Health-Seeking Behaviour Related to Selected Dimensions of Wellness in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Older people generally prefer to ‘stay-put\u27 in their own homes. Informed by the Seven Dimensions of Wellness, a component of the International Council on Active Ageing (ICAA) Model, measures of physical function (i.e. physical), fall risk (i.e. environmental), and psychosocial factors (i.e. emotional, spiritual and social) related to wellbeing were selected. It is assumed that they intersect to influence the health-seeking behaviour of older adults ageing-at-home. The primary objective of this cross-sectional design study was to investigate the relationship among dimensions of well-being, including physical function, fall risk, psychosocial factors, and awareness of community support services, with health-seeking behaviour in community-dwelling older adults. The secondary objective was to determine if there was a difference(s) in health-seeking behaviour between men and women or between age groups, i.e. less than 75 years old, and 75 years and older. A sample of 99 older adults living independently at home in the city of London, ON, aged ≥ 65 years, ambulatory (with/without gait aid) and without executive function impairment were recruited. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. No significant relationship was found between health-seeking behaviour and the five factors grounded in the Seven Dimensions of Wellness. Health-seeking behaviour had a significant positive relationship with the awareness of community support services. No difference in health-seeking behaviour was found between men and women or between age groups, i.e. less than 75 years old, and 75 years and older

Chinese Perspectives on India and Indian People

As the two most populous countries with a growing economy, China and India have become formidable forces on the world stage. The relationship between the two countries are more than complex. How Chinese people see India and Indian people has become a significant topic to study. This poster is designed to study the Sino-Indian relations with a focus on Chinese public opinions on India and Indian people

Chindia: Collaboration, Compromising, or Competition?

As two fast-growing economies with huge populations, China and India have become formidable forces in the world today. How do these two Asian giants see each other? Are they economic partners, political equals, and friendly neighbors? Or are they economic competitors, political rivals, and territorial enemies when it comes to border conflicts? This research attempts to answer some of the above questions

Impact of intercropping on yield, fruit quality and economics of young Kinnow mandarin plants

Intercropping practices in orchard not only generate an extra income but the practice also helps to check the soil erosion through ground coverage and improves the physico-chemical properties of the soil.. The effect of intercrops on vegetative performance and quality of 5 years old Kinnow mandarins raised on Rough Lemon rootstocks at 6x6m spacing was studied at RRS, Bathinda during the year 2011-12 and 2012-13. An intercropping experiment comprising of seven treatments such as T1: guara (Summer) + wheat (winter), T2: guara (summer) + barley (winter), T3: guara (summer) + fenugreek (winter), T4: moong (summer) + wheat (winter), T5: moong (summer) + barley (winter), T6: moong (summer) + fenugreek (winter) and T7: control (fallow: no intercrop) was laid out in Randomized Block Design with four replications to assess the effect of various intercrops on the performance of Kinnow in arid irrigated region of Bathinda, Punjab. The results of the study revealed that guar + wheat intercropping system exhibited better performance which has been reflected in the form of plant  height (3.31 cm), gross income (Rs. 41180/-), fruit number (175) and Total Soluble Solids(TSS) per cent (10.8) of Kinnow fruit. The work concludes that intercropping in Kinnow mandarin helps to improve yield, fruit quality and economic aspect.&nbsp

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Cell mechanotype in cancer progression and metastasis

Cell mechanical phenotype or ‘mechanotype’ is a label-free biomarker of cell state in physiological and disease contexts ranging from stem cell differentiation to cancer progression. However, to harness deformability as a phenotype for drug screening applications requires a method that can simultaneously measure hundreds of samples in parallel. Moreover, a systems-level understanding of molecular mediators of cellular mechanotype is lacking. In this dissertation, I present a simple and scalable technique, called parallel microfiltration (PMF), to measure cell deformability of multiple samples in parallel. I also demonstrate the application of PMF to screen cancer cells based on their mechanotype across multiple cancer types. This dissertation also demonstrates how PMF can interface with existing high throughput facilities. To achieve high throughput screening using filtration, I developed high-throughput filtration (HTF), which utilizes a customized arrays of individual microfluidic filtration devices in a standard multiwell format to enable mechanotype-screening of hundreds of samples in parallel. Additionally, this dissertation presents a mechanotype-screen of cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cells treated with a library of small molecules to identify synergistic anti-cancer drugs. Finally, my thesis also presents an investigation of key cellular and nuclear molecular mediators of altered cell deformability using these mechanotyping methods; these findings identify novel molecular mediators of cancer cell mechanotype and also provide unique insight into potential mechanisms of a devastating neurological movement disorder, dystonia. Taken together, this dissertation presents novel high throughput cellular mechanotyping methods that enable measurements of cell deformability with unprecedented throughput, which should enable us to harness knowledge of mechanotype to identify novel treatment strategies for cancer and other diseases

Cell mechanotype in cancer progression and metastasis

Cell mechanical phenotype or ‘mechanotype’ is a label-free biomarker of cell state in physiological and disease contexts ranging from stem cell differentiation to cancer progression. However, to harness deformability as a phenotype for drug screening applications requires a method that can simultaneously measure hundreds of samples in parallel. Moreover, a systems-level understanding of molecular mediators of cellular mechanotype is lacking. In this dissertation, I present a simple and scalable technique, called parallel microfiltration (PMF), to measure cell deformability of multiple samples in parallel. I also demonstrate the application of PMF to screen cancer cells based on their mechanotype across multiple cancer types. This dissertation also demonstrates how PMF can interface with existing high throughput facilities. To achieve high throughput screening using filtration, I developed high-throughput filtration (HTF), which utilizes a customized arrays of individual microfluidic filtration devices in a standard multiwell format to enable mechanotype-screening of hundreds of samples in parallel. Additionally, this dissertation presents a mechanotype-screen of cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cells treated with a library of small molecules to identify synergistic anti-cancer drugs. Finally, my thesis also presents an investigation of key cellular and nuclear molecular mediators of altered cell deformability using these mechanotyping methods; these findings identify novel molecular mediators of cancer cell mechanotype and also provide unique insight into potential mechanisms of a devastating neurological movement disorder, dystonia. Taken together, this dissertation presents novel high throughput cellular mechanotyping methods that enable measurements of cell deformability with unprecedented throughput, which should enable us to harness knowledge of mechanotype to identify novel treatment strategies for cancer and other diseases