Prevalence and Factors Associated With Elder Self-Neglect Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Purpose: To report the prevalence and risk factors of elder self-neglect (ESN) among community-dwelling older adults ( = 604).

Method: The current cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2019 to October 2020 in Lanzhou City, China. ESN was determined by the Scale of Elderly Self-Neglect, which evaluates five dimensions: (a) medical health and care, (b) environmental sanitation and personal hygiene, (c) mental health, (d) safety, and (e) social engagement.

Evolution of Holes and Cracks in Pre-Carbonized Glassy Carbon.

Being a type of carbonaceous material, glassy carbon possesses thermomechanical properties akin to ceramics, offering both mechanical and chemical stability at high temperatures; therefore, it can be applied in electrochemistry and high-temperature manufacturing. However, the direct pyrolysis of a bulk precursor leads to internal pores and cracks, usually resulting in fracture. Our characterization results show that at temperatures below 400 °C, large pores do not form, and pre-carbonized glassy carbon (PGC) formed at 350 °C has a dense microstructure without cracks.

Propulsion mechanism of artificial flagellated micro-swimmers actuated by acoustic waves-theory and experimental verification.

This work examines the acoustically actuated motions of artificial flagellated micro-swimmers (AFMSs) and compares the motility of these micro-swimmers with the predictions based on the corrected resistive force theory (RFT) and the bar-joint model proposed in our previous work. The key ingredient in the theory is the introduction of a correction factorin drag coefficients to correct the conventional RFT so that the dynamics of an acoustically actuated AFMS with rectangular cross-sections can be accurately modeled. Experimentally, such AFMSs can be easily manufactured based on digital light processing of ultra-violet (UV)-curable resins.

Structural Evolution in Glassy Carbon Investigated Based on the Temperature Dependence of Young's Modulus.

As a non-graphitized carbon material, possessing exceptional hardness and chemical inertness, glassy carbon (GC) is often synthesized through the pyrolysis method, which includes a compression procedure of powdered precursor materials, thus increasing the costs for production of glassy carbon at an industrial scale. Direct preparation of GC via pyrolysis of bulk precursors is a low-cost approach but encounters challenges arising from an insufficient knowledge of carbon structure formation. In order to solve this problem, a new analysis of the temperature-dependent variation in Young's modulus of GC obtained by the pyrolysis of phenolic resin at 1000 °C, utilizing the impulse excitation technique (IET), was performed.

Study of Interfacial Adhesion and Re-Ir Alloy Coating in Chalcogenide Glass Molding.

Precision glass molding (PGM) has become an efficacious technique to fabricate high-precision optics. Chalcogenide (ChG) glass is increasingly used in thermal imaging, night vision, etc., because of its excellent infrared optical properties.

A bar-joint model based on the corrected resistive force theory for artificial flagellated micro-swimmers propelled by acoustic waves.

In this work, we proposed a bar-joint model based on the corrected resistive force theory (CRFT) for studying artificial flagellated micro-swimmers (AFMSs) propelled by acoustic waves in a two-dimensional (2D) flow field or with a rectangular cross-section. Note that the classical resistive-force theory for 3D cylindrical flagellum leads to over 90% deviation in terminal velocity from those of 2D fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations, while the proposed CRFT bar-joint model can reduce the deviation to below 5%; hence, it enables a reliable prediction of the 2D locomotion of an acoustically actuated AFMS with a rectangular cross-section, which is the case in some experiments. Introduced in the CRFT is a single correction factordetermined by comparing the linear terminal velocities under acoustic actuation obtained from the CRFT with those from simulations.

Configurational Entropy Effects on Glass Transition in Metallic Glasses.

Configurational entropy () is known to be a key thermodynamic factor governing a glass transition process. However, this significance remains speculative because is not directly measurable. In this work, we demonstrate the role of theoretically and experimentally by a comparative study of a Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be high-entropy metallic glass (HE-MG) with one of its conventional MG counterparts.

Frailty is associated with 90-day unplanned readmissions and death in patients with heart failure: A longitudinal study in China.

Background: Frailty has been reported to be significantly associated with adverse health outcomes in people with heart failure (HF).

Objectives: To explore the potential effects of frailty on unplanned readmissions and death in people with HF patients aged 18 years or older.

Methods: 342 HF patients aged 18 years or older from the heart centers of two different tertiary care hospitals located in northwest of China were enrolled between July and December 2020.

Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Properties of Austenite Stainless Steel with Gradient Twinned Structure by Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment.

Gradient structures in engineering materials produce an impressive synergy of strength and plasticity, thereafter, have recently attracted extensive attention in the material families. Gradient structured stainless steels (SS) were prepared by surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) with different impacting velocities. The microstructures of the treated samples are characterized by gradient twin fraction and phase constituents.

Associations between risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and frailty among community-dwelling older adults in Lanzhou, China.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between cardiovascular disease risk factors and frailty in a sample of older Chinese adults.

Methods: A total of 458 community-dwelling older adults (≥65 years) in Lanzhou, Gansu Province of China participated in a cross-sectional survey. Their status was evaluated in terms of frailty phenotype (unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, low activity levels, slowness and weakness).

Impacts of frailty on health care costs among community-dwelling older adults: A meta-analysis of cohort studies.

Background: The demands for health care services from the frail elderly individuals in the community continue to increase, which will exert a tremendous burden on health care costs. However, little is known regarding the magnitude of these impacts. In this study, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence to explore the impact of frailty on health care costs among community-dwelling older adults.

Menopause and frailty: a scoping review.

Importance And Objective: Frailty refers to the decline in physiological reserve capacity caused by the deterioration of multiple physiological systems (brain, endocrine system, immune system, and skeletal muscle), leading to increased vulnerability and decreased stress capacity. Women have a higher prevalence of frailty than men, although the epidemiological factors underlying this phenomenon are not fully understood. Menopause and menopause-related characteristics may be among the contributing factors.

Modeling of an acoustically actuated artificial micro-swimmer.

Some recent achievements in microfabrication have demonstrated ultrasound-actuated artificial micro-swimmers for medical applications. However, the theoretical model of actuation and swimming is still lacking. Here we report a theoretical study of an acoustically actuated sperm-like artificial micro-swimmer which consists of a rigid head and a flexible flagellum.

Surface defect analysis on formed chalcogenide glass GeSeAs lenses after the molding process.

Chalcogenide glass (ChG) is increasingly used in infrared optical systems owing to its excellent infrared optical properties and scalable production using precision glass molding (PGM). However, surface scratches affected by the molding temperature and microdimples on the lens surface caused by gas release seriously impair the quality of the formed lens. To reduce these surface defects when molding GeSeAs ChG, the temperature effect must be studied, and the gas generation must be minimized, while the gas escape must be maximized.

A promising new class of high-temperature alloys: eutectic high-entropy alloys.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) can have either high strength or high ductility, and a simultaneous achievement of both still constitutes a tough challenge. The inferior castability and compositional segregation of HEAs are also obstacles for their technological applications. To tackle these problems, here we proposed a novel strategy to design HEAs using the eutectic alloy concept, i.