A Lifelogging Platform Towards Detecting Negative Emotions in Everyday Life using Wearable Devices

Repeated experiences of negative emotions, such as stress, anger or anxiety, can have long-term consequences for health. These episodes of negative emotion can be associated with inflammatory changes in the body, which are clinically relevant for the development of disease in the long-term. However, the development of effective coping strategies can mediate this causal chain. The proliferation of ubiquitous and unobtrusive sensor technology supports an increased awareness of those physiological states associated with negative emotion and supports the development of effective coping strategies. Smartphone and wearable devices utilise multiple on-board sensors that are capable of capturing daily behaviours in a permanent and comprehensive manner, which can be used as the basis for self-reflection and insight. However, there are a number of inherent challenges in this application, including unobtrusive monitoring, data processing, and analysis. This paper posits a mobile lifelogging platform that utilises wearable technology to monitor and classify levels of stress. A pilot study has been undertaken with six participants, who completed up to ten days of data collection. During this time, they wore a wearable device on the wrist during waking hours to collect instances of heart rate (HR) and Galvanic Skin Resistance (GSR). Preliminary data analysis was undertaken using three supervised machine learning algorithms: Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA) and Decision Tree (DT). An accuracy of 70% was achieved using the Decision Tree algorithm

Surviving Sepsis Campaign: International Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock: 2016.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an update to "Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines for Management of Sepsis and Septic Shock: 2012." DESIGN: A consensus committee of 55 international experts representing 25 international organizations was convened. Nominal groups were assembled at key international meetings (for those committee members attending the conference). A formal conflict-of-interest (COI) policy was developed at the onset of the process and enforced throughout. A stand-alone meeting was held for all panel members in December 2015. Teleconferences and electronic-based discussion among subgroups and among the entire committee served as an integral part of the development. METHODS: The panel consisted of five sections: hemodynamics, infection, adjunctive therapies, metabolic, and ventilation. Population, intervention, comparison, and outcomes (PICO) questions were reviewed and updated as needed, and evidence profiles were generated. Each subgroup generated a list of questions, searched for best available evidence, and then followed the principles of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system to assess the quality of evidence from high to very low, and to formulate recommendations as strong or weak, or best practice statement when applicable. RESULTS: The Surviving Sepsis Guideline panel provided 93 statements on early management and resuscitation of patients with sepsis or septic shock. Overall, 32 were strong recommendations, 39 were weak recommendations, and 18 were best-practice statements. No recommendation was provided for four questions. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial agreement exists among a large cohort of international experts regarding many strong recommendations for the best care of patients with sepsis. Although a significant number of aspects of care have relatively weak support, evidence-based recommendations regarding the acute management of sepsis and septic shock are the foundation of improved outcomes for these critically ill patients with high mortality

Bacteremic community-acquired pneumonia due to Klebsiella pneumoniae: Clinical and microbiological characteristics in Taiwan, 2001-2008

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Klebsiella pneumoniae </it>is the major cause of community-acquired pyogenic infections in Taiwan. This retrospective study evaluated the clinical and microbiological characteristics of bacteremic community-acquired pneumonia due to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>in Taiwanese adults.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The clinical characteristics of bacteremic community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in adults due to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>were compared to those of adults with bacteremic CAP due to <it>Streptococcus pneumoniae </it>at a tertiary medical center in Taiwan from 2001-2008. Risk factors for mortality of bacteremic CAP due to <it>K. pneumoniae </it>were analyzed. All clinical isolates of <it>K. pneumoniae </it>were examined for capsular serotypes, hypermucoviscosity phenotype, aerobactin and <it>rmpA </it>gene.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>K. pneumoniae </it>was the dominant cause of bacteremic CAP and was associated with a more fulminant course and a worse prognosis than bacteremic CAP due to <it>Streptococcus pneumoniae</it>. Initial presentation with septic shock and respiratory failure were independent risk factors for both early and total mortality. Serotype K1 and K2 comprised around half of all isolates. There were no significant differences in the clinical characteristics of patients with bacteremic CAP due to K1/K2 and non-K1/K2 isolates. Hypermucoviscosity phenotype as well as the aerobactin and <it>rmpA </it>genes were highly prevalent in the <it>K. pneumoniae </it>isolates.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>K. pneumoniae </it>continued to be the dominant cause of bacteremic CAP in Taiwanese adults during 2001-2008. Initial presentation with septic shock and respiratory failure were independent risk factors for both early and total mortality from <it>K. pneumoniae </it>bacteremic CAP. Serotypes K1/K2 comprised around half of all isolates, but did not predispose patients to a poor clinical outcome. Physicians should be aware of the poor prognosis of any patient with bacteremic <it>K. pneumoniae </it>CAP and monitor these patients more closely.</p

How to find simple and accurate rules for viral protease cleavage specificities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Proteases of human pathogens are becoming increasingly important drug targets, hence it is necessary to understand their substrate specificity and to interpret this knowledge in practically useful ways. New methods are being developed that produce large amounts of cleavage information for individual proteases and some have been applied to extract cleavage rules from data. However, the hitherto proposed methods for extracting rules have been neither easy to understand nor very accurate. To be practically useful, cleavage rules should be accurate, compact, and expressed in an easily understandable way.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A new method is presented for producing cleavage rules for viral proteases with seemingly complex cleavage profiles. The method is based on orthogonal search-based rule extraction (OSRE) combined with spectral clustering. It is demonstrated on substrate data sets for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease and hepatitis C (HCV) NS3/4A protease, showing excellent prediction performance for both HIV-1 cleavage and HCV NS3/4A cleavage, agreeing with observed HCV genotype differences. New cleavage rules (consensus sequences) are suggested for HIV-1 and HCV NS3/4A cleavages. The practical usability of the method is also demonstrated by using it to predict the location of an internal cleavage site in the HCV NS3 protease and to correct the location of a previously reported internal cleavage site in the HCV NS3 protease. The method is fast to converge and yields accurate rules, on par with previous results for HIV-1 protease and better than previous state-of-the-art for HCV NS3/4A protease. Moreover, the rules are fewer and simpler than previously obtained with rule extraction methods.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A rule extraction methodology by searching for multivariate low-order predicates yields results that significantly outperform existing rule bases on out-of-sample data, but are more transparent to expert users. The approach yields rules that are easy to use and useful for interpreting experimental data.</p

Efeitos do treinamento muscular inspiratório em universitários tabagistas e não tabagistas

O hábito de fumar pode reduzir a capacidade aeróbica, aumentar a resistência ao fluxo aéreo e afetar a função dos músculos respiratórios. O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar os efeitos do Treinamento Muscular Inspiratório (TMI) entre dois grupos: tabagistas e não tabagistas. Participaram 44 voluntários universitários, divididos em dois grupos: tabagistas (GT), composto por 20 indivíduos (25,60±7,01 anos) e não tabagistas, constituindo o Grupo Controle (GC), composto por 24 voluntários (24,08±7,52 anos). Ambos os grupos foram submetidos ao TMI, por meio do uso do manovacuômetro aneroide, com duração de 6 semanas, sendo 3 sessões semanais, totalizando 18 sessões. Os resultados mostraram diferença estatisticamente significativa (p<0,05) pós-TMI no GC para as variáveis: Pressão Inspiratória Máxima (PImáx), Pico de Fluxo Expiratório (PFE), Pressão Arterial Média ao repouso (PAM pré-TC6) e Teste de Caminhada de Seis Minutos (TC6). No GT, houve diferença estatisticamente significativa pós-TMI para as variáveis: PImáx, PFE, TC6 e saturação periférica de oxigênio após o TC6 (SpO2 pós-imediata). A comparação das médias das variáveis entre GT e GC mostrou diferença estatisticamente significativa no pós-TMI para as variáveis PImáx e PFE. A variável TC6 não apresentou diferença estatisticamente significativa. Conclui-se que o TMI proporcionou um aumento significativo da força muscular inspiratória, melhora da função pulmonar e melhora do desempenho físico nos indivíduos estudados

Fluoxetine during Development Reverses the Effects of Prenatal Stress on Depressive-Like Behavior and Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Adolescence

Depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period is a growing health problem, which affects up to 20% of women. Currently, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRIs) medications are commonly used for treatment of maternal depression. Unfortunately, there is very little research on the long-term effect of maternal depression and perinatal SSRI exposure on offspring development. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the role of exposure to fluoxetine during development on affective-like behaviors and hippocampal neurogenesis in adolescent offspring in a rodent model of maternal depression. To do this, gestationally stressed and non-stressed Sprague-Dawley rat dams were treated with either fluoxetine (5 mg/kg/day) or vehicle beginning on postnatal day 1 (P1). Adolescent male and female offspring were divided into 4 groups: 1) prenatal stress+fluoxetine exposure, 2) prenatal stress+vehicle, 3) fluoxetine exposure alone, and 4) vehicle alone. Adolescent offspring were assessed for anxiety-like behavior using the Open Field Test and depressive-like behavior using the Forced Swim Test. Brains were analyzed for endogenous markers of hippocampal neurogenesis via immunohistochemistry. Results demonstrate that maternal fluoxetine exposure reverses the reduction in immobility evident in prenatally stressed adolescent offspring. In addition, maternal fluoxetine exposure reverses the decrease in hippocampal cell proliferation and neurogenesis in maternally stressed adolescent offspring. This research provides important evidence on the long-term effect of fluoxetine exposure during development in a model of maternal adversity

Multiproject–multicenter evaluation of automatic brain tumor classification by magnetic resonance spectroscopy

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