Association between screen viewing duration and sleep duration, Sleep quality, And excessive daytime sleepiness among adolescents in Hong Kong

© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Screen viewing is considered to have adverse impacts on the sleep of adolescents. Although there has been a considerable amount of research on the association between screen viewing and sleep, most studies have focused on specific types of screen viewing devices such as televisions and computers. The present study investigated the duration w ith which currently prevalent screen viewing devices (including televisions, personal computers, mobile phones, and portable video devices) are viewed in relation to sleep duration, sleep quality, and daytime sleepiness among Hong Kong adolescents (N = 762). Television and computer viewing remain prevalent, but were not correlated with sleep variables. Mobile phone viewing was correlated with all sleep variables, while portable video device viewing was shown to be correlated only with daytime sleepiness. The results demonstrated a trend of increase in the prevalence and types of screen viewing and their effects on the sleep patterns of adolescents.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Neurocognitive patterns dissociating semantic processing from executive control are linked to more detailed off-task mental time travel

Features of ongoing experience are common across individuals and cultures. However, certain people express specific patterns of thought to a greater extent than others. Contemporary psychological theory assumes that individual differences in thought patterns occur because different types of experience depend on the expression of different neurocognitive processes. Consequently, individual variation in the underlying neurocognitive architecture is hypothesised to determine the ease with which certain thought patterns are generated or maintained. Our study (N = 178) tested this hypothesis using multivariate pattern analysis to infer shared variance among measures of cognitive function and neural organisation and examined whether these latent variables explained reports of the patterns of on-going thoughts people experienced in the lab. We found that relatively better performance on tasks relying primarily on semantic knowledge, rather than executive control, was linked to a neural functional organisation associated, via meta-analysis, with task labels related to semantic associations (sentence processing, reading and verbal semantics). Variability of this functional mode predicted significant individual variation in the types of thoughts that individuals experienced in the laboratory: neurocognitive patterns linked to better performance at tasks that required guidance from semantic representation, rather than those dependent on executive control, were associated with patterns of thought characterised by greater subjective detail and a focus on time periods other than the here and now. These relationships were consistent across different days and did not vary with level of task demands, indicating they are relatively stable features of an individual’s cognitive profile. Together these data confirm that individual variation in aspects of ongoing experience can be inferred from hidden neurocognitive architecture and demonstrate that performance trade-offs between executive control and long-term semantic knowledge are linked to a person’s tendency to imagine situations that transcend the here and now

Missing the forest because of the trees : Slower alternations during binocular rivalry are associated with lower levels of visual detail during ongoing thought

Conscious awareness of the world fluctuates, either through variation in how vividly we perceive the environment, or when our attentional focus shifts away from information in the external environment towards information that we generate via imagination. Our study combined individual differences in experience sampling, psychophysical reports of perception, and neuroimaging descriptions of structural connectivity to better understand these changes in conscious awareness. In particular, we examined (1) whether aspects of ongoing thought—indexed via multi-dimensional experience sampling during a sustained-attention task—are associated with the white-matter fibre organization of the cortex as reflected by their relative degree of anisotropic diffusion, and (2) whether these neuro-cognitive descriptions of ongoing experience are related to a more constrained measure of visual consciousness through analysis of bi-stable perception during binocular rivalry. Individuals with greater fractional anisotropy in right hemisphere white-matter regions involving the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, the superior longitudinal fasciculus, and the cortico-spinal tract, described their ongoing thoughts as lacking external details. Subsequent analysis indicated that the combination of low fractional anisotropy in these right hemisphere regions, with reports of thoughts with high-levels of external details, was associated with the shortest periods of dominance during binocular rivalry. Since variation in binocular rivalry reflects differences between bottom-up and top-down influences on vision, our study suggests that reports of ongoing thoughts with vivid external details may occur when conscious precedence is given to bottom-up representation of perceptual information

Long working range light field microscope with fast scanning multifocal liquid crystal microlens array

The light field microscope has the potential of recording the 3D information of biological specimens in real time with a conventional light source. To further extend the depth of field to broaden its applications, in this paper, we proposed a multifocal high-resistance liquid crystal microlens array instead of the fixed microlens array. The developed multifocal liquid crystal microlens array can provide high quality point spread function in multiple focal lengths. By adjusting the focal length of the liquid crystal microlens array sequentially, the total working range of the light field microscope can be much extended. Furthermore, in our proposed system, the intermediate image was placed in the virtual image space of the microlens array, where the condition of the lenslets numerical aperture was considerably smaller. Consequently, a thin-cell-gap liquid crystal microlens array with fast response time can be implemented for time-multiplexed scanning

Cytochrome P450 Metabolism of Betel Quid-Derived Compounds: Implications for the Development of Prevention Strategies for Oral and Pharyngeal Cancers

Betel quid (BQ) products, with or without tobacco, have been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as group I human carcinogens that are associated with an elevated risk of oral potentially malignant disorders (OPMDs) and cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx. There are estimated 600 million BQ users worldwide. In Taiwan alone there are 2 million habitual users (approximately 10% of the population). Oral and pharyngeal cancers result from interactions between genes and environmental factors (BQ exposure). Cytochrome p450 (CYP) families are implicated in the metabolic activation of BQ- and areca nut-specific nitrosamines. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge base regarding CYP genetic variants and related oral disorders. In clinical applications, we focus on cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx and OPMDs associated with CYP gene polymorphisms, including CYP1A1, CYP2A6, CYP2E1, and CYP26B1. Our discussion of CYP polymorphisms provides insight into the importance of screening tests in OPMDs patients for the prevention of oral and pharyngeal cancers. Future studies will establish a strong foundation for the development of chemoprevention strategies, polymorphism-based clinical diagnostic tools (e.g., specific single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) “barcodes”), and effective treatments for BQ-related oral disorders

KCNN2 polymorphisms and cardiac tachyarrhythmias

Potassium calcium-activated channel subfamily N member 2 (KCNN2) encodes an integral membrane protein that forms small-conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels. Recent studies in animal models show that SK channels are important in atrial and ventricular repolarization and arrhythmogenesis. However, the importance of SK channels in human arrhythmia remains unclear. The purpose of the present study was to test the association between genetic polymorphism of the SK2 channel and the occurrence of cardiac tachyarrhythmias in humans. We enrolled 327 Han Chinese, including 72 with clinically significant ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTa) who had a history of aborted sudden cardiac death (SCD) or unexplained syncope, 98 with a history of atrial fibrillation (AF), and 144 normal controls. We genotyped 12 representative tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across a 141-kb genetic region containing the KCNN2 gene; these captured the full haplotype information. The rs13184658 and rs10076582 variants of KCNN2 were associated with VTa in both the additive and dominant models (odds ratio [OR] 2.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.505-5.545, P = 0.001; and OR 2.55, 95% CI = 1.428-4.566, P = 0.002, respectively). After adjustment for potential risk factors, the association remained significant. The population attributable risks of these 2 variants of VTa were 17.3% and 10.6%, respectively. One variant (rs13184658) showed weak but significant association with AF in a dominant model (OR 1.91, CI = 1.025-3.570], P = 0.042). There was a significant association between the KCNN2 variants and clinically significant VTa. These findings suggest an association between KCNN2 and VTa; it also appears that KCNN2 variants may be adjunctive markers for risk stratification in patients susceptible to SCD

A brief cognitive-behavioral psycho-education (B-CBE) program for managing stress and anxiety of main family caregivers of patients in the intensive care unit

© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Having a loved one in the intensive care unit (ICU) is a stressful event, which may cause a high level of anxiety to the family members. This could threaten their wellbeing and ability to support the patients in, or after discharge from, the ICU. To investigate the outcomes of a brief cognitive-behavioral psycho-education program (B-CBE) to manage stress and anxiety of the main family caregivers (MFCs), a pragmatic quasi-experimental study involving 45 participants (treatment group: 24; control group: 21) was conducted in an ICU. The Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale and the Critical Care Family Need Inventory were used to evaluate the primary outcomes on stress and anxiety, and satisfaction with family needs. The treatment group reported significantly better improvement in the information satisfaction score compared to the control group (p < 0.05; η 2 = 0.09). Overall main effects were observed on the stress (p < 0.01; η 2 = 0.20), anxiety (p < 0.01; η 2 = 0.18), depression (p < 0.05; η 2 = 0.13), support satisfaction (p < 0.05; η 2 = 0.13), and comfort satisfaction (p < 0.05; η 2 = 0.11) scores. The experience of this study suggest that MFCs are in great need of additional support like B-CBE to manage their stress and anxiety. Given the brevity of B-CBE, it is practical for critical care nurses to deliver and MFCs to take within the industrious context of an ICU. More studies are needed to investigate these types of brief psychological interventions.published_or_final_versio

Chemical characterization of PM2.5 from a southern coastal city of China:applications of modeling and chemical tracers in demonstrationof regional transport

An intensive sampling campaign of airborne fine particles (PM2.5) was conducted at Sanya, a coastal city in Southern China, from January to February 2012. Chemical analyses and mass reconstruction were used identify potential pollution sources and investigate atmospheric reaction mechanisms. A thermodynamic model indicated that low ammonia and high relative humidity caused the aerosols be acidic and that drove heterogeneous reactions which led to the formation of secondary inorganic aerosol. Relationships among neutralization ratios, free acidity, and air-mass trajectories suggest that the atmosphere at Sanya was impacted by both local and regional emissions. Three major transport pathways were identified, and flow from the northeast (from South China) typically brought the most polluted air to Sanya. A case study confirmed strong impact from South China (e.g., Pearl River Delta region) (contributed 76.8% to EC, and then this result can be extended to primary pollutants) when the northeast winds were dominant. The Weather Research Forecasting Black carbon model and trace organic markers were used to apportion local pollution versus regional contributions. Results of the study offer new insights into the atmospheric conditions and air pollution at this coastal city