The Filtration Efficiency of Single-Layer Textiles for Respiratory protection

Due to the increasing number of corona cases and the face mask industry's associated bottleneck, this work focuses on the various single-layer textiles used as cloth masks. The purpose of this work is to test ten different single-layer textiles for their suitability as face masks. All tests in this work were carried out based on the ASTM F2299 and the new ASTM Standard for barrier masks (3502-21). The new standard offers a more precisely defined test protocol and is consistent with how respirators are tested. The results show that only one of the ten textiles tested meets the ASTM requirements for a barrier mask. We also include data for ASTM F2299 and report the results for unneutralized challenge particles at various face velocities for the same single-layer textiles. These results are different from those of the ASTM 3502 because the particle size and the procedure used are different. Under ASTM 3502, the resistance values ​​are significantly higher, and the efficiency values ​​are significantly lower than those reported by using the ASTM F2299.

Pediatric Pain from Hypodermic Needles: History, Causes and Increasing the Efficacy of Pain Mitigation

Venous access is one of the most innovative and effective medical technologies developed. It provides the ability to deliver medications that are distributed quickly throughout the body, while blood analysis is one of the primary diagnostic tools used by physicians. Hypodermic venipuncture is as vital as it is commonplace, but is a procedure of a particularly distressing nature for young patients. An inability to accurately track developing pediatric anatomy and the incomplete neurological development of younger patients results in a challenging environment for the clinicians and an often traumatic and painful one for the young patients. Although there have been methods suggested to mitigate these challenges, a safe and reliably effective solution has not been found or established as a patient standard of care. This review will cover the evolution and purpose of the procedure, considerations for pediatric physiological variations and current pain reduction methods. Finally, a high efficacy mitigation technique will be proposed, utilizing current neurological understanding based on primary literature sources.

Hydro Shot for Sports Performance and Exercise Medicine

Background. Exercise performance and recovery are impaired by excessive levels of oxidative stress and inflammation. However, both reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammation improve exercise performance including mitochondrial ATP production and force of muscle contraction. They also are essential mediators in providing the benefits and training adaptations that occur from exercise. Nitric oxide (NO•) is a gaseous radical that increases blood flow via dilation of the blood vessels and also improves mitochondrial function. Therefore, NO• improves exercise performance and capacity, but only when produced at the right times and in the right locations. Excessive levels of NO• contribute to nitrosative stress due to the spontaneous reaction with superoxide to form toxic peroxynitrite. This decreases the ½ life of nitric oxide resulting in less NO• benefits and in cellular damage leading to impaired exercise performance. In contrast to conventional antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, molecular hydrogen (H2) has been demonstrated to exert selective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects by decreasing only excessive inflammation and reducing toxic oxidants without disturbing important signaling ROS, like NO•. Moreover, H2 can regulate NO• production, increase its circulating ½ life and beneficial NO• cycling, potentiate the bioactivity of NO•, and act as a NO• mimetic by increasing cGMP levels. At the same time H2 can prevent peroxynitrite formation and reduce the harm from NO• metabolism, such as lower nitrotyrosine levels. Methods. The effects of an H2-infused, nitric oxide-producing beverage (Hydro Shot) on nitric oxide production, blood flow, aerobic and anaerobic exercise, and cognitive function were assessed. Results. Ingestion of the functional beverage significantly increased production of NO• and a concomitant increase in blood flow. It also improved aerobic performance as measured by VO2, and anaerobic performance as indicated by delayed muscle fatigue, and increased peak torque during maximal isokinetic leg extensions. Additionally, the H2/NO• combination significantly improved indices of cognitive function including, focus, speed, plasticity, etc. Conclusion. The molecular crosstalk between H2 and NO•coupled with these preliminary results indicate that Hydro Shot is uniquely qualified for sports performance and exercise medicine and warrants additional clinical and mechanistic research.

The Impact of Auditory White Noise on Cognitive Performance

Although noise has often been characterized as a distractor, contemporary studies have emphasized how some individuals’ cognitive performance could benefit from task-irrelevant noise. Usually these studies focus on sub-attentive individuals and/or those who have been diagnosed with ADHD. An example of task-irrelevant noise is white noise (WN). Research regarding the effectiveness of WN in healthy adults has provided mixed results and therefore, the implications of WN remain unknown. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of WN on the cognitive performance of the neurotypical population. To test this, participants were asked to complete simultaneous amplitude discrimination and temporal order judgement (TOJ) tests several times in the presence of varying levels of WN. Participants were split into two groups––one containing individuals with regular prior WN exposure and the other with no previous experience with WN. The performances of participants with prior exposure to WN, but not those without prior exposure, resembled a U-shaped tuning curve for simultaneous amplitude discrimination. This indicates that familiarity with WN moderates its effectiveness on cognitive improvement. TOJ was not found to be affected by varying levels of WN intensity. The results of this study emphasized that there is a possibility that WN could facilitate higher levels of cognitive performance, though there is likely an adjustment period associated with its introduction to daily life. This warrants that additional research should be conducted in order to cultivate a definitive conclusion about the effects of WN.

Accurate reaction time methods demonstrate similar results from different sensory modalities

Over the past few decades, there has been a significant number of reports that suggested that reaction times for different sensory modalities were different – e.g., that visual reaction time was slower than tactile reaction time. A recent report by Holden and colleagues stated that (1) there has been a significant historic upward drift in reaction times reported in the literature, (2) that this drift or degradation in reaction times could be accounted for by inaccuracies in the methods used and (3) that these inaccurate methods led to inaccurate reporting of differences between visual and tactile based reaction time testing. The Holden study utilized robotics (i.e., no human factors) to test visual and tactile reaction time methods but did not assess how individuals would perform on different sensory modalities. This study utilized three different sensory modalities: visual, auditory, and tactile, to test reaction time. By changing the way in which the subjects were prompted and measuring subsequent reaction time, the impact of sensory modality could be analyzed. Reaction time testing for two sensory modalities, auditory and visual, were administered through an Arduino Uno microcontroller device, while tactile-based reaction time testing was administered with the Brain Gauge. A range of stimulus intensities was delivered for the reaction times delivered by each sensory modality. The average reaction time and reaction time variability was assessed and a trend could be identified for the reaction time measurements of each of the sensory modalities. Switching the sensory modality did not result in a difference in reaction time and it was concluded that this was due to the implementation of accurate circuitry used to deliver each test. Increasing stimulus intensity for each sensory modality resulted in faster reaction times. The results of this study confirm the findings of Holden and colleagues and contradict the results reported in countless studies that conclude that (1) reaction times are historically slower now than they were 50 years ago and (2) that there are differences in reaction times for different sensory modalities (vision, hearing, tactile). The implications of this are that utilization of accurate reaction time methods could have a significant impact on clinical outcomes and that many methods in current clinical use are basically perpetuating poor methods and wasting time and money of countless subjects or patients.

Effects of Acute Sleep Deprivation on Working Memory Capacity in Undergraduate Students

Sleep is a necessary staple in our everyday lives but with advancements in society and an increase in day to day commitments it feels as though there is not enough time in the day. One of the first things to be forsaken in the hopes of maintaining a work schedule or routine is sleep. While the lack of sleep is disproportionate in most demographics, in university students in particular, a lack of sleep is a common, consistent, and necessary plague. Students can be under the impression that the effects of sleep deprivation have mostly long-term repercussions; however, prior literature has indicated that sleep deprivation impacts not just long-term consolidation but also significantly affects memory in the short-term, specifically the working memory (Xie et al. 2019; Chee et al., 2006). In this investigation, we seek to understand the effects that acute sleep deprivation has on the working memory capacity of individuals using a 2-back spatial test. A sample of convenience of upper-class undergraduate students was chosen and the participants were asked to take a specific 2-back spatial test - twice on a day that they subjectively felt as having a regular sleep schedule and twice on a day that they subjectively felt as having sleep deprivation. The team predicted that working memory 2-back task scores will be adversely affected by sleep deprivation. While there was a statistically significant difference in the working memory scores on the full sample level, this was not reflected on the individual level. This indicates that the effects of sleep deprivation are not generalizable to a full population and that they must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, since greater variation was observed in the sleep deprived scores in all individuals, it implies that sleep deprivation may indirectly affect the consistency of working memory by affecting attention span and concentration.

The Impact of Caffeine on Memory

Many people rely on caffeine as part of their daily routine to induce the feeling of wakefulness. However, the effects of caffeine on various brain functions, such as memory, remains unclear. To study the impact of caffeine on memory and attention, we conducted a pilot study on individuals with varying levels of caffeine consumption. Each individual completed a survey, memory test, and reaction time test. The results did not elucidate clear trends or significant differences between those who consumed caffeine and those who did not. This study suggests that caffeine intake does not have a direct impact on memory, but a correlation between reaction time variability and memory suggested that more research could provide deeper insights into the effects of various levels of caffeine consumption.

Positive Impact of Physical Exercise on Brain Activity

A case study was conducted in order to track the human brain adapts to changing demands by physical exercise. Reaction time and amplitude discrimination capacity of the individual were measured with the Brain Gauge to monitor brain activity before and after aerobic exercise. The objective of the study was to determine if there were short-term and/or long-term effects of aerobic exercise. The data suggests that there are short-term effects and some improvements in performance on the tasks when comparing metrics obtained after exercise to before exercise. For this individual, aerobic exercise was a regular part of daily routine, there was no long-term effect detected over the relatively short duration of the study.

The Effect of Preference of Music on Reaction Time

A series of 4 collective, exploratory case studies were conducted in order to determine the effect of different genres on reaction time. The Brain Gauge System was used to measure raw reaction time via a tactile reaction time test, testing three different conditions: no music, preferred genre, classical music. The subjects listened to 10 minute increments of music on noise-cancelling headphones and took the tactile reaction time test once before listening and twice (2 minute and 8 minute mark) while the music was playing. Results indicated that there was a general trend of increased reaction time (i.e., decreased performance) with music playing in the background. An ANOVA test was performed, with a resulting p-value of 0.411. While statistical analysis proved the results to be insignificant, the trends found in the case studies indicate that listening to music worsens your reaction time. Furthermore, preferred types of music do not have a significant effect on reaction time. Consistent with literature, this indicates that music in general is a form of distraction, regardless of preference and genre. Further in-depth studies need to be conducted with a larger sample size in order to expand upon these preliminary findings.

The Effects of Regular Versus Irregular Caffeine Consumption in Mental Performance

Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world and is a central nervous system stimulant that increases alertness and excitation. Regular consumption of caffeine can cause one to become dependent on the drug and this, in turn, can cause withdrawal to occur when regular caffeine consumption is disrupted [1]. A case study series (3 cases) addresses the way in which caffeine consumption by regular and irregular caffeine drinkers impacts cognitive performance. Three subjects, 2 regular caffeine drinkers and 1 irregular caffeine drinker, performed case studies to examine the effect of caffeine consumption on their reaction and choice reaction times. A Brain Gauge device and software were used to conduct these cognitive performance tasks. Across all 3 cases, choice reaction time decreased (i.e., task performance improved) after drinking coffee. In most cases, there was a decrease in the average reaction time (performance improvement) after caffeine consumption. The difference in mental performance between regular and irregular drinkers cannot be determined with the results of this case study series. Additional research and experiments with larger sample sizes are needed before making further conclusions about how caffeine consumption and disruption of caffeine consumption affects mental performance.