peertechz

[peertechz]

A multicomponent program improved cognitive and physical functions of older adults with lower GDS values

Background: MCI is an intermediate stage between cognitive impairment status and persons with MCI are at high risk of developing AD. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a multicomponent program (aerobic, resistance exercises, cognitive training, music, myofascial release exercises, acupoint stimulation, and oral gymnastics) on the cognitive and physical functions of older adults in community dwellers and it is to clarify which measurement factors are predictive to reverse MCI to normal.

Results: In this study, we measured cognitive functions, physical functions, and the diagnosis of MCI. We assessed factors before (pre-test), and after treatment of 12 training sessions (post-test). The participants were divided into two groups (Improve group and the Non-Improve group). The Mann-Whitney test was used to analyze the differences between pre-and post-test and revealed significant differences in the UWS (p < 0.05), WM (p < 0.01), SDST (p < 0.01), and MMSE (p < 0.01). Moreover, binomial logistic regression analysis revealed a significant association of the Improved group with the GDS-15 (Odds ratio, 0.587; 95% Confidence Interval [95% CI], 0.309-0.791; p = 0.003) and MMSE (Odds ratio, 0.494; 95 % CI, 0.360-0.957, p = 0.033).

Conclusion: This study indicated that this program improved physical and cognitive functions in those who were not prone to depression before treatment and suggests that the GDS measurement might be able to predict the intervention effects of a multicomponent program.

[peertechz]

Pilot experimental study; Effect of environmental stimulation consisting of sound with high-frequency components, aromas, and light exposure from organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) toward rest-activity rhythm in institutionalized patients with dementia

Environmental stimulation is expected to have a positive impact on night sleep, psychological or functional states in dementia. The objective of this pilot study was to examine the effects of environmental stimulation consisting of sounds with high-frequency components, aromas, and light exposure from organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) to create comfortable living spaces for persons with dementia. Subjects (n =6) were recruited from elderly persons admitted to a single nursing home in Akita Prefecture, Japan, between August and September 2020. The night-time sleep state, the rest-activity rhythm, and the light exposure of the subjects living in environments with or without environmental stimulation consisting of sounds with high-frequency components, aromas, and light exposure from OLEDs were measured for 46.3 consecutive days using wrist activate devices under free-living conditions in a nursing home. In a period of environmental stimulation depending on the presence or absence of sounds with high-frequency components, reduction of the fragmented rest-activity rhythms was significantly observed in the subjects (p < 0.05). However, changes in the night-time sleep state had no significant difference during the study period. In conclusion, these preliminary results suggest that future examinations are warranted not only to inform effective or comfortable living conditions for elderly persons with dementia but also to improve the disruption of rest-activity rhythms in persons with dementia.

[peertechz]

Holistic and individualized interventions for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia

Since “living well with dementia” is a concept that varies from person to person, the care provided is expected to be customized to the individual needs of each person with dementia. Support is expected to involve shared decision-making between people with dementia and their caregivers, and a comprehensive geriatric assessment within the framework of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health is expected to be conducted to help these persons with dementia realize their goals. Additionally, the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle is expected to be regularly implemented to verify the effectiveness of the intervention. Although the disability of the individual with dementia increases as the disease progresses, it is important to support them to live positively by reducing their difficulties in daily living.

[peertechz]

Himotoki as a decision-making empowerment tool to live well with dementia

Dementia is a profoundly life-changing condition for those who have it, as well as their families and others close to them. All the parties involved are forced to find ways to cope with the various changes and challenges that continuously occur in daily life due to this condition. Currently, there is no cure for the progressive causative disease for dementia including Alzheimer’s disease, and people with dementia inevitably suffer from a gradual decline in cognitive functioning. Moreover, it is unlikely that cognitive functioning will improve with treatment. Therefore, dementia care, rather than treatment, is all the more important to empower people with dementia and their caregivers to grasp the meaning of life, regardless of the cognitive decline. Indeed, an individual’s cognitive functioning should not and does not determine their entire identity. Collaborative care is desirable to help people with dementia, their families, those close to them, and healthcare professionals explore the meaning of life. There are ways to make their lives more meaningful and delineate their hopes of living with dementia, both in the present and the future during the advanced stages of the disease. Even if their cognitive functioning declines, people with dementia can live well if they receive proper support and understanding from others.

[peertechz]

Factors associated with dementia among elderly people living in Algiers

Background: The demographic aging of the Algerian population increases the risk of some age-related pathologies, including dementia. It is one of the most significant public health problems. The prevalence of dementia and risk factors has not been fully investigated in Algeria. This study aims to improve the knowledge of dementia in Algiers by determining its risk factors, allowing to enrich its epidemiology and social aspects.

Methods: A cross-sectional, door-to-door study in the Department of Sidi M’Hamed in Algiers “Algeria», conducted in general population, was carried out between June 2012 and August 2014. The clinical diagnosis of dementia was made according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,4th Edition (DSM-IV) criteria. Possible or probable cases of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Mixed Dementia (MD), Vascular Dementia (VD), Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), Parkinson’s Dementia (PD), and other dementias were identified using standard criteria.

[peertechz]

Self-prevention and self-management of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia: A case study

Behavioral And Psychological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD) are common in individuals with dementia and are associated with poor Quality of Life (QOL) and increased care burden for family members. Managing BPSD, particularly violent behaviors, is essential to improve the QOL for persons with dementia and their families. A 10-week intervention was conducted to empower individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or early dementia to manage their BPSD independently. Two men participated in the intervention with their wives; both were violent toward their wives. Questionnaire surveys were completed before and at the end of the intervention by the participants and their wives. Case 1 with MCI acknowledged his cognitive decline, expressed self-awareness regarding his violence, and elected to stop his violent behavior to live happier with his family members. Both he and his wife reported improved QOL, and his wife reported reduced violence and care burden. Case 2 with Alzheimer’s disease dementia was unmotivated to stop his violent behavior due to declined memory function and lacked awareness of his behavior. While he reported increased QOL throughout the intervention, his wife reported increased violence and care burdens. These findings suggest that when addressing BPSD in persons with dementia, recollection and self-awareness of behaviors is critical for encouraging the objective identification of violent behaviors and increasing motivation to modify behaviors. Therefore, in cases wherein individuals can reflect on their behaviors, encouraging self-management can be effective in preventing BPSD. However, when they are incapable of reflecting on their behaviors, other measures should be taken. In such cases, rather than management, encouragement and strengthening harmonious behaviors may be effective in improving their own and others’ QOL.

[peertechz]

Anosmia – The common missing link between Alzheimer’s disease and COVID-19

Concurrent evidence of some neurological manifestations in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and corona virus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) has beaconed towards common links between these two global crises. Among numerous complications, the COVID-19 sufferers suffer from loss of smell or anosmia. Similar experience has been noticed in the AD patients. Thus, AD and COVI-19 might have some common links with respect to patho-physiology and this co-mediation might pave a new vista in withstanding these two calamities in a concerted fashion. Thus, the present article delves out the missing link between AD and COVID-19 followed by direction towards their plausible common controlling strategies

[peertechz]

Adult-onset vanishing white matter disease presenting as dementia

Vanishing White Matter Disease (VWMD), also known as Childhood Ataxia with Central Hypomyelination (CACH) is a leukoencephalopathy with an autosomal recessive inheritance. It is caused by mutations in any of the five genes encoding the five subunits of the eukaryotic translational initiation factor 2B (eIF2B). Although VWMD was initially described in young children, it is now well known that it has a wide phenotypic spectrum, affecting people of all ages.

VWMD is typically characterized by normal or mildly delayed initial psychomotor development, followed by episodic or chronic neurological deterioration, often provoked by infections or minor head trauma. Neurological signs consist mainly of cerebellar ataxia and spasticity. There is no specific treatment beside the “prevention” of cellular stress. Therefore, early recognition of the diagnosis is important to avoid triggering factors and allow genetic counseling.

The reported case describes the clinical and radiological characteristics of a patient with adulthood onset of VWMD, revealed by subcortical dementia.

[peertechz]

Porous carbon derived from Zea mays cobs as excellent electrodes for supercapacitor applications

Improving the efficiency of the electrode materials is critical for achieving high performance in supercapacitors. Porous carbon with appropriate designs is dependable for better electrochemical capacitors. In this work, we improved Zea mays (maize) cobs as a potentially plentiful precursor for generating porous carbon supercapacitor applications. The physical and chemical properties of the synthesized materials were determined using several approaches, including structure, morphology, chemical composition, and electrochemical performance. The chemical analyses revealed an oxygen-based surface structure, while structural analysis revealed a BET-specific surface area of 1443.94 m3/g and a pore volume of 0.7915 cm3/g. Symmetric devices based on the materials generated had a specific capacitance of 358.7F/g, an energy density of 12.45 Wh/kg and a power density of 250 W/kg at 0.5A/g. The as-prepared electrodes demonstrated exceptional stability, with a capacitance retention of 99% at the maximum potential for a total of 130 hours of testing.

[peertechz]

Assessment of diastase levels in different floral honey from Oromia region, Ethiopia

Diastase is an enzyme that is found naturally in honey and degrades over time, especially when exposed to heat. Diastase can be used to indicate the age and exposure of honey to heat. However, they play a very significant role in honey quality. This study aimed to assess the diastase levels of different floral honey in potential areas of the Oromia region. In this study diastase activity, free acidity, and pH contents of different floral kinds of honey of potential areas in the Oromia region of Ethiopia were investigated based on the IHC- 2009- method. The honey pollen spectra were also characterized. When compared to other flora honey collected from the study area, the diastase activity of Erica arborea honey revealed significantly different (p < 0.05). It ranged from 4.61 ± 1.50 to 12.75 ± 4.78 Schade unit. The results of the pH value and free acidity analyses test demonstrated that the honey samples used in this investigation were fresh which ranged from 3.22 ± 0.13 to 4.17 ± 0.97 and 22.43 ± 6.37 to 35.10 ± 10.51 meq/kg honey, respectively.

Honey bees’ geographical race, location and harvesting time affected diastase activities. However, it was not possible to identify the real factor influencing its diastase activities which needs further study at different agroecologies for different floral kinds of honey of the country.

[peertechz]

Dissipation kinetics and the pre-harvest residue of chlorantraniliprole in pigeon pea Cajanus cajan L. succulent pods Using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Photodiode array detector (UHPLC-PDA)

Studies were conducted to evaluate insecticide residues of Chlorantraniliprole in pigeon pea succulent pods after foliar application. Chlorantraniliprole was sprayed at 0.6ml/l on pigeon pea crop at the pod formation stage to control pod borers like Helicoverpa armigera and Maruca vitrata. Samples were drawn at 0, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 days after spray. A validated liquid chromatography method with a Photodiode Array (PDA) detector was used for the residue analysis of chlorantraniliprole. Separation was achieved through the C18 column in the reverse phase. The calibration graphs of chlorantraniliprole in acetonitrile solvent or five blank matrices were linear within the tested interval of 0.1 to 1ppm with a coefficient of determination over 0.9990. Dissipation of chlorantraniliprole was studied in first-order kinetic models (for which the coefficient of determination, R2 was 0.8684). Residues of chlorantraniliprole was 3.57, 3.16, 1.61, 1.13, 0.49, 0.21, 0.05 and 0.00mg/kg at 0, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 days after spraying. The residue level reached below the tolerance limit (MRL) (2mg/kg BW) of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) on Pesticide Residues after 5 days of spray and below the detectable level after 25 days of spray in succulent pods and recorded a biological half-life of 4.36 days.

[peertechz]

Regulation of enzymes with identical subunits on the example of Transketolase

The molecule of transketolase is a dimer with structurally and functionally identical subunits. Its active sites are located in the region of intersubunit contact, which has been shown also for other thiamine enzymes. This leads to the reciprocal influence of active sites in the binding of cofactors and during catalysis. In this review, it is shown that the functional non-equivalence of the active sites of transketolase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is initially formed upon the binding of the first cofactor, a divalent cation, not thiamine diphosphate, as previously thought. An attempt was made to find the reason for the differences between catalytic measurements and crystallographic data on the possible part-of-the-sites reactivity of the functioning of transketolase. At the same time, the difference in the amplitudes of dichroic absorption during the binding of reversibly and irreversibly splitting substrates has nothing to do with the flip-flop mechanism. It was also shown that with an increase in the concentration of substrates, a sharp decrease in activity occurs, which is explained by a switch from the alternate binding of the substrate in two active sites to its simultaneous binding both in one-substrate and two-substrate reactions. This fact could also be the reason for the rejection of the flip-flop mechanism of catalysis by transketolase. The mechanism may be similar to human transketolase, which may have clinical application. https://www.peertechzpublications.com/articles/OJABC-6-124.php

[peertechz]

Adsorption of Pb2+ ions in aqueous media using the new zeolite nanocomposite adsorbent CaOCdO/ZSM5 synthesized with new techniques

ZSM-5 `is a porous zeolite material that reveals good activity for the adsorption of heavy metals and other contaminants for effluent purification. In this scientific research, we synthesized the novel CaO-CdO/ZSM-5 zeolite nanocomposite adsorbent and studied the effects of different parameters on the adsorption of Pb2+ ions from water media for the first time. About 99.2% adsorption removal efficiency was obtained after a contact time of 60 min and an adsorbent amount of 0.1g/L for an initial Pb2+ concentration of 200mg/L at pH 8 and temperature of 60oC. The adsorption kinetic fit well via the pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, the adsorption results were reproduced using the Langmuir isotherm with a maximum adsorption capacity of mg/g. The thermodynamic data displayed that the adsorption of Pb2+ ions over the CaO-CdO/ZSM-5 nanocomposite was endothermic and spontaneous.

[peertechz]

Assessment of diastase levels in different floral honey from Oromia region, Ethiopia

Diastase is an enzyme that is found naturally in honey and degrades over time, especially when exposed to heat. Diastase can be used to indicate the age and exposure of honey to heat. However, they play a very significant role in honey quality. This study aimed to assess the diastase levels of different floral honey in potential areas of the Oromia region. In this study diastase activity, free acidity, and pH contents of different floral kinds of honey of potential areas in the Oromia region of Ethiopia were investigated based on the IHC- 2009- method. The honey pollen spectra were also characterized. When compared to other flora honey collected from the study area, the diastase activity of Erica arborea honey revealed significantly different (p < 0.05). It ranged from 4.61 ± 1.50 to 12.75 ± 4.78 Schade unit. The results of the pH value and free acidity analyses test demonstrated that the honey samples used in this investigation were fresh which ranged from 3.22 ± 0.13 to 4.17 ± 0.97 and 22.43 ± 6.37 to 35.10 ± 10.51 meq/kg honey, respectively.

Honey bees’ geographical race, location and harvesting time affected diastase activities. However, it was not possible to identify the real factor influencing its diastase activities which needs further study at different agroecologies for different floral kinds of honey of the country.

[peertechz]

Benzofuran and Naphthofuran based chemosensors for metal ion detection using fluoroscence spectroscopy

With the advancement in the field of agriculture and industrial regime, numerous metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury, zinc, copper, arsenic, etc. are released into the environment as effluent. These metal ions enter water bodies and generate many health issues. Considering their harmful impact on human lives, numerous fluorescent probes have been developed in recent years to detect the presence of these metal ions. The fluorescent probes are used owing to their ease of operation, good selectivity, and high sensitivity. The interaction between functional groups present in the structural framework of the probe and the empty orbitals of metal ions is responsible for the chemo selectivity of the probe. This report summarizes the organic probes which possess benzofuran and naphthofuran moieties and act as fluorescent chemosensors toward metal ions. The selectivity and sensitivity of these chemosensors along with the limit of detection have also been discussed.

[peertechz]

Dissipation kinetics and the pre-harvest residue of chlorantraniliprole in pigeon pea Cajanus cajan L. succulent pods Using Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Photodiode array detector (UHPLC-PDA)

Studies were conducted to evaluate insecticide residues of Chlorantraniliprole in pigeon pea succulent pods after foliar application. Chlorantraniliprole was sprayed at 0.6ml/l on pigeon pea crop at the pod formation stage to control pod borers like Helicoverpa armigera and Maruca vitrata. Samples were drawn at 0, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 days after spray. A validated liquid chromatography method with a Photodiode Array (PDA) detector was used for the residue analysis of chlorantraniliprole. Separation was achieved through the C18 column in the reverse phase. The calibration graphs of chlorantraniliprole in acetonitrile solvent or five blank matrices were linear within the tested interval of 0.1 to 1ppm with a coefficient of determination over 0.9990. Dissipation of chlorantraniliprole was studied in first-order kinetic models (for which the coefficient of determination, R2 was 0.8684). Residues of chlorantraniliprole was 3.57, 3.16, 1.61, 1.13, 0.49, 0.21, 0.05 and 0.00mg/kg at 0, 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 days after spraying. The residue level reached below the tolerance limit (MRL) (2mg/kg BW) of Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) on Pesticide Residues after 5 days of spray and below the detectable level after 25 days of spray in succulent pods and recorded a biological half-life of 4.36 days.

[peertechz]

Regulation of enzymes with identical subunits on the example of Transketolase

The molecule of transketolase is a dimer with structurally and functionally identical subunits. Its active sites are located in the region of intersubunit contact, which has been shown also for other thiamine enzymes. This leads to the reciprocal influence of active sites in the binding of cofactors and during catalysis. In this review, it is shown that the functional non-equivalence of the active sites of transketolase from Saccharomyces cerevisiae is initially formed upon the binding of the first cofactor, a divalent cation, not thiamine diphosphate, as previously thought. An attempt was made to find the reason for the differences between catalytic measurements and crystallographic data on the possible part-of-the-sites reactivity of the functioning of transketolase. At the same time, the difference in the amplitudes of dichroic absorption during the binding of reversibly and irreversibly splitting substrates has nothing to do with the flip-flop mechanism. It was also shown that with an increase in the concentration of substrates, a sharp decrease in activity occurs, which is explained by a switch from the alternate binding of the substrate in two active sites to its simultaneous binding both in one-substrate and two-substrate reactions. This fact could also be the reason for the rejection of the flip-flop mechanism of catalysis by transketolase. The mechanism may be similar to human transketolase, which may have clinical application.