An Overview of Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy

Typically affecting males ranging from 20 to 24 years of age, Leber’s Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) is a disorder that is characterized by an acute loss of central vision. Although a heritable disease, LHON does not follow the patterns of classical Mendelian genetics. In fact, one of the most striking characteristics of LHON is that the disease is virtually always inherited maternally. Unlike most genetic disorders that result from a mutation in genomic DNA, LHON is caused by a mutation in the genetic information of mitochondria (mtDNA). Currently there is no treatment for LHON. Despite this, pharmaceutical interventions and contemporary treatment methods, such as gene therapy, are beginning to show promise

A Context-Aware Activity Recommendation Smartphone Application to Mitigate Sedentary Lifestyles

A sedentary lifestyle involves irregular or no physical activity. In this kind of lifestyle, people’s activities do not increase their energy expenditure substantially above resting levels. Long periods of sitting, lying, watching television, playing video games, and using the computer are typical examples. Energy expenditures at 1.0-1.5 Metabolic Equivalent Units (METs) are considered sedentary behaviors. A recent study of sedentary lifestyles found that the length of sedentary times is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. In this study, we developed a smartphone application called “On11”, which continuously tracks and informs the user about how much time they have spent performing various activities such as sitting, walking and running throughout their day. In contrast with traditional pedometers which passively counts steps and estimates burnt calories, On11 runs in the background of users’ smartphones and monitors the intensity, duration and types of physical activity performed 24/7. It detects sedentary patterns and promotes walking by recommending personalized detours off the users’ usual routes, e.g. home to workplace to encourage more activity. Both Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activities (MVPA) such as jogging and Light Physical Activities (LPA) such as sitting are recorded for identifying activity patterns. Our ultimate goal is to help people change unhealthy sedentary behaviors

Coordination Variability after Hip Replacement Surgery: A Case Report

Patients with unilateral hip replacement surgery have an increased risk for additional joint replacement surgeries in the contralateral limb. Reduced coordination variability (Cvar) is associated with orthopedic disorders. Differences in joint Cvar after hip replacement surgery may provide information regarding the progression to a healthier state. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in surgical and contralateral limb knee and hip Cvar before and after surgery. A male participant completed gait analyses prior to total hip arthroplasty, three weeks following surgery (post-op) and ten months after surgery. He walked at a preferred speed while three-dimensional kinematic and kinetic data were recorded. A modified vector coding technique was used to determine the bilateral Cvar throughout stance for thigh-leg and pelvis-thigh flexion/extension and internal/external rotation coordination. Cvar was averaged for the stance phase of gait at each visit. Effect Size (ES) was calculated to determine clinically significant differences in variability both between the surgical and contralateral limbs and for each visit (Tables 1 and 2). In the surgical limb, variability was similar at all visits for pelvis-thigh and thigh-shank flexion/extension and internal/external rotation (ES\u3c0.5). Differences in (Cvar) between the surgical and contralateral limbs diminished with time. While Cvar in the surgical limb did not change, Cvar in the contralateral limb decreased over time. This may indicate a decline in health and an increased risk for orthopedic disorders in the contralateral limb after hip replacement surgery

The Influence of Visuospatial Intervention on Mathematical Ability

The research proposal of this study intends to identify whether visuospatial interventions improve mathematical ability in college students. Visuospatial skills are important for identifying the distance between two objects, memory of images, and visualizing objects by mentally rotating them. The two important concepts relating to visuospatial ability are spatial relations and spatial visualizations. These are the abilities to mentally rotate two dimensional and three dimensional objects. Prior research has shown that visuospatial interventions are an effective tool for the improvement mathematical performance. This study is designed to see whether mathematical aptitude improves from pre-test to post-test after participation in visuospatial interventions. A visuospatial assessment, a mathematical assessment, and a demographic survey were utilized to provide data on factors such as age, prior visuospatial experience, gender, and intelligence; factors which we believe could be extraneous variables. After pilot testing, participants scored 60% and 50% on the visuospatial and mathematical diagnoses test, respectively. These preliminary results suggest that further pilot testing and assessment revision is needed in order to accurately measure baseline visuospatial and mathematical ability

Diabetic neuropathic foot without neuropathy: Could it be cancer? - a case report

We present a case of a 64 year-old diabetic male who presented with months of progressively worsening foot pain and swelling, who was initially diagnosed with Charcot joint disease.(CJD) He was ultimately found to have a very rare tumor

Critical Care Nurses\u27 Assessment of Patients\u27 Anxiety: Reliance on Physiological and Behavioral Parameters

Background: Anxiety activates the sympathetic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and may increase morbidity and mortality in vulnerable critical care patients. Despite the adverse effects of anxiety, little is known about critical care nurses\u27 practices for assessing anxiety. Objective: To determine the importance that critical care nurses place on evaluating anxiety and to describe clinical indicators used to assess anxiety. Methods: Twenty-five hundred members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses received the Critical Care Nurse Anxiety Identification and Management Survey and were asked to rate the importance of anxiety assessment, to rate the importance of 61 anxiety indicators, and to select and rank the 5 most important anxiety indicators. Results: Seven hundred eighty-three completed surveys (31.6%) were returned by female (92.0%), white (88.6%) staff nurses (74.2%) who practiced critical care nursing 32.5 hours (SD, 12.3 hours) weekly. Nearly three quarters (71.3%) of respondents thought that anxiety assessment is very important. Only 2 indicators, agitation and patients\u27 verbalization of anxiety, were rated as very important to anxiety assessment. Thirty-nine indicators rated as important primarily included measurable physiological changes and observable behaviors. The top 5 anxiety indicators were agitation, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, patients\u27 verbalization of anxiety, and restlessness. Conclusion: Important indicators of anxiety included observable behaviors and measurable physiological changes. Reliance on these criteria may produce an inaccurate and incomplete anxiety evaluation in vulnerable patients and lead to poorer outcomes. A comprehensive, systematic anxiety assessment tool for valid and reproducible evaluation of patients\u27 anxiety is needed