Midlife heart rate variability and cognitive decline: A large longitudinal cohort study.

Background: Autonomic dysfunction is common in dementia, yet its contribution to neurocognitive changes remains unknown. We investigated whether midlife cardiac vagal modulation, indexed by heart rate variability, associates with subsequent cognitive decline in adults without prior coronary heart disease or stroke.

Methods: The sample comprised 2702 (1924 men) individuals initially aged 44-69 years from the UK Whitehall II cohort.

Imaging the temporal profile of structured optical modes.

Spatially structured optical modes exhibit a group velocity lower than c, resulting in a measurable temporal delay with respect to plane waves. Here, we develop a technique to image this temporal delay and measure it across a set of optical modes. An inevitable consequence of spatially varying delay is temporal broadening of the mode.

Path Tracing-Inspired Modeling of Non-Line-of-Sight SPAD Data.

Non-Line of Sight (NLOS) imaging has gained attention for its ability to detect and reconstruct objects beyond the direct line of sight, using scattered light, with applications in surveillance and autonomous navigation. This paper presents a versatile framework for modeling the temporal distribution of photon detections in direct Time of Flight (dToF) Lidar NLOS systems. Our approach accurately accounts for key factors such as material reflectivity, object distance, and occlusion by utilizing a proof-of-principle simulation realized with the Unreal Engine.

Sex differences in the secular change in waist circumference relative to BMI in five countries from 1997 to 2020.

Objective: The objective of this study was to quantify changes over time in waist circumference (WC) relative to BMI by sex in the Americas (United States, Mexico, Chile, and Peru) and England.

Methods: Data from adults aged 25 to 64 years between 1997 and 2020 were analyzed, and US data were stratified by race and ethnicity groups. Sex-specific BMI and WC means and obesity and abdominal obesity prevalence were compared between the first and last surveys.

Food environment and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Obesity is influenced by a complex, multifaceted system of determinants, including the food environment. Governments need evidence to act on improving the food environment. The aim of this study was to review the evidence from spatial environmental analyses and to conduct the first series of meta-analyses to assess the impact of the retail food environment on obesity.

Unraveling the role of plasma proteins in dementia: insights from two cohort studies in the UK, with causal evidence from Mendelian randomization.

Population-based proteomics offer a groundbreaking avenue to predict dementia onset. This study employed a proteome-wide, data-driven approach to investigate protein-dementia associations in 229 incident all-cause dementia (ACD) among 3,249 participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) over a median 9.8-year follow-up, then validated in 1,506 incident ACD among 52,745 individuals from the UK Biobank (UKB) over median 13.

Human activity recognition using a single-photon direct time-of-flight sensor.

Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) direct Time-of-Flight (dToF) sensors provide depth imaging over long distances, enabling the detection of objects even in the absence of contrast in colour or texture. However, distant objects are represented by just a few pixels and are subject to noise from solar interference, limiting the applicability of existing computer vision techniques for high-level scene interpretation. We present a new SPAD-based vision system for human activity recognition, based on convolutional and recurrent neural networks, which is trained entirely on synthetic data.

Obesity, psychological well-being related measures, and risk of seven non-communicable diseases: evidence from longitudinal studies of UK and US older adults.

Background: We examined the role of psychological well-being related measures in explaining the associations between obesity and increased risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs: hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and memory-related disease) in older adults.

Methods: Data were from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), UK (baseline: Wave 4-2008/2009; n = 8127) and the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), US (baseline: Waves 9 and 10-2008/2010; n = 12,477). Objective body mass index was used to define obesity.

The Associations Between Sleep and Externalizing and Internalizing Problems in Children and Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Empirical Findings, Clinical Implications, and Future Research Directions.

Sleep problems are common in youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Externalizing and internalizing problems contribute to dysfunction in youth with ADHD and are amplified by disrupted sleep. This objective of this article is to synthesize empirical studies that examined the associations between sleep and internalizing or externalizing problems in individuals with ADHD.

Sex differences in the secular change in waist circumference relative to body mass index in the Americas and England from 1997 to 2020.

Objective: To quantify changes over time in waist circumference (WC) relative to body mass index (BMI) by sex in the Americas (U S, Mexico, Chile, Peru) and England.

Methods: Data from adults aged 25-64 years between 1997 and 2020 was analysed; US data was stratified by racial-ethnic groups. Sex-specific BMI and WC means, and obesity and abdominal obesity prevalence, were compared between the first and last surveys.

Ethnic differences in multimorbidity after accounting for social-economic factors, findings from The Health Survey for England.

Background: Social-economic factors and health behaviours may be driving variation in ethnic health inequalities in multimorbidity including among distinct ethnic groups.

Methods: Using the cross-sectional nationally representative Health Surveys for England 2011-18 (N = 54 438, aged 16+), we performed multivariable logistic regression on the odds of having general multimorbidity (≥2 longstanding conditions) by ethnicity [British White (reference group), White Irish, Other White, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, African, Caribbean, White mixed, Other Mixed], adjusting for age, sex, education, area deprivation, obesity, smoking status and survey year. This was repeated for cardiovascular multimorbidity (N = 37 148, aged 40+: having ≥2 of the following: self-reported diabetes, hypertension, heart attack or stroke) and multiple cardiometabolic risk biomarkers (HbA1c ≥6.

Loss-of-function variant in the ovine TMCO6 gene in North Country Cheviot sheep with motor neuron disease.

In North Country Cheviot lambs with early-onset progressive ataxia and motor neuron degeneration, whole-genome sequencing identified a homozygous loss-of-function variant in the ovine transmembrane and coiled-coil domains (TMCO6) gene. The familial recessive form of motor neuron disease in sheep is due to a pathogenic 4 bp deletion leading to a 50% protein truncation that is assumed to result in the absence of a functional TMCO6. This uncharacterised protein is proposed to interact with ubiquilin 1 which is associated with Alzheimer's disease, whereas sporadic forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are caused by variants in UBQLN2.

Video super-resolution for single-photon LIDAR.

3D time-of-flight (ToF) image sensors are used widely in applications such as self-driving cars, augmented reality (AR), and robotics. When implemented with single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), compact, array format sensors can be made that offer accurate depth maps over long distances, without the need for mechanical scanning. However, array sizes tend to be small, leading to low lateral resolution, which combined with low signal-to-background ratio (SBR) levels under high ambient illumination, may lead to difficulties in scene interpretation.

Does the use of prediction equations to correct self-reported height and weight improve obesity prevalence estimates? A pooled cross-sectional analysis of Health Survey for England data.

Objective: Adults typically overestimate height and underestimate weight compared with directly measured values, and such misreporting varies by sociodemographic and health-related factors. Using self-reported and interviewer-measured height and weight, collected from the same participants, we aimed to develop a set of prediction equations to correct bias in self-reported height and weight and assess whether this adjustment improved the accuracy of obesity prevalence estimates relative to those based only on self-report.

Design: Population-based cross-sectional study.

Fundamental limits to depth imaging with single-photon detector array sensors.

Single-Photon Avalanche Detector (SPAD) arrays are a rapidly emerging technology. These multi-pixel sensors have single-photon sensitivities and pico-second temporal resolutions thus they can rapidly generate depth images with millimeter precision. Such sensors are a key enabling technology for future autonomous systems as they provide guidance and situational awareness.

Pixels2Pose: Super-resolution time-of-flight imaging for 3D pose estimation.

Single-photon-sensitive depth sensors are being increasingly used in next-generation electronics for human pose and gesture recognition. However, cost-effective sensors typically have a low spatial resolution, restricting their use to basic motion identification and simple object detection. Here, we perform a temporal to spatial mapping that drastically increases the resolution of a simple time-of-flight sensor, i.

Investigating change across time in prevalence or association: the challenges of cross-study comparative research and possible solutions.

Unlabelled: Cross-study research initiatives to understand change across time are an increasingly prominent component of social and health sciences, yet they present considerable practical, analytical and conceptual challenges. First, we discuss the key challenges to comparative research as a basis for detecting societal change, as well as possible solutions. We focus on studies which investigate changes across time in outcome occurrence or the magnitude and/or direction of associations.

Comparing relationships between health-related behaviour clustering and episodic memory trajectories in the United States of America and England: a longitudinal study.

Background: Health-related behaviours (HRBs) cluster within individuals. Evidence for the association between HRB clustering and cognitive functioning is limited. We aimed to examine and compare the associations between three HRB clusters: "multi-HRB cluster", "inactive cluster" and "(ex-)smoking cluster" (identified in previous work based on HRBs including smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity and social activity) and episodic memory trajectories among men and women, separately, in the United States of America (USA) and England.

Social support, social strain and declines in verbal memory: sex-specific associations based on 16-year follow-up of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort.

Objectives: Previous investigations of cognitive aging have mainly focused on structural aspects of social relations (e.g. network size and composition), thereby neglecting the role of qualitative aspects of social relations.

Sleep and daytime behavior in individuals with Christianson Syndrome.

Background: The objectives of this study were to: 1) characterize the sleep behaviors and symptoms of individuals with Christianson Syndrome (CS) by means of validated questionnaires; and 2) determine their associations with daytime emotional and behavioral symptoms in this population.

Methods: Participants included 16 boys genetically diagnosed with CS, between 2.5 and 40 years of age (M = 14.

Projection of the health and economic impacts of Chronic kidney disease in the Chilean population.

Background: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a leading public health problem, with substantial burden and economic implications for healthcare systems, mainly due to renal replacement treatment (RRT) for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). The aim of this study is to develop a multistate predictive model to estimate the future burden of CKD in Chile, given the high and rising RRT rates, population ageing, and prevalence of comorbidities contributing to CKD.

Methods: A dynamic stock and flow model was developed to simulate CKD progression in the Chilean population aged 40 years and older, up to the year 2041, adopting the perspective of the Chilean public healthcare system.

Do depressive symptoms link chronic diseases to cognition among older adults? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study in the United States.

Background: Few studies have assessed psychological pathways that connect the association between non-psychotropic chronic disease and cognition. We assessed the extent to which the association between the two was mediated by depressive symptoms in older adults.

Methods: Data came from waves 10-13 (2010-2016) of the Health and Retirement Study in the United States (7,651 men and 10,248 women).