Effect of a pedometer-based walking intervention on body composition in patients with ESRD: a randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundA randomized trial of a pedometer-based intervention with weekly activity goals led to a modest increase in step count among dialysis patients. In a secondary analysis, we investigated the effect of this intervention on body composition.MethodsSixty dialysis patients were randomized to standard care or a 6-month program consisting of 3 months of pedometers and weekly step count targets and 3 months of post-intervention follow-up. We obtained bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) data on 54 of these patients (28 control, 26 intervention) and used linear mixed-modeling (adjusted for sex and dialysis modality) to estimate differences in change in total-body muscle mass (TBMM) adjusted for height2, fat mass (kg), and body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2) between control and intervention groups.ResultsThe median age of participants was 57.5 years (53-66), and 76% were men. At baseline, there was no significant difference between groups in age, BMI, race, or body composition, but there were more men in the intervention group. After 3 months, patients in the intervention group increased their average daily steps by 2414 (95% CI 1047, 3782) more than controls (p < 0.001), but there were no significant differences in body composition. However, at 6 months, participants in the intervention had a significantly greater increase from baseline in TBMM of 0.7 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.3, 1.13), decrease in fat mass (- 4.3 kg [95% CI -7.1, - 1.5]) and decrease in BMI (- 1.0 kg/m2 [95% CI -1.8, - 0.2]) relative to controls. In post-hoc analysis, each increase of 1000 steps from 0 to 3 months was associated with a 0.3 kg decrease in fat mass (95% CI 0.05, 0.5) from 0 to 6 months, but there was no dose-response relationship with TBMM/ht2 or BMI.ConclusionA pedometer-based intervention resulted in greater decreases in fat mass with relative preservation of muscle mass, leading to a greater decrease in BMI over time compared with patients not in the intervention. These differences were driven as much by worsening in the control group as by improvement in the intervention group. Step counts had a dose-response relationship with decrease in fat mass.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02623348). 02 December 2015

On a Conjecture of Kelly on (1,3)(1,3)-representation of Sylvester Gallai Designs

We give an exact criterion of a conjecture of L.M.Kelly to hold true which is stated as follows. If there is a finite family $\Sigma$ of mutually skew lines in $\mathbb{R}^l,l\geq 4$ such that the three dimensional affine span (hull) of every two lines in $\Sigma$, contains at least one more line of $\Sigma$, then we have that $\Sigma$ is entirely contained in a three dimensional space if and only if the arrangement of affine hulls is central. Finally, this article leads to an analogous question for higher dimensional skew affine spaces, that is, for $(2,5)$-representations of sylvester-gallai designs in $\mathbb{R}^6$, which is answered in the last section.Comment: 13 page

Knowledge Creation Within the Automobile Industry

Research has identified the enabling factors and inhibitors for successfully implementing knowledge creation and accomplishing its strategic objectives. It is important to understand how these factors interact with each other to improve or inhibit performance. This empirical research presents a framework for finding the fundamental relations between these factors. It proposes strategies for implementing knowledge creation initiatives. The framework mainly focuses on the "what factor" with respect to people and identifies the vital characteristics for the knowledge creation process. It mainly illustrates the parameters of knowledge transfer, which supports knowledge creation, thereby improving organizational performance

Bayesian framework for characterizing cryptocurrency market dynamics, structural dependency, and volatility using potential field

Identifying the structural dependence between the cryptocurrencies and predicting market trend are fundamental for effective portfolio management in cryptocurrency trading. In this paper, we present a unified Bayesian framework based on potential field theory and Gaussian Process to characterize the structural dependency of various cryptocurrencies, using historic price information. The following are our significant contributions: (i) Proposed a novel model for cryptocurrency price movements as a trajectory of a dynamical system governed by a time-varying non-linear potential field. (ii) Validated the existence of the non-linear potential function in cryptocurrency market through Lyapunov stability analysis. (iii) Developed a Bayesian framework for inferring the non-linear potential function from observed cryptocurrency prices. (iv) Proposed that attractors and repellers inferred from the potential field are reliable cryptocurrency market indicators, surpassing existing attributes, such as, mean, open price or close price of an observation window, in the literature. (v) Analysis of cryptocurrency market during various Bitcoin crash durations from April 2017 to November 2021, shows that attractors captured the market trend, volatility, and correlation. In addition, attractors aids explainability and visualization. (vi) The structural dependence inferred by the proposed approach was found to be consistent with results obtained using the popular wavelet coherence approach. (vii) The proposed market indicators (attractors and repellers) can be used to improve the prediction performance of state-of-art deep learning price prediction models. As, an example, we show improvement in Litecoin price prediction up to a horizon of 12 days

Incentive Based Relaying in D2D Social Networks

© 2019 IEEE. Co-operative data transmission between Device-to-Device (D2D) user terminals is a challenging task due to the selfish behavior of the D2D Users (DUs). Incentivizing the DUs can promote communication which in turn even reduce the transmission burden on the base station (eNB). In this work, we consider a scenario, in which eNB pays incentive to DUs to relay the data among its best neighbors; while the communication is regulated by wireless channel, and social influence factors. In case, DUs refrain from relaying, the eNB ought to transmit directly which increase the cost of the eNB several folds. We model this problem as a Stackelberg game, in which eNB plays the role of a leader to minimize its cost and DUs will be the followers who aim at maximizing their utility. We propose an iterative algorithm to establish the existence of equilibrium. We also prove the equilibrium of DUs subgame for a special case by relating it to a 0/1 knapsack problem. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a better performance in terms of Utility and total base station cost than the conventional schemes

Study of quality of sleep in patients with psychiatric illness under remission in relation to quality of life and functional disability

Sleep is one of the essential biological rhythms of a human being. Sleep disturbances could precipitate psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, etc. Even when psychiatric disorders are successfully treated, sleep disturbances often fail to remit. The quality of sleep in such patients is badly affected and influences the daytime functioning and impairs the overall quality of life. The aim of the study. To study quality of sleep of patients with psychiatric illness under remission in relation to quality of life and functional disability. Material and methods. Patients attending the review outpatient department of Tertiary hospital are selected for the study. Patients diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia according to ICD-10 criteria were taken. Patients meeting remission criteria for bipolar affective disorder i.e., YMRS score </=8, MADRS score </=10 and for schizophrenia –eight PANSS signs and symptoms score <3 are selected from them. Quality of sleep is compared with quality of life and functional disability. Results: Mean age was found to be 36.59. Mean PSQI score is 8.35. The mean score of physical quality of life domain is 58.28, mean score of psychological quality of life domain is 56.63, mean score of social quality of life domain is 55.39, and mean score of environmental quality of life domain is 55.41. Mean score of functional disability score is 30.14. Conclusion: Poor quality of sleep in Schizophrenia and BPAD needs to be addressed

Comparison of haemodynamic parameters in two different geriatric age groups undergoing cemented bipolar hemiarthroplasty

Background: To conduct a prospective observational study to compare the haemodynamic changes in two age groups, group A: 60-75yrs and group B: >75yrs during cemented bipolar hemiarthroplasty for hip fractures under spinal anaesthesia.Methods: Patients of either sex belonging to above two groups, with no contra-indications for central neuraxial block received spinal anesthesia at lumbar level. Heart Rate (HR), Systolic Blood Pressure(SBP), Diastolic Blood Pressure(DBP) and Mean Arterial Pressure(MAP), pulse pressure variability(PPV), arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2), Electrocardiogram for any changes and nasal  end tidal CO2 (EtCO2) were recorded at the following time points:  baseline(on table), after giving spinal, after giving surgical position, at the start of surgery, at femoral canal reaming, immediately after cement insertion, every 2 minutes after cement insertion, femoral joint reduction and the end of the surgery. Hypotension, bradycardia, arrythmias, desaturation or unexpected loss of consciousness occurring in peri-cementation period suggestive of ‘Bone cement implantation syndrome’(BCIS) or any other adverse event was recognized and treated.Results: The SBP, HR, PPV, ETCO2, SPO2 and incidence of adverse events; were comparable in both the groups. The difference in the DBP and MAP was statistically significant.Conclusions: The difference in the occurrence of haemodynamic alterations was more in the older age group. Continuous vigilant monitoring during bipolar hemiarthroplasty is required