Older Women’s experiences of a community-led walking programme using activity trackers

Promoting physical activity amongst older adults represents a major public health goal and community-led exercise programmes present benefits in promoting active lifestyles. Commercial activity trackers potentially encourage positive behaviour change with respect to physical exercise. This qualitative study investigated the experiences and attitudes of older adults following a 6- week community-led walking programme utilising activity trackers. Eleven community-dwelling older women aged 60+ completed individual phone interviews following their involvement in the programme. The programme, codesigned with a group of senior citizens, equipped participants with wrist-worn activity trackers and included biweekly check-in sessions with a researcher to monitor progress and support motivation. Interviews explored participants’ experiences of the programme and of using activity trackers for the purpose of becoming more active. A thematic analysis produced three main themes: ‘programme as a source of motivation’, ‘user experiences with the technology’ and ‘views on social dimension of the programme’. Overall, participants highlighted the self-monitoring function of activity trackers as most beneficial for their exercise levels. This study provides insights into the personal and social factors perceived by older adults in relation to being part of a community-led programme using activity trackers. It highlights the role of the programme and trackers in maintaining motivation to stay active

COVID-19 Vaccine Administration in an Outpatient Dialysis Clinic

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Proposed model for Acm/Dacm and 5′-O-sulfonamide group biosynthesis.

<p>A) Biosynthetic pathway of ascamycin/dealanylascamycin. B) Biosynthetic pathway for 5′-O-sulfonamide group formation.</p

Validation of an algorithm to identify children with biopsy-proven celiac disease from within health administrative data: An assessment of health services utilization patterns in Ontario, Canada

<div><p>Importance</p><p>Celiac disease (CD) is a common pediatric illness, and awareness of gluten-related disorders including CD is growing. Health administrative data represents a unique opportunity to conduct population-based surveillance of this chronic condition and assess the impact of caring for children with CD on the health system.</p><p>Objective</p><p>The objective of the study was to validate an algorithm based on health administrative data diagnostic codes to accurately identify children with biopsy-proven CD. We also evaluated trends over time in the use of health services related to CD by children in Ontario, Canada.</p><p>Study design and setting</p><p>We conducted a retrospective cohort study and validation study of population-based health administrative data in Ontario, Canada. All cases of biopsy-proven CD diagnosed 2005–2011 in Ottawa were identified through chart review from a large pediatric health care center, and linked to the Ontario health administrative data to serve as positive reference standard. All other children living within Ottawa served as the negative reference standard. Case-identifying algorithms based on outpatient physician visits with associated ICD-9 code for CD plus endoscopy billing code were constructed and tested. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV were tested for each algorithm (with 95% CI). Poisson regression, adjusting for sex and age at diagnosis, was used to explore the trend in outpatient visits associated with a CD diagnostic code from 1995–2011.</p><p>Results</p><p>The best algorithm to identify CD consisted of an endoscopy billing claim follow by 1 or more adult or pediatric gastroenterologist encounters after the endoscopic procedure. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV for the algorithm were: 70.4% (95% CI 61.1–78.4%), >99.9% (95% CI >99.9->99.9%), 53.3% (95% CI 45.1–61.4%) and >99.9% (95% CI >99.9->99.9%) respectively. It identified 1289 suspected CD cases from Ontario-wide administrative data. There was a 9% annual increase in the use of this combination of CD-associated diagnostic codes in physician billing data (RR 1.09, 95% CI 1.07–1.10, P<0.001).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>With its current structure and variables Ontario health administrative data is not suitable in identifying incident pediatric CD cases. The tested algorithms suffer from poor sensitivity and/or poor PPV, which increase the risk of case misclassification that could lead to biased estimation of CD incidence rate. This study reinforced the importance of validating the codes used to identify cohorts or outcomes when conducting research using health administrative data.</p></div

COVID-19 Testing and Challenge Preparations

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Gene organization of ascamycin/dealanylascamycin biosynthesis pathway.

<p>A) AcmA to AcmW. B) Chlorinases <i>acmX</i> and <i>acmY</i>.</p

Chemical structures of nucleoside antibiotics in this study: dealanylascamycin 1, ascamycin 2, nucleocidin 3.

<p>Chemical structures of nucleoside antibiotics in this study: dealanylascamycin 1, ascamycin 2, nucleocidin 3.</p

Characterization of Biosynthetic Genes of Ascamycin/Dealanylascamycin Featuring a 5′-O-Sulfonamide Moiety in <i>Streptomyces sp.</i> JCM9888

<div><p>Ascamycin (ACM) and dealanylascamycin (DACM) are nucleoside antibiotics elaborated by <i>Streptomyces sp</i>. JCM9888. The later shows broad spectrum inhibition activity to various gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, eukaryotic <i>Trypanosoma</i> and is also toxic to mice, while ascamycin is active against very limited microorganisms, such as <i>Xanthomonas</i>. Both compounds share an unusual 5′-<i>O</i>-sulfonamide moiety which is attached to an adenosine nucleoside. In this paper, we first report on the 30 kb gene cluster (23 genes, <i>acmA</i> to <i>acmW</i>) involved in the biosynthesis of these two antibiotics and a biosynthetic assembly line was proposed. Of them, six genes (AcmABGKIW) are hypothetical genes involved in 5′-O-sulfonamide formation. Two flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD)-dependent chlorinase genes <i>acmX</i> and <i>acmY</i> were characterized which are significantly remote from <i>acmA-W</i> and postulated to be required for adenine C2-halogenation. Notably gene disruption of <i>acmE</i> resulted in a mutant which could only produce dealanylascamycin but was blocked in its ability to biosynthesize ascamycin, revealing its key role of conversion of dealanylascamycin to ascamycin.</p></div

Deduced ORFs and their predicted functions in the ascamycin/dealanylascamycin gene cluster.

<p>Deduced ORFs and their predicted functions in the ascamycin/dealanylascamycin gene cluster.</p

Study flowchart demonstrating the construction of true positive and true negative reference cohort.

<p>Study flowchart demonstrating the construction of true positive and true negative reference cohort.</p