Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Brief Cognitive Instruments to Evaluate Suspected Dementia in Chinese-Speaking Populations

Background

Chinese is the most commonly spoken world language; however, most cognitive tests were developed and validated in the West. It is essential to find out which tests are valid and practical in Chinese speaking people with suspected dementia.

Objective

We therefore conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of brief cognitive tests adapted for Chinese-speaking populations in people presenting for assessment of suspected dementia.

Methods

We searched electronic databases for studies reporting brief (≤20 minutes) cognitive test's sensitivity and specificity as part of dementia diagnosis for Chinese-speaking populations in clinical settings. We assessed quality using Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (CEBM) criteria and translation and cultural adaptation using the Manchester Translation Reporting Questionnaire (MTRQ), and Manchester Cultural Adaptation Reporting Questionnaire (MCAR). We assessed heterogeneity and combined sensitivity in meta-analyses.

Results

38 studies met inclusion criteria and 22 were included in meta-analyses. None met the highest CEBM criteria. Five studies met the highest criteria of MTRQ and MCAR. In meta-analyses of studies with acceptable heterogeneity (I2 <  75%), Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised &III (ACE-R & ACE-III) had the best sensitivity and specificity; specifically, for dementia (93.5% & 85.6%) and mild cognitive impairment (81.4% & 76.7%).

Conclusions

Current evidence is that the ACE-R and ACE-III are the best brief cognitive assessments for dementia and mild cognitive impairment in Chinese-speaking populations. They may improve time taken to diagnosis, allowing people to access interventions and future planning.

Trends and characteristics of employing cavitation technology for water and wastewater treatment with a focus on hydrodynamic and ultrasonic cavitation over the past two decades: A Scientometric analysis

Cavitation-based technologies have emerged as a sustainable and effective way to treat natural waters and wastewater, considering their increasing scarcity due to pollution and climate change. For this reason, this work aimed to conduct a scientometric analysis on the topic of cavitation for water and wastewater treatment during the last 20 years, from 2001 to August 2022. We focused on hydrodynamic and ultrasonic cavitation as the prevalent methods of inducing cavitation. Furthermore, an in-depth study on the main trends regarding the number of publications and citations, keywords co-occurrence and evolution, and countries' publication trends was carried out to investigate the future direction of this research topic. The data was gathered from the Web of Science database and analyzed by the Visualization Of Similarities software. This work focused on: i) publication and citation trends, ii) scientific categories, iii) countries' contribution to the topic of cavitation, iv) prominent journals, v) keyword co-occurrence and cluster analysis, and vi) keyword evolution analysis. Results showed a significant increase in publications during the past 5 years. The scientific categories with the highest number of publications were "environmental sciences" and "environmental engineering," with a combined share of 19.4 % of publications. Keywords evolution analysis showed that limited focus was given to topics related to "energy" and "energy efficiency" in the field of cavitation, but with the rising importance of each process's sustainability, the attention given to these concepts will increase in the future. Future directions for the topic of cavitation-related water and wastewater treatments will shift towards more environmentally friendly applications of hydrodynamic and ultrasonic cavitation as well as towards more green and sustainable approaches to address the increasing water pollution problems and shortage. Moreover, it will include other uses besides water treatment such as manufacturing nanomaterials food production and medicine.