Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, social connectedness and cognitive performance of older adults

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted older adult's health and well-being worldwide. We explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on daily activities and mental health and its relationship with cognitive performance in older adults. Methods One-hundred individuals 60 years and older, without cognitive impairment and enrolled in the Brazilian Memory Study (BRAMS), a longitudinal study, were applied the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Participants were asked whether they had changes in daily routine and social connectedness during the pandemic. Results Almost half of the participants (48.4%) reported that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected their lives, 38.9% lost a relative or friend because of COVID-19, and 60% had daily routine changes. Relationships (40.5%) and emotion (22%) were reported as the most impacted area. Stopping physical activities and stay at home represented the main routine changed for 78% of participants. The use of voice messages through mobile phones to maintain social connectedness increased from 24.2% to 42.1%. For 38% of participants, their autonomy to daily decisions decreased, and 40% complained that memory got worse during the pandemic. More than 30% felt more stress, loneliness, or depression than in the pre-pandemic period. Controlling for age, sex, and education, higher loneliness scores were significantly associated with low MMES scores (p = 0.018). Conclusion Significant changes in life, daily routine, social connectedness, and mental health-related to the COVID-19 pandemic were reported by older adult participants. Loneliness was associated with lower cognitive performance.

The Ability of Near Infrared (NIR) Spectroscopy to Predict Functional Properties in Foods: Challenges and Opportunities

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is considered one of the main routine analytical methods used by the food industry. This technique is utilised to determine proximate chemical compositions (e.g., protein, dry matter, fat and fibre) of a wide range of food ingredients and products. Novel algorithms and new instrumentation are allowing the development of new applications of NIR spectroscopy in the field of food science and technology. Specifically, several studies have reported the use of NIR spectroscopy to evaluate or measure functional properties in both food ingredients and products in addition to their chemical composition. This mini-review highlights and discussed the applications, challenges and opportunities that NIR spectroscopy offers to target the quantification and measurement of food functionality in dairy and cereals.

COVID-19 Microbiological and Radiological Diagnostics

The purpose of this paper is to present SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic methods and their optimal implementation. The main routine microbiological diagnostic tools are molecular and serological methods. Sensitivity and utilisation of molecular methods is the best at the disease onset, while serological methods are the best if used at least 5-7 days after disease onset. Positive molecular test result (real-time polymerase chain reaction; RT-PCR) must be interpreted in the clinical presentation context. A sampling site for molecular analysis is based on disease severity; upper and lower respiratory tract samples are used for mild and severe presentations, respectively. Virus cultivation is the only method of proving the existence of a viable virus in a tissue sample, but due to the method complexity, it is not a part of a routine process. Ground glass opacities with or without reticular pattern and/or consolidation are typical findings for COVID-19 pneumonia. Multi-slice computerized tomography (MSCT) is a superior radiological method for performing X-ray of the chests.

Tipologi Resepsi Taḥfīẓ Al-Qur’ān di Kalangan Mahasiswi IIQ Jakarta

This paper discusses the typology of the reception of taḥfīẓ al-Qur’ān among IIQ Jakarta students. This paper departs from the diversity of one's motivation in memorizing the Qur’an. Especially, in recent years, many television programs have appeared on the program taḥfīẓ al-Qur’ān. The skills of children in memorizing the verses of the newspaper simultaneously enliven the universe of social media, thus encouraging parents’ enthusiasm to form their children as hāfiẓ/ah. Various motivations certainly become their own color. To find out the typology of their reception of the taḥfīẓ al-Qur’ān, the author uses a phenomenological analysis approach that was conceived by Edmund Husserl. The results of this study concluded that Jakarta IIQ female students were reception taḥfīẓ al-Qur’ān functionally, aesthetically, and exegetically. Various receptions conducted by Jakarta IIQ students when viewed from outside the structure shows that IIQ Jakarta students are very religious. They make taḥfīẓ the Qur’ān as the main routine in their daily activities. Meanwhile, when viewed from its structure, it contains the message of the truth of miracles kalām Allāh and the guarantee of the owner of His words for people who memorize the Qur’ān based on the logic of pragmatic epistemology.

Management of Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration in Spain: Challenges for Treat and Extend Implementation in Routine Clinical Practice

Purpose. To ascertain wet AMD (wAMD) management patterns in Spain. Methods. A two-round Delphi study conducted through a questionnaire-based survey designed from literature review and validated by an independent Steering Committee. Results. Forty-nine retina specialists experienced in wAMD participated by answering the two-round study questionnaire. Retina specialists are the main responsible for wAMD diagnosis and monitoring, including visits and associated procedures, with a median time per visit of 15 minutes. Standard treatment strategies are based on anti-VEGF administration, including standard loading dose administration followed by maintenance with aflibercept or ranibizumab (81% of patients). Although treat and extend (T&E) dosing strategy is considered as optimal for wAMD management (78% of the panelists), the main routine healthcare limitations (i.e., visits overload, reduced staff, short visit time, coordination issues, lack of facilities) conduct to self-defined “flexible” strategies, based on T&E and pro-re-nata (PRN) protocols. Conclusion. Proactive treatment patterns (T&E) are the preferred ones by the retina specialists in Spain. However, their proper implementation is difficult due to healthcare resource limitations, as well as organisation and logistic issues. The use of anti-VEGF agents with longer duration of action could facilitate the use of strict T&E approaches according to routine clinical practices.

Implementation of Parallel Execution Algorithm on Multiple Drives using PLC

Drive is one among the very vital equipment in any power industry which require continuous monitoring and inspection at frequent intervals. And this paper deals with the implementation of parallel execution of multiple drives using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). We have designed the ladder code using Add on Instructions (AOI) which is the most used feature of RS Logix 5000. For the operation of each axis of a drive we require an instance of the AOI in the main routine. At every phase the failure mechanism is also added in order to take care of the failed conditions. Parallel execution of multiple drives can reduce the execution time by a huge a margin.

An Attenuated Duck Plague Virus (DPV) Vaccine Induces both Systemic and Mucosal Immune Responses To Protect Ducks against Virulent DPV Infection

ABSTRACTDuck plague (DP) is a severe disease caused by DP virus (DPV). Control of the disease is recognized as one of the biggest challenges in avian medicine. Vaccination is an efficient way to control DPV, and an attenuated vaccine is the main routine vaccine. The attenuated DPV vaccine strain CHa is a modified live vaccine, but the systemic and mucosal immune responses induced by this vaccine have been poorly understood. In this study, the immunogenicity and efficacy of the vaccine were evaluated after subcutaneous immunization of ducks. CD4+and CD8+T cells were counted by flow cytometry, and humoral and mucosal Ig antibodies were analyzed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed that high levels of T cells and Ig antibodies were present postimmunization and that there were more CD4+T cells than CD8+T cells. Titers of humoral IgG were higher than those of humoral IgA. Local IgA was found in each sample, whereas local IgG was found only in the spleen, thymus, bursa of Fabricius, harderian gland, liver, bile, and lung. In a protection assay, the attenuated DPV vaccine completely protected ducks against 1,000 50% lethal doses (LD50) of the lethal DPV strain CHv via oral infection. These data suggest that this subcutaneous vaccine elicits sufficient systemic and mucosal immune responses against lethal DPV challenge to be protective in ducks. This study provides broad insights into understanding the immune responses to the attenuated DPV vaccine strain CHa through subcutaneous immunization in ducks.

CROSSREG — A Technique for First Passage and Wave Density Analysis

The density of the first passage time in a nonstationary Gaussian process with random mean function can be approximated with arbitrary accuracy from a regression-type expansion. CROSSREG is a package of FORTRAN subroutines that perform intelligent transformations and numerical integrations to produce high-accuracy approximations with a minimum of computer time. The basic routines, collected in the unit ONEREG, give the density of the crossing time of a general bound. An additional set of routines make up the unit TWOREG, which also gives the bivariate density of the crossing time and the value of an accompanying process at the time of the crossing. These routines can be used to find the wavelength and amplitude density in any stationary Gaussian process. ONEREG and TWOREG are special cases of a routine MREG, which is the main routine in CROSSREG.