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The Flow State Scale for Rehabilitation Tasks: A New Flow Experience Questionnaire for Stroke Patients.
No full textIMPORTANCE
Flow can be described as a subjective state that people report when they fully engage in an activity and experience pleasure, satisfaction, and enjoyment. Flow experiences are measured to determine the extent to which patients engage in therapy activities. Several flow questionnaires are used in neurorehabilitation. However, none have been validated for patients with (sub)acute stroke.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and validate a new flow questionnaire for patients with (sub)acute stroke.
DESIGN
Single-center prospective cohort study.
SETTING
Neurorehabilitation unit of the Neurocenter of the Luzerner Kantonsspital in Lucerne, Switzerland.
PARTICIPANTS
Fifty patients with (sub)acute stroke.
OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Development of the Flow State Scale for Rehabilitation Tasks (FSSRT) and determination of the psychometric properties of the FSSRT (internal consistency, test-retest reliability, structural and construct validity) in (sub)acute stroke patients.
RESULTS
The FSSRT showed good internal consistency and excellent test-retest reliability. Composed of four components-concentration, pleasure, movement control, and absorption-the FSSRT correlated significantly negatively with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, indicating good divergent validity.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
The FSSRT is a reliable and valid questionnaire measuring flow experience in patients with (sub)acute stroke. This questionnaire can be easily used in occupational therapy as well as in physical therapy and gives therapists important information about the flow experience of patients during therapy to adjust the therapy accordingly. Plain-Language Summary: Measuring flow experience, or the extent to which patients engage in therapy activities, in the context of occupational therapy and physical therapy is a new approach. This study confirmed that the Flow State Scale for Rehabilitation Tasks questionnaire is reliable and valid for measuring the flow experience of patients after (sub)acute stroke. Occupational therapists and physical therapists can use the FSSRT to optimally adjust the therapy program and increase patient engagement during therapy
The Multi-Sided Ethnographer: Living the field beyond research
No full textAs ethnographic fieldwork blurs the boundaries between ›private‹ and ›professional‹ life, ethnographers always appear to be on duty, looking out for valuable encounters and waiting for the next moment of disclosure. Yet what lies in the gaps and pauses of fieldwork? The contributions in this volume dedicated to anthropologist Martin Sökefeld explore methodological and ethical dimensions of multi-sided ethnographic research. Based on diverse cases ranging from hobbies over kinship ties to political activism, the contributors show how personal relationships, passions and commitments drive ethnographers in and beyond research, shaping the knowledge they create together with others
Optimized bacterial community characterization through full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing utilizing MinION nanopore technology.
Get PDFBACKGROUND
Accurate identification of bacterial communities is crucial for research applications, diagnostics, and clinical interventions. Although 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing is a widely employed technique for bacterial taxonomic classification, it often results in misclassified or unclassified bacterial taxa. This study sought to refine the full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing protocol using the MinION sequencer, focusing on the V1-V9 regions. Our methodological enquiry examined several factors, including the number of PCR amplification cycles, choice of primers and Taq polymerase, and specific sequence databases and workflows employed. We used a microbial standard comprising eight bacterial strains (five gram-positive and three gram-negative) in known proportions as a validation control.
RESULTS
Based on the MinION protocol, we employed the microbial standard as the DNA template for the 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing procedure. Our analysis showed that an elevated number of PCR amplification cycles introduced PCR bias, and the selection of Taq polymerase and primer sets significantly affected the subsequent analysis. Bacterial identification at genus level demonstrated Pearson correlation coefficients ranging from 0.73 to 0.79 when assessed using BugSeq, Kraken-Silva and EPI2ME-16S workflows. Notably, the EPI2ME-16S workflow exhibited the highest Pearson correlation with the microbial standard, minimised misclassification, and increased alignment accuracy. At the species taxonomic level, the BugSeq workflow was superior, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.92.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings emphasise the importance of careful selection of PCR settings and a well-structured analytical framework for 16S rRNA full-length gene sequencing. The results showed a robust correlation between the predicted and observed bacterial abundances at both the genus and species taxonomic levels, making these findings applicable across diverse research contexts and with clinical utility for reliable pathogen identification
Management of menopause in women living with HIV - A comparative guideline review.
Get PDFWomen living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) today have life expectancies comparable to the general female population, leading to a growing number transitioning through menopause. Recent studies have highlighted healthcare professionals' lack of confidence in managing menopause in women with HIV, raising concerns about potential mismanagement. This review explores and compares information on menopause management in HIV-specific and general guidelines, with the aim of identifying disparities and assessing the comprehensiveness of HIV guidelines. The focus is on three key areas: the diagnosis of menopause, and the assessment and treatment of menopausal symptoms. Additionally, the review evaluates the usage and characteristics of menopausal symptom assessment scales known to have been used in studies involving women living with HIV. In total, five HIV and six general menopause management guidelines, published between 2015 and 2023, were identified through medical databases, internet search engines and searches of reference lists. Five menopausal symptom assessment scales were also included for review. The findings suggest minimal differences in recommendations for treating menopausal symptoms. The HIV guidelines include recommendations on screening for menopause, and some raise awareness of the possibility of drug-to-drug interactions, but none offers guidance on how to diagnose menopause or how to differentiate between HIV-related and menopause-related symptoms. Upon examining the characteristics of the menopausal symptom assessment scales, we found that none had been validated specifically for women with HIV. In conclusion, this review advocates for the development of a comprehensive guideline that addresses all relevant factors in managing menopause in women with HIV
GIS-based revision of a WUDAPT Local Climate Zones map of Bern, Switzerland
Get PDFUrban areas are particularly affected by heatwaves through the intensification of heat stress by the urban heat island effect. For effective climate change adaptation, information about microscale surface cover, structures, and human activity in cities is needed to depict the underlying causes of urban heat stress. The framework of “Local Climate Zones” (LCZs) classifies and standardizes urban areas based on such characteristics. To date, most LCZ mapping workflows use satellite imagery as input. The resulting maps may lack some important details, and thus benefit from the use of additional geodata. We introduce a novel approach that combines the geodata of urban canopy parameters with the remote sensing-based LCZ map of Bern, Switzerland. City-specific urban canopy parameters are calculated and used to adjust established value ranges, if necessary. The most common misclassification patterns are identified and misclassified pixels are corrected using a decision tree and k-nearest-neighbor algorithm. Results show that the conformity with the urban canopy parameter values markedly increased, especially in the distinction of water surfaces, non-built areas, and building height. However, for high-resolution LCZ maps, this also leads to unnecessary heterogeneity, which may require further postprocessing. Given sufficiently available urban canopy parameter data, the proposed workflow is simple and easily adaptable for other cities. It could prove useful in urban climate studies and city planning to enhance an existing LCZ map in a contextualized manner quickly
Assessment of functional diversities in patients with Asthma, COPD, Asthma-COPD overlap, and Cystic Fibrosis (CF).
Get PDFThe objectives of the present study were to evaluate the discriminating power of spirometric and plethysmographic lung function parameters to differenciate the diagnosis of asthma, ACO, COPD, and to define functional characteristics for more precise classification of obstructive lung diseases. From the databases of 4 centers, a total of 756 lung function tests (194 healthy subjects, 175 with asthma, 71 with ACO, 78 with COPD and 238 with CF) were collected, and gradients among combinations of target parameters from spirometry (forced expiratory volume one second: FEV1; FEV1/forced vital capacity: FEV1/FVC; forced expiratory flow between 25-75% FVC: FEF25-75), and plethysmography (effective, resistive airway resistance: sReff; aerodynamic work of breathing at rest: sWOB), separately for in- and expiration (sReffIN, sReffEX, sWOBin, sWOBex) as well as static lung volumes (total lung capacity: TLC; functional residual capacity: FRCpleth; residual volume: RV), the control of breathing (mouth occlusion pressure: P0.1; mean inspiratory flow: VT/TI; the inspiratory to total time ratio: TI/Ttot) and the inspiratory impedance (Zinpleth = P0.1/VT/TI) were explored. Linear discriminant analyses (LDA) were applied to identify discriminant functions and classification rules using recursive partitioning decision trees. LDA showed a high classification accuracy (sensitivity and specificity > 90%) for healthy subjects, COPD and CF. The accuracy dropped for asthma (~70%) and even more for ACO (~60%). The decision tree revealed that P0.1, sRtot, and VT/TI differentiate most between healthy and asthma (68.9%), COPD (82.1%), and CF (60.6%). Moreover, using sWOBex and Zinpleth ACO can be discriminated from asthma and COPD (60%). Thus, the functional complexity of obstructive lung diseases can be understood, if specific spirometric and plethysmographic parameters are used. Moreover, the newly described parameters of airway dynamics and the central control of breathing including Zinpleth may well serve as promising functional marker in the field of precision medicine
The interplay between biochemical mediators and mechanotransduction in chondrocytes: Unravelling the differential responses in primary knee osteoarthritis.
Get PDFIn primary or idiopathic osteoarthritis (OA), it is unclear which factors trigger the shift of articular chondrocyte activity from pro-anabolic to pro-catabolic. In fact, there is a controversy about the aetiology of primary OA, either mechanical or inflammatory. Chondrocytes are mechanosensitive cells, that integrate mechanical stimuli into cellular responses in a process known as mechanotransduction. Mechanotransduction occurs thanks to the activation of mechanosensors, a set of specialized proteins that convert physical cues into intracellular signalling cascades. Moderate levels of mechanical loads maintain normal tissue function and have anti-inflammatory effects. In contrast, mechanical over- or under-loading might lead to cartilage destruction and increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Simultaneously, mechanotransduction processes can regulate and be regulated by pro- and anti-inflammatory soluble mediators, both local (cells of the same joint, i.e., the chondrocytes themselves, infiltrating macrophages, fibroblasts or osteoclasts) and systemic (from other tissues, e.g., adipokines). Thus, the complex process of mechanotransduction might be altered in OA, so that cartilage-preserving chondrocytes adopt a different sensitivity to mechanical signals, and mechanic stimuli positively transduced in the healthy cartilage may become deleterious under OA conditions. This review aims to provide an overview of how the biochemical exposome of chondrocytes can alter important mechanotransduction processes in these cells. Four principal mechanosensors, i.e., integrins, Ca2+ channels, primary cilium and Wnt signalling (canonical and non-canonical) were targeted. For each of these mechanosensors, a brief summary of the response to mechanical loads under healthy or OA conditions is followed by a concise overview of published works that focus on the further regulation of the mechanotransduction pathways by biochemical factors. In conclusion, this paper discusses and explores how biological mediators influence the differential behaviour of chondrocytes under mechanical loads in healthy and primary OA
Intelligent ultrafast total-body PET for sedation-free pediatric [18F]FDG imaging.
No full textPURPOSE
This study aims to develop deep learning techniques on total-body PET to bolster the feasibility of sedation-free pediatric PET imaging.
METHODS
A deformable 3D U-Net was developed based on 245 adult subjects with standard total-body PET imaging for the quality enhancement of simulated rapid imaging. The developed method was first tested on 16 children receiving total-body [18F]FDG PET scans with standard 300-s acquisition time with sedation. Sixteen rapid scans (acquisition time about 3 s, 6 s, 15 s, 30 s, and 75 s) were retrospectively simulated by selecting the reconstruction time window. In the end, the developed methodology was prospectively tested on five children without sedation to prove the routine feasibility.
RESULTS
The approach significantly improved the subjective image quality and lesion conspicuity in abdominal and pelvic regions of the generated 6-s data. In the first test set, the proposed method enhanced the objective image quality metrics of 6-s data, such as PSNR (from 29.13 to 37.09, p < 0.01) and SSIM (from 0.906 to 0.921, p < 0.01). Furthermore, the errors of mean standardized uptake values (SUVmean) for lesions between 300-s data and 6-s data were reduced from 12.9 to 4.1% (p < 0.01), and the errors of max SUV (SUVmax) were reduced from 17.4 to 6.2% (p < 0.01). In the prospective test, radiologists reached a high degree of consistency on the clinical feasibility of the enhanced PET images.
CONCLUSION
The proposed method can effectively enhance the image quality of total-body PET scanning with ultrafast acquisition time, leading to meeting clinical diagnostic requirements of lesion detectability and quantification in abdominal and pelvic regions. It has much potential to solve the dilemma of the use of sedation and long acquisition time that influence the health of pediatric patients
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