[Development of a staging classification for leisure activities and social communication in dependent elderly persons].

Aim: The aim of this study was to develop a simple staging classification to measure leisure activity and social communication among the elderly at geriatric health care facilities.

Methods: In order to construct a staging scale for measuring the participation of the elderly subjects, we developed a list of 28 items for three domains: leisure activities, social participation and communication. Data were obtained from users of institutional and day care services at geriatric health service facilities.

Feeding therapy for children with food refusal.

Disabled children suffer not only from their primary disease, but also from other complications, including food refusal. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the relationship between these conditions and food refusal in disabled children. The effectiveness of feeding therapy in treating food refusal was also examined.

The degree of tongue-coating reflects lingual motor function in the elderly.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the relation between the degree of tongue-coating and oral function.

Background: Tongue-coating is a moss-like deposit which forms over the tongue surface, and includes micro-organisms, food residues, and abrasive epithelia. It is considered that motor function of the tongue and lips and saliva secretion decrease in the aged and have some effect on the accumulation of tongue-coating.

Oral motor function and masticatory performance in the community-dwelling elderly.

This study was performed to ascertain the relationships between oral motor functions, such as those of the tongue and lips, and age in the community-dwelling elderly, as well as to investigate the effects of these factors on masticatory performance. The subjects were 268 healthy elderly Japanese living in Kyoto. They were divided into four age groups and further classified into the following two groups by the presence or absence of posterior occlusal support: Eichner A or B1-B3 (group A), and Eichner B4 or C (group B).

Effects of a palatal augmentation prosthesis on lingual function in postoperative patients with oral cancer: coronal section analysis by ultrasonography.

A palatal augmentation prosthesis (PAP) is used in postoperative patients with oral cancer as an intraoral appliance. The purpose of this study was to use ultrasound imaging to evaluate the effects of a PAP on lingual movement dynamics when postoperative patients with oral cancer swallowed food while wearing a PAP and to elucidate the effectiveness of the PAP. The subjects were seven patients with tongue cancer.

Case presentation: dental treatment with PAP for ALS patient.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Palatal Augmentation Prosthesis (PAP) for an Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patient. The patient's palatogram was taken during swallowing to assess her lingual function. A PAP was provided to assist her with feeding and swallowing functions.

[Relation between the level of care needed and frailty for labial functions].

Aim: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the improvement of oral functions could prevent increase in the level of care needed in the elderly by analyzing the relationship between the level of care needed and labial functions.

Methods: The subjects were 114 elderly people who were healthy or needing care (44 men, 70 women; average age 81.3 +/- 6.

[Effect of oral function on nutritional improvement in nursing home residents].

The objective of this study is to examine how occlusal status and swallowing function influence the nutritional improvement achieved by appropriate feeding assistance in the institutionalized elderly. We studied 38 residents (mean age 82.04 +/- 7.

Stimulation of Na-dependent phosphate transport by platelet-derived growth factor in rat aortic smooth muscle cells.

We investigated the effect of platelet-derived growth factor B homodimer (PDGF-BB) on inorganic phosphate (Pi) transport activity, which has been reported to be involved in the mechanism of atherosclerosis, in A-10 rat aortic vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). PDGF-BB time- and dose-dependently stimulated Pi transport in A-10 cells. Using northern blot analysis, the PDGF-BB-enhanced Pi transporter (PiT) in A-10 cells was identified as Pit-1 (Glvr-1), a member of the type III Na-dependent PiT.