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Purpose Screening for fall risks is an important part of fall and fracture prevention. This study aims to investigate cross-sectional inter-instrumental agreement and participants’ preferences of the self-rated Falls Risk Questionnaire (FRQ) and Activities Specific Balance Confidence 6 items (ABC-6). This study also aimed to compare FRQ and ABC-6 scores in older adults with and without a history of falls. Design/methodology/approach Through an online and snowball sampling survey, 114 respondents were recruited from six countries. Respondents were asked to perform FRQ and ABC-6 surveys. Findings The mean respondent age was 67 years, and 44.8% reported falls in the past year. The mean of rescored FRQ and ABC-6 scores were 68.6% and 66.2%, respectively. The FRQ and ABC-6 scores for fallers were lower than non-fallers. Bland and Altman’s method indicated the mean −2.6 and two standard deviations 20.9 differences between ABC-6 and FRQ, which means an overall agreement between these tools. Most of the respondents, 36% had no preference between ABC-6 and FRQ, 34% preferred none, 21% preferred the ABC-6 and 9% preferred the FRQ for screening future falls risk. Originality/value Both ABC-6 and FRQ can distinguish between fallers and non-fallers, and findings of this study can be used to support the use of the FRQ for falls screening in older adults.

Formation of necrotic tissues is a major issue affecting treatment of full-thickness burns. This study was designed to compare topical effectiveness of applying kiwifruit versus fibrinolysin on removal of necrotic tissue of burns. Ten adult male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to three groups. For group 1, the right-side wounds were treated with kiwifruit and the other side with fibrinolysin. For group 2, the wounds on the right side were treated with kiwifruit or fibrinolysin, and the left sides were kept as control group 2. All wounds in group 3 were considered as control group 1. The control wounds were left to heal naturally. In each group and for each wound, the time of debridement were noted. The results indicated that for the wounds where kiwifruit was applied, the average time for removal of dead tissue was 5.7 days, which is significantly shorter than the average 18.5 days it took for treatment with fibrinolysin (p = 0.02). However, there were no significant differences between control wounds 1 and 2. Findings of the present study can open new horizons and provide a new treatment modality for patients with deep burns.

Introduction: Hospital triage scale in emergency departments needs to be valid and reliable. Lack of sufficient data exists on triage scale rigor in emergency departments of Iran. This study aimed to determine the impact of the emergency severity index (ESI) triage scale in the emergency department. Materials and Methods: A single-center study was conducted. Proportion of triage categories allocated to high-risk patients admitted to high-acuity departments was examined in observational period in June 2012 and May 2013. True triage score was reported based on patients` paper- based scenario questionnaire. Interrater reliability was assessed using unweighted kappa. Concordance among experts, nurses and physicians was examined. The Chi-square test and Kappa statistics was used for statistical analysis. Results: Triage decisions regarding high-risk patients before and after implementation period are independent from each other (χ2 = 22.254; df=1; p

Formation of necrotic tissues is a major issue affecting treatment of full-thickness burns. This study was designed to compare topical effectiveness of applying kiwifruit versus fibrinolysin on removal of necrotic tissue of burns. Ten adult male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to three groups. For group 1, the right-side wounds were treated with kiwifruit and the other side with fibrinolysin. For group 2, the wounds on the right side were treated with kiwifruit or fibrinolysin, and the left sides were kept as control group 2. All wounds in group 3 were considered as control group 1. The control wounds were left to heal naturally. In each group and for each wound, the time of debridement were noted. The results indicated that for the wounds where kiwifruit was applied, the average time for removal of dead tissue was 5.7 days, which is significantly shorter than the average 18.5 days it took for treatment with fibrinolysin (p = 0.02). However, there were no significant differences between control wounds 1 and 2. Findings of the present study can open new horizons and provide a new treatment modality for patients with deep burns.

Background This cross-sectional and correlational survey examines the association between different types of living arrangements and life satisfaction in older Malaysians, while taking into account the mediating effects of social support function. Methodology and Findings A total of 1880 of older adults were selected by multistage stratified sampling. Life satisfaction and social support were measured with the Philadelphia Geriatric Center Morale Scale and Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey. The result shows living with children as the commonest type of living arrangement for older adults in peninsular Malaysia. Compared to living alone, living only with a spouse especially and then co-residency with children were both associated with better life satisfaction (p

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of aquatic exercise on fatigue and the quality of life in women with multiple sclerosis (MS).This randomized controlled clinical trial was carried out in a multiple sclerosis clinic in Iran, where 37 outpatient women with MS were randomized into an exercise group (N.=18) and a control group (N.=19). In the exercise group, aquatic exercise was performed for 45 minutes, 3 times per week for 8 weeks. The control group did not receive any interventions (aquatic exercise) and were asked to maintain their normal treatments. The severity and perception of fatigue and quality of life (QoL) were measured using the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), Modified Fatigue Impact Scale (MFIS), and Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLIM) questionnaires.The repeated measure ANOVA demonstrated significant effects of aquatic exercise on the changes in the scores of physical and psychosocial fatigue perception, QoL, and fatigue severity (P=0.001). However, its effect was not significant for cognitive fatigue perception (P0.05). General linear models show that the percentages of variation, as explained by the aquatic exercises, were highest in the QoL and the physical and psychosocial fatigue perceptions.Aquatic exercise can improve the QoL and decrease fatigue severity and fatigue perception, specifically in the physical and psychosocial domain for MS patients. However, it was not effective in improving cognitive fatigue perception.