Vision-Enhancing Interventions in Nursing Home Residents and Their Short-Term Effect on Physical and Cognitive Function

Abstract Background Observational studies have reported an inverse association between ultraviolet (UV) radiation and hypertension. The aim of this study was to assess differences in blood pressure changes between persons with dementia receiving UV light versus vitamin D (VD) supplementation. Methods Post-hoc analysis of randomized controlled trial data concerning nursing home residents with dementia (N = 61; 41 women, mean age 84.8 years). The participants received half-body UV irradiation, twice weekly over 6 months, at one standard erythema dose (UV group, n = 22) or 5600 international units of cholecalciferol once a week (VD group, n = 39). Short-term effects were evaluated after 1 month and long-term effects after 3 and 6 months. Differences in blood pressure changes were assessed using linear mixed models. Results With the VD group as a reference, the estimated difference in mean change of systolic blood pressure was − 26.0 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI) -39.9, − 12.1, p = .000] at 1 month, 4.5 mmHg (95% CI -6.8, 15.9, p = 0.432) at 3 months, and 0.1 (95% CI -14.1, 14.3, p = 0.83) at 6 months. The estimated difference in diastolic blood pressure was − 10.0 mmHg (95% CI -19.2, − 0.7, p = 0.035) at 1 month, 3.6 mmHg (95% CI -4.1, 11.2, p = 0.358) at 3 months, and 2.7 (95% CI -6.8, 12.1, p = 0.580) at 6 months. Conclusions UV light had only a short-term effect but not a long-term effect on blood pressure reduction compared to VD use in this sample of normotensive to mild hypertensive nursing home residents with dementia. Future studies will be needed to determine the effect of UV light in different samples of the population and especially in a population with hypertension.

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Short-term effect of combined drug therapy and cognitive stimulation therapy on the cognitive function of Alzheimer's disease

Psychogeriatrics ◽

10.1111/j.1479-8301.2010.00335.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 167-172 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Osamu MATSUDA ◽

Emi SHIDO ◽

Ayako HASHIKAI ◽

Haruka SHIBUYA ◽

Mitsue KOUNO ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Drug Therapy ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Term Effect ◽

Cognitive Stimulation ◽

Short Term ◽

Short Term Effect ◽

Cognitive Stimulation Therapy

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A Newspaper’s Effect on the Strength of Automatic Associations in Memory

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000057 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Florian Arendt

Keyword(s):

Treatment Group ◽

Term Effect ◽

Control Group ◽

Implicit Measure ◽

Short Term ◽

Short Term Treatment ◽

Short Term Effect ◽

Automatic Associations ◽

Foreign Nationality ◽

The Impact

A test was done to see if reading a newspaper which consistently overrepresents foreigners as criminals strengthens the automatic association between foreign country and criminal in memory (i.e., implicit cultivation). Further, an investigation was done to find out if reading articles from the same newspaper produces a short-term effect on the same measure and if (1) emotionalization of the newspaper texts, (2) emotional reactions of the reader (indicated by arousal), and (3) attributed text credibility moderate the short-term treatment effect. Eighty-five participants were assigned to one of three experimental conditions. Participants in the control group received short factual crime texts, where the nationality of the offender was not mentioned. Participants in the factual treatment group received the same texts, but the foreign nationality was mentioned. Participants in the emotionalized treatment group received emotionalized articles (i.e., texts which are high in vividness and frequency) covering the same crimes, with the foreign nationality mentioned. Supporting empirical evidence for implicit cultivation and a short-term effect was found. However, only emotionalized articles produced a short-term effect on the strength of the automatic association, indicating that newspaper texts must have a minimum of stimulus intensity to overcome an effect threshold. There were no moderating effects of arousal or credibility pertaining to the impact on the implicit measure. However, credibility moderated the short-term effect on a first-order judgment (i.e., estimated frequency of foreigners of all criminals). This indicates that a newspaper’s effect on the strength of automatic associations is relatively independent from processes of propositional reasoning.

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