Digital exercise interventions for improving measures of central obesity: a systematic review

Objectives - We aimed to systematically review the potential benefits of digital exercise interventions for improving measures of central obesity including visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and anthropometric surrogates for VAT in overweight or centrally obese adults aged 18 or over. Methods - A systematic literature search was conducted in three databases up until March 2020 (PROSPERO registration nr CRD42019126764). Results - N = 5 studies including 438 participants (age 48–80) with body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2 met the eligibility criteria and were included. The duration of the interventions ranged from 8 to 24 weeks. No study measured the primary outcome VAT, although in N = 4 studies, waist circumference (WC) decreased by between 1.3 and 5.6 cm in the intervention groups. Conclusions - This systematic review shows that there is no evidence for the effects of digital exercise on VAT, although digital exercise may decrease WC. These findings highlight the need for additional randomized controlled trials to confirm the findings with respect to WC, and to further investigate the effects of digital exercise on VAT. Together, this may have important implications for reducing the burden of physical inactivity and obesity

DONA Detector: Further Improvements and Evaluation for Field Applications

The DONA neutron spectrometer concept is based on the measurement of neutron induced activity in a series of small metal disks that have been exposed to a neutron field. The induced activity is measured and the neutron spectrum is calculated using and unfolding technique, based on environmental neutron spectra. The novelty of the approach lies in the concept as such, including usage of carefully selected metal disks arranged in a holder, high performance gamma-ray spectrometry and spectrum unfolding using a library of environmental neutron spectra. This report covers the IRMM exploratory research prolongation project for 2006 and now environmental neutron fields with considerably lower neutron fluence rates are used. The result shows that after further refinement of the detector device and the data evaluation program the detector can very well be used for environmental neutron fluence measurements. Tests were done at PTB, Germany, using their calibrated neutron source and at the MOX fuel fabrication plant Belgonuclearire in Mol, Belgium.JRC.D.4-Isotope measurement

Addressing Endogeneity in International Marketing Applications of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) has become a key method in international marketing research. Users of PLS-SEM have, however, largely overlooked the issue of endogeneity, which has become an integral component of regression analysis applications. This lack of attention is surprising because the PLS-SEM method is grounded in regression analysis, for which numerous approaches for handling endogeneity have been proposed. To identify and treat endogeneity, and create awareness of how to deal with this issue, this study introduces a systematic procedure that translates control variables, instrumental variables, and Gaussian copulas into a PLS-SEM framework. We illustrate the procedure's efficacy by means of empirical data and offer recommendations to guide international marketing researchers on how to effectively address endogeneity concerns in their PLS-SEM analyses

Cumulative occupational lumbar load and lumbar disc disease – results of a German multi-center case-control study (EPILIFT)

Background The to date evidence for a dose-response relationship between physical workload and the development of lumbar disc diseases is limited. We therefore investigated the possible etiologic relevance of cumulative occupational lumbar load to lumbar disc diseases in a multi-center case-control study. Methods In four study regions in Germany (Frankfurt/Main, Freiburg, Halle/Saale, Regensburg), patients seeking medical care for pain associated with clinically and radiologically verified lumbar disc herniation (286 males, 278 females) or symptomatic lumbar disc narrowing (145 males, 206 females) were prospectively recruited. Population control subjects (453 males and 448 females) were drawn from the regional population registers. Cases and control subjects were between 25 and 70 years of age. In a structured personal interview, a complete occupational history was elicited to identify subjects with certain minimum workloads. On the basis of job task-specific supplementary surveys performed by technical experts, the situational lumbar load represented by the compressive force at the lumbosacral disc was determined via biomechanical model calculations for any working situation with object handling and load-intensive postures during the total working life. For this analysis, all manual handling of objects of about 5 kilograms or more and postures with trunk inclination of 20 degrees or more are included in the calculation of cumulative lumbar load. Confounder selection was based on biologic plausibility and on the change-in-estimate criterion. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated separately for men and women using unconditional logistic regression analysis, adjusted for age, region, and unemployment as major life event (in males) or psychosocial strain at work (in females), respectively. To further elucidate the contribution of past physical workload to the development of lumbar disc diseases, we performed lag-time analyses. Results We found a positive dose-response relationship between cumulative occupational lumbar load and lumbar disc herniation as well as lumbar disc narrowing among men and women. Even past lumbar load seems to contribute to the risk of lumbar disc disease. Conclusions According to our study, cumulative physical workload is related to lumbar disc diseases among men and women

Modeling of GERDA Phase II data

The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay of $^{76}$Ge. The technological challenge of GERDA is to operate in a "background-free" regime in the region of interest (ROI) after analysis cuts for the full 100$\,$kg$\cdot$yr target exposure of the experiment. A careful modeling and decomposition of the full-range energy spectrum is essential to predict the shape and composition of events in the ROI around $Q_{\beta\beta}$ for the $0\nu\beta\beta$ search, to extract a precise measurement of the half-life of the double-beta decay mode with neutrinos ($2\nu\beta\beta$) and in order to identify the location of residual impurities. The latter will permit future experiments to build strategies in order to further lower the background and achieve even better sensitivities. In this article the background decomposition prior to analysis cuts is presented for GERDA Phase II. The background model fit yields a flat spectrum in the ROI with a background index (BI) of $16.04^{+0.78}_{-0.85} \cdot 10^{-3}\,$cts/(kg$\cdot$keV$\cdot$yr) for the enriched BEGe data set and $14.68^{+0.47}_{-0.52} \cdot 10^{-3}\,$cts/(kg$\cdot$keV$\cdot$yr) for the enriched coaxial data set. These values are similar to the one of Gerda Phase I despite a much larger number of detectors and hence radioactive hardware components

Modeling of GERDA Phase II data

The GERmanium Detector Array (Gerda) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for neutrinoless double-beta (0νββ) decay of 76Ge. The technological challenge of Gerda is to operate in a “background-free” regime in the region of interest (ROI) after analysis cuts for the full 100 kg·yr target exposure of the experiment. A careful modeling and decomposition of the full-range energy spectrum is essential to predict the shape and composition of events in the ROI around Qββ for the 0νββ search, to extract a precise measurement of the half-life of the double-beta decay mode with neutrinos (2νββ) and in order to identify the location of residual impurities. The latter will permit future experiments to build strategies in order to further lower the background and achieve even better sensitivities. In this article the background decomposition prior to analysis cuts is presented for Gerda Phase II. The background model fit yields a flat spectrum in the ROI with a background index (BI) of 16.04+0.78−0.85⋅10−3 cts/(keV·kg·yr) for the enriched BEGe data set and 14.68+0.47−0.52⋅10−3 cts/(keV·kg·yr) for the enriched coaxial data set. These values are similar to the one of Phase I despite a much larger number of detectors and hence radioactive hardware components

Towards a detailed understanding of the red blood cell storage lesion : and its consequences for in vivo survival following transfusion

Red blood cells (RBCs) are vital for oxygen delivery to tissues and constitute the vast majority of all cells in blood. After leaving the red bone marrow as mature cells, RBCs have a lifespan of approximately 120 days before they are removed from the circulation by macrophages, mainly in the spleen and liver. RBC transfusion is a common therapy in modern healthcare. Major surgery, numerous cancer treatments and other, often lifesaving, interventions would be unthinkable without available blood supply. For this reason, hospitals store donated RBCs in blood banks. The metabolic and structural changes that occur during prolonged storage of RBCs (the storage lesion) have been studied in detail in vitro and include oxidative stress, a reduction in glycolysis, increased membrane rigidity and shedding of microparticles from the RBC membrane. Stored RBCs share several features of senescent RBCs, but also with RBCs undergoing an apoptotic-like process called eryptosis. A consequence of the storage lesion is the fact that as much as 25% of stored RBCs could be rapidly removed from the circulation within 24 hours after transfusion. The mechanisms behind this rapid macrophage-mediated recognition and removal of stored RBCs, and its immunological consequences, remain largely unknown. Therefore, the aims of this thesis were to investigate if cryopreserved human RBCs induced an inflammatory response following autologous transfusion into healthy volunteers, and to further understand the mechanisms behind macrophage recognition of stored RBCs in vitro and in vivo. Autologous transfusion of two units of cryopreserved RBCs into healthy human recipients was found to be associated with an increased extravascular RBC elimination already at 2 hours after transfusion. However, there were no signs of an increased production of any of the investigated pro-inflammatory cytokines, indicating that an increase in the destruction of RBCs per se did not induce an inflammatory response. Eryptosis is a form of induced RBC death associated with an increased cytoplasmic Ca2+ uptake. We found that a subset of human RBCs increased their Ca2+ permeability during prolonged storage at +4°C. Using a murine model, to further understand how RBCs with an increased Ca2+ permeability were eliminated by phagocytic cells in the spleen, it was found that such RBCs were taken up by marginal zone macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) in a manner distinct from that of naturally senescent RBCs. The DC population particularly efficient in this process expressed CD207 and are known for their ability to promote immunological tolerance. Eryptotic cell uptake was not regulated by the phagocytosis-inhibitory protein CD47 on the RBCs. To investigate how RBCs damaged during liquid storage are recognized and taken up by macrophages, a model to store and transfuse murine RBCs was developed. This storage model generated murine RBCs with several characteristics similar to that of stored human RBCs (i.e. loss of ATP, formation of RBC microparticles and rapid clearance of up to 35% of the RBCs during the first 24 h after transfusion). In vitro phagocytosis of human as well as murine stored RBCs was serum dependent and could be inhibited by blocking class A scavenger receptors using fucoidan or dextran sulphate. In conclusion, the findings of this thesis contribute to further understanding how changes inflicted to RBCs during storage direct the fate of these cells in their interaction with cells of the immune system after transfusion. The observation of an increased Ca2+ permeability of stored RBCs, and the possible recognition of such cells by tolerance-promoting DCs, in combination with the findings that class A scavenger receptors and serum factors may mediate recognition of stored RBCs, may result in novel new directions of research within the field of transfusion medicine