Effect of home-based training using a slant board with dorsiflexed ankles on walking function in post-stroke hemiparetic patients.

[Purpose] To investigate the effects of a 30-day rehabilitation program using a slant board on walking function in post-stroke hemiparetic patients. [Subjects and Methods] Six hemiparetic patients with gait disturbance were studied. The patients were instructed to perform a home-based rehabilitation program using a slant board, thrice daily for 30 days, the exercise included standing on the slant board for 3 minutes, with both ankles dorsiflexed without backrest.

Interview- and questionnaire-based surveys on elderly patients' wishes about artificial nutrition and hydration during end-of-life care.

Aim: To promote advance directives, it is crucial to understand how many older persons have wishes related to end-of-life care. Additionally, it is important to understand how cognitive function or mood affect these wishes.

Methods: For the interview-based survey, 99 inpatients aged 75 years or older were enrolled after excluding patients with a Mini-Mental State Examination score of 20 or less.

[Survey of members of the Japan Geriatric Society regarding the revised version of their Position Statement on terminal medicine and care for elderly patients].

Aim: To clarify the opinions of members of the Japan Geriatric Society regarding the revised version of their Position Statement on terminal medicine and care in elderly patients.

Methods: A self-report questionnaire was sent to special honorary members, emeritus academic staff, and officers and delegates of the Japan Geriatrics Society (789 people). The questions were: 1) Do you agree with the Position Statement as revised by the Ethics Committee of the Japan Geriatric Society or not? 2) Do you have any ideas about any specific item and its' content or necessary revisions and if so, what are they? 3) Are there any headings or items that should be added to the Q&A section and if so, what are they?

Results: The response rate was 28.

[End-of-life care in a special elderly nursing home characteristics of patients who died in nursing home facilities and current status of end-of-life decision-making].

Aim: We investigated the characteristics of people who died in a special elderly nursing home and the current status of end-of-life decision-making.

Methods: Subjects comprised 168 residents who were discharged from a special elderly nurshing home in Yokohama between April 1998 and June 2008. A total of 3 patients were excluded from this study due to insufficient inclusion criteria.

Incidence of falls and fear of falling in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

The objective of this study is to determine the incidence of falls and fear of falling by gender and age in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Among the Japanese patients who participated in a single-institute-based prospective observational cohort study of patients with RA, namely the Institute of Rheumatology Rheumatoid Arthritis, 765 men (median age 63 years) and 4,231 women (median age 60 years) with RA responded to questions related to falls. Eight percent of men and 11% of women reported one or more falls during the previous 6 months.

Age-related differences in physiologic and psychosocial outcomes after cardiac rehabilitation.

Objective: To examine differences in physiologic and psychosocial outcomes between age groups after an exercise-based supervised-recovery phase II cardiac rehabilitation outpatient program.

Design: This is a longitudinal observational study. The study assessed 442 consecutive cardiac patients.

Predicting recovery of upper-body dressing ability after stroke.

Objective: To identify predictors of the recovery of independent dressing ability after stroke.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Rehabilitation unit at a university hospital.

[Future issues for the long-term care insurance system in Japan].

Although the prevention and reduction of requirements for long-term care is one of the main aims of the long-term care insurance system, most of care-recipients have deteriorated in their certified care levels since the implementation of the system in 2000. Demands for services at facilities rather than in-home services are increasing. Waiting lists for public nursing homes are becoming longer and longer.

[New methods for evaluation of abilities remaining in the elderly with severe dementia].

The elderly with dementia show distinct characteristics and different remaining abilities even in advanced disease. For improvement of the quality of care for the elderly, it is essential to evaluate their remaining abilities. Mini-communication Test, Braiding Test and Vitality Index have been developed to evaluate the abilities remaining in the elderly with severe dementia.

Effect of the self-monitoring approach on exercise maintenance during cardiac rehabilitation: a randomized, controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of the self-monitoring approach (SMA) on self-efficacy for physical activity (SEPA), exercise maintenance, and objective physical activity level over a 6-mo period after a supervised 6-mo cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program.

Design: We conducted a randomized, controlled trial with 45 myocardial infarction patients (38 men, seven women; mean age, 64.2 yrs) recruited after completion of an acute-phase, exercise-based CR program.

Long-term exercise maintenance, physical activity, and health-related quality of life after cardiac rehabilitation.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine exercise maintenance rate, leisure-time objective physical activity level, and health-related quality of life in relation to exercise maintenance over the 6-mo period after a supervised 5-mo recovery-phase cardiac rehabilitation program in acute myocardial infarction patients. The study also investigated whether exercise maintenance resulted in reproducible health-related quality-of-life outcomes comparable with those of the Japanese normal population.

Design: This observational study comprised 109 acute myocardial infarction patients (89 men, 20 women; mean age, 63.

Improvement in physiological outcomes and health-related quality of life following cardiac rehabilitation in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: The present study examined the impact of an 8-week cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program on physiological outcomes and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods And Results: A total of 124 consecutive AMI patients were divided into a supervised outpatient CR group (n=82) and a non-CR group as a control (n=42). Peak oxygen uptake, handgrip strength, and knee extension muscular strength were used as physiological outcome measures.

[A new portable communication test (mini-communication test) for dementia].

To evaluate verbal communication ability in the elderly, we developed a new portable "mini-communication test (MCT)" with 13 sub-scales, which was constructively validated based on 45 items from other reported scales. Clinical reliability and validity were tested in 354 inpatients in a long-term care hospital (81.9 +/- 8.