69 research outputs found
Differentiating Sleep Problems Most Related to Depression and Anxiety in College Students
Sleep problems, anxiety and depression are common amongst college students. Researchers examined the specific sleep problems correlated with anxiety and depression. These sleep problems included sleep duration, sleep disturbances, sleep latency, daytime dysfunction, habitual sleep efficiency, overall sleep quality, and use of sleep medication. Researchers predicted that daytime dysfunction was the most important sleep problem related to greater anxiety symptoms, followed by overall quality of sleep, and sleep duration. Meanwhile, it was also predicted that daytime dysfunction would be the most important sleep problem and sleep latency the second most important sleep problem related to greater depressive symptoms. The study consisted of 561 undergraduate students (55% White, 69.9% female).
Two multiple regression analyses were conducted. The first examined the most pertinent sleep problems related to greater anxiety symptoms in college students. The seven sleep problems described above were simultaneously entered into the model. The overall model showed significantly greater anxiety symptoms, F(7, 513) = 19.19, p \u3c .05. Together, these sleep problems accounted for 20.7% of the variance in greater anxiety symptoms. Daytime dysfunction due to sleepiness was the most strongly related to greater anxiety symptoms t(513) = 6.25, p \u3c .05, followed by overall sleep quality, t(513) = 2.27, p \u3c .05, followed by habitual sleep efficiency, t(513) = 2.26, p \u3c .05.
The second multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationship between sleep problems and depression symptoms. The same sleep problems were simultaneously entered into the model. The overall model showed the sleep problems significantly predicted depressive symptoms, F(7, 512) = 34.89, p \u3c .001. Together, these sleep problems accounted for 32.3% of the variance in depression symptoms. In order of importance, sleep duration, t(512) = 2.84, p \u3c .05, sleep disturbances, t(512) = 3.82, p \u3c .001, daytime dysfunction due to sleepiness, t(512) = 8.90, p \u3c .001, and overall sleep quality, t(512) = 2.14, p \u3c .05, were all significantly related to depression symptoms.
These findings suggest that for individuals with anxiety or depressive symptoms targeting treatments that focus on daytime dysfunction and overall sleep quality may lead to a reduction in these symptoms. Additionally, specific to anxiety, we should focus on ameliorating habitual sleep efficiency by improving the amount of sleep individuals consistently receive. Conversely, in relation to depressive symptoms, future work should focus on increasing the amount of time people sleep and decreasing how much people awake while they are sleeping.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1183/thumbnail.jp
Changes in Health and Physical Fitness Parameters After 6 Months of High-intensity Group Exercise in Firefighters: Preliminary Data
The physical demands of firefighting require the men and women employed in this profession to be in optimal physical condition to perform their jobs proficiently, as well as to mitigate the risk of injury. Every year, the city of Addison, TX, budgets many thousands of dollars to the compensation plan for first responders. Most of the funding is used for rehabilitation services due to work related injuries. PURPOSE: While many of these injuries are unavoidable due to the inherent risks of the profession, ensuring proper physical fitness is one of the most effective methods to reduce many of these impairments. The purpose of this preliminary study was to characterize health and fitness parameters in 18 professional firefighters from the city of Addison, TX, prior to a 6-month training program. METHODS: Upon arrival, all participants underwent testing in the following order: body composition, range of motion, anaerobic power, muscular endurance, and cardiorespiratory fitness. All participants also completed a detailed health history questionnaire and answered questions specifically addressing chronic low back pain. RESULTS: The following values were attained from testing: total body fat: 30.1±9.7%; flexibility: 24.9±6.3 cm; peak power: 1068.7±272.9 W; mean power: 636.9±143.4 W; time to peak power 0.57±0.35 sec; pushup: 28.8±14.9; curl up: 22.1±15.8; VO2max: 34.1±5.1 ml/kg/min. CONCLUSION: Based off the comparison of reported means and ACSM’s fitness norms, it can be concluded that improvements are necessary in body composition, muscular endurance, range of motion and cardiorespiratory fitness. With improvements in these physiological variables, tactical performance may be optimally performed in a safer manner
Discovery and Use of a Natural Mutation that Results in Severe Combined Immuno Deficiency in Pigs
Piglets from the low residual feed intake (RFI) line at ISU were found to be affected with a lethal autosomal recessive mutation that causes Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID). Bone marrow allotransplantation rescued the immune deficiency in four of nine attempted transfers; the other five exhibited signs of severe graft versus host disease and were euthanized. A genome wide association study identified a 5.6 Mb region that contained the causative mutation. Affected haplotypes were traced back to the founders of the RFI population, who were sourced from the purebred Yorkshire population. The SCID pigs will be useful as a biomedical model, as pigs are anatomically and genetically more similar to humans than SCID mice, which are now widely used. Development of a genetic test for the causative mutation will be valuable to the swine industry, allowing breeders to identify carriers
Prevalence of plasmodium falciparum in active conflict areas of eastern Burma: a summary of cross-sectional data
BACKGROUND: Burma records the highest number of malaria deaths in southeast Asia and may represent a reservoir of infection for its neighbors, but the burden of disease and magnitude of transmission among border populations of Burma remains unknown. METHODS: Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) parasitemia was detected using a HRP-II antigen based rapid test (Paracheck-Pf(R)). Pf prevalence was estimated from screenings conducted in 49 villages participating in a malaria control program, and four retrospective mortality cluster surveys encompassing a sampling frame of more than 220,000. Crude odds ratios were calculated to evaluate Pf prevalence by age, sex, and dry vs. rainy season. RESULTS: 9,796 rapid tests were performed among 28,410 villagers in malaria program areas through four years (2003: 8.4%, 95% CI: 8.3 - 8.6; 2004: 7.1%, 95% CI: 6.9 - 7.3; 2005:10.5%, 95% CI: 9.3 - 11.8 and 2006: 9.3%, 95% CI: 8.2 - 10.6). Children under 5 (OR = 1.99; 95% CI: 1.93 - 2.06) and those 5 to 14 years (OR = 2.24, 95% CI: 2.18 - 2.29) were more likely to be positive than adults. Prevalence was slightly higher among females (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02 - 1.06) and in the rainy season (OR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.16 - 1.88). Among 5,538 rapid tests conducted in four cluster surveys, 10.2% were positive (range 6.3%, 95% CI: 3.9 - 8.8; to 12.4%, 95% CI: 9.4 - 15.4). CONCLUSION: Prevalence of plasmodium falciparum in conflict areas of eastern Burma is higher than rates reported among populations in neighboring Thailand, particularly among children. This population serves as a large reservoir of infection that contributes to a high disease burden within Burma and likely constitutes a source of infection for neighboring regions
Epidemic waves of COVID-19 in Scotland: a genomic perspective on the impact of the introduction and relaxation of lockdown on SARS-CoV-2
A function-based typology for Earth’s ecosystems
As the United Nations develops a post-2020 global biodiversity framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity, attention is focusing on how new goals and targets for ecosystem conservation might serve its vision of ‘living in harmony with nature’(1,2). Advancing dual imperatives to conserve biodiversity and sustain ecosystem services requires reliable and resilient generalizations and predictions about ecosystem responses to environmental change and management(3). Ecosystems vary in their biota(4), service provision(5) and relative exposure to risks(6), yet there is no globally consistent classification of ecosystems that reflects functional responses to change and management. This hampers progress on developing conservation targets and sustainability goals. Here we present the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Ecosystem Typology, a conceptually robust, scalable, spatially explicit approach for generalizations and predictions about functions, biota, risks and management remedies across the entire biosphere. The outcome of a major cross-disciplinary collaboration, this novel framework places all of Earth’s ecosystems into a unifying theoretical context to guide the transformation of ecosystem policy and management from global to local scales. This new information infrastructure will support knowledge transfer for ecosystem-specific management and restoration, globally standardized ecosystem risk assessments, natural capital accounting and progress on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework
Evolution of long-term vaccine-induced and hybrid immunity in healthcare workers after different COVID-19 vaccine regimens
BACKGROUND: Both infection and vaccination, alone or in combination, generate antibody and T cell responses against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, the maintenance of such responses-and hence protection from disease-requires careful characterization. In a large prospective study of UK healthcare workers (HCWs) (Protective Immunity from T Cells in Healthcare Workers [PITCH], within the larger SARS-CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation [SIREN] study), we previously observed that prior infection strongly affected subsequent cellular and humoral immunity induced after long and short dosing intervals of BNT162b2 (Pfizer/BioNTech) vaccination. METHODS: Here, we report longer follow-up of 684 HCWs in this cohort over 6-9 months following two doses of BNT162b2 or AZD1222 (Oxford/AstraZeneca) vaccination and up to 6 months following a subsequent mRNA booster vaccination. FINDINGS: We make three observations: first, the dynamics of humoral and cellular responses differ; binding and neutralizing antibodies declined, whereas T and memory B cell responses were maintained after the second vaccine dose. Second, vaccine boosting restored immunoglobulin (Ig) G levels; broadened neutralizing activity against variants of concern, including Omicron BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5; and boosted T cell responses above the 6-month level after dose 2. Third, prior infection maintained its impact driving larger and broader T cell responses compared with never-infected people, a feature maintained until 6 months after the third dose. CONCLUSIONS: Broadly cross-reactive T cell responses are well maintained over time-especially in those with combined vaccine and infection-induced immunity ("hybrid" immunity)-and may contribute to continued protection against severe disease
The Sariçiçek Howardite Fall in Turkey: Source Crater of HED Meteorites on Vesta and İmpact Risk of Vestoids
The Sariçiçek howardite meteorite shower consisting of 343 documented stones
occurred on 2 September 2015 in Turkey and is the first documented howardite fall. Cosmogenic
isotopes show that Sariçiçek experienced a complex cosmic ray exposure history, exposed during
~12–14 Ma in a regolith near the surface of a parent asteroid, and that an ~1 m sized meteoroid
was launched by an impact 22 ± 2 Ma ago to Earth (as did one third of all HED meteorites). SIMS
dating of zircon and baddeleyite yielded 4550.4 ± 2.5 Ma and 4553 ± 8.8 Ma crystallization ages
for the basaltic magma clasts. The apatite U-Pb age of 4525 ± 17 Ma, K-Ar age of ~3.9 Ga, and
the U,Th-He ages of 1.8 ± 0.7 and 2.6 ± 0.3 Ga are interpreted to represent thermal metamorphic
and impact-related resetting ages, respectively. Petrographic, geochemical and O-, Cr- and Tiisotopic
studies confirm that Sariçiçek belongs to the normal clan of HED meteorites. Petrographic
observations and analysis of organic material indicate a small portion of carbonaceous chondrite
material in the Sariçiçek regolith and organic contamination of the meteorite after a few days on
soil. Video observations of the fall show an atmospheric entry at 17.3 ± 0.8 kms-1 from NW,
fragmentations at 37, 33, 31 and 27 km altitude, and provide a pre-atmospheric orbit that is the
first dynamical link between the normal HED meteorite clan and the inner Main Belt. Spectral data
indicate the similarity of Sariçiçek with the Vesta asteroid family (V-class) spectra, a group of
asteroids stretching to delivery resonances, which includes (4) Vesta. Dynamical modeling of
meteoroid delivery to Earth shows that the complete disruption of a ~1 km sized Vesta family
asteroid or a ~10 km sized impact crater on Vesta is required to provide sufficient meteoroids ≤4
m in size to account for the influx of meteorites from this HED clan. The 16.7 km diameter Antonia
impact crater on Vesta was formed on terrain of the same age as given by the 4He retention age of
Sariçiçek. Lunar scaling for crater production to crater counts of its ejecta blanket show it was
formed ~22 Ma ago
Linking Symptom Inventories using Semantic Textual Similarity
An extensive library of symptom inventories has been developed over time to
measure clinical symptoms, but this variety has led to several long standing
issues. Most notably, results drawn from different settings and studies are not
comparable, which limits reproducibility. Here, we present an artificial
intelligence (AI) approach using semantic textual similarity (STS) to link
symptoms and scores across previously incongruous symptom inventories. We
tested the ability of four pre-trained STS models to screen thousands of
symptom description pairs for related content - a challenging task typically
requiring expert panels. Models were tasked to predict symptom severity across
four different inventories for 6,607 participants drawn from 16 international
data sources. The STS approach achieved 74.8% accuracy across five tasks,
outperforming other models tested. This work suggests that incorporating
contextual, semantic information can assist expert decision-making processes,
yielding gains for both general and disease-specific clinical assessment
- …