Discovery of associative patterns between workplace sound level and physiological wellbeing using wearable devices and empirical Bayes modeling.

We conducted a field study using multiple wearable devices on 231 federal office workers to assess the impact of the indoor environment on individual wellbeing. Past research has established that the workplace environment is closely tied to an individual's wellbeing. Since sound is the most-reported environmental factor causing stress and discomfort, we focus on quantifying its association with physiological wellbeing.

Compact homogeneous Leviflat CR-manifolds.

We consider compact Leviflat homogeneous Cauchy-Riemann (CR) manifolds. In this setting, the Levi-foliation exists and we show that all its leaves are homogeneous and biholomorphic. We analyze separately the structure of orbits in complex projective spaces and parallelizable homogeneous CR-manifolds in our context and then combine the projective and parallelizable cases.

Effect of Workstation Type on the Relationship Between Fatigue, Physical Activity, Stress, and Sleep.

Objective: This study examined office workstation types' impact on the relationship between fatigue and three health metrics: physical activity, stress, and sleep quality.

Methods: Data from 225 office workers were collected for perceived fatigue, perceived sleep quality (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index [PSQI]), physiological stress response (standard deviation of heart rate variability [HRV]), and physical activity (total activity in minutes) during three consecutive workdays. Stress and physical activity were measured using chest-worn sensors.

Personal CO cloud: laboratory measurements of metabolic CO inhalation zone concentration and dispersion in a typical office desk setting.

Inhalation exposure to pure and metabolic elevated carbon dioxide (CO) concentration has been associated with impaired work performance, lower perceived air quality, and increased health symptoms. In this study, the concentration of metabolic CO was continuously measured in the inhalation zone of 41 subjects performing simulated office work. The measurements took place in an environmental chamber with well-controlled mechanical ventilation arranged as an office environment.

Effects of office workstation type on physical activity and stress.

Objective: Office environments have been causally linked to workplace-related illnesses and stress, yet little is known about how office workstation type is linked to objective metrics of physical activity and stress. We aimed to explore these associations among office workers in US federal office buildings.

Methods: We conducted a wearable, sensor-based, observational study of 231 workers in four office buildings.

Current status and perspectives in translational biomarker research for PD-1/PD-L1 immune checkpoint blockade therapy.

Modulating immune inhibitory pathways has been a major recent breakthrough in cancer treatment. Checkpoint blockade antibodies targeting cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programed cell-death protein 1 (PD-1) have demonstrated acceptable toxicity, promising clinical responses, durable disease control, and improved survival in some patients with advanced melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and other tumor types. About 20 % of advanced NSCLC patients and 30 % of advanced melanoma patients experience tumor responses from checkpoint blockade monotherapy, with better clinical responses seen with the combination of anti-PD-1 and anti-CTLA-4 antibodies.

Injection of dexamethasone versus placebo for lateral elbow pain: a prospective, double-blind, randomized clinical trial.

Purpose: We tested the hypothesis that there is no difference in disability, pain, and grip strength 1 and 6 months after corticosteroid and lidocaine injection compared with lidocaine injection alone (placebo).

Methods: Sixty-four patients were randomly assigned to dexamethasone (n = 31) or placebo (n = 33) injection. At enrollment, disability (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand [DASH] questionnaire), pain on a visual analog scale, grip strength, depression (the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; CESD), and ineffective coping skills (the Pain Catastrophizing Scale; PCS) were comparable between treatment groups.

Role of peroxynitrite anion in renal hypothermic preservation injury.

Background: Peroxynitrite anions may play a role in normothermic renal ischemia and reperfusion. The purpose of this study was to determine if endogenous peroxynitrite anion is involved in renal preservation injury.

Methods: Experiments were conducted in isolated canine renal tubules and in a canine autotransplant model of hypothermic preservation injury.

Ischemic preconditioning and liver tolerance to warm or cold ischemia: experimental studies in large animals.

Background: In the rodent, ischemic preconditioning (IPC) has been shown to improve the tolerance of the liver to ischemia-reperfusion under normothermic or hypothermic conditions. The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesis in a dog model, which may be more relevant to the human.

Methods: Beagle dogs were used in two distinct animal models of hepatic warm ischemia and orthotopic liver transplantation (hypothermic ischemia).

Loss of endothelium-dependent relaxation in abdominal aorta preserved in a co-storage system.

The potentially detrimental influence of parenchymal cells on endothelial function during preservation in UW solution was examined by co-storage of rat abdominal aortic rings with isolated liver cells. Cold storage of rings in UW solution alone for up to 96 h had no effect on the response to acetylcholine, though constriction was progressively lost. Co-storage of rings with liver cells resulted in no loss of sodium nitroprusside response, but the relaxation response to acetylcholine was reduced.

Prolonged hypothermia causes primary nonfunction in preserved canine renal allografts due to humoral rejection.

Canine kidney preservation models have historically used autotransplants to avoid the complications of rejection, although clinically all transplants are allografts. This study investigated the effects of preservation time and method on early kidney function in a canine allograft vs. autograft model.

Feasibility of continuous long-term glucose monitoring from a subcutaneous glucose sensor in humans.

The feasibility of continuous long-term glucose monitoring in humans has not yet been demonstrated. Enzyme-based electrochemical glucose sensors with telemetric output were subcutaneously implanted and evaluated in five human subjects with type I diabetes. Subject-worn radio-receiver data-loggers stored sensor outputs.

The effects of donor brain death on renal function and arachidonic acid metabolism in a large animal model of hypothermic preservation injury.

Background: Donor brain death (BD) has been implicated as a risk factor for the poor performance of kidneys after transplantation in small but not large animal models. This study determined the effects of donor BD on renal function and lipid mediator metabolism in a large animal model of renal hypothermic preservation injury.

Methods: Adult beagle donors were subjected to explosive BD for 16 hr.

Primitive endothelial cell lines from the porcine embryonic yolk sac.

Endothelial cell lines have been established from cells that were isolated from porcine yolk sacs from day 18 and day 22 embryos and propagated in vitro under various growth conditions. After expansion in vitro, the general properties of the cells proved similar for the different media used. The endothelial cells expressed cell surface receptors for acetylated low-density lipoprotein and also expressed cell surface-associated angiotensin-converting enzyme.

Teaching senior nurses how to teach communication skills in oncology.

Many nurses acknowledge that their nursing practice is hampered by inadequate teaching about communication skills during their nursing education. Ineffective communication has negative effects on patient care and causes stress when nurses interact with each other, with medical colleagues, with patients and their relatives. Many senior nurses teach junior staff about communication and feel uncertain about their competence to do so despite recognition of its importance.

A subcutaneous glucose sensor with improved longevity, dynamic range, and stability of calibration.

Objective: To evaluate the lifetime, response time, linearity, glucose range, and calibration stability of two different types of continuous glucose sensor implants in a dog model.

Research Design And Methods: Glucose sensors based on the enzyme electrode principle that are coupled to a radio transmitter were evaluated on the bench top, sterilized, and then implanted subcutaneously in nondiabetic mongrel dogs. A multichannel radio receiver and PC data processor were used to record the sensor glucose data.

A novel endothelial cell-based gene therapy platform for the in vivo delivery of apolipoprotein E.

A major focus in gene therapy has been the use of recombinant viruses to deliver genes in vivo. Although this approach shows much promise, there are many safety concerns associated with the use of viral materials in the treatment of human diseases. Our alternative cell-based gene therapy approach utilizes endothelial cells (Pro 175) isolated from the murine embryonic yolk sac.

Role of endothelium in the control of mouse yolk sac stem cell differentiation.

Studies in our laboratory have shown that as early as day 8.5 of development, mouse yolk sac cells can generate T cells when placed in a thymic microenvironment. At this stage, yolk sac cells can also differentiate into myeloid cells in vitro.

A telemetry-instrumentation system for monitoring multiple subcutaneously implanted glucose sensors.

An implantable potentiostat-radiotelemetry system for in vivo sensing of glucose is described. An enzyme electrode sensor measures the oxidation current of hydrogen peroxide formed by the stoichiometric conversion of glucose substrate and oxygen cofactor in an immobilized glucose oxidase layer. The sensor current is converted to a frequency and transmitted at programmable intervals (4, 32, 256 s) to a remote receiver.

Evaluation of a subcutaneous glucose sensor out to 3 months in a dog model.

Objective: To advance the feasibility of an implantable long-term glucose sensor with bioprotective sensor membranes and test protocols using a somatostatin analog (octreotide).

Research Design And Methods: Implantable sensors were constructed with one of eight bioprotective membranes and screened in vitro for stable response to glucose. Sensors were implanted subcutaneously into nondiabetic mongrel dogs and monitored at 4-min intervals via radiotelemetry.

Enzymatic glucose sensors. Improved long-term performance in vitro and in vivo.

We studied the long-term in vitro and in vivo performance of enzyme electrode glucose sensors. Single commercially produced enzyme-active membranes remained functional for estimating glucose in vitro for 14-36 months. These membranes were implanted subcutaneously in rats for 1 year and, upon explanation, remained functional for measuring glucose in vitro.

Emetine myopathy in a patient with an eating disorder.

Objective: To alert physicians to the dangers of a readily available, non-prescription drug by describing the clinical and pathological features of myopathy due to chronic poisoning with ipecac syrup in a patient with an eating disorder.

Clinical Features: A 27-year-old woman presented in 1991 with a right foot drop, followed a few months later by progressive severe neck and limb weakness associated with dysphagia, faecal incontinence and diffuse body ache. It emerged that she had been consuming increasing quantities of ipecac syrup (up to 200 mL per week) for three months to induce vomiting and weight loss.

HTLV-I associated myelopathy in a Seychellois immigrant.

Objective: To describe the clinical and laboratory features of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) associated myelopathy in an immigrant from the Seychelles.

Clinical Features: A slowly progressive myelopathy has been recently diagnosed in a 64-year-old woman who emigrated to Australia from the Seychelles in 1957. Sphincter disturbance and back pain were the first manifestations, followed by gait disturbance.