The effect of age-related macular degeneration on cognitive test performance.

The reliable assessment of cognitive functioning is critical to the study of brain-behaviour relationships. Yet conditions that are synchronous which ageing, including visual decline, are easily overlooked when interpreting cognitive test scores. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the negative consequences of visual impairments on cognitive tests performance.

Reliability and validity of digital health metrics for assessing arm and hand impairments in an ataxic disorder.

Objectives: Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay (ARSACS) is the second most frequent recessive ataxia and commonly features reduced upper limb coordination. Sensitive outcome measures of upper limb coordination are essential to track disease progression and the effect of interventions. However, available clinical assessments are insufficient to capture behavioral variability and detailed aspects of motor control.

The role of memory and perspective shifts in systematic biases during object location estimation.

In the current study, we investigated whether the introduction of perspective shifts in a spatial memory task results in systematic biases in object location estimations. To do so, we asked participants to first encode the position of an object in a virtual room and then to report its position from memory or perception following a perspective shift. Overall, our results showed that participants made systematic errors in estimating object positions in the same direction as the perspective shift.

Behavioural thermal regulation explains pedestrian path choices in hot urban environments.

Due to phenomena such as urban heat islands, outdoor thermal comfort of the cities' residents emerges as a growing concern. A major challenge for mega-cities in changing climate is the design of urban spaces that ensure and promote pedestrian thermal comfort. Understanding pedestrian behavioural adaptation to urban thermal environments is critically important to attain this goal.

Digital Behavior Change Interventions for the Prevention and Management of Type 2 Diabetes: Systematic Market Analysis.

Background: Advancements in technology offer new opportunities for the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. Venture capital companies have been investing in digital diabetes companies that offer digital behavior change interventions (DBCIs). However, little is known about the scientific evidence underpinning such interventions or the degree to which these interventions leverage novel technology-driven automated developments such as conversational agents (CAs) or just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) approaches.

Reliability of Commercial Voice Assistants' Responses to Health-Related Questions in Noncommunicable Disease Management: Factorial Experiment Assessing Response Rate and Source of Information.

Background: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) constitute a burden on public health. These are best controlled through self-management practices, such as self-information. Fostering patients' access to health-related information through efficient and accessible channels, such as commercial voice assistants (VAs), may support the patients' ability to make health-related decisions and manage their chronic conditions.

Transcranial Random Noise Stimulation Modulates Neural Processing of Sensory and Motor Circuits, from Potential Cellular Mechanisms to Behavior: A Scoping Review.

Noise introduced in the human nervous system from cellular to systems levels can have a major impact on signal processing. Using transcranial stimulation, electrical noise can be added to cortical circuits to modulate neuronal activity and enhance function in the healthy brain and in neurologic patients. Transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) is a promising technique that is less well understood than other non-invasive neuromodulatory methods.

Corrigendum: Elena+ Care for COVID-19, a Pandemic Lifestyle Care Intervention: Intervention Design and Study Protocol.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.

Bilingual children's visual attention while reading digital picture books and story retelling.

This study examined Mandarin-English bilingual children's visual attention over repetitive readings of Mandarin enhanced digital books and static books as well as the effects visual attention has on story retelling. We assigned 89 4- and 5-year-old preschoolers in Singapore to one of three reading conditions: (a) digital books with visual and auditory enhancements, (b) digital books with only auditory enhancements, and (c) static digital books with neither visual nor auditory enhancements. We presented three stories to the children in four sessions over 2 weeks, traced their visual attention with an eye tracker, and examined their story retelling after the first and fourth readings.

A novel machine-learning approach for evaluating rebounds-associated environmental footprint of households and application to cooperative housing.

Multiple environmental policies aim to increase resource efficiency and reduce consumption of goods and services with high environmental impact. This may lead to cost-savings and, consequently, additional consumption with environmental impacts (rebound effects). In this study, a supervised machine-learning model (i.

An analysis of usability evaluation practices and contexts of use in wearable robotics.

Background: User-centered design approaches have gained attention over the past decade, aiming to tackle the technology acceptance issues of wearable robotic devices to assist, support or augment human capabilities. While there is a consensus that usability is key to user-centered design, dedicated usability evaluation studies are scarce and clear evaluation guidelines are missing. However, the careful consideration and integration of user needs appears to be essential to successfully develop an effective, efficient, and satisfactory human-robot interaction.

Effect of common foods as supplements for the mycelium growth of Ganoderma lucidum and Pleurotus ostreatus on solid substrates.

The transition from a linear to a circular economy is urgently needed to mitigate environmental impacts and loss of biodiversity. Among the many potential solutions, the development of entirely natural-based materials derived from waste is promising. One such material is mycelium-bound composites obtained from the growth of fungi onto solid lignocellulosic substrates, which find applications such as insulating foams, textiles, packaging, etc.

Activity-based epidemic propagation and contact network scaling in auto-dependent metropolitan areas.

We build on recent work to develop a fully mechanistic, activity-based and highly spatio-temporally resolved epidemiological model which leverages person-trajectories obtained from an activity-based model calibrated for two full-scale prototype cities, consisting of representative synthetic populations and mobility networks for two contrasting auto-dependent city typologies. We simulate the propagation of the COVID-19 epidemic in both cities to analyze spreading patterns in urban networks across various activity types. Investigating the impact of the transit network, we find that its removal dampens disease propagation significantly, suggesting that transit restriction is more critical for mitigating post-peak disease spreading in transit dense cities.

Public Perceptions of Diabetes, Healthy Living, and Conversational Agents in Singapore: Needs Assessment.

Background: The incidence of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes is increasing in countries worldwide, including Singapore. Health professional-delivered healthy lifestyle interventions have been shown to prevent type 2 diabetes. However, ongoing personalized guidance from health professionals is not feasible or affordable at the population level.

Analysing the impact of electrification on rural attractiveness in Senegal with mobile phone data.

Reliable and affordable access to electricity has become one of the basic needs for humans and is, as such, at the top of the development agenda. It contributes to socio-economic development by transforming the whole spectrum of people's lives-food, education, healthcare. It spurs new economic opportunities, thus improving livelihoods.

Elena+ Care for COVID-19, a Pandemic Lifestyle Care Intervention: Intervention Design and Study Protocol.

The current COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is an emergency on a global scale, with huge swathes of the population required to remain indoors for prolonged periods to tackle the virus. In this new context, individuals' health-promoting routines are under greater strain, contributing to poorer mental and physical health. Additionally, individuals are required to keep up to date with latest health guidelines about the virus, which may be confusing in an age of social-media disinformation and shifting guidelines.

Comparison of vegetable production, resource-use efficiency and environmental performance of high-technology and conventional farming systems for urban agriculture in the tropical city of Singapore.

Urban farming can improve cities' food security and resilience, but the performance of different farming systems with respect to land and investment constraints has not been systematically investigated. Here, we compared conventional soil-based farming, vertical farming with natural lighting (Vnat), and indoor vertical farming. This study aimed to compare (1) the dynamic production of leafy vegetables over time given the same amount of investment and land constraints, (2) the associated water and energy use, and (3) the global warming potential (GWP) of the urban farming sector if each of the three farming systems was solely used in the tropical city-state of Singapore.

Outdoor performance of the black globe temperature sensor on a hot and humid tropical region.

A crucial variable to evaluate thermal comfort is the mean radiant temperature (T). In this paper we evaluate the performance of the 150 mm black globe thermometer to provide reliable T values for outdoor settings in Singapore. Accurate T values are calculated by the method of integral radiation measurements.

Numerical analysis of the impact of anthropogenic emissions on the urban environment of Singapore.

Increased urbanization and anthropogenic activities in tropical cities lead to the temperature gradient between the urban and rural environments, causing the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. This study is a pioneering attempt that examines the changes in the temporal evolution of the surface energy budget induced by urbanization known as the Anthropogenic Influence (AI) in modifying the urban climate of a tropical city using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical modeling system. The AI from buildings, traffic and power plants is determined in five different scenarios and the model is validated with high temporal resolution in-situ data.

Finite element derived femoral strength is a better predictor of hip fracture risk than aBMD in the AGES Reykjavik study cohort.

Hip fractures associated with a high economic burden, loss of independence, and a high rate of post-fracture mortality, are a major health concern for modern societies. Areal bone mineral density is the current clinical metric of choice when assessing an individual's future risk of fracture. However, this metric has been shown to lack sensitivity and specificity in the targeted selection of individuals for preventive interventions.

A unifying model to estimate the effect of heat stress in the human innate immunity during physical activities.

Public health is threatened by climate change and extreme temperature events worldwide. Differences in health predispositions, access to cooling infrastructure and occupation raises an issue of heat-related health inequality in those vulnerable and disadvantaged demographic groups. To address these issues, a comprehensive understanding of the effect of elevated body temperatures on human biological systems and overall health is urgently needed.

Regulation of AI in Health Care: A Cautionary Tale Considering Horses and Zebras.

The introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into health care has been accompanied by uncertainties and regulatory challenges. The establishment of a regulatory framework around AI in health is in its infancy and the way forward is unclear. There are those who argue that this represents a concerning regulatory gap, while others assert that existing regulatory frameworks, policies and guidelines are sufficient.