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Purpose: Companion animals and social media are two important factors of social interaction and well-being among the older population. This study aims to compare social media use and/or having companion animals with respect to sociodemographic variables in conjunction with loneliness, social isolation, depression, satisfaction with life and satisfaction with social support. Design/methodology/approach: This cross-sectional study involves a sample of 250 older community-dwelling adults. The questionnaire comprised sociodemographic, companion animals and social media questions and scales to assess social isolation, loneliness, satisfaction with life and social support and depression. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings: Four groups emerged: "companion animal/s, no social media" (37.6%); "none" (33.6%); "social media and companion animal/s" (14.4%); and "social media, no companion animal/s" (14.4%). Social media users (with or without companion animals) are the youngest and with higher levels of education; caregivers of companion animals (no social media use) are in-between in terms of age and level of education; and those without companion animals and no social media users are the oldest and with less formal education. Originality/value: This research examines and compares two key influencers of older adults' well-being and social interaction (social media and companion animals), that have been researched mostly separately. Findings underlined the cohort effect in the use of social media, suggesting that future older adult cohorts will use more social media whether they have or do not have companion animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is essential to consider the well-being and quality of life (QoL) of the person as part of an effective intervention in health. To this end, the World Health Organization developed an instrument to assess the QoL, the World Health Organization Quality of Life – BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). However, it is not adapted to the comprehension and expression difficulties a person with aphasia must face. To create and validate a version of the WHOQOL-BREF, Portuguese version, which is adapted to the needs of people with aphasia (PWA). For the adaptation and validation phase, two participatory workshops were held with a group of five PWA and then, individual interviews were carried out with the same experts. For the validation phase (concurrent validity and assessing group differences), the study included a sample of 45 people (15 PWA and 30 neurologically healthy participants – NHP). To evaluate the test-retest (intra-rater) reliability, the t-test was used, and the Pearson correlation was calculated. To compare the two groups (PWA and NHP), the Chi-Square Test was used for categorical variables and the independent t test (or the Mann-Whitney test) for the numerical variables. The results obtained are in line with what is reported in the literature regarding the aphasia-friendly adaptions of health assessment instruments: It is relevant to provide graphic support and to highlight specific information. There were no differences between test-retest (moderate to strong correlations between the two testing points: 0.56-0.79). Contrary to expectations, PWA did not present significant differences in QoL when compared to NHP, except for the physical domain (p=0.01). During concurrent validation, the following correlation values were obtained in the specific domains of WHOQOL-BREF and SAQOL-39: WHOQOL-BREF Physical/ SAQOL-39 Physical (0.55) and WHOQOL-BREF Physical/ SAQOL-39 Communication (0.53). The adaptations carried out to facilitate the understanding and expression of PWA and the aphasia-friendly support materials produced for WHOQOL-BREF were well received by a group with mild aphasia and may be useful for the broader population of PWA. The WHOQOL-BREF could be used without communicative support by PWA, facilitating the collection of clinically relevant data about this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding and accurately predicting stomatal conductance in almond orchards is critical for effective water-management strategies, especially under challenging climatic conditions. In this study, machine-learning (ML) regression models trained on multispectral (MSP) and thermal infrared (TIR) data acquired from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are used to address this challenge. Through an analysis of spectral indices calculated from UAV-based data and feature-selection methods, this study investigates the predictive performance of three ML models (extra trees, ET; stochastic gradient descent, SGD; and extreme gradient boosting, XGBoost) in predicting stomatal conductance. The results show that the XGBoost model trained with both MSP and TIR data had the best performance (R2 = 0.87) and highlight the importance of integrating surface-temperature information in addition to other spectral indices to improve prediction accuracy, up to 11% more when compared to the use of only MSP data. Key features, such as the green–red vegetation index, chlorophyll red-edge index, and the ratio between canopy temperature and air temperature (Tc-Ta), prove to be relevant features for model performance and highlight their importance for the assessment of water stress dynamics. Furthermore, the implementation of Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) values facilitates the interpretation of model decisions and provides valuable insights into the contributions of the features. This study contributes to the advancement of precision agriculture by providing a novel approach for stomatal conductance prediction in almond orchards, supporting efforts towards sustainable water management in changing environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aspiration pneumonia (AP) is a subset of pneumonia caused by the aspiration of food and fluids to the lungs and is highly prevalent in the older population. Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) is one of the risk factors for AP and it is also associated with malnutrition, dehydration and poor functional outcomes. As pneumonia is the second most common infection in nursing homes (NHs) and OD represents a major concern to NH staff, good practices for the prevention of AP in older adults at risk of OD are needed. Purpose: The aim of this modified e‐Delphi study is to build consensus among a panel of experts regarding a set of recommendations for NH staff on good practices to prevent AP in older adults at risk of OD living in NHs. The objective of this paper is to establish the methodology inherent to the Delphi study. Methods: An online modified Delphi study will be developed in three rounds. Criteria for the Delphi panel participants include holding a master's or doctoral degree in OD or speech and language therapy; or having 10 or more years of experience in OD; or having at least one scientific publication related to OD. A previously described modified Delphi methodology will be used to achieve consensus (75% agreement). An additional round will be performed to collect the experts' perspectives regarding the priority for application of each recommendation previously validated. Discussion: This protocol aimed to describe the methodology of a future Delphi study on the prevention of AP, seeking to fulfil the gap in the literature regarding this topic. The modified Delphi technique is a widely used method for collecting experts' opinion in health sciences, but the absence of standardised guidelines allows some heterogeneity between studies with the same aim. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject: Aspiration pneumonia (AP) is related to three main risk factors: impaired safety of swallow, impaired nutritional status and poor oral health. It is known that being dependent for feeding is one of the main risk factors for AP and around 50% of nursing home (NH) residents need feeding assistance. Thus, it is important to promote specialised intervention and care by the NH staff for preventing AP. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: It is hypothesised that increasing the knowledge of NH staff regarding the best practices for preventing AP in older adults at risk of oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) will improve outcomes such as quality of life, incidence of AP and mortality. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The recommendations resulting from this study will address a current gap in healthcare practice of NH staff regarding older adults at increased risk for OD and, consequently, for AP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companion animals play an increasingly important role in people's lives. However, research on how they affect community-dwelling older adults remains scarce and there are inconsistent results. This study examined the impact of companion animals on loneliness, social isolation, depressive symptomatology, satisfaction with life, and satisfaction with social support in Portuguese community-dwelling older adults. This cross-sectional descriptive and correlational questionnaire study involved 250 participants (≥ 65 years old). The questionnaire comprised sociodemographic questions; questions about companion animals; self-perception of loneliness; the Social Isolation Scale; Lubben's Brief Social Network Scale; the Satisfaction with Life Scale; the Satisfaction with Social Support Scale; and the Geriatric Depression Scale. Descriptive, inferential, and correlational analyses and logistic regression were conducted. Caregivers of companion animals, compared with non-caregivers, tended to live in rural areas (OR = 1), in houses (OR = 2.465), and with extended families (OR = 4.540). No significant differences between caregivers and non-caregivers were found for social isolation, loneliness, satisfaction with social support, and satisfaction with life. However, people with depressive symptoms were 1.7 times more likely to have companion animals than those with no depressive symptoms (p = 0.032). Companion animals, which included some farm animals, provided a high degree of companionship (8.39 ± 1.94, on a scale of 0–10), and this differed significantly between the groups having "only dogs," "only cats," "dogs and cats," and "neither dogs nor cats" (H = 13.279, p = 0.004). Having "only dogs" (8.81) and "both dogs and cats" (9.22) provided the highest degree of companionship when compared with "only cats" (7.86) and "neither dogs nor cats" (7.67). Companion animals did not seem to be instrumental in terms of social interaction and satisfaction with life. Therefore, companion animals are important in providing companionship for older people. Future research should look more closely at the bond between older caregivers and companion animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of anti-algics on tumor progression and the overall survival of patients is controversial and remains unclear. Herein, we disclose the in vitro effects of the local anesthetics lidocaine, ropivacaine, and levobupivacaine on breast (MCF7), prostate (PC3, LNCaP), and bladder (TCCSUP, HT1376) cancer cell lines, both as monotherapy and in combination with standard-of-care therapeutics. Assays for cell proliferation, viability, death profile, and migration were performed. Additionally, we explored the clinical outcomes of opioid use through a cross-sectional study involving 200 metastatic prostate cancer patients. The main clinical data collected included the type of opioid therapy administered, dosage, treatment duration, disease progression, and overall survival. Results obtained demonstrate that treatment with local anesthetics has a promising selective anti-tumor effect on these types of cancer, with higher effects when associated with docetaxel. This points out the use of local anesthetics as an added value in the treatment of prostate carcinoma patients. Alternatively, chronic opioid use was correlated with reduced overall survival (p < 0.05) and progression-free survival (p < 0.05) at each treatment line in the observational study. While these results provide valuable insights, larger prospective studies are imperative to comprehensively evaluate the clinical impact of opioid analgesics in prostate cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista de Enfermagem Referência is the property of Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Temáticas is the property of Tematicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)