Extended sedentary behavior is a risk factor for chronic disease and mortality, even among those who exercise regularly. Given the time constraints of incorporating physical activity into daily ...schedules, and the high likelihood of sitting during office work, this environment may serve as a potentially feasible setting for interventions to reduce sedentary behavior.
A randomized cross-over clinical trial was conducted at an employee wellness center. Four office settings were evaluated on 4 consecutive days: stationary or sitting station on day 1 (referent), and 3 subsequent active workstations (standing, walking, or stepper) in randomized order. Neurocognitive function (Selective Attention, Grammatical Reasoning, Odd One Out, Object Reasoning, Visuospatial Intelligence, Limited-Hold Memory, Paired Associates Learning, and Digit Span) and fine motor skills (typing speed and accuracy) were tested using validated tools. Average scores were compared among stations using linear regression with generalized estimating equations to adjust standard errors. Bonferroni method adjusted for multiple comparisons. Healthy subjects were enrolled (n=44), 28 (64%) women, mean±SD age 35±11 years, weight 75.5±17.1 kg, height 168.5±10.0 cm, and body mass index 26.5±5.2 kg/m
. When comparing active stations to sitting, neurocognitive test either improved or remained unchanged, while typing speed decreased without affecting typing errors. Overall results improved after day 1, suggesting habituation. We observed no major differences across active stations, except decrease in average typing speed 42.5 versus 39.7 words per minute with standing versus stepping (
=0.003).
Active workstations improved cognitive performance, suggesting that these workstations can help decrease sedentary time without work performance impairment.
URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT06240286.
Naegleria fowleri, also known as the “brain-eating” amoeba, is a free-living protozoan that resides in freshwater bodies. This pathogenic amoeba infects humans as a casual event when swimming in ...contaminated water. Upon inhalation, N. fowleri invades the central nervous system and causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), a rapidly progressive and often fatal disease. Although PAM is considered rare, reducing its case fatality rate compels the search for pathogen-specific proteins with a structure–function relationship that favors their application as targets for discovering new or improved drugs against N. fowleri infections. Herein, we report a computational approach to study the structural features of Nf314 (a serine carboxypeptidase that is a virulence-related protein in N. fowleri infections) and assess its potential as a drug target, using bioinformatics tools and in silico molecular docking experiments. Our findings suggest that Nf314 has a ligand binding site suitable for the structure-based design of specific inhibitors. This study represents a further step toward postulating a reliable therapeutic target to treat PAM with drugs specifically aimed at blocking the pathogen proliferation by inhibiting protein function.
Most glucose is processed in muscle, for energy or glycogen stores. Malignant Hyperthermia Susceptibility (MHS) exemplifies muscle conditions that increase Ca
. 42% of MHS patients have ...hyperglycemia. We show that phosphorylated glycogen phosphorylase (GP
), glycogen synthase (GS
) - respectively activated and inactivated by phosphorylation - and their Ca
-dependent kinase (PhK), are elevated in microsomal extracts from MHS patients' muscle. Glycogen and glucose transporter GLUT4 are decreased. Ca
, increased to MHS levels, promoted GP phosphorylation. Imaging at ~100 nm resolution located GP
at sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) junctional cisternae, and
-GP at Z disk. MHS muscle therefore has a wide-ranging alteration in glucose metabolism: high Ca
activates PhK, which inhibits GS, activates GP and moves it toward the SR, favoring glycogenolysis. The alterations probably cause these patients' hyperglycemia. For basic studies, MHS emerges as a variable stressor, which forces glucose pathways from the normal to the diseased range, thereby exposing novel metabolic links.
Electronic waste (e‐waste) contains metallic values that can be recovered by hydrometallurgical methods. This investigation addresses the leaching kinetics of e‐waste for the recovery of copper in ...H2SO4‐H2O2 media with the objective of determining the rate‐controlling step in monosize particle systems. The results are then used to develop a kinetic model for copper dissolution in multisize particle systems. It is shown that in a monosize particle system, Cu dissolves completely in 150 min at 2 M H2SO4 and 0.2 M H2O2. The rate‐controlling step for this process is chemical reaction with an activation energy of 47.8 kJ/mol. The kinetic model for Cu dissolution in multisize particle systems is developed by applying an optimization method that considers the size distribution and the copper content of each of the size fractions. The results show that the model predicts satisfactorily the Cu dissolution kinetics and reveals that Cu particles with mean sizes of 79, 141, 237, 398.5, and 605 μm react completely in times varying from 15 to 120 min. Coarser Cu particles do not react completely in a time interval of up to 120 min. E‐waste losses 57.6% of its initial weight when subjected to the leaching process and solid residue has gold and silver grades of 2 402.35 and 9 035.29 g/ton, respectively.
We demonstrate that megaton-mass neutrino telescopes are able to observe the signal from long-lived particles beyond the Standard Model, in particular the stau, the supersymmetric partner of the tau ...lepton. Its signature is an excess of charged particle tracks with horizontal arrival directions and energy deposits between 0.1 and 1 TeV inside the detector. We exploit this previously-overlooked signature to search for stau particles in the publicly available IceCube data. The data shows no evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. We derive a new lower limit on the stau mass of 320 GeV (95% C.L.) and estimate that this new approach, when applied to the full data set available to the IceCube collaboration, will reach word-leading sensitivity to the stau mass (mτ˜=450GeV).
The findings of the EU 'Materials Assessment Group' (MAG), within the 2012 EU Fusion Roadmap exercise, are discussed. MAG analysed the technological readiness of structural, plasma facing and high ...heat flux materials for a DEMO concept to be constructed in the early 2030s, proposing a coherent strategy for R&D up to a DEMO construction decision. Technical consequences for the materials required and the development, testing and modelling programmes, are analysed using: a systems engineering approach, considering reactor operational cycles, efficient maintenance and inspection requirements, and interaction with functional materials/coolants; and a project-based risk analysis, with R&D to mitigate risks from material shortcomings including development of specific risk mitigation materials. Lessons learned from Fission reactor material development have been included, especially in safety and licensing, fabrication/joining techniques and designing for in-vessel inspection. The technical basis of using the ITER licensing experience to refine the issues in nuclear testing of materials is discussed.
The bottleneck effect of confined N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) molecules was observed in InOF-1 for the first time: CO2 capture was remarkably enhanced in samples of as-synthesized InOF-1, thermally ...activated in such a way that a small residual amount of DMF molecules remained confined within the pores (DMF@InOF-1). Dynamic CO2 adsorption experiments on DMF@InOF-1 exhibited a CO2 capture of 8.06 wt % 1.5-fold higher than that of a fully activated InOF-1 (5.24%). DMF@InOF-1 can reversibly adsorb/desorb 8.09% CO2 with no loss of CO2 capacity after 10 cycles, and the desorption is accomplished by only turning the CO2 flow off. Static CO2 adsorption experiments (at 196 K) demonstrated a 1.4-fold CO2 capture increase (from 5.5 mmol·g–1, fully activated InOF-1, to 7.5 mmol·g–1, DMF@InOF-1). Therefore, these CO2 capture properties are the result of the presence of residual-confined DMF molecules within the InOF-1 framework and their interactions via a very strong hydrogen bond with the In2(μ-OH) groups, which prevent DMF leaching. The stability of this hydrogen bond is given by a perfect fit of the DMF molecule in the “dent” around the OH group that allows a nearly ideal orientation of the DMF molecule towards the OH group.
As an integral part of the European strategy for advancing fusion-generated electricity, IFMIF-DONES represents a high-intensity neutron irradiation plant with the main purpose of assessing the ...suitability of materials for fusion reactor applications. Its primary mission is to examine how materials respond to irradiation within a neutron flux that mimics the conditions expected in the first wall of the proposed DEMO reactor, which is intended to succeed ITER. Consequently, IFMIF-DONES, whose construction is slated to commence shortly, plays a pivotal role in aiding the development, approval, and safe operation of DEMO, as well as future fusion power plants. This paper provides a quick overview of the current development of the IFMIF-DONES neutron source with a particular snapshot of the present engineering design status for what concerns the instrumentation and control systems together with its complex diagnostics, that guarantees the safe monitoring, supervision and regulation of all operations. The current status of design, after the completion of the preliminary design phase is presented, as well as the existing and future plans for their integration also using some of the new capabilities offered by Artificial Intelligence tools.
This article presents the idea of an automatic head-on-collision warning system based on a decentralized radio sensing (RS) approach. In this framework, a vehicle in receiving mode employs a ...continuous waveform (CW) transmitted by a second vehicle as a probe signal to detect oncoming vehicles and warn the driver of a potential head-on collision. Such a CW can easily be incorporated as a pilot signal within the data frame of current multicarrier vehicular communication systems (VCSs). Detection of oncoming vehicles is performed by a machine learning (ML) module that analyzes the features of the Doppler signature imprinted on the CW probe signal by a rapidly approaching vehicle. This decentralized CW RS approach was assessed experimentally using data collected by a series of field trials conducted in three different two-lane vehicular scenarios: a high-speed highway, a rural road, and an urban road. Detection performance was evaluated for three different ML algorithms: a support vector machine radial basis function kernel, K-nearest neighbors, and boosted trees (BTs). The obtained results demonstrate the feasibility of the envisioned head-on-collision warning system based on the fusion of ML and decentralized CW RS.
This clinical quandary details a Mexican man, aged 77 years, who presented to the oncology clinic with a sternal mass. Based on the results, the patient fulfilled the 2016 American College of ...Rheumatology/European League Against Rheumatism classification criteria for Sjögren syndrome, thus the diagnosis triggered by immune checkpoint inhibitors was definitively established.
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