Objective: This study aimed to examine the risk of fall, fall injury, and fall numbers among older adults with dementia and Alzheimer diseases. Additionally, this study explored the relationship of falls by medication use of neurodegenerative diseases. Methods: The survey data from the years 2020 of Health and Retirement Study Consumption and Activities Mail Survey (HRS CAMS) was used. The HRS CAMS includes information of demographic characteristics, fall information, and medical background including dementia and Alzheimer diseases, and medication record. A regression model was used to test whether neurodegenerative diseases and medications was associated with fall risk factors. Results: The sample (n = 8782) was predominately female (54.7%) and white (60.7%) with a mean age of 70.4 years. When controlled for covariates, the findings show 10 percent higher risk of fall for elderly people with dementia and Alzheimer. People with dementia were 9% more likely to have higher risk of injury by fall and those with dementia and Alzheimer's had more than 7 times of higher chance of a higher number of falls. Using Alzheimers prescription was associated with lower 90% lower risk of fall than controls. Conclusions: Dementia and Alzheimer diseases are significant risk factor for falls in older adults. This study suggests that older adults with neurodegenerative diseases have higher risk, and needs more regular medical checkups to decrease the risk of fall.

This study examined how people choose their path to a target, and the visual information they use for path planning. Participants avoided stepping outside an avoidance margin between a stationary obstacle and the edge of a walkway as they walked to a bookcase and picked up a target from different locations on a shelf. We provided an integrated explanation for path selection by combining avoidance margin, deviation angle, and distance to the obstacle. We found that the combination of right and left avoidance margins accounted for 26%, deviation angle accounted for 39%, and distance to the obstacle accounted for 35% of the variability in decisions about the direction taken to circumvent an obstacle on the way to a target. Gaze analysis findings showed that participants directed their gaze to minimize the uncertainty involved in successful task performance and that gaze sequence changed with obstacle location. In some cases, participants chose to circumvent the obstacle on a side for which the gaze time was shorter, and the path was longer than for the opposite side. Our results of a path selection judgment test showed that the threshold for participants abandoning their preferred side for circumventing the obstacle was a target location of 15 cm to the left of the bookcase shelf center.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hierarchical goal structure of a yet-to-be performed task on gait and eye fixation behavior while walking to the location of where the task was to be performed. Subjects performed different goal-directed tasks representing three hierarchical levels of planning. The first level of planning consisted of having the subject walk to a bookcase on which an object (a cup) was located in the middle of a shelf. The second level of planning consisted of walking to the bookcase and picking up the cup which was in the middle, on the right side, or on the left side of the bookcase shelf. The third level of planning consisted of walking to the bookcase, picking up the cup which was located in the middle of the bookcase shelf, and moving it to a higher shelf. Findings showed that hierarchal goals do affect center of mass velocity and eye fixation behavior. Center of mass velocity to the bookcase increased with an increase in the number of goals. Subjects decreased gait velocity as they approached the bookcase and adjusted their last steps to accommodate picking up the cup. The findings also demonstrated the important role of vision in controlling gait velocity in goal-directed tasks. Eye fixation duration was more important than the number of eye fixations in controlling gait velocity. Thus, the amount of information gained through object fixation duration is of greater importance than the number of fixations on the object for effective goal achievement.

The purpose of research was to study the effect of psychological well-being on the athletic performance of professional athletes. The present research was a descriptive of causal-comparative type. The statistical population consisted of professional skill level with an experience of 10 years (n=100) were randomly selected. Data collection tools consisted of three questionnaires: Charbonneau exercise performance questionnaire (2001), Reif's psychological well-being questionnaire (1989). To test the hypotheses, multiple regression analysis was used. The findings showed that sporting performance of professional athletes with predictive psychological well-being is predictable. The effect of psychological well-being on the performance of athletes' professional sport is not significant. Keywords: Psychological well-being, Professional athletes

This study examined how people choose their path to a target, and the visual information they use for path planning. Participants avoided making contact with an obstacle as they walked to a bookcase and picked up a cup from different locations on a shelf. Participants chose a path with a smaller deviation angle from a straight line to the target and chose a side of the obstacle which was closer to them. Unlike previous studies which have not included a safety margin in their analyses, we found that the right and left safety margins combined to account for 26% of the variability in path planning decision making. In some cases, participants chose a longer path around the obstacle even when the available safety margin which would have resulted in a straight line to the target was large enough to allow passage. Gaze analysis findings showed that participants directed their gaze to minimize the uncertainty involved in successful task performance and that gaze sequence changed with obstacle location. Early in their walk to the target, the greatest allocation of gaze was on the safety margin and target, later in their walk, gaze shifted to the safety margin when it was small, and then gaze shifted primarily to the target after the participant passed the obstacle. Our results of a path selection judgment test showed that the threshold for participants abandoning their preferred side for circumventing the obstacle was 15 cm to the left of the bookcase shelf center.

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Background. Previous studies have shown that postural stability can be enhanced by directing performers' attention to the effects of their movements (external focus), rather than to the body movements producing the effect (internal focus). Objectives. This study aimed to investigate the effects of attentional focus and a Supra postural task on postural control in older adults. Methods. The study method involved the focus of attention which was manipulated by instructing subjects to hold a glass full of water while focusing on either hand or glass. The center of pressure (COP) tests were performed on the participants in the following four conditions: baseline, control, the external focus of attention (EFA), and the internal focus of attention (IFA). Balance assessment and training were conducted using the Biodex Stability System (BSS). Results. Analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that attentional focus affected both the postural and the supra-postural task (p<0.05). Also, the results of independent t-test showed that no significant difference existed between internal-external focus conditions (p<0.05). Conclusion. This study suggests that application of automatic control processes can be facilitated by simply directing performers' attention away from their own movements.

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