not detected in the homozygotes. Overexpression of foxc1a mRNA in mibnn2002 homozygotes partially rescued the anterior somite specification. In the process of characterizing mibnn2002 mutation, we integrated the scaffolds containing mib locus into chromosome 2 (or linkage group 2, LG2) based on synteny comparison and transcriptome results. Genomic PCR analysis further supported the conclusion and showed that mibnn2002 has a chromosomal deletion with the size of about 9.6 Mbp.published_or_final_versio

Higgs production in CP-violating supersymmetric cascade decays: probing the `open hole' at the Large Hadron Collider

A benchmark CP-violating supersymmetric scenario (known as 'CPX-scenario' in the literature) is studied in the context of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is shown that the LHC, with low to moderate accumulated luminosity, will be able to probe the existing `hole' in the $m_{h_1}$-$\tan\beta$ plane, which cannot be ruled out by the LEP data. We explore the parameter space with cascade decay of third generation squarks and gluino with CP-violating decay branching fractions. We propose a multi-channel analysis to probe this parameter space some of which are background free at an integrated luminosity of 5-10 fb$^{-1}$. Specially, multi-lepton final states (3\l,\, 4\l and like sign di-lepton) are almost background free and have $5\sigma$ reach for the corresponding signals with very early data of LHC for both 14 TeV and 7 TeV center of mass energy.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, references added as in the journal versio