Prevalence and risk factors of elder abuse in survivors of stroke: A cross-sectional study.

Background and Aims: The understanding of the prevalence and risk factors associated with elder abuse in stroke survivors is currently lacking. Therefore, the objective of this study is to ascertain the prevalence and potential risk factors of elder abuse in stroke survivors, while also examining its correlation with insomnia. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 485 stroke survivors aged 65 years and older, who received treatment at the Emergency department of Shunde Hospital, Southern Medical University, were subjected to face-to-face interviews using the questionnaire on elder abuse from the Third Survey on Chinese Women's Social Status. A logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the association between risk factors and elder abuse among stroke survivors. Results: 62.27% of the participants reported experiencing elder abuse, with 14.85% of them indicating suffering from more than two subtypes of abuse. Factors such as residing in nursing homes, lower income, and smoking were found to increase the likelihood of experiencing elder abuse and all four subtypes of abuse. Additionally, advancing age was associated with a higher risk of experiencing all four subtypes of abuse, although it did not affect the occurrence of overall abuse. It is worth noting that the self-reported prevalence of the four types of abuse by the elderly themselves was higher compared to the reports provided by caregivers. Conclusion: Elder abuse is prevalent among stroke survivors, especially those who are residing in nursing homes, with lower income, and smokers. Elder abuse significantly increased the prevalence of insomnia in stroke survivors. Further research is needed to better explore effective measures to reduce the prevalence of elder abuse of stroke survivors.

Efficient production and skincare activity evaluation of schizophyllan, a ß-glucan derived from Schizophyllum commune NTU-1.

Schizophyllan (SPG), a ß-glucan produced by the fungus Schizophyllum commune, possesses a ß-(1 â†’ 3)-linked backbone with single ß-(1 â†’ 6)-linked glucose side chains at approximately every third residue. In this study, we screened SPG-producing strains of S. commune from different provinces in China. A candidate strain (NTU-1) with a high SPG yield was chosen, and the fermentation conditions were optimized. The optimal carbon and nitrogen sources were sucrose (40 g/L) and yeast extract (20 g/L), respectively. The optimal conditions for pH and temperature were 5.0 and 28 °C, respectively. Inclusion of 0.2 mg/L of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in the medium further increased the SPG concentration. In a 5-L bioreactor, the fermentation cycle was reduced from the initial seven days to five days, and the concentration of SPG obtained was 21.3 g/L, which is the highest reported to date. In addition, we evaluated the bioactivity of the SPG prepared using strain NTU-1. The results showed that SPG had certain characteristics of anti-oxidation, anti-photoaging, and inhibition of melanin production, making it a promising reagent for skin care.

EBSD Investigation of the Microtexture of Weld Metal and Base Metal in Laser Welded Al⁻Li Alloys.

Autogenous laser welding of 5A90 Al⁻Li alloy sheets in a butt-joint configuration was carried out in this study. The microstructure characteristics of the weld metal and base metal in the horizontal surface and the transverse section of the welded joints were examined quantitatively using electron back scattered diffraction (EBSD) technique. The results show that the weld metal in the horizontal surface and the transverse section exhibits similar grain structural features including the grain orientations, grain shapes, and grain sizes, whereas distinct differences in the texture intensity and misorientation distributions are observed. However, the base metal in the horizontal surface and the transverse section of the joints reveals the obvious different texture characteristics in terms of the grain orientation, grain morphology, predominate texture ingredients, distribution intensities of textures, and grain boundary misorientation distribution, resulting in the diversity of the microhardness in the base metal and the softening of the weld metal. However, the degree of the drop in the hardness of the weld metal is highly correlated to the microtexture developed in the base metal.