Office workers remain in a awkward position for long periods, which can lead to musculoskeletal symptoms. Ergonomic guidelines are recommended to avoid such problems. Evidence of the long-term ...effectiveness of ergonomic interventions is scarce. The aim of this randomised controlled trial was to compare pain intensity among office workers who received an ergonomic intervention and a control group before as well as 12, 24, and 36 wk after the intervention. Workers were randomly allocated to a control group (CG) and experimental group (EG). The EG received an ergonomic workstation intervention. Furniture measurements were related to individual anthropometric measurements to identify mismatches. The outcome was pain intensity, which was determined using a numerical pain scale and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. A linear mixed model was created with pain intensity as the dependent variable. Group and time were the independent variables. No significant interactions were found between group and time. Significant differences between groups were found for the pain intensity in the neck, shoulder, upper back, and wrist/hand (p<0.05), with lower intensity in the EG. The intervention reduced pain intensity in the neck, shoulder, upper back, and wrist/hand. However, no reduction in pain intensity was found for the lower back or elbow.
Abstract
Background
Considering the confinement recommended by the World Health Organization due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, many community physical exercise programmes for older adults have ...had their activities cancelled. In this context, proposing strategies to recover the possible adverse effects of the confinement period is pertinent. The use of self-management strategies associated with regular physical activity reduces sedentary behaviour and improves physical capacity in older adults. Thus, the purpose of this study was to describe a multicomponent training programme combined with a self-management strategy protocol to mitigate the effects of interruptions in physical exercise programmes on functionality, physical capacity, mental health, body composition and quality of life in older adults.
Methods
This will be a blinded, randomized and controlled clinical trial performed in São Carlos, SP, Brazil. Eighty older adults will be divided into two groups: multicomponent training (Multi) and multicomponent training + self-management strategies (Multi+SM). The intervention will be performed over 16 weeks on three alternate days of every week, with 50-min sessions. The assessment of physical capacity will be performed before the interruption of physical exercise programmes (T0: initial assessment, March 2020), preintervention (T1: immediately after the return of the exercise programme) and postintervention (T2). The assessments of physical activity level, quality of life, mental health, functionality and body composition will be performed at T1 and T2.
Discussion
The results from this MC+SM protocol will allow us to contribute clinical support to evaluate the variables analysed and to guide future public health policies with the aim of minimizing the possible deleterious effects arising from the physical exercise interruption periods caused by epidemics and pandemics.
Trial registration
RBR-10zs97gk
. Prospectively registered in Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (ReBEC) on 17 June 2021. Registry name: Use of self-management strategies combined with multicomponent training to mitigate the effects of social distancing due to COVID-19 on capacity, physical capacity, mental health and quality of life in older adults - A blind, randomized and controlled clinical trial.
Office workers remain in a awkward position for long periods, which can lead to musculoskeletal symptoms. Ergonomic guidelines are recommended to avoid such problems. Evidence of the long-term ...effectiveness of ergonomic interventions is scarce. The aim of this randomised controlled trial was to compare pain intensity among office workers who received an ergonomic intervention and a control group before as well as 12, 24, and 36 wk after the intervention. Workers were randomly allocated to a control group (CG) and experimental group (EG). The EG received an ergonomic workstation intervention. Furniture measurements were related to individual anthropometric measurements to identify mismatches. The outcome was pain intensity, which was determined using a numerical pain scale and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. A linear mixed model was created with pain intensity as the dependent variable. Group and time were the independent variables. No significant interactions were found between group and time. Significant differences between groups were found for the pain intensity in the neck, shoulder, upper back, and wrist/hand (P<0.05), with lower intensity in the EG. The intervention reduced pain intensity in the neck, shoulder, upper back, and wrist/hand. However, no reduction in pain intensity was found for the lower back or elbow.
Physical detraining is the partial or total interruption of a physical exercise program, and it results in partial or total loss of acquired benefits, generating physiological adaptations in older ...people. In the context of the social restrictions imposed by the covid-19 pandemic, physical detraining may have resulted in a decline in the functional mobility and mental health of this population.
To verify the correlation between functional mobility and mental health of active older people after 18 months of physical detraining due to the covid-19 pandemic.
This is a longitudinal study. The participants of the study were older people considered active for practicing a regular multicomponent physical exercise program (MPE) and in a group for at least one year, before being interrupted due to the covid-19 pandemic. The program had a weekly frequency of three times a week, with sessions of 50 minutes each. The physical assessments were carried out in three moments, being T1: before the pandemic (March 2020), T2: after 18 months of the beginning of the pandemic (August 2021) and T3: after 24 months of the pandemic and return to face-to-face activities (February 2022). The functional mobility assessment was done by “Timed Up and Go – TUG” test and it was carried out in the three moments, while the mental health assessment was done using two components: depressive symptoms from the “Geriatric Depression Scale - GDS” and perceived stress by the “Perceived Stress Scale - PSS”, being performed only at T2. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS 20 software with a significance level of p < 0.05, after verifying the normality of the data, the Friedman test was performed to compare functional mobility and the correlation with mental health was performed using the test of Spearman with delta values between the first 18 months of the pandemic (T2-T1).
forty-six older people (74 ± 6.67 age and 87% female) participated in the three moments. There was a significant worsening of functional mobility performance between T1 and T2 (8.29 7.57-9.38 and 9.34 8.53-10.96), reflecting the effect of 18 months of detraining. Regarding the correlation with mental health, a positive correlation was observed with GDS (p=0,015; r=0,414) and PSS (p=0,047; r=0,377). Thus, the longer time spent performing the TUG was associated with a higher presence of depressive symptoms and perceived stress in the 18 months of the pandemic.
The pandemic had negative effects on functional mobility that lasted even after 18 months of its beginning, and worst functional mobility was correlated with worsening mental health.
With the end of the pandemic, the resumption of physical exercise programs for the older people is important, so that there is a recovery of functional mobility, but it is also necessary that these programs also pay attention to mental health issues in this population.
The COVID-19 pandemic has actively impacted the lifestyle of older adults, interrupting their participation in exercise programs (EP) and consequently increasing sedentary behavior (SB) and ...decreasing physical activity (PA). However, the flexibilization of the pandemic's restrictive measures is expect that the older adults will return to adopting an active lifestyle.
To compare the SB and PA level of older adults during and after the restrictive measures of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is an observational and longitudinal study. Older adults (≥60 years old), with preserved ambulation and participants in the multicomponent EP (3x50min during the week) before the COVID-19 pandemic were included. The participants were evaluated 18 months (T1= during the restrictive measures of the pandemic) and 24 months (T2= after the restrictive measures of the pandemic) after the interruption of the EP. SB and PA level were evaluated by the ActivPAL3TM micro accelerometer. SB variables were daily SB time, % of SB time during the day, daily sitting time, number of sedentary bouts > 30min and time spent in sedentary bouts > 30min. The PA level was described by the number of steps per day. To evaluate the effect of time in the SB variables and the PA level, a generalized linear mixed model analysis was used. Time was considered a fixed effect and participants a random factor. Results are presented in estimated marginal means and standard error. Statistical analysis was performed using the JAMOVI software (version 2.3.18) and a significance level of p < 0.05 was adopted.
Seventeen older adults were included (75.8 ± 7.47 years, 76.5% female). No statistically significant differences were observed in the time spent in SB (T1= 8.49 h and T2= 8.85 h, X2= 1.99, Dif= 0.356, p= 0.158), % of time in SB (T1= 55.9 % and T2= 56.3%, X2= 0.06, Dif= 0.382, p= 0.793), sitting time (T1= 8.06 h and T2= 7.87 h, X2= 0.324, Dif= -0.191, p = 0.569), number of sedentary bouts > 30min (T1= 3.85 and T2= 4.14, X2= 0.941, Dif= 0.293, p= 0.332), time spent in sedentary bouts > 30min (T1= 4.23 h and T2= 3.90 h, X2= 0.998, Dif= -0.332, p= 0.318) and in the PA level (T1= 9521 steps and T2= 9862 steps, X2= 0.653, Dif= 341, p= 0.419) of older adults after the flexibilization of the restrictive measures of the COVID-19 pandemic.
No significant changes were observed in the SB and PA level of older adults who participated in an EP after the flexibilization of restrictive measures of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The findings of this study demonstrate that despite the flexibilization of restrictive measures of the COVID-19 pandemic, the older adults continue to have high rates of SB, demonstrating the need to implement public policies that reduce SB and encourage the practice of PA.
Noninvasive monitoring of biofabricated tissues during the biomanufacturing process is needed to obtain reproducible, healthy, and functional tissues. Measuring the levels of biomarkers secreted from ...tissues is a promising strategy to understand the status of tissues during biofabrication. Continuous and real-time information from cultivated tissues enables users to achieve scalable manufacturing. Label-free biosensors are promising candidates for detecting cell secretomes since they can be noninvasive and do not require labor-intensive processes such as cell lysing. Moreover, most conventional monitoring techniques are single-use, conducted at the end of the fabrication process, and, challengingly, are not permissive to in-line and continual detection. To address these challenges, we developed a noninvasive and continual monitoring platform to evaluate the status of cells during the biofabrication process, with a particular focus on monitoring the transient processes that stem cells go through during in vitro differentiation over extended periods. We designed and evaluated a reusable electrochemical immunosensor with the capacity for detecting trace amounts of secreted osteogenic markers, such as osteopontin (OPN). The sensor has a low limit of detection (LOD), high sensitivity, and outstanding selectivity in complex biological media. We used this OPN immunosensor to continuously monitor on-chip osteogenesis of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) cultured 2D and 3D hydrogel constructs inside a microfluidic bioreactor for more than a month and were able to observe changing levels of OPN secretion during culture. The proposed platform can potentially be adopted for monitoring a variety of biological applications and further developed into a fully automated system for applications in advanced cellular biomanufacturing.
Abstract only
Introduction:
Prior studies suggest that BPs measured casually during routine clinic workflow are higher than research-grade measurements. However, BPs in these studies were typically ...collected on different days. We sought to compare the influence of day of assessment on this difference, within the context of an ongoing randomized trial.
Methods:
This is a cross-sectional interim analysis of the BETTER-BP trial, which examines the effect of behavioral economic incentives for medication adherence on BP. Our study focused on concordance between baseline BP measurements and did not analyze trial outcome data. We included the first 171 participants (1/1/20-3/31/22). Research BP was measured in a seated position after a 5 minute rest period using a standard cuff (Omron HEM 907-XL). Casual BP measurements (most recent recording prior to the research measurement) as well as baseline characteristics were abstracted from the EHR. Participants were divided into two groups based on whether their casual BP was measured on the same day (vs different day) as their research BP. The mean systolic BP (SBP) obtained for research versus casual measurements were compared, for the two separate groups, using paired T-tests.
Results:
Mean age was 55 years, 49.1% were female, 93.2% were nonwhite, and 48.5% were Spanish-speaking. Common comorbidities were diabetes (48.5%) and obesity (49.1%). Among the 132 patients with same day measurements, mean research SBP was 139.2 ± 20.4 mmHg and casual SBP was 137.9 ± 16.4 mmHg (mean within person difference=1.3 mmHg; P=0.259). Among the 39 patients with different days of measurement (median 14 IQR 6-47 days), mean research SBP was 136.5 ± 23.3 mmHg and casual SBP was 144.2 ± 18.9 mmHg (mean within person difference= -7.7 mmHg; P=0.007). Casual SBP was higher among patients with measurements on different days compared to patients with same day measurements (P=0.043).
Conclusion:
SBP measured casually during clinical practice were concordant with research-quality measurements when obtained on the same day. SBP measurements differed significantly when obtained on different days. These findings suggest that prior reports showing casual BPs to be consistently higher than research BPs may have been influenced by temporal variability.
PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the structure and impact of police officers' social support network on health and well-being. Social integration promotes opportunities for regular ...positive experiences and a set of stable, socially rewarded roles within one's work and life domains. Identifying the structure and impact areas of police officers' social support network provide guidance for initiatives in improving psychological health for the department and individual officers.Design/methodology/approachSurvey of 162 police officers' sources of support provided a holistic representation of their social network across seven sources. Principle component analyses were conducted to explore the structure of one's social network. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine overall impact of one's social support network and relative contributions of support sources in terms of increased well-being and reduced strain.FindingsA three-component structure of social support was partially supported. Overall models of the impact of one's social support network related to increased well-being and reduced strain was supported. Relative contributions of support sources show different patterns based on outcome of interest.Practical implicationsProvides guidance for addressing the psychological well-being needs for officers holistically. In other words, treating officers as whole beings, whose system of support and psychological health is integrated, not piecemeal.Originality/valueExamination of principle effects of support provides a parsimonious approach to considering the holistic value of one's support system, apart from specific stressors or conditions.
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