Sublethal exposure to an emulsion based on Pogostemon cablin (Lamiaceae) essential oil impairs digestibility, feeding, fecundity, and mobility of the coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei

The global search for eco-friendly and human-safe pesticides has intensified, and research on essential oils (EOs) has expanded due to their remarkable insecticidal activities and apparent human-safe. Despite this, most of the literature focuses on short-term and simplified efforts to understand lethal effects, with only a few comprehensive studies addressing sublethal exposures. To fill this shortcoming, we explore the lethal and sublethal effects of Pogostemon cablin (Lamiaceae) EO and an EO-based emulsion (18%) using the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei Ferrari (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) as a model. First, we determine the toxicity of EO and EO-based emulsion using dose-mortality curves and lethal times. Second, we subjected adult females of H. hampei to sublethal doses to assess whether they affected their behavior, reproductive output, and histological features. Our findings reveal that patchoulol (43.05%), α-Guaiene (16.06%), and α-Bulnesene (13.69%) were the main components of the EO. Furthermore, the EO and its emulsion had similar toxicity, with dose-mortality curves and lethal times overlapping 95% confidence intervals. We also observed that sublethal exposure of females of H. hampei reduces reproduction and feeding, increases walking activity, and causes histopathological changes in the midgut. This study advances the knowledge of sublethal effects of an eco-friendly substance on insects.

Effect of Walking Adaptability on an Uneven Surface by a Stepping Pattern on Walking Activity After Stroke

Real-world walking activity is important for poststroke patients because it leads to their participation in the community and physical activity. Walking activity may be related to adaptability to different surface conditions of the ground. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether walking adaptability on an uneven surface by step is related to daily walking activity in patients after stroke. We involved 14 patients who had hemiparesis after stroke (age: 59.4 ± 8.9 years; post-onset duration: 70.7 ± 53.5 months) and 12 healthy controls (age: 59.5 ± 14.2 years). The poststroke patients were categorized as least limited community ambulators or unlimited ambulators. For the uneven surface, the study used an artificial grass surface (7 m long, 2-cm leaf length). The subjects repeated even surface walking and the uneven surface walking trials at least two times at a comfortable speed. We collected spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters on both the even and uneven surfaces using a three-dimensional motion analysis system. After we measured gait, the subjects wore an accelerometer around the waist for at least 4 days. We measured the number of steps per day using the accelerometer to evaluate walking activity. Differences in gait parameters between the even and uneven surfaces were calculated to determine how the subjects adapted to an uneven surface while walking. We examined the association between the difference in parameter measurements between the two surface properties and walking activity (number of steps per day). Walking activity significantly and positively correlated with the difference in paretic step length under the conditions of different surface properties in the poststroke patients (r = 0.65, p = 0.012) and step width in the healthy controls (r = 0.68, p = 0.015). The strategy of increasing the paretic step length, but not step width, on an uneven surface may lead to a larger base of support, which maintains stability during gait on an uneven surface in poststroke patients, resulting in an increased walking activity. Therefore, in poststroke patients, an increase in paretic step length during gait on an uneven surface might be more essential for improving walking activity.

A Comprehensive Review on Wearable Health Monitoring Systems

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the wearable healthcare monitoring systems proposed by the researchers to date. One of the earliest wearable recorders, named “a silicon locket for ECG monitoring”, was developed at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, in 2003. Thus, the wearable health monitoring systems, started with the acquisition of a single signal/ parameter to the present generation smart and affordable multi-parameter recording/monitoring systems, have evolved manifolds in these two decades. Wearable systems have dramatically changed in terms of size, cost, functionality, and accuracy. The early-day wearable recorders were with limited functionalities against today’s systems, e.g., Apple’s iWatch which comprises abundant health monitoring features like heart rate monitoring, breathing app, accelerometers, smart walking/ activity monitoring, and alerts. Most of the present-day smartphones are not only capable of recording various health features like body temperature, heart rate, photoplethysmograph (PPG) signal, calory consumption, smart activity monitoring, stress measurement, etc. through different apps, but they also help the user to get monitored by a family physician via GSM or even internet of things (IoT). One of the latest, state-of-the-art real-time personal health monitoring systems, Wearable IoT-cloud-based health monitoring system (WISE), is a beautiful amalgamation of body area sensor network (BASN) and IoT framework for ubiquitous health monitoring. The future of wearable health monitoring systems will be far beyond the IoT and BASN.

Personality and Walkability: Predicting Walking Behaviour in Urban Settings using the Higher Order Factors of the Big Five amongst Malaysian Adults

Walkability has now been a popular policy to be adopted in the city centre as traffic congestion and inefficient public transportation have affected the mobility of the urban users prior to the pandemic. The pandemic has paved more efforts to improve the design of urban spaces to increase walkability in the cities. In the attempt to predict walking activity amongst Malaysian adults psychologically, a personality test using Big Five Aspect Scales (BFAS) was conducted in relation to individual walking frequency in urban settings. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyze the predicting capacity of personality constructs control by general intelligence in relation to walking behaviour. The results show that the higher order meta-traits of the big five personality traits which are Stability (Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) and Plasticity (Extraversion and Openness to Experience) can be used as a reliable predictor for individual walking behaviour. As hypothesized, walking behaviour amongst Malaysians was characterized by reversed Stability (r = -.58) and high Plasticity (r = .76). The implication suggested the necessity of cognitive navigability and design predictability metrics of urban design cognitive performance in influencing the psychological factor of walking behaviour

Differences in Park Walking, Comparing the Physically Inactive and Active Groups: Data from mHealth Monitoring System in Seoul

Despite the overall increase in physical activities and park uses, the discrepancies between physically inactive and active people have increasing widened in recent times. This paper aims to empirically measure the differences in walking activity in urban parks between the physically inactive and active. As for the dataset, 22,744 peoples’ 550,234 walking bouts were collected from the mHealth system of the Seoul government, using the smartphone healthcare app, WalkOn, from September to November 2019, in Seocho-gu district, Seoul, Korea. We classified the physically inactive and active sample groups, based on their regular walking (≥150 min of moderate-to-vigorous walking activity a week), and analyzed their park walking activities. We found that while there was no significant difference in walking measures of non-park walking between the sample groups, the difference did exist in park walking. The park walking average in the physically active group had more steps (p = 0.021), longer time (p = 0.008), and higher intensity (p < 0.001) of walking than that in the inactive group. Each park also revealed differences in its on-site park walking quantity and quality, based on which we could draw the list of ‘well-walked parks’, which held more bouts and more moderate-to-vigorous physical activities (MVPAs) than other parks in Seocho-gu district. This paper addresses how park walking of physically inactive and active people is associated with multiple differences in everyday urban walking.

Is a Left-to-Right >2.2°C Difference a Valid Measurement to Predict Diabetic Foot Ulceration in People with Diabetes and a History of Diabetic Foot Ulceration?

Monitoring foot skin temperatures at home have been shown to be effective at preventing the occurrence of diabetic foot ulcers. In this study, the construct validity of using >2.2°C difference between contralateral areas on the foot as a warning sign of imminent ulceration is explored. Thirty participants with diabetes at high risk of ulceration (loss of protective sensation and previous ulceration and/or amputation) monitored their foot temperatures at six sites, four times a day for six days using a handheld infrared thermometer. Walking activity, time of day, and environmental temperature were also monitored and correlated with foot temperatures. We found that contralateral mean skin temperature difference was 0.78°C at baseline. At single sites, left-to-right temperature differences exceeding the threshold were found in 9.6% of measurements ( n = 365), which reduced to 0.4% when individually corrected and confirmed the next day. No correlation was found between contralateral temperature differences and activity, time of day, and environmental temperature. We conclude that using a >2.2°C difference is invalid as a single measurement in people at high risk of ulceration, but the construct validity is appropriate if both individual corrections and next day confirmation are applied.

Physical Exercise and Falling among Older Patients with Diabetes: A Narrative Review

Both diabetes mellitus (DM) and aging have an effect on gait behavior, balance, muscle performance, and other medical complications related to the development of diabetic neuropathy, hypoglycemia, hypotension, cognitive impairment, pain, disturbed proprioceptions, and polypharmacy. The main goal of the present review study was to identify risk variables for hypoglycemia-influenced falling in DM older people, to suggest protective interventions to reduce the occurrence and to explore the effect of physical exercise on falling among elderly individuals with DM. In July 2021, these keywords were used to search Google Scholar, PubMed, Embase: falling in elderly, DM complications, insulin, hypoglycemia, and physical exercise. Because falls are so common during activities, it is critical to figure out what elements influence balance and walking activity. Multi-medications, cognitive dysfunction, dementia, urinary incontinence, depression status, and hypoglycemia are just some of the issues that can affect the elements of controlling balance directly during motion. Others, such as multi-medications, cognitive dysfunction, dementia, urinary incontinence, depression status, and hypoglycemia, can affect balance control indirectly by disrupting posture mobility. Exercise training has been shown to increase body performance and reduce joint discomfort, as well as improve psychological status and quality of life, muscular strength and balance, lower the chance of falling, and improve overall health in the aged and older adults.

Tresca Stress Simulation of Metal-on-Metal Total Hip Arthroplasty during Normal Walking Activity

The selection of biomaterials for bearing in total hip arthroplasty is very important to avoid various risks of primary postoperative failure for patients. The current investigation attempts to analyze the Tresca stress of metal-on-metal bearings with three different materials, namely, cobalt chromium molybdenum (CoCrMo), stainless steel 316L (SS 316L), and titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V). We used computational simulations using a 2D axisymmetric finite element model to predict Tresca stresses under physiological conditions of the human hip joint during normal walking. The simulation results show that Ti6Al4V-on-Ti6Al4V has the best performance to reduce Tresca stress by 45.76% and 39.15%, respectively, compared to CoCrMo-on-CoCrMo and SS 316L-on-SS 316L.

The Effect of Low-Intensity Daily Walking Activity on Cognitive and Brain Function in Older Adults

Physical activity is an effective intervention to prevent or delay cognitive decline and dementia in older adults; however, many have difficulty achieving recommended moderate- to vigorous-intensity guidelines. This study examined the impact of low-intensity daily walking activity on executive cognitive and brain function in 66 older adults (mean age=67.26 ; SD=6.04). Daily walking activity was measured using a step activity monitor and brain function was assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging during the Flanker task. Analyses included whole and region of interest (ROI) in the right middle frontal gyrus (RMFG), occipital cortex (OCC) and anterior cingulate (ACC). Partial correlations were performed between step activity, behavioral performance, and ROI activation, adjusting for age and education. Most of the step activity was in the low-intensity range. No associations were observed between step activity and task performance (p&gt;.05). Task-related activation occurred in the RMFG, lateral OCC and paracingulate (p&lt;.01). Increased activation in the RMFG was associated with greater amount r(62)=.390, p=.001, duration r(62)=.309, p=.013 and frequency r(62)=.327, p=.007 of step activity. Stratification by sex revealed a positive association between amount of step activity and RMFG activation in women r(44)= .360, p=.014, but not men. Whole brain correlation revealed that amount of step activity was positively associated with precuneus activation (p&lt;.01), an area impacted early in Alzheimer’s disease. These results support the benefits of low intensity daily walking activity on prefrontal function in older adults and suggest the importance of designing attainable and sustainable physical activity interventions to promote brain health in older adults.