Yueren ZHAO

Sedentary behavior in patients with schizophrenia causes muscle weakness, is associated with a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, and contributes to mortality risk. This pilot case-control study aims to examine the associated factors for dynapenia/sarcopenia in patients with schizophrenia. The participants were 30 healthy individuals (healthy group) and 30 patients with schizophrenia (patient group), who were matched for age and sex. Descriptive statistics, Welch's t-test, cross-tabulations, adjusted residuals, Fisher's exact probability test (extended), and/or odds ratios (ORs) were calculated. In this study, dynapenia was significantly more prevalent in patients with schizophrenia than in healthy individuals. Regarding body water, Pearson's chi-square value was 4.41 (p = 0.04), and significantly more patients with dynapenia were below the normal range. In particular, body water and dynapenia showed a significant association, with an OR = 3.42 and 95% confidence interval [1.06, 11.09]. Notably, compared with participants of the healthy group, patients with schizophrenia were overweight, had less body water, and were at a higher risk for dynapenia. The impedance method and the digital grip dynamometer used in this study were simple and useful tools for evaluating muscle quality. To improve health conditions for patients with schizophrenia, additional attention should be paid to muscle weakness, nutritional status, and physical rehabilitation.

With the aging of the population in Japan, the number of bedridden patients who need long-term care is increasing. The Japanese government has been promoting the creation of an environment that enables everyone, including bedridden patients, to enjoy travel, based on the principle of normalization. However, it is difficult for bedridden patients to enjoy the scenery of distant places and to talk with the local people because they need support from helpers to travel to distant places using travel agencies. Therefore, to enhance their quality of life (QOL), we developed a remote-controlled drone system, which involves using only the eyes. We believe that bedridden patients are able to operate the system’s drone in a distant place, to easily view the scenery of the distant place with a camera installed on the drone, and to talk with the local people. However, we have never evaluated whether actual bedridden patients can operate the drone in a distant place, to see the scenery, and to talk with the local people. In this paper, we presented clinical experimental results to verify the effectiveness of this drone system. Findings showed that, not only subjects with relatively high levels of independence in activities of daily living, but also bedridden subjects, could operate the drone at a distant place with only their eyes and communicate with others.

This study aimed to conduct a systematic review to clarify patient understanding, understanding of caring concepts, understanding of technology, competency to express compassion, appropriate involvement in caring, and ethical and moral attitudes and responses toward patients. This systematic review was conducted through an electronic search across PubMed, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, and Science Direct. Authors independently appraised the methodological quality of the studies using the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. A narrative synthesis approach was used to present these findings. Nine studies met the inclusion criteria and quality appraisal guidelines. Through thematic analysis, four major themes were identified:Technology and caring competency, Technology and patient-centered care, Empathetic skills, and Caring competency. This review has shown that patients choose physicians considering their emotions and communicate well with them, empowering them to take responsibility of their own or their loved ones' healthcare. In the age of technological advancement and availability of vast sources of information, it is expected of physicians to adapt to these character priorities while maintaining their sense of humanness, not only focusing on healing modalities, but also to guide, educate, and appropriately empower their patients toward achieving their healthcare goals. J. Med. Invest. 70 : 307-316, August, 2023.

Patients with schizophrenia may exhibit a flat affect and poor facial expressions. This study aimed to compare subjective facial emotion recognition (FER) and FER based on multi-task cascaded convolutional network (MTCNN) face detection in 31 patients with schizophrenia (patient group) and 40 healthy participants (healthy participant group). A Pepper Robot was used to converse with the 71 aforementioned participants; these conversations were recorded on video. Subjective FER (assigned by medical experts based on video recordings) and FER based on MTCNN face detection was used to understand facial expressions during conversations. This study confirmed the discriminant accuracy of the FER based on MTCNN face detection. The analysis of the smiles of healthy participants revealed that the kappa coefficients of subjective FER (by six examiners) and FER based on MTCNN face detection concurred (κ = 0.63). The perfect agreement rate between the subjective FER (by three medical experts) and FER based on MTCNN face detection in the patient, and healthy participant groups were analyzed using Fisher’s exact probability test where no significant difference was observed (p = 0.72). The validity and reliability were assessed by comparing the subjective FER and FER based on MTCNN face detection. The reliability coefficient of FER based on MTCNN face detection was low for both the patient and healthy participant groups.