Do children’s previous physical activity habits influence their behaviors during the Covid-19 social distancing period?

Objective: Verify whether the practice of physical activity, before the social distancing imposed by COVID-19, influences children’s routines during this period, in children of different ages. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study carried out with an online questionnaire from LimeSurvey and disseminated for four months during social distancing. The questionnaire contained questions about family composition, household characteristics, household and children’s routines, including habits such as sleeping, physical activity, intellectual activity, playing with and without physical activity, and screen time. The final sample consisted of 916 participating families that answered about the physical activity habits of their respective children before the pandemic. Children were divided into three age groups (three to five years, six to nine years, and ten to twelve years). Independent Student’s t-tests were performed to investigate whether the previous practice of scheduled physical activity group and the no physical activity group differed as to the time dedicated to children’s activities and routines (intellectual activity, sleeping, screen time, playing with and without physical activity), by age groups, during social distancing. Results: There was a decrease in the levels of physical activity undertaken by Brazilian children during social distancing. There was no difference when both groups. The children with previous practice of scheduled physical activity did not display different habits from the children who did not adopt this practice. Conclusions: The practice of physical activity before social distancing did not influence the level of physical activity and other habits during social distancing. Healthy habits should be encouraged and targeted for all children during the pandemic. These findings can contribute to the formulation of public policies for children during pandemic times.

Platelet-To-Lymphocyte Ratio Can Be Used As Marker To Predict Activity And Severity In Moderate And High Disease Activity of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Study

Objective: This study aimed to study and evaluate the value of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as markers to predict the disease activity and severity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods: A total of 139 inpatients with RA were divided into two groups: moderate activity group (3.2<DAS28-CRP score<5.1) and high activity group (≥5.1). The correlation of routine hematological indices with DAS28 and joint ultrasound score (gray-scale ultrasound score, GS-US; power Doppler ultrasound score, PD-US; total ultrasound score, T-US) were analyzed by Pearson's correlation and logistic regression analyses. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed to compare the efficacy of blood indices, ESR, or CRP in reflecting the disease activity and severity of RA.Results: The values of PLR, NLR, PD-US, and T-US were significantly different between moderate and high disease activity groups (p<0.001), and PLR was significantly correlated with PD-US and DAS28. Logistic regression analyses showed that PLR was an independent risk factor for disease activity by DAS 28 and joint damage severity by PD-US and T-US. ROC analysis showed that the efficacy of using PLR alone to evaluate the disease activity and joint severity of RA was similar to that of using combined CRP and ESR. The best cut-off value of PLR for predicting high disease activity and high joint severity was determined as 236.6.Conclusions: PLR can be used as a marker to predict activity and severity in patients with moderate and high RA disease activity.

Platelet-to-lymphocyte Ratio can be used as Marker to Predict Activity and Severity in Moderate and High Disease Activity of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Study

Objective: This study aimed to study and evaluate the value of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as markers to predict the disease activity and severity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods: A total of 139 inpatients with RA were divided into two groups: moderate activity group (3.2<DAS28-CRP score<5.1) and high activity group (≥5.1). The correlation of routine hematological indices with DAS28 and joint ultrasound score (gray-scale ultrasound score, GS-US; power Doppler ultrasound score, PD-US; total ultrasound score, T-US) were analyzed by Pearson's correlation and logistic regression analyses. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was performed to compare the efficacy of blood indices, ESR, or CRP in reflecting the disease activity and severity of RA.Results: The values of PLR, NLR, PD-US, and T-US were significantly different between moderate and high disease activity groups (p<0.001), and PLR was significantly correlated with PD-US and DAS28. Logistic regression analyses showed that PLR was an independent risk factor for disease activity by DAS 28 and joint damage severity by PD-US and T-US. ROC analysis showed that the efficacy of using PLR alone to evaluate the disease activity and joint severity of RA was similar to that of using combined CRP and ESR. The best cut-off value of PLR for predicting high disease activity and high joint severity was determined as 236.6.Conclusions: PLR can be used as a marker to predict activity and severity in patients with moderate and high RA disease activity.

Heterogeneous Pair Approximation of Methanol Oxidation on TiO2 Reveals Two Reaction Pathways

We propose a novel method to simulate the chemical kinetics of methanol oxidation on the rutile TiO2(110) surface. This method must be able to capture the effects of static disorder (site-to-site variations in the rate constants), as well as dynamic correlation (interdependent probabilities of finding reactants and products next to each other). Combining the intuitions of the mean-field steady state (MFSS) method and the pair approximation (PA), we consider representative pairs of sites in a self-consistent bath of the average pairwise correlation. Pre-averaging over the static disorder in one site of each pair makes this half heterogeneous pair approximation (HHPA) efficient enough to simulate systems of several species and calibrate rate constants. According to the simulated kinetics, a static disorder in the hole transfer steps suffices to reproduce the stretched exponentials in the observed kinetics. The identity of the dominant hole scavenger is found to be temperature-dependent -- the methoxy anion at 80 K and the methanol molecule at 180 K. Moreover, two distinct groups of 5-coordinate titanium (Ti5c) sites emerge -- a high-activity group and a low-activity group -- even though no such division exists in the rate constants. Since the division is quite insensitive to the type of static disorder, the emergence of the two groups might play a significant role in a variety of photocatalytic processes on TiO2.

Low-Dose PET Imaging of Tumors in Lung and Liver Regions Using Internal Motion Estimation

Motion estimation and compensation are necessary for improvement of tumor quantification analysis in positron emission tomography (PET) images. The aim of this study was to propose adaptive PET imaging with internal motion estimation and correction using regional artificial evaluation of tumors injected with low-dose and high-dose radiopharmaceuticals. In order to assess internal motion, molecular sieves imitating tumors were loaded with 18F and inserted into the lung and liver regions in rats. All models were classified into two groups, based on the injected radiopharmaceutical activity, to compare the effect of tumor intensity. The PET study was performed with injection of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG). Respiratory gating was carried out by external trigger device. Count, signal to noise ratio (SNR), contrast and full width at half maximum (FWHM) were measured in artificial tumors in gated images. Motion correction was executed by affine transformation with estimated internal motion data. Monitoring data were different from estimated motion. Contrast in the low-activity group was 3.57, 4.08 and 6.19, while in the high-activity group it was 10.01, 8.36 and 6.97 for static, 4 bin and 8 bin images, respectively. The results of the lung target in 4 bin and the liver target in 8 bin showed improvement in FWHM and contrast with sufficient SNR. After motion correction, FWHM was improved in both regions (lung: 24.56%, liver: 10.77%). Moreover, with the low dose of radiopharmaceuticals the PET image visualized specific accumulated radiopharmaceutical areas in the liver. Therefore, low activity in PET images should undergo motion correction before quantification analysis using PET data. We could improve quantitative tumor evaluation by considering organ region and tumor intensity.

Qualitative Analysis of Risks Affecting the Delivery of Land Surveying Project Activities

Land surveying projects (LSPs) suffer from the effects of many risk factors on the time and accuracy of these projects. Using field surveys, the main objective of this study was identifying the major activities and risk factors associated with LSPs’ execution, as well as assessing and analyzing the effects of the risk factors on the LSPs’ time and accuracy. Furthermore, the study aimed to classify and determine the responsibility of each risk factor and evaluate the responsibilities. Four main activities were categorized and presented, including reconnaissance works, planning works, data collection works, and data adjustment works. Moreover, forty-three risk factors that control the main activities and affect the time and accuracy of LSPs were recognized. The probabilities of occurrences for the risk factors and impacts on the time and accuracy of LSPs were determined as well as their combined effects. Key risk factors that had high threats on LSPs and affect time and accuracy were highlighted as the most critical risk factors. Many correlations were determined among risk factors affecting LSPs’ activity groups and their various effects on time and accuracy. The responsibilities of the surveying crew (chief, surveyor, assistance, office engineer) for each risk factors were correspondingly defined. The results showed that “Data collection works” is considered the riskiest activity group in LSPs and most of the key risk factors belonged to this group. Around 25% of the LSPs face time overrun and do not meet the required specifications. On the other hand, the surveyor was found to be responsible for most of the risk factors and the office engineer was signified by the lowest responsibility, while the responsibilities for most risk factors were single responsibility and few were shared by only dual responsibility.

Predictive Factors for the Long-Term Clinical Course in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Receiving Second-Line Anti-Rheumatic Drugs in Real-World Practice: An Analysis Using Disease Activity Trajectory-Based Clustering Approach

Background: The purpose of this study was to stratify patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) according to the trend of disease activity by trajectory-based clustering and to identify the predictive factors for treatment response and the switching patterns of biologics according to trajectory groups. Methods: We analysed the data from a nationwide RA cohort from the Korean College of Rheumatology Biologics and Targeted Therapy (KOBIO) registry. Patients treated with second-line disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) were included. Trajectory modeling for clustering was used to group the disease activity trend. The predictive factors and switching patterns of biologics for each trajectory were investigated.Results: The trends in the disease activity of 688 RA patients were clustered into 4 groups: rapid decrease and stable disease activity (group 1, N = 319), rapid decrease followed by an increase (group 2, N = 36), slow and continued decrease (group 3, N = 290), and no decrease in disease activity (group 4, N = 43). In the multivariable analysis for predictive factors, current smoking (OR, 7.845; 95% CI 2.158–28.220), low hemoglobin (OR 0.694; 95% CI, 0.532–0.901), and high initial disease activity score according to the 28-joint assessment (DAS28) (OR, 2.397; 95% CI, 1.638–3.586) were significantly associated with group 4 compared with group 1. Group 1 had a higher proportion of patients who had never had switching (86.5%) and who were initially treated with non-TNF inhibitors (44.2%) compared with groups 2 (52.8% and 25%), 3 (50.3% and 23.4%), and 4 (25.6% and 18.6%).Conclusions: The trajectory-based approach was useful for clustering the disease activity in longitudinal data in patients with RA. Among the four trajectories, the group with sustained high disease activity was associated with current smoking, low hemoglobin, high initial DAS28, and frequent switching of biologics.

Technology for predicting abnormal labor

BACKGROUND: Abnormal labor is the most common complication of labor. It occurs in 10-15% cases of labor and is an indication for operative delivery in a third of all cases. Until now, there are no effective ways to predict abnormal labor. Meanwhile, the use of high-tech forecasting methods is not available for a wide range of obstetric institutions in the Russian Federation. AIM: The aim of this study was to create a technology for predicting abnormal labor, based on generally available methods of laboratory and instrumental research. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on the data collected in the Regional Clinical Hospital Perinatal Center, Chita, Russia in 2018-2021, the retrospective analysis of 200 cases of labor was carried out. The total sample was divided into four study groups: 100 women with normal labor activity (group 1), 30 women with uterine inertia (group 2), 30 women with incoordinate uterine activity (group 3), and 50 women with excessive uterine activity (group 4). The groups were comparable in terms of age, anthropometric parameters and extragenital pathology. All women on the eve of labor (1-2 days) underwent general clinical and ultrasound examination. Statistical processing of the results was carried out using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0 software. RESULTS: The technology for predicting abnormal labor is implemented based on a multilayer perceptron, with the percentage of incorrect predictions being 21.3%. The structure of the trained neural network included nine input neurons: labor parity, gestational age, leukocyte count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, total protein concentration, amniotic fluid index, biparietal size, as well as fetal head and abdomen circumference. CONCLUSIONS: An integrated approach based on generally available laboratory and instrumental research methods, such as complete blood count and biochemical blood test, as well as ultrasound examination, on the eve of labor allows for predicting the abnormal labor development with an accuracy of up to 70%. The use of this technology in clinical practice will help, in the future, not only to prevent abnormal labor, but also to reduce the incidence of adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes.

Unobtrusive Sensing Technology Detects Ecologically Valid Spatiotemporal Patterns of Daily Routines Distinctive to Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background The ability to capture people’s movement throughout their home is a powerful approach to inform spatiotemporal patterns of routines associated with cognitive impairment. The study estimated indoor room activities over 24 hours and investigated relationships between diurnal activity patterns and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods 161 older adults (26 with MCI) living alone (age=78.9±9.2) were included from two study cohorts–the Oregon Center for Aging & Technology and the Minority Aging Research Study. Indoor room activities were measured by the number of trips made to rooms (bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room). Trips made to rooms (transitions) were detected using passive infrared motion sensors fixed on the walls for a month. Latent trajectory models were used to identify distinct diurnal patterns of room activities and characteristics associated with each trajectory. Results Latent trajectory models identified two diurnal patterns of bathroom usage (high; low usage). Participants with MCI were more likely to be in the high bathroom usage group that exhibited more trips to the bathroom than the low usage group (OR=4.1,95%CI [1.3-13.5],p=0.02). For kitchen activity, two diurnal patterns were identified (high; low activity). Participants with MCI were more likely to be in the high kitchen activity group that exhibited more transitions to the kitchen throughout the day and night than the low kitchen activity group (OR=3.2,95%CI [1.1-9.1],p=0.03). Conclusions The linkage between bathroom and kitchen activities with MCI may be the result of biological, health, and environmental factors in play. In-home, real-time unobtrusive-sensing offers a novel way of delineating cognitive health with chronologically-ordered movement across indoor locations.

Multi-functional utilization of suburban green space : text mining to analyze “Forest around the Mountains” Satoyama activities

Due to the acceleration of urbanization, many green spaces are facing the fate of abandonment, especially the urban and suburban green space. In Japan, these suburban green spaces can also be used as a Satoyama. Satoyama is a multi-purpose ecosystem, including some secondary forests, farmlands, lakes, marshes, and so on. They are affected by human beings and benefited each other. It is proof of harmonious coexistence that human beings have been groping for in nature since ancient times. This study collected the records of the Satoyama activity group in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan from 2008 to 2019, and used KHCoder3 to mine the characters. The purpose of this study was to identify that it is found that people use suburban green space in variety nowadays through the activities of volunteers in Satoyama. From the records, the green space has a series of changing stages after becoming Satoyama, in which 2008-2011 is the first stage, and 2016-2019 is the other stage, but 2012, 2014, and 2015 were grouped separately. In addition to the daily maintenance of the forest, there were also some special words that can be seen that people attach great importance to the publicity of Satoyama as a place for Children’s environmental education. For the future, Satoyama activities can afford good references to urban green space multi-function, maintain ecological balance, and keeping sustainable development.