The awareness of and attitudes toward gut health, probiotics, prebiotics and factors associated with probiotics use in Australian adults have been explored in a cross-sectional study using ...CQUniversity's National Social Survey (N = 1,265; 667 females). 58.9% of the participants were probiotics users, who were most commonly identified as female, younger, more educated (Ps < 0.05), with a higher awareness of gut health, and overall healthier lifestyle behaviors (fruits intake, activity, alcohol intake risk) compared to non-users. Maintaining health was the main reason for use. Many (59%) non-users reported a willingness to try probiotics, but only if recommended by a health professional. Probiotics use was associated with awareness of probiotic (odds ratio (OR): 2.02, p < 0.001) and prebiotic (OR:1.59, p = 0.003) terms, natural source of probiotics (OR:2.38, p < 0.001), recommended fruit serves (OR:1.32, p = 0.001), and alcohol score (OR:0.95, p = 0.036). Overall, those who had a healthier lifestyle and better understanding of gut health and probiotics were more likely to use probiotics. Education on gut health and probiotics from health professionals may improve probiotic use, especially in populations that are likely to benefit the most, including those with a specific condition or poor lifestyle.
Summary Prevalence and impact of metabolic disease is rising. In particular, overweight and obesity are at epidemic levels and are a leading health concern in the Western world. Shift work increases ...the risk of overweight and obesity, along with a number of additional metabolic diseases, including metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes (T2D). How shift work contributes to metabolic disease has not been fully elucidated. Short sleep duration is associated with metabolic disease and shift workers typically have shorter sleep durations. Short sleep durations have been shown to elicit a physiological stress response, and both physiological and psychological stress disrupt the healthy functioning of the intestinal gut microbiota. Recent findings have shown altered intestinal microbial communities and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota in circadian disrupted mice and jet lagged humans. We hypothesize that sleep and circadian disruption in humans alters the gut microbiota, contributing to an inflammatory state and metabolic disease associated with shift work. A research agenda for exploring the relationship between insufficient sleep, circadian misalignment and the gut microbiota is provided.
Abstract Background Recent advances in computer graphics and wireless technologies have renewed interest in vectorcardiogram (VCG) signals that use fewer leads than the conventional 12-lead ...electrocardiogram (ECG) signals for medical diagnostic applications. However, most cardiologists are accustomed to the 12-lead ECG even though some of the leads are either nearly aligned with or derived from the others and consequently contain redundant information. The ability to transform from orthogonal 3-lead VCG to 12-lead ECG enables the use of fewer leads for signal analysis, computer visualization, and wireless transmission of signals. This can also improve mobility, albeit limited, to the patients. Materials and Methods We present a statistical approach to transform 3-lead Frank VCG to 12-lead ECG signals and vice versa, based on Dower's pioneering work on lead tranformation. This approach enables compensation of baseline shifts and other constant biases present in long ECG data streams, so that the resulting statistical transforms can be more consistent and accurate. We compare the performance of the affine transform with that of Dower transform (from 3 to 12 and from 12 to 3) using the data from the PhysioNet PTB database. Results The results show that for both myocardial infarction (MI) and healthy control (HC) subjects, the statistical affine transform presented here maps 3-lead VCG to12-lead ECG more accurately than Dower or other lead transformation matrices of the ECG recordings. Discussion This investigation also shows the limitations associated with single dipole assumption that underlies Dower's geometric transformation. The results also indicate that lead transformation accuracy can be improved using separate customized transforms to, for example, age or pathologic conditions (here, MI vs HC) than a single statistical or geometric transform. Pertinently, we find that the affine transform coefficients can serve as discriminating features for classification/discrimination of MI patients from HC subjects.
