ABSTRACT
Background and/or Objectives: The Physical and Neurological Examination of Subtle Signs (PANESS) shows promise as a tool for detecting subtle motor dysfunction after concussion. Our objective was to examine the equivalence of in-person and telehealth administration of the Timed Motor portion of the PANESS in youth recovered from concussion and healthy controls. Design(s): Data was collected as part of a longitudinal cohort-controlled observational study. Setting(s): Clinical research lab and via telehealth. Participant(s): 14 youth (Mean age =14.3, SD=2.41;71.4% female) participating in the last visit of a study examining neural recovery following concussion (7 participants clinically recovered from concussion [Mean years since injury= 1.38, SD= 0.24] and 7 neverconcussed controls). Intervention(s): Not applicable. Main Outcome Measure(s): The PANESS is a brief exam designed to evaluate subtle signs of neuromotor dysfunction in children. The Timed Motor portion requires the participant to complete rapid sequential movements and accounts for speed as well as presence of motor overflow and dysrhythmia scores range from 0-64, higher scores reflect worse performance. In this study, PANESS Timed Motor scores were obtained first via in-person administration and then, within 1 week (Median=0 days), via telehealth administration. Prior research shows high test-retest reliability for in-person administration. Result(s): Paired-sample t-test showed no significant difference between scores obtained in-person (M=15.14 SD= 1.775) and via Zoom (M=15.36;SD=1.848), t (13)= -0.145 p= 0.887. Conclusion(s): The PANESS was developed for inperson administration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many measures were adapted for telehealth without data suggesting equivalence across administration contexts. Use of telehealth measures has the potential to reduce participant burden and improve access to clinical care. Here, we provide preliminary evidence to suggest equivalence of the PANESS Timed Motor scores obtained in-person and via telehealth in select youth. Future work should explore the psychometric properties of measures adapted for telehealth administration and the emerging utility of the PANESS related to concussion.
ABSTRACT
To evaluate the difference in hazardous air pollutants in PM2.5 between reference method (National Institute of Environmental Analysis;NIEAA205) and high-volume air sampler (European standard:EN14907 and Japan method), we set up a sampling station on the campus of National Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University, northern Taiwan, during 2014-2015. Both vapor and solid phases of dioxins were collected using high-volume samplers, according to EN14907 and Japan method. The flow rate was set at 500 L min(-1) and 1000 L min(-1), respectively. To compare the difference with the high-volume air sampler, we simultaneously used the reference air sampler based on Taiwan NIEA A205.11C, at the flow rate of 16.7 L min(-1) (BGI PQ200-FRM). The mass concentrations of PM2.5 measured with NIEA A205, EN14907, and Japan method were 20.2 +/- 8.79, 25.4 +/- 10.5 and 28.6 +/- 13.9 mu g m(-3), respectively. The difference of the mass concentration of PM2.5 obtained from two different methods was lower than 3.9%. Moreover, the concentrations of PCDD/F between solid and vapor phases were 56.9-1,090 and 38.6-67.1 fg m(-3) via EN14907 and 51.1-1,150 and 18.4-81.8 fg m(-3) via Japan method, respectively. Obviously, there is no significant difference between these two samplers. Compared to the method of NIEA, high volume air sampling method not only provided equivalently good quality data but offer a higher sample quantity for analyzing the trace level chemical component of hazardous air pollutants and the toxicity in different areas.
ABSTRACT
Background: Several studies have demonstrated immunogenicity after COVID-19 vaccination in patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRD) [1], but the differences between mRNA-based and vector vaccines and the cellular responses to COVID-19 vaccines according to distinct immunogenicity in AIRD patients are still unclear. Objectives: To investigate the differences in efficacy and safety between the vector vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 (Oxford-AstraZeneca) and mRNA-based vaccine mRNA-1273 (Moderna) in patients with AIRD, and to explore the cell-cell interactions between high and low anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG levels in patients with rheumatic arthritis (RA) by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Methods: From September 16 to November 15, 2021, we consecutively enrolled 243 participants aged ≥20 years with AIRD who received COVID-19 vaccination, of whom 113 were immunized with AZD1222 and 130 with mRNA-1273. The level of serum IgG antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain on the spike protein S1 subunit was quantifed by electrochemiluminescence immuno-assay at 4-6 weeks after vaccination. Moreover, peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from two RA patient with high anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG level and four RA patients with low level for scRNA-seq and cell-cell communication signal was analyzed by CellChat. Results: The anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG seropositivity rate was 78.8% (89/113) for AZD1222 and 83.1% (108/130) for mRNA-1273. The level of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG was higher in patients who received mRNA-1273 than in those who received AZD1222 (β: 30.15, 95% CI: 11.67-48.63, p=0.002) (Table 1). Prednisolone-equivalent dose >5 mg/day and methotrexate (MTX) use in AIRD patients, and non-anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α biologics and Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor use in RA patients were associated with inferior immunogenicity. ScRNA-seq revealed CD16-monocytes were predominant in RA patients with high anti-SARS-CoV2-IgG antibody level, and enriched pathways related to antigen presentation via major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC class II) were found (Figure 1). HLA-DRA and CD4 interaction was vigorous among all identifed MHC-II pathway and was enhanced in high anti-SARS-CoV2-IgG antibody group. Conclusion: mRNA-1273 and AZD1222 vaccines exhibited differential immunogenicity in patients with AIRD. Enriched pathways related to antigen presentation via MHC class II in CD16-monocytes might be associated with higher anti-SARS-CoV2-IgG level in RA patients and further study is warranted.
ABSTRACT
The spreading infectious diseases could be a serious problem for the society, such as COVID-19 pandemic recently. The need to monitor the trend of the disease is crucial to prevent the disease transmission. In this paper, we propose prediction models for influenza trends using ARIMA and LSTM based on air quality dataset training operation. The study seeks to compare the prediction between ARIMA and LSTM in three areas of central Taiwan, i.e., Changhua County, Taichung City, and Nantou County between 2014 and 2018. The prediction of ARIMA relies only on five-year time series dataset of air pollutants and meteorological conditions, meanwhile there are three types of LSTM models related to feature selection technique. One of the LSTM models does not apply feature selection, and the two other LSTM models using matrix correlation and extra trees classifier to select the top five most important factors to conduct training operation. As a result, the experiment demonstrated that the LSTM models outperform ARIMA in terms of model performance in all three areas. Among three LSTM models, LSTM ETC achieved the lowest RMSE value indicating the highest accuracy. The RMSE value of influenza prediction in Taichung is substantially higher than that in Changhua and Nantou. However, LSTM ETC result obtained the highest accuracy improvement (73%) when comparing to ARIMA outcome. Therefore, implementing the LSTM models for prediction of influenza and another disease could be adopted for early detection as well as reduction of disease transmission. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.