Many countries are facing the advent of super-aging societies, where sarcopenia and frailty will become emerging problems. Elderly people suffer from various diseases, such as diabetes, heart failure, chronic kidney disease and dementia. The prevalence of comorbidities is a major problem in countries with aged populations. Underlying diseases, such as diabetes, heart failure, chronic kidney disease and also dementia are associated with sarcopenia and frailty, and they are frequent causes of falls, fractures, and a decline in ADL. Fractures in the elderly people are associated with bone fragility. Diabetes and chronic kidney disease are associated with bone fragility. Nutritional support for chronic disease patients and sarcopenic individuals with adequate energy and protein intake, vitamin D supplementation, blood-glucose-level management for individuals with diabetes, obesity prevention, nutritional education for healthy individuals, and the enlightenment of society could be crucial to solving the problems in super-aging societies.

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common geriatric syndrome affecting bladder health and is especially prevalent in nursing homes (NHs). The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of UI and its associated factors in 5 Spanish NHs. UI (measured with Minimum Data Set 3.0.), sociodemographic and health-related variables were collected. Chi- square (or Fisher’s) or Student’s t-test (or Mann Whitney U) for bivariate analysis were used, with Prevalence Ratio (PR) as an association measure. The prevalence of UI was 66.1% (CI:95%, 53.6–77.2) and was significantly associated with frailty (PR 1.84; 95%CI 0.96–3.53), faecal incontinence (FI) (PR 1.65; 95%CI 1.02–2.65), anxiety (PR 1.64; 95%CI 1.01–2.66), physical performance (PR 1.77; 95%CI 1.00–3.11) and cognitive state (PR 1.95; 95%CI 1.05–3.60). Statistically significant differences between incontinent-continent groups were found for activities of daily living (ADL) limitations, mobility, quality of life, sedentary behaviour (SB) and handgrip strength. It can be concluded that 2/3 of the residents experienced UI, and its significant associated factors were mainly physical (SB, frailty, physical performance, ADL limitations, mobility, FI and handgrip strength) followed by psycho-cognitive factors (cognition, anxiety and quality of life).

Background and objectives: Only a few studies analyzed the physical activity level of elderly people living alone in local communities and evaluated the relationship between it and mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between physical activity and depression in the elderly living alone and to provide basic data for the prevention of depression in the elderly. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 256 elderly people living alone aged 65 years or older who completed the 2014 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Depression was defined as a score of 10 or higher using Patient Health Questionnaire-10(PHQ-9). This study investigated walking per week, days of muscular strength exercise performance in the past one week, days of flexibility exercise in the past one week, mean hours in a sitting position per day, the numbers of days and hours conducting a high intensity physical activity in the past one week, and numbers of days and hours conducting a medium intensity physical activity in the past one week to define physical activity. Our study presented prevalence odds ratios (pOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) by using complex sample logistic regression analysis in order to identify the relationship between physical activity and depression. Results: The results of complex sample logistic regression analysis showed that flexibility exercise was significantly related to depression (p <0.05). On the other hand, the mean hours in a sitting position per day, aerobic physical activity, walking, and muscular strength exercise were not significantly related to geriatric depression. Conclusions: The results of our study implied that persistent flexibility exercise might be more effective to maintain a healthy mental status than muscular strength exercise. A longitudinal study is required to prove the causal relationship between physical activity and depression in the old age.

The interrelatedness of social-structural aspects and psychological features with the vaccination intention provides the context to explore personal psychological fea-tures related to general decision-making and vaccine-related dispositions, and their contribution to the intention to vaccinate, within post-pandemic circumstances, after the imposed possibility of choosing a vaccine brand. The aim of our study was to map the function (promotive, protective, risk, vulnerability) of a set of psychological aspects in the intention to vaccinate, in people with different social roles regarding the vaccination. We surveyed three samples of people: healthcare providers (HPs), parents, and lay people, within the context of the after-pandemic. Negative vaccine attitudes lower intention to vaccinate in all regression models (all βs ranging from -.128 to -.983, all ps < .01). The main results indicate that, regardless of the sam-ple/social role, there is a shared attitudinal core for positive vaccination intention. This core consists of [high] trust in large corporations, government, and healthcare systems, as well as perceived consensus on vaccine safety/efficacy and experience of freedom (protective factors), and [low] vaccination conspiracy beliefs, trust in social media, and choice overload (risk and vulnerability factors, respectively). There are no common promotive factors of intention to vaccinate; for parents, perceived consensus on vaccines, and trust in corporations and the healthcare system play such roles, for HPs experience of freedom is obtained as a unique promotive factor. In contrast, for laypeople, no unique promotive factors were found. These results and guidelines for the promotion of positive vaccination behavior are further discussed.

Background: Delhi State AIDS Control Society (DSACS) addressed critical integration of services for Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in context of HIV. They bridged the policy and implementation divide by formulating a multisectoral-strategy in April 2012, creating a model of "Continuum-of-Care for People-Living with HIV (PLHIV), OVC & Children-Affected-by-HIV (ChABH)” in Delhi. With input from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, DSACS sensitized political and administrative machinery about needs and challenges related to HIV/AIDS. DSACS developed an incentive-based system for Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) adherence, incorporating safeguards and robust monitoring. Delhi Government's sustained financial commitment and DSACS programmatic-innovation provide a scalable blueprint for India and global initiatives. Description: This ongoing Delhi Government's scheme focuses on household-economic-strengthening of PLHIV as an incentive for broader behaviour change based-on specific eligibility conditions. Beneficiaries fall into four categories: PLHIV, including children on ART; double orphan HIV positive children (OCI); destitute children living with HIV/in institutional care (DCI); and double orphan ChABH in community-based care in Delhi. Category-wise fixed-monthly financial assistance is released to beneficiaries via direct-bank-transfers leveraging Aadhaar-platform to eliminate corruption. Adherence to treatment is mandatory to continue cash-transfers. Linkages with other schemes established to maximize impact. Lessons learned: In its 11-year evolution, Delhi model has grown from 1110 to 6467 beneficiaries, including 6383 PLHIV, 34 double OCI, 50 DCI, and 27 double orphan ChABH, with 5875 (90.8%) currently active excluding beneficiaries who expired (n=328), migrated/ transferred out of Delhi (n=115), opted-out ART/or lost-to-follow-up (n=135), and 14 CABA who turned major. Steady progress and 98% ART adherence mark positive outcomes. DSACS eased eligibility criteria in 2018, facilitating hurdle-free enrollment, while responding to cost-inflation by enhancing financial assistance, showcasing program adaptability. Achieving >95 ART adherence has significantly boosted survival rates, underscoring program's positive impact on beneficiary health. The scheme's INR 14,69,35,600 expenditure in 2022-23, just 0.13% of Delhi Health Department's plan-outlay, signals a cost-effective investment. Extrapolating this nationally would represent 1.5% of India's Health Ministry's current plan-outlay. Conclusions/Next steps: This innovative model is implementable on large-scale in India and around the globe but requires not only financial commitment but also coordinated efforts, policy adjustments, and collaboration between various stakeholders.

Despite extensive research on autism in children, much less attention has been given to the transition into adulthood. This study aims to address this gap by examining the dietary behaviors of young adults with autism during this critical transition period, highlighting the role of diet in enhancing their readiness for adulthood. Forty-seven participants (mean age 21.0 ± 1.1 years), both male and female, were involved in this study. Participants had various comorbidities, such as mood disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders, for which they required medication. Dietary behavior was assessed using the Starting the Conversation: Diet survey, while transition readiness was measured with the Transition Readiness Sur-vey. T-test and regression analysis were utilized to evaluate the data. The results indicated that participants did not follow healthy eating habits, as reflected by the dietary scores (1.08 ± 0.07), and were not adequately prepared for adulthood, as shown by the transition readiness scores (3.19 ± 1.10). A statistically significant and negative correlation was found between dietary pat-terns and transition readiness (r = -0.51, p < 0.001), indicating an adverse relationship: transition readiness ratings decline as diet scores rise. Linear regression analysis revealed that dietary habits accounted for 26.20% of the variation in transition readiness, with the confidence interval for the coefficient of dietary habits being -2.89 to -0.95 (p = 0.002). The negative significant correlation between dietary scores and transition readiness scores shows that diet behavior significantly influences participants’ assessed readiness for transition.

The Supportive and Palliative Indicators Tool (SPICT) was developed for timely identifying patients who may benefit from supportive and palliative care for a better treatment review, care plan discussion, and end-of-life care. Although the SPICT has been validated in different languages and patients living in different settings, it has not been validated in patients receiving home-based medical care (HBMC), or in the context of using traditional Chinese characters. The present study aimed to validate the Taiwan version of SPICT (SPICT-TW) and to measure its ability to predict six-month mortality in patients who received HBMC in Taiwan. Seven HBMC agents (five clinics and two hospitals) participated in this validation study. We recruited 129 patients aged ≥50 years who had been consistently receiving HBMC for &gt; two months. The results revealed that the SPICT-TW demonstrated similar reliability and validity compared to other language versions of SPICT. It may be an appropriate tool for healthcare professionals to timely detect the needs of palliative care in older people who received home healthcare. Furthermore, we found that a combination of four general indicators and one clinical indicator in SPCIT-TW has the best prediction ability at predicting six-month mortality in these HMBC recipients. This multicenter study validated the SPICT-TW among HBMC recipients in Taiwan. SPICT-TW demonstrated high reliability and validity and may be a practical tool for identifying older people at risk of dying within six months who would benefit from palliative care.

Irrational belief is a product of complex personality traits and Machiavellianism Intelligence. The present study is conducted to trace the significance of predictive nature of personality characteristics and Machiavellianism Intelligence (Mach Intelligence) on irrational beliefs among chronically ill older people. The research method is cross-sectional with correlational design, purposive sampling with a total of 200 chronically ill older people aged between 40–60 years with disease type such as Systemic lupus erythematosus, Complicated Diabetes, Glomerulonephritis and Chronic Heart Failure. The analysis revealed that personality characteristics and irrational belief subscales such as worrying, rigidity, problem avoidance and Mach Intelligence are significantly positively correlated; however, Emotional irresponsibility has significant negative correlation with personality characteristics and Mach Intelligence. Gender differences revealed that males are high on all the subscales of personality characteristics, irrational beliefs (except emotional irresponsibility) and Mach Intelligence as com-pared to female chronically ill older people. Predictive analysis also revealed that overall personality characteristics explained a total of 67% variance in irrational beliefs. Moreover, Mach Intelligence predicts irrational beliefs. Future health related recommendations should be planned accordingly.

Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) are crucial for the efficient operation of financial markets. However, studies focusing on Chinese FMIs are limited. Following the release of a draft regulation on Chinese FMIs in December 2022, this study, building on Zhang and Yin (2023), provides an updated analysis. It introduces non-central bank affiliated FMIs with the latest data, explores the evolution of regulatory reforms, and examines the newly-released regulations. In particular, it offers a critical review of specific regulations and their implications for China's recent policy shift towards prioritizing security and establishing financial dominance. Finally, the study outlines a research agenda for future investigations.