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Balance plays an important role in the daily lives of elderly people to prevent them from falls and injuries. A suitable exercise to improve balance is Tai Chi Chuan. The purpose of this study was to analyze balance control in Tai Chi Chuan practitioners and compare it with non-practisingactive elderly people.Ten Tai Chi Chuan practitioners, mean age 70.14, (5 womenand 5 men) were willing to participate in this study. Twelve elderly with amean age of 71.95 years, served as the control group. An oscillating suspended platform (Posturomed) was used to measure the horizontal movements in two orthogonal directions using a small ultrasonic marker (Microswing). The measured displacements in the two directions, anterior-posterior (AP) and medio-lateral (ML), were used to establish a balance index. The total sway line g can be divided into the x- and y-component (ML and AP sway). Four different stances were analyzed to evaluate balance ability: shoulder-wide stance with eyes open and closed, legs together, semitandem and tandem stance. An independent t-test was used to compare the groups. The Tai Chi Chuan group showed a significantly (p=0.04) better balance control in the ML direction in the shoulder-wide stance with eyes closed than the control group. In summary, practicing Tai Chi Chuan may have a positive influence on balance control when vision is obstructed and balance has to rely on the vestibular system. KEY WORDS: Postural Sway, Proprioception, Aging, Exercise

HLA genes are the most polymorphic in the human genome. High resolution HLA typing from 13,870 bone marrow donors in Hong Kong was obtained using Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Among the 67 novel alleles identified, official HLA allele names of 50 novel class I alleles (HLA‐A, ‐B, ‐C) and 8 novel class II alleles (HLA‐DRB1, ‐DQB1) were assigned by the World Health Organization (WHO) Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anisotropic strain gradient elasticity theory is applied to the solution of a mode III crack in a functionally graded material. The theory possesses two material characteristic lengths, l and l', which describe the size scale effect resulting from the underlining microstructure, and are associated to volumetric and surface strain energy, respectively. The governing differential equation of the problem is derived assuming that the shear modulus is a function of the Cartesian coordinate y, i.e., G=G(y)=[G.sub.0][e.sup.yy], where [G.sub.0] and [gamma] are material constants. The crack boundary value problem is solved by means of Fourier transforms and the hypersingular integrodifferential equation method. The integral equation is discretized using the collocation method and a Chebyshev polynomial expansion. Formulas for stress intensity factors, [K.sub.III], are derived, and numerical results of [K.sub.III] for various combinations of l, l', and gamma are provided. Finally, conclusions are inferred and potential extensions of this work are discussed. [DOI: 10.1115/1.1532321]

Introduction: Home nursing and medical services have an established role in delivering chronic medical care to populations which face difficulty accessing physical clinics. Those with chronic medical conditions and reduced mobility face a higher likelihood of suffering from psychiatric co-morbidity. However, till date there has been limited research done on home-based psychiatric care in this population. Since 2021, the Psychiatry department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has been collaborating with TTSH Community Health Team (CHT) to manage potential psychiatric issues in community patients. These patients would be discussed in a weekly multidisciplinary setting. If indicated, home visit by both teams for home-based assessment and treatment would be arranged, allowing for detection and treatment of psychiatric illness. Objectives: To demonstrate that the collaboration between the psychiatry team and CHT leads to diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric illness in a population that might otherwise have been unable to access psychiatric services. Methods: We performed a retrospective study on all referrals from the CHT to the psychiatry team, within the 2-year period of August 2021 to August 2023. We collected demographic information, psychiatric history prior to referral, reason for referral, outcome of multidisciplinary discussion, and outcome of the home visits (including diagnoses made, and medications initiated). Results: A total of 92 patients were referred by the CHT to the psychiatry team. Most were elderly with multiple medical co-morbidities; of note, a history of stroke was present in 24 of the referred patients. Common reasons for referral include suspected mental illness, risk assessment, and management of behavioural issues. 28 of the referred patients did not have a prior psychiatric history at the point of referral. Among these, home visits involving the psychiatric team were done for 16 patients. 11 (68%) of these home visits led to diagnosis of a new psychiatric illness. 9 of these patients were initiated on psychotropic medications in the home setting. Conclusions: A significant proportion of patients (68% of home visits without prior psychiatric diagnosis) were newly diagnosed with psychiatric illness, allowing early psychiatric intervention to be delivered. This was achieved in a population with a high prevalence of multiple medical comorbidity and barriers to clinic-based psychiatric evaluation and treatment. We propose future comparative studies into how the collaboration between the psychiatric team and community health team can improve the quality of life and caregiver experience of patients with chronic medical problems, as well as how the service had improved the confidence of the community health team in identifying and managing patients with possible psychiatric issues. Disclosure of Interest: None Declared [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]