The purpose of this study was to investigate taste sensation in the elderly, and to determine relationships between subjective dissatisfaction with taste ability and factors such as age, gender and oral status among independently living elderly individuals. Participants were older adults (mean age, 66.0 +/- 4.2 years; 321 men and 319 women) voluntarily attending a Senior Citizen Educational Program supported by local government in 2003 and 2004. The questionnaire included self-assessed items on general health, dry mouth, chewing satisfaction and taste satisfaction. Respondents underwent investigation of salivary flow rate, dental status and gustatory testing using the filter-paper disc method for sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Chi-squared tests showed that the factors associated with dissatisfaction with taste ability were older age, dissatisfaction with chewing, dry mouth during eating and wearing dentures covering the entire hard palate. The sensation for each taste was not significantly related to taste satisfaction by chi-squared test. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that dry mouth during eating, dentures covering the entire hard palate, dissatisfaction with chewing and discriminatory threshold for the sour taste were associated with dissatisfaction with taste ability. We found a significant association between subjective taste dissatisfaction and certain oral factors; hence, when patients complain about diminished taste, dentists must assess oral status as well as taste sensation.

We study the effect of Fe–V nonstoichiometry on electrical and thermoelectric properties of Fe2VAl films. We find that temperature dependence of electrical resistivity and carrier type for Fe2−xV1+xAl films are similar to those for bulk samples reported previously. In addition, the electrical and thermoelectric properties can be modulated by varying x. These results indicate that the electronic band structure having a pseudo gap at around the Fermi level is demonstrated even in thin-film Fe2VAl samples. This study will lead to further improvement in thermoelectric properties of the thin-film Fe2VAl.

Fe2TiSi has been expected to be one of the high-performance thermoelectric full-Heusler alloys. Here, we experimentally clarify the room-temperature Seebeck coefficient (S) and thermal conductivity (κ) for the Fe2TiSi films. Using a molecular beam epitaxy technique, we demonstrate the high degree of L21-ordering and the homogeneous single-phase structure in the Fe2TiSi films. We find that the intrinsic conduction carriers of the Fe2TiSi films are holes and impurity-induced carrier scattering is indicated, derived from weak magnetic moments due to the presence of D03-type (Fe ⇔ Ti) structural disorder in the Fe2TiSi film. From reliable measurements for thin films, the values of S and κ are estimated to be 101 μV/K and 5.6 W/(m K), respectively, at room temperature. This study will open a new way for full-Heusler alloy thermoelectric materials other than those in Fe2VAl systems.

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