Considering the temporary closure of many food-away-from-home establishments, consumer expenditure on groceries during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased. While grocery shopping is an essential ...activity, not much is known about the dynamic relationship of the COVID-19 pandemic to the behavior of grocery shoppers. With an objective to inform variability in the behavior of grocery shoppers under various scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted an online framed choice experiment to elicit preferences for purchasing methods, time windows, minimum order requirements, and fees. The manipulating factor relates to the trend in the COVID-19 pandemic, where we consider three scenarios: an increasing, decreasing, or constant number of new cases in the past two-week period. Using 32,400 choice decisions from a representative sample of 900 grocery shoppers in the United States, we conclude that the trend in the COVID-19 pandemic causes significant differences in grocery shopping preferences. In situations where COVID-19 is spreading at an increasing rate, consumers are generally less willing to shop inside the grocery store. When COVID-19 is spreading at a decreasing rate, the relative importance of the purchasing method attribute is lower in its entirety. We use our findings to inform recommendations for practitioners and policymakers.
This study evaluates the psychological impact of stay-at-home extension orders during COVID-19 and its relationship with individuals' expectations on the duration of the extensions. An online survey ...was administered to 1259 US adult residents to measure symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and stress induced by different stay-at-home order extensions using hypothetical length scenarios. We find that individuals exposed to two 2-week order extensions exhibit higher levels of stress and anxiety compared to those exposed to a single 4-week extension. We also find that subjects with longer expected extensions exhibit more signs of psychological damage than those with shorter expected extensions. Furthermore, we find that the negative psychological consequences of providing two shorter extensions is observed only among subjects with extension expectations of four weeks or less. Our results demonstrate that people's expectations affect the level of psychological damage caused by lockdown mandates. Our findings suggest that whenever lockdown extensions are necessary, reduced psychological distress may be possible by implementing a one-time restriction, rather than extending multiple smaller extensions perhaps due to manipulation of personal expectations.
By randomizing the order in which participants perform a cognitive test and a food choice task in a controlled experiment, we investigate whether cognitive capacity can be enhanced by the simple act ...of anticipating food intake. Our findings show that overweight and obese participants exhibit an anticipatory food reward effect, which helped enhance their mental resources and improve their performance in a cognitive test. However, we find no anticipation effect among normal weight participants. Furthermore, eye tracking data reveal that food temptation, in the form of visual attention and emotional arousal is higher for overweight and obese individuals when they are cognitively impaired.
In this work, we study the approximate controllability for retarded neutral differential equations with unbounded delay, non-instantaneous impulses, and non-local conditions. First, we set the problem ...in a natural Banach phase space satisfying Hale-Kato axiomatic Theory about the phase space for retarded ordinary equations with unbounded delay. Second, we assume some conditions on the nonlinear terms to achieve the approximate controllability using the technique developed by Bashirov and Ghahramanlou 6, which avoids the use of fixed point theorems.
Cortical thickness in untreated transsexuals Zubiaurre-Elorza, Leire; Junque, Carme; Gómez-Gil, Esther ...
Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. 1991),
12/2013, Letnik:
23, Številka:
12
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Sex differences in cortical thickness (CTh) have been extensively investigated but as yet there are no reports on CTh in transsexuals. Our aim was to determine whether the CTh pattern in transsexuals ...before hormonal treatment follows their biological sex or their gender identity. We performed brain magnetic resonance imaging on 94 subjects: 24 untreated female-to-male transsexuals (FtMs), 18 untreated male-to-female transsexuals (MtFs), and 29 male and 23 female controls in a 3-T TIM-TRIO Siemens scanner. T1-weighted images were analyzed to obtain CTh and volumetric subcortical measurements with FreeSurfer software. CTh maps showed control females have thicker cortex than control males in the frontal and parietal regions. In contrast, males have greater right putamen volume. FtMs had a similar CTh to control females and greater CTh than males in the parietal and temporal cortices. FtMs had larger right putamen than females but did not differ from males. MtFs did not differ in CTh from female controls but had greater CTh than control males in the orbitofrontal, insular, and medial occipital regions. In conclusion, FtMs showed evidence of subcortical gray matter masculinization, while MtFs showed evidence of CTh feminization. In both types of transsexuals, the differences with respect to their biological sex are located in the right hemisphere.
Background and purpose
Myasthenia gravis (MG) may become life‐threatening if patients have respiratory insufficiency or dysphagia. This study aimed to determine the incidence, demographic ...characteristics, risk factors, response to treatment and outcome of these life‐threatening events (LTEs) in a recent, population‐based sample of MG patients.
Methods
A retrospective analysis of MG patients who presented with an LTE between 2000 and 2013 was performed. Participants were identified from a neuromuscular diseases registry in Spain that includes 648 patients with MG (NMD‐ES).
Results
Sixty‐two (9.56%) patients had an LTE. Thirty‐two were classified as class V according to the MG Foundation of America, and 30 as class IVB. Fifty per cent were previously diagnosed with MG and median duration of the disease before the LTE was 24 months (3–406). The most common related factor was infection (n = 18). All patients received intravenous human immunoglobulin; 11 had a second infusion and six had plasma exchange. Median time to feeding tube removal was 13 days (1–434). Median time to weaning from ventilation was 12 days (3–176), and it was significantly shorter in late onset MG (≥50 years) (P = 0.019). LTEs improved <2 weeks in 55.8% but did not improve until after 1 month in 20% of patients. Four patients died. No other factors influenced mortality or duration of LTEs.
Conclusions
The percentage of LTEs in MG patients was low, particularly amongst those previously diagnosed and treated for the disease. The significant percentage of treatment‐resistant LTEs indicates that more effective treatment approaches are needed for this vulnerable sub‐population.
•We constructed a modified electrode for detecting uric acid contained in human serum.•Electrochemical detection of uric acid was comparable with the enzymatic method.•Interference of ascorbic acid ...was not observed.
Glassy carbon electrodes (GCE) were sequentially modified by cysteamine-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNp@cysteamine) and PAMAM dendrimers generation 4.5 bearing 128-COOH peripheral groups (GCE/AuNp@cysteamine/PAMAM), in order to explore their capabilities as electrochemical detectors of uric acid (UA) in human serum samples at pH 2. The results showed that concentrations of UA detected by cyclic voltammetry with GCE/AuNp@cysteamine/PAMAM were comparable (deviation <±10%; limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 1.7×10−4 and 5.8×10−4mgdL−1, respectively) to those concentrations obtained using the uricase-based enzymatic-colorimetric method. It was also observed that the presence of dendrimers in the GCE/AuNp@cysteamine/PAMAM system minimizes ascorbic acid (AA) interference during UA oxidation, thus improving the electrocatalytic activity of the gold nanoparticles.
Background and ImportanceThe International Association for the Study of Pain defines neuropathic pain as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system, central or ...peripheral.Capsaicin 8% cutaneous patch is indicated for the treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP) in adults either alone or in combination with other medicinal products for the treatment of pain.Aim and ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and tolerability of capsaicin patch in PNP in a usual clinical practice at a third-level hospital.Material and MethodsRetrospective observational study conducted between January 2019 and December 2022 of patients with PNP who underwent treatment in the hospital. All of them signed informed consent. Data were collected from clinical history and pharmacy program.Therapeutic efficacy was evaluated through pain intensity, using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), at baseline and a week after treatment. Patients were considered as responders to therapy if VAS decreases ≥ 3.Patients were included in one of the following groups according to the localisation pain: Back, Hip, Knee, Feet, Upper limbs (hands, arms).Endpoints included demographic and clinical characteristics (age, sex), therapeutic outcomes (change in basal pain intensity), adverse events (AEs), site reactions.Results686 patients were included in the study (65% women, median age 60.5 years). Localisation area application were: Knee (21.6%), Back (8.5%), Hip (6.6%) Upper limbs/feet (19.7%).The median VAS baseline score (6,9) decreased a week after treatment (5.7).A median percentage of patients (42.4%, n=291) improved VAS scale and 42% (n=122) of them were considered responders to treatment (decrease baseline VAS ≥ 3).Adverse events (mild to moderate in intensity) were: erythema (13,1%), burning sensation (29,8%) and pruritus (21.4%). No severe adverse events were observed.Conclusion and RelevanceCapsaicin patch use in peripheral neuropathic pain seems to be effective, decreasing pain intensity in treated conditions.Treatment was generally well toleratedadverse events were transient and self-limiting.More studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness and safety of capsaicin 8% cutaneous patch.References and/or AcknowledgementsConflict of InterestNo conflict of interest.
A high-saturated-fat diet (HFD) during pregnancy and lactation leads to metabolic disorders in offspring concomitant with increased adiposity and a proinflammatory phenotype in later life. During the ...fetal period, the impact of maternal diet on skeletal muscle development is poorly described, despite this tissue exerting a major influence on life-long metabolic health. This study investigated the effect of a maternal HFD on skeletal muscle anabolic, catabolic, and inflammatory signaling in adult rat offspring. Furthermore, the actions of maternal-supplemented conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on these measures of muscle phenotype were investigated. A purified control diet (CD; 10% kcal fat), a CD supplemented with CLA (CLA; 10% kcal fat, 1% total fat as CLA), a high-fat (HFD; 45% kcal fat from lard), or a HFD supplemented with CLA (HFCLA; 45% kcal fat from lard, 1% total fat as CLA) was fed ad libitum to female Sprague-Dawley rats for 10 days before mating and throughout gestation and lactation. Male offspring received a standard chow diet from weaning, and the gastrocnemius was collected for analysis at day 150. Offspring from HF and HFCLA mothers displayed lower muscular protein content accompanied by elevated monocyte chemotactic protein-1, IL-6, and IL-1β concentrations. Phosphorylation of NF-κBp65 (Ser(536)) and expression of the catabolic E3 ligase muscle ring finger 1 (MuRF1) were increased in HF offspring, an effect reversed by maternal CLA supplementation. The present study demonstrates the importance of early life interventions to ameliorate the negative effects of poor maternal diet on offspring skeletal muscle development.
Salvage and return of unwashed shed blood (USB) after total knee replacement (TKR) is an established blood-saving technique, but some authors question its efficacy and safety and suggest that the ...shed blood be washed before returning. We evaluated a colloid-based sedimentation method for improving and standardizing the quality of USB collected after TKR without the need for washing.
Experiments were performed to find the optimal colloid dose and sedimentation time using diluted donated venous blood. USB samples (n=52) were drawn from the reinfusion bag and mixed with hydroxyethyl starch or gelatine solutions (15−30%, colloid solution volume/total volume×100). USB red blood cells (RBCs) were allowed to settle by gravity for 30 min, supernatant was evacuated from the syringe, and RBC concentrate was analysed. RBC recovery and other blood cell and chemical removal were calculated according to changes in USB volume and haematocrit. Twenty-five samples from leucodepleted packed RBCs were analysed as a comparator group.
Mean haemoglobin (Hb) of USB was 10.9 g dl−1. After colloid treatment, 90% of RBCs were recovered, and USB Hb was similar to that of leucodepleted packed RBCs (n=25) (18.9 vs 19.6 g dl−1, respectively; P=NS). In addition, the procedure reduced USB content of leucocytes (60%), platelets (48%), total protein (76%), cytokines (70–77%), and plasma-free haemoglobin (53%), without major differences between colloids.
Sedimentation of USB with colloid solutions provides a low-cost alternative for improving and standardizing the quality of salvaged USB after TKR.
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