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Assessing social connection for long-term care home residents: A scoping review of measure content.

Social connection comprises distinct but interrelated aspects describing how individuals connect to each other. Various measures have assessed multiple aspects of social connection in long-term care (LTC) home populations, but they use inconsistent terminology, making it unclear what aspects are measured. This scoping review describes how social connection is assessed by measures that have been used in LTC home residents. This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines. Two systematic literature searches combining search terms for social connection AND LTC home residents AND measurement properties were conducted in eight electronic databases from inception to April 2022. Included studies reported the development or psychometric testing of measures which assessed social connection in LTC home residents. A content analysis with a deductive-inductive approach was used to analyze the measures' content and an adapted Framework Method was used for data management. Findings report each measure's items and the assessed aspects of social connection. Dementia and non-dementia-specific measures had content, administration, and scoring compared. From 8753 records, 58 studies reporting on 14 dementia-specific and 28 non-dementia-specific social connection measures were identified, including complete measures, subscales, and single items. These measures assessed social network (52.4%), social isolation (11.9%), social interaction (47.6%), social engagement (31.0%), social support (33.3%), social connectedness (21.4%), and loneliness (9.5%). A total of 27 (64.3%) of the measures included more than one aspect of social connection. Dementia-specific measures most often assessed social interaction whereas non-dementia-specific measures most often assessed social network, social interaction, and social support. Dementia-specific measures typically relied on a proxy response, whereas non-dementia-specific measures more often used self-report. Existing social connection measures in LTC home settings operationalize seven aspects of social connection and differ according to the target population (dementia or non-dementia-specific). These findings will inform future measure selection and development. Social connection is important to long-term care (LTC) home residents' quality of life.Social connection has been assessed by quantifying/describing relationships.Existing measures usually assess more than one aspect of social connection.These aspects cover several interlinked observed or experienced domains.Dementia and non-dementia-specific measures differ in assessing social connection.

SUPPORTING NURSING HOME MANAGERS TO ACT ON PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK DATA: A PROVINCEWIDE IMPLEMENTATION

Abstract INFORM (Improving Nursing home care through Feedback on perfoRMance data) is a tested research intervention targeting care managers that demonstrated positive two year follow up results and has subsequently been shaped into an operationally acceptable “implementation package”. This package or innovation is being scaled up in one Canadian province’s total Long-Term-Care (LTC) home population with in depth process evaluation during the first cohort of LTC homes. This evaluation will, among other things, assess sector needs for adaptation (vs fidelity). At its core INFORM is designed to address managers’ learning needs with respect to using data to make positive change in a continuous learning loop. We will discuss the transformation of a research intervention to a sector innovation and report on interim process evaluation results.

Musculoskeletal Pain among Work from Home Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic - A Cross Sectional Study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns had brought many changes in the working patterns of the people. Work from home, which has been becoming the new normal is suspected to increase the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and stress. Aim: To assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among the work from home population and hence bring the required changes to ergonomics. Methods and Materials: This is a cross-sectional study, conducted among the urban population (IT employees) of Chengalpattu district. A total of 180 participants were included in the study. Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, adapted to fit the current study was used as a self-administered online questionnaire to collect data from the participants. Results: Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among work from home population was found to be 84% with low backache being the most common musculoskeletal pain. Around 50% of the participants either had an increase in pain (18.9%) or reported that the pain started only during the lockdown (30.6%). Majority of the participants (55.6%) had more than 8 hours of work per day, which may be attributed to the increase in musculoskeletal pain. Perceived stress levels were found to be increased during the work from home period. Conclusion: The absence of ergonomic office furniture may lead to increased faulty posture increasing the musculoskeletal pain, hence awareness on factors like right posture, using the right furniture should be ensured among home working population. By bringing out the required changes in ergonomics for the home working population, the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and stress can be reduced.

COVID-19-How Confinment Affects the Dietary Habits, Physical Activity, and Lifestyle of Work from Home Population in the State of Gujarat

The COVID-19 pandemic in India is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. India, which has the second-highest population in the world, is suffering from COVID-19 disease. By May18th the country India investigated ~1 lakh (0.1 million) infected cases from COVID-19, and as of 11th July, the cases equalled 8 lakhs. Social distancing and lockdown rules were employed in India due to COVID-19 influenced food habits and lifestyles with potential negative health impact on Indian population. The current research is an attempt to explore physical health; dietary habits; lifestyle changes in working population in state of Gujarat during the lockdown. Approximately, 200 participants from the state of Gujarat were included in the study. They were asked to complete a questionnaire with questions around changes in body weight, junk food consumption or healthy food consumption, physical activities, lifestyle changes before and after the pandemic, sleep quality, screening time, etc.

Local maladaptation of the anther-smut fungus parasitizing Dianthus carthusianorum

Pathogens are generally expected to evolve faster than their hosts and are therefore likely to be locally adapted. However, some pathogens might lag behind in the co-evolutionary arms race because they do not have some of the advantages shared by most other pathogens (e.g., high mutation or recombination rates, short generation time, high dispersal ability). This is the case of Microbotryum fungi that cause the anther smut disease in plants of the family Caryophyllaceae. We investigated the patterns of local adaptation and maladaptation in Microbotryum carthusianorum and its host plant Dianthus carthusianorum. We performed a full cross-inoculation experiment using half-sib plant families and fungal samples originating from three naturally infected populations in the Czech Republic. We specifically asked, which components of pathogen fitness (i.e., infectivity and host manipulation) are affected by local (mal)adaptation. The pathogen was on average 1.6 times more successful in infecting plants from foreign populations compared to plants from its home population. Once the infection was successful, the pathogen accelerated the plant’s flowering and thus increased the opportunity for transmission to new hosts. However, the level of manipulation of host flowering did not differ between home and foreign populations. This study showed that the pathogen’s infectivity followed a clear pattern of local maladaptation, whereas the host manipulation did not. Our study taken together with previous studies of a related anther smut species reveals the pervasiveness of local maladaptation in this group of pathogens that arises as the result of their restricted gene flow and reduced recombination rates.

Development and validation of prediction model to estimate 10-year risk of all-cause mortality using modern statistical learning methods: a large population-based cohort study and external validation

BackgroundIn increasingly ageing populations, there is an emergent need to develop a robust prediction model for estimating an individual absolute risk for all-cause mortality, so that relevant assessments and interventions can be targeted appropriately. The objective of the study was to derive, evaluate and validate (internally and externally) a risk prediction model allowing rapid estimations of an absolute risk of all-cause mortality in the following 10 years.MethodsFor the model development, data came from English Longitudinal Study of Ageing study, which comprised 9154 population-representative individuals aged 50–75 years, 1240 (13.5%) of whom died during the 10-year follow-up. Internal validation was carried out using Harrell’s optimism-correction procedure; external validation was carried out using Health and Retirement Study (HRS), which is a nationally representative longitudinal survey of adults aged ≥50 years residing in the United States. Cox proportional hazards model with regularisation by the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator, where optimisation parameters were chosen based on repeated cross-validation, was employed for variable selection and model fitting. Measures of calibration, discrimination, sensitivity and specificity were determined in the development and validation cohorts.ResultsThe model selected 13 prognostic factors of all-cause mortality encompassing information on demographic characteristics, health comorbidity, lifestyle and cognitive functioning. The internally validated model had good discriminatory ability (c-index=0.74), specificity (72.5%) and sensitivity (73.0%). Following external validation, the model’s prediction accuracy remained within a clinically acceptable range (c-index=0.69, calibration slope β=0.80, specificity=71.5% and sensitivity=70.6%). The main limitation of our model is twofold: 1) it may not be applicable to nursing home and other institutional populations, and 2) it was developed and validated in the cohorts with predominately white ethnicity.ConclusionsA new prediction model that quantifies absolute risk of all-cause mortality in the following 10-years in the general population has been developed and externally validated. It has good prediction accuracy and is based on variables that are available in a variety of care and research settings. This model can facilitate identification of high risk for all-cause mortality older adults for further assessment or interventions.

Mirror Psycho-Pedagogy in the Population with Severe Intellectual Disability and Severe Autism (SIDSA)

In this paper we discuss at first the clinical case of a person affected by severe mental disability and severe autism (SIDSA). From this specific case we extend our reasoning to the whole population affected and we express some simple rules that should be applied to care for this very difficult population in care homes and specialized institutions. We underline the need for this population to be protected from stress factors, which can be very damaging for their well-being and quality-of-life. Lastly, we describe an approach to activities in sheltered workshops and residential institutions that we call mirror psycho-pedagogy. This approach that we have validated on several occasions in our professional experience, has been defined in analogy to the mirror neuron theory, and has shown its validity in dealing with the stress of these people related to their performance facing the daily activities in which they are engaged.

Early-life exposures and cardiovascular disease risk among Ghanaian migrant and home populations: the RODAM study

Early-life environmental and nutritional exposures are considered to contribute to the differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden. Among sub-Saharan African populations, the association between markers of early-life exposures such as leg length and sitting height and CVD risk is yet to be investigated. This study assessed the association between leg length, sitting height, and estimated 10-year atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk among Ghanaian-born populations in Europe and Ghana. We constructed sex-specific quintiles for sitting height and leg length for 3250 participants aged 40-70 years (mean age 52 years; men 39.6%; women 60.4%) in the cross-sectional multicenter Research on Diabetes and Obesity among African Migrants study. Ten-year risk of ASCVD was estimated using the Pooled Cohort Equations; risk ≥7.5% was defined as "elevated" CVD risk. Prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated to determine the associations between sitting height, leg length, and estimated 10-year ASCVD risk. For both men and women, mean sitting height and leg length were highest in Europe and lowest in rural Ghana. Sitting height was inversely associated with 10-year ASCVD risk among all women (PR for 1 standard deviation increase of sitting height: 0.75; 95% confidence interval: 0.67, 0.85). Among men, an inverse association between sitting height and 10-year ASCVD risk was significant on adjustment for study site, adult, and parental education but attenuated when further adjusted for height. No association was found between leg length and estimated 10-year ASCVD risk. Early-life and childhood exposures that influence sitting height could be the important determinants of ASCVD risk in this adult population.

Home range, population density, and foraging behaviour of the Yellow-breasted Warbling-Antbird (Hypocnemis subflava) in forest fragments in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia

ABSTRACTHypocnemis subflava is endemic to southwestern Amazonia, where it prefers habitats dominated by bamboo. We estimated the home range size and population density of this species, and described its foraging behaviour and occurrence in bamboo. We collected data within 1 – ha plots located in three different 16-ha grids. The mean home range of the species was 0.65 ± 0.26 ha (mean ± SE). The population density was 0.44–0.75 individuals per hectare and 0.22–0.37 pairs per hectare within the different study plots. The birds foraged primarily in bamboo leaves (65%), using ‘reach’ and ‘sally’ movements, and foraging was most frequent at a height of 1.1–2 m. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the probability of occurrence of the species increases with the density of culms and percentage bamboo cover per ha. The home range of H. subflava is one of the smallest yet reported for a thamnophilid species, while the density of the bamboo-dwelling populations among the highest recorded for any Amazonian thamnophilid, including other bamboo forest specialists. The high degree of habitat specificity of H. subflava for bamboo-dominated environments makes the species vulnerable to the loss of its preferred habitat in the region.

Community knowledge and acceptance of indoor residual spraying for malaria prevention in Mozambique: a qualitative study

BackgroundMalaria control remains a leading health challenge in Mozambique. Indoor residual spraying (IRS) is an effective strategy to control malaria transmission, but there are often barriers to reaching the coverage necessary for attaining maximum community protective effect of IRS. Mozambique recorded a high number of household refusals during the 2016 IRS campaign. This study sought to evaluate household and community factors related to the acceptability of IRS to inform strategies for future campaigns in Mozambique and the region.MethodsA cross-sectional, qualitative study was conducted in eight urban and rural communities in two high malaria burden provinces in Mozambique. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with community members, leaders, sprayers, and representatives of district health directorates; focus group discussions with community members who accepted and who refused IRS during the 2016 campaign; systematic field observations; and informal conversations. Data were systematically coded and analysed using NVIVO-11®.ResultsA total of 61 interviews and 12 discussions were conducted. Community participants predominantly described IRS as safe, but many felt that it had limited efficacy. The main factors that participants mentioned as having influenced their IRS acceptance or refusal were: understanding of IRS; community leader level of support; characteristics of IRS programmatic implementation; environmental, political and historical factors. Specifically, IRS acceptance was higher when there was perceived community solidarity through IRS acceptance, desire to reduce the insect population in homes, trust in government and community satisfaction with past IRS campaign effectiveness. Participants who refused were mainly from urban districts and were more educated. The main barriers to acceptance were associated with selection and performance of spray operators, negative experiences from previous campaigns, political-partisan conflicts, difficulty in removing heavy or numerous household assets, and preference for insecticide-treated nets over IRS.ConclusionsAcceptance of IRS was influenced by diverse operational and contextual factors. As such, future IRS communications in targeted communities should emphasize the importance of high IRS coverage for promoting both familial and community health. Additionally, clear communications and engagement with community leaders during spray operator selection and spray implementation may help reduce barriers to IRS acceptance.

Assessing overall building energy performance of a large population of residential single-family homes using limited field data

Building energy simulation plays a significant role in building design and retrofit. Most applications deal with individual buildings which allow for the specification of detailed model inputs. However, building energy simulation can be a powerful tool for assessing energy performance even when comprehensive building characteristics are unavailable. In this study, limited field data were collected on randomly selected new homes in eight US states with a goal of evaluating energy code compliance and energy savings potential. The limited data do not allow the derivation of comprehensive model inputs for each individual home sampled, let alone for the entire unknown residential construction stock. Therefore, we used prototype buildings to construct a large number of models and utilized bootstrap sampling to draw inputs from the limited data. This research demonstrates that overall energy performance of a large population of new homes can be assessed by the novel framework, given limited data.

2.1-O7Cardiovascular disease risk prediction in sub-Saharan African migrant and home populations – comparative analysis of risk algorithms in the RODAM study

2.1-O7Cardiovascular disease risk prediction in sub-Saharan African migrant and home populations – comparative analysis of risk algorithms in the RODAM study

Cardiovascular disease risk prediction in sub-Saharan African populations — Comparative analysis of risk algorithms in the RODAM study

BackgroundValidated absolute risk equations are currently recommended as the basis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk stratification in prevention and control strategies. However, there is no consensus on appropriate equations for sub-Saharan African populations. We assessed agreement between different cardiovascular risk equations among Ghanaian migrant and home populations with no overt CVD. MethodsThe 10-year CVD risks were calculated for 3586 participants aged 40–70years in the multi-centre RODAM study among Ghanaians residing in Ghana and Europe using the Framingham laboratory and non-laboratory and Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE) algorithms. Participants were classified as low, moderate or high risk, corresponding to <10%, 10–20% and >20% respectively. Agreement between the risk algorithms was assessed using kappa and correlation coefficients. Results19.4%, 12.3% and 5.8% were ranked as high 10-year CVD risk by Framingham non-laboratory, Framingham laboratory and PCE, respectively. The median (25th–75th percentiles) estimated 10-year CVD risk was 9.5% (5.4–15.7), 7.3% (3.9–13.2) and 5.0% (2.3–9.7) for Framingham non-laboratory, Framingham laboratory and PCE, respectively. The concordance between PCE and Framingham non-laboratory was better in the home Ghanaian population (kappa=0.42, r=0.738) than the migrant population (kappa=0.24, r=0.732) whereas concordance between PCE and Framingham laboratory was better in migrant Ghanaians (kappa=0.54, r=0.769) than the home population (kappa=0.51, r=0.758). ConclusionCVD prediction with the same algorithm differs for the migrant and home populations and the interchangeability of Framingham laboratory and non-laboratory algorithms is limited. Validation against CVD outcomes is needed to inform appropriate selection of risk algorithms for use in African ancestry populations.

Fuzzy logic estimation of mosquito populations in homes in kibera slums, nairobi, kenya

Fuzzy logic estimation of mosquito populations in homes in kibera slums, nairobi, kenya

Limited effects of source population identity and number on seagrass transplant performance.

Global declines in coastal foundation species highlight the importance of effective restoration. In this study, we examined the effects of source population identity and diversity (one vs. three sources per plot) on seagrass (Zostera marina) transplant success. The field experiment was replicated at two locations in Massachusetts with adjacent natural Zostera marina beds to test for local adaptation and source diversity effects on shoot density. We also collected morphological and genetic data to characterize variation within and among source populations, and evaluate whether they were related to performance. Transplants grew and expanded until six months post-transplantation, but then steadily declined at both sites. Prior to declines, we observed variation in performance among source populations at one site that was related to morphological traits: the populations with the longest leaves had the highest shoot densities, whereas the population with the shortest leaves performed the worst at six months post-transplantation. In addition, multiple source plots at this same transplant site consistently had similar or higher shoot densities than single source plots, and shoots from weak-performing populations showed improved performance in multiple source plots. We found no evidence for home site advantage or benefits of population-level genetic variation in early transplant performance at either site. Our results show limited effects of source population on early transplant performance and suggest that factors (e.g., morphology) other than home site advantage and population genetic variation serve a role. Based on our overall findings that transplant success varied among source populations and that population diversity at the plot level had positive but limited effects on individual and plot performance, we support planting shoots from multiple source sites in combination to enhance transplant success, particularly in the absence of detailed information on individual source characteristics.

Estimating work and home population using lidar-derived building volumes

ABSTRACTAs urban populations rapidly rise worldwide, it is increasingly necessary to determine the accurate distribution and configuration of the population in order to appropriate resources and services. Census-based methods for obtaining population counts are time consuming, labour intensive, and costly. Researchers have turned to remote sensing to estimate population from aerial and satellite datasets including lidar, which allows measures of building volume to be incorporated into population estimates. However, studies using lidar-derived building volumes have noted inconsistencies between population and building volume estimates in certain areas. In this article, we investigate this issue by incorporating both static and ambient population data into models using the US Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database. To do this, we first develop a normalized home–work index to classify census blocks as primarily work-oriented, home-oriented, or mixed-use based on the LEHD data. We then employ ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression (GWR) to explore the relationships between the different population groups (work, home, and mixed) and lidar-derived building volumes. We test these relationships across four diverse cities in Texas: Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Results suggest non-stationarity in the relationship between building volume and population with stronger, positive relationships in home-oriented and mixed-use blocks where the amount of building volume per person may be more consistent compared to work-oriented blocks. GWR models yielded high R2 values (0.9), particularly in mixed-use areas, indicating the potential for predictive relationships.

No evidence for home-site advantage in the seedling establishment of the invasive Lupinus polyphyllus in Finland

The establishment success of an invasive species in its introduced range may be promoted by local adaptation and (or) phenotypic plasticity. Here, I tested for local adapation in the seedling establishment of the perennial herb Lupinus polyphyllus (Lindl.) in Finland, where the species has been invasive since the late 1800s. Reciprocal seed-sowing experiments conducted in multiple populations revealed that seedling establishment increased with the increasing genetic variation of the source population. However, there was no evidence for local adaptation when assessed in terms of seedling establishment; that is, establishment was not higher in the home population than in more distant populations located either in the same or in a different geographic region. Overall, these results suggest that the seedling establishment of L. polyphyllus is robust to changes in environmental conditions, and that genetic variation together with phenotypic plasticity — rather than local adaptation — may have contributed to its invasion success in this part of its introduced range.

Conceptualizing the Tibetan Plateau: Environmental constraints on the peopling of the “Third Pole”

Understanding the geomorphological and environmental constraints on the human use of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is critical in reconciling genetic and archeological interpretations of the initial occupation of the world's “Third Pole.” The TP has essentially two major components: a high, relatively flat region above ~4000m that constitutes the plateau proper and a mountainous region between ~1500–4000m on the TP margins that is heavily dissected by the drainage systems of major Southeast Asian rivers. A biotic gradation ranging from subtropical environments to alpine steppe deserts is superimposed upon this geomorphology by the South and East Asian monsoons that lose strength as they move to the north and northwest. The distribution of the current Tibetan population mirrors these differences in environmental productivity, with the large majority restricted to river valleys in the TP margins below ~4000m. The distribution of the initial TP occupants was likely similar, as was that of the earliest pastoralists, and any occupations dating to immediately before and after the Last Glacial Maximum are likely to be found in these TP marginal zones. Current archeological data suggests that the initial use of zones much above ~2500m, even in these marginal areas, was by small hunting parties who occupied short-term camps before returning to lower elevation residential areas. Low incidences of cerebral edema and other similar short-term high altitude health issues during these trips would lead to genetic adaptations to high altitudes in their home population, even if that population occupied elevations well below 2500m. When family groups of pastoralists began to seasonally occupy the higher elevations of the TP between ~8–5ka, genetic adaptations to longer-term health issues, such as low birth weights, would occur at a faster rate, even if these family groups and the farming populations they interacted with occupied lower elevations for all or most of the year.

Home range, habitat suitability and population modelling of feral Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) on Kangaroo Island, South Australia

The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) is a declared alien pest species on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, where it is implicated in a range of social problems and potential ecological impacts. To inform the management of feral peafowl, we aimed to (1) provide an estimate of peafowl distribution and abundance; (2) measure peafowl home ranges; (3) calculate the area of suitable peafowl habitat; and (4) estimate how the population could change under various culling scenarios. Using expert and landholder surveys, we estimated that ~380 individuals (range 330–428) were distributed among 21 separate groups on Kangaroo Island. Habitat suitability modelling identified native vegetation near agriculture as the preferred peafowl habitat and indicated that substantial unoccupied suitable habitat is available. The mean home range of eight peafowl was 52 ha and one dispersal event of 4.5 km demonstrated that unoccupied suitable habitat could feasibly be colonised. Demographic models indicated that, if unmanaged, the peafowl population could exceed 2000 individuals after 10 years, but that culling ~85 individuals annually could maintain the current population size. We therefore suggest that control of the Kangaroo Island peafowl population is warranted while the current distribution of peafowl is well understood.

Diversity of House Dust Mite Species in Xishuangbanna Dai, a Tropical Rainforest Region in Southwest China.

Purpose. To survey the species diversity of home dust mites (HDM) in Xishuangbanna, a tropical rainforest region in Southwest China. Methods. From August 2010 to January 2011, mite-allergic patients and healthy controls were invited to participate. Dust samples from the patients' homes were collected, and mites in the samples were isolated. Permanent slides were prepared for morphologically based species determination. Results. In total, 6316 mite specimens of morphologically identifiable species were found in 233 dust samples taken from 41 homes. The result shows that the mite family of Pyroglyphidae occupied the highest percentage of the total amount of mites collected, followed by Cheyletidae family. The most common adult Pyroglyphidae mites were Dermatophagoides (D.) farinae, D. pteronyssinus, and D. siboney. The most common mites found from other families were Blomia tropicalis, Tyrophagus putrescentiae, and Aleuroglyphus ovatus. Four main allergenic dust mite species D. farinae, D. pteronyssinus, D. siboney, and Blomia tropicalis were found to be coinhabiting in 6/41 homes. Conclusion. The HDM population in homes in Xishuangbanna, a tropical rainforest region in Southwest China, has its own characteristics. It has rich dust mite species and the dust mite densities do not show significant variation across seasons.