<Session 3: Biomedical Technology>Assessing radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure with a wearable network of dosimeters

19–22 May 2022 Kyoto, JapanIn contrast to the tremendous increase of wireless applications, the knowledge about daily life radio frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure remains low. Some research has already been conducted using large commercial single-antenna on-body dosimeters to assess daily RF-EMF exposure in different environments. To increase measurement quality and decrease variability however, a distributed, wearable body sensor network spread over the body for the assessment of RF-EMF exposure is desired. As a better alternative to the common single node assessment technique, this work therefore presents a wearable sensor network consisting of five nodes for the assessment of exposure in the 389 to 464, 779 to 950 and 2400 to 2483.5MHz bands using only two transceivers per node. A single node supports an antenna connection for the first band, two for the second and two for the third band. This makes antenna diversity possible and hence increases sensitivity for specific frequencies, depending on the choice of antenna design. Every node is powered by two AAA batteries, which define the size of the system (53x25x15mm), making it smaller than any other commercially available dosimeter. Furthermore, the device supports an inertial sensor for the assessment of body posture and/or activity during the measurement

Guidelines for Identifying Homologous Recombination Events in Influenza A Virus

The rapid evolution of influenza viruses occurs both clonally and non-clonally through a variety of genetic mechanisms and selection pressures. The non-clonal evolution of influenza viruses comprises relatively frequent reassortment among gene segments and a more rarely reported process of non-homologous RNA recombination. Homologous RNA recombination within segments has been proposed as a third such mechanism, but to date the evidence for the existence of this process among influenza viruses has been both weak and controversial. As homologous recombination has not yet been demonstrated in the laboratory, supporting evidence, if it exists, may come primarily from patterns of phylogenetic incongruence observed in gene sequence data. Here, we review the necessary criteria related to laboratory procedures and sample handling, bioinformatic analysis, and the known ecology and evolution of influenza viruses that need to be met in order to confirm that a homologous recombination event occurred in the history of a set of sequences. To determine if these criteria have an effect on recombination analysis, we gathered 8307 publicly available full-length sequences of influenza A segments and divided them into those that were sequenced via the National Institutes of Health Influenza Genome Sequencing Project (IGSP) and those that were not. As sample handling and sequencing are executed to a very high standard in the IGSP, these sequences should be less likely to be exposed to contamination by other samples or by laboratory strains, and thus should not exhibit laboratory-generated signals of homologous recombination. Our analysis shows that the IGSP data set contains only two phylogenetically-supported single recombinant sequences and no recombinant clades. In marked contrast, the non-IGSP data show a very large amount of potential recombination. We conclude that the presence of false positive signals in the non-IGSP data is more likely than false negatives in the IGSP data, and that given the evidence to date, homologous recombination seems to play little or no role in the evolution of influenza A viruses

Gut microbiota, metabolism and psychopathology:A critical review and novel perspectives

Psychiatric disorders are often associated with metabolic comorbidities. However, the mechanisms through which metabolic and psychiatric disorders are connected remain unclear. Pre-clinical studies in rodents indicate that the bidirectional signaling between the intestine and the brain, the so-called microbiome-gut-brain axis, plays an important role in the regulation of both metabolism and behavior. The gut microbiome produces a vast number of metabolites that may be transported into the host and play a part in homeostatic control of metabolism as well as brain function. In addition to short chain fatty acids, many of these metabolites have been identified in recent years. To what extent both microbiota and their products control human metabolism and behavior is a subject of intense investigation. In this review, we will discuss the most recent findings concerning alterations in the gut microbiota as a possible pathophysiological factor for the co-occurrence of metabolic comorbidities in psychiatric disorders

Arterial thrombotic complications in COVID-19 patients

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a viral respiratory illness caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been described to predispose to thrombotic disease in both the venous and arterial circulations. We report four cases of an acute arterial occlusion in COVID-19 patients and literature review on the occurrence of arterial thrombosis in patients with COVID-19. Our findings demonstrate that physicians should be vigilant for signs of thrombotic complications in both hospitalized and new COVID-19 patients

Realising early recognition of arthritis in times of increased telemedicine:the value of patient-reported swollen joints

Pathophysiology and treatment of rheumatic disease

Вплив глобалізації на модифікацію стратегії соціально-економічного розвитку Бразилії

У статті розкрито характер та напрями модифікації національної стратегії розвитку Бразилії, яка зазнала значних змін унаслідок посилення глобалізації світового господарства. Значну увагу приділено дослідженню особливостей і результатів економічних реформ, які були впроваджені Бразилією з метою побудови ефективної соціально-економічної системи.В статье раскрываются характер и направления модификации национальной стратегии развития Бразилии, которая претерпела значительные изменения вследствие усиления глобализации мирового хозяйства. Значительное внимание уделяется исследованию особенностей и результатов экономических реформ, которые были осуществлены Бразилией с целью построения эффективной социально-экономической системы.This article focuses on the nature and direction of modification of the national strategy of Brazil, which has undergone significant changes due to increasing globalization of world economy. Special attention is paid to analysis of peculiarities and results of economic reforms that were implemented in order to build effective social and economic systems of Brazil

Physical and Cognitive Functioning After 3 Years Can Be Predicted Using Information From the Diagnostic Process in Recently Diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis

Objective\ud To predict functioning after 3 years in patients with recently diagnosed multiple sclerosis (MS).\ud \ud Design\ud Inception cohort with 3 years of follow-up. At baseline, predictors were obtained from medical history taking, neurologic examination, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).\ud \ud Setting\ud Neurology outpatient clinic.\ud \ud Participants\ud Patients with MS (N=156); 146 with complete follow-up.\ud \ud Interventions\ud Not applicable.\ud \ud Main Outcome Measures\ud Inability to walk at least 500m, impaired dexterity, cognitive impairments, incontinence, inability to drive a car or use public transportation, social dysfunction, and reliance on a disability pension.\ud \ud Results\ud Clinical prediction rules were constructed for the models that were well calibrated (sufficient agreement between predicted and observed outcomes, based on visual inspection of calibration curves) and that showed sufficient discrimination (area under the receiver operation characteristic curve >.70) after internal bootstrap validation. The models for the inability to walk at least 500m, impaired dexterity, and cognitive impairments were well calibrated. Discrimination was sufficient for all 7 models, except the one predicting social dysfunction (.67). The inability to walk at least 500m was predicted by the perceived ability to walk, impairment of the cerebellar tract, and the number of MRI lesions in the spinal cord. Impaired dexterity was predicted by the perceived ability to use the hands, impairments of the pyramidal, cerebellar, and sensory tracts, and the T2-weighted infratentorial lesion load. Cognitive impairment was predicted by age, gender, the perceived ability to concentrate, and the T2-weighted supratentorial lesion load.\ud \ud Conclusions\ud Inability to walk at least 500m, impaired dexterity, and cognitive impairments can be predicted with predictors that are derived from medical history taking, neurologic examination, and MRI shortly after a definite diagnosis of MS has been made.\ud \u

Endograft apposition and infrarenal neck enlargement after endovascular aortic aneurysm repair

BACKGROUND: Sufficient apposition and oversizing of the endograft in the aortic neck are both essential for durable endovascular aneurysm repair (evar). These measures are however not regularly stated on post-evar computed tomography angiography (CTa) scan reports. in this study endograft apposition and neck enlargement (NE) after EVAR with an Endurant II(s) endograft were analyzed and associated with supra- and infrarenal aortic neck morphology. MeThods: in 97 consecutive elective patients, the aortic neck morphology was measured on the pre-evar CTa scan on a 3mensio vascular workstation. The distance between the lowest renal artery and the proximal edge of the fabric (shortest fabric distance, sfd), and the shortest length of circumferential apposition between endograft and aortic wall (shortest apposition length, sal) were determined on the early postEVAR CTA scan. NE, defined as the aortic diameter change between pre- and post-EVAR CTA scan, was determined at eight levels: +40, +30, +20, +15, +10, 0, -5 and -10 mm relative to the lowest renal artery baseline. The aortic neck diameter and preoperative oversizing were correlated to NE with the Pearson correlation coefficient. The effective post-EVAR endograft oversizing is calculated from the nominal endograft diameter and the post-evar neck diameter where the endograft is circumferentially apposed. resulTs: The median time (interquartile range, iQr) between the evar procedure and the pre- and post-evar CTa scan was 40 (25, 71) days and 36 (30, 46) days, respectively. The endurant ii(s) endograft was deployed with a median (iQr) sfd of 1.0 (0.0, 3.0) mm. The sal was <10 mm in 9% of patients and significantly influenced by the pre-EVAR aortic neck length (P=0.001), hostile neck shape (P=0.017), and maximum curvature at the suprarenal aorta (P=0.039). The median (interquartile range) SAL was 21.0 (15.0, 27.0) mm with a median (IQR) pre-evar infrarenal neck length of 23.5 (13.0, 34.8) mm. The median (iQr) difference between the sal and neck length was -5.0 (-12.0, 2.8) mm. Significant (P<0.001) NE of 1.7 (0.9, 2.5) mm was observed 5 mm below the renal artery baseline, which resulted in an effective post-EVAR endograft oversizing <10% in 43% of the patients. No correlation was found between NE and aortic neck diameter or preoperative oversizing. ConClusions: Circumferential apposition between an endograft and the infrarenal aortic neck, sal, and ne can be derived from standard postoperative CT scans. These variables provide essential information about the post-procedural endograft and aortic neck morphology regardless of the preoperative measurements. Patients with SAL<10 mm or effective oversizing <10% due to NE may benefit from intensified followup, but clinical consequences of sal and ne should be evaluated in future longitudinal studies with longer term follow-up