Using manipulated photographs to identify features of streetscapes that may encourage older adults to walk for transport

Experimental evidence of environmental features important for physical activity is challenging to procure in real world settings. The current study aimed to investigate the causal effects of environmental modifications on a photographed street\u27s appeal for older adults\u27 walking for transport. Secondly, we examined whether these effects differed according to gender, functional limitations, and current level of walking for transport. Thirdly, we examined whether different environmental modifications interacted with each other. Qualitative responses were also reported to gain deeper insight into the observed quantitative relationships. Two sets of 16 panoramic photographs of a streetscape were created, in which six environmental factors were manipulated (sidewalk evenness, traffic level, general upkeep, vegetation, separation from traffic, and benches). Sixty older adults sorted these photographs on appeal for walking for transport on a 7-point scale and reported qualitative information on the reasons for their rankings. Sidewalk evenness appeared to have the strongest influence on a street\u27s appeal for transport-related walking. The effect of sidewalk evenness was even stronger when the street\u27s overall upkeep was good and when traffic was absent. Absence of traffic, presence of vegetation, and separation from traffic also increased a street\u27s appeal for walking for transport. There were no moderating effects by gender or functional limitations. The presence of benches increased the streetscape\u27s appeal among participants who already walked for transport at least an hour/week. The protocols and methods used in the current study carry the potential to further our understanding of environment-PA relationships. Our findings indicated sidewalk evenness as the most important environmental factor influencing a street\u27s appeal for walking for transport among older adults. However, future research in larger samples and in real-life settings is needed to confirm current findings

Coping with a dead end by relying on your own compass: A qualitative study on illness and treatment models in the context of fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia lacks a coherent illness and treatment model, which includes a set of conceptual ideas shaping individuals’ perceptions and understandings of pain, its causing and maintaining factors, and management strategies. Developing personalized illness models that can guide treatment plans and alleviate feelings of uncertainty is of crucial importance. This study investigates how individuals with fibromyalgia develop a personal illness and treatment model while navigating the current healthcare system and explore their experiences during this process. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 cis women with fibromyalgia, which were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. The analysis produced two themes, each including two subthemes. The first theme encompassed the difficulty of developing a comprehensive illness model due to the biomedical perspective of the healthcare system; the second theme described the importance of participants (re)gaining ownership and agency over their pain management, by constructing their own illness and treatment model. Most women in this study got stuck in the biomedical healthcare web not being provided with a clear illness and treatment model. Consequently, most women gained ownership of this process by developing their personal illness and treatment model (self-empowerment). Conversely, a few women felt powerless and paralyzed. This study underscores the importance of promoting patient empowerment in chronic pain management. Agency is undervalued in the treatment of fibromyalgia and warrants more thorough examination. Increasing knowledge about agency could enhance treatment effectiveness.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Encoding edge type information in graphlets.

Graph embedding approaches have been attracting increasing attention in recent years mainly due to their universal applicability. They convert network data into a vector space in which the graph structural information and properties are maximumly preserved. Most existing approaches, however, ignore the rich information about interactions between nodes, i.e., edge attribute or edge type. Moreover, the learned embeddings suffer from a lack of explainability, and cannot be used to study the effects of typed structures in edge-attributed networks. In this paper, we introduce a framework to embed edge type information in graphlets and generate a Typed-Edge Graphlets Degree Vector (TyE-GDV). Additionally, we extend two combinatorial approaches, i.e., the colored graphlets and heterogeneous graphlets approaches to edge-attributed networks. Through applying the proposed method to a case study of chronic pain patients, we find that not only the network structure of a patient could indicate his/her perceived pain grade, but also certain social ties, such as those with friends, colleagues, and healthcare professionals, are more crucial in understanding the impact of chronic pain. Further, we demonstrate that in a node classification task, the edge-type encoded graphlets approaches outperform the traditional graphlet degree vector approach by a significant margin, and that TyE-GDV could achieve a competitive performance of the combinatorial approaches while being far more efficient in space requirements

Epigenetic editing:towards realization of the curable genome concept

Recent developments in biotechnology have enabled scientists to modulate DNA sequences in a precise way. These genome engineering technologies also open new possibilities to alter the epigenetic composition of the genome at any given genomic location thereby changing gene expression patterns, while leaving the primary DNA sequence intact. This new approach, so-called epigenetic editing, holds great promise to permanently reprogram cell identity. As reprogramming the epigenetic composition, and hence gene expression patterns is now technically feasible, the society needs to consider to what extent interference at the epigenetic level can be accepted. In this review, we discuss the potential epigenetic editing holds for research and therapy, and also touch upon societal implications of this rapidly growing research field

Acceptance, well-being, and goals in adolescents with chronic illness : a daily process analysis

Objective: The main aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between acceptance and well-being in adolescents with chronic illness from a daily process perspective. Furthermore, we explored the role of daily experienced interference and facilitation of life goals by treatment goals as mediating mechanisms. Methods: Thirty-eight adolescents with cystic fibrosis (CF) or diabetes completed questionnaires assessing acceptance, negative life events and goal-related self-efficacy. Furthermore, an online diary assessing daily mood, daily experienced interference and facilitation of life goals by treatment goals was completed during three consecutive weeks. Results: Acceptance of illness was positively related to daily well-being, but unrelated to daily goal interference and facilitation. Furthermore, daily goal interference and facilitation were unrelated to same-day and next-day well-being. Conclusion: This study suggests that acceptance of illness plays an important role in the daily mood of adolescents with CF and diabetes. This relationship, however, was not mediated by daily experienced interference and facilitation of life goals by treatment goals. Further research is needed to determine whether interventions promoting acceptance are beneficial for adolescents with CF and diabetes

Targeted epigenetic editing of SPDEF reduces mucus production in lung epithelial cells

Airway mucus hypersecretion contributes to the morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic inflammatory lung diseases. Reducing mucus production is crucial for improving patients' quality of life. The transcription factor SAM-pointed domain-containing Ets-like factor (SPDEF) plays a critical role in the regulation of mucus production and, therefore, represents a potential therapeutic target. This study aims to reduce lung epithelial mucus production by targeted silencing SPDEF using the novel strategy, epigenetic editing. Zinc fingers and CRISPR/dCas platforms were engineered to target repressors (KRAB, DNA methyltransferases, histone methyltransferases) to the SPDEF promoter. All constructs were able to effectively suppress both SPDEF mRNA and protein expression, which was accompanied by inhibition of downstream mucus-related genes [anterior gradient 2 (AGR2), mucin 5AC (MUC5AC)]. For the histone methyltransferase G9A, and not its mutant or other effectors, the obtained silencing was mitotically stable. These results indicate efficient SPDEF silencing and downregulation of mucus-related gene expression by epigenetic editing, in human lung epithelial cells. This opens avenues for epigenetic editing as a novel therapeutic strategy to induce long-lasting mucus inhibition

Personality and Temperament Correlates of Pain Catastrophizing in Young Adolescents

Pain catastrophizing is generally viewed as an important cognitive factor underlying chronic pain. The present study examined personality and temperament correlates of pain catastrophizing in a sample of young adolescents (N = 132). Participants completed the Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Children, as well as scales for measuring sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation systems (BIS-BAS), and various reactive and regulative temperament traits. Results demonstrated that BIS, reactive temperament traits (fear and anger-frustration), and perceptual sensitivity were positively related to pain catastrophizing, whereas regulative traits (attention control, inhibitory control) were negatively associated with this cognitive factor. Further, regression analyses demonstrated that only BIS and the temperamental traits of fear and perceptual sensitivity accounted for a unique proportion of the variance in adolescents’ pain catastrophizing scores