AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY ON THE ACCURACY OF HEART RATE READINGS BETWEEN SMART WATCHES AND A HAND HELD VITAL SIGN MONITOR IN STATIC AND DYNAMIC MOTIONS ON A HEALTHY YOUNG ADULT POPULATION

There are various devices and applications available in the market that can be used to measure heart rates. These are becoming increasingly popular. Amongst these include the Apple watch, the Xiaomi MI Band and using the Thermal Application (T.A.P.) software (used through a Smartphone). In clinical practice and research, usually the E.C.G. Is used to measure the heart rates, (apart from manually counting the beats by palpation). The study will determine the accuracy of using the available devices in the market (previously mentioned), and also determine if they can be used on patients or subjects while sitting and walking, in clinical practice and researches. Method: It will be a comparative observational study. 50 students, selected as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria from Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences will be the subjects of this study. Their heart rates will be monitored with the three devices, and compared with the readings from an E.C.G. It will be done as per Bruce protocol during walking, and in static sitting. The accuracy of the devices will be determined by analyzing the results acquired. The devices are: Apple watch, Xiaomi MI band, and a smart Phone with Thermal Application (T.A.P.) software installed. The successful completion of the study will determine which of the devices show the most accurate heart rate readings, in what positions of a patient (sitting or walking) it would be acceptable to use these devices (in terms of accuracy) in the case where an E.C.G. is not available, or at a time of urgency. The study will also show if it would be appropriate to use these devices in clinical practice and research studies.

Spatial Similarity of MRI-Visible Perivascular Spaces in Healthy Young Adult Twins

Purpose This study aims to determine whether genetic factors affect the location of dilated perivascular spaces (dPVS) by comparing healthy young twins and non-twin (NT) siblings. Methods A total of 700 healthy young adult twins and NT siblings (138 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs, 79 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, and 133 NT sibling pairs) were collected from the Human Connectome Project dataset. dPVS was automatically segmented and normalized to standard space. Then, spatial similarity indices (mean squared error [MSE], structural similarity [SSIM], and dice similarity [DS]) were calculated for dPVS in the basal ganglia (BGdPVS) and white matter (WMdPVS) between paired subjects before and after propensity score matching of dPVS volumes between groups. Within-pair correlations for the regional volumes of dVPS were also assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results The spatial similarity of dPVS was significantly higher in MZ twins (higher DS [median, 0.382 and 0.310] and SSIM [0.963 and 0.887] and lower MSE [0.005 and 0.005] for BGdPVS and WMdPVS, respectively) than DZ twins (DS [0.121 and 0.119], SSIM [0.941 and 0.868], and MSE [0.010 and 0.011]) and NT siblings (DS [0.106 and 0.097], SSIM [0.924 and 0.848], and MSE [0.016 and 0.017]). No significant difference was found between DZ twins and NT siblings. Similar results were found even after subjects were matched according to dPVS volume. Regional dPVS volumes were also more correlated within pairs in MZ twins than DZ twins and NT siblings. Conclusion Our results suggest that genetic factors affect the location of dPVS.

Deep Venous Thrombosis after Ad26.COV2.S Vaccination in Adult Male

With extensive loss of life and well-being seen since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the initiation of vaccinations has come with enormous hope towards the end of this pandemic. Detailed discussions regarding the safety and efficacy of these vaccines led to their approval. With such success, there have also been reports of vaccine-associated adverse events—allergic reactions, anaphylaxis, immune thrombocytopenia, and thrombosis. We discuss and report the first case of a healthy young adult male developing extensive thrombosis, after receiving the Ad26.COV2.S (Johnson & Johnson/Janssen) vaccine.

Heart rate and cardiac autonomic responses to concomitant deep breathing, hand grip exercise, and circulatory occlusion in healthy young adult men and women

Background Deep breathing (DB) and handgrip (HG) exercise -with and without circulatory occlusion (OC) in muscle-, have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular function; however, the combination of these maneuvers on heart rate (HR) and cardiac sympathovagal balance have not been previously investigated. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of simultaneous DB, HG, and OC maneuvers on the sympathovagal balance in healthy women and men subjects. Methods and results Electrocardiogram and ventilation were measured in 20 healthy subjects (Women: n = 10; age = 27 ± 4 years; weight = 67.1 ± 8.4 kg; and height = 1.6 ± 0.1 m. Men: n = 10; age = 27 ± 3 years; weight = 77.5 ± 10.1 kg; and height = 1.7 ± 0.1 m) at baseline and during DB, DB + HG, or DB + HG + OC protocols. Heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate were continuously recorded, and spectral analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) were calculated to indirectly estimate cardiac autonomic function. Men and women showed similar HR responses to DB, DB + HG and DB + HG + OC. Men exhibited a significant HR decrease following DB + HG + OC protocol which was accompanied by an improvement in cardiac autonomic control evidenced by spectral changes in HRV towards parasympathetic predominance (HRV High frequency: 83.95 ± 1.45 vs. 81.87 ± 1.50 n.u., DB + HG + OC vs. baseline; p < 0.05). In women, there was a marked decrease in HR after completion of both DB + HG and DB + HG + OC tests which was accompanied by a significant increase in cardiac vagal tone (HRV High frequency: 85.29 ± 1.19 vs. 77.93 ± 0.92 n.u., DB + HG vs. baseline; p < 0.05). No adverse effects or discomfort were reported by men or women during experimental procedures. Independent of sex, combination of DB, HG, and OC was tolerable and resulted in decreases in resting HR and elevations in cardiac parasympathetic tone. Conclusions These data indicate that combined DB, HG and OC are effective in altering cardiac sympathovagal balance and reducing resting HR in healthy men and women.

MNI-FTD templates, unbiased average templates of frontotemporal dementia variants

Standard templates are widely used in human neuroimaging processing pipelines to facilitate group-level analyses and comparisons across subjects/populations. MNI-ICBM152 template is the most commonly used standard template, representing an average of 152 healthy young adult brains. However, in patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as frontotemporal dementia (FTD), high atrophy levels lead to significant differences between individuals’ brain shapes and MNI-ICBM152 template. Such differences might inevitably lead to registration errors or subtle biases in downstream analyses and results. Disease-specific templates are therefore desirable to reflect the anatomical characteristics of the populations of interest and reduce potential registration errors. Here, we present MNI-FTD136, MNI-bvFTD70, MNI-svFTD36, and MNI-pnfaFTD30, four unbiased average templates of 136 FTD patients, 70 behavioural variant (bv), 36 semantic variant (sv), and 30 progressive nonfluent aphasia (pnfa) variant FTD patients and a corresponding age-matched template of 133 controls (MNI-CN133), along with probabilistic tissue maps for each template. Public availability of these templates will facilitate analyses of FTD cohorts and enable comparisons between different studies in an appropriate common standardized space.

Sleep spectral power correlates of prospective memory maintenance

Prospective memory involves setting an intention to act that is maintained over time and executed when appropriate. Slow wave sleep (SWS) has been implicated in maintaining prospective memories, although which SWS oscillations most benefit this memory type remains unclear. Here, we investigated SWS spectral power correlates of prospective memory. Healthy young adult participants completed three ongoing tasks in the morning or evening. They were then given the prospective memory instruction to remember to press “Q” when viewing the words “horse” or “table” when repeating the ongoing task after a 12-h delay including overnight, polysomnographically recorded sleep or continued daytime wakefulness. Spectral power analysis was performed on recorded sleep EEG. Two additional groups were tested in the morning or evening only, serving as time-of-day controls. Participants who slept demonstrated superior prospective memory compared with those who remained awake, an effect not attributable to time-of-day of testing. Contrary to prior work, prospective memory was negatively associated with SWS. Furthermore, significant increases in spectral power in the delta-theta frequency range (1.56 Hz–6.84 Hz) during SWS was observed in participants who failed to execute the prospective memory instructions. Although sleep benefits prospective memory maintenance, this benefit may be compromised if SWS is enriched with delta–theta activity.

Comparison of scapular upward rotator muscle activities and activity ratios during three scapular upward rotator strengthening exercises

BACKGROUND: The focus of exercises for restoring the imbalance between scapular upward rotator muscles – upper trapezius (UT), serratus anterior (SA), and lower trapezius (LT) – commonly aims to increase SA and LT activities while not increasing UT activity. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the activity of the UT, SA, and LT muscles during scapation and protraction exercises, which are two traditional exercises, and during a newly designed scapular upward rotation (SUR) exercise. METHODS: A total of 29 healthy young adult men performed all three exercises with maximum isometric contraction. The electromyographic activities of the UT, SA, and LT were recorded. RESULTS: UT demonstrated the highest activity during scapation. SA activity was the lowest during protraction. However, no difference was found in SA activity during the performance of scapation and SUR. The SA/UT ratio was the highest during scapation. CONCLUSIONS: SUR is a new exercise that can be performed at moderate intensity for shoulder rehabilitation to restore scapular upward rotator muscle imbalance.

Multi-Sequence Average Templates for Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease Populations

Magnetic resonance image (MRI) processing pipelines use average templates to enable standardization of individual MRIs in a common space. MNI-ICBM152 is currently used as the standard template by most MRI processing tools. However, MNI-ICBM152 represents an average of 152 healthy young adult brains and is vastly different from brains of patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In those populations, extensive atrophy might cause inevitable registration errors when using an average template of young healthy individuals for standardization. Disease-specific templates that represent the anatomical characteristics of the populations can reduce such errors and improve downstream driven estimates. We present multi-sequence average templates for Alzheimers Dementia (AD), Fronto-temporal Dementia (FTD), Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), cognitively intact and impaired Parkinsons Disease patients (PD-CIE and PD-CI, respectively), individuals with Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI), AD with vascular contribution (V-AD), Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment (V-MCI), Cognitively Intact Elderly (CIE) individuals, and a human phantom. We also provide separate templates for males and females to allow better representation of the diseases in each sex group.

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load of Four Local Fruits of Benin Among Apparently Healthy Young Adult Subjects

Background: Daily consumption of fruits is recommended due to their positive impact on the control of glycemia, cholesterol and coronary heart disease. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the glycemic index and glycemic load (GL) of four local fruits grown in Benin, namely papaya, pineapple, watermelon and grafted mango, among apparently healthy young adult subjects. Methods: This research work, being an interventional study of quasi-experimental category, involved 33 voluntary adult subjects (mean age: 23.4±1.9 years; mean body mass index: 21.38±1.89 kg/m2 ) distributed into 4 groups. The subjects of each group consumed the reference food (25 g of glucose or 50 g of white bread) twice a week with an interval of one week, and then a serving equivalent to 25 g of carbohydrates of each tested fruit in the morning after a 12-hour fasting on the evening. Plasma glucose was measured at 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after food ingestion. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA, SPSS, 26). The P < 0.05 was regarded as the significance level. Results: The incremental area under the curve mean value in mmol.L-1.min-1 of pineapple (89.21±21.75) was higher (P <0.001) than those of mango (34.71±13.62), papaya (23.46±15.06) and watermelon (20.30±16.47). The mean glycemic index of mango (117.09±58.32) was significantly higher (P =0.007) than the ones of pineapple (52.97±29.87), papaya (46.77±45.77), and watermelon (41.04±34.06). The mean GL of mango (16.28±8.11) was significantly more elevated (P =0.001) than the ones of papaya (3.41±3.34), pineapple (6.36±3.58), and watermelon (2.54±2.11). Conclusion: Watermelon, papaya and pineapple may therefore be recommended for safe consumption in accordance with dietary guidelines.