Purpose Worldwide, there are 30 million people with dementia (PWD) in 2009 and 100 million in 2050, respectively.These numbers show the need for a change in care for PWD. Leisure is one of these care aspects. Leisure activities can support PWD in several ways: meeting basic needs, providing comfort and social interaction, and reducing boredom, agitation, and isolation. An exemplary activity targeted at meeting these needs is ‘De Klessebessers (KB)’ (The Chitchatters), which aims to stimulate social interaction among PWD and provide comfort with supporting technology. This is innovative since technology for PWD generally concentrates on safety and monitoring activities. The activity comprises a radio, television, telephone, and treasure box. Method This study’s focus follows from the original aim of the KB-designers; to stimulate social interaction. In a nursing home and day care centre, the KB game was played with different groups of PWD (n=21: 12 females, 9 males, mean MMSE=17, range 3-28). In the morning KB (with technology), and in the afternoon an activity called ‘Questiongame’ (without technology) were played for 45 minutes. These activities were played twice in a two-month period, and outcomes were compared in terms of impact on social interaction. Group sizes ranged from 3 to 8 PWD assisted by 1 or 2 activity therapists. Two researchers observed the players during the activity with the Oshkosh Social Behavior Coding (OSBC) scale, which encompasses both verbal and nonverbal social and nonsocial behaviour. These behaviours can have a person-initiated and otherinitiated character (quantitative study). A total of 6 activity therapists were interviewed on the KB afterwards (qualitative study). Results & Discussion The quantitative results showed significantly higher scores for KB for the total of social interaction compared to Questiongame. Most of the behaviour is other-initiated (activity therapist). PWD with a lower MMSE score showed more non-verbal behaviour. For PWD with a MMSE score below 7, there was no difference in social interaction between the two activities. According to the qualitative research, KB triggered more social interaction, since the movies and music were stimulating the players to initiate a conversation, to which other players responded. The results of this research correspond with earlier research, which concludes that leisure activities with technology can show positive results on well-being.
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Objectives: Decline in the performance of instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) and mobility may be preceded by symptoms the patient experiences, such as fatigue. The aim of this study is to investigate whether self-reported non-task-specific fatigue is a long-term risk factor for IADL-limitations and/or mobility performance in older adults after 10 years. Methods: A prospective study from two previously conducted cross-sectional studies with 10-year follow-up was conducted among 285 males and 249 females aged 40–79 years at baseline. Fatigue was measured by asking “Did you feel tired within the past 4 weeks?” (males) and “Do you feel tired?” (females). Self-reported IADLs were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Mobility was assessed by the 6-minute walk test. Gender-specific associations between fatigue and IADL-limitations and mobility were estimated by multivariable logistic and linear regression models. Results: A total of 18.6% of males and 28.1% of females were fatigued. After adjustment, the odds ratio for fatigued versus non-fatigued males affected by IADL-limitations was 3.3 (P=0.023). In females, the association was weaker and not statistically significant, with odds ratio being 1.7 (P=0.154). Fatigued males walked 39.1 m shorter distance than those non-fatigued (P=0.048). For fatigued females, the distance was 17.5 m shorter compared to those non-fatigued (P=0.479). Conclusion: Our data suggest that self-reported fatigue may be a long-term risk factor for IADL-limitations and mobility performance in middle-aged and elderly males but possibly not in females.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a severe inflammatory condition of the central nervous system (CNS) affecting about 2.5 million people globally. It is more common in females, usually diagnosed in their 30s and 40s, and can shorten life expectancy by 5 to 10 years. While MS is rarely fatal; its effects on a person's life can be profound, which signifies comprehensive management and support. Most studies regarding MS focus on how lymphocytes and other immune cells are involved in the disease. However, little attention has been given to red blood cells (erythrocytes), which might also be important in developing MS. Artificial intelligence (AI) has shown significant potential in medical imaging for analyzing blood cells, enabling accurate and efficient diagnosis of various conditions through automated image analysis. The project aims to implement an AI pipeline based on Deep Learning (DL) algorithms (e.g., Transfer Learning approach) to classify MS and Healthy Blood cells.
