Postural stability disorders—early signs of aging—in physically non-active prisoners

Background There is a need for a study of possible relationship between serving a prison sentence and developing postural stability dysfunction. The aim of the study was to analyze postural stability of physically inactive prisoners. The study group consisted of 24 male prisoners aged 34.6 ± 7.02 years, imprisoned in closed prison and 30 healthy, non-active physically, aged 36.9 ± 7.5 years, who consisted control group. The subjects were imprisoned for a mean of 105.43 ± 58.48 months. Methods The static balance test was conducted on bi-modular stabilometric platform CQStab2P. Results We found statistically significant differences in several stability parameters. Prisoners results were significantly worse in parameters measured with eyes open: MA (mean amplitude p < 0.01), MAAP (mean amplitude in anterio–posterior plane p < 0.03), MAML (mean amplitude in medio—lateral plane p < 0.04), MaxAP (maximal sway in AP p < 0.01), MaxML (p < 0.01). With eyes closed the prisoner’s results were significantly worse in SPML (sway path in medio-lateral plane p = 0.01), better in MAML (p < 0.01) and MaxML (p < 0.01), and faster in MVML (mean velocity in medio-lateral plane p < 0.01). Conclusions (1) Diagnostics aimed at early diagnoses of ageing symptoms should be performed in prisons. It would allow for better prisoner management in terms of assessment of ability to work, free time activity offer and falls prevention. (2) In prisons, in addition to counteracting the typical causes of balance disorders, action should be taken to counteract the causes for balance disorders typical for prison environment, inter alia: sensory deprivation—by implementing programmes comprehensively activating prisoners, and hypokinesis—by implementing physical activity programmes that cater for the needs of older prisoners.

Machine Learning Implementation of a Diabetic Patient Monitoring System Using Interactive E-App

Lifestyle influences morbidity and mortality rates in the world. Physical activity, a healthy weight, and a healthy diet are key preventative health behaviours that help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and its complications, such as cardiovascular disease. A healthy lifestyle has been shown to prevent or delay chronic diseases and their complications, but few people follow all recommended self-management behaviours. This work seeks to improve knowledge of factors affecting type 2 diabetes self-management and prevention through lifestyle changes. This paper describes the design, development, and testing of a diabetes self-management mobile app. The app tracked dietary consumption and health data. Bluetooth movement data from a pair of wearable insole devices are used to track carbohydrate intake, blood glucose, medication adherence, and physical activity. Two machine learning models were constructed to recognise sitting and standing. The SVM and decision tree models were 86% accurate for these tasks. The decision tree model is used in a real-time activity classification app. It is exciting to see more and more mobile health self-management apps being used to treat chronic diseases.

SCREENING OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWN PERIOD: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

The uncertainty and dread linked with COVID-19 has contributed to a rise in mental health disorders among the general population showing high rates of anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and psychological discomfort. The current study aims to assess the prevalence of psychological distress among undergraduate students of an Arts college in rural Tamilnadu. A cross-sectional study was carried out among 100 undergraduate students of an arts college selected by convenient sampling technique using GHQ-12 questionnaire via online platforms. Among the 100 medical students who participated in the study, 78% were found have severe problems with psychological distress. Leisure time activity like smartphone usage was found to have a signicant association with psychological distress (p<0.05) while other factors like gender, socio-economic status, physical activity, dietary preferences, junk food consumption and sleep habits were not associated statistically. Early recognition of students under stress and counselling will go a long way in helping students adjust to the demands of the educational curriculum.

Articles Signifying Renogram Processing Practices-A Systematic Review

The renography represents time activity process detected when one measures the activity in the kidneys after the dose injection of radiolabeled radio tracer(e.g.99mTc- DTPA,99mTc-MAG3). Interpretation of this renal scan helps to diagnose whether the drainage function from the kidney is normal or abnormal. This renal tracer’s data is processed by mathematical models and data processing techniques like Rutland-Patlak and deconvolution methods to produce renograph. This research study is carried out to review previously published research articles incorporating various methods, their applications and image processing algorithms as well as techniques that were applied to process renal radiotracer’s transit time data. This review includes various types, advantages, gaps and possible scopes for existing renogram data processing techniques. After analysis process of 142 articles it is found that, maximum of the articles are associated with renal scan’s processing methods that are limited to renal patient’s related disease categories and having absence of quantifiable measurement and study of parenchymal radio tracer’s transit time counted from renal cortex to renal pelvis path while limited numbers of articles are purely related to applied algorithms for detecting obstruction level qualitatively.

Re-understanding speech understanding: Closing the cohort loop

Human listeners understand spoken language literally as they hear it, reflecting a perceptually seamless process of real-time comprehension of what the speaker is saying. This remarkable experience of immediacy is rooted in the exceptional earliness with which information carried by successive words is integrated into the interpretation of the current utterance. But despite 50 years of research, there has been no accepted mechanistic neurobiological account of the brain systems that support this process. Only recently have scientific tools emerged that allow us to probe the real-time activity of these brain systems, telling us where and when such activity can be detected and what their neurocomputational content might be. The resulting research enables us, first, to reject the historically dominant account of early speech interpretation as a linguistically stratified computational hierarchy, centered around the notion of a phoneme, and based on sequential transitions between successive representational states.

Age and Gender Differences in Long-Term Exercise Behavior for Older Adults with Heart Disease

Exercise decreases mortality and hospital admissions. Exercise adherence is challenging, and little is known about exercise adherence especially in older adults with heart disease. To gain an understanding of long-term exercise behaviors in older adults we conducted a cross-sectional study of individuals diagnosed between 2016-2020 with myocardial infarction (MI)/angina. Emails were sent in 2020 to recruit participants. Exercise adherence was measured using the Exercise Adherence Rating Scale (EARS), Godin’s Leisure-Time Activity Scale (GLTEQ) for exercise intensity, and self-report for impact of COVID-19. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyze data. Eight-hundred and seven individuals (x ̅ age 67.3) responded to the on-line survey. The majority were males (68.8%), married, (68.9%), and retired (59.3%). Co-morbidities included hypertension (32%), hyperlipidemia (21%), diabetes (12%), and depression (6.2%). Long-term exercise behaviors were independently observed in participants ≥65yr (n=526) and &lt;65yr (n=281). Females ≥65yo demonstrated higher exercise adherence scores compared with males ≥65yo (1.66 ± 1.1 vs. 1.30 ± 21.7; t = -2.59, p=.010). Conversely, males scored higher in exercise intensity (34.4 ± 24.7 vs. 22.6 ± 21.7; t = 3.84, p=.000). Gender related exercise adherence and exercise intensity did not differ significantly in &lt;65yo (p=.278 & p=.282, respectively). Exercise frequency decreased in both age groups after COVID-19 Pandemic started, however the decrease was significant only in older adults (p=.014) indicating they were at greater risk for exercise problems when faced with environmental barriers. Additional research is recommended as to the impact of environmental factors on exercise adherence in older adults and potential interventions.

PET imaging of brain aromatase in humans and rhesus monkeys by 11C-labeled cetrozole analogs

Aromatase is an estrogen synthetic enzyme that plays important roles in brain functions. To quantify aromatase expression in the brain by positron emission tomography (PET), we had previously developed [11C]cetrozole, which showed high specificity and affinity. To develop more efficient PET tracer(s) for aromatase imaging, we synthesized three analogs of cetrozole. We synthesized meta-cetrozole, nitro-cetrozole, and iso-cetrozole, and prepared the corresponding 11C-labeled tracers. The inhibitory activities of these three analogs toward aromatase were evaluated using marmoset placenta, and PET imaging of brain aromatase was performed using the 11C-labeled tracers in monkeys. The most promising analog in the monkey study, iso-cetrozole, was evaluated in the human PET study. The highest to lowest inhibitory activity of the analogs toward aromatase in the microsomal fraction from marmoset placenta was in the following order: iso-cetrozole, nitro-cetrozole, cetrozole, and meta-cetrozole. This order showed good agreement with the order of the binding potential (BP) of each 11C-labeled analog to aromatase in the rhesus monkey brain. A human PET study using [11C]iso-analog showed a similar distribution pattern of binding as that of [11C]cetrozole. The time–activity curves showed that elimination of [11C]iso-cetrozole from brain tissue was faster than that of 11C-cetrozole, indicating more rapid metabolism of [11C]iso-cetrozole. [11C]Cetrozole has preferable metabolic stability for brain aromatase imaging in humans, although [11C]iso-cetrozole might also be useful to measure aromatase level in living human brain because of its high binding potential.

Abundance and Diurnal Time Activity Budget of the Threatened Species White-Headed Ducks (Anatidae: Oxyura leucocephala) in an Unprotected Area, Boussedra Marsh, Northeast Algeria

The white-headed duck is a globally threatened species and its populations have become fragmented and undergone major decline in recent decades. Changes including long-term abundance (five times from 2005 to 2018) and diurnal activity budget (2010−2011 and 2017−2018) with respect to the effect of habitat features at Boussedra marsh (unprotected area) were compiled in order to fill some gaps in the status and trend of North African populations. The population size of the white-headed duck decreased over years from 2010 to 2018 by about 52.81%, and was positively associated with interior vegetation area, but not significantly with water surface area. Trends of population dynamics differed among seasons, and the number was higher in wintering than breeding season. Sleeping (44.93%, 23.74%) and feeding (59.09%, 27.43%) were the dominant diurnal activities at both the years of study, respectively. Boussedra marsh plays an important ecological role as a diurnal forging habitat and reproduction site for this threatened species and as a shelter for other waterfowl.