Assistive technology for communication of older adults: a systematic review

Objective: Describe the use of assistive technology to enhance communication opportunities for older adults.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted in two databases, PubMed and Web of Science, by using two different searches in each. The search was limited to original articles, in English language, including people aged 60 years and older that used any type of assistive technology for communication. The articles found in the initial search were filtered by title, abstracts and the remaining articles were fully read.

Results: Eighteen studies were included in this review after the reading of full-texts. Most of the studies included apparently healthy participants with communication limitations due to aging related changes and the others included people with some pathology that prevent them from normal communication.

Conclusion: Four categories of assistive technology were identified: assistive technology for people with speech problems; robot or videoconferencing systems; Information and Communication Technologies and, other types of assistive technology for communication, such as hearing aids and scrapbooks. Assistive technology for communication of older adults is not only used by people with disabilities that prevent them from usual communication. They are mostly for older adults without a pathological communication problem.     

辽吉两省部分鹿场鹿茸皮肤病的临床特征与真菌分离初探

目的 研究探讨生茸期梅花鹿、马鹿在鹿茸快速生长期常发生以“白皮茸”、“痂皮茸”为主要症状的皮肤病。方法 研究对吉林、辽宁8个梅花鹿、马鹿养殖场的20份患病鹿进行了临床观察、血细胞计数、病理观察、病原分离及ITS分子鉴定。结果 发现本病仅侵染鹿茸皮肤表层、主要病变为结痂处真皮组织坏死、炎性细胞浸润; 血液中淋巴细胞、白细胞和中性粒细胞数变化不明显。对茸皮患处分离菌的鉴定结果表明68株分离株中44株属于半知菌亚门(64.7%), 24株属于酵母亚门(35.3%), 其中, 半知菌亚门的毛癣菌属、表皮癣菌属以及酵母亚门的念珠菌等可能为本病的条件致病菌。结论 鹿茸“白皮茸”、“痂皮茸”病均符合真菌皮肤病的发病特征,为该类疾病的预防及治疗提供了一定的参考。     

比伐卢定对大鼠胰岛细胞凋亡的影响

目的 探讨比伐卢定(直接凝血酶抑制剂)在大鼠胰岛分离过程中保护胰岛细胞的作用.方法 将SD大鼠分为比伐卢定处理组和对照组,处理组在胰岛分离全过程中加用比伐卢定进行干预,对照组则不加比伐卢定处理,采用Ficoll非连续密度离心纯化后对两组胰岛细胞的凋亡(采用原位末端核苷酸标记法及流式细胞仪检测)、胰岛产量及活力方面进行比较性研究.结果 比伐卢定5000U处理组的胰岛细胞凋亡计数(5±4)个/HPF、凋亡率(16.5±3.6)％、Fas-1基因表达水平(4.6±1.9)％均显著低于对照组(P＜0.01),胰岛产量(315.3±6.1)IEQ、胰岛素释放水平(179.11±2.18)mIU/L和Bcl-2基因表达水平(10.5±1.2)％均显著高于对照组(P＜0.01),差异有统计学意义.结论 胰岛分离过程中加用比伐卢定对胰岛具有抑制凋亡、提高胰岛产量和保护胰岛活力的作用.     

Associations of objective versus subjective social isolation with sleep disturbance,depression, and fatigue in community-dwelling older adults

Objective: Older adults are at higher risk of experiencing social isolation, which has been linked to impaired physical and mental health. The link between social isolation and health might be due to objective deprivation of social network and/or subjective experience of loneliness. This community-based cross-sectional study examined whether the associations between social isolation and behavioral symptoms including sleep disturbance, depression, and fatigue are mostly explained by its subjective component.

Methods: Randomly selected 2541 community-dwelling individuals in Los Angeles aged ≥60 years were telephone-interviewed regarding their objective and subjective social isolation (respectively social network size and loneliness), sleep disturbance, depression, and fatigue.

Results: When objective and subjective social isolation were separately included in multivariate regression models, both were significantly associated with behavioral symptoms. However, once they were simultaneously included in the same multivariate models, while subjective social isolation remained strongly associated (adjusted beta 0.24 for sleep disturbance [P?<?0.001], 0.44 for depression [P?<?0.001], 0.17 for fatigue [P?<?0.001]), objective social isolation was weakly or non-significantly associated (-0.04 for sleep disturbance [P?=?0.03], -0.01 for depression [P?=?0.48], -0.003 for fatigue [P?=?0.89]). Additionally, those with objective social isolation were found to have worse symptoms mostly when they also experienced subjective social isolation.

Conclusions: Older adults with objective social isolation may experience sleep disturbance, depression, and fatigue because they feel socially isolated, not just because they are deprived of social networks. Interventions that target social isolation might serve as potential treatments for improving behavioral health of older adults, especially by targeting its subjective component.     

基于斑马鱼模型三棱抗血栓活性部位筛选及其化学成分研究

目的：筛选中药三棱抗血栓活性部位并对其化学成分进行研究。方法：采用斑马鱼血栓模型对中药三棱80%乙醇提取物的石油醚部位、乙酸乙酯部位、正丁醇部位和水部位的抗血栓作用进行测试。以硅胶柱色谱等方法对抗血栓作用显著的部位进行分离纯化，通过NMR，MS等方法并结合文献数据鉴定化合物结构。结果：乙酸乙酯萃取物能显著增加斑马鱼血栓模型的心脏染色强度（P<0.01），其余各部位抗血栓作用不明显。在该部位分离得到11个化合物，分别鉴定为对羟基苯甲酸（1）、5-羟甲基糠醛（2）、对甲氧基苯甲醛（3）、对羟基苯甲醛（4）、对香豆酸（5）、阿魏酸（6）、香草酸（7）、原儿茶酸（8）、香兰素（9）、Methyl-3，6-dihydroxy-2-[2-（2-hydroxyphenyl）-ethynyl]benzoate （10）及1，3-O-二阿魏酰基甘油（11）。结论：三棱提取物的乙酸乙酯萃取部位具有显著的抗血栓作用，其主要化学成分为酚酸类化合物。