An Exploration of the Relationships Among Connectedness to Nature, Quality of Life, and Mental Health

The current study examined the relationships among connectedness to nature (CTN), quality of life (QOL), and mental health (MH). Theory in biophilia and ecopsychology has emphasized the importance of the human relationship with the natural world for the health of individuals, our species, and our planet as a whole. Previous research has documented the relationship between experiences in nature and outcomes of health and well-being. However, scant research has examined the correlates of the concept of CTN. Furthermore, no research has examined the relationship between CTN and measures of well-being such as QOL or MH. In the current study, 267 undergraduate students completed a series of self-report items measuring CTN, QOL, MH, and demographic characteristics. Significant relationships between CTN and all categories of dependent variables (QOL, MH, and demographics) were found. In addition, the subcategory of CTN closely related to the desire for direct experiences in nature, NR experience was shown to have a stronger relationship to QOL and MH than overall CTN--as evidenced by more significant correlations and by serving as a better predictive model through multiple regression. QOL, MH, and demographic variables were collectively found to predict 21% of the variance in overall CTN, while those same variables were found to predict 35% of the variance in NR experience. Implications of these findings based on previous research, limitations of the current study, and future avenues of research are discussed

Detection of Boulders in Side Scan Sonar Mosaics by a Neural Network

Boulders provide ecologically important hard grounds in shelf seas, and form protected habitats under the European Habitats Directive. Boulders on the seafloor can usually be recognized in backscatter mosaics due to a characteristic pattern of high backscatter intensity followed by an acoustic shadow. The manual identification of boulders on mosaics is tedious and subjective, and thus could benefit from automation. In this study, we train an object detection framework, RetinaNet, based on a neural network backbone, ResNet, to detect boulders in backscatter mosaics derived from a sidescan-sonar operating at 384 kHz. A training dataset comprising 4617 boulders and 2005 negative examples similar to boulders was used to train RetinaNet. The trained model was applied to a test area located in the Kriegers Flak area (Baltic Sea), and the results compared to mosaic interpretation by expert analysis. Some misclassification of water column noise and boundaries of artificial plough marks occurs, but the results of the trained model are comparable to the human interpretation. While the trained model correctly identified a higher number of boulders, the human interpreter had an advantage at recognizing smaller objects comprising a bounding box of less than 7 × 7 pixels. Almost identical performance between the best model and expert analysis was found when classifying boulder density into three classes (0, 1–5, more than 5) over 10,000 m 2 areas, with the best performing model reaching an agreement with the human interpretation of 90%

Comparison of Multi-Frequency Bioelectrical Impedance and Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry to Assess Body Composition in College-Aged Adults

International Journal of Exercise Science 13(4): 1595-1604, 2020. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of whole body percent fat (%BF) and segmental fat-free mass (FFM) using multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MF-BIA) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in college-aged adults. Sixty-two participants male (n = 32) and female (n = 30) completed MF-BIA and DEXA measurements following established pre-test guidelines. %BF and segmental FFM (right arm, left arm, trunk, right leg, and left leg) were collected and analyzed. The MF-BIA significantly (p \u3c 0.05) underestimated %BF for all participants, females, and males compared to DEXA. In addition, MF-BIA significantly (p \u3c 0.05) underestimated FFM in the arms and legs in all participants and males with the exception of the left arm in all subjects while significantly overestimating FFM in the trunk. In females, the MF-BIA overestimated FFM in the arms and trunk while significantly (p \u3c 0.05) underestimating FFM in the legs. Difference plots also indicated that the underestimation of FFM from MF-BIA in the arms and legs increased as the amount of FFM increased. Thus, our findings suggested that the MF-BIA may not be accurate for measuring whole %BF and segmental FFM in the college-aged population

An R-Package for the Deconvolution and Integration of 1D NMR Data: MetaboDecon1D

NMR spectroscopy is a widely used method for the detection and quantification of metabolites in complex biological fluids. However, the large number of metabolites present in a biological sample such as urine or plasma leads to considerable signal overlap in one-dimensional NMR spectra, which in turn hampers both signal identification and quantification. As a consequence, we have developed an easy to use R-package that allows the fully automated deconvolution of overlapping signals in the underlying Lorentzian line-shapes. We show that precise integral values are computed, which are required to obtain both relative and absolute quantitative information. The algorithm is independent of any knowledge of the corresponding metabolites, which also allows the quantitative description of features of yet unknown identity

Counting on chemistry : laboratory evaluation of seed-material-dependent detection efficiencies of ultrafine condensation particle counters

Condensation particle counters (CPCs) are crucial instruments for detecting sub-10 nm aerosol particles. Understanding the detection performance of a CPC requires thorough characterization under well-controlled laboratory conditions. Besides the size of the seed particles, chemical interactions between the working fluid and the seed particles also influence the activation efficiencies. However, common seed particle materials used for CPC characterizations are not chosen with respect to chemical interactions with vapor molecules of the working fluid by default. Here, we present experiments on the influence of the seed particle material on the detection efficiencies and the 50% cutoff diameters of commonly used CPCs for the detection of sub-10 nm particles. A remarkable set consisting of six different and commercially available particle detectors, including the newly developed TSI V-WCPC 3789 and a tuned TSI 3776, was tested. The corresponding working fluids of the instruments are n-butanol, diethylene glycol and water. Among other materials we were able to measure detection efficiencies with nanometer-sized organic seed particles reproducibly generated by the oxidation of beta-caryophyllene vapor in a flow tube. Theoretical simulations of supersaturation profiles in the condensers were successfully related to measured detection efficiencies. Our results demonstrate the importance of chemical similarities between seed particles and the working fluids used when CPCs are characterized. We anticipate our study to contribute to a deeper understanding of chemical interactions during heterogeneous nucleation processes.Peer reviewe

Anatomic stemless shoulder arthroplasty and related outcomes: a systematic review

Background: The latest generation of shoulder arthroplasty includes canal-sparing respectively stemless designs that have been developed to allow restoration of the glenohumeral center of rotation independently from the shaft, and to avoid stem-related complications. The stemless prosthesis design has also recently been introduced for use in reverse arthroplasty systems. Methods: We systematically reviewed the literature for studies of currently available canal-sparing respectively stemless shoulder arthroplasty systems. From the identified series, we recorded the indications, outcome measures, and humeral-sided complications. Results: We identified 11 studies of canal-sparing respectively stemless anatomic shoulder arthroplasty implants, published between 2010 and 2016. These studies included 929 cases, and had a mean follow-up of 26 months (range, 6 to 72 months). The rates of humeral component-related complications ranged between 0 and 7.9 %. The studies reported only a few isolated cases of complications of the humeral component. Some arthroplasty systems are associated with radiological changes, but without any clinical relevance. Conclusions: All of the published studies of canal-sparing respectively stemless shoulder arthroplasty reported promising clinical and radiological outcomes in short to midterm follow-up. Long-term studies are needed to demonstrate the long-term value of these kind of implants

In-flight calibration and verification of the Planck-LFI instrument

In this paper we discuss the Planck-LFI in-flight calibration campaign. After a brief overview of the ground test campaigns, we describe in detail the calibration and performance verification (CPV) phase, carried out in space during and just after the cool-down of LFI. We discuss in detail the functionality verification, the tuning of the front-end and warm electronics, the preliminary performance assessment and the thermal susceptibility tests. The logic, sequence, goals and results of the in-flight tests are discussed. All the calibration activities were successfully carried out and the instrument response was comparable to the one observed on ground. For some channels the in-flight tuning activity allowed us to improve significantly the noise performance.Comment: Long technical paper on Planck LFI in flight calibration campaign: 109 pages in this (not final) version, 100 page in the final JINST versio

Theorems on shear-free perfect fluids with their Newtonian analogues

In this paper we provide fully covariant proofs of some theorems on shear-free perfect fluids. In particular, we explicitly show that any shear-free perfect fluid with the acceleration proportional to the vorticity vector (including the simpler case of vanishing acceleration) must be either non-expanding or non-rotating. We also show that these results are not necessarily true in the Newtonian case, and present an explicit comparison of shear-free dust in Newtonian and relativistic theories in order to see where and why the differences appear.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX. Submitted to GR

Dupilumab significantly improves sleep in adults with atopic dermatitis: results from the 12-week placebo-controlled period of the 24-week phase 4 randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled DUPISTAD study

BACKGROUND Sleep disturbance is a prominent symptom of atopic dermatitis (AD) and can result in insomnia, daytime fatigue, drowsiness, reduced productivity and impaired quality of life (QoL). OBJECTIVES The Dupilumab Effect on Sleep in AD Patients (DUPISTAD) phase IV randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled study evaluated the impact of dupilumab treatment on sleep and other patient- and physician-reported outcomes. METHODS Adults with moderate-to-severe AD were randomized 2 : 1 to dupilumab 300 mg once every 2 weeks (q2w) or placebo for 12 weeks; concomitant topical corticosteroids were permitted. Patients subsequently entered an open-label phase and received dupilumab 300 mg q2w for a further 12 weeks. The primary endpoint was the percentage change in sleep quality from baseline to week 12, assessed using a novel numeric rating scale (NRS). Secondary and exploratory endpoints included percentage change in peak pruritus NRS (PP NRS), change in SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD), SCORAD sleep visual analogue scale (VAS), Eczema Area and Severity Index, Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) sleep-related impairment T-score and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Sleep diary and wrist actigraphy measurements were recorded throughout the study. RESULTS In total, 127 patients received dupilumab and 61 patients received placebo. Demographic and baseline disease characteristics were balanced between groups. Sleep quality NRS significantly improved in patients treated with dupilumab by week 12 vs. placebo [least squares mean of the difference (LSMD) -15.5%, P < 0.001]. PP NRS (LSMD -27.9%, P < 0.001), SCORAD (LSMD -15.1, P < 0.001), SCORAD sleep VAS (LSMD -2.1, P < 0.001) and PROMIS T-score (LSMD -3.6, P < 0.001) were also significantly improved at week 12 with dupilumab vs. placebo. The overall percentage of patients reporting treatment-emergent adverse events was lower in the dupilumab group (56.7%) than in the placebo group (67.2%). CONCLUSIONS Dupilumab significantly improved sleep quality and perception of sleep continuity, itch, metrics of AD severity and QoL in adults with moderate-to-severe AD, with an acceptable safety profile compared with placebo