Home indoor air quality and cognitive function over one year for people working remotely during COVID

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic triggered an increase in remote work-from-home for office workers. Given that many homes now function as offices despite not being designed to support office work, it is critical to research the impact of indoor air quality (IAQ) in homes on the cognitive performance of people working from home. In this study, we followed 206 office workers across the U.S. over one year under remote or hybrid-remote settings during 2021&ndash;2022. Participants placed two real-time, consumer-grade indoor environmental monitors in their home workstation area and bedroom. Using a custom smartphone application geofenced to their residential address, participants responded to surveys and periodic cognitive function tests, including the Stroop color&ndash;word interference test, Arithmetic two-digit addition/subtraction test, and Compound Remote Associates Task (cRAT). Exposures assessed included carbon dioxide (CO2) and thermal conditions (indoor heat index: a combination of temperature and relative humidity) averaged over 30 min prior to each cognitive test. In adjusted longitudinal mixed models (n &le; 126), we found that indoor thermal conditions at home were associated with cognitive function outcomes non-linearly (p &lt; 0.05), with poorer cognitive performance on the Stroop test and poorer creative problem-solving on the cRAT when conditions were either too warm or too cool. Most indoor CO2 levels were &lt;640 ppm, but there was still a slight association between higher CO2 and poorer cognitive performance on Stroop (p = 0.09). Our findings highlight the need to enhance home indoor environmental quality for optimal cognitive function during remote work, with benefits for both employees and employers.</p

The Genetic Links to anxiety and depression (GLAD) study: Online recruitment into the largest recontactable study of depression and anxiety

Background: Anxiety and depression are common, debilitating and costly. These disorders are influenced by multiple risk factors, from genes to psychological vulnerabilities and environmental stressors, but research is hampered by a lack of sufficiently large comprehensive studies. We are recruiting 40,000 individuals with lifetime depression or anxiety and broad assessment of risks to facilitate future research. Methods: The Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression (GLAD) Study (www.gladstudy.org.uk) recruits individuals with depression or anxiety into the NIHR Mental Health BioResource. Participants invited to join the study (via media campaigns) provide demographic, environmental and genetic data, and consent for medical record linkage and recontact. Results: Online recruitment was effective; 42,531 participants consented and 27,776 completed the questionnaire by end of July 2019. Participants’ questionnaire data identified very high rates of recurrent depression, severe anxiety, and comorbidity. Participants reported high rates of treatment receipt. The age profile of the sample is biased toward young adults, with higher recruitment of females and the more educated, especially at younger ages. Discussion: This paper describes the study methodology and descriptive data for GLAD, which represents a large, recontactable resource that will enable future research into risks, outcomes, and treatment for anxiety and depression

Escalation of temporary mechanical circulatory support in the setting of deteriorating cardiogenic shock

Background: Cardiogenic shock (CS) is a deadly condition and mechanical circulatory support (MCS) is frequently utilized. We evaluated the characteristics of CS patients who required escalation of MCS due to deteriorating shock. Methods: From 07/2016-07/2018 we identified consecutive CS patients with deteriorating shock requiring escalation of MCS. Deteriorating shock was defined as worsening hypotension, escalating doses of vasopressors or worsening end-organ hypoperfusion. MCS escalation was defined as adding or exchanging a MCS device to existing MCS. All statistical tests were performed with a two-sided P value=.05. Results: 81 CS patients (61 ±14.2y, 73% men) had deteriorating shock requiring MCS escalation. 23% presented with acute myocardial infarction, 72% with decompensated heart failure (non-ischemic cardiomyopathy 26% and ischemic cardiomyopathy 46%) and 5% undifferentiated. Distribution of CS per SCAI classification was stage C 7%, D 82% and E 11%. Survival to discharge was 32%. Survivors were younger (55 vs 65y, P=0.002) and had lower BMI (29 vs 34, P=0.031). Initial MCS was IABP (n=32), Impella 2.5 (=4), CP (=32), 5.0 (=2), TandemHeart (=3), ProtekDuo (=3), VVECMO (=2), VAECMO (=2) and ProtekDuo+Impella CP (=1). Patients were escalated to Impella 2.5 (n=1), CP (=16), 5.0 (=10), TandemHeart (=6), VAECMO (=8), VAECMO+(IABP, 2.5 or CP) (=20), ProtekDuo+(IABP, CP, 5.0 or TandemHeart) (=13), Impella CP+RP (=2), TandemHeart+Impella RP (=1), central VAECMO (=3) and LVAD (=1). Lactate levels pre and post escalation were lower in survivors compared to non-survivors (3.3 vs 6.9, P=0.02) and (2 vs 4.4, P=0.01). Non-survivor lactate levels did not significantly improve post escalation (6.9 vs 4.4, P=0.06) and mean arterial pressure decreased (77.1 vs 66.8, P=0.002) despite significant improvement in cardiac index (1.9 vs 3.4, P\u3c0.001) and cardiac power output (0.6 vs 1.1, P=0.0001). Utilization of a PA catheter preescalation was associated with improved survival (40% vs 18%, P=0.04). Conclusions: CS patients requiring escalation of MCS due to deteriorating shock have low hospital survival (32%). Younger age, lower BMI, lower lactate levels and utilization of PA catheter pre-escalation were associated with increased survival

Evaluating Neighborhood-Level Differences in Hair Product Safety by Environmental Working Group Ratings among Retailers in Boston, Massachusetts

BackgroundPersonal care products are a notable source of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Racial/ethnic differences in the use of hair products containing EDCs are reported, with women and children of color more commonly using hair products that are hormonally active and contain EDCs than other racial/ethnic groups. There is limited research examining the neighborhood-level social and economic factors that may contribute to these reported disparities.ObjectivesWe aimed to examine the safety of hair products across sociodemographically diverse neighborhoods in Boston, Massachusetts.MethodsEight neighborhoods were identified based on indicators of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES). We randomly selected 50 stores and collected data on the hair products for sale and their corresponding Environmental Working Group (EWG) Skin Deep hazard score. The association between neighborhood and EWG hazard category (low, moderate, high) was examined using a multinomial logistic regression.ResultsA total of 14,019 hair products were identified in the eight neighborhoods. When considering products with EWG hazard scores, Roxbury, a lower income community of color, and Mission Hill, a lower income community, were reported to have a higher percentage of high-hazard hair products in comparison with Beacon Hill [12.2% (163/1,332), 11.4% (65/571) vs. 7.9% (30/382), respectively]. Differences between the safety of hair products were observed, with Roxbury and Mission Hill reporting more than a 2-fold higher risk ratio (RR) of finding hair products with high vs. low EWG scores in comparison with that of Beacon Hill [RR for Roxbury: 2.3, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1, 4.6; RR for Mission Hill: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.0, 5.4]. Other neighborhoods were also observed to have an increased RR in comparison with Beacon Hill, however, with 95% CIs that extended beyond the null.DiscussionRetail stores in neighborhoods with a higher percentage of residents of color and lower SES were found to be more likely to sell products with high hazard scores than stores in a higher SES and predominately non-Hispanic White neighborhood. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10653

Effects of Escalating Temporary Mechanical Circulatory Support in Patients With Worsening Cardiogenic Shock.

BACKGROUND: Cardiogenic shock-related mortality is substantial, and temporary mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices are frequently used. The authors aimed to describe patient characteristics and outcomes in patients with worsening cardiogenic shock requiring escalation of temporary MCS devices. METHODS: Worsening cardiogenic shock was defined as persistent hypotension, increasing doses of vasopressors/inotropes, worsening hypoperfusion, or worsening invasive hemo-dynamics. Escalation of temporary MCS devices was defined as adding or exchanging an existing MCS device. Variables were evaluated by logistic regression models and receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: From July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2018, a total of 81 consecutive patients experienced worsening cardiogenic shock requiring temporary MCS escalation. The etiology of cardiogenic shock was heterogeneous (33.3% acute myocardial infarction and 61.7% decompen-sated heart failure). Younger age (years), lower body mass index (85 mm Hg), and lower postescalation lactate levels ( CONCLUSION: Patients requiring temporary MCS escalation represent a high-risk cohort. Further work is needed to improve outcomes in this patient population

Discovery and mechanistic characterization of a structurally-unique membrane active peptide

Membrane active peptides (MAPs) have gained wide interest due to their far reaching applications in drug discovery and drug delivery. The search for new MAPs, however, has been largely skewed with bias selecting for physicochemical parameters believed to be important for membrane activity, such as alpha helicity, cationicity and hydrophobicity. Here we carry out a search-and-find strategy to screen a 100,000-membered one-bead-one-compound (OBOC) combinatorial peptide library for lead compounds, agnostic of those physicochemical constraints. Such a synthetic strategy also permits expansion of our peptide repertoire to include unnatural amino acids. Using this approach, we discovered a structurally unique lead peptide LBF14, a linear 14-mer peptide, that induces gross morphological disruption of membranes, irrespective of membrane composition. Further, we demonstrate that the unique insertion mechanism of the peptide, visualized by spinning disc confocal microscopy and further analyzed by electron paramagnetic resonance measurements, may be the cause of this large scale membrane deformation. We also demonstrate the robustness, reproducibility, and potential application of this technique to discover and characterize new membrane active peptides that display activity by local insertion and subsequent allosteric effects leading to global membrane disruption

Abstracts of Scientifica 2022

This book contains the abstracts of the papers presented at Scientifica 2022, Organized by the Sancheti Institute College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, India, held on 12–13 March 2022. This conference helps bring researchers together across the globe on one platform to help benefit the young researchers. There were six invited talks from different fields of Physiotherapy and seven panel discussions including over thirty speakers across the globe which made the conference interesting due to the diversity of topics covered during the conference. Conference Title:  Scientifica 2022Conference Date: 12–13 March 2022Conference Location: Sancheti Institute College of PhysiotherapyConference Organizer: Sancheti Institute College of Physiotherapy, Pune, Maharashtra, Indi