People with dementia often experience loneliness and social isolation. This can result in increased cognitive decline which, in turn, has a negative impact on quality of life. This paper explores the use of the social robot, MARIO, with older people living with dementia as a way of addressing these issues. A descriptive qualitative study was conducted to explore the perceptions and experiences of the use and impact of MARIO. The research took place in the UK, Italy and Ireland. Semi-structured interviews were held in each location with people with dementia (n = 38), relatives/carers (n = 28), formal carers (n = 28) and managers (n = 13). The data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed that despite challenges in relation to voice recognition and the practicalities of conducting research involving robots in real-life settings, most participants were positive about MARIO. Through the robot’s user-led design and personalized applications, MARIO provided a point of interest, social activities, and cognitive engagement increased. However, some formal carers and managers voiced concern that robots might replace care staff.

The current study focuses on the short-term effect of MARIO, a social robot, on quality of life, depression, and perceived social support in persons with dementia (PWD) and evaluates their acceptability of MARIO. Ten PWD in one nursing home took part in a 4-week pilot study, where each participant had up to 12 sessions with MARIO. Sessions comprised engagement in music, news, reminiscence, games, and calendar applications. Standardized questionnaires were administered before and after the 4-week period. Participants had a sustained interest in MARIO during their interactions and an acceptance of MARIO's appearance, sound, and applications. Consequently, participants spent more time socially engaged. No statistically significant differences were found in quality of life, depression, and perceived social support.PWD can engage with a social robot in a real-world nursing home. Future research should incorporate a larger sample and longer intervention period. connect them with their family, their pastimes and the outside world. The initial design of MARIO's applications was also based on four key principles: (i) the applications are individualised, (ii) the applications offer choice, (iii) the applications can prompt the individual and (iv) the applications are simple and intuitive to use. The applications underwent an iterative process of user-driven development, which involved testing several iterations of the applications with PLWD and using their feedback to further refine the applications. This paper presents the results of the final evaluation of MARIO carried out in the X (identifying information) nursing home setting. The aims of the pilot study were (i) to evaluate the acceptability, functionality and usability of MARIO to PLWD in a nursing home, as well as any potential ethical issues, from the perspective of the PLWD interacting with MARIO and the researcher observing the interactions and (ii) to explore the short-term effect of MARIO on quality of life, depression and perceived social support of PLWD. Methods DesignThis study was a single group, pre-post, pilot study. It was carried out in one purposively selected nursing home, containing 100 beds, in rural X (identifying information). Quantitative data was collected from PLWD, on quality of life, depression and social support, at baseline and directly after a four-week intervention period. These outcomes were established to be important for measuring the effect of psychosocial interventions for PLWD (Moniz-Cook et al., 2008). The study received ethical approval from the Research Ethics Committee of X (identifying information).

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Social robots are being developed to support care given to older adults (OA), people with dementia (PWD) and OA with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by facilitating their independence and wellbeing. The successful deployment of robots should be guided by knowledge of factors which affect acceptability. This paper critically reviews empirical studies which have explored how acceptability issues impact OA, PWD and OA with MCI. The aim is to identify the factors governing acceptability, to ascertain what is likely to improve acceptability and make recommendations for future research. A search of the literature published between 2005 and 2015 revealed a relatively small body of relevant work has been conducted focusing on the acceptability of robots by PWD or OA with MCI (n=21), and on acceptability for OA (n=23). The findings are presented using constructs from the Almere robot acceptance model. They reveal acceptance of robots is affected by multiple interacting factors, pertaining to the individual, significant others and the wider society. Acceptability can be improved through robots using humanlike communication, being personalised in response to individual users' needs and including issues of trust and control of the robot which relates to degrees of robot adaptivity. However, most studies are of short duration, have small sample sizes and some do not involve actual robot usage or are conducted in laboratories rather than in real world contexts. Larger randomised controlled studies, conducted in the context where robots will be deployed, are needed to investigate how acceptance factors are affected when humans use robots for longer periods of time and become habituated to them.

Introduction: Similarities between the clinical presentation of individuals living with spinal cord injury (SCI) and astronauts are remarkable, and may be of great interest to clinicians and scientists alike. Objectives: The primary purpose of this review is to outline the manner in which cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, renal, immune and sensory motor systems are affected by microgravity and SCI. Methods: A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted (using PubMed) to evaluate the hallmark symptoms seen after spaceflight and SCI. This literature was then examined critically to determine symptoms common to both populations. Results: Both SCI and prolonged microgravity exposure are associated with marked deteriorations in various physiological functions. Atrophy in muscle and bone, cardiovascular disturbances, and alterations in renal, immune and sensory motor systems are conditions commonly observed not only in individuals with SCI, but also in those who experience prolonged gravity unloading. Conclusion: The preponderance of data indicates that similar physiological changes occur in both SCI and prolonged space flight. These findings have important implications for future research in SCI and prolonged space flight.

This systematic review aims to offer an updated understanding of the relationship between gastrointestinal symptoms (GIS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children and adolescents. The databases PsycINFO, Medline, Cinahl, and ERIC were searched using keywords, and relevant literature was hand-searched. Papers (n = 3319) were systematically screened and deemed eligible if they were empirical studies published in English since 2014 and measured the GIS of individuals with ASD who were under 18 years old. Thirty studies were included in the final review. The study findings were synthesized under eight themes, including the prevalence and nature of GIS and their relationship with developmental regression, language and communication, ASD severity, challenging behavior, comorbid psychopathology, sleep problems, and sensory issues. The review found that GIS were common and that there was contradictory evidence concerning their relationship with co-occurring conditions. It also identified evidence of some causal relationships that support the existence of the gut–immune–brain pathways. Future research needs to use large prospective designs and objective and standardized GIS measurements to provide a nuanced understanding of GIS in the context of ASD.

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Background Aquaculture successfully meets global food demands for many fish species. However, aquaculture production of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) is just 2.5% of total market production. For cod farming to be a viable economic venture specific challenges on how to increase growth, health and farming productivity need to be addressed. Feed ingredients play a key role here. Macroalgae (seaweeds) have been suggested as a functional feed supplement with both health and economic benefits for terrestrial farmed animals and fish. The impact of such dietary supplements to cod gut integrity and microbiota, which contribute to overall fish robustness is unknown. The objective of this study was to supplement the diet of juvenile Atlantic cod with macroalgae and determine the impacts on fish condition and growth, gut morphology and hindgut microbiota composition (16S rRNA amplicon sequencing). Fish were fed one of three diets: control (no macroalgal inclusion), 10% inclusion of either egg wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum) or sea lettuce (Ulva rigida) macroalgae in a 12-week trial. Results The results demonstrated there was no significant difference in fish condition, gut morphology or hindgut microbiota between the U. rigida supplemented fish group and the control group at any time-point. This trend was not observed with the A. nodosum treatment. Fish within this group were further categorised as either ‘Normal’ or ‘Lower Growth’. ‘Lower Growth’ individuals found the diet unpalatable resulting in reduced weight and condition factor combined with an altered gut morphology and microbiome relative to the other treatments. Excluding this group, our results show that the hindgut microbiota was largely driven by temporal pressures with the microbial communities becoming more similar over time irrespective of dietary treatment. The core microbiome at the final time-point consisted of the orders Vibrionales (Vibrio and Photobacterium), Bacteroidales (Bacteroidetes and Macellibacteroides) and Clostridiales (Lachnoclostridium). Conclusions Our study indicates that U. rigida macroalgae can be supplemented at 10% inclusion levels in the diet of juvenile farmed Atlantic cod without any impact on fish condition or hindgut microbial community structure. We also conclude that 10% dietary inclusion of A. nodosum is not a suitable feed supplement in a farmed cod diet.