Perceived Barriers to and Facilitators of Physical Activity in Recipients of Solid Organ Transplantation, a Qualitative Study

Background Sufficient physical activity is important for solid organ transplant recipients (heart, lung, liver, kidney). However, recipients do not meet the recommended amount or required type of physical activity. The perceived barriers to and facilitators of physical activity in this population are largely unknown. Methods Semi-structured in depth interviews were conducted with solid organ transplant recipients in order to explore experienced barriers and facilitators. Qualitative methodology with thematic line-by-line analysis was used for analysis, and derived themes were classified into personal and environmental factors. Results The most important indicated barriers were physical limitations, insufficient energy level, fear, and comorbidities. The most frequently mentioned facilitators included motivation, coping, consequences of (in) activity, routine/habit, goals/goal priority, and responsibility for the transplanted organ. Neutral factors acting as a barrier or facilitator were self-efficacy and expertise of personnel. A comparison of barriers and facilitators between transplant recipient groups yielded no overt differences. Conclusion Several personal and environmental factors were indicated that should be considered in intervention development to increase physical activity behavior in solid organ transplant recipients

L’utilizzo delle vibrazioni meccaniche focali nella riabilitazione dell’instabilita posturale in soggetti affetti da malattia di parkinson: revisione della letteratura

Introduzione: linstabilita  posturale nei pazienti con malattia di Parkinson è un sintomo che compare negli stadi avanzati di questa patologia ed, essendo presente sia in stazione eretta sia durante la deambulazione, risulta estremamente invalidante, con un intaccamento dell'autonomia nelle attività di vita quotidiana e della vita sociale. Negli ultimi anni, come strategia di trattamento per l'nstabilità posturale in soggetti con malattia di Parkinson, sono sempre più studiate le vibrazioni meccaniche focali, a cui i fusi muscolari sono estremamente sensibili; grazie a questo esse trasmettono un afflusso propriocettivo al sistema nervoso centrale, che modula lâeccitabilità dei riflessi spinali o le risposte muscolari, indotte dalle alterazioni posturali. Questo ha portato a formulare lâobiettivo di questa tesi, cioè quello di verificare o smentire lâefficacia delle vibrazioni focali meccaniche, quando vengono impiegate nella riabilitazione dellâinstabilità posturale nei soggetti con malattia di Parkinson. Metodi: Per raggiungere lâobiettivo è stata eseguita una ricerca bibliografica nella letteratura internazionale in lingua inglese, su Medline, PubMed, PEDRO e the Cochrane Library. Per eseguire la ricerca sono stati cercati articoli in cui le vibrazioni focali sono state utilizzate come trattamento dellâinstabilità posturale nel Parkinson. Risultati: dalla ricerca bibliografica sono risultati 18 articoli; di questi, 10 parlavano del trattamento, con vibrazioni focali, nellâinstabilità posturale (di cui 7 nella malattia di Parkinson), 2 descrivevano gli effetti di esse nella prevenzione delle cadute, 2 riguardavano il loro impiego nel miglioramento della deambulazione di soggetti con malattia di Parkinson e gli ultimi 3 trattavano degli effetti in generale delle vibrazioni focali. Conclusioni: tutti gli articoli esaminati concordano sul fatto che le vibrazioni focali, utilizzate nel trattamento dellâinstabilità posturale di Parkinson, portano degli effetti benefici, che perdurano nel tempo. Inoltre, questa strategia di trattamento, migliora la deambulazione nei pazienti con malattia di Parkinson, riduce il tasso di cadute ed, essendo uno strumento indossabile, indolore e non invasivo, porta ad un miglioramento della qualità di vita della questi pazienti

Cellular Radiosensitivity: How much better do we understand it?

Purpose: Ionizing radiation exposure gives rise to a variety of lesions in DNA that result in genetic instability and potentially tumorigenesis or cell death. Radiation extends its effects on DNA by direct interaction or by radiolysis of H2O that generates free radicals or aqueous electrons capable of interacting with and causing indirect damage to DNA. While the various lesions arising in DNA after radiation exposure can contribute to the mutagenising effects of this agent, the potentially most damaging lesion is the DNA double strand break (DSB) that contributes to genome instability and/or cell death. Thus in many cases failure to recognise and/or repair this lesion determines the radiosensitivity status of the cell. DNA repair mechanisms including homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) have evolved to protect cells against DNA DSB. Mutations in proteins that constitute these repair pathways are characterised by radiosensitivity and genome instability. Defects in a number of these proteins also give rise to genetic disorders that feature not only genetic instability but also immunodeficiency, cancer predisposition, neurodegeneration and other pathologies. Conclusions: In the past fifty years our understanding of the cellular response to radiation damage has advanced enormously with insight being gained from a wide range of approaches extending from more basic early studies to the sophisticated approaches used today. In this review we discuss our current understanding of the impact of radiation on the cell and the organism gained from the array of past and present studies and attempt to provide an explanation for what it is that determines the response to radiation

Electric field measurements on plasma bullets in N₂ using four-wave mixing

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets driven by pulsed DC or kHz AC voltages typically consist of discrete guided ionisation waves called plasma bullets. In this work, the electric field of plasma bullets generated in a pulsed DC jet with N2 as feed gas is investigated. Electric field measurements in N2 can be performed by firing two high intensity laser pulses, where the frequency of one is Stokes shifted relative to the other, at the plasma bullet. Nonlinear interactions induced by the laser pulses and the bullet’s electric field then result in two additional radiation fields from which the electric field can be calculated. Challenges in applying this technique to plasma bullets arise from their submillimeter dimensions, high propagation velocity (order of 105 m/s) and the non-uniformity of the electric field. The required analysis for these conditions and some first results are presented

Electric field measurements on plasma bullets in N2 using four-wave mixing

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets generated by kHz nanosecond voltage pulses typically consist of guided streamer discharges called plasma bullets. In this work, plasma bullets are generated in a pulsed plasma jet using N2 as feed gas and their electric field distribution is investigated by polarization-resolved four-wave mixing. The method and its analysis have been extended to resolve radial profiles of non-uniform, but radially symmetric, electric field distributions. In addition, a calibration procedure using an electrode geometry different from the discharge geometry has been developed. A radially resolved profile of the axial electric fiel

Electric field measurements on plasma bullets in N2 using four-wave mixing

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets driven by pulsed DC or kHz AC voltages typically consist of discrete guided ionisation waves called plasma bullets. In this work, the electric field of plasma bullets generated in a pulsed DC jet with N2 as feed gas is investigated. Electric field measurements in N2 can be performed by firing two high intensity laser pulses, where the frequency of one is Stokes shifted relative to the other, at the plasma bullet. Nonlinear interactions induced by the laser pulses and the bullet’s electric field then result in two additional radiation fields from which the electric field can be calculated. Challenges in applying this technique to plasma bullets arise from their submillimeter dimensions, high propagation velocity (order of 105 m/s) and the non-uniformity of the electric field. The required analysis for these conditions and some first results are presented