ObjectiveWe aimed to evaluate a foot-care awareness program designed to improve foot morphology, physical functioning, and fall prevention among the community-dwelling elderly. Eleven independent community-dwelling elderly women (aged 61–83 years) were provided with foot-care advice and shown effective foot-care techniques to perform regularly for 6 months, and compared with a control group of 10 elderly women who did not receive any intervention. Measurements of foot form, functional capacity, subjective foot movement, and physical function were taken at baseline and 6-month follow-up.ResultsAt follow-up, improvements were seen in the intervention group in foot morphology, subjective foot movement, foot pressure, and balance. In the intervention group, 90% of women had maintained or improved foot form and none of them had fallen during the post-intervention period, compared to the control group where 30% improved foot form (p = 0.0075) and four (40%) of them had fallen. Therefore, a foot-care program may have the potential to prevent falls and improve mobility among the elderly. Trial Registration UMIN-CTR No. UMIN000029632. Date of Registration: October 19, 2017Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-017-2898-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The purpose of the present study was to identify risk factors for falls among institutionalized elderly, using the standardized risk assessment tool developed by Izumi. We examined 746 patients from three types of facilities: rehabilitation wards in four general hospitals, three long-term care facilities, and three nursing homes, for up to three months. The incidence of falls within all facilities was 12.5%. Patterns of relative risks of falling differed among types of facilities. The highest relative risk of fall in long-term care facilities and nursing homes was nurses' prediction, followed by history of fall and altered mentation. In contrast, that in general hospitals was mobility. In long-term care facilities, history of falls (odds 3.68, 95CI: 1.47-9.23) and interaction (history of falls and assistance with toileting) (odds 3.13, 95CI: 1.48-6.64) showed significance on adjusted-odds ratios for fall. History of falls, altered mentation, and assistance with toileting may be used to screen patients at a high risk for fall at admission.

Abstract:The US government provided $2.6 billion of small business administration (SBA) disaster loans to individuals and businesses in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. However, existing literature has not fully explored the firm-level effects of post-disaster loan aid, specifically, the effect on small businesses. The objective of this article is to examine whether SBA disaster loans played a significant role in the performance of small businesses after Hurricane Katrina. Data from a sample of 287 small businesses in Mississippi that were operating before Hurricane Katrina and still operating in 2013 were used in the analysis. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) small business owners that received SBA disaster loans have higher revenue change compared to before Katrina than those who did not receive the loan; (2) small business owners that received SBA disaster loans perceived their businesses to have higher revenue than before Katrina. Receiving a SBA disaster loan played a positive and statistically significant role in determining the actual revenue change and owners' perception of revenue.

Aim:The purpose of this study was to develop an exercise program for elderly individuals in a long-term care facility. Developed through the synthesis of evidence-based nursing with the use of available research related to falls and exercise, the program was designed to increase balance, mobility, and muscle strength in the lower extremities in order to prevent falls and improve the self-efficacy of the patients. Methods: We developed an exercise program consisting of a warm-up, static stretching, muscle strengthening in the lower extremities, toe exercises, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, and cooldown. The study design was a prospective clinical trial. The intervention period was 3 months, with the outcomes measured before and after intervention and 3 months after cessation of the intervention. The 30 participants were elderly residents of a long-term care facility, 16 of whom were in the intervention group and 14 of whom were in the control group. The outcome values were mobility, muscle strength in the lower extremities, postural sway, fall efficacy, and the number of fallers and falls. The Friedman test was used to analyze the effectiveness of the outcomes. Results: The intervention group showed increased balance, maintained mobility, and showed a decreased number of fallers and falls, although the muscle strength and fall efficacy did not increase. No trainingrelated medical problems occurred. Conclusion: The exercise program was shown to be acceptable to use for the prevention of falls among elderly individuals in a long-term care facility. METHODS Study designThe study design was a 3 month, quasi-experimental clinical trial with an intervention ward and a control ward. Subjects and settingThe subjects were recruited from two long-term care wards in a long-term care facility, 50 beds in each, located in the middle-western region of Japan. The

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キーワード：人工股関節全置換術(THA) ，低侵襲寛骨臼骨切り術(SPO) ，歩容，自己評価，心理社会的側面 AbstractPurpose: This study examined gait self-assessments and the psychosocial aspects of female patients with hip osteoarthritis pre-and post-surgery, comparing perspectives from patients with total hip arthroplasty (THA) and patients with Spherical Periacetabular Osteotomy (SPO).Method: An anonymous self-response questionnaire survey was conducted with female THA patients and female SPO patients 6 to 12 months post-surgery and the self-assessment and psychosocial aspects of the patients' gaits pre-and post-surgery were compared.Results: Responses were received from 70 THA patients and 10 SPO patients. For both THA and SPO patients, gait self-assessments were significantly higher post-surgery. The pre-surgery gait selfassessments were related to feelings of claudication, a feeling about walking with the aid of a stick, and depression in THA patients. The post-surgery gait self-assessments were related to self-esteem, depression, public self-consciousness, and general health perceptions (GH) in THA patients, and overall GH in SPO patients.Conclusion: This suggested that assessing the gait self-assessment of female patients with hip osteoarthritis would help to provide psychosocial supports. However, there were differences in the psychosocial factors that relate to gait self-assessment. This suggests that it is necessary for care to be adapted to the period of time in relation to surgery and the characteristics of each patient.

松本智里 1),2), *，加藤真由美 3) ，兼氏 歩 4) ，市堰 徹 4) ，福井清数 4) ， 髙橋詠二 4) ，平松知子 5) ，谷口好美 3)

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