Association between neighborhood walkability and physical activity in a community-based twin sample.

We investigated associations between neighborhood walkability and physical activity using twins (5477 monozygotic and same-sex dizygotic pairs) as "quasi-experimental" controls of genetic and shared environment (familial) factors that would otherwise confound exposure-outcome associations. Walkability comprised intersection density, population density, and destination accessibility. Outcomes included self-reported weekly minutes of neighborhood walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and days per week using transit services (eg, bus, commuter rail).

Smartphone Google Location History: A Novel Approach to Outdoor Physical Activity Research.

Background: Outdoor physical activity (PA) is an important component of overall health; however, it is difficult to measure. Passively collected smartphone location data like Google Location History (GLH) present an opportunity to address this issue.

Objectives: To evaluate the use of GLH data for measuring outdoor PA.

Creating a data warehouse to support monitoring of NSQHS blood management standard from EMR data.

Background: Blood management is an important aspect of healthcare and vital for the well-being of patients. For effective blood management, it is essential to determine the quality and documentation of the processes for blood transfusions in the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system. The EMR system stores information on most activities performed in a digital hospital.

Extracellular Matrix Limits Nanoparticle Diffusion and Cellular Uptake in a Tissue-Specific Manner.

Overexpression and remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in cancer and other diseases may significantly reduce the ability of nanoparticles to reach target sites, preventing the effective delivery of therapeutic cargo. Here, we evaluate how tissue-specific properties of the ECM affect nanoparticle diffusion using fluorescence video microscopy and cellular uptake via flow cytometry. In addition, we determined how poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chain length and branching influence the ability of PEGylated nanoparticles to overcome the ECM barrier from different tissues.