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Abstract Background The Taiwanese government implemented stringent preventative health measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. However, these measures negatively affected the physical activity behaviors and psychological distress of individuals. In this study, we investigated the effects of Taiwan’s COVID-19 alert–based restrictions on the physical activity behaviors and psychological distress of community-dwelling older adults. Methods In this longitudinal study, 500 community-dwelling older adults were randomly sampled from a health promotion center in Taiwan. Telephone interviews were conducted between May 11, 2021, and August 17, 2021, which coincided with the Level 3 alert period when group physical activities were prohibited. Telephone interviews were again conducted between June 20, 2022, and July 4, 2022, after the alert level was reduced to Level 2 but group physical activities were prohibited period. Through the telephone interviews, data regarding the participants’ physical activity behaviors (type and amount) and 5-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) scores were collected. Moreover, data regarding physical activity behaviors were collected from the records of our previous health promotion programs, which were conducted before the national alert period. The obtained data were analyzed. Results The alert levels influenced physical activity behaviors. Because of strict regulations, physical activity amount decreased during the Level 3 alert period and did not recover rapidly during the Level 2 alert period. Instead of engaging in group exercises (e.g., calisthenics and qigong), the older adults chose to exercise alone (e.g., strolling, brisk walking, and biking). Our findings indicate that the COVID-19 alert level has a significant influence on the amount of physical activity for participants (p

The capillary rising is one of the most common phenomena in fine-grained soils. However, research is limited for capillary actions in cementitiously treated engineered soils. In this study, a soil column test was performed for the free capillary rising in compacted loess and modified loess samples. Moisture content of compacted soil samples was measured and analyzed to determine capillary height and rising rate. Results indicated that there was a considerable capillary rising in loess and lime-modified loess, while the capillary rising in cement-treated loess was significantly restrained. Current models are not appropriate for the rate and height predictions of capillary rising in cementitiously treated loess, especially in early ages. Therefore, a logarithmic form correlation was suggested and validated. In addition, salt migration effect and microscopic properties of soils after capillary rising were evaluated. Overall, the paper presented an experimental study and prediction on the capillary rising behavior of treated and recompacted engineered loess. Key words: modified loess, capillary rising model, soluble salt concentration, SEM L'ascension capillaire est l'un des phenomenes les plus courants dans les sols a grains fins. Cependant, la recherche est limitee quant a l'action capillaire dans les sols modifies au ciment. Dans cette etude, un essai sur colonne de sol a ete effectue pour evaluer l'ascension capillaire libre dans des echantillons de loess compacte et de loess modifie. La teneur en eau des echantillons de sol compacte a ete mesuree et analysee pour determiner la hauteur capillaire et le taux d'ascension capillaire. Les resultats ont indique qu'il y avait une ascension capillaire considerable du loess et du loess modifie a la chaux, tandis que l'ascension capillaire du loess traite au ciment etait sensiblement moderee. Les modeles actuels ne sont pas appropries en matiere de predictions du taux et de la hauteur de l'ascension capillaire dans les loess traites au ciment, en particulier aux jeunes ages. Par consequent, une correlation logarithmique a ete suggeree et validee. De plus, l'effet de migration du sel et les proprietes microscopiques des sols apres l'ascension capillaire ont ete evalues. Dans l'ensemble, l'article a presente une etude experimentale et une prediction du comportement de l'ascension capillaire du loess traite et recompacte. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : loess modifie, modele d'ascension capillaire, concentration en sel soluble, microscopie electronique a balayage, Introduction Capillary water rising is a frequently found phenomenon in fine-grained soil structures, induced by the shallow groundwater levels. In particular, the poor gradation and high surface evaporation commonly lead [...]

Abstract In this cross-sectional study, we assessed the physical fitness levels of active community-dwelling older adults. Moreover, we investigated the correlation of their (stratified by age and sex) fitness levels with handgrip strength (HGS). Comprehensive physical fitness tests, including sarcopenia screening, were conducted with a total of 2,130 older adults residing in a rural area of Taiwan. The 5th, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentiles of age- and sex-specific physical fitness levels were determined. Furthermore, we identified the key parameters for assessing the physical fitness of older adults and performed stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. Both men and women exhibited age-related decreases in all aspects of functional fitness, a trend indicating that older adults in Taiwan may lose their independence in the future. Furthermore, the regression analysis revealed that HGS was positively correlated with sex, body mass index, and the results of 30-s arm curl and back scratch tests but negatively correlated with age and the result of 8-foot up-and-go test. Our reference values for physical fitness may help assess the fitness levels of active community-dwelling older adults and design community-based health programs to prevent the early loss of independence in community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan.

Abstract Background As the community-dwelling population ages in Taiwan, concerns regarding long-term care have grown more urgent. Physical fitness plays a key role in enabling community-dwelling older adults to independently complete daily tasks and avoid falling accidents. However, the effect of physical fitness on falls and other fitness-related factors remains poorly understood. Methods In this retrospective cross-sectional study, 2130 community-dwelling older adults were recruited from a rural region of Taiwan. Each of these participants completed a demographics interview and frailty questionnaire and reported their history of falls. We evaluated each participant’s height and body weight measurements, calf circumference, bone mass density, and results on the grip strength, single-leg standing, chair sit-and-reach, 8-ft up-and-go, 30-second chair stand, 2-minute step, 30-second arm curl, 6-m walk, and back scratch tests to determine their overall physical fitness, which consisted of their body composition, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and cardiopulmonary fitness. Results The prevalence of falls in the preceding year among the older adults surveyed was 20.8%, and the resultant hospitalization rate was 10.9%. The older adults who were more physically active in the past week, had regular exercise habits, lived with family, and had no history of hospitalization due to falls, exhibited greater performance on the physical fitness tests. Three time fallers exhibited lower levels of overall physical fitness than did those who had not fallen. The nonfallers outperformed the fallers in grip strength (participants who had not fallen and those who had fallen once, twice, or three times in the preceding year: 24.66 ± 0.19 vs. 23.66 ± 0.35 vs. 20.62 ± 0.71 vs. 22.20 ± 0.90 kg) and single-leg standing duration (19.38 ± 0.39 vs. 16.33 ± 0.78 vs. 13.95 ± 1.67 vs. 12.34 ± 1.82 seconds). Conclusions Exercise habits, living status, hospitalization due to falls, and amount of exercise were all associated with physical fitness in community-dwelling older adults. The results of all of the assessments indicated that the participants who had fallen three times exhibited lower levels of physical fitness than did those who had not fallen in the previous year. Physical measurements, including grip strength and single-leg standing duration, are associated with an individual’s risk of falling, which indicates that they should be considered in the development of geriatric physical fitness and fall-prevention programs.

Based on the development status of thermal barrier coatings, SPS (suspension plasma spraying), SPPS (solution precursor plasma spraying) and PS-PVD (plasma spraying-physical vapor deposition) technologies and the structural performance characteristics of the thermal coatings prepared by the above methods were summarized. Meanwhile, the development of single-layer, multi-layer and gradient coatings of plasma sprayed thermal barrier coatings was reviewed, and the effects of structural changes of ceramic materials system of La2Zr2O7, Gd2Zr2O7 and La2Ce2O7 on the properties of coating were emphatically summarized. Furthermore, the development prospects of multilayer structure of thermal barrier coatings were prospected.

Permanent deformation, or rutting, is one of several critical distresses in flexible pavements. This paper introduced a novel experimental method, a penetration test, for asphalt mixtures to quantify the effects of glass fibre geogrids embedded in asphalt under repeated loading. It was found that the evolution of permanent deformation (εp) and its strain rate have three clearly identifiable stages. It was also observed that the presence of the geogrid increased the flow number and the number of cycles to failure significantly compared to control samples. Some of the current εp fitting models were found to be valid for deformation prediction under penetration. In addition, a new simple FN calculation method was also proposed based on strain rate and it showed consistent results. In particular, geogrid type "Grid10", which has smaller aperture size (12.7 mm) had slightly better reinforcement performance regarding the rutting resistance due to its larger contact area. Overall, the test and data analysis method presented in this study could be an important reference for future investigations on geosynthetic-reinforced pavement materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single‐frequency semiconductor lasers represent a critical role in optical communications, light detection and ranging systems, photonics integrated circuits, etc. Here, combining atom‐like quantum dot (QD) materials and advanced lateral gratings, a high‐power, ultra‐low‐noise 1.3 µm InAs/GaAs QD distributed feedback laser is demonstrated. Stable single‐longitudinal‐mode output power of 100 mW from 25 ℃ to 85 ℃ is achieved with a maximum side mode suppression ratio of 62.6 dB, and the variations of threshold current and slope efficiency over the temperature range are slight, indicting a high temperature stability. A record‐narrow intrinsic linewidth of 1.62 kHz is achieved at 55 ℃ with a white noise level of merely 515 Hz2 Hz–1, and a minimum averaged relative intensity noise of only –166 dB/Hz between 0.1 GHz and 20 GHz is obtained at 25 ℃. Furthermore, a strong tolerance to external optical feedback (〉 –14 dB) is demonstrated in the range from 25 ℃ to 85 ℃, with a maximum value of –8 dB at 85 ℃. This high‐quality single‐frequency laser fabricated with simplified processes and compact size paves the way for its future large‐scale applications such as high‐capacity optical communication, high‐precision optical detection, high‐speed optical interconnections, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Nattokinase (NK), a potent serine endopeptidase, has exhibited a variety of pharmacological effects, including thrombolysis, anti-inflammation, and antioxidative stress. Building on previous research highlighting NK's promise in nerve regeneration, our study investigated whether NK exerted protective effects in transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO)-induced cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and the underlying mechanisms. Results: The rats were administered NK (5000, 10000, 20000 FU/kg, i.g., 7 days before surgery, once daily). We showed that NK treatment dose dependently reduced the infarction volume and improved neurological symptoms, decreased the proinflammatory and coagulation cytokines levels, and attenuated reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the infarcted area of tMCAO rats. We also found that NK could exert neuroprotective effects in a variety of vitro models, including the microglia inflammation model and neuronal oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) model. Notably, NK effectively countered OGD/R-induced neuron death, modulating diverse pathways, including autophagy, apoptosis, PARP-dependent death, and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Furthermore, the neuroprotection of NK was blocked by phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), a serine endopeptidase inhibitor. We revealed that heat-inactive NK was unable to protect against tMCAO injury and other vitro models, suggesting NK attenuated ischemic injury by its enzymatic activity. We conducted a proteomic analysis and found inflammation and coagulation were involved in the occurrence of tMCAO model and in the therapeutic effect of NK. Innovation and Conclusion: In conclusion, these data demonstrated that NK had multifaceted neuroprotection in ischemic brain injury, and the therapeutic effect of NK was related with serine endopeptidase activity.

Studying the physicochemical properties and biological activities of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides(LBPs) is of great significance. The previous study had extracted LBPs(LBP-1, LBP-2, LBP-3, LBP-4, and LBP-5) by five different methods(cold water extraction, boiling water reflux extraction of the residue after cold water extraction, ultrasonic extraction with 50% ethanol, ultrasonic extraction with 25% ethanol of the residue after 50% ethanol extraction, and hot water extraction). In this study, the structures of the obtained five LBPs were characterized by UV spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, the antioxidant, blood lipid-lowering, nitrosation-inhibting, acetylcholinesterase-inhibiting, and tyrosinase-inhibiting activities of the five LBPs were measured in vitro. The results showed that high-temperature extraction destroyed the polysaccharide structure, while ultrasound-assisted extraction ensured the structural integrity. The thermal stability and degradation behaviors differed among the five LBPs. However, the UV spectroscopic results of the five LBPs did not show significant differences, and all of the five LBPs showed the characteristic absorption peaks of proteins. LBP-3 and LBP-4 exhibited strong antioxidant activity, while LBP-3 had the strongest blood lipid-lowering activity. In addition, LBP-3 outperformed other LBPs in inhibiting nitrosation and acetylcholineste-rase, and LBP-2 showed the strongest inhibitory effect on tyrosinase. This study explored the effects of different extraction methods on the physicochemical properties and biological activities of LBPs, with a view to providing a basis for the selection of suitable extraction methods to obtain LBPs with ideal biological activities.