Advancements in additive manufacturing for video laryngoscopes: a comprehensive scoping and technological review.

The global healthcare crisis with the COVID-19 pandemic has placed a significant overwhelming demand for intubation procedures and the need for reliable and accessible video laryngoscopes. The purpose of this scoping and technological review is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art, covering the period from 2007 to 2022, pertaining to the manufacturing process, characteristics, and validation of video laryngoscopes produced using additive manufacturing techniques. Following the guidelines outlined in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR), an exhaustive search was conducted across nine prominent databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, Prospero, Scielo, Embase, Lilacs, Virtual Health Libraries-VHL) and four patent databases (EPO/ESPACENET, WIPO/PATENTSCOPE, National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), Google Patents). The main materials utilized for the impression, as well as the physical characteristics of the device are introduced at first. Crucial aspects to facilitate proper visualization of the anatomical structures during endotracheal intubation as the optimal angulation of the blade, the mechanical resistance of the device, traction force on the jaw, intubation time, and the experimental methods employed to validate its performance were reviewed in terms of their recent advances.

A systematic review of exercise protocols applied to athymic mice in tumor-related experiments.

Athymic mice are unable to produce T-cells and are then characterized as immunodeficient. This characteristic makes these animals ideal for tumor biology and xenograft research. New non-pharmacological therapeutics are required owing to the exponential increase in global oncology costs over the last 10 years and the high cancer mortality rate. In this sense, physical exercise is regarded as a relevant component of cancer treatment. However, the scientific community lacks information regarding the effect of manipulating training variables on cancer in humans, and experiments with athymic mice. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to address the exercise protocols used in tumor-related experiments using athymic mice. The PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched without restrictions on published data. A combination of key terms such as athymic mice, nude mice, physical activity, physical exercise, and training was used. The database search retrieved 852 studies (PubMed, 245; Web of Science, 390; and Scopus, 217). After title, abstract, and full-text screening, 10 articles were eligible. Based on the included studies, this report highlights the considerable divergences in the training variables adopted for this animal model. No studies have reported the determination of a physiological marker for intensity individualization. Future studies are recommended to explore whether invasive procedures can result in pathogenic infections in athymic mice. Moreover, time-consuming tests cannot be applied to experiments with specific characteristics such as tumor implantation. In summary, non-invasive, low-cost, and time-saving approaches can suppress these limitations and improve the welfare of these animals during experiments.

Associations among sleep, hematologic profile, and aerobic and anerobic capacity of young swimmers: A complex network approach.

Although the link between sleep and hematological parameters is well-described, it is unclear how this integration affects the swimmer's performance. The parameters derived from the non-invasive critical velocity protocol have been extensively used to evaluate these athletes, especially the aerobic capacity (critical velocity-CV) and the anaerobic work capacity (AWC). Thus, this study applied the complex network model to verify the influence of sleep and hematological variables on the CV and AWC of young swimmers. Thirty-eight swimmers (male, n = 20; female, n = 18) completed five experimental evaluations. Initially, the athletes attended the laboratory facilities for venous blood collection, anthropometric measurements, and application of sleep questionnaires. Over the 4 subsequent days, athletes performed randomized maximal efforts on distances of 100, 200, 400, and 800-m. The aerobic and anerobic parameters were determined by linear function between distance vs. time, where CV relates to the slope of regression and AWC to y-intercept. Weighted but untargeted networks were generated based on significant (p < 0.05) correlations among variables regardless of the correlation coefficient. Betweenness and eigenvector metrics were used to highlight the more important nodes inside the complex network. Regardless of the centrality metric, basophils and red blood cells appeared as influential nodes in the networks with AWC or CV as targets. The role of other hematologic components was also revealed in these metrics, along with sleep total time. Overall, these results trigger new discussion on the influence of sleep and hematologic profile on the swimmer's performance, and the relationships presented by this targeted complex network can be an important tool throughout the athlete's development.

Validity of the peak velocity to detect physical training improvements in athymic mice.

This study comprises two complementary experiments with athymic Balb/c (Nu/Nu) mice. In experiment 1, the aim was to verify the reproducibility of the peak velocity (VPeak) determined from the incremental test. The second experiment aimed to assess the VPeak sensitivity to prescribe and detect modulations of the physical training in athymic nude mice. Sixteen mice were submitted to two incremental treadmill tests separated by 48-h (Experiment 1). The test consisted of an initial warm-up of 5 minutes. Subsequently, animals initiated the tests at 8 m min-1 with increments of 2 m min-1 every 3 minutes. The VPeak was determined as the highest velocity attained during the protocol. In experiment 2, these animals were randomly allocated to an exercise group (EG) or a control group (CG). The training protocol consisted of 30-min of treadmill running at 70% of the VPeak five times a week for 4 weeks. High indexes of reproducibility were obtained for VPeak (Test = 19.7 ± 3.6 m min-1; Retest = 19.2 ± 3.4 m min-1; p = 0.171; effect size = 0.142; r = 0.90). Animals from the EG had a significant increase of VPeak (Before = 18.4 ± 2.7 m min-1; After = 24.2 ± 6.0 m min-1; p = 0.023). Conversely, a significant decrease was observed for the CG (Before = 21.1 ± 3.9 m min-1; After = 15.9 ± 2.7 m min-1; p = 0.038). The VPeak is a valid parameter for exercise prescription in studies involving athymic nude mice.

Home-based, supervised, and mixed exercise intervention on functional capacity and quality of life of colorectal cancer patients: a meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials tested the effects of home-based, supervised, or mixed exercise interventions on the functional capacity (FC) and quality of life (QoL) in colorectal cancer patients. A literature search was performed using the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, and Medline databases. Two reviewers screened the literature through March 10, 2021 for studies related to exercise and colorectal cancer. Of the 1161 screened studies in the initial search, 13 studies met the eligibility criteria (home-based = 6 studies; supervised or mixed = 7 studies). Overall, 706 patients were enrolled in the trials, and 372 patients were submitted to home-based, supervised, or mixed exercise intervention. The overall results from the main meta-analysis showed a significant effect regarding supervised or mixed intervention (6 studies; p = 0.002; I2 = 43%; PI 0.41-1.39); however, no significant effect was observed for home-based intervention (5 studies; p = 0.05; I2 = 25%; PI - 0.34-0.76). A sensitivity analysis based on studies with intervention adherence ≥ 80% (home-based = 3 studies; supervised or mixed = 4 studies) revealed that home-based intervention or intervention entirely supervised or with some level of supervision (mixed) are effective in improving the QoL and FC of CRC patients. In summary, this meta-analysis verified that supervised and home-based exercise can modify QoL and FC when intervention adherence ≥ 80%. Regardless of the supervision characteristics, future RCTs are strongly encouraged to provide a detailed description of the exercise variables in physical interventions for CRC prescription. This perspective will allow a refined exercise prescription for patients with CRC, mainly according to their clinical status.