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Combining Wireless Technology and Behavioral Economics to Engage Patients (WiBEEP) with cardiometabolic disease: a pilot study.
No full textBackground: The long-term management of cardiometabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension, is complex and can be facilitated by supporting patient-directed behavioral changes. The concurrent application of wireless technology and personalized text messages (PTMs) based on behavioral economics in managing cardiometabolic diseases, although promising, has not been studied. The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the concurrent application of wireless home blood pressure (BP) monitoring (as an example of "automated hovering") and PTMs (as an example of "nudging") targeting pharmacotherapy and lifestyle habits in patients with cardiometabolic disease (type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension).Keywords: Text messages, Blood pressure, Diabetes, Diet, Exercise.Springer Open
Wearable Ultrafine Particle and Noise Monitoring Sensors Jointly Measure Personal Co-Exposures in a Pediatric Population.
No full textAbstract: The objective of this study was to deploy two novel personal sensors for measuring ultrafine particles (UFP, <100 nm diameter) and noise to concurrently monitor real-time exposures in adolescent subjects. Personal UFP monitors (PUFP, Enmont, LLC) were paired with NEATVIBEwear™ (Noise Exposure, Activity-Time and Vibration wearable), a personal noise monitoring device developed by the authors (Douglas Leaffer, Steve Doroff). A field-test of PUFP monitors co-deployed with NEATVIBEwear logged UFP, noise and ambient temperature exposure levels at 1-s resolution in an adolescent population in Cincinnati, OH to measure real-time exposures in microenvironments (transit, home, school). Preliminary results show that the concurrent measurement of noise exposures with UFP is feasible in a sample of physically active adolescent participants
The FLEX study school-based physical activity programs - measurement and evaluation of implementation.
No full textBackground: Increasing children's physical activity (PA) at school is critical to obesity prevention and health promotion. Implementing novel, low-cost PA programs offers potential to contribute to children's in-school PA, particularly in resource-constrained schools. This evaluation describes implementation fidelity, reach, and dose of two PA programs in the Fueling Learning through Exercise (FLEX) Study.Keywords: Physical activity, Children, School-based intervention, Program evaluation.Springer Open
FROST—Fast row-stochastic optimization with uncoordinated step-sizes.
No full textAbstract: In this paper, we discuss distributed optimization over directed graphs, where doubly stochastic weights cannot be constructed. Most of the existing algorithms overcome this issue by applying push-sum consensus, which utilizes column-stochastic weights. The formulation of column-stochastic weights requires each agent to know (at least) its out-degree, which may be impractical in, for example, broadcast-based communication protocols. In contrast, we describe FROST (Fast Row-stochastic-Optimization with uncoordinated STep-sizes), an optimization algorithm applicable to directed graphs that does not require the knowledge of out-degrees, the implementation of which is straightforward as each agent locally assigns weights to the incoming information and locally chooses a suitable step-size. We show that FROST converges linearly to the optimal solution for smooth and strongly convex functions given that the largest step-size is positive and sufficiently small.Keywords: Distributed optimization, Multiagent systems, Directed graphs, Linear convergence.Springer Open
Babesial infection in the Madagascan flying fox, Pteropus rufus É. Geoffroy, 1803.
No full textBackground: Babesiae are erythrocytic protozoans, which infect the red blood cells of vertebrate hosts to cause disease. Previous studies have described potentially pathogenic infections of Babesia vesperuginis in insectivorous bats in Europe, the Americas and Asia. To date, no babesial infections have been documented in the bats of Madagascar, or in any frugivorous bat species worldwide.Keywords: Babesia, Babesiosis, Madagascar, Madagascan flying fox, Pteropus rufus, Pteropodidae.Springer Open
Inhibition of monocyte-like cell extravasation protects from neurodegeneration in DBA/2J glaucoma.
No full textBackground: Glaucoma is characterized by the progressive dysfunction and loss of retinal ganglion cells. Recent work in animal models suggests that a critical neuroinflammatory event damages retinal ganglion cell axons in the optic nerve head during ocular hypertensive injury. We previously demonstrated that monocyte-like cells enter the optic nerve head in an ocular hypertensive mouse model of glaucoma (DBA/2 J), but their roles, if any, in mediating axon damage remain unclear.Keywords: Glaucoma, Retinal ganglion cell, Optic nerve, Monocyte, Vascular leakage, Extravasation, Platelet, Neuroinflammation, RNA-sequencing.Springer Open
Interactive effects of drought severity and simulated herbivory on tea (Camellia sinensis) volatile and non-volatile metabolites.
No full textPlants often experience multiple sources of stress simultaneously, yet little is known about interactive effects of multiple stressors on plant metabolic responses. Plants are well known to respond to both drought and insect herbivory through the induced production of secondary metabolites. However, severe drought stress limits photosynthesis and may therefore inhibit the production of induced secondary metabolites in response to herbivory due to carbon limitation. On the other hand, drought-stressed plants may be primed to respond more strongly to herbivory due to hormonal crosstalk or redundancy of metabolites that are produced in response to drought and herbivory. We tested the interactive effects of drought and simulated herbivory in tea plants (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. sinensis) grown in the field under varying rainfall interception treatments and then exposed to an exogenous methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment. We show that severe drought generally inhibits the induction of secondary metabolites by exogenous MeJA (simulated herbivory) However, a few volatile metabolites, including methyl salicylate, are more strongly induced by MeJA in severely drought-stressed plants compared to moderately stressed plants, possibly due to priming by drought stress. Our approach of using multiple levels of drought stress and a targeted/untargeted approach to measuring volatile metabolites was essential to discovering these patterns of induction. In addition to having implications for plant-herbivore interactions in the presence of abiotic stress, these results have important implications for tea quality
The Arabic Hour: Understanding Arab-American Media Activism and Community-Based Media
No full textAbstract: This thesis investigates the Boston-based community access television program the Arabic Hour. For 37 years the Arabic Hour has produced television programs that have aired first on cable television, then on public access television, and now on the Internet. This thesis contextualizes the Arabic Hour within Arab-American history as well as the history of community-based, ethnic, and activist medias. Through approaches of participatory action research, as well as semi-structured interviews with members of the volunteer production staff, guests, and one funder of the show, this thesis discerns how the Arabic Hour was (un)able to build political power and community empowerment, while also presenting conclusions on Arab-American transnational identity formation, journalistic approaches of alternative media, and the alternative approach of "for them, by us" ethnic media.Thesis (M.A.)--Tufts University, 2018.Submitted to the Dept. of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning.Advisor: Barbara Parmenter.Committee: Thomas Abowd.Keywords: Ethnic studies, American studies, and Social research