Development and appropriateness of a scoring method for International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities, and Health assessment in older patients with heart failure: a Delphi survey of expert panel in Japan.

Objective: The number of older patients with heart failure (HF) is increasing in Japan and has become a social problem. There is an urgent need to develop a comprehensive assessment methodology based on the common language of healthcare; the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The purpose of this study was to develop and confirm the appropriateness of a scoring methodology for 43 ICF categories in older people with HF.

Increased amygdala reactivity following early life stress: a potential resilience enhancer role.

Background: Amygdala hyper-reactivity is sometimes assumed to be a vulnerability factor that predates depression; however, in healthy people, who experience early life stress but do not become depressed, it may represent a resilience mechanism. We aimed to test these hypothesis examining whether increased amygdala activity in association with a history of early life stress (ELS) was negatively or positively associated with depressive symptoms and impact of negative life event stress in never-depressed adults.

Methods: Twenty-four healthy participants completed an individually tailored negative mood induction task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) assessment along with evaluation of ELS.

Multicentered epidemiological study of factors associated with total bacterial count in the saliva of older people requiring nursing care.

Aim: To clarify whether the number of present teeth, independent of other well-known factors, was associated with the total bacterial count in the saliva of older people requiring care at nursing homes in a multicentered epidemiological survey.

Method: The participants were 618 older people (mean age 86.8 ± 6.

Factors related to skeletal muscle mass in the frail elderly.

It is important for the elderly to maintain their skeletal muscle mass, which in turn helps to maintain physical functions. This study aimed to clarify factors related to skeletal muscle mass maintenance. Home-bound elderly (94 men and 216 women), at least 75 years of age, attending a day-care center in Tokyo, were enrolled in this study.

Loss of occlusal support affects the decline in activities of daily living in elderly people receiving home care.

Purpose: This study aimed to clarify whether the absence of occlusal support would lead to a decline in the activities of daily living (ADL) in elderly people receiving home care.

Methods: The subjects of this study were 322 elderly individual aged 65 and older who were receiving home care during a one-year observation period. The subjects were divided into two groups according to the change in the total score of the Barthel Index (BI) during the prospective cohort study period (the dependent variable): the maintained/improved activities of daily living group, in which the score was unchanged or improved, and the worsened activities of daily living group, in which the score decreased.

The evaluation of oral health in stroke patients.

Objective: As tooth loss has been suggested as a potential risk factor for stroke, oral examinations were carried out on stroke patients to review the oral condition of those patients.

Method: The subjects were patients consecutively discharged from the recovery rehabilitation unit of Hiroshima City General Rehabilitation Center between April 2008 and December 2009. All patients were offered oral examination and 358 of 443 patients accepted.

[Management of secondary normal pressure hydrocephalus and assessment of cortical reorganization using fMRI].

We assessed the motor recovery and cortical reorganization associated with intracranial pressure (ICP) control in a secondary normal pressure hydrocephalus (sNPH) patient. A 32-year-old man with sNPH resulting from a head injury presented with left hemiplegia. A ventricular-peritoneum shunt (VP shunt) was surgically inserted for the sNPH using a Codman Hakim Programmable Valve, and his ICP was controlled according to the ventricular size by CT scanning.

Evaluation of RF heating due to various implants during MR procedures.

We evaluated radiofrequency (RF) heating of various implants embedded in a gel phantom during magnetic resonance (MR) procedures. We examined the dependence of RF heating on variation in specific absorption rate (SAR) and angle between the implant and the static magnetic field (B(0)) and on the displacement of the phantom in the irradiation coil using a 1.5-tesla MR system, and we compared the influence of RF heating on the same implant using a 3.

Correlation between dental and nutritional status in community-dwelling elderly Japanese.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to clarify the correlation between dental and nutritional status among community-dwelling elderly Japanese people.

Methods: The subjects were 182 elderly individuals, aged 65-85 years, who voluntarily participated in a health seminar at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. These subjects were divided into two groups according to the occlusion.

Evaluation of RF heating on hip joint implant in phantom during MRI examinations.

Purpose: We evaluate radiofrequency (RF) heating of two kinds of hip joint implants of different sizes, shapes and materials. Temperature rises at various positions of each implant are measured and compared with a computer simulation based on electromagnetic-field analysis.

Methods: Two kinds of implants made of cobalt-chromium alloy and titanium alloy were embedded at a 2-cm depth of tissue-equivalent gel-phantom.

The effect of tooth loss on body balance control among community-dwelling elderly persons.

Purpose: Since tooth loss may be considered to affect postural control, the aim of this study was to compare body balance control among samples of edentulous and dentate community-dwelling elderly subjects.

Materials And Methods: A case control study was conducted using test and control groups matched by age, gender, body fat, and muscle composition. The test group included all participants of the 2006 Kyoto Health Seminar who wore a full denture in either or both arches.

The effects of comprehensive exercise program on the adjustments of standing balance in community-dwelling elderly persons.

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of comprehensive exercise program widely accepted as a community-based physical intervention for the prevention of falling in the elderly persons on their controlling standing balance. Twenty-six community-dwelling elderly persons (13 males and females; 69.8 ± 2.