Physical activity, sedentary behaviour and screen time among youths with Down syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19-related restrictions hampered habitual physical activity (PA), particularly affecting the more vulnerable, such as people with Down syndrome (DS). The study aimed to investigate changes in PA, sedentary behaviour (SB) and screen time (ST) of youths with DS, before, during and after the restrictions, also in relation to parental PA levels.

METHODS

A cross-sectional design with a retrospective assessment of variables for the before and during restrictions periods was adopted. Parents of youths with DS completed an online questionnaire. Sociodemographic aspects, weekly PA levels and youths' daily SB and ST were investigated, referring to three time-points: before the pandemic, during the restrictions and the restrictions-easing phase.

RESULTS

A total of 57 parents voluntarily participated in the study, proxy-reporting on their child (male = 41, female = 16, age = 21.4 ± 7.7 years). A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance showed negative effects of restrictions (P < 0.05) on PA levels, SB and ST, independently from sociodemographic characteristics. In the restrictions-easing phase, PA levels did not return to before the pandemic values (P < 0.05). A positive correlation between parents and their child's PA was detected before the pandemic (r = 0.38; P < 0.01), no longer reported in the restrictions-easing phase.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings showed the negative impact of restrictions on youths with DS lifestyle. Moreover, the importance of addressing the needs of the disabled community including the whole family is highlighted.

Taste sensitivity in healthy adults: gustatory test validation and observational study

Gustatory sensitivity has important biological functions and taste disorders are generally difficult to diagnose and treat. The aim of this study was to investigate taste sensitivity on a sample of adult healthy patients through the validation and administration of a gustatory test, to describe a possible baseline of reference. A gustatory test was performed following a standardized protocol, using primary flavors solutions at 4 known increasing concentrations for a total of 16 sapid solutions. Taste sensitivity was investigated considering (a) the threshold of the flavor identification and (b) the intensity of stimulus perception. Seventy-one healthy patients were included in the study. Reliability measures were evaluated, supporting the validity of the test itself. Sweet, bitter, and salty flavors could be identified within the first concentration, sour flavor was detected within the second concentration in the majority of cases (p<0.05). Sour flavor showed the lowest value of perceived intensity for the less concentrated solution, sweet flavor showed the highest value. Regarding the most concentrated solution, bitter flavor showed the highest intensity value, while sour remained the lowest one. Both gender-based and age-based differences regarding threshold and intensity of perception were not statistically significant. However mean threshold averagely increased along with age. Within its limitations, this study validates a useful, easy-to-use tool for assessing taste function and it provides a possible baseline for perception of primary flavors in a healthy adult population, which can be used as a reference for future studies considering specific cohorts of patients.

Different types of abstract concepts: evidence from two neurodegenerative patients

The observation of neurological patients showing selective impairments for specific conceptual categories contributed in the development of semantic memory theories. Here, we studied two patients (P01, P02), affected, respectively, by the semantic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia (sv-PPA) and Cortico-Basal Syndrome (CBS). An implicit lexical decision task, including concrete (animals, tools) and abstract (emotions, social, quantity) concepts, was administered to patients and healthy controls.P01 and P02 showed an abolished priming effect for social and quantity-related concepts, respectively. This double dissociation suggests a role of different brain areas in representing specific abstract categories, giving insights for current semantic memory theories.

Assessing physical activity in people with mental illness: 23-country reliability and validity of the simple physical activity questionnaire (SIMPAQ)

BACKGROUND

Physical inactivity is a key contributor to the global burden of disease and disproportionately impacts the wellbeing of people experiencing mental illness. Increases in physical activity are associated with improvements in symptoms of mental illness and reduction in cardiometabolic risk. Reliable and valid clinical tools that assess physical activity would improve evaluation of intervention studies that aim to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in people living with mental illness.

METHODS

The five-item Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire (SIMPAQ) was developed by a multidisciplinary, international working group as a clinical tool to assess physical activity and sedentary behaviour in people living with mental illness. Patients with a DSM or ICD mental illness diagnoses were recruited and completed the SIMPAQ on two occasions, one week apart. Participants wore an Actigraph accelerometer and completed brief cognitive and clinical assessments.

RESULTS

Evidence of SIMPAQ validity was assessed against accelerometer-derived measures of physical activity. Data were obtained from 1010 participants. The SIMPAQ had good test-retest reliability. Correlations for moderate-vigorous physical activity was comparable to studies conducted in general population samples. Evidence of validity for the sedentary behaviour item was poor. An alternative method to calculate sedentary behaviour had stronger evidence of validity. This alternative method is recommended for use in future studies employing the SIMPAQ.

CONCLUSIONS

The SIMPAQ is a brief measure of physical activity and sedentary behaviour that can be reliably and validly administered by health professionals.

Evaluation of viral inactivation of pseudorabies virus, encephalomyocarditis virus, bovine viral diarrhea virus and porcine parvovirus in pancreatin of porcine origin

Pancreatin is a substance containing enzymes, principally amylase, lipase, and protease. It is obtained from bovine or porcine pancreas and used in the treatment of pancreatic endocrine insufficiency in humans. Regulations and safety concerns mandate viral clearance (virus removal or inactivation) in biopharmaceuticals such as pancreatin. A virus validation study was performed to evaluate virus clearance achieved in the final step of drying under vacuum by testing a panel of four animal viruses: Pseudorabies virus (PRV), Encephalomyocarditis virus (EMCV), Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), and Porcine parvovirus (PPV). Because of the product's virucidal effect and high cytotoxicity, the starting material was diluted to a ratio of 0.67 g of dried pancreatin resuspended in 13.5 mL of cell culture medium followed by a 50-fold dilution in cell culture medium before spiking. After heating at 60±1°C for 5 h, the samples were diluted about 5-fold in cell culture medium and titered by the plaque assay method. The virus reduction factor ranged from 5.59 (for PPV) to 7.07 (for EMCV) and no viral plaque was observed, indicating that the process step was effective in the reduction and removal of virus contamination. Though no virus contamination events in pancreatin have been reported to date, evaluation of the production process for its ability to inactivate and/or remove virus contamination, particularly from zoonotic viral agents such as hepatitis E virus and Norovirus considered emerging pathogens, is necessary to ensure the viral safety of animal-derived biopharmaceuticals.

Differentiation of the volatile profile of microbiologically contaminated canned tomatoes by dynamic headspace extraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis

The aromatic profile of microbiologically contaminated canned tomatoes was analyzed by the dynamic headspace extraction technique coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Canned tomatoes contaminated with Escherichia coli, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus carbonarius were analyzed after 2 and 7 days. About 100 volatiles were detected, among which alcohols, aldehydes and ketones were the most abundant compounds. Gas chromatographic peak areas were used for statistical purposes. First, principal component analysis was carried out in order to visualize data trends and clusters. Then, linear discriminant analysis was performed in order to detect the set of volatile compounds ables to differentiate groups of analyzed samples. Five volatile compounds, i.e. ethanol, beta-myrcene, o-methyl styrene, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-ol and 1-octanol, were found to be able to better discriminate between uncontaminated and contaminated samples. Prediction ability of the calculated model was estimated to be 100% by the "leave-one-out" cross-validation. An electronic nose device was then used to analyze the same contaminated and not contaminated canned tomato samples. Preliminary results were compared with those obtained by dynamic headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, showing a good agreement.

Long-term monitoring of sleep apnea at home in heart failure patients: preliminary results from the HHH study

Sleep apnea is very common in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and has important implications in terms of morbidity, mortality and clinical management. Home respiratory telemonitoring might constitute a potential low-cost, widely-applicable alternative to traditional polysomnography in the evaluation and long-term monitoring of breathing disorders in these patients. In this paper we briefly describe the technological infrastructure and present preliminary results of the European Community multicountry trial HHH (Home or Hospital in Heart Failure), which is currently testing a novel system for home telemonitoring of cardiorespiratory signals in CHF patients. The recording and transmitting devices are suitable to be self-managed by the patient. We give a detailed report on the prevalence of nocturnal respiratory disorders at the beginning of the one-year follow-up and on their persistency over the following recordings (one per month). These preliminary findings clearly indicate that intermittent home telemonitoring of respiratory signals based on patient's self-management is feasible in CHF patients and the compliance is high. Reported statistics unambiguously confirm the high prevalence of nocturnal breathing disorders in these patients and clearly show that this phenomenon tends to persist over time.

Effect of paced breathing on ventilatory and cardiovascular variability parameters during short-term investigations of autonomic function

Paced breathing (PB) around 0.25 Hz has been advocated as a means to avoid confounding and to standardize measurements in short-term investigations of autonomic cardiovascular regulation. Controversy remains, however, as to whether it causes any alteration in autonomic control. We addressed this issue in 40 supine, middle-aged, healthy volunteers by assessing the changes induced by PB (0.25 Hz for 8 min) on 1) ventilatory parameters, 2) the indexes of autonomic control of cardiovascular function, and 3) the spectral indexes of cardiovascular variability. Subjects were grouped into group 1 (n = 31), if spontaneous breathing was regular and within the high-frequency (HF) band (0.15-0.45 Hz), or group 2 (n = 9), if it was irregular or slow (< 0.15 Hz). In both groups, PB was accompanied by an increase in minute ventilation (both groups, P < 0.01), whereas tidal volume increased only in group 1 (P = 0.0003). End-tidal CO2 decreased by [median (lower quartile, upper quartile)] -0.2 (-0.5, -0.1)% (group 1, P < 0.0001) and -0.6 (-0.8, -0.5)% (group 2, P = 0.008). Mean R-R interval and systolic and diastolic pressure remained remarkably stable (all P > or = 0.13, both groups). No significant changes were observed in spectral indexes of R-R and pressure variability (all P > or = 0.12, measured only in group 1 to avoid confounding), except in the HF power of pressure signals, which significantly increased (all P < 0.05) in association with increased tidal volume. In conclusion, PB at 0.25 Hz causes a slight hyperventilation and does not affect traditional indexes of autonomic control or, in subjects with spontaneous breathing in the HF band, most relevant spectral indexes of cardiovascular variability. These findings support the notion that PB does not alter cardiovascular autonomic regulation compared with spontaneous breathing.

Wedge turbinectomy: a new combined photocoagulative Nd:YAG laser technique

OBJECTIVES

To demonstrate that Nd:YAG laser photocoagulation using a combination of interstitial and contact approaches in the surgical treatment of inferior turbinate hypertrophy yields improved results in terms of postoperative nasal patency, complications, and relapse.

STUDY DESIGN

A group of 121 patients with symptoms of nasal obstruction due to hypertrophied inferior turbinates were treated between January 1994 and December 1997 at the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Unit of the Main Military Hospital of Rome using the wedge turbinectomy, a new endonasal laser technique.

METHODS

This is a combined photocoagulative procedure performed under local anesthesia. In the first surgical step we perform interstitial photocoagulation using Nd:YAG laser and in the second step we use a contact approach, making two strips of photocoagulated mucosa running side by side from the tail to the head of turbinate.

RESULTS

At 1-year follow-up, the complication rate in all our patients treated with this laser technique was very low and we achieved a steady improvement in nasal patency in 104 patients (85.9%). The relapse rate was approximately 14%, but we observed that 65% of the patients who experienced long-term failure were affected by allergic rhinitis.

CONCLUSIONS

An accurate preoperative evaluation of the cause of the turbinate hypertrophy is fundamental to achieving better results after laser turbinectomy and reducing the risk of relapse.

The Cryphonectria parasitica plasmid pUG1 contains a large ORF with motifs characteristic of family B DNA polymerases

The isolation and characterization of the circular mitochondrial plasmid pUG1 from the ascomycete Cryphonectria parasitica is described. The entire sequence (4182 bp) was obtained and high similarities to DNA-dependent DNA polymerases were revealed. Strikingly common features with the DNA polymerases encoded by the Neurospora intermedia plasmids Fiji and LaBelle, such as matches to the conserved motifs A and B and the presence of TTD instead of DTD in motif C, were found, suggesting the existence of a distinct group of members of the B DNA family polymerases. These strong similarities between the plasmids might suggest a common origin of the C.parasitica and the Neurospora plasmids.