Abstract
Study Objectives
COVID-19 lockdowns drastically affected sleep, physical activity, and wellbeing. We studied how these behaviors evolved during reopening the possible contributions of ...continued working from home and smartphone usage.
Methods
Participants (N = 198) were studied through the lockdown and subsequent reopening period, using a wearable sleep/activity tracker, smartphone-delivered ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and passive smartphone usage tracking. Work/study location was obtained through daily EMA ascertainment.
Results
Upon reopening, earlier, shorter sleep and increased physical activity were observed, alongside increased self-rated stress and poorer evening mood ratings. These reopening changes were affected by post-lockdown work arrangements and patterns of smartphone usage. Individuals who returned to work or school in-person tended toward larger shifts to earlier sleep and wake timings. Returning to in-person work/school also correlated with more physical activity. Contrary to expectation, there was no decrease in objectively measured smartphone usage after reopening. A cluster analysis showed that persons with relatively heavier smartphone use prior to bedtime had later sleep timings and lower physical activity.
Conclusions
These observations indicate that the reopening after lockdown was accompanied by earlier sleep timing, increased physical activity, and altered mental wellbeing. Moreover, these changes were affected by work/study arrangements and smartphone usage patterns.
Background Previous reports regarding the rates at which various internal tumors metastasize to the skin have been limited and have only included the Caucasian population. Moreover, the mechanisms ...that predispose certain internal malignancies to metastasize to the skin have rarely been discussed in the scientific literature. Objectives We determined the frequencies with which various internal malignancies metastasize to the skin in patients from a Taiwanese medical center. We also evaluated whether expressions of chemokine receptors CCR10 and CXCR4 by tumor cells correlate with cutaneous metastatic ability. Methods Clinical records from Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, during 20 years (1986-2006) were reviewed and cases of biopsy-proven primary internal malignancies and cutaneous metastases were identified. Immunohistochemical staining with antibodies to CCR10 and CXCR4 was performed on a selected number of internal malignancies with and without skin metastases. Results From 12,146 patients with internal malignancies, we found 124 cases (1.02%) with cutaneous metastases. The highest rates of skin metastases were found to occur from carcinoma of the breast, followed by the lung, oral mucosa, colon and rectum, stomach, and esophagus. However, the rate of cutaneous metastasis from breast cancer was much lower compared with previous studies involving Caucasians. In general, adenocarcinomas gave rise to cutaneous metastases at a higher frequency compared with other histologic subtypes. In addition, the expressions of CCR10 and CXCR4 by tumor cells did not correlate well with the presence or absence of skin metastases. Limitation This study is retrospective in nature. Conclusions Different internal malignancies metastasize to the skin with different frequencies, and the rates at which different malignancies metastasize to cutaneous sites differ between the Taiwanese and Caucasian populations. The mechanisms responsible for the cutaneous metastatic ability of certain malignancies likely involve factors other than chemokine receptors CCR10 and CXCR4, because their expressions by tumor cells are neither necessary nor sufficient for the formation of skin metastases.
The highly sensitive and sequence-specific detection of single-stranded oligonucleotides using nonoxidized silicon nanowires (SiNWs) is demonstrated. To maximize device sensitivity, the surface of ...the SiNWs was functionalized with a densely packed organic monolayer via hydrosilylation, subsequently immobilized with peptide nucleic acid (PNA) capable of recognizing the label-free complementary target DNA. Because of the selective functionalization of the SiNWs, binding competition between the nanowire and the underlying oxide is avoided. Transmission electron microscopy was conducted to clearly differentiate the SiNW surface before and after removal of SiO
2. Fluorescence microscopy was used to further realize the selectivity of the oxide-etched chemistry on the SiNWs and sequence specificity of PNA-DNA hybridization. The concentration-dependent resistance change measurements upon hybridization of PNA-DNA show that detection limit down to 10
fM can be obtained. The SiNW devices also reveal the capability of an obvious discrimination against mismatched sequences. Among several efforts being made to improve detection sensitivity, this work addresses one significant issue regarding surface functionalization which enables highly sensitive biomolecular sensing with SiNWs.
Summary
Loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) amplifies DNA with high specificity, efficiency and rapidity under isothermal conditions by using a DNA polymerase with high displacement strand ...activity and a set of specifically designed primers to amplify targeted DNA strands. Following its first discovery by Notomi et al. ( Nucleic Acids Res 28: E63), LAMP was further developed over the years which involved the combination of this technique with other molecular approaches, such as reverse transcription and multiplex amplification for the detection of infectious diseases caused by micro‐organisms in humans, livestock and plants. In this review, available types of LAMP techniques will be discussed together with their applications in detection of various micro‐organisms. Up to date, there are varieties of LAMP detection methods available including colorimetric and fluorescent detection, real‐time monitoring using turbidity metre and detection using lateral flow device which will also be highlighted in this review. Apart from that, commercialization of LAMP technique had also been reported such as lyophilized form of LAMP reagents kit and LAMP primer sets for detection of pathogenic micro‐organisms. On top of that, advantages and limitations of this molecular detection method are also described together with its future potential as a diagnostic method for infectious disease.
Fuel consumption and travel time of a vehicle are significantly influenced by driving behavior, especially when approaching a signalized intersection. Injudicious driving reacting to sudden changes ...in traffic signal can lead to additional energy consumption and increase of travel time. This paper presents a learning-based event-driven ecological (eco) driving system (EDS) that generates the optimal velocity from self-driving data of a vehicle. Currently, full autonomy of vehicles and proper infrastructure development for vehicle-to-vehicle and infrastructure-to-vehicle communications are not widespread; however, the proposed system can be beneficial for driving scenarios in the existing traffic environment. We design a Gaussian process model using a Bayesian network for naturalistic learning from driving data and traffic signal condition to estimate the probability of a vehicle crossing the intersection within a signal phase. Based on the estimated probability, the optimal velocity is generated and the vehicle (driver) will be advised to either slow down earlier (to avoid aggressive braking) at the red signal or speed up (to cross the intersection) at the green signal. Finally, microscopic simulations are performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme. The results show significant performance improvement in both fuel economy and travel time.
Wearable devices have tremendous potential for large-scale longitudinal measurement of sleep, but their accuracy needs to be validated. We compared the performance of the multisensor Oura ring (Oura ...Health Oy, Oulu, Finland) to polysomnography (PSG) and a research actigraph in healthy adolescents.
Fifty-three adolescents (28 females; aged 15-19 years) underwent overnight PSG monitoring while wearing both an Oura ring and Actiwatch 2 (Philips Respironics, USA). Measurements were made over multiple nights and across three levels of sleep opportunity (5 nights with either 6.5 or 8h, and 3 nights with 9h). Actiwatch data at two sensitivity settings were analyzed. Discrepancies in estimated sleep measures as well as sleep-wake, and sleep stage agreements were evaluated using Bland-Altman plots and epoch-by-epoch (EBE) analyses.
Compared with PSG, Oura consistently underestimated TST by an average of 32.8 to 47.3 minutes (
s < 0.001) across the different TIB conditions; Actiwatch 2 at its default setting underestimated TST by 25.8 to 33.9 minutes. Oura significantly overestimated WASO by an average of 30.7 to 46.3 minutes. It was comparable to Actiwatch 2 at default sensitivity in the 6.5, and 8h TIB conditions. Relative to PSG, Oura significantly underestimated REM sleep (12.8 to 19.5 minutes) and light sleep (51.1 to 81.2 minutes) but overestimated N3 by 31.5 to 46.8 minutes (
s < 0.01). EBE analyses demonstrated excellent sleep-wake accuracies, specificities, and sensitivities - between 0.88 and 0.89 across all TIBs.
The Oura ring yielded comparable sleep measurement to research grade actigraphy at the latter's default settings. Sleep staging needs improvement. However, the device appears adequate for characterizing the effect of sleep duration manipulation on adolescent sleep macro-architecture.
Background
Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) are a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma with few studies reporting on patient outcomes and prognostic variables.
Methods
A retrospective ...review of 175 patients diagnosed with MPNST from 1985 to 2010 was performed. Patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics were evaluated to identify prognostic variables.
Results
The median age of our study population was 44 years, and 51% were female. Median tumor size was 6 cm, and 61% of patients had high-grade tumors. Tumors were most commonly located on the extremities (45%), then trunk (34%) and head/neck (19%). The majority of patients underwent surgical resection (95%) and adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy (6%), radiation (42%) or both (22%). Margin status was R0 in 69%, R1 in 2%, R2 in 9%, and unknown in 20%. The local recurrence rate was 22%, and 5- and 10-year disease-specific survival (DSS) were 60% and 45%, respectively. On univariate analysis, no predictors for local recurrence were identified. Tumor size ≥5 cm, high tumor grade, tumor location, presence of neurofibromatosis type 1, local recurrence, and adjuvant chemotherapy were all associated with DSS. On multivariate analysis, size ≥5 cm hazard ratio (HR) = 6.1, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5–25.0, local recurrence (HR = 4.4, 95% CI 1.7–11.4), high tumor grade (HR = 3.8, 95% CI 1.1–13.2), and truncal location (HR = 3.7, 95% CI 1.1–12.7) were poor prognostic indicators for DSS.
Conclusions
High tumor grade and tumor size ≥5 cm predict adverse DSS for MPNST. In the context of a multidisciplinary treatment regimen, local recurrence and survival outcomes at 5 and 10 years were better than previously reported for MPNST.
In the prostate, stem and progenitor cell regenerative capacities have been ascribed to both basal and luminal epithelial cells. Here, we show that a rare subset of mesenchymal cells in the prostate ...are epithelial-primed Nestin-expressing cells (EPNECs) that can generate self-renewing prostate organoids with bipotential capacity. Upon transplantation, these EPNECs can form prostate gland tissue grafts at the clonal level. Lineage-tracing analyses show that cells marked by Nestin or NG2 transgenic mice contribute to prostate epithelium during organogenesis. In the adult, modest contributions in repeated rounds of regression and regeneration are observed, whereas prostate epithelial cells derived from Nestin/NG2-marked cells are dramatically increased after severe irradiation-induced organ damage. These results indicate that Nestin/NG2 expression marks a novel radioresistant prostate stem cell that is active during development and displays reserve stem cell activity for tissue maintenance.
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•The murine prostate mesenchyme contains epithelial-primed Nestin+ cells•Nestin+ cells generate self-renewing prostate organoids and glands at clonal level•NG2/Nestin+ cells contribute to prostate epithelium during organogenesis•NG2/Nestin+ cells retain reserve stem cell activity for tissue regeneration in the adult
In this article, Frenette and colleagues show that Nestin/NG2-expressing cells contribute to prostate epithelium during organogenesis and retain reserve stem cell activity during severe irradiation-induced tissue damage while epithelial-primed Nestin-expressing cells maintain bilineage epithelial differentiation potential in the unperturbed adult prostate.
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