Obrienpappas3223

We discuss the limitations that arise from the current focus on disease-specific guidelines and care models that do not take comorbid conditions into account, and the lack of good quality evidence that evaluates the effectiveness of integrated care interventions, especially in European health settings. We highlight the importance of evaluating and monitoring mental health in conjunction with somatic symptoms in NCD patients and discuss the integral role of information and communication technology in healthcare to streamline integrated care processes and help to achieve better outcomes for patients.BACKGROUND It has been suggested that oxidative stress may have a role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Serum uric acid (UA) could exert neuroprotective effects via its antioxidant capacities. Many studies investigated serum UA levels in subjects with AD, but to date, results are conflicting and evidence in old age subjects is weak. AIMS In this study, we assess whether serum UA levels would be altered in the AD old age subjects compared to those of initial cognitive impairment and healthy controls. METHODS This is a retrospective study with data gathered from the ReGAl 2.0 project (Rete Geriatrica Alzheimer-Geriatric Network on Alzheimer's disease), a large Italian multicentric clinical-based study. A cohort of 232 subjects, including 65 (healthy controls HC), 95 mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 72 AD, were included in the study. Serum UA was measured in all subjects by routine laboratory method. RESULTS The sample population includes 232 subjects, mostly women with a mean age of 79.16 ± 5.64 (range 66-93) years. No significant difference was found in gender distribution between groups. No significant correlation was found in all populations between age and uric acid levels. AD group had significantly lower UA levels as compared with HC. The association of uric acid with AD presence after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and creatinine levels showed that uric acid level was independently associated with the diagnosis of AD. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that serum UA is reduced in AD, supporting that UA may have a potential protective role against AD in old age.The disease roots of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are unknown. Functional connection (FC) methodology based on functional MRI data is an effective lever to investigate macroscopic neural activity patterns. However, regional properties of brain architecture have been less investigated by special markers of graph indexes in general mental disorders. In terms of the set of the abnormal edges in the FCs matrix, this paper introduces the strength index (S-scores) of region centrality on the principle of holism. Then, the important process is to investigate the S-scores of regions and subsystems in 36 healthy controls, 38 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients and 34 AD patients. At the edge level, abnormal FCs is numerically increasing progressively from MCI to AD brains. At the region level, the CUN.L, PAL.R, THA.L, and TPOsup.R regions are highlighted with abnormal S-scores in MCI patients. By comparison, more regions are abnormal in AD patients, which are PreCG.L, INS.R, DCG.L, AMYG.R, IOG.R, FFG.L, PoCG.L, PCUN.R, TPOsup.L, MTG.L, and TPOmid.L. Importantly, the regions in DMN have abnormal S-scores in AD groups. At the module level, the S-scores of frontal, parietal, occipital lobe, and cerebellum are found in MCI and AD patients. selleck chemicals Meanwhile, the abnormal lateralization is inferred because of the S-scores of left and top hemisphere in the AD group. Though this is strictly a contrastive study, the S-score may be a meaningful imaging marker for excavating AD psychopathology.Increasing in elderly population put extra pressure on healthcare systems globally in terms of operational costs and resources. To minimize this pressure and provide efficient healthcare services, the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable technology could be promising. These technologies have the potential to improve the quality of life of the elderly population while reducing strain on healthcare systems and minimizing their operational cost. Although IoT and wearable applications for elderly healthcare purposes were reviewed previously, there is a further need to summarize their current applications in this fast-developing area. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of IoT and wearable technologies' applications including the types of data collected and the types of devices for elderly healthcare. This paper provides insights into existing areas of IoT/wearable applications while presenting new research opportunities in emerging areas of applications, such as robotic technology and integrated applications. The analysis in this paper could be useful to healthcare solution designers and developers in defining technology supported futuristic healthcare strategies to serve elderly people and increasing their quality of life.Cognitive and motor/physical functions may evolve at different speeds along the entire lifespan, and with different impact on aging processes, although running parallel along the same temporal continuum. The investigation of the shared association between cognitive and motor/physical functions has represented a challenging subject of debate in the last decades. However, the direction of this cognitive-motor link still needs to be furtherly clarified. A first approach suggests that pre-clinical cognitive decline, such as the MCI, may have a negative impact also on strength, walking speed and balance. Conversely, the presence of earlier motor dysfunction has been discussed as a potential predictor of further cognitive impairment, such in the Motoric Cognitive Risk syndrome, which is characterized by primary reduced gait speed in absence of cognitive deficits. Moreover, reduced handgrip strength has been discussed as a risk factor for the onset of further cognitive impairment. Recent studies have started to investigate the association between cognitive and motor/physical functions in a bidirectional way, suggesting instead both the predictive role of strength on the onset of further cognitive decline, as well as the predictive role of cognitive status on progressively higher risk to develop strength reduction. In conclusion, cognitive and motor/physical decline could often identify a common way, rather than parallel pathways. This integrated perspective should be addressed in the context of geriatric assessments, and it may also promote an increasingly multi-dimensional approach to frailty, together with a significant concern in the end of life stages such as disability and mortality.