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1.
Sensors (Basel) ; 24(13)2024 Jul 07.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-39001179

ABSTRACT

There is an increasing interest in accurately evaluating urban soundscapes to reflect citizens' subjective perceptions of acoustic comfort. Various indices have been proposed in the literature to achieve this purpose. However, many of these methods necessitate specialized equipment or extensive data collection. This study introduces an enhanced predictor for dwelling acoustic comfort, utilizing cost-effective data consisting of a 30-s audio clip and location information. The proposed predictor incorporates two rating systems: a binary evaluation and an acoustic comfort index called ACI. The training and evaluation data are obtained from the "Sons al Balcó" citizen science project. To characterize the sound events, gammatone cepstral coefficients are used for automatic sound event detection with a convolutional neural network. To enhance the predictor's performance, this study proposes incorporating objective noise levels from public IoT-based wireless acoustic sensor networks, particularly in densely populated areas like Barcelona. The results indicate that adding noise levels from a public network successfully enhances the accuracy of the acoustic comfort prediction for both rating systems, reaching up to 85% accuracy.

2.
Methods Mol Biol ; 2827: 145-153, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38985267

ABSTRACT

Plant cell suspension cultures (PCSCs) are in vitro-cultured cells that can divide indefinitely in a sterile growth medium. These PCSCs can be derived from various plant tissues, such as the root, stem, leaves, or seeds, and are maintained in a suitable culture medium containing nutrients, vitamins, hormones, and other essential components necessary for their growth. PCSCs have extensive applications in biotechnology, particularly in producing pharmaceutical and chemical compounds. This chapter presents a protocol for generating cell lines from Arabidopsis thaliana root callus under different light conditions, which can be used to investigate the effects of light on plant cell growth and development. The protocol described in this chapter is a valuable tool for researchers interested in utilizing PCSCs in their studies.


Subject(s)
Arabidopsis , Cell Culture Techniques , Light , Arabidopsis/cytology , Arabidopsis/growth & development , Cell Culture Techniques/methods , Plant Roots/cytology , Plant Roots/growth & development , Culture Media/chemistry , Cells, Cultured
3.
PLoS One ; 19(6): e0305074, 2024.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38833443

ABSTRACT

Physical and cognitive decline at an older age is preceded by changes that accumulate over time until they become clinically evident difficulties. These changes, frequently overlooked by patients and health professionals, may respond better than fully established conditions to strategies designed to prevent disabilities and dependence in later life. The objective of this study was twofold; to provide further support for the need to screen for early functional changes in older adults and to look for an early association between decline in mobility and cognition. A cross-sectional cohort study was conducted on 95 active functionally independent community-dwelling older adults in Havana, Cuba. We measured their gait speed at the usual pace and the cognitive status using the MMSE. A value of 0.8 m/s was used as the cut-off point to decide whether they presented a decline in gait speed. A quantitative analysis of their EEG at rest was also performed to look for an associated subclinical decline in brain function. Results show that 70% of the sample had a gait speed deterioration (i.e., lower than 0.8 m/s), of which 80% also had an abnormal EEG frequency composition for their age. While there was no statistically significant difference in the MMSE score between participants with a gait speed above and below the selected cut-off, individuals with MMSE scores below 25 also had a gait speed<0.8 m/s and an abnormal EEG frequency composition. Our results provide further evidence of early decline in older adults-even if still independent and active-and point to the need for clinical pathways that incorporate screening and early intervention targeted at early deterioration to prolong the years of functional life in older age.


Subject(s)
Electroencephalography , Walking Speed , Humans , Aged , Male , Female , Cross-Sectional Studies , Aged, 80 and over , Cognitive Dysfunction/physiopathology , Cognitive Dysfunction/diagnosis , Middle Aged , Cohort Studies , Gait/physiology
4.
Sensors (Basel) ; 24(5)2024 Mar 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38475185

ABSTRACT

The mobility and activity restrictions imposed in Spain due to the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant improvement in the urban noise pollution that could be objectively measured in those cities with acoustic sensor networks deployed. This significant change in the urban soundscapes was also perceived by citizens who positively appraised this new acoustic scenario. In this work, authors present a comparative analysis between different noise indices provided by 70 sound sensors deployed in Barcelona, both during and before the lockdown, and the results of a perceptual test conducted in the framework of the project Sons al Balcó during the lockdown, which received more than one hundred contributions in Barcelona alone. The analysis has been performed by clustering the objective and subjective data according to the predominant noise sources in the location of the sensors and differentiating road traffic in heavy, moderate and low-traffic areas. The study brings out strong alignments between a decline in noise indices, acoustic satisfaction improvement and changes in the predominant noise sources, supporting the idea that objective calibrated data can be useful to make a qualitative approximation to the subjective perception of urban soundscapes when further information is not available.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , Pandemics , Nuclear Family , Communicable Disease Control , Surveys and Questionnaires
5.
Foods ; 13(3)2024 Jan 27.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38338548

ABSTRACT

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) are widely spread in the environment, generating significant concern due to their potential impact on environmental health. Marine species usually ingest plastic fragments, mistaking them for food. Many toxic compounds, such as plastic additives that are not chemically bound to the plastic matrix, can be released from MPs and NPs and reach humans via the food chain. This paper highlights the development and validation of a straightforward solid-liquid extraction clean-up procedure in combination with a matrix solid-phase dispersion method using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) detection, enabling facile, precise, and reliable identification and quantitation of a total of six bisphenols and phthalates in gilthead sea breams. Under the optimized conditions, the developed method showed good linearity (R2 > 0.993) for all target compounds. The recoveries obtained were between 70 and 92%. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for reproducibility (inter-day) and repeatability (intra-day) were less than 9% and 10%, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for the target compounds ranged from 0.11 to 0.68 µg/kg and from 0.37 to 2.28 µg/kg, respectively. A new, efficient extraction methodology for the determination of BPA, BPS, BPF, DBP, DEP, and DHEP in gilthead seabream has been optimized and validated.

6.
Circ Genom Precis Med ; 16(3): 258-266, 2023 06.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37026454

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is highly heritable, but the power to identify inherited risk has been limited to analyses of common variants in small cohorts. METHODS: We performed reimputation of 4 CHD cohorts (n=55 342) to the TOPMed reference panel (freeze 5), permitting meta-analysis of 14 784 017 variants including 6 035 962 rare variants of high imputation quality as validated by whole genome sequencing. RESULTS: Meta-analysis identified 16 novel loci, including 12 rare variants, which displayed moderate or large effect sizes (median odds ratio, 3.02) for 4 separate CHD categories. Analyses of chromatin structure link 13 of the genome-wide significant loci to key genes in cardiac development; rs373447426 (minor allele frequency, 0.003 [odds ratio, 3.37 for Conotruncal heart disease]; P=1.49×10-8) is predicted to disrupt chromatin structure for 2 nearby genes BDH1 and DLG1 involved in Conotruncal development. A lead variant rs189203952 (minor allele frequency, 0.01 [odds ratio, 2.4 for left ventricular outflow tract obstruction]; P=1.46×10-8) is predicted to disrupt the binding sites of 4 transcription factors known to participate in cardiac development in the promoter of SPAG9. A tissue-specific model of chromatin conformation suggests that common variant rs78256848 (minor allele frequency, 0.11 [odds ratio, 1.4 for Conotruncal heart disease]; P=2.6×10-8) physically interacts with NCAM1 (PFDR=1.86×10-27), a neural adhesion molecule acting in cardiac development. Importantly, while each individual malformation displayed substantial heritability (observed h2 ranging from 0.26 for complex malformations to 0.37 for left ventricular outflow tract obstructive disease) the risk for different CHD malformations appeared to be separate, without genetic correlation measured by linkage disequilibrium score regression or regional colocalization. CONCLUSIONS: We describe a set of rare noncoding variants conferring significant risk for individual heart malformations which are linked to genes governing cardiac development. These results illustrate that the oligogenic basis of CHD and significant heritability may be linked to rare variants outside protein-coding regions conferring substantial risk for individual categories of cardiac malformation.


Subject(s)
Heart Defects, Congenital , Humans , Heart Defects, Congenital/diagnosis , Heart Defects, Congenital/genetics , Phenotype , Gene Frequency , Whole Genome Sequencing , Chromatin , Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing/genetics
7.
J Clin Invest ; 133(11)2023 06 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-37079387

ABSTRACT

Renal osteodystrophy (ROD) is a disorder of bone metabolism that affects virtually all patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is associated with adverse clinical outcomes including fractures, cardiovascular events, and death. In this study, we showed that hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α), a transcription factor mostly expressed in the liver, is also expressed in bone, and that osseous HNF4α expression was dramatically reduced in patients and mice with ROD. Osteoblast-specific deletion of Hnf4α resulted in impaired osteogenesis in cells and mice. Using multi-omics analyses of bones and cells lacking or overexpressing Hnf4α1 and Hnf4α2, we showed that HNF4α2 is the main osseous Hnf4α isoform that regulates osteogenesis, cell metabolism, and cell death. As a result, osteoblast-specific overexpression of Hnf4α2 prevented bone loss in mice with CKD. Our results showed that HNF4α2 is a transcriptional regulator of osteogenesis, implicated in the development of ROD.


Subject(s)
Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder , Renal Insufficiency, Chronic , Mice , Animals , Transcription Factors/metabolism , Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder/genetics , Osteogenesis/genetics , Gene Expression Regulation , Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4/genetics , Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4/metabolism
8.
J. bras. nefrol ; 45(1): 102-105, Jan.-Mar. 2023. tab, graf
Article in English | LILACS-Express | LILACS | ID: biblio-1430660

ABSTRACT

Abstract Introduction: There is disagreement between data on sleep duration obtained from questionnaires and objective measurements. Whether this is also true for individuals with CKD is unknown. Here we compared self-reported sleep duration with sleep duration obtained by actigraphy. Methods: This prospective study included adult individuals with stage 3 CKD recruited between September/2016 and February/2019. We evaluated subjective sleep duration by asking the following question: "How many hours of actual sleep did you get at night?" Results: Patients (N=34) were relatively young (51 ± 13 years). Self-reported and measured sleep duration were 7.1 ± 1.7 and 6.9 ± 1.6 hours, respectively, with no correlation between them (p=0.165). Although the mean difference between measurements was 0.21 h, the limits of agreement ranged from -3.7 to 4.1 h. Conclusion: Patients with CKD who are not on dialysis have an erroneous sleep perception. Data on sleep duration should be preferentially obtained from objective measurements in patients with CKD.


Resumo Introdução: Há discordância entre os dados sobre duração do sono obtidos a partir de questionários e medições objetivas. Não se sabe se isto também é verdade para indivíduos com DRC. Aqui comparamos a duração do sono autorrelatada com a duração do sono obtida por meio de actigrafia. Métodos: Este estudo prospectivo incluiu indivíduos adultos com DRC estadio 3 recrutados entre Setembro/2016 e Fevereiro/2019. Avaliamos a duração subjetiva do sono, fazendo a seguinte questão: "Quantas horas de sono real você teve à noite?" Resultados: Os pacientes (N=34) eram relativamente jovens (51 ± 13 anos). A duração do sono autorrelatada e mensurada foi de 7,1 ± 1,7 e 6,9 ± 1,6 horas, respectivamente, sem correlação entre elas (p=0,165). Embora a diferença média entre as medições tenha sido de 0,21 h, os limites de concordância variaram de -3,7 a 4,1 h. Conclusão: Pacientes com DRC que não estão em diálise apresentam uma percepção equivocada do sono. Dados sobre a duração do sono devem ser obtidos preferencialmente a partir de medições objetivas em pacientes com DRC.

9.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36834378

ABSTRACT

Citizen science can serve as a tool to obtain information about changes in the soundscape. One of the challenges of citizen science projects is the processing of data gathered by the citizens, to obtain conclusions. As part of the project Sons al Balcó, authors aim to study the soundscape in Catalonia during the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and afterwards and design a tool to automatically detect sound events as a first step to assess the quality of the soundscape. This paper details and compares the acoustic samples of the two collecting campaigns of the Sons al Balcó project. While the 2020 campaign obtained 365 videos, the 2021 campaign obtained 237. Later, a convolutional neural network is trained to automatically detect and classify acoustic events even if they occur simultaneously. Event based macro F1-score tops 50% for both campaigns for the most prevalent noise sources. However, results suggest that not all the categories are equally detected: the percentage of prevalence of an event in the dataset and its foregound-to-background ratio play a decisive role.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Citizen Science , Humans , Pandemics , Communicable Disease Control , Acoustics
10.
Arch Virol ; 168(3): 92, 2023 Feb 16.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36795170

ABSTRACT

The coliphage mEp021 belongs to a phage group with a unique immunity repressor, and its life cycle requires the host factor Nus. mEp021 has been classified as non-lambdoid based on its specific characteristics. The mEp021 genome carries a gene encoding an Nλ-like antiterminator protein, termed Gp17, and three nut sites (nutL, nutR1, and nutR2). Analysis of plasmid constructs containing these nut sites, a transcription terminator, and a GFP reporter gene showed high levels of fluorescence when Gp17 was expressed, but not in its absence. Like lambdoid N proteins, Gp17 has an arginine-rich motif (ARM), and mutations in its arginine codons inhibit its function. In infection assays using the mutant phage mEp021ΔGp17::Kan (where gp17 has been deleted), gene transcripts located downstream of transcription terminators were obtained only when Gp17 was expressed. In contrast to phage lambda, mEp021 virus particle production was partially restored (>1/3 relative to wild type) when nus mutants (nusA1, nusB5, nusC60, and nusE71) were infected with mEp021 and Gp17 was overexpressed. Our results suggest that RNA polymerase reads through the third nut site (nutR2), which is more than 7.9 kbp downstream of nutR1.


Subject(s)
Terminator Regions, Genetic , Transcription, Genetic , Base Sequence , Coliphages/genetics , Bacteriophage lambda/genetics
11.
Gac Med Mex ; 158(Suplement 2): 1-116, 2023 Jan 20.
Article in Spanish | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36763412

ABSTRACT

With the advancement of knowledge in relation to the physiopathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD), several new therapeutic forms have been developed. There are also new guidelines for self-care. On the other hand, there is still an underdiagnosis of AD in Mexico. Thus, the need was seen to develop a national guide, with a broad base among the different medical groups that care for patients with AD. The Atopic Dermatitis Guidelines for Mexico (GUIDAMEX) was developed with the ADAPTE methodology, with the endorsement and participation of ten national medical societies, from physicians in Primary Healthcare to allergists and dermatologists. Throughout the manuscript, key clinical questions are answered that lead to recommendations and suggestions for the diagnosis of AD (including differential diagnosis with immunodeficiency syndromes), the recognition of comorbidities and complications, non-pharmacological treatment including therapeutic education, treatment of flares and maintenance therapy. The latter encompasses general measures to avoid triggering factors, first-line treatment focussed on repair of the skin barrier, second-line treatment (topical proactive therapy), and third-line phototherapy or systemic treatment, including dupilumab and JAK inhibitors.


Con el avance de los conocimientos en relación con la fisiopatogenia de la dermatitis atópica (DA) se han desarrollado varias formas terapéuticas nuevas. Asimismo, existen nuevos lineamientos para el autocuidado. Por otro lado, aún existe un subdiagnóstico de la DA en México. Así, se vio la necesidad de desarrollar una guía nacional, con base amplia entre las diferentes agrupaciones médicos que atienden pacientes con DA. Se desarrolló la Guía de DA para México (GUIDAMEX) con la metodología ADAPTE, con el aval y la participación de diez sociedades médicas nacionales, desde médicos del primer contacto hasta alergólogos y dermatólogos. A lo largo del escrito se contestan preguntas clínicas clave que llevan a recomendaciones y sugerencias para el diagnóstico de la DA (incluyendo diagnóstico diferencial con síndromes de inmunodeficiencia), el reconocer de las comorbilidades y complicaciones, las medidas generales (tratamiento no farmacológico) incluyendo la educación terapéutica, el tratamiento de los brotes y el tratamiento de mantenimiento. Este último abarca las medidas generales de evitar agravantes, el tratamiento de primera línea reparador de la barrera cutánea, de segunda línea (manejo proactivo tópico), hasta la fototerapia y el tratamiento sistémico de la tercera línea, incluyendo dupilumab y los inhibidores de la cinasa de Jano.


Subject(s)
Dermatitis, Atopic , Humans , Dermatitis, Atopic/therapy , Dermatitis, Atopic/drug therapy , Mexico , Comorbidity , Diagnosis, Differential , Phototherapy/methods
12.
Rev. enferm. Inst. Mex. Seguro Soc ; 30(4): 96-102, Oct 3, 2022. tab
Article in Spanish | LILACS, BDENF - Nursing | ID: biblio-1436021

ABSTRACT

Introducción: los cambios de conductas saludables a las no saludables ponen en riesgo la salud, los universitarios son una población muy vulnerable para adoptar estilos de vida que puedan favorecer su calidad de vida. El consumo de alcohol y tabaco como conducta es un tema importante en esta etapa de formación profesional. Objetivo: determinar las conductas de estilo de vida relacionados con la salud como el consumo de cigarrillos, alcohol y drogas, hábitos alimentarios, forma física, control del estrés y seguridad que realizan los estudiantes de la Licenciatura en Enfermería de la Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, México. Metodología: estudio de tipo cuantitativo, descriptivo, transversal en una muestra de 666 estudiantes de la Licenciatura en Enfermería seleccionados por muestreo no probabilístico. Resultados: predominó el género femenino con 83%, el 62.8% presenta un buen estilo de vida, seguido del 30.3% que tiene un excelente estilo de vida; el 79.1% corresponde a los estudiantes que no fuman y el 37.8% de los estudiantes tiene una buena alimentación. Los estudiantes calificaron su forma física como regular en el 41% de los casos, seguida de mala con el 34.5%. En cuanto a la práctica de control del estrés calificaron como buena con un 50.8% y excelente con 26.1%. Conclusión: los estudiantes de Enfermería tienen un nivel de estilo de vida bueno relacionado con la salud, los más practicados corresponden a las dimensiones de consumo de alcohol, hábitos alimentarios, control de estrés y seguridad. Es importante considerar la dimensión relacionada con la forma física (práctica de ejercicio físico), ya que se practica ocasionalmente, lo que demuestra que los estudiantes llevan un estilo de vida sedentario.


Introduction: Changes from healthy to unhealthy behaviors put health at risk, so university students are a very vulnerable population to adopt lifestyles that can favor their quality of life. The consumption of alcohol and tobacco as conduct is an important issue at this stage of professional training. Objective: To determine the lifestyle behaviors related to health such as the consumption of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, eating habits, physical fitness, stress control and safety carried out by the students of the Bachelor of Nursing at the Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, in Mexico. Methodology: Quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study in a sample of 666 Nursing undergraduate students selected by non-probabilistic sampling. Results: The female gender predominated with 83%, 62.8% have a good lifestyle, followed by 30.3% who have an excellent lifestyle; 79.1% corresponds to students who do not smoke and 37.8% of students have a good diet. The students rated their physical fitness as fair in 41% of the cases, followed by poor with 34.5%. Regarding the practice of stress control, they qualified as good with 50.8% and excellent with 26.1%. Conclusion: Nursing students have a good level of lifestyle related to health, the most practiced correspond to the dimensions of alcohol consumption, eating habits, stress control and safety. It is important to consider the dimension related to physical fitness (practice of physical exercise), since it is only practiced occasionally, which shows that students lead a sedentary lifestyle.


Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Students, Nursing/psychology , Healthy Lifestyle , Stress, Psychological/classification , Surveys and Questionnaires , Feeding Behavior/classification , Tobacco Use/adverse effects , Alcohol Drinking in College
13.
Sensors (Basel) ; 22(18)2022 Sep 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36146382

ABSTRACT

This work presents the design of a wireless acoustic sensor network (WASN) that monitors indoor spaces. The proposed network would enable the acquisition of valuable information on the behavior of the inhabitants of the space. This WASN has been conceived to work in any type of indoor environment, including houses, hospitals, universities or even libraries, where the tracking of people can give relevant insight, with a focus on ambient assisted living environments. The proposed WASN has several priorities and differences compared to the literature: (i) presenting a low-cost flexible sensor able to monitor wide indoor areas; (ii) balance between acoustic quality and microphone cost; and (iii) good communication between nodes to increase the connectivity coverage. A potential application of the proposed network could be the generation of a sound map of a certain location (house, university, offices, etc.) or, in the future, the acoustic detection of events, giving information about the behavior of the inhabitants of the place under study. Each node of the network comprises an omnidirectional microphone and a computation unit, which processes acoustic information locally following the edge-computing paradigm to avoid sending raw data to a cloud server, mainly for privacy and connectivity purposes. Moreover, this work explores the placement of acoustic sensors in a real scenario, following acoustic coverage criteria. The proposed network aims to encourage the use of real-time non-invasive devices to obtain behavioral and environmental information, in order to take decisions in real-time with the minimum intrusiveness in the location under study.


Subject(s)
Acoustics , Humans , Monitoring, Physiologic
14.
BMJ Open ; 12(9): e059202, 2022 09 20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36127107

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Physical activity among children and adolescents remains insufficient, despite the substantial efforts made by researchers and policymakers. Identifying and furthering our understanding of potential modifiable determinants of physical activity behaviour (PAB) and sedentary behaviour (SB) is crucial for the development of interventions that promote a shift from SB to PAB. The current protocol details the process through which a series of systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses (MAs) will be conducted to produce a best-evidence statement (BESt) and inform policymakers. The overall aim is to identify modifiable determinants that are associated with changes in PAB and SB in children and adolescents (aged 5-19 years) and to quantify their effect on, or association with, PAB/SB. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A search will be performed in MEDLINE, SportDiscus, Web of Science, PsychINFO and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled trials (CTs) that investigate the effect of interventions on PAB/SB and longitudinal studies that investigate the associations between modifiable determinants and PAB/SB at multiple time points will be sought. Risk of bias assessments will be performed using adapted versions of Cochrane's RoB V.2.0 and ROBINS-I tools for RCTs and CTs, respectively, and an adapted version of the National Institute of Health's tool for longitudinal studies. Data will be synthesised narratively and, where possible, MAs will be performed using frequentist and Bayesian statistics. Modifiable determinants will be discussed considering the settings in which they were investigated and the PAB/SB measurement methods used. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical approval is needed as no primary data will be collected. The findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications and academic conferences where possible. The BESt will also be shared with policy makers within the DE-PASS consortium in the first instance. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: CRD42021282874.


Subject(s)
Exercise , Sedentary Behavior , Adolescent , Child , Humans , Meta-Analysis as Topic , Motor Activity , Systematic Reviews as Topic
15.
J Acoust Soc Am ; 151(3): 1676, 2022 03.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35364959

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the acoustic environment worldwide, entailing relevant reductions of equivalent noise levels (LAeq) during this exceptional period. In the context of the LIFE+ DYNAMAP project, two wireless acoustic sensor networks were deployed in Milan and Rome. Taking advantage of the built-in identification of anomalous noise events (ANE) in the sensors, this work analyses the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown in both urban and suburban acoustic environments from January to June 2020, considering the distribution of ANEs and the intermittency ratio (IR) as an indicator of the impact of noise on population. The results show statistically significant increments of ANEs in Rome during the lockdown, mainly on weekends, and especially at night, despite the significant decrease in salient events. Differently, ANEs decrease during the lockdown in Milan, mostly at daytime, as a result of population confinement. Although the IR increases in several urban locations, most sensed locations show a relevant decrease in IR during the confinement, which represents a noteworthy reduction of the negative impact of noise in the population of both cities. During the post-lockdown period, all the scores start to return to those observed in the pre-lockdown, but still remaining higher than in 2019.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Acoustics , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Communicable Disease Control , Humans , Pandemics , Rome/epidemiology
16.
J Therm Biol ; 105: 103146, 2022 Apr.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35393040

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI) have difficulties in maintaining thermal homeostasis during exercise due to their lower sweat capacity and skin vasodilation. Skin temperature (Tsk) assessment, as opposed to core temperature, has become more widely accepted due to its non-invasive nature. The aims of this systematic review was to collate research studies that measured Tsk of individuals with SCI during or after exercise, study their Tsk response, taking into account the method employed, the environmental and exercise conditions, and to identify the different cooling strategies and their effect during exercise. METHODS: Pubmed, Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched to identify the articles published since year 2000. Two reviewers working independently extracted data and assessed the quality of the articles included. If they disagreed, a third reviewer was consulted. ROBINS-I scale was used to assess the quality of the articles, and the review has been conducted in agreement with PRISMA guidelines. RESULTS: Twenty studies were included in this review. 84% of them presented moderate, serious or critical risk of bias. The entire of the studies assessed Tsk during exercise, but only seven studies measured it during rest or after exercise. Eighteen studies used contact thermometry to assess Tsk and the two remaining studies employed non-contact techniques. Seven studies were conducted in warm conditions (>31.5°C) and the remaining studies in moderate conditions (10°C to 26.6°C). According to cooling strategies, ice vests and water spray are effective in reducing Tsk and decreasing the risk of heat stroke. CONCLUSIONS: The 90% of the studies applied contact thermometry and due to their effect in the data assessed, it is necessary more research into the SCI population using infrared thermography due to its differences in characteristics, methodology, and applications. The methodological differences among studies make difficult to perform a meta-analysis.


Subject(s)
Spinal Cord Injuries , Thermometry , Body Temperature , Body Temperature Regulation , Exercise/physiology , Hot Temperature , Humans , Skin Temperature
17.
Rev. cuba. estomatol ; 58(4)dic. 2021.
Article in Spanish | LILACS, CUMED | ID: biblio-1408366

ABSTRACT

Introducción: La pandemia de COVID-19 introdujo un cambio en la realización del Congreso Internacional en conmemoración el 120 aniversario de la fundación de la Facultad de Estomatología de La Habana, efectuándose de manera virtual en noviembre del 2020. Objetivo: Caracterizar el Congreso Internacional de carácter virtual Estomatología 2020, realizado en tiempos de COVID-19. Métodos: Se realizó una investigación descriptiva, con la aplicación del método histórico-lógico y el de revisión documental, utilizándose los reportes estadísticos finales que brindó el sitio del cónclave. Resultados: En la página del congreso se inscribieron 970 usuarios, de ellos, 899 cubanos y 71 de otros países; todas las provincias estuvieron representadas. El 81 por ciento de los usuarios fueron profesionales y el 16,8 por ciento, estudiantes. Fueron aprobados y publicados 391 trabajos, para un 82,8 por ciento, 373 trabajos eran de autores cubanos y 18 de autores extranjeros. El 18 por ciento de los trabajos correspondieron a estomatología general integral en la atención primaria de salud, seguida de ortodoncia (14,3 por ciento). Se realizaron 2405 comentarios en total, el 92,3 por ciento de los trabajos publicados recibieron comentarios, figuran en las Actas del Congreso 354 trabajos. Conclusiones: La mayoría de los usuarios inscritos fueron cubanos, del sexo femenino y profesionales. Todas las provincias tuvieron representación. La mayoría de los trabajos recibidos reunieron los requisitos para ser publicados y, prácticamente, la quinta parte correspondió a la estomatología general integral en la atención primaria de salud. Fue destacada para participación de estudiantes(AU)


Introduction : Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Congress programmed to mark the 120th anniversary of the Dental School of Havana had to change its format and was held virtually in November 2020. Objective: Characterize the virtual International Congress Dentistry 2020, held in the time of COVID-19. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted based on the final statistical reports provided by the Congress website and applying historical-logical and document review methods. Results: A total 970 users were registered in the Congress page. Of these, 899 were Cuban and 71 were foreign. All the provinces were represented. 81 percent of the users were professionals and 16.8 percent were students. 391 papers were accepted and published, for 82.8 percent; 373 papers were written by Cuban authors and 18 by foreign authors. 18 percent of the papers dealt with general comprehensive dentistry in primary health care, followed by orthodontics (14.3 percent). 2 405 comments were made, with 92.3 percent of the published papers receiving comments. 354 papers were recorded in the Congress Proceedings. Conclusions: Most of the users registered were Cuban, female and professionals. All the provinces were represented. Most of the papers received met the publication requirements and almost one fifth dealt with general comprehensive dentistry in primary health care. Students had an outstanding participation(AU)


Subject(s)
Humans , Primary Health Care , Schools, Dental , COVID-19/epidemiology , Computer Communication Networks , Research Report , Anniversaries and Special Events
18.
Sensors (Basel) ; 21(22)2021 Nov 10.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34833545

ABSTRACT

Many people living in urban environments nowadays are overexposed to noise, which results in adverse effects on their health. Thus, urban sound monitoring has emerged as a powerful tool that might enable public administrations to automatically identify and quantify noise pollution. Therefore, identifying multiple and simultaneous acoustic sources in these environments in a reliable and cost-effective way has emerged as a hot research topic. The purpose of this paper is to propose a two-stage classifier able to identify, in real time, a set of up to 21 urban acoustic events that may occur simultaneously (i.e., multilabel), taking advantage of physical redundancy in acoustic sensors from a wireless acoustic sensors network. The first stage of the proposed system consists of a multilabel deep neural network that makes a classification for each 4-s window. The second stage intelligently aggregates the classification results from the first stage of four neighboring nodes to determine the final classification result. Conducted experiments with real-world data and up to three different computing devices show that the system is able to provide classification results in less than 1 s and that it has good performance when classifying the most common events from the dataset. The results of this research may help civic organisations to obtain actionable noise monitoring information from automatic systems.


Subject(s)
Acoustics , Noise , Humans , Monitoring, Physiologic , Neural Networks, Computer
19.
J Acoust Soc Am ; 149(5): 3416, 2021 05.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34241134

ABSTRACT

The lockdown measures in Spain due to COVID-19 social measures showed a wide decrease in the urban noise levels observed. This paper presents an analysis of the noise levels in Girona, a 100 000 citizen city in the North-East of Catalonia (Spain). We present the LAeq levels in four different locations from January 2020 to June 2020, including all the stages of the lockdown. Several comparisons are conducted with the monitoring data available from the previous years (2019, 2018, and 2017, when available). This analysis is part of the project "Sons al Balcó," which aims to draw the soundscape of Catalonia during the lockdown. The results of the analysis in Girona show drastic LAeq changes especially in nightlife areas of the city, moderate LAeq changes in commercial and restaurants areas, and low LAeq changes in dense traffic areas.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Communicable Disease Control , Cities , Environmental Monitoring , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , Spain
20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34071357

ABSTRACT

The lockdown social measures in Spain due to COVID-19 caused a significant decrease in urban noise levels, which was observed in most of the large cities. This paper presents an analysis of the noise levels in Barcelona, Spain, by means of an accurate analysis of the most relevant sensors deployed in the Barcelona Noise Monitoring Network. In this work, we present the LAeq levels in eight different locations from January 2020 to June 2020-from Superblocks to industrial zones-including and detailing all stages of the lockdown. Several comparisons were conducted with the monitoring data available from the former years (2019 and 2018-when available). The results of the analysis in Barcelona show a drastic LAeq reduction (-9 dBA), especially in nightlife areas of the city, moderate to high LAeq change (-7 dBA) in commercial and restaurants areas and a small decrease in LAeq (-5 dBA) in dense traffic areas.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Cities , Communicable Disease Control , Environmental Monitoring , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , Spain
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