Psychological and functional impacts associated with restrictions in long-term care facilities (LTCF) due to the COVID-19 pandemic: A multicentre study.

Objectives: To analyze the impacts of the restrictions implemented in LTCF during the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological and functional status of older adults. Design: A retrospective multicentre study is designed. We hypothesize that the negative effects of the restrictions will lead to a higher rate of decline between the measures taken immediately before and after the lockdown than between the two measures taken before the lockdown. Setting and participants: 365 participants recruited in four Spanish LTCFs in Galicia and Valencia.Methods: Impacts of restrictions on cognitive (MMSE), affective (GDS) and functional status (Barthel index, Tinetti) were analyzed by Linear Mixed Models with random intercepts, random slopes, and personal and contextual factors as covariates.Results: Social measures covaried significantly with the cognitive and functional status but did not predict longitudinal change. MMSE, Barthel index and Tinetti scores decreased significantly across pre- and post-lockdown measurement times, but only the Tinetti scores showed a specific impact of the restrictions.Conclusions: Only performance-based functional measures showed the real impact of restrictions. The findings highlight the importance of having data from several pre-lockdown measurements to enable identification of changes that can be causally attributed to the restrictions. The findings also support the resilience of older adults in mitigating the effect of the restrictions.

Cognitive reserve, neurocognitive performance, and high-order resting-state networks in cognitively unimpaired aging.

Cognitive Reserve (CR) is considered a protective factor during the aging process. However, although CR is a multifactorial construct, it has been operationalized in a unitary way (years of formal education or IQ). In the present study, a validated measure to categorize CR holistically (Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire) was used to evaluate the resting-state functional connectivity in 77 cognitively unimpaired participants aged 50 years and over with high and low CR, and matched brain global atrophy levels. The connectivity of networks linked to attentional (Dorsal Attention Network -DAN-) and executive (Frontal-Parietal Control Network -FPCN-) processes were evaluated by the combination of Independent Component Analysis and seed-based approaches, since these networks have been proposed as candidates to underlie the protective effect of CR in the aging context. Participants with high CR showed an increase of the connectivity in the FPCN and a decrease in the DAN with respect to the low CR group, correlating with neuropsychological scores and supporting that high CR is related to a better neurocognitive preservation during aging.

Multiband effects on the upper critical field angular dependence of 122-family iron pnictide superconductors.

Detailed measurements of the in-plane resistivity were performed in a high-quality Ba([Formula: see text])[Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]) single crystal, in magnetic fields up to 9 T and with different orientations [Formula: see text] relative to the crystal c axis. A significant [Formula: see text] rounding is observed just above the superconducting critical temperature [Formula: see text] due to Cooper pairs created by superconducting fluctuations. These data are analyzed in terms of a generalization of the Aslamazov-Larkin approach, that extends its applicability to high reduced-temperatures and magnetic fields. This method allows us to carry out a criterion-independent determination of the angular dependence of the upper critical field, [Formula: see text]. In spite of the relatively small anisotropy of this compound, it is found that [Formula: see text] presents a significant deviation from the single-band 3D anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau (3D-aGL) approach, particularly for large [Formula: see text] (typically above [Formula: see text]). These results are interpreted in terms of the multiband nature of these materials, in contrast with other proposals for similar [Formula: see text] anomalies. Our results are also consistent with an effective anisotropy factor almost temperature independent near [Formula: see text], a result that differs from the ones obtained by using a single-band model.

Tailor-Made Fluorinated Ionic Liquids for Protein Delivery.

Nowadays, pharmaceutical companies are facing several challenges with the development and approval of new biological products. The unique properties of several fluorinated ionic liquids (FILs), such as their high surfactant power in aqueous solutions, their chemical and biological stability, and low toxicity, favor their application in the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, the numerous combinations between cations and anions, in the FILs design, enlarge the possibilities to construct a successful delivery system. Several FILs also proved to not affect the activity, stability, and secondary structure of the therapeutic protein lysozyme. This work aims to study the aggregation behavior of distinct FILs in the protein suitable medium, in the presence or absence of lysozyme. Besides, different incubation conditions were tested to guarantee the optimal enzymatic activity of the protein at more stable delivery systems. Following the optimization of the incubation conditions, the quantification of the encapsulated lysozyme was performed to evaluate the encapsulation efficiency of each FIL-based system. The release of the protein was tested applying variables such as time, temperature, and ultrasound frequency. The experimental results suggest that the aggregation behavior of FILs is not significantly influenced by the protein and/or protein buffer and supports their application for the design of delivery systems with high encapsulation efficiencies, maintaining the biological activity of either encapsulated and released protein.

Graphene IoNanofluids, Thermal and Structural Characterization.

Graphene is considered a promising substance in applications related to the capture and reduction of the environmental impact of fluorinated gases. However, further research is still required to explore all related possibilities. In this work, the potential use in this context of nanofluids (NFs), obtained by dispersing graphene nanosheets in fluorinated ionic liquids (FILs) is investigated. As a starting step, a thermal and structural characterization for this type of IoNanofluids (IoNFs) is presented. The highly nanostructured nature of FILs has been recently demonstrated. The presence of fluorinated moieties is responsible for enhancing the accommodation of solutes such as small gases. The strong tendency to self-assemble forming continuous and supramolecular structures, and the versatility to rearrange in several conformational features allows the stabilization of nano colloidal systems. It is essential to perform a comprehensive study of their structural features to understand the behavior of this type of heterogeneous systems. Therefore, we present screening on the phase and structural behavior of these novel IoNFs to discover and develop optimized systems where FILs turn out to be advantageous. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was employed to evaluate IoNFs mass losses with temperature, and their solid-fluid phase transitions were located using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). Their rheological properties were also determined through oscillatory experiments, obtaining the viscous and loss moduli. In addition, the structural percolation transition was also identified.

Fluorination effects on the thermodynamic, thermophysical and surface properties of ionic liquids.

This paper reports the thermal, thermodynamic, thermophysical and surface properties of eight ionic liquids with fluorinated alkyl side chain lengths equal or greater than four carbon atoms. Melting and decomposition temperatures were determined together with experimental densities, surface tensions, refractive indices, dynamic viscosities and ionic conductivities in a temperature interval ranging from 293.15 to 353.15 K. The surface properties of these fluorinated ionic liquids were discussed and several thermodynamic functions, as well as critical temperatures, were estimated. Coefficients of isobaric thermal expansion, molecular volumes and free volume effects were calculated from experimental values of density and refractive index and compared with previous data. Finally, Walden plots were used to evaluate the ionicity of the investigated ionic liquids.

Characterizing Magnitude and Selectivity of Attrition in a Study of Mild Cognitive Impairment.

OBJECTIVES: Attrition is one of the greatest difficulties in longitudinal studies on cognitive ageing because of the associated risk of underestimating declines. The aims of this paper were to characterize the magnitude and selectivity of attrition in a study of mild cognitive impairment. DESIGN: Forty two patients with multiple-domain amnestic MCI, 71 with single-domain amnestic MCI, 35 with non-amnestic MCI and 318 healthy controls were recruited from primary care centers and assessed at baseline. MEASUREMENTS: All participants underwent extensive neuropsychological evaluation, including the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Californian Verbal Learning Test, the CAMCOG-R battery, the Counting Span task and Listening Span task, and the Subjective Memory Complaints Questionnaire. RESULTS: 21.5% of the participants at baseline did not participate in the follow-up assessment. Comparison between respondents and non-returners did not reveal differences in cognitive performance in the MCI group. Data obtained at the initial assessment regarding comorbidity, social activities and attention given to memory training enabled prediction of the status of the participants in the follow-up assessment. CONCLUSION: Identification of potential non- returners is relevant, especially in MCI studies, in order to develop retention strategies to minimize attrition.

Efectos del envejecimiento en el fenómeno de la punta de la lengua. Sugerencias para la intervención en el acceso al léxico / Aging effects on the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. Suggestions for intervention on lexical access

La principal dificultad de acceso al léxico de las personas mayores normales consiste en un fallo para recordar palabras conocidas que ha sido llamado «fenómeno de la punta de la lengua» (PDL). Este fallo puede tener consecuencias negativas sobre el normal desarrollo del proceso de conversación y comunicación y puede producir problemas emocionales en los mayores. Con el objetivo de conocer algunas pautas que puedan ayudar a las personas mayores a resolver las situaciones de PDL hemos realizado un estudio experimental sobre la incidencia y naturaleza del PDL. En el estudio, 57 adultos agrupados en tres grupos de edad (jóvenes, mediana edad y mayores) participaron en un experimento de definiciones de palabras (nombres comunes, nombres propios, verbos y adjetivos) para elicitar PDL. Para inducir la resolución utilizamos también una tarea de evocación libre de palabras, presentada como una tarea de fluidez, y una tarea de primado, presentada como una tarea de pronunciación. los resultados confirman una mayor incidencia de los PDL y un menor efecto de la facilitación fonológica en las personas mayores. A partir de los resultados, se sugiere que las estrategias más eficaces para mejorar el acceso al léxico en este grupo de edad, son aquellas que se basan en el procesamiento consciente, arriba-abajo, no constreñido por el tiempo y con tareas que utilicen claves contextuales y semánticas

The main important difficulty of lexical access for the elderly consists in a failure to recall a word of which one has knowledge that has been called «the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon» (TOT). That failure has negative consequences on the normal flow of conversation and communication and can produce emotional disturbances in the elderly. We carried out an experimental study on the influence of aging on incidence and resolution of IOT events with the aim of knowing some guide lines for intervention that can help aged people to successfully resolve these situations. In this study, 57 adults grouped into three groups of age (young, middle age, old) participated in an experiment using definitions about common names, proper names, adjectives and verbs to elicit TOTs. They also were induced to resolve the TOTs introducing a freeevocation-of-words task and a priming task presented as a fluency and a pronunciation task respectively. Results confirm a higher incidence of TOTs and a lower effect of phonological priming on the older than on the younger people. From our results we suggest that the more efficacious strategies to facilitate lexical access in the elderly are those that are based on a conscious and top-down processing without temporal constraints and implemented by tasks using contextual and semantic cues

Enfermedades de Hodgkin. Diagnóstico y tratamiento / Hodgkin's disease. Diagnosis and treatment

Se realiza un estudio de pacientes con enfermedad de Hodgkin, entre los cuales se detectó uno con sarcoma de Hodgkin. Se plantea que sin el tratamiento actual este paciente hubiera fallecido. Se revisa la entidad y el tratamiento actualizado(AU)

[Visceral larva migrans]. / Larva migrans visceral.

The clinical records of patients with visceral larva migrans confirmed through laparoscopy and other tests are reviewed. This review was prompted by the admittance of two patients with this affection in the last years. Medical literature was reviewed, and conclusions are made.