Research on healthcare and body monitoring has increased in recent years, with respiratory data being one of the most important factors. Respiratory measurements can help prevent diseases and ...recognize movements. Therefore, in this study, we measured respiratory data using a capacitance-based sensor garment with conductive electrodes. To determine the most stable measurement frequency, we conducted experiments using a porous Eco-flex and selected 45 kHz as the most stable frequency. Next, we trained a 1D convolutional neural network (CNN) model, which is a type of deep learning model, to classify the respiratory data according to four movements (standing, walking, fast walking, and running) using one input. The final test accuracy for classification was >95%. Therefore, the sensor garment developed in this study can measure respiratory data for four movements and classify them using deep learning, making it a versatile wearable in the form of a textile. We expect that this method will advance in various healthcare fields.
The purpose of this study was to calibrate the items for the Communicative Participation Item Bank (CPIB; Baylor, Yorkston, Eadie, Miller, & Amtmann, 2009; Yorkston et al., 2008) using item response ...theory (IRT). One overriding objective was to examine whether the IRT item parameters would be consistent across different diagnostic groups, thereby allowing creation of a disorder-generic instrument. The intended outcomes were the final item bank and a short form ready for clinical and research applications.
Self-report data were collected from 701 individuals representing 4 diagnoses: multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and head and neck cancer. Participants completed the CPIB and additional self-report questionnaires. CPIB data were analyzed using the IRT graded response model.
The initial set of 94 candidate CPIB items were reduced to an item bank of 46 items demonstrating unidimensionality, local independence, good item fit, and good measurement precision. Differential item functioning analyses detected no meaningful differences across diagnostic groups. A 10-item, disorder-generic short form was generated.
The CPIB provides speech-language pathologists with a unidimensional, self-report outcomes measurement instrument dedicated to the construct of communicative participation. This instrument may be useful to clinicians and researchers wanting to implement measures of communicative participation in their work.
To construct profiles of self-reported health indicators to examine differences and similarities between people with lower limb loss and a normative sample (hereafter called the norm) and to compare ...health indicators between subgroups based on level and etiology of limb loss.
Survey.
General community.
Adults with unilateral lower limb loss (N=1091) participated in this study. Eligibility criteria included lower limb loss due to trauma or dysvascular complications and regular use of a prosthesis.
Not applicable.
The Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System 29-item Health Profile version 1.0 measures physical function, pain interference, fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety, depression, and satisfaction with participation in social roles. The norm includes 5239 individuals representative of the U.S. general population in sex, age, race, ethnicity, and education.
People with lower limb loss reported statistically significantly worse physical function, pain interference, and satisfaction with participation in social roles and significantly less fatigue than did the norm. People with transfemoral (ie, above-knee) amputation significantly differed in physical function from people with transtibial (ie, below-knee) amputation. Similarly, people with amputation due to trauma and dysvascular etiology significantly differed in physical function and satisfaction with social roles after adjusting for relevant clinical characteristics.
People with lower limb loss generally report worse physical function, pain interference, and satisfaction with social roles than do the norm. People with dysvascular amputation reported worse physical function and satisfaction with social roles than did people with traumatic amputation. Health indicator profiles are an efficient way of providing clinically meaningful information about numerous aspects of self-reported health in people with lower limb loss.
Two resident macrophage subsets reside in peritoneal fluid. Macrophages also reside within mesothelial membranes lining the peritoneal cavity, but they remain poorly characterized. Here, we ...identified two macrophage populations (LYVE1hi MHC IIlo-hi CX3CR1gfplo/- and LYVE1lo/- MHC IIhi CX3CR1gfphi subsets) in the mesenteric and parietal mesothelial linings of the peritoneum. These macrophages resembled LYVE1+ macrophages within surface membranes of numerous organs. Fate-mapping approaches and analysis of newborn mice showed that LYVE1hi macrophages predominantly originated from embryonic-derived progenitors and were controlled by CSF1 made by Wt1+ stromal cells. Their gene expression profile closely overlapped with ovarian tumor-associated macrophages previously described in the omentum. Indeed, syngeneic epithelial ovarian tumor growth was strongly reduced following in vivo ablation of LYVE1hi macrophages, including in mice that received omentectomy to dissociate the role from omental macrophages. These data reveal that the peritoneal compartment contains at least four resident macrophage populations and that LYVE1hi mesothelial macrophages drive tumor growth independently of the omentum.
This study was carried out to investigate the changes in internal shoot growth, total and reducing sugar content, plant growth, and flowering characteristics after cold-stored bulbs of Lilium ...Oriental Hybrids are planted. Bulbs of Lilium Oriental Hybrids ‘Le Reve’, ‘Sorbonne’, and ‘Siberia’ were harvested at the end of November, cleaned, treated with fungicides, conditioned for 30 days at 4 °C, and cold-stored for 30 to 120 days at 0 °C. Plant height, fresh and dry weights, leaf numbers and area, chlorophyll content (SPAD index), days to flowering, number of flower buds, and flower diameter were measured when the cut flowers were harvested. In all cultivars, the shoot lengths in the bulbs increased as the storage period increased. As the storage period was extended, the fructose and glucose contents increased, whereas sucrose content decreased. The total sugar content increased during the early storage period and decreased subsequently. Plant height, fresh and dry weights of cut flowers showed a decreasing trend as the storage period increased. Flower diameter generally decreased with increasing storage period but varied among cultivars. These results indicated that more storage carbohydrates in bulbs were consumed as the storage period increased, and thus, the subsequent plant growth and flowering were negatively affected.
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) can be used as greenhouse glazing materials in agrivoltaic systems because they are translucent, have different colors, and can produce electricity. However, the ...light quality of DSSCs differs from that of sunlight, and the visible light transmittance is low. Therefore, we compared the plant shape, growth, and leaf color of coleus, a highly photosensitive plant, under transparent glass and red-colored DSSCs. Coleus ‘Highway Rose’ was grown in transparent (T, the control), shaded (S), and DSSC (D) chambers maintained at 23 ± 2 °C. The DSSC chambers were additionally illuminated with blue (B), green (G), white (W), B+G, and R+B+W light-emitting diodes (LEDs) (D+L) at 60 μmol·m−2·s−1 photosynthetic photon flux density for 15 h from 05:00 to 20:00. The coleus generally exhibited good growth under the T treatment. However, the light quality of DSSCs differed from that of sunlight, and the visible light transmittance decreased. Coleus exhibited increased growth and leaf color characteristics under the supplemental B lighting treatments (D+L(RBW), D+L(B), D+L(BG), and D+L(W)). Supplemental lighting with B LEDs using DSSCs improved plant morphology growth and leaf color. On the other hand, supplemental G lighting reinforced the shade avoidance syndrome. Moreover, DSSCs could aid in reducing the energy required to control the environment.
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) can convert active oxygen to oxygen or hydrogen peroxide, and recent research has suggested that it can protect against lung damage and fibrosis. Clinical applications ...based on SOD remain limited however due to costs and low stability. We here investigated a potential new therapeutic delivery system for this enzyme in the form of SOD-overexpressing Bacillus amyloliquefaciens spores which we introduced into a bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis mouse model. This treatment significantly alleviated the disease, as quantified using a hydroxyproline assay, at 107 colony forming unit (CFU) of Bacillus spores per day. Exposure of the mice to the spores was further found to decrease the lung mRNA levels of CTGF, Col1a1, α-SMA, TGF-β, TNF-α, and IL-6, and the protein levels of TGF-β, Smad2/3, αSMA and Col1a1, all major indicators of pulmonary fibrosis. Survival benefits, and reduced byproducts of lipid peroxidase such as malondialdehyde and 4-hydroxynen, were also noted in the treated animals. The beneficial effects of these Bacillus spores on pulmonary fibrosis were further found to be greater than the equivalent free SOD concentration. Immunofluorescence staining of primary pulmonary fibroblasts extracted from the bleomycin-induced model showed decreased αSMA expression following the in vivo treatment with SOD-overexpressing Bacillus. Our treatment approach SOD through Bacillus spores shows beneficial effects against pulmonary fibrosis, combined with the suppression of the SMAD/TGF-β pathway, suggesting that it is an effective novel delivery route for antioxidants.
Display omitted
Molecular hydrogen (H2), as the green energy carrier from water electrolysis, can be utilized for separation of suspended micro-particles as electroflotation (EF). This study provides practical ...guidelines for the gas to solids (G/S) ratio as the governing parameter in EF, based on theoretical estimations and experiments for clarification of activated sludge. The G/S ratio in EF was controlled linearly by current density (j), under quasi-consistent current efficiency (at j > 8 mA/cm2) for H2 (~1) and O2 (~0.4) bubble generations on Ti cathode and IrTaOx anode, respectively. Based on the measured sizes of bubbles (approximated to 35 µm) and biological flocs (discretized to mean sizes of 22.5, 40, 60, 135, and 150 µm), batch flotation experiments estimated the maximum collision-attachment efficiency of 0.057. The rise velocities of floc-bubble aggregate were computed to derive the limiting G/S ratio to overcome the given influent hydraulic loading. Consequently, the estimates (5.23 × 10−4 and 5.92 × 10−4 at hydraulic loading of 0.87 and 1.73 cm/min, respectively) were compatible with the continuous EF experiments.
ABSTRACT
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of COVID-19, causes life-threatening disease. This novel coronavirus enters host cells via the respiratory ...tract, promoting the formation of severe pulmonary lesions and systemic disease. Few animal models can simulate the clinical signs and pathology of COVID-19 patients. Diverse preclinical studies using K18-hACE2 mice and Syrian golden hamsters, which are highly permissive to SARS-CoV-2 in the respiratory tract, are emerging; however, the systemic pathogenesis and cellular tropism of these models remain obscure. We intranasally infected K18-hACE2 mice and Syrian golden hamsters with SARS-CoV-2, and compared the clinical features, pathogenesis, cellular tropism and infiltrated immune-cell subsets. In K18-hACE2 mice, SARS-CoV-2 persistently replicated in alveolar cells and caused pulmonary and extrapulmonary disease, resulting in fatal outcomes. Conversely, in Syrian golden hamsters, transient SARS-CoV-2 infection in bronchial cells caused reversible pulmonary disease, without mortality. Our findings provide comprehensive insights into the pathogenic spectrum of COVID-19 using preclinical models.
PDF
