Everyday Life Activities Research Articles

From hospital to home: Analyzing the market dynamics of home health and hospital-at-home care

The home health care industry in the United States is expected to develop at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.89% from 2023 to 2032, and is expected to reach approximately $300 billion by 2028. The aging population, rising rates of chronic illnesses, the need for post-hospitalization care, and patient preferences for at-home care are some of the factors contributing to this growth. In addition to non-medical help with everyday life activities, home health care offers medical treatments such skilled nursing and physical therapy. Large providers with the greatest patient volume, such as AccentCare, Amedisys, and Enhabit Home Health & Hospice, dominate the industry. To guarantee patient safety and high-quality care, home health agencies are subject to regulatory scrutiny. Home health care can also be a valuable source of information and respite for family caregivers. The capabilities of home health care have been increased by technological developments in telehealth and remote monitoring, which allow medical professionals to keep an eye on patients' status and interact with them from a distance. All things considered, the home health care sector is changing to accommodate the expanding and varied requirements of patients who want to receive treatment in the convenience of their own homes, offering an affordable and individualized substitute for traditional hospital settings.

Dysexecutive symptomatology in everyday functioning and academic achievement in adolescents.

During the educational stage, academic achievement depends on various social, family, and personal factors. Among the latter, executive skills in everyday life play a significant role in dealing with the academic demands of adolescents. Therefore, the aim of this study is to ascertain the effects of executive symptomatology in everyday functioning on academic achievement in adolescents. The study involved 910 students aged between 13 and 15 years (M = 14.09, SD = 0.68) from both public and private schools in the Community of Madrid. The DEX, BDEFS-CA, and BRIEF-SR questionnaires were utilised to assess executive difficulties, while grades in language, mathematics, and natural sciences were used as a measure of academic achievement. The data revealed statistically significant differences in working memory, emotional control, materials organisation, and task completion. In relation to language and natural sciences subjects. In the case of mathematics, emotional control and task completion were significant variables. Our results indicate that certain executive skills that are manifested in everyday life activities can contribute, albeit in a variable way, to academic achievement in the subjects studied. This aspect is relevant insofar as it allows us to develop preventive interventions based on the executive training of these everyday skills.

Pembentukan Akhlakul Karimah Remaja Muslim Desa Purworejo dalam Konteks Kesadaran Beragama

Purworejo village has its own uniqueness regarding the daily lives of Muslim teenagers in it. The idealism of daily patterns with full ethics shows the success of learning patterns in them. Words and actions in everyday life that are tied to ethics are interesting to review.The work is in the form of field research, using qualitative methods, a phenomenological approach, along with data triangulation, trying to find patterns of effective learning in the village. With a focus on a) the process of forming al-karimah morals in the context of religious awareness, b) identification of moral awareness in a religious context, c) the role of various elements in successful learning.The results of the research are a) the process of forming morals in religious awareness is to use a pattern of forming awareness by involving various parties, b) the success of formation is by having an ideal pattern of behavior, both in ethics and enthusiasm for learning, c) there are three important elements that play a role in this process, namely teachers/figures, parents, and also the community

Eliciting small island tourists’ ecological protection, water conservation, and waste reduction behaviours

Small island destinations possess fragile ecosystems that are susceptible to the effects of tourism. Ensuring sustainability in these destinations is undoubtedly of utmost importance. This research delved into the fundamental cognitive, affective, and normative processes underlying tourists' intentions toward ecological protection, water conservation, and waste reduction during their visits to small island destinations. Additionally, the study examined the moderating role of environmental protection activities in everyday life. Cutting-edge statistical methods, specifically generalized structured component analysis with measurement errors incorporated and necessary condition analysis, were applied to validate a theoretical model and uncover the crucial factors influencing tourists' intentions concerning environmental protection. The findings categorised the predictive constructs into four groups: necessary and sufficient, necessary but insufficient, unnecessary but sufficient, and unnecessary and insufficient. Our findings shed light on the essential and/or nonessential factors that shape tourists’ ecological intentions in small island destinations.

Handedness and Its Impact on a Career in Medicine.

Left-handedness in a world of right lateral bias can be an invisible barrier both in everyday life as well as in medical career development, and throughout a medical career. Common everyday life actions, including screwing in lightbulbs, inserting a screw, or any action that requires a clockwise rotation, is designed for "righties," making life for "lefties" a challenge. Other examples include writing without a slant or without smudging. In medicine, the physical examination of a patient is taught using the right hand and standing on the right side of the patient, an awkward situation for left handers. Another major concern in medicine specifically, is handwriting-notoriously poor in lefties-impacting legibility in progress notes, prescriptions, and medical records. In surgery and other procedural specialties in particular, using instruments intended for right-handed individuals, including suturing and positioning at the operating room table, presents left-handed individuals with particular challenges. Left-handed medical students and residents are especially vulnerable, as they may feel uncomfortable requesting special accommodations for their "handedness." The significance and impact of handedness often go unrecognized, yet may play a substantial role in career choices: the difficulties of being left-handed may dissuade students from pursuing their desired career. Solutions are available, including using instruments designed for left-handers (or learning to use "righty" instruments), and positioning at the operating room or procedure table as preferred by the left-handed individual. These solutions often require a cooperative attitude by colleagues. The authors describe the significance of handedness, including their own personal experiences, and offer some solutions for left-handed individuals who struggle to adapt to a right-handed world.

Philosophical hermeneutics and scientific and pedagogical activities

Importance. Maintaining a continuous, equal dialogue between teachers and philosophers is one of the conditions for achieving the main humanitarian and educational goal – the upbringing of a spiritual and moral, comprehensively developed, socially responsible personality. Scientific and pedagogical activity is based on a certain system of philosophical and ideological ideas, principles and ideals that enrich and stimulate the development of educational thought and practice. Currently, the experience of philosophical hermeneutics, one of the directions of Western thought, is in great demand in educational practice. Hermeneutical theories influence the formation and formation of a special science – pedagogical hermeneutics. The principles of hermeneutics are increasingly being used as a theoretical and methodological basis for discussing and critically comprehending traditional pedagogical problems, such as methods of teaching and upbringing in the field of social sciences and humanities, assessment of the quality of education, the content and meaning of pedagogical activity. The ideas and positions of hermeneutics resonate in discussions about qualitative research. Hermeneutics helps to comprehend the genuine difficulties of interpretation that each individual faces in everyday life and professional activities. The purpose of the research is to reveal the possibilities of applying the experience of philosophical hermeneutics in the structure of scientific and pedagogical activity. To achieve this goal, the characteristic features and principles of hermeneutics as a philosophical tradition are considered, the cognitive potential of the hermeneutical approach in scientific and pedagogical practice is clarified.Materials and Methods. The following methods and approaches are used: 1) using the comparative historical method, the process of formation and development of philosophical hermeneutics is revealed, its conceptual evolution is analyzed; 2) the fundamental method of interpretation is used to work with texts of prominent representatives of philosophical hermeneutics; 3) the application of an interdisciplinary approach is due to the combination in the study of various fields of knowledge: philosophy, pedagogy, linguistics, psychology; 4) on the basis of a systematic approach, an analytical description of the applied aspect of philosophical hermeneutics for pedagogy is provided. The historical and philosophical reconstruction of the ideas and principles of hermeneutics was carried out on the basis of the works of F. Schleiermacher, W. Dilthey, M. Heidegger, G.-G. Gadamer. The specificity of the hermeneutical methodology is comprehended against the background of the positivist methodology opposite to it.Results and Discussion. The cognitive potential of the hermeneutical approach in scientific and pedagogical practice is considered. It is noted that this approach provides the teacher with an understanding of the meaning of key educational terms, which helps to avoid situations of conceptual confusion in pedagogical communication. Understanding and interpretation can cause certain difficulties for students themselves when they relate to the content of various texts. In such cases, the teacher should find out the causes of the difficulties that arise, and help the students overcome them. It is emphasized that hermeneutics forms a specific style of thinking with a clearly pronounced anti-positivist orientation. The widespread opinion about the teacher as a subject of educational activity and the bearer of genuine knowledge, which he must “put into the heads” of students, in hermeneutics gives way to the idea of learning as a process of mutual creativity, cooperation between the teacher and the student. The role of the teacher is reduced to creating conditions that ensure the “merging of horizons” of participants in pedagogical activity. Hermeneutics stimulates the formulation of questions aimed at understanding the meaning of educational activity, it clarifies the degree of involvement of the teacher in the realization of this meaning. Starting from the idea of ontological inclusion of a person in a cultural and historical tradition, hermeneutics makes it possible to understand to what extent prejudices determine our behavior and thinking, and how this circumstance affects interpersonal relationships. The hermeneutical approach makes it possible to interpret educational activities based on the idea of the uniqueness of pedagogical experience. The use of the hermeneutical method assumes that the teacher-researcher associates himself not with an impartial observer, but with a full participant in the dialogical search. Thanks to the joint efforts of the researcher and other participants in the hermeneutical conversation, meaning and understanding merge.Conclusion. It is shown that the problem of interpretation, considered in the framework of educational activities, is of a practical nature. Modern philosophical hermeneutics, having made an ontological turn, overcomes the Cartesian view of the abstract opposition of subject and object, tradition and reason, which prevails in “modernist” pedagogy. Teachers can benefit from the analysis and development of the most important ideas and provisions of hermeneutics for their application in scientific and pedagogical activities, as it helps to realize their own prejudices, questions initial interpretations, strengthens the position of self-reflection regarding the educational process.

The Human Spectrum: A Critique of “Neurodiversity”

This paper represents a sociological approach to autism spectrum disorder that critiques the terms neurodiverse and it obverse, neurotypical, because they promote a cognitive approach that mystifies what is actual and real about human activity in everyday life. It is in dynamic interactional practices rather than putative cognitive states that human diversity is manifest or observable. The empirical part of the paper, following Bleuler, defines and examines “autistic talk” as a turning away from the ordinary social world or commonsense “reality,” and engaging self‐oriented practices and orientations. However, the range of participants who produce such talk is not confined to those on the putative autism spectrum. Rather, that range encompasses the entire human span. If so, then a question is raised about what autism is as a “condition,” which term individualizes social difficulties rather than appreciating that they are always about diverse social actions‐in‐interaction.

Home-Based Titration with Duodenal Infusion of Levodopa-Carbidopa Intestinal Gel in People with Parkinson's Disease: An Observational Feasibility Study.

Testing and titration of the right levodopa equivalent dose are usually performed during a hospital admission. However, optimal dose titration in people with Parkinson's disease (PwPs) may depend on home environment, emotional stress, and physical activity of everyday life. Firstly, to evaluate the feasibility and safety of a home-based LCIG titration program and patients'/caregivers' satisfaction. Secondly, to identify barriers and facilitators for home-based titration. This study assesses the feasibility and safety of home-based titration of levodopa duodenal infusions with the use of self-reported evaluation questionnaires with open-ended questions included, registration of total time used, and number of contacts/visits. A telemedicine solution was used to remotely monitor the patients, adjust treatment, and provide support and guidance to patients and caregivers. Ten of 12 PwPs (5 females and 7 males) completed the total titration program. Eight of the 12 PwPs were dependent on help. These 8 PwPs also had a high burden of nonmotor symptoms (NMS). Cognitive impairments varied in severity (range 16-30). Time spent with home visits was on average 93.4 minutes (ranging from 35 to 180 minutes), and the length of the total titration (LCIG initiation to termination of titration) was on average 3.4 days with 2-5 (mean 3.2) contacts/visits with PD team members. The average score on the satisfaction evaluation questionnaires was lower in the caregiver group (mean 31.8) than the PwP outcome (mean 36.2). Telehealth-assisted home-based titration programs are feasible due to the length of the titration period, number of contacts, and time spent in PwPs' private homes, are rated satisfactory and safe by PwPs and caregivers, and may be a substitute for in-hospital treatment. Clinical recommendations including facilitators and barriers from a patient/caregiver perspective are displayed. This trial is registered with NCT4196647.

Practical aspects of the application of the remote physical rehabilitation support system under audiovisual self-control

The problem of developing a system for monitoring the health state of people with chronic non-communicable disease (CNCD) is considered. To improve the effectiveness of medical care for such patients, it is proposed to use long-term remote monitoring of their health outside the medical institution and, based on the analysis of personalized patterns of dynamics of diagnostically significant indicators for the state of remission and exacerbation of the disease, to ensure the possibility of detecting its exacerbation at an early stage of development. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system remain a serious problem for modern man. A long-term physical rehabilitation is required for the treatment of such condition. At the outpatient stage, it is carried out by the patient himself. The patient doesn’t have the possibility of qualified control over the correctness of performing rehabilitation exercises at home. The remote monitoring system will allow to assess the patient's condition during the outpatient period objectively. However, existing technical solutions are difficult to use for an ordinary user. Therefore, a convenient system is needed that could increase the availability of medical services without the use of additional equipment. The presence of a motion sensor system in a smartphone increases the possibility of using this technical tool to monitor motor activity in everyday life. Purpose of the present paper: to assess the effectiveness of a remote physical rehabilitation sup-port system through its implementation in a medical institution involving patients who have under-gone a rehabilitation course during their inpatient period, including the performance of a specific set of rehabilitation exercises, and to explore the participants' experiences using a mobile application and remote physical rehabilitation support system. During the development on the NEFITNESS project, the team developed and successfully implemented in clinical practice a system for remote physical rehabilitation support under audio-visual self-control. The support system, based on an inertial sensor, a mobile application, and an online platform, led to a 11% increase in muscle endurance over six months of regular sessions compared to standard rehabilitation techniques. The following objectives were achieved: a) experience with the mobile application and physical rehabilitation support system was studied; b) quantitative characteristics of rehabilitation trajectory success were obtained through exercise performance feedback; c) participant engagement in the topic of remote rehabilitation support increased; d) accessibility of rehabilitation technologies for a wide range of users improved. The practical possibility of using a remote rehabilitation and motor activity recovery system under audiovisual self- control is presented, where a smartphone served as a feed-back tool based on an integrated motion sensor to ensure the correct execution of rehabilitation exercises. Within the framework of joint scientific research carried out at the Research Institute of Emergency Pediatric Surgery and Traumatology under the project "Development of a complex of remote physical rehabilitation of children", the remote physical rehabilitation system and mobile application "NEFITNESS" were tested. The developed system resulted in increased muscle endurance over six months of regular sessions can be scaled and applied to address various tasks related to the digital representation of restorative exercises for other segments of the musculoskeletal system.

Results of a medical and social examination of patients of older age groups, including disabled people, with hypomobility syndrome

BACKGROUND: Diseases of elderly and senile age are often accompanied by geriatric syndromes, leading to medical and social problems, of which hypomobility syndrome is one of the most common.
 AIM: Analysis of factors that form the medical and social portrait of patients in older age groups, including disabled people with hypomobility syndrome, based on the biopsychosocial concept of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.
 MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was conducted at the Makhachkala Clinical Hospital of the Federal State Budgetary Institution “Southern District Medical Center of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency” in 2020–2022. A medical and social examination was carried out on 576 patients aged 56 to 65 years (average age 62.7±2.15 years) with hypomobility syndrome. Of these, 384 people were disabled, 192 did not have disabilities. To solve the problems of this study, an original questionnaire was specially developed. When conducting the study, the modern demographic structure in Russia was used, in which the elderly age (in years) for women was 55+; for men — 60+. In patients of the older age group, including disabled people, with hypomobility syndrome, the main elements of activity and participation in everyday and social life, as well as the dysfunctions of the body that affected them, were studied. The study was selective. Selection criteria: citizens of the older age group who sought medical help due to hypomobility syndrome. Research methods: documentary, expert-rehabilitation, survey, analytical, statistical.
 RESULTS: Patients of the older age group, including disabled people, with hypomobility syndrome were characterized by manifestations of comorbidity and polymorbidity, accompanied by dysfunction of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, global and specific mental/psychical functions, functions of the blood system, digestion and others, which led to the formation of difficulties in the implementation of everyday, social and professional activities related to the characteristics of national culture and way of life; formed patients' dependence on outside help. The following problems most significantly limited the lives of patients in the older age group with hypomobility: (1) difficulties in changing posture (χ2=107.4; p 0.001), which were identified to a moderate extent in 56 out of 100 disabled people in the main group and 14 out of 100 people without disability control group; in severe and significantly severe cases — in 6 out of 100 disabled people and 8 out of 100 without disabilities; (2) difficulties in rising from squats (χ2=64.54; p 0.001): moderate — in 44 out of 100 disabled people and 36 out of 100 representatives of the control group; pronounced and significantly expressed — in 27 out of 100 disabled people and 17 out of 100 non-disabled people; (3) difficulties with prolonged standing (χ2=67.39; p 0.001): moderate degree — in a third of disabled people (32 out of 100 people) and a quarter of people without disabilities (22 out of 100), severe and significantly expressed degree — in 13 out of 100 disabled people and 8 out of 100 non-disabled people.
 CONCLUSION: For people of the older age group with hypomobility syndrome, the factors that shape their medical and social portrait are medical aspects and social problems in the form of restrictions on their activity, difficulties in everyday, professional, and social activities.

Analysis of the effectiveness of the developed system of physical therapy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis in terms of daily activity, health status and quality of life

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze the effectiveness of the developed system of physical therapy for patients with rheumatoid arthritis based on the results of indicators of daily activity, health status and quality of life. Material & Methods. 188 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were examined, including 156 women (83%) and 32 men (17%), with an average age of 44,9±7,6 years. The patients were randomly divided into a control group (n=92) and a study group (n=96). Patients in the main group were trained according to the proposed system of physical therapy, which was developed in accordance with the domains of the ICF, taking into account factors affecting the level of functional impairment, health status and quality of life (categories at the level of activity and participation). In the dynamics, a comparative assessment of functional limitations in the daily activity of the upper extremities was performed using the DASH questionnaire, health status assessment using the Stanford Health Interview, and quality of life using the EuroQol-5D-5L questionnaire. Results. In patients with rheumatoid arthritis, the initial examination revealed impaired performance of daily activities, in particular, activities requiring hand strength according to the DASH questionnaire, low self-assessment of health according to the Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire, and significant deterioration in quality of life (EQ-5D-5L) due to the negative impact of existing functional impairments of the upper extremities. After the rehabilitation intervention, patients in both groups showed statistically significant improvement in all studied indicators: facilitation of performing household activities in everyday life, increased self-assessment of health, and improved quality of life compared to baseline data (p < 0.05). However, patients in the main group showed a significantly better result than patients in the control group, which indicates the effectiveness of the proposed rehabilitation measures (p<0.05). Conclusion. Significantly better differences between patients of the main and control groups were found according to the results of the studied indicators, which clearly demonstrates and confirms the effectiveness of the proposed system of physical therapy in contrast to the standard rehabilitation system.

Four modeling approaches to study restrictions on everyday life and social activities due to chronic diseases with consequences of suicidal behavior

The purpose of this study was to discover the association between disability in everyday life and social activities due to chronic diseases and suicidal ideation (SI), suicidal plan (SP), and suicidal attempt (SA) from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), considering the cross-sectional design of this study, 2016–2018 dataset. Variables for finding the associated factors of SI, SP, and SA were confirmed through random forest (RF), decision tree, generalized linear model (GLM), and support vector machine (SVM), and the performance of each model is listed. A total of 17,323 (males: 7,530, females: 9793) responders from the KNHANES from 2016 to 2018 were employed for the study. The relationship between restrictions on daily life, social activities, and three stages of suicidal behaviors due to diseases were analyzed using the R function (R version 4.2.0), randomForest, ctree, glm, and ksvm. The F1-score is a measure used to evaluate the accuracy of the performance of a model, in the binary classification. The score of 1 indicates good performance, whereas a score of 0 signifies poor performance. Due to chronic diseases, disability in everyday life and social activities lead to suicide behaviors. In our study, we examined the impact of limitations in daily living and social activities on suicidal behaviors among participants. Our findings revealed that for those experiencing such limitations, the odds ratios (ORs) for SIs were 6.10 (95% CI: 3.99–9.34) for males and 2.61 (1.79–3.81) for females. SPs were 3.69 (2.36–5.78) for males and 3.94 (2.70–5.75) for females. Similarly, the odds ratios for SAs were 5.04 (2.51–10.13) for males and 2.71 (1.48–4.98) for females, indicating a significant association between these limitations and increased suicidal behaviors, with variances observed between genders. These results underscore the necessity of addressing daily living and social activity restrictions when considering mental health interventions and suicide prevention strategies. In RF, GLM, and SVM, F1-score were 0.8192, 0.6887, and 0.9687 in SA, respectively. Among the patients with chronic disease, those with sequelae, low incomes, and low levels of education had limitations in daily activities and social activities, which increased the likelihood of suicidal thoughts, planning, and attempts.

Determining the ability of artificial intelligence to establish authorship of artistic ukrainian texts using significant fragments

Artificial intelligence is becoming an integral part of everyday life and profes-sional activity of a person. Bing, as an intelligent search system, can serve as a tool for determining the authorship of artistic text in Ukrainian. Bing helps to uncover in-formation about a text fragment and its author, although the search results may be inaccurate or incomplete. This work aims to explore the effectiveness of determining the authorship of ar-tistic texts using modern artificial intelligence tools based on significant fragments of works. Ten Ukrainian authors with a rich body of artistic works, reflecting various as-pects of Ukrainian culture and history, were selected for the experiment. Random fragments up to 500 words in length were selected from various works of these au-thors. An experiment was conducted to determine the authorship of 360 fragments. Using the Python programming language and the skpy package, software was created that sends queries and receives responses from the Bing bot embedded in Microsoft Skype. The presence of the author’s name and the corresponding title of the work were checked in the response texts. This work introduces, for the first time, a method of verifying the authorship of Ukrainian-language text fragments using the Bing bot equipped with artificial intelli-gence. A comparative analysis was conducted and experiments were carried out to identify the authorship of significant long fragments. It was found that long fragments allow the author of the artistic Ukrainian text to be determined with high accuracy. Ivan Franko has the highest percentage of re-sponses where the author’s name and the title of the work were mentioned - 87%. The proposed hypothesis regarding the effectiveness of artificial intelligence in establishing authorship of works has not been confirmed. Artificial intelligence has slightly lower efficiency than expected, which indirectly exposes its means of opera-tion. Namely, when establishing authorship, a sequential research comparison of the proposed fragment with a bank of works that are widespread in the Internet environ-ment is not performed.

Rehabilitation models for community integration of adults with acquired brain injury in rural areas: a scoping review.

Community integration (CI) is recognised as an overarching goal for the rehabilitation of individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI). However, adults with less severe ABI often experience a lack of support when they return home after discharge from hospital or inpatient rehabilitation, despite having persistent impairments and ongoing needs. Individuals living in rural areas are even less likely to receive adequate support during this period, which is often marked by challenges and uncertainty. This review aims to map and explore the research literature to identify existing models for rehabilitation service provision aimed at promoting the CI of home-dwelling adults with ABI living in rural areas. A scoping review of the research literature was conducted. The study followed the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines for scoping reviews and the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. The databases searched were MEDLINE, Embase, AMED, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PsycInfo, and Google Scholar. No limitations were set for the study design, time of publication, or country of origin, but only literature in English, Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish was considered for inclusion. Twenty-seven articles were included. All of them originated from four Western and predominantly English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US. A thematic analysis identified six model categories that reflect different strategies for providing rehabilitation that promote CI in adults with ABI in rural areas. Sorting the model categories into micro (individual, interpersonal), meso (organisational, community), and macro (policy, society) levels highlighted that most of the included literature concentrates on microlevel issues at the individual or interpersonal level. Microlevel model categories encompass self-management and education, the use of navigators, and the incorporation of everyday life activities into rehabilitation. Far fewer articles addressed mesolevel issues such as service development in rural areas or the development of inclusive rural communities, and only a single article addressed policy development at the macro level. The relatively low number of included articles and limited geographical distribution of studies indicate that more research is needed on rehabilitation models aimed at promoting CI in adults with ABI in rural areas. Although we identified several existing approaches to rehabilitation service provision in rural areas, there is still a need to develop models that fully consider the complexity and long-term nature of CI after ABI. The results also demonstrate that CI in rural areas not only is dependent on professional service delivery aimed at the individual with ABI but also can be promoted by supporting significant others, developing inclusive communities, and improving policies. More knowledge on such issues may facilitate a wider reorganisation of care systems to enhance the CI of adults with ABI in rural areas. However, this will require more research with a wider scope than microlevel service delivery.

Registration study for the prevention and treatment of cerebral hemorrhage using naoxueshu oral liquid: Protocol for a research study

BackgroundNaoxueshu oral liquid is the only approved drug for acute treatment of cerebral hemorrhage in China. It has been used widely for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke and acute hemorrhagic stroke. However, safety and efficacy data on the early use of Naoxueshu oral liquid are lacking. The main purpose of this study is to observe the benefit and safety of early use of Naoxueshu oral liquid (< 72 h of cerebral hemorrhage) and offer evidence into the potential superiority of Naoxueshu oral liquid in patients with hemorrhagic stroke, and its healthcare costs. MethodsThis registration study for the prevention and treatment of cerebral hemorrhage using Naoxueshu oral liquid will be a quantitative, prospective, multicenter, observational clinical registry study. We aim to register 2000 patients with cerebral hemorrhage within 7 days of disease onset. This study will be an observational study and not interfere with the medication regimen of participants. Hence, we will not allocate patients. The main observation indicators will be the hematoma volume and the proportion of reduction 14 days post-cerebral hemorrhage (or at hospital discharge), onset of new stroke (ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke) within 12 months of disease onset, independence in everyday life activities (modified Rankin Scale score ≤ 2), total cost during hospitalization, and treatment costs. ConclusionThis registration study will offer strong evidence for the efficacy and safety of Naoxueshu oral liquid for the prevention and treatment of cerebral hemorrhage, particularly with regard to early use (72 h after onset). It will offer evidence into the potential advantages of Naoxueshu oral liquid in patients with hemorrhagic stroke, including healthcare costs.

Seesaw Precarity: Journaling Anxious Hope on a Chinese University Campus During Covid-19.

In this article, we examine the Covid-19 experiences of a group of Chinese university students studying in the city of Guangzhou. We draw on journal entries that Chinese students submitted to the Pandemic Journaling Project between March and May 2022, along with follow-up responses in July and December 2022, to argue that these students spent most of their undergraduate years living in a state of "seesaw precarity." We define seesaw precarity as a protracted period during which many Chinese were unable to predict from one day to the next whether they would be free to engage in the quotidian activities of everyday life. We trace student reactions and adaptations as they struggled to attend class, buy food, and see friends and family in the midst of unpredictable swings between openness and closedness. The seesaw nature of restrictions spurred considerable anxiety among the students we followed, but also produced an optimistic mindset we refer to as "anxious hope." Participants accepted the necessity of Covid controls and felt it was incumbent upon them as individuals to adjust to this reality. They saw themselves as responsible for actively cultivating a positive mindset. Our findings suggest that the promotion of emotional self-care and anxious hope during the pandemic may have supported the viability of long-term controls as well as the acceptability of their sudden abandonment, while muting the possibility of resistance.

Meklējot piederību pēctrimdas laikā. Daži aspekti Indras Gubiņas un Gunara Janovska dzīvē un daiļradē

The present article aims to focus on a phenomenon that has received little attention in the context of not only the historical processes but also the Latvian literary process, literature as such, and creative personalities. The attention is centred on the period that was marked by substantial changes on both sides of the so-called Iron Curtain, which had created two separate closed spaces – that of Soviet Latvia and the various countries of residence of Latvian exiles. When Latvia regained its independent statehood, it changed the historical significance of the exile which included the idea of homecoming. For many years, living and working in a foreign country with their thoughts of lost Latvia, waiting for this significant event, the exiles were facing a choice – how and where to live, what was the justification of exile and life outside Latvia in the new situation. This new situation actualised the question of who were the Latvians outside Latvia in such circumstances, clearly understanding that they were no longer exiles. The metaphor of a gateway precisely expresses this feeling – should they remain standing at the gate (in exile) or enter the gate, that is, return to Latvia, the country that has changed, is undergoing change, and, in fact, is being recreated anew. The reality proved to be much more complicated, as nearly half a century had passed since the day when, at the end of WWII, such a great number of Latvians left their homeland. Based on archive studies, the article provides an insight into several aspects of life and creative activity of two exile writers – Indra Gubiņa (1927–2017) and Gunars Janovskis (1916–2000) – in the post-exile period, concentrating on the belonging, the feelings of being between Latvia and exile, and seeking the answers to the questions: what in their everyday life and creative activity was changed (if at all) by the closure of their exile, and if they managed to find in themselves the sense of belonging to the Latvian (cultural) space. The article not only uses the archive studies but also attempts to look for new opportunities for theoretical research; namely, it tries to carry over into the Latvian literature research the theoretical phenomenon of post-exile (Nachexil, Post-Exile) that has entered the German literary study (Bannach, Sarkowsky 2020), and provides a new potential in exile literature study, with the end of exile being the starting point, directly related to the restoration of Latvia’s independence.

The effects of occipital and parietal tDCS on chronic visual field defects after brain injury.

Homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) following acquired brain lesions affect independent living by hampering several activities of everyday life. Available treatments are intensive and week- or month-long. Transcranial Direct current stimulation (tDCS), a plasticity-modulating non-invasive brain stimulation technique, could be combined with behavioral trainings to boost their efficacy or reduce treatment duration. Some promising attempts have been made pairing occipital tDCS with visual restitution training, however less is knows about which area/network should be best stimulated in association with compensatory approaches, aimed at improving exploratory abilities, such as multisensory trainings. In a proof-of-principle, sham-controlled, single-blind study, 15 participants with chronic HVFDs underwent four one-shot sessions of active or sham anodal tDCS applied over the ipsilesional occipital cortex, the ipsilesional or contralesional posterior parietal cortex. tDCS was delivered during a compensatory multisensory (audiovisual) training. Before and immediately after each tDCS session, participants carried out a visual detection task, and two visual search tasks (EF and Triangles search tests). Accuracy (ACC) and response times (RTs) were analyzed with generalized mixed models. We investigated differences in baseline performance, clinical-demographic and lesion factors between tDCS responders and non-responders, based on post-tDCS behavioral improvements. Lastly, we conducted exploratory analyses to compare left and right brain-damaged participants. RTs improved after active ipsilesional occipital and parietal tDCS in the visual search tasks, while no changes in ACC were detected. Responders to ipsilesional occipital tDCS (Triangle task) had shorter disease duration and smaller lesions of the parietal cortex and the superior longitudinal fasciculus. On the other end, on the EF test, those participants with larger damage of the temporo-parietal cortex or the fronto-occipital white matter tracts showed a larger benefit from contralesional parietal tDCS. Overall, the visual search RTs improvements were larger in participants with right-sided hemispheric lesions. The present result shows the facilitatory effects of occipital and parietal tDCS combined with compensatory multisensory training on visual field exploration in HVFDs, suggesting a potential for the development of new neuromodulation treatments to improve visual scanning behavior in brain-injured patients.

Basic motor competencies of kindergarten children: Differences in sex, age, sport club membership, and physical activity in everyday life

Introduction&#x0D; The kindergarten age (four to six years) is considered to be a central phase of motor development, as basic motor competencies (BMC) are formed here. The development of BMC is crucial for participating in physical activities (PA) and sport, which in turn supports the development of a healthy lifestyle. Two domains of competence can be distinguished: the competence domain of object-movement includes tasks related to handling balls and the competence domain of self-movement includes movements of one's own body (Herrmann et al., 2022).&#x0D; Methods&#x0D; The BMC of N = 44 children (aged M = 58.1 months, SD = 7.9, 54.5% boys) were assessed in Hamburg, Germany, using the MOBAK-KG instrument (Herrmann et al., 2020). The children’s sport club membership and PA were recorded from the parents’ questionnaire. Data was analyzed using t-tests.&#x0D; Results Boys achieved higher scores in object-movement (p = .047, d = .62), whereas there were no significant differences between boys and girls in self-movement. Older children (60-67 months) performed significantly better in both domains (self-movement: p = .024, d = .72; object-movement: p &lt; .001, d = 1.48) than the younger cohort (39-59 months). More than half of the children are physically active for at least half an hour on three days or less per week. Children who engage in PA for at least half an hour on four or more days a week achieved significantly better results in self-movement (p = .025, d = .72) but not in object-movement. Significant differences were also found between BMC and sport club membership in both domains (self-movement: p = .009, d = .84; object-movement: p = .004, d = .94) in favor of the children who are members of a sport club, with boys being in sport clubs more often than girls.&#x0D; Discussion/Conclusion&#x0D; A high level of BMC seems to enable children to take part in sports activities even in the kindergarten age. Boys already showed higher performance in handling balls in that age. The higher scores in both domains in favor of the older cohort indicate that the BMC of kindergarten children must always be interpreted in an age-specific manner. PA can be seen as an important factor in promoting self-movement. However, it should be noted that the information on PA is based on the subjective assessments of the parents, who might be biased. Participation in sport clubs is, however, relatively selective and depends on various factors, such as the social environment. Therefore, it is important to provide PA time in kindergarten. This study is the first in Germany which reproduces results from the Swiss context and refers to the validity of the MOBAK-KG instrument across cultures.&#x0D; References&#x0D; Herrmann, C., Bretz, K., Kühnis, J., Seelig, H., Keller, R., Storni, S., Voisard, N., Rossi, F., &amp; Ferrari, I. (2022). Monitoring motorischer Basiskompetenzen von Kindergartenkindern in der Schweiz. Abschlussbericht MOBAK-Monitoring 2021 [Monitoring the basic motor skills of kindergarten children in Switzerland. Final report MOBAK-Monitoring 2021] Zürich: Pädagogische Hochschule Zürich. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6380396&#x0D; Herrmann, C., Ferrari, I., Wälti, M., Wacker, S., &amp; Kühnis, J. (2020). MOBAK-KG: Motorische Basiskompetenzen im Kindergarten. Testmanual [MOBAK-KG: Basic motor skills in kindergarten. Test manual] (3rd ed.). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3774435

Software application for predicting the efficacy of rehabilitation treatment in patients with discirculatory encephalopathy

Software application for predicting the efficacy of rehabilitation treatment in patients with discirculatory encephalopathy