ABSTRACT
Sleep is related to cognitive functioning, learning, and brain development in the adolescent population. Recent research indicates a rise in the presence of chronic sleep disorders such as insomnia in adolescents, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, research on the effectiveness of sleep interventions for adolescents is necessary to guide treatment in adolescents. The authors conducted a systematic review of literature examining research on outcomes of treatment interventions for insomnia on sleep quality and cognitive functioning in adolescents. Results indicate a dearth of research examining effectiveness of treatment in adolescents, particularly in relation to the impact of such treatment on cognitive functioning in adolescents. The following paper provides a brief overview of existing research on treatment of insomnia or related problems including initiating, maintaining and awaking for adolescent populations with a focus on improvement of cognitive functioning within this population. The authors discuss existing barriers to research, emphasize the need to expand sleep research to include cognitive functioning outcomes, and inform best practices for treatment in adolescents following COVID-19. Lastly, the authors propose a call to action encouraging more widespread recognition of the need for research in this area. Key Take Away Points 24 out of 735 records identified through databases were screened for eligibility. The search and subsequent screening procedures outlined several limitations including a dearth of randomized clinical trials, RCTs assessing effectiveness of behavioral interventions specific to insomnia, adequate selection of cognitive functioning measures, sleep assessment measures and other study designs limitations. Only two records remained in the study with CBTi interventions and included objective measures specific for the assessment of insomnia and cognitive functioning. The two remaining studies reported changes in their interventions for working memory tasks;however, effect size and other study design limitations were reported. Barriers and considerations for the insomnia related symptoms and treatment continues to merit attention due to its impact for learning in adolescent population.
ABSTRACT
Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused dev-Astation and continues to do so even a year after its first outbreak. Behavioral modifications could help to mitigate a mechanism for acquiring and spreading illnesses. Using wearable devices such as smartwatches to recognize face contact has the opportunity to decrease face touching and, therefore, the spread of respiratory disease through fomite transmission. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how we can utilize accelerometer data from wristwatch sensors to identify face touching actions using deep learning techniques. We proposed the BiGRU deep learning model for the high-performance recognition of hand-To-face actions. The Face Touching dataset is used as a benchmark for evaluating the recognition accuracy of deep learning networks, including our network model. The experimental findings indicate that the BiGRU surpasses other baseline deep learning models regarding accuracy (98.56%) and F1-score (98.56%). © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
Early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many national public health authorities implemented non-pharmaceutical interventions to mitigate disease outbreaks. Panamá established mandatory mask use two months after its first documented case. Initial compliance was high, but diverse masks were used in public areas. We studied behavioral dynamics of mask use through the first two COVID-19 waves in Panama, to improve the implementation of effective, low-cost public health containment measures when populations are exposed to novel air-borne pathogens. Mask use behavior was recorded from pedestrians in four Panamanian populations (August to December 2020). We recorded facial coverings and if used, the type of mask, and gender and estimated age of the wearer. Our results showed that people were highly compliant (>95%) with mask mandates and demonstrated important population-level behaviors: (1) decreasing use of cloth masks over time, and increasing use of surgical masks; (2) mask use was 3-fold lower in suburban neighborhoods than other public areas and (3) young people were least likely to wear masks. Results help focus on highly effective, low-cost, public health interventions for managing and controlling a pandemic. Considerations of behavioral preferences for different masks, relative to pricing and availability, are essential for optimizing public health policies. Policies to increase the availability of effective masks, and behavioral nudges to increase acceptance, and to facilitate mask usage, during the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and for future pandemics of respiratory pathogens, are key tools, especially for nations lagging in access to expensive vaccines and pharmacological approaches.