Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as a Tool for Marine Mammal Research and Care

Developments in wearable human medical and sports health trackers has offered new solutions to challenges encountered by eco-physiologists attempting to measure physiological attributes in freely moving animals. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is one such solution that has potential as a powerful physio-logging tool to assess physiology in freely moving animals. NIRS is a non-invasive optics-based technology, that uses non-ionizing radiation to illuminate biological tissue and measures changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin concentrations inside tissues such as skin, muscle, and the brain. The overall footprint of the device is small enough to be deployed in wearable physio-logging devices. We show that changes in hemoglobin concentration can be recorded from bottlenose dolphins and gray seals with signal quality comparable to that achieved in human recordings. We further discuss functionality, benefits, and limitations of NIRS as a standard tool for animal care and wildlife tracking for the marine mammal research community.

Erythropoietin-Stimulating Agent Hyporesponsiveness in Patients Living with Chronic Kidney Disease

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Erythropoietin-stimulating agent (ESA) hyporesponsiveness is commonly observed in patients with anemia secondary to chronic kidney disease (CKD). Because of its complexity, a global consensus on how we should define ESA hyporesponsiveness remains unavailable. The reported prevalence and demographic information on ESA hyporesponsiveness within the CKD population are variable with no consensus definition. <b><i>Summary:</i></b> ESA hyporesponsiveness is defined as having no increase in hemoglobin concentration from baseline after the first month of treatment on appropriate weight-based dosing. The important factors associated with ESA hyporesponsiveness include absolute or functional iron deficiency, inflammation, and uremia. Hepcidin has been demonstrated to play an important role in this process. Mineral bone disease secondary to CKD and non-iron malnutrition among other factors are also associated with ESA hyporesponsiveness. There is continued debate toward determining a gold-standard treatment pathway to manage ESA hyporesponsiveness. The development of hypoxia-inducing factor-stabilizers brings new insights and opportunities in the management of ESA hyporesponsiveness. <b><i>Key Message:</i></b> Management of ESA hyporesponsiveness involves a comprehensive multidisciplinary team approach to address its risk factors. The progression of basic and clinical research on identifying risk factors and management of ESA hyporesponsiveness brings greater hope on finding solutions to eventually tackling one of the most difficult problems in the topic of anemia in CKD.

Influence of Network Multimedia Nutritional Supplements on Basketball Exercise Fatigue Based on Embedded Microprocessor

Sports can cause the consumption of energy materials in the body. The rational use of nutritional supplements can maintain the homeostasis of the organism, which plays a very important role in improving the competitive performance of sports athletes. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of nutritional supplements on basketball sports fatigue. The method of this study is as follows: first of all, 15 basketball players in our city were selected as the experimental objects, and they were randomly divided into the experimental group and the control group. The members of the experimental group took nutrients. After the training, 6 days a week, 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon, and the rest was adjusted on Sunday. Before training, four weeks and eight weeks of training, the blood routine indexes and body functions of athletes were tested. The results showed that the number of red blood cells, hemoglobin concentration, and average hemoglobin concentration of ligustilide supplement of the athletes were at the level of 0.05 after 4 weeks and 8 weeks, and the difference was significant ( P < 0.05 ). The nutritional supplements were used in sprint (3.4 s less), long-distance running (12.8 s less), and weight lifting (6.2 kg more) to a certain extent. Nutritional supplements are used as an auxiliary means of diet to supplement the amino acids, trace elements, vitamins, minerals, etc. required by the human body. The conclusion is that nutrition supplement can effectively improve the indexes of athletes’ body in about four weeks, but the effect is not obvious after a long time. This study provides a certain method for the research of nutritional supplements in the field of sports.

Cross-sectional Analysis of Risk Factors for Surgical Site Infection Secondary to Spinal Internal Fixation via the Posterior Approach

Backgroud: The aim of this study was to investigate the risk factors related to surgical site infection (SSI) secondary to spinal internal fixation via the posterior approach.Methods: Patients who had undergone spinal internal fixation via the posterior approach at the spinal center of our hospital from January 2004 to December 2019 were selected in this cross-sectional study. Information about age, sex, body mass index (BMI), fused segment, hemoglobin concentration, serum albumin concentration, surgical duration, surgery beginning time, allogeneic blood transfusion, combined diabetes, peak blood glucose 72 h postoperatively ≥12 mmol/L, smoking history, and blood loss were included. The factors related to SSI were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses. P < 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.Results: Among the 4,350 patients, 66 had SSI, with an infection prevalence of 1.5%. The subjects included 37 men and 29 women (age range, 22–84 y; average age, 47.4 ± 12.8 y). Univariate analysis showed that sex, BMI, fused segment, surgery beginning time, allogeneic blood transfusion, and smoking history were not correlated to infection (P > 0.05). However, age >60 y, surgical duration >3 h, serum albumin concentration <30 g/L, hemoglobin concentration <80 g/L, combined diabetes, peak blood glucose 72 h postoperatively ≥12 mmol/L, and blood loss >1,000 mL were correlated with infection (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that age >60 y, surgical duration >3 h, hemoglobin concentration <80 g/L, serum albumin concentration <30 g/L, combined diabetes, and blood loss >1,000 mL were significantly correlated with SSI secondary to spinal internal fixation via the posterior approach.Conclusion: This study provides information on SSI secondary to spinal internal fixation via the posterior approach. We found that age >60 y, surgical duration >3 h, hemoglobin concentration <80 g/L, serum albumin concentration <30 g/L, combined diabetes, and blood loss >1,000 mL are directly correlated with SSI secondary to spinal internal fixation via the posterior approach. These findings may contribute to discussions and actions that may help to reduce SSI secondary to spinal internal fixation via the posterior approach in the short or medium term.

Preconception Hemoglobin Concentration and Risk of Low Birth Weight and Small-for-Gestational-Age: A Large Prospective Cohort Study in China

Less is known about the impact of maternal preconception anemia on birth outcomes. We aimed to examine associations between preconception hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations with risk of low birth weight (LBW) and small-for-gestational-age (SGA). This study was from a large population-based prospective cohort in China and included 124,725 women with singleton live births delivered at gestational ages of 28–45 weeks who were registered before pregnancy. Maternal Hb concentrations were measured during registration, and other health-related information was recorded prospectively. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the associations between preconception Hb concentrations with risk of LBW and SGA, adjusting for potential confounders. The results showed women with preconception anemia accounted for 22.28%. The incidences of LBW/SGA were 2.37%/6.30% among anemic women, and 2.01%/5.48% among non-anemic women, respectively. Preconception mild anemia increased by 17% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.28) and 14% (95% CI: 1.07, 1.21) the risk for LBW and SGA, while moderate-to-severe anemia had no significant association with LBW and SGA. Compared with the 120–129 g/L group, a U-shaped association was observed between preconception Hb concentrations with LBW and SGA. In conclusion, not only maternal anemia but also elevated Hb concentrations before pregnancy contribute to an increased risk of LBW and SGA.

The Effect of Quercus infectoria Acorn on Clinical, Hematobiochemical Parameters of Pregnant Albino Rats

Background: Quercus infectoria is a kind of forest tree widely used for livestock feeding within the northern parts of Iraq with little was known about the Quercus infectoria toxicity mainly in pregnant animals. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential effect of Quercus infectoria acorn on the pregnant albino rats. Methods: This study was conducted on the Wistar pregnant rats, using aqueous extract of the acorn at doses of 2 grams/ rat for a period of 10 days. The effect of the quercus acorn on the animal behavior, pregnancy hematobiochemical parameters was investigated compared to the control groups. Result: Neither mortality, nor significant changes in animals’ behavior were detected in treated rats; whereas, abortion and early parturition with lower weight of the pups were observed in treated pregnant rats. Significant increases in red blood cells, packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, means corpuscular volume and means corpuscular hemoglobin and levels of neutrophils and eosinophil were reported in treated rats compared to the control groups. Besides, blood urea nitrogen and aspartate aminotransferase were significantly increased in the treated group. Study results suggest that the aqueous extract of Quercus infectoria acorn has potential toxic effects on pregnancy.

A Composite Ranking of Risk Factors for COVID-19 Time-To-Event Data from a Turkish Cohort

Having a complete and reliable list of risk factors from routine laboratory blood test for COVID-19 disease severity and mortality is important for patient care and hospital management. It is common to use meta-analysis to combine analysis results from different studies to make it more reproducible. In this paper, we propose to run multiple analyses on the same set of data to produce a more robust list of risk factors. With our time-to-event survival data, the standard survival analysis were extended in three directions. The first is to extend from tests and corresponding p-values to machine learning and their prediction performance. The second is to extend from single-variable to multiple-variable analysis. The third is to expand from analyzing time-to-decease data with death as the event of interest to analyzing time-to-hospital-release data to treat early recover as a meaningful event as well. Our extension of the type of analyses leads to ten ranking lists. We conclude that 20 out of 30 factors are deemed to be reliably associated to faster-death or faster-recovery. Considering correlation among factors and evidenced by stepwise variable selection in random survival forest, 10~15 factors seem to be able to achieve the optimal prognosis performance. Our final list of risk factors contains calcium, white blood cell and neutrophils count, urea and creatine, d-dimer, red cell distribution widths, age, ferritin, glucose, lactate dehydrogenase, lymphocyte, basophils, anemia related factors (hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration), sodium, potassium, eosinophils, and aspartate aminotransferase.

Ameliorative Effects of Fenugreek Seeds and Curcumin on Hematotoxicity induced by Nicotine in Male Albino Rats

The present study aimed to investigate the ameliorative effects of fenugreek seeds and curcumin on hematotoxicity induced by nicotine in male albino rats. 30 male F-344/NHsd Fischer rats, weighing from 180 to 200g were used in the present study. The animals were divided into five groups (6 rats for each); Group I (control group), Group II (nicotine treated group), Group III (nicotine/fenugreek seeds co-administered), Group IV (nicotine/curcumin co-administered), and Group V (nicotine/curcumin& fenugreek seeds co-administered). At the end of the experimentation and 24 hours after the last dose, all animals were anaesthetized with ether and blood samples were collected by heart puncture. The samples were collected in clean dry tubes containing the anticoagulant substance EDTA and used for the hematological studies. The results showed that the animals treated with nicotine for 4 weeks showed a significant decrease in RBCs count, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit value, MCH, MCHC, and platelets count, and increased MCV and WBCs count as compared to the control group. Co-administration of nicotine with fenugreek and/or curcumin caused improvement in all hematological parameters when compared with nicotine group. It can be concluded that nicotine had a strong effect on the hematological parameters. The ingestion of fenugreek and/or curcumin prevent the hematoxicity induced by nicotine. The current study suggests that fenugreek and curcumin may be useful in combating free radical-induced hematotoxicity induced by nicotine.

Palliative Radiotherapy for Gastric Cancer Bleeding: A Multi-Institutional Retrospective Study.

Background: Palliative radiotherapy for gastric cancer bleeding has been reported to be a safe and effective treatment, but predictive factors for achievement of hemostasis and overall survival have not been established.Methods: In this retrospective study, 120 courses of palliative radiotherapy for gastric cancer bleeding in 117 patients in 4 institutes in Japan were reviewed with approval of the ethical committee in each institute. The rate of achieving hemostasis was evaluated by 50% or more reduction of red blood cell transfusion before and after the start of radiotherapy, elevation of blood hemoglobin concentration in a period of 4 weeks from the start of radiotherapy or improvement of subjective or objective clinical symptoms in a period of 4 weeks from the start of radiotherapy. Predictive factors for overall survival and achieving hemostasis were investigated with the Cox hazards model.Results: The median overall survival period was 3.7 months. Multivariate analysis showed that absence of metastatic disease, higher biological effective dose, higher serum albumin level, lower blood urea nitrogen level and lower neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were associated with longer overall survival. Elevation of hemoglobin concentration in a period of 4 weeks from the start of radiotherapy (mean concentration: 8.2 g/dL vs. 8.9 g/dL, p=0.006) and decrease in the amount of red cell transfusion from a 4-week period before to a 4-week period after the start of radiotherapy (mean amount: 716 mL vs. 230 mL, p<0.0001) were observed. The overall rate of achievement of hemostasis was 59.6%. In multivariate analysis, higher biological effective dose was associated with achievement of hemostasis. Grade 2 or higher acute adverse effects related to radiotherapy were observed in 17.5% of cases in 120 treatment courses. Six cases (5.0%) had grade 3 or 4 adverse effects including gastric penetration in 1 patient and anorexia requiring total parental nutrition in 3 patients. No grade 5 adverse effects were observed.Conclusions: Palliative radiotherapy for gastric cancer bleeding seems to be an effective and safe treatment strategy. Higher treatment dose was associated with longer overall survival and a hemostatic effect. Some hematological parameters may predict overall survival, and they would be helpful for deciding the treatment strategy.

Dynamic Alteration in Cerebral Total Hemoglobin Concentration Measured Using Portable Near-infrared Spectroscopy in Orthostatic Hypotension and Intolerance

A portable near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system was used to evaluate alterations in cerebral total hemoglobin concentration (HbT) in individuals with orthostatic hypotension (OH) and orthostatic intolerance (OI) symptoms. We enrolled 238 healthy participants (mean age, 47.9 years) and assessed the presence of OH (orthostatic blood pressure (BP) drop of systolic BP ≥ 20 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥ 10 mmHg within 3 minutes of supine-to-stand) and OI symptoms using the OH questionnaire. The participants were categorized into three groups based on the presence of OH and OI symptoms: the classic OH (OH-BP) group, symptom alone (OH-Sx) group, and control group. Random case-control matching sets (age, sex, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus) were constructed consisting of 16 OH-BP and 69 OH-Sx-control sets. We measured the time-derivative of HbT change in the prefrontal cortex during the squat-to-stand maneuver. There were no differences in demographics, baseline BP, and heart rate among the matched sets. Among the NIRS parameters, the peak-time of maximum slope variation was significantly longer in the OH-Sx and OH-BP groups than in the matched control groups during transition to the standing position after squatting. Our results suggested that OH and OI symptoms are associated with dynamic alteration in cerebral HbT.