Public Health.

Background: Though high HbA (marker for glycemic control) is associated with increased dementia risk, the influence of longitudinal changes in HbA is unclear. We examined the association between 10-year trajectories of HbA and dementia risk in a large, diverse sample of people in Northern California.

Method: In a cohort of 32, 914 patients with Type 2 diabetes aged ≥ 50 years, we obtained repeated measures of HbA, dementia diagnoses, and comorbidities from electronic medical records (EMR) from 1996-20021.

Public Health.

Background: Population dementia prevalence is traditionally estimated using cohort studies, surveys, routinely-collected administrative data, and registries. Hospital Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are comprised of rich structured and unstructured (text) clinical data that are underutilised for this purpose. We aimed to develop a suite of algorithms using routinely-collected EHR data to reliably identify cases of dementia, as a key step towards incorporating such data in prevalence estimation.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Use of Quaternary Ammonium Compound Disinfectants in Healthcare Facilities Within Selected States in the United States of America.

Introduction Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) are the active ingredient in the majority of disinfectants approved for use against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although widely used, they have been linked to infertility and birth defects in animals, and have been shown to increase proinflammatory cytokines, decrease mitochondrial function, and disrupt sterol biosynthetic pathways in a dose-dependent manner in humans. This study examined if there was an increased use of QAC-based disinfectants among healthcare settings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and aims to bring to light the negative health outcomes that this rise in QAC exposure may pose.

Global Comparisons of Age, Gender and Socioeconomic Status Differences of Physical Fitness Health Risk in South African Primary School Children: Longitudinal Data from the NW-CHILD Study.

Global physical fitness (PF) levels have declined over the past 50 years, contributing to early health risks in children although it is still unclear how age, gender and socioeconomic status (SES) impact PF risk. This study aimed to identify unique health risks related to age, SES and gender that might influence muscular fitness (MF) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) levels of primary school children in South Africa. Children ( = 349, boys = 165; girls = 184) of low ( = 201) and high SES ( = 148) underwent three time point measurements at 6, 9 and 12 years spanning seven primary school years.

Wrist posture unpredictably affects perception of targeted transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation with wrist-placed electrodes.

Objective: Targeted transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (tTENS) is a non-invasive neural stimulation technique that involves activating sensory nerve fibers to elicit tactile sensations in a distal, or referred, location. Though tTENS is a promising approach for delivering haptic feedback in virtual reality or for use by those with somatosensory deficits, it was not known how the perception of tTENS might be influenced by changing wrist position during sensorimotor tasks.

Approach: We worked with 12 able-bodied individuals and delivered tTENS by placing electrodes on the wrist, thus targeting the ulnar, median, and radial nerves, and eliciting tactile sensations in the hand.