Effects of Acute Low-Intensity Cycling on Perceived Stress, Arousal, and Attention

Generally, acute bouts of aerobic exercise have been shown to enhance psychological measures of emotion, mood, and affect. Previous investigations suggest that perceived stress and arousal levels are especially influenced by exercise. Interestingly, very few studies have examined the influence of exercise on attention and whether changes in stress and arousal may augment adaptations in attentional orientation that are often required during exercise. Furthermore, very little is known about the timing of the effects of exercise on these psychological outcomes. PURPOSE: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of low-intensity aerobic exercise on stress, arousal, and attention. A secondary aim was to evaluate the time-course effects of exercise on stress, arousal, and attention. METHODS: Twenty (Mage = 23.2 ± 3.1 years old) college-aged individuals were counterbalanced into low-intensity exercise (LI) and seated control (SC) conditions. During each condition, participants completed a 10-minute resting baseline period, 20 minutes of either sustained cycling or seated rest, and a 20-minute recovery period. Primary outcomes of stress, arousal, and attention were assessed at 10-minute intervals throughout each condition via a Visual Analog Scale for Stress (VAS-S), Felt Arousal Scale (FAS), and Attentional Focus Scale (AFS), respectively. RESULTS: For the VAS-S, a Time main effect was revealed, F(4,16) = 5.76, p = .005, suggesting general reductions in stress following both LI and SC conditions. A Time main effect was also found for the FAS, which was superseded by a Condition x Time interaction, F(4,16) = 3.08, p = .047, indicating a greater increase in arousal levels during the LI condition compared to the SC condition. Lastly, a Time main effect for the AFS was found, F(4,16) = 3.05, p = .049, indicating general shifts from internal to external focus during each condition. CONCLUSION: Taken together, the current results suggest that exercise at lower doses (i.e., low-intensity for 20 minutes) may have minimal influence on more complex psychological perceptions of stress and attention. These results may help us better understand the complicated interactions between common psychological measures used in exercise science research. Additionally, this study may aid in the development of appropriate exercise prescriptions for populations looking to specifically target stress, arousal, and attention

Adsorption of Line Segments on a Square Lattice

We study the deposition of line segments on a two-dimensional square lattice. The estimates for the coverage at jamming obtained by Monte-Carlo simulations and by $7^{th}$-order time-series expansion are successfully compared. The non-trivial limit of adsorption of infinitely long segments is studied, and the lattice coverage is consistently obtained using these two approaches.Comment: 19 pages in Latex+5 postscript files sent upon request ; PTB93_

Who Is at Risk for New Hepatitis B Infections Among People With HIV?

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) increases morbidity and mortality among people with HIV (PWH). We retrospectively analyzed HBV incidence among 5785 PWH. Fourteen had newly positive hepatitis B s antigen (mean 5.2 person-years of follow-up, 46.4/100 000 infections/year). These data show gaps in HBV vaccination and in the preventative efficacy of HBV-specific antiretroviral therapy

Kinetics and Jamming Coverage in a Random Sequential Adsorption of Polymer Chains

Using a highly efficient Monte Carlo algorithm, we are able to study the growth of coverage in a random sequential adsorption (RSA) of self-avoiding walk (SAW) chains for up to 10^{12} time steps on a square lattice. For the first time, the true jamming coverage (theta_J) is found to decay with the chain length (N) with a power-law theta_J propto N^{-0.1}. The growth of the coverage to its jamming limit can be described by a power-law, theta(t) approx theta_J -c/t^y with an effective exponent y which depends on the chain length, i.e., y = 0.50 for N=4 to y = 0.07 for N=30 with y -> 0 in the asymptotic limit N -> infinity.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages inclduing figure

Assessment of changes in quality of life among patients in the SAVE Study - Sirolimus as therapeutic Approach to uVEitis: a randomized study to assess the safety and bioactivity of intravitreal and subconjunctival injections of sirolimus in patients with non-infectious uveitis.

BACKGROUND: The National Eye Institute 39-Question Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-39) is an indicator of vision-related quality of life (QoL). The NEI VFQ-39 is used to assess the QoL in patients with non-infectious posterior uveitis, intermediate uveitis, or panuveitis, treated with subconjunctival (SCJ) or intravitreal (IVT) sirolimus as an immunomodulatory therapeutic (IMT) agent, delivered subconjunctivally (SCJ) or intravitreally (IVT) (the SAVE Study). Thirty subjects with non-infectious uveitis were randomized (SCJ:IVT, 1:1) for a prospective clinical trial. The 39-Question Visual Function Questionnaire (VFQ-39) was administered at baseline (BL), month 6 (M6), and month 12 (M12) visits. The survey measures self-reported vision health status for patients with chronic eye disease and assesses the effects of visual impairment on both task-oriented visual function and general health domains. In accordance to the NEI-VFQ Manual, each patient\u27s questionnaire was converted to a scaled score between 0 (worst) and 100 (best), and median scores were calculated for each of the subcategories and overall composite score at BL, M6, and M12. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed. RESULTS: Twenty-six patients completed the VFQ-39 at BL and M6, whereas 23 patients completed it at M12. Patients showed a significant improvement in pooled composite scores from BL to M6 and BL to M12. Analysis by treatment groups showed that intravitreal injection of sirolimus is better tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: Sirolimus has demonstrated bioactivity as an IMT and corticosteroid-sparing agent to treat non-infectious uveitis. Patients receiving intravitreal injection of sirolimus showed overall improvement of vision-related health while those receiving subconjunctival injections did not. Larger randomized control trials with sirolimus are indicated to validate these results. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00908466