Publications by authors named "Natarajan L"

Purpose: The association between cardiovascular health (CVH) with perceived quality of life (PQoL) and variations by sex and Hispanic ethnicity is not well understood.

Methods: This study included 583 participants (42% Hispanic, 56% female, mean age 59 years). Linear regression modeled the covariate-adjusted associations between CVH, using the combined 7 components of Life's Simple 7 (LS7; ideal and intermediate, compared to poor), and PQoL (total and physical, social, and cognitive health domains).

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The Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon rank sum test (MWWRST) is a widely used method for comparing two treatment groups in randomized control trials, particularly when dealing with highly skewed data. However, when applied to observational study data, the MWWRST often yields invalid results for causal inference. To address this limitation, Wu (, Stat.

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  • Cancer-related cognitive decline is common among breast cancer survivors, and the study explores how physical activity may influence this relationship while considering cancer treatments.
  • The study involved 253 breast cancer survivors who completed cognitive tests and physical activity monitoring to examine the links between exercise and cognitive abilities.
  • Results indicated that self-reported cognitive ability improved with greater physical activity, but objective cognition measurements showed no significant association; time since diagnosis was also linked to processing speed.
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  • - The study investigates the transformation of Kraft lignin through nitric acid treatment and carbonization, aiming to create high-value carbon materials due to lignin's high carbon content.
  • - Nitric acid effectively nitrates and depolymerizes lignin at moderate temperatures, reducing its molecular weight significantly from 4371 g/mol to 767 g/mol, and forming nitrogen-doped carbon structures after carbonization.
  • - The resulting nitrogen-doped materials maintain stable nitrogen content and exhibit improved electrocatalytic properties, making the process cost-efficient and eliminating the need for additional catalysts or purification steps.
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Sensor devices, such as accelerometers, are widely used for measuring physical activity (PA). These devices provide outputs at fine granularity (e.g.

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Coastal pollutants, from harmful algal blooms, sewage and industrial discharges, pose severe risks to marine ecosystems and public health. Recently, Promenade Beach in Puducherry, Southeast-India, experienced reddish-brown water discoloration, suspected to result from either algal blooms or suspended matter. This study monitored the spatial extent and characteristics of the discoloration using Sentinel-2 satellite images from September to November 2023, with field observations and laboratory analyses.

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Background: Sedentary behavior has been identified as a significant risk factor for Metabolic Syndrome (MetS). However, it is unclear if the sedentary pattern measurement approach (posture vs. movement) impacts observed associations or if associations differ for Hispanic/Latino communities, who have higher risk of MetS.

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It is widely assumed crime and related concerns, including neighborhood incivilities and fear of crime, are barriers to physical activity (PA). Past studies reveal mixed evidence. Studies of impacts for crime-protective factors are less common but have similarly mixed results.

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Introduction: Bumetanide, a loop diuretic, was identified as a candidate drug for repurposing for Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on its effects on transcriptomic apolipoprotein E signatures. Cross-sectional analyses of electronic health records suggest that bumetanide is associated with decreased prevalence of AD; however, temporality between bumetanide exposure and AD development has not been established.

Methods: We evaluated Medicare claims data using Cox proportional hazards regression to evaluate the association between time-dependent use of bumetanide and time to first AD diagnosis while controlling for patient characteristics.

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The study on the influence of Natural Organic Matter (NOM) over the individual and combined effects of different nanomaterials on marine species is pertinent. The current study explores the role of Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) in influencing the individual and combined toxic effects of polystyrene nanoplastics (PSNPs) viz. aminated (NH-PSNPs), carboxylated (COOH-PSNPs), and plain PSNPs and TiO NPs in the marine crustacean, Artemia salina.

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  • Lactate is a key indicator of mitochondrial dysfunction, and recent studies are exploring its significance in diabetic kidney disease (DKD), particularly in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and type 1 diabetes (T1D).
  • In cohorts of T2D patients (HUNT3, SMART2D, CRIC), higher urine lactate levels were linked to worse kidney function and faster declines in glomerular filtration rate; additionally, increased lactate levels were observed in T1D patients during glucose challenges.
  • The study suggests that elevated lactate, particularly in diabetic conditions, may inhibit important mitochondrial processes and contribute to the pathology of DKD, potentially through mechanisms
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Physical activity (PA) is significantly associated with many health outcomes. The wide usage of wearable accelerometer-based activity trackers in recent years has provided a unique opportunity for in-depth research on PA and its relations with health outcomes and interventions. Past analysis of activity tracker data relies heavily on aggregating minute-level PA records into day-level summary statistics in which important information of PA temporal/diurnal patterns is lost.

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Postmenopausal Hispanic/Latina (N = 254) women with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m were randomized to an intervention to reduce sitting time or a comparison condition for 12 weeks. The standing intervention group received three in-person health-counseling sessions, one home visit, and up to eight motivational interviewing calls. The heart healthy lifestyle comparison group (C) received an equal number of contact hours to discuss healthy aging.

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TipA, a MerR family transcription factor from , promotes antibiotic resistance by sequestering broad-spectrum thiopeptide-based antibiotics, thus counteracting their inhibitory effect on ribosomes. TipAS, a minimal binding motif which is expressed as an isoform of TipA, harbors a partially disordered N-terminal subdomain that folds upon binding multiple antibiotics. The extent and nature of the underlying molecular heterogeneity in TipAS that shapes its promiscuous folding-function landscape is an open question and is critical for understanding antibiotic-sequestration mechanisms.

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Background: Sedentary behavior (SB) is a recognized risk factor for many chronic diseases. ActiGraph and activPAL are two commonly used wearable accelerometers in SB research. The former measures body movement and the latter measures body posture.

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Background: Sedentary behavior is a recognized mortality risk factor. The novel and validated convolutional neural network hip accelerometer posture algorithm highly accurately classifies sitting and postural changes compared with accelerometer count cut points. We examined the prospective associations of convolutional neural network hip accelerometer posture-classified total sitting time and mean sitting bout duration with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) death.

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Background: Placental damage due to viral infections increases risk of adverse perinatal outcomes. Histopathologic examination of placenta can provide information regarding association between infection and outcome. There is paucity of data describing placental pathology with respect to intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) in pregnant mothers affected with COVID-19.

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Background: Sedentary behavior among breast cancer survivors is associated with increased risk of poor physical function and worse quality of life. While moderate to vigorous physical activity can improve outcomes for cancer survivors, many are unable to engage in that intensity of physical activity. Decreasing sitting time may be a more feasible behavioral target to potentially mitigate the impact of cancer and its treatments.

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Study Objectives: Examining multiple dimensions of sleep health may better capture associations between sleep and health risks, including cardiometabolic disease (CMD). Hispanics have elevated risk for inadequate sleep and CMD biomarkers. Few studies have explored whether associations between sleep and CMD differ by Hispanic ethnicity.

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  • Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) can cause serious health issues, including end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and even death, but we don't have many tests to find out who is at high risk, especially if they don't have noticeable problems.
  • Researchers studied the urine of people with diabetes to see if a special test called urine adenine/creatinine ratio (UAdCR) could help identify those at risk for ESKD.
  • They found that higher levels of UAdCR were linked to higher chances of ESKD and that a medicine named empagliflozin could lower these levels, suggesting that adenine in the body might be a key player in causing kidney problems for people with diabetes.
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Background/objectives: Sedentary behavior (SB) has both movement and postural components, but most SB research has only assessed low movement, especially in children. The purpose of this study was to compare estimates and health associations of SB when derived from a standard accelerometer cut-point, a novel sitting detection technique (CNN Hip Accelerometer Posture for Children; CHAP-Child), and both combined.

Methods: Data were from the International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle, and the Environment (ISCOLE).

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  • Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) can get really serious and lead to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), but it's hard to find tests for high-risk patients who don't show clear signs.
  • Scientists studied urine from diabetes patients to see if the amount of a substance called adenine in urine could help predict ESKD risks.
  • They found that high levels of adenine in urine were linked to more kidney problems, and a medicine reduced those levels, suggesting that adenine could be causing some kidney damage in diabetes.
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Accelerometers are widely used for tracking human movement and provide minute-level (or even 30 Hz level) physical activity (PA) records for detailed analysis. Instead of using day-level summary statistics to assess these densely sampled inputs, we implement functional principal component analysis (FPCA) approaches to study the temporal patterns of PA data from 245 overweight/obese women at three visits over a 1-year period. We apply longitudinal FPCA to decompose PA inputs, incorporating subject-specific variability, and then test the association between these patterns and obesity-related health outcomes by multiple mixed effect regression models.

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