The clinical utility of multidisciplinary rehabilitation in individuals with Huntington’s Disease

Background Huntington’s disease (HD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder characterised by a progressive loss of cognitive function, motor control and psychiatric features. Individuals also display a variety of systemic features. Progressive neuronal dysfunction and neuronal cell death are thought to underlie the onset and progression of many clinical features of HD. Despite scientific progress, there is still no cure or disease modifying therapy for HD, and available pharmaceutical agents only provide partial relief of motor and psychiatric features. An emerging body of evidence indicates that lifestyle enrichment may delay the onset and progression of clinical features, and exert favourable effects on neuropathological aspects of HD. Few studies have evaluated the effects of lifestyle enrichment strategies like multidisciplinary rehabilitation on the clinical features of HD. Moreover, no study has evaluated the effects of multidisciplinary rehabilitation on neuropathological aspects of HD. Aims The initial aim of this thesis was to determine factors that contribute to features of the disease that negatively impact on activities of daily living such as mobility and balance (Chapter 2), and to identify, using a literature review, a rehabilitation strategy that could positively impact on these features of HD (Chapter 3). These studies informed our ultimate aim which was to investigate the clinical utility of multidisciplinary rehabilitation on clinical and neuropathological features of HD (Chapters 4, 5 and 6) Methods In study 1 (Chapter 2), 22 participants were assessed using a battery of balance, mobility, cognitive tests, assessments of muscle strength and body composition measures. Data was . then statistically examined using stepwise linear regression to identify factors that contribute to balance and mobility impairments in individuals with manifest HD. In study 2 (Chapter 3), a systematic search of journal databases was made from inception to July 2014 for studies reporting on resistance exercise in patients with neurodegenerative disorders. Selected studies were abstracted and critically appraised using a quality control checklist. For the intervention studies, (3 and 4 Chapters 4 and 5), 20 participants with manifest HD were randomly assigned to either a control or training group. Individuals randomised to the intervention group were provided with a nine month multidisciplinary intervention comprising once weekly supervised clinical exercise, thrice weekly home based exercise and fortnightly occupational therapy, while those randomised to the control group were asked to continue with their standard care and daily activities. Participants were assessed using motor, cognitive, psychological, body composition and quality of life measures at baseline and at the completion of the intervention. In study 5 (Chapter 6), 15 participants with manifest HD were assessed using magnetic resonance imaging and a battery of cognitive assessments after nine months of multidisciplinary rehabilitation to see whether such a therapy is capable of inducing favourable changes in brain structure and cognitive function. Results The main factors that contribute to mobility and balance impairments in patients with manifest HD were found to be lower limb muscle weakness and a loss of cognitive function (Study 1). Systematic evaluation of the effects of resistance exercise for neurodegenerative disorders showed that it is beneficial for multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. In particular, improvements in muscle strength, mobility, balance, clinical disease progression, fatigue, functional capacity, quality of life, disease biology, electromyography activity, mood, skeletal muscle volume and architecture were reported in individuals with multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease (PD) after resistance exercise. The most robust effects of resistance exercise were found for muscle strength outcomes, and were more pronounced in individuals with PD (Study 2). The multidisciplinary rehabilitation intervention studies conducted as part of this thesis significantly improved isometric and isokinetic muscle strength, self-perceived balance, body mass, lean tissue mass and fat mass in patients with HD (Studies 3 and 4). Moreover, multidisciplinary rehabilitation also increased grey matter (GM) volume in the caudate nucleus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of patients. The significant increases in GM volume were accompanied by, and correlated to, a significant improvement in performance in verbal learning and memory. Conclusions The work presented here shows that lower extremity muscle weakness and a loss of cognitive function significantly contribute to impairments in mobility and balance. This work also shows that strength training has favourable effects on motor function, including strength, mobility and balance, as well as other clinical features in similar neurodegenerative disorders, and thus should be integrated into multidisciplinary rehabilitation interventions for HD. In addition, this study provides evidence that multidisciplinary rehabilitation can significantly improve aspects of motor control, cognitive function and body composition. Finally we show, for the first time, that multidisciplinary rehabilitation can increase GM volume in structures known to degenerate in HD, and that such increases are functionally related to changes in verbal learning and memory. Future work is urgently required to confirm and expand on these exciting findings, particularly with respect to the neurorestorative properties of multidisciplinary rehabilitation

Emotional Intelligence in Medical Laboratory Science

The purpose of this study was to explore the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in medical laboratory science, as perceived by laboratory administrators. To collect and evaluate these perceptions, a survey was developed and distributed to over 1,400 medical laboratory administrators throughout the U.S. during January and February of 2013. In addition to demographic-based questions, the survey contained a list of 16 items, three skills traditionally considered important for successful work in the medical laboratory as well as 13 EI-related items. Laboratory administrators were asked to rate each item for its importance for job performance, their satisfaction with the item\u27s demonstration among currently working medical laboratory scientists (MLS) and the amount of responsibility college-based medical laboratory science programs should assume for the development of each skill or attribute. Participants were also asked about EI training in their laboratories and were given the opportunity to express any thoughts or opinions about EI as it related to medical laboratory science. This study revealed that each EI item, as well as each of the three other items, was considered to be very or extremely important for successful job performance. Administrators conveyed that they were satisfied overall, but indicated room for improvement in all areas, especially those related to EI. Those surveyed emphasized that medical laboratory science programs should continue to carry the bulk of the responsibility for the development of technical skills and theoretical knowledge and expressed support for increased attention to EI concepts at the individual, laboratory, and program levels

Change in mental health, physical health, and social relationships during highly restrictive lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Australia

Background A novel coronavirus first reported in Wuhan City in China in 2019 (COVID-19) developed into a global pandemic throughout 2020. Many countries around the world implemented strict social distancing policies to curb the spread of the virus. In this study we aimed to examine potential change in mental/physical health and social relationships during a highly restrictive COVID-19 lockdown period in Australia during April 2020. Methods Our survey (n = 1, 599) included questions about concerns, social behaviour, perceived change in relationship quality, social media use, frequency of exercise, physical health, and mental health during COVID-19 lockdown (April, 2020). Results When estimating their mental health for the previous year 13% of participants reported more negative than positive emotion, whereas this increased to 41% when participants reflected on their time during COVID-19 lockdown. A substantial proportion (39–54%) of participants reported deterioration in mental health, physical health, financial situation, and work productivity. However, most of these participants reported ’somewhat’ rather than ’a lot’ of deterioration, and many others reported ’no change’ (40–50%) or even ’improvement’ (6–17%). Even less impact was apparent for social relationships (68% reported ’no change’) as participants compensated for decreased face-to-face interaction via increased technology-mediated interaction. Conclusions The psychological toll of COVID-19 on Australians may not have been as large as other parts of the world with greater infection rates. Our findings highlight how technology-mediated communication can allow people to adequately maintain social relationships during an extreme lockdown event

AIRU-WRF: A Physics-Guided Spatio-Temporal Wind Forecasting Model and its Application to the U.S. Mid Atlantic Offshore Wind Energy Areas

The reliable integration of wind energy into modern-day electricity systems heavily relies on accurate short-term wind forecasts. We propose a spatio-temporal model called AIRU-WRF (short for the AI-powered Rutgers University Weather Research & Forecasting), which combines numerical weather predictions (NWPs) with local observations in order to make wind speed forecasts that are short-term (minutes to hours ahead), and of high resolution, both spatially (site-specific) and temporally (minute-level). In contrast to purely data-driven methods, we undertake a "physics-guided" machine learning approach which captures salient physical features of the local wind field without the need to explicitly solve for those physics, including: (i) modeling wind field advection and diffusion via physically meaningful kernel functions, (ii) integrating exogenous predictors that are both meteorologically relevant and statistically significant; and (iii) linking the multi-type NWP biases to their driving mesoscale weather conditions. Tested on real-world data from the U.S. North Atlantic where several offshore wind projects are in-development, AIRU-WRF achieves notable improvements, in terms of both wind speed and power, relative to various forecasting benchmarks including physics-based, hybrid, statistical, and deep learning methods

The influence of self-reported total sleep time and sleep quality on physical performance in junior tennis players

Studies have shown the importance of sleep on tennis skill execution; however, its influence on physical performance metrics is unclear. This study aimed to examine the extent to which sleep duration and sleep quality metrics influence physical performance metrics in junior tennis players. Thirty-six junior tennis players from Australia and Germany completed the Consensus Sleep Diary over seven nights. A novel total sleep score based on current National Sleep Foundation recommendations was generated (calculated as the percentage of the average standardised sleep metrics), for each player. Players’ physical performance was measured using a comprehensive tennis-specific testing battery. This included sit and reach test for flexibility, counter movement jump and overhead medicine ball throw for power, 5-, 10- and 20-metre sprints for speed, tennis agility test for agility and reaction time, grip strength for strength, repeat sprint ability for anaerobic capacity and the Hit and Turn Tennis Test for aerobic capacity. Teenage (14 to 17 years of age) players reported significantly lower sleep duration (471 ± 116 min versus 543 ± 72 min; p \u3c 0.001, d = 0.83) and sleep efficiency (90% ± 11% versus 94 % ± 5%; p = 0.011, d = 0.49) metrics than school-aged players. Players with higher self-reported sleep quality had slower reaction times during a tennis agility test (r = 0.604, p = 0.011). However, players who reported feeling more rested and refreshed had faster reaction times during a tennis agility test (r = -0.579, p = 0.020). No other significant associations were present between self-reported sleep metrics and physical performance metrics. Nevertheless, feeling well-rested and refreshed, one of the primary outcomes of sleep, improves reaction time during a tennis-specific agility test. However, physical performance metrics are not significantly influenced by small variations in recommended sleep duration and sleep quality ranges

Uncrewed Ocean Gliders and Saildrones Support Hurricane Forecasting and Research

In the United States alone, hurricanes have been responsible for thousands of deaths and over US$1 trillion in damages since 1980 (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/). These impacts are significantly greater globally, particularly in regions with limited hurricane early warning systems and where large portions of the population live at or near sea level. The high socioeconomic impacts of tropical cyclones will increase with a changing climate, rising sea level, and increasing coastal populations. To mitigate these impacts, efforts are underway to improve hurricane track and intensity forecasts, which drive storm surge models and evacuation orders and guide coastal preparations. Hurricane track forecasts have improved steadily over past decades, whileintensity forecasts have lagged until recently (Cangialosi et al., 2020). Hurricane intensity changes are influenced by a combination of large-scale atmospheric circulation, internal storm dynamics, and air-sea interactions (Wadler et al.,2021, and references therein)

Status and Relative Abundance of Alabama Shad, \u3ci\u3eAlosa alabamae\u3c/i\u3e, in Alabama

Alabama Shad, Alosa alabamae, an anadromous fish found historically from the Mississippi River basin eastward to the Suwanee River, has experienced population declines and even extirpation in some States. In Alabama, A. alabamae have been found in rivers of the Mobile River basin and Conecuh, Yellow, and Choctawhatchee rivers in the coastal Gulf Plain. We report on our directed and targeted efforts to assess the current status and relative abundance of A. alabamae in Alabama and compare our results to past A. alabamae surveys in Alabama. We completed 52 sampling trips and expended 129.5 hours of boat-electrofishing effort targeting A. alabamae. Sampling was conducted during the spring to coincide with the spring-spawning migration at historical sites and sites conducive for the collection of A. alabamae. No A. alabamae was collected from the Mobile River basin (i.e., Alabama and Tombigbee rivers) and only one A. alabamae was collected from the Conecuh River. We collected seven A. alabamae in 2011 and three in 2018 from the Choctawhatchee River. For the Choctawhatchee River population, our results indicated a precipitous decline in abundance by 71% and 98% from 1999/2000 to 2011 and 2018, respectively. In addition, our results support the extirpation of A. alabamae from the Mobile River basin and a severely depressed population in the Conecuh River. Although A. alabamae was recently denied listing under the Endangered Species Act by the National Marine Fisheries Service due to lack of apparent range-wide extinction, our results indicate what was once considered the second largest population of A. alabamae from the Choctawhatchee River is on the verge of extirpation. Alosa alabamae could become extirpated from Alabama in the near future, which is a significant portion of its range

A Cycle of Wind-Driven Canyon Upwelling and Downwelling at Wilmington Canyon and the Evolution of Canyon-Upwelled Dense Water on the MAB Shelf

Submarine canyons provide a conduit for shelf-slope exchange via topographically induced processes such as upwelling and downwelling. These processes in the Wilmington Canyon, located along the shelf-break of the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB), have not been previously studied, and the associated hydrographic variability inside the canyon and on the adjacent shelf are largely unknown. Observations from an underwater glider deployed in Wilmington Canyon (February 27 - March 8, 2016), along with wind and satellite altimetry data, showed evidence for a wind-driven canyon upwelling event followed by a subsequent downwelling event. Next, a numerical model of the MAB was developed to more fully represent these two events. Modeled results showed that under upwelling-favorable winds during February 25 - March 3, sea level increased seaward, shelf currents flowed northeastward, and canyon upwelling developed. Then under downwelling-favorable winds during March 4-7, sea level increased landward, shelf currents flowed southwestward, and canyon downwelling developed. Modeling experiments showed that canyon upwelling and downwelling were sub-tidal processes driven by winds and pressure gradients (associated with SSH gradients), and they would occur with or without tidal forcing. During the upwelling period, slope water originating from 150-215 m depths within the canyon (75 m below the canyon rim), was advected onto the shelf, forming a cold and dense canyon-upwelled slope-originated overflow water at the bottom of the outer shelf (75-150 m isobaths). The dense overflow current flowed was directed northeastward and expanded in the cross-shelf direction. It was 5-20 km wide and 10-30 m thick. The estimated volume of the plume overflow water exceeded 6×109 m3 at peak. The density front at the shoreward side of the dense overflow water caused a subsurface baroclinic frontal jet, which flowed northeastward and along-shelf with maximum speed exceeding 0.5 m/s. In the ensuing downwelling event, a portion of the previously upwelled dense water was advected back to the canyon, and then flowed down-slope in the upper canyon in ~0.3 m/s bottom-intensified currents. Dynamical investigation of the overflow current showed that its evolution was governed by unbalanced horizontal pressure gradient force in the cross-shelf direction and that the current was geostrophic

A genetic linkage map for the saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genome elucidation is now in high gear for many organisms, and whilst genetic maps have been developed for a broad array of species, surprisingly, no such maps exist for a crocodilian, or indeed any other non-avian member of the Class Reptilia. Genetic linkage maps are essential tools for the mapping and dissection of complex quantitative trait loci (QTL), and in order to permit systematic genome scans for the identification of genes affecting economically important traits in farmed crocodilians, a comprehensive genetic linage map will be necessary.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A first-generation genetic linkage map for the saltwater crocodile (<it>Crocodylus porosus</it>) was constructed using 203 microsatellite markers amplified across a two-generation pedigree comprising ten full-sib families from a commercial population at Darwin Crocodile Farm, Northern Territory, Australia. Linkage analyses identified fourteen linkage groups comprising a total of 180 loci, with 23 loci remaining unlinked. Markers were ordered within linkage groups employing a heuristic approach using CRIMAP v3.0 software. The estimated female and male recombination map lengths were 1824.1 and 319.0 centimorgans (cM) respectively, revealing an uncommonly large disparity in recombination map lengths between sexes (ratio of 5.7:1).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have generated the first genetic linkage map for a crocodilian, or indeed any other non-avian reptile. The uncommonly large disparity in recombination map lengths confirms previous preliminary evidence of major differences in sex-specific recombination rates in a species that exhibits temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). However, at this point the reason for this disparity in saltwater crocodiles remains unclear.</p> <p>This map will be a valuable resource for crocodilian researchers, facilitating the systematic genome scans necessary for identifying genes affecting complex traits of economic importance in the crocodile industry. In addition, since many of the markers placed on this genetic map have been evaluated in up to 18 other extant species of crocodilian, this map will be of intrinsic value to comparative mapping efforts aimed at understanding genome content and organization among crocodilians, as well as the molecular evolution of reptilian and other amniote genomes. As researchers continue to work towards elucidation of the crocodilian genome, this first generation map lays the groundwork for more detailed mapping investigations, as well as providing a valuable scaffold for future genome sequence assembly.</p