Social Network Moderates the Association between Frequency of Social Participation and Physical Function among Community-dwelling Older Adults

Objective: Social participation is an essential component of active aging. Physical dysfunction is restriction of social participation, but it is inconclusive that improvement of physical function contributes to promote social participation. Therefore, understanding the other factor that moderates the association between physical dysfunction and social participation is important, and social network (i.e., ties with family and friends) may be a key factor. The aims of this study were to investigate the association between physical function and frequency of social participation, with social network as a moderator, and to examine the gender differences on the relationships. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among 287 community-dwelling older adults. We asked how often they participated in social groups in a week to measure frequency of social participation. Physical function and social network were measured by using the modified version of Short Physical Performance Battery for community-dwelling older adults and the abbreviated Lubben Social Network Scale, respectively. To investigate the association, we performed a linear regression analysis. Results: After adjustment, a linear regression analysis showed interactions between physical function and social network on frequent social participation (β: −0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.40 to −0.01). Furthermore, the same association was observed only in women (adjusted β: −0.33, 95% CI: −0.65 to −0.02). Conclusion: Our results suggested that social network moderates the association between physical function and social participation, and observed gender differences on the relationships. The findings of this study indicated the importance of multidimensional assessment and measures for improving social participation, not only physical function but also social network.     

Association between Social Frailty and Sleep Quality among Community-dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective: We examined the association between social frailty and subjective sleep quality among community-dwelling adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited Japanese adults over the age of 60 years from health check-ups held in a public townhall in a suburban area between 2018 and 2019. Social frailty was evaluated using five criteria (living alone, not visiting friends sometimes, going out less frequently than the last year, not feeling helpful to friends or family, and not talking to someone every day) and categorized into three groups: non-frailty, pre-frailty, and frailty. Sleep quality was assessed according to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) by giving participants a self-reported questionnaire. We performed multivariable linear regression analysis, denoting social frailty as an independent variable, and the global PSQI score as a dependent variable. Results: Data from 300 older adults were analyzed, 51.0% of whom were female. The participants'' mean age was 73.0 years (standard deviation = 5.8). Multivariable analysis revealed the notable association between social frailty and a high global PSQI score (compared with non-frailty, frailty: β = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.08 to 1.80, p = 0.033). Of the five determiners of social frailty, not talking with someone every day was especially associated with a high global PSQI score (β = 1.57, 95% CI = 0.49 to 2.66, p = 0.005). Conclusion: The present study suggests that social frailty is associated with poor sleep quality among community-dwelling older adults. Our findings indicate the importance of social frailty on sleep quality among older adults.     

Age-Related Change in Muscle Characteristics and Resistance Training for Older Adults

In older adults, muscle weakness contributes greatly to functional restrictions on daily living activities, increased risk of falls, and adverse physiological changes. It has been suggested that not only muscle mass but also muscular infiltration of noncontractile elements may influence muscular performance such as strength and rapid force production. It is proved that resistance training may provoke substantial increases in muscle size even if it is performed at low intensities in older individuals. Also, recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of resistance training on muscle quality such as muscular infiltration of noncontractile elements for older people. This review shows the age-related changes in muscle mass and muscle quality, which were measured by muscle echo intensity on ultrasound images, and low-intensity resistance training effects on muscle volume and muscle quality.     

The Relationship between Age and Change in Physical Functions after Exercise Intervention. Trainability of Japanese Community-Dwelling Older Elderly

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the relationship between age and changes in physical measurements after exercise intervention and to investigate the trainability of the older elderly. Two hundred seventy-six community-dwelling people aged 60 years and older practiced exercise intervention for 3 months. The measurements of physical functions were one-legged standing with eyes open and closed (OLS-O, OLS-C), functional reach test (FR), timed up and go test (TUG), maximum walking velocity, flexibility, and muscle strength. We evaluated the associations between age and the changes in these physical measurements. All measurements except for OLS-C significantly improved after intervention. The magnitude of the changes in hand-grip strength and FR after the intervention showed weak negative correlations with the subject''s age, but other measurements showed no correlations. In addition, there were no differences between younger elderly persons and older elderly persons with regard to changes in any measurements. These results suggested that the exercise intervention we applied could improve physical fitness in community-dwelling older people, regardless of their age. The older elderly were comparable to the younger elderly in trainability to improve physical fitness.     

Effect of a Combined Exercise and Cognitive Activity Intervention on Cognitive Function in Community-dwelling Older Adults: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of an intervention combining exercise and cognitive activity on cognitive function in healthy older adults. Methods: This pilot randomized controlled trial recruited 33 eligible, healthy communitydwelling older adults (mean age, 77.1 years old; women, 51.5%), who were divided into intervention and waitlist control groups. The intervention group was engaged weekly in a group activity comprising exercise and discussions of homework, which included reading aloud, simple arithmetic, and simple activities, like spotting differences, for cognitive stimulation. They were also required to complete cognitive activity homework twice a week. The waitlist control group received no intervention. The main outcomes were cognitive function assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination, delayed recall score on the Logical Memory IIA of the Wechsler Memory Scale Revised, Trail Making Test, and digit symbol substitution test. Results: According to the results, Mini-Mental State Examination scores were maintained in the intervention group but declined in the control group [Mean change in outcomes in control group (95% confidence interval): -1.68 (-2.89 to -0.48)]. Additional mean change in outcomes in intervention group were found [1.68 (0.02 to 3.35)]. Conclusions: Interventions combining exercise and cognitive activity can be helpful for preserving cognitive function in healthy older adults.     

Improvement in the Physical Function and Quality of Life through Exercise and Physical Activity Intervention Using a Smartphone after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: A Case Report

Purpose: Physical activity (PA) interventions positively affect the physical function (PF) in patients with advanced cancer. However, patients must remain motivated during the intervention. We report a case wherein a smartphone application for PA intervention was useful in motivating the patient to improve adherence. Methods: A 40-year-old woman underwent an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) for an advanced extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma. On day 6, she developed the posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome. She was managed in the intensive care unit for 3 days, and her PF declined markedly. We initiated a smartphone-based PA intervention from day 35. She was instructed to maintain a PA diary for self-monitoring of the daily steps and to set a new step-count goal every week. Results: The PA and PF improved within a short period thereafter. However, she developed severe acute graft-versus-host disease and was administered with high-dose systemic corticosteroids from day 49. The PA, PF, and quality of life (QOL) decreased again. The intervention was continued for 5 months with a high adherence. The PA, PF, and QOL improved gradually. She resumed independent activities of daily living and was discharged on day 202. Conclusion: Smartphone-based PA intervention may be effective against post-allo-HCT physical dysfunction.     

An Overview of Social Participation in Older Adults: Concepts and Assessments

In older adults, social participation is an important component of rehabilitation and health promotion. Several studies have attempted to describe the definition and concepts of social participation, and there were many outcomes to measure social participation. This overview provides information about representative social participation and related concepts that have been defined in the literature. A standardized definition of social participation has not been developed; commonly, recognition for social participation was proposed as focused on involvement in social activities that provide interaction with others in a society or community. Many instruments assess the various aspects of social participation. Because of operational definition and diversity in social participation, performance in social participation was adopted as an aspect of assessment. Further discussions are needed to clarify the definition of social participation and evaluate the instruments used to assess social participation for it to be useful for rehabilitation and health promotion. In doing so, determining and developing assessment and intervention based on the purpose or perspective of social participation in older adults with and without disabilities is important.     

A Quantum Walk Model for Idea Propagation in Social Network and Group Decision Making

We propose a quantum walk model to investigate the propagation of ideas in a network and the formation of agreement in group decision making. In more detail, we consider two different graphs describing the connections of agents in the network: the line graph and the ring graph. Our main interest is to deduce the dynamics for such propagation, and to investigate the influence of compliance of the agents and graph structure on the decision time and the final decision. The methodology is based on the use of control-U gates in quantum computing. The original state of the network is used as controller and its mirrored state is used as target. The state of the quantum walk is the tensor product of the original state and the mirror state. In this way, the proposed quantum walk model is able to describe asymmetric influence between agents.     

Analyzing the Coevolution of Mobile Application Diffusion and Social Network: A Multi-Agent Model

The successful diffusion of mobile applications in user groups can establish a good image for enterprises, gain a good reputation, fight for market share, and create commercial profits. Thus, it is of great significance for the successful diffusion of mobile applications to study mobile application diffusion and social network coevolution. Firstly, combined with a social network’s dynamic change characteristics in real life, a mobile application users’ social network evolution mechanism was designed. Then, a multi-agent model of the coevolution of a social network and mobile application innovation diffusion was constructed. Finally, the impact of mobile applications’ value perception revenue, use cost, marketing promotion investment, and the number of seed users on the coevolution of social network and mobile application diffusion were analyzed. The results show that factors such as the network structure, the perceived value income, the cost of use, the marketing promotion investment, and the number of seed users have an important impact on mobile application diffusion.     

Comparative Analysis of Social Support in Online Health Communities Using a Word Co-Occurrence Network Analysis Approach

Online health communities (OHCs) have become a major source of social support for people with health problems. Members of OHCs interact online with others facing similar health problems and receive multiple types of social support, including but not limited to informational support, emotional support, and companionship. The aim of this study is to examine the differences in social support communication among people with different types of cancers. A novel approach is developed to better understand the types of social support embedded in OHC posts. Our approach, based on the word co-occurrence network analysis, preserves the semantic structures of the texts. Information extraction from the semantic structures is supported by the interplay of quantitative and qualitative analyses of the network structures. Our analysis shows that significant differences in social support exist across cancer types, and evidence for the differences across diseases in terms of communication preferences and language use is also identified. Overall, this study can establish a new venue for extracting and analyzing information, so as to inform social support for clinical care.     

Relationship Between Wave Function and Corresponding Wigner Function Studied in Entangled State Representation

By using the explicit form of the entangled Wigner operator and the entangled state representation we derive the relationship between wave function and corresponding Wigner function for bipartite entangled systems. The technique of integration within an ordered product （IWOP） of operators is employed in our discussions.     

基于白术FTIR的径向基函数神经网络鉴别研究

为了鉴定白术及其伪品,采用径向基函数神经网络(RBF)分别测试了白术及其伪品的傅里叶变换红外光谱。采用36个样本作训练集,27个样本作检验集,用各种模式的BPF进行了监督性训练。当训练目标误差平方和定为0.01时,各类RBF对训练集中白术样本识别的正确率均为100%,但对检验集样本识别的结果各不相同,其识别的正确率与隐含层节点数S₁有关。发现当S₁较大时,识别正确率反而下降,可能此时网络的非线性程度过高,使其不适合于该类样本集的训练。线性—线性型RBF识别的结果随S₁的变化不是很大,但识别的正确率不高,基本在85%左右。非线性—线性型RBF识别的结果最佳。当S₁为3时,其识别正确率超过了97%。因此该法可用于简便、快速、准确地识别白术及其伪品。     

小波变换近红外光谱结合径向基神经网络快速分析异福片

应用小波变换(WT)处理近红外漫反射光谱结合径向基神经网络(RBFNN)建立快速分析异福片中利福平和异烟肼含量的模型(WT-RBFNN)。用小波变换的低频系数作为RBFNN的输入节点, 研究了网络参 数包括隐含层神经元数和径向基宽度(SC)对模型的影响。与经典的RBFNN和PLS相比较表明, WT-RBFNN模型压缩了原始光谱, 除去了噪音和背景的影响, 拟合效果很好。优选的WT-RBFNN模型对校正集样品 中利福平、异烟肼的交互验证均方根误差(RMSECV)分别为0.006 04和0.004 57;对预测集样品预测均方根误差(RMSEP)分别为0.006 39和0.005 87。同时预测集样品中利福平和异烟肼与RP-HPLC测定结果 的回归系数(r)分别为0.995 22和0.993 92, 相对误差在2.300%以下。这些结果显示了该方法建模的稳健性和模型的预测精度均很高, 同时此方法具有非破坏、无污染、可在线检测等优点, 对替代常规药物 分析方法有重要的意义。     

SIS Model of Rumor Spreading in Social Network with Time Delay and Nonlinear Functions

With the advent of the information age of networks, the study about rumor propagation in social networks has become increasingly significant. In this paper, a rumor propagation model with nonlinear functions and time delay in social networks is proposed. First, according to the nextgeneration matrix method, we work out the basic reproduction number. Second, we discuss the existence of the rumor-prevailing equilibrium points. Third, we demonstrate the stabilities of equilibrium points and analyze the sufficient conditions for Hopf bifurcation. Finally, the correctness of the theory is verified and several vital conclusions are obtained by numerical simulations.     

The Feasibility of a Newly Developed Local Network System for Cardiac Rehabilitation (the CR-GNet) in Disease Management and Physical Fitness after Acute Coronary Syndrome

Objective: To examine the Cardiac Rehabilitation Gifu Network (CR-GNet) feasibility in managing diseases and assisting patients in attaining physical fitness, and its impact on long-term outcomes after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Methods: In this prospective observational study, we enrolled 47 patients with ACS registered in the CR-GNet between February 2016 and September 2019. 37, 29, and 21 patients underwent follow-up assessments for exercise capacity (peak oxygen uptake) at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after discharge, respectively. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were compared with controls not registered in the CR-GNet. Results: The coronary risk factors, except blood pressure, improved at 3 and 6 months, and 1 year after discharge. These risk factors in each patient significantly reduced from 2.9 at admission to 1.6, 1.4, and 1.9 at 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year after discharge (p<0.05), respectively. Peak oxygen uptake was significantly higher at 3 months (17.5±4.9 ml/kg/min), 6 months (17.9±5.1 ml/kg/min), and 1 year (17.5±5.5 ml/kg/min) after discharge than that at discharge (14.7±3.6 ml/kg/min) (p<0.05). During follow-up, there was no significant difference; MACE did not occur in any patients in the CR-GNet but occurred in controls. Conclusion: CR-GNet is a feasible option for the long-term management of ACS patients.     

Analytic Representation of Volume Flow as a Function of Geometry and Pressure in a Static Physical Model of the Glottis

A static physical model of the larynx (model M5) was used to obtain a large set of volume flows as a function of symmetric glottal geometry and transglottal pressure. The measurements cover ranges of these variables relevant to human phonation. A generalized equation was created to accurately estimate the glottal volume flow given specific glottal geometries and transglottal pressures. Both the data and the generalized formula give insights into the flow behavior for different glottal geometries, especially the contrast between convergent and divergent glottal angles at different glottal diameters. The generalized equation produced a fit to the entire M5 dataset (267 points) with an average accuracy of 3.4%. The accuracy was about seven times better than that of the Ishizaka-Flanagan approach to glottal flow and about four times better than that of a pressure coefficient approach. Thus, for synthesis purposes, the generalized equation presented here should provide more realistic glottal flows (based on steady flow conditions) as suitable inputs to the vocal tract, for given values of transglottal pressure and glottal geometry. Applications of the generalized formula to pulses generated by vocal fold motions typical of those produced by the Ishizaka-Flanagan coupled-oscillator model and the more recent body-cover model of Story and Titze are also included.     

基于三维荧光与GA-RBF神经网络对茶叶中氯菊酯农药残留的检测

采用FS920稳态荧光光谱仪对绿茶和铁观音这两种不同品种茶叶的氯菊酯溶液的荧光光谱特性进行了分析,发现这两种茶叶的荧光峰均位于λ_(ex)/λ_(em)=(390~410)/675 nm,氯菊酯的荧光峰λ_(ex)/λ_(em)=300/330nm。为了准确测定这两种茶叶中氯菊酯农药残留的含量,采用遗传算法优化的径向基函数神经网络对其进行了分析,当训练到74次时,均方差精度达到10~(-3),绿茶、铁观音的氯菊酯溶液预测样本的平均回收率分别为99.35%和98.89%,平均相对标准偏差分别为1.25%和1.21%。与建立的径向基函数神经网络模型进行了对比,结果表明三维荧光分析技术与遗传算法优化的径向基函数神经网络相结合能够较好地检测出茶叶中氯菊酯农药残留的含量,检测灵敏度大大提高,检出限范围广,可达0.004 8~24 mg/kg,远低于欧盟规定的茶叶中氯菊酯最高残留限量0.1 mg/kg,为检测农药残留提供了一种快速简便的新方法。