Evaluating the Use of Daily Care Notes Software for Older People with Dementia

There has been little research to investigate the impact of software to support the care for older people with dementia care. This article reports the evaluation of software adapted to support one key person-centered task for the care of older residents with dementia – recording and sharing daily care notes. The evaluation on the dementia wing of 1 residential home for over 6 months revealed that use of the software on mobile devices carried by the carers increased the number and volume of daily care notes recorded, but only for the types of content that were already being recorded by carers. Carers reported more advantages that resulted from daily care notes once in digital form than from the documenting task, as well as barriers to the use of mobile digital software to record daily care notes.     

Evaluation of haptic guidance virtual fixtures and 3D visualization methods in telemanipulation—a user study

Intelligent Service Robotics - This work presents a user-study evaluation of various visual and haptic feedback modes on a real telemanipulation platform. Of particular interest is the potential...     

TSTL: the template scripting testing language

International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer - A test harness, in automated test generation, defines the set of valid tests for a system, as well as their correctness properties....     

Design of a Microchannel‐Nanochannel‐Microchannel Array Based Nanoelectroporation System for Precise Gene Transfection

A micro/nano‐fabrication process of a nanochannel electroporation (NEP) array and its application for precise delivery of plasmid for non‐viral gene transfection is described. A dip‐combing device is optimized to produce DNA nanowires across a microridge array patterned on the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) surface with a yield up to 95%. Molecular imprinting based on a low viscosity resin, 1,4‐butanediol diacrylate (1,4‐BDDA), adopted to convert the microridge‐nanowire‐microridge array into a microchannel‐nanochannel‐microchannel (MNM) array. Secondary machining by femtosecond laser ablation is applied to shorten one side of microchannels from 3000 to 50 μm to facilitate cell loading and unloading. The biochip is then sealed in a packaging case with reservoirs and microfluidic channels to enable cell and plasmid loading, and to protect the biochip from leakage and contamination. The package case can be opened for cell unloading after NEP to allow for the follow‐up cell culture and analysis. These NEP cases can be placed in a spinning disc and up to ten discs can be piled together for spinning. The resulting centrifugal force can simultaneously manipulate hundreds or thousands of cells into microchannels of NEP arrays within 3 minutes. To demonstrate its application, a 13 kbp OSKM plasmid of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) is injected into mouse embryonic fibroblasts cells (MEFCs). Fluorescence detection of transfected cells within the NEP biochips shows that the delivered dosage is high and much more uniform compared with similar gene transfection carried out by the conventional bulk electroporation (BEP) method.     

Aptamer-based electrochemical detection of picomolar platelet-derived growth factor directly in blood serum

We report an electrochemical, aptamer-based (E-AB) sensor for the detection of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) directly in blood serum. The E-AB approach employs alternating current voltammetry to monitor target-induced folding in a methylene blue-modified, PDGF-binding aptamer. The sensor is sensitive, highly selective, and essentially reagentless: we readily detect the BB variant of PDGF at 1 nM directly in undiluted, unmodified blood serum and at 50 pM (1.25 ng/mL) in serum-diluted 2-fold with aqueous buffer. The sensitivity and selectivity achieved by this sensor match or significantly exceed those of the best analogous optical approaches. For example, the detection limit attained in 50% serum is achieved against a >25 million-fold excess of contaminating blood proteins and represents a 4 order of magnitude improvement over the most sensitive optical PDGF aptasensor reported to date. Moreover, the E-AB sensor combines these promising attributes in a platform that is reusable, label-free, and electronic. Given these advantages, E-AB sensors appear well suited for implementation in portable microdevices directed at the direct detection of proteins and small molecules in complex, largely unprocessed clinical samples.     

Mediators of telephone-based continuing care for alcohol and cocaine dependence.

A previous randomized trial with 224 alcohol and/or cocaine addicts who had completed an initial phase of treatment indicated that 12 weeks of telephone-based continuing care yielded higher abstinence rates over 24 months than did group counseling continuing care. The current study examined mediators of this treatment effect. Results suggested that self-help involvement during treatment and self-efficacy and commitment to abstinence 3 months after treatment mediated subsequent abstinence outcomes. These analyses controlled for substance use prior to the assessment of mediators. Conversely, there was no evidence that self-help beliefs or social support mediated the treatment effect. These results are consistent with a model in which treatment effects are first accounted for by changes in behavior, followed by changes in self-efficacy and in commitment to abstinence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in boys' and girls' timing and tempo of puberty: Modeling development with nonlinear growth models.

Pubertal development is a nonlinear process progressing from prepubescent beginnings through biological, physical, and psychological changes to full sexual maturity. To tether theoretical concepts of puberty with sophisticated longitudinal, analytical models capable of articulating pubertal development more accurately, we used nonlinear mixed-effects models to describe both the timing and tempo of pubertal development in the sample of 364 White boys and 373 White girls measured across 6 years as part of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Individual differences in timing and tempo were extracted with models of logistic growth. Differential relations emerged for how boys' and girls' timing and tempo of development were related to physical characteristics (body mass index, height, and weight) and psychological outcomes (internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and risky sexual behavior). Timing and tempo are associated in boys but not girls. Pubertal timing and tempo are particularly important for predicting psychological outcomes in girls but only sparsely related to boys' psychological outcomes. Results highlight the importance of considering the nonlinear nature of puberty and expand the repertoire of possibilities for examining important aspects of how and when pubertal processes contribute to development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

High dose flaxseed oil supplementation may affect fasting blood serum glucose management in human type 2 diabetics

Type 2 diabetes is characterized partially by elevated fasting blood serum glucose and insulin concentrations and the percentage of hemoglobin as HbA1c. It was hypothesized that each of blood glucose and its co-factors insulin and HbA1c and would show a more favorable profile as the result of flaxseed oil supplementation. Patients were recruited at random from a population pool responding to a recruitment advertisement in the local newspaper and 2 area physicians. Completing the trial were 10 flaxseed oil males, 8 flaxseed oil females, 8 safflower (placebo) oil males and 6 safflower oil females. Patients visited on two pre-treatment occasions each three months apart (visits 1 and 2). At visit 2 subjects were randomly assigned in double blind fashion and in equal gender numbers to take flaxseed oil or safflower oil for three further months until visit 3. Oil consumption in both groups was approximately 10 g/d. ALA intake in the intervention group was approximately 5.5 g/d. Power was 0.80 to see a difference of 1 mmol of glucose /L using 12 subjects per group with a p < 0.05. Flaxseed oil had no impact on fasting blood serum glucose, insulin or HbA1c levels. It is concluded that high doses of flaxseed oil have no effect on glycemic control in type 2 diabetics.