Temporal patterns for inguinal hernia recurrence operations after Shouldice Repair

PURPOSE

Shouldice Repair for inguinal hernias results in a low recurrence rate; however, little is known about the risk factors for these relapses. In the present study, we reviewed all patient's undergoing a reoperation for recurrence after a primary Shouldice Repair.

METHODS

Patients undergoing recurrent inguinal hernia repair from 2013 to 2017 were identified. The subgroup of patients with the first recurrence after a Shouldice Repair at this institution was selected and included. Data collection from the index and the reoperation surgery were performed, as well as statistical analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 125 patients were included in the analysis. The mean age was 50.8 ± 13.9 (body mass index: 24.6 ± 2.6 kg/m2), 97% were male. The most common interval for a recurrence reoperation was in the first 5 years following the initial surgery (37.6% of patients; mode: 1 year; median: 7 years; mean: 13.7 ± 13.8 years). A temporal median pattern for recurrence reoperation according to age interval was noted (patients < 41 years old: 20 years; patients aged 41-60 years old: 10 years and patients > 61 years: 2 years)).

CONCLUSION

Patients undergoing reoperations for recurrent inguinal hernias after a primary Shouldice Repair presented a pattern of temporal recurrence according to age. Older patients present with earlier recurrences than younger ones, an important consideration in the assessment of patients postoperatively.

Novel phenotypes of feeding and social behaviour and their relationship with individual rabbit growth and feed efficiency

Due to the lack of a recording system for individual consumption of group-housed rabbits, published studies about feeding behaviour are based on information recorded at the group- and not at the individual level and periods covering only a few days or, in some cases, only part of a day. Such information could be used to inform rabbit management systems but cannot be used for genetic selection. We aimed to generate and use information from a novel automated feeder for group-housed rabbits to identify new phenotypes for individual animals that could be incorporated into breeding programs to improve feed efficiency and social behaviour under different feeding regimens. At 39 d of age, rabbits from 15 batches were placed in cages and fed ad libitum to become used to the electronic feeder. From 42 to 58-59 d, one group of 1 086 rabbits was fed ad libitum (AL), while another group of 1 134 rabbits was fed on a restricted feeding schedule (R) by limiting the feeding time to the period between 1800 and 0600 h of the following day. We implemented a reliable multivariate method to remove anomalous feeding behaviour records. We then defined novel traits for feeding behaviour that apply to both types of feeding regimes, and for social behaviour that indicates an animal's rank within the cage hierarchy. We based these traits on feeder records and a biologically sound definition of a meal. Finally, we estimated the phenotypic correlations of those traits with growth and feed efficiency traits. Our findings demonstrate that variables about resource distribution among cage mates and an animal's priority for feed access were found to be good indicators of an animal's dominant or subordinate status within the cage. Based on results obtained in R animals (results were similar in AL animals), the most efficient animals were those that ate less frequently (phenotypic correlation with feed conversion ratio, rho = 0.6), and consumed smaller amounts per meal (rho = 0.7), spent less time at the feeder (rho = 0.4), and appeared to be subordinate, as they did not have priority access to the feeder (rho = -0.3), and had the smallest share of resources (range of rho = 0.2-0.6). We conclude that quantifying feeding and social behaviour traits can enhance the understanding of the mechanisms through which individuals exert their effects on the performance of their cage mates.

Soil inorganic carbon stocks increase non-synergistically with soil organic carbon after ecological restoration practices in drylands

Ecological restoration practices have been widely adopted to increase soil carbon stocks by improving soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the effects of these practices on the other important soil carbon component, soil inorganic carbon (SIC), remain unclear. To address this, a meta-analysis based on 45 publications and 37 sites was conducted to quantitatively assess the dynamic changes in SIC stocks due to typical restoration practices, including conversion of cropland to forest (C-F), cropland to grassland (C-G), desert to cropland (D-C), conservation agriculture (CA), and desert to forest (D-F). Results showed that, among the restoration practices increasing the SOC stocks, the SIC stocks decreased after the C-F (-34.7%) and C-G (-15.8%) conversions and CA (-6.8%), but increased after the conversion of D-C (2.6%) and D-F (46.9%). Additionally, in terms of recovery duration, the negative effect of C-G on SIC stocks may vanish with increased recovery duration, whereas SIC stocks showed a prominent increase initially after CA and then decreased over time; the response to D-F conversion of SIC stocks remained consistently positive over time. Furthermore, the non-synergistic changes with SIC and SOC could be due to variations in edaphic factors, while the effects edaphic factors on SIC stocks were different under various ecological restoration practices. Among all the impact factors, mean annual temperature, initial SIC stocks, and types of ecological restoration practice, were the most crucial factors explaining the variation in SIC stocks with ecological restoration. Collectively, the results highlight that the change in SIC stocks is asynchronous with the increase in SOC stocks in space and time after ecological restoration, further indicating that changes in SIC stocks should be paid more attention when assessing and predicting carbon sequestration following various ecological restoration practices.

Temporal Patterns of Diet and Physical Activity and of Diet Alone Have More Numerous Relationships With Health and Disease Status Indicators Compared to Temporal Patterns of Physical Activity Alone

BACKGROUND

Daily temporal patterns of energy intake (temporal dietary patterns [TDPs]) and physical activity (temporal physical activity patterns [TPAPs]) have been independently and jointly (temporal dietary and physical activity patterns [TDPAPs]) associated with health and disease status indicators.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to compare the number and strength of association between clusters of daily TDPs, TPAPs, and TDPAPs and multiple health and disease status indicators.

DESIGN

This cross-sectional study used 1 reliable weekday dietary recall and 1 random weekday of accelerometer data to partition to create clusters of participants representing the 3 temporal patterns. Four clusters were created via kernel-k means clustering algorithm of the same constrained dynamic time warping distance computed over the time series for each temporal pattern.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003-2006), 1,836 US adults aged 20 through 65 years who were not pregnant and had valid diet, physical activity, sociodemographic, anthropometric, questionnaire, and health and disease status indicator data were included.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Health status indicators used as outcome measures were body mass index, waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose, hemoglobin A1c, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure; disease status indicators included obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED

Multivariate regression models determined associations between the clusters representing each pattern and health and disease status indicators, controlling for confounders and adjusting for multiple comparisons. The number of significant differences among clusters and adjusted R2 and Akaike information criterion compared the strength of associations between clusters of patterns and continuous and categorical health and disease status indicators.

RESULTS

TDPAPs showed 21 significant associations with health and disease status indicators, including body mass index, waist circumference, obesity, and type 2 diabetes; TDPs showed 19 significant associations; and TPAPs showed 8 significant associations.

CONCLUSIONS

TDPAPs and TDPs had stronger and more numerous associations with health and disease status indicators compared with TPAPs. Patterns representing the integration of daily dietary habits hold promise for early detection of obesity.

Temporal variation of excess deaths from diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

BACKGROUND

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has persisted for more than two years with the evident excess mortality from diabetes, few studies have investigated its temporal patterns. This study aims to estimate the excess deaths from diabetes in the United States (US) during the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluate the excess deaths by spatiotemporal pattern, age groups, sex, and race/ethnicity.

METHODS

Diabetes as one of multiple causes of death or an underlying cause of death were both considered into analyses. The Poisson log-linear regression model was used to estimate weekly expected counts of deaths during the pandemic with adjustments for long-term trend and seasonality. Excess deaths were measured by the difference between observed and expected death counts, including weekly average excess deaths, excess death rate, and excess risk. We calculated the excess estimates by pandemic wave, US state, and demographic characteristic.

RESULTS

From March 2020 to March 2022, deaths that diabetes as one of multiple causes of death and an underlying cause of death were about 47.6 % and 18.4 % higher than the expected. The excess deaths of diabetes had evident temporal patterns with two large percentage increases observed during March 2020, to June 2020, and June 2021 to November 2021. The regional heterogeneity and underlying age and racial/ethnic disparities of the excess deaths were also clearly observed.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlighted the increased risks of diabetes mortality, heterogeneous spatiotemporal patterns, and associated demographic disparities during the pandemic. Practical actions are warranted to monitor disease progression, and lessen health disparities in patients with diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pre and post stage of infection of Magnaporthe oryzae Oryza in wheat leaves with different resistance levels

Blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae B.C. Couch) is an imminent threat to global food security because it causes serious yield losses in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The investigation of infection processes in resistant and susceptible varieties, as well as the cellular responses involved in resistance, can help us to better understand the process of interaction of the M. oryzae-Poaceae pathosystems. Thus, the objectives of this study were to evaluate the processes of pre- and post-infection of M. oryzae in leaves of wheat varieties with different levels of resistance. The percentage of germinated conidia, appressorium formed, tissue penetration and colonization, and the reaction of leaf tissue to infection were evaluated. A decrease was observed in the percentage of germinated conidia, appressorium formation, tissue penetration and colonization, especially in the tissues of resistant varieties, in addition to an increase in the plant's response to infection, with cell wall reinforcement, cell death, and autofluorescent cytoplasm aggregation. Nevertheless, our data produced a different temporal perspective regarding the expression of the known types of resistance. We found that, for a single genotype, recognition can start as early as 6 h after inoculation and continue to evolve until very late during the infection cycle, culminating in cell death. The combined and overlapping pre- and post-haustorial resistance mechanisms were sufficient to prevent disease symptoms, with a few punctual lesions observed in one of the resistant varieties (BR 18) and no visible symptoms in the other two (Ônix or BRS229) as opposed to susceptible variety.

Worldwide distribution, associated factors, and trends of gallbladder cancer: A global country-level analysis

This study aimed to evaluate the global distribution, associated factors, and epidemiologic trends of gallbladder cancer (GBC) by country, sex, and age groups. The Global Cancer Observatory was interrogated for the disease burden of GBC using age-standardized rates (ASR). The prevalence of different potential risk factors for each country was extracted from Global Health Observatory and their associations with GBC incidence and mortality were examined by linear regression analysis using beta coefficients (β). The Cancer Incidence in Five Continents I-XI and the WHO Mortality database were searched and Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) was generated from joinpoint regression analysis. The incidence (ASR = 2.3) and mortality (ASR = 1.7) of GBC varied globally in 2018 and were higher in more developed countries and among females. Countries with higher incidence had higher human development index (βmale = 0.37; βfemale = 0.27), gross domestic products (βmale = 0.13) and higher prevalence of current smoking (βfemale = 0.05), overweight (βmale = 0.02), obesity (βmale = 0.03), and hypercholesterolaemia (βmale = 0.07). Similar patterns of associations were also observed for mortality with an additional association found for diabetes (βfemale = 0.07). Although there was an overall decreasing trend in mortality, an increasing trend in incidence was observed among some populations, particularly in males (AAPCs, 8.97 to 1.92) and in younger individuals aged <50 years (AAPCs, 12.02 to 5.66). The incidence of GBC varied between countries and was related to differences in the prevalence of potential risk factors. There was an increasing incidence trend among males and younger individuals. More intensive lifestyle modifications and disease surveillance are recommended for these populations.

Temporal and diurnal variation in social media posts to a suicide support forum

BACKGROUND

Rates of suicide attempts and deaths are highest on Mondays and these occur more frequently in the morning or early afternoon, suggesting weekly temporal and diurnal variation in suicidal behaviour. It is unknown whether there are similar time trends on social media, of posts relevant to suicide. We aimed to determine temporal and diurnal variation in posting patterns on the Reddit forum SuicideWatch, an online community for individuals who might be at risk of, or who know someone at risk of suicide.

METHODS

We used time series analysis to compare date and time stamps of 90,518 SuicideWatch posts from 1st December 2008 to 31st August 2015 to (i) 6,616,431 posts on the most commonly subscribed general subreddit, AskReddit and (ii) 66,934 of these AskReddit posts, which were posted by the SuicideWatch authors.

RESULTS

Mondays showed the highest proportion of posts on SuicideWatch. Clear diurnal variation was observed, with a peak in the early morning (2:00-5:00 h), and a subsequent decrease to a trough in late morning/early afternoon (11:00-14:00 h). Conversely, the highest volume of posts in the control data was between 20:00-23:00 h.

CONCLUSIONS

Posts on SuicideWatch occurred most frequently on Mondays: the day most associated with suicide risk. The early morning peak in SuicideWatch posts precedes the time of day during which suicide attempts and deaths most commonly occur. Further research of these weekly and diurnal rhythms should help target populations with support and suicide prevention interventions when needed most.

The effects of competitive and interactive play on physiological state in professional esports players

In esports competitions, both motor skills used to manipulate an avatar and psychological skills are important to achieve optimal performance. Previous studies have investigated the role of psychological skill on computer game performance by observing the modulation of physiological state. However, how physiological state is modulated in esports athletes during an esports match is unclear. In this study, we examined two hypotheses to clarify the effects of competitive and interactive play on the physiological state of esports professionals: (1) the sympathetic nervous system of esports players is activated by competitive play and modulated by the game situation, and (2) the autonomic nervous system activities of players in dyads are synchronized positively/negatively by interpersonal interaction.

We measured electrocardiograms (ECGs) in nine professional esports players while they played a fighting video game to investigate changes in physiological state. We compared ECGs collected in the resting state, while playing against a computer, and while playing against other players. We calculated the mean heart rate (HR), temporal pattern of HR, and correlation of temporal HR patterns of the pairs in the player-versus-player condition.

The results showed that mean HR was elevated by the presence of a human opponent compared with a computer opponent, and an increase in mean HR was also observed in specific game situations (beginning of the match, toward the end of a game or match). These results suggest that the sympathetic nervous system in esports players is activated by competitive play and is modulated by the game situation. In addition, the temporal HR patterns in the opponent pairs were synchronized, suggesting that autonomic nervous system activity is synchronized in player dyads via interpersonal interaction during competitive play. Our results provide insight regarding the relationship between physiological state and psychological skill in esports professionals during esports competitions.

Effects of land use and land cover on soil erosion control in southern China: Implications from a systematic quantitative review

The degradation of soil resources is accelerating owing to water erosion induced by detrimental land use/land cover (LULC) practices. Although the relationship between affecting factors associated with LULC and soil erosion has been well-documented, a systematic review of LULC for erosion control is lacking. A quantitative synthesis of 1270 runoff and 1302 sediment observations from 79 references covering 57 sites was conducted to assess the effects of LULC on erosion control in the red soil hilly region (RSHR) of southern China. The results indicated that the maximum runoff and soil loss were found in bare land (BL), but the minimum runoff and soil loss were detected in cropland and grassland, respectively. Among the 16 land use subtypes, BL left for natural succession had the highest runoff, but the lowest runoff was found in orchard with contact cover; the soil loss was largest for cropland without conservation measures, while the minimum value was detected in natural shrubland. When the vegetation coverage exceeded 60%, runoff and soil loss both tended to reach a stable rate. Land use with a multi-layer vegetation structure or ground/contact cover or broadleaf plant had less runoff and lower sediment values. In addition, soil loss decreased sharply during the initial 3 y of vegetation restoration, and then slowly declined until reaching a relatively stable rate after 15 y of succession. Our results confirmed that land use (except for BL) has a limited influence on soil erosion provided that suitable land cover is established. This study revealed that sustainable land management measures should be adopted based on local conditions to reduce soil erosion induced by irrational LULC. These findings can serve as a scientific basis for policy makers and land managers with respect to water erosion control in the RSHR.

Rising to the challenge? Inter-individual variation of the androgen response to social interactions in cichlid fish

The Challenge Hypothesis (Wingfield et al. Am. Nat. 136, 829-846) aims to explain the complex relationship between androgens and social interactions. Despite its well acceptance in the behavioral endocrinology literature, several studies have failed to found an androgen response to staged social interactions. Possible reasons for these inconsistencies are the use of single sampling points that may miss the response peak, and the occurrence of inter-individual variability in the androgen response to social interactions. In this study we addressed these two possible confounding factors by characterizing the temporal pattern of the androgen response to social interactions in the African cichlid, Oreochromis mossambicus, and relating it to inter-individual variation in terms of the individual scope for androgen response (i.e. the difference between baseline and maximum physiological levels for each fish) and behavioral types. We found that the androgen response to territorial intrusions varies between individuals and is related to their scope for response. Individuals that have a lower scope for androgen response did not increase androgens after a territorial intrusion but were more aggressive and exploratory. In contrast males with a higher scope for response had fewer aggressive and exploratory behaviors and exhibited two peaks of KT, an early response 2-15 min after the interaction and a late response at 60-90 min post-interaction. Given that the pharmacological challenge of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonad axis only elicits the late response, we suggest that these two peaks may be regulated by different physiological mechanisms, with the early response being mediated by direct brain-gonad neural pathways. In summary, we suggest that determining the temporal pattern of the androgen response to social interactions and considering inter-individual variation may be the key to understanding the contradictory results of the Challenge Hypothesis.

Common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) cannot recognize global configurations of sound patterns but can recognize adjacent relations of sounds

Processing the temporal configuration of discrete sounds to extract a regular pattern is fundamental to humans' faculties of perceiving words and musical phrases. To investigate such auditory pattern perception in monkeys, I trained two common marmosets to discriminate between AB-AB and AA-BB patterns under two training paradigms. One was an absolute discrimination task, in which the discrimination between these stimuli without reference cues was required. The other was a relative discrimination task, in which the detection of a change from one stimulus to the other was required. The marmosets failed in the absolute discrimination task but achieved the relative discrimination task. Failure in the absolute task indicated that the marmosets were unable to form a representation of the global sound patterns in their long-term memory stores. In contrast, success in the relative task indicated that the marmosets had short-term memory of ongoing sounds that enabled an online monitoring to detect deviations between incoming sounds and the anticipated upcoming sounds. Thus, the current findings imply that marmosets can at least perceive adjacent tone relations in an auditory stream regardless of the temporal configuration of the global sound patterns.

The effect of shrubland and grassland vegetation types on soil fauna and flora activities in a mountainous semi-arid landscape of Iran

The effect of vegetation types at mountainous sites on the relationships between soil biota and environmental variables applicable for the evaluation of soil quality and functions are barely studied and remain almost unknown. With the aim of studying the effect of shrubland and grassland plant coverings on soil fauna and flora activities, a mountainous semi-arid site in northern Iran (Diakooh) was selected for this research. Six vegetation types were selected with dominance in shrub and grassland coverage, i.e., (1) Crataegus microphylla CK. Koch., (2) Berberis integerrima Bunge, (3) Ribes uva-crispa L., (4) Prunus spinosa L., and with dominance in rangeland cover, i.e., (5) dominant Lecokia cretica (Lam.) DC., Orchis mascula L., Cardamine bulbifera (L.) Crantz, and (6) Fragaria vesca L. A total of 15 soil samples (30 × 30 × 10 cm) from each vegetation type were transferred to the laboratory. In addition, seasonal measurements (i.e. summer and autumn) were considered to achieve the temporal patterns of soil fauna and flora activities. Higher populations of soil earthworms (especially epigeic groups), acarina, collembola, nematode, and protozoa were found in the Crataegus site compared to other vegetation types with higher activities in the autumn season. Shrublands, especially with Crataegus cover, had increased activities of soil bacteria and fungi with higher abundances in the summer. Soils with higher fertility indicators and increased biota activities were attributed to the Crataegus and Berberis vegetation types by PCA. Overall, the findings of this study showed that shrubs can improve soil quality at high altitudes of mountainous, semi-arid sites that are often considered as especially fragile and sensitive ecosystems.

Temporal patterns of self-weighing behavior and weight changes assessed by consumer purchased scales in the Health eHeart Study

Self-weighing may promote attainment and maintenance of healthy weight; however, the natural temporal patterns and factors associated with self-weighing behavior are unclear. The aims of this secondary analysis were to (1) identify distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing behaviors; (2) explore factors associated with temporal self-weighing patterns; and (3) examine differences in percent weight changes by patterns of self-weighing over time. We analyzed electronically collected self-weighing data from the Health eHeart Study, an ongoing longitudinal research study coordinated by the University of California, San Francisco. We selected participants with at least 12 months of data since the day of first use of a WiFi- or Bluetooth-enabled digital scale. The sample (N = 1041) was predominantly male (77.5%) and White (89.9%), with a mean age of 46.5 ± 12.3 years and a mean BMI of 28.3 ± 5.9 kg/m² at entry. Using group-based trajectory modeling, six distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing were identified: non-users (n = 120, 11.5%), weekly users (n = 189, 18.2%), rapid decliners (n = 109, 10.5%), increasing users (n = 160, 15.4%), slow decliners (n = 182, 17.5%), and persistent daily users (n = 281, 27.0%). Individuals who were older, female, or self-weighed 6-7 days/week at week 1 were more likely to follow the self-weighing pattern of persistent daily users. Predicted self-weighing trajectory group membership was significantly associated with weight change over time (p < .001). In conclusion, we identified six distinct patterns of self-weighing behavior over the 12-month period. Persistent daily users lost more weight compared with groups with less frequent patterns of scale use.

Remote examination of the seasonal succession of phytoplankton assemblages from time-varying trends

The seasonal succession of phytoplankton assemblages is important to ascertain the dynamics of an aquatic ecosystem structure, whereas its occurrence in response to hydrodynamic alterations is not clearly understood. In view of the characteristics of annual water level variation formed by the Three Gorges Dam Project (TGDP), our understanding about how these changes affect phytoplankton structure and dynamics is still very limited due to the shortage of long-term observation data. In this study, we used Huan Jing 1 charge-coupled device images over the past decade to examine the phytoplankton succession dates between cyanobacterial and green algal blooms in the backwater area of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR). The results indicated continuous wavelet transform-based peak analysis is an efficiency tool that can illustrate the temporal pattern of phytoplankton succession using satellite-derived chlorophyll ɑ and Cyano-Chlorophyta index thresholds. Water level, air temperature, pH and total nitrogen/total phosphorus ratio were four important factors affecting the decline and rise phase of cyanobacterial blooms in the TGR from 2008 to 2018. Given that the upstream dam operation is likely to alter ecological and environmental conditions in the backwater area, this mechanism, so-called "water-level linkage", could alleviate the persistent period of cyanobacterial and green algal blooms. Remote sensing together with time series analysis provided a useful method to examine the seasonal succession of phytoplankton assemblages in the TGR, and these findings provided strategic insight for the water-quality management in the post-TGDP period.

Temporal patterns of driving fatigue and driving performance among male taxi drivers in Hong Kong: A driving simulator approach

This study uses a questionnaire survey and a driving simulator test to investigate the temporal patterns of variations in driving fatigue and driving performance in 50 male taxi drivers in Hong Kong. Each driver visited the laboratory three times: before, during, and after a working shift. The survey contained a demographic questionnaire and the Brief Fatigue Inventory. A following-braking simulator test session was conducted at two speeds (50 and 80 km/h) by each driver at each of his three visits, and the driver's performance in brake reaction, lane control, speed control, and steering control were recorded. A random-effects modeling approach was incorporated to address the unobserved heterogeneity caused by the repeated measures. In the results, a recovery effect and a lagging effect were defined for the driving fatigue and performance measures because their temporal patterns were concavely quadratic and had a 1-hour delay compared to the temporal patterns of occupied taxi trips and taxi crash risk in Hong Kong. Demographic variables, such as net income and driver age, also had significant effects on the measured driving fatigue and performance. Policies regarding taxi management and operation based on the modeling results are proposed to alleviate the taxi safety situation in Hong Kong and worldwide.

Auditory sequence perception in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus)

One of the essential linguistic and musical faculties of humans is the ability to recognize the structure of sound configurations and to extract words and melodies from continuous sound sequences. However, monkeys' ability to process the temporal structure of sounds is controversial. Here, to investigate whether monkeys can analyze the temporal structure of auditory patterns, two common marmosets were trained to discriminate auditory patterns in three experiments. In Experiment 1, the marmosets were able to discriminate trains of either 0.5- or 2-kHz tones repeated in either 50- or 200-ms intervals. However, the marmosets were not able to discriminate ABAB from AABB patterns consisting of A (0.5-kHz/50-ms pulse) and B (2-kHz/200-ms pulse) elements in Experiment 2, and A (0.5-kHz/50-ms pulse) and B (0.5-kHz/200-ms pulse) [or A (0.5-kHz/200-ms pulse) and B (2-kHz/200-ms pulse)] in Experiment 3. Consequently, the results indicated that the marmosets could not perceive tonal structures in terms of the temporal configuration of discrete sounds, whereas they could recognize the acoustic features of the stimuli. The present findings were supported by cognitive and brain studies that indicated a limited ability to process sound sequences. However, more studies are needed to confirm the ability of auditory sequence perception in common marmosets.

Inertial sensing of the motion speed effect on the sit-to-walk activity

The STW execution at motion speed faster than normal most possibly enhances the risk for balance loss due to the increase in body segment accelerations. The purpose of the study was to use inertial sensing to examine the effect of motion speed on the STW segmental kinematics and its temporal events. Eighteen young men (20.7 ± 2.0 years) performed STW trials at preferred (PS) and fast (FS) motion speed. Data were collected with Xsens inertial sensors positioned at the trunk, thigh, shank, and foot segments. The maximum segmental values of angular displacement, angular velocity and linear acceleration, the duration of total STW (ttotal), the absolute and relative (% ttotal) phase duration (Flexion, Transition, Extension, Walking) and, the absolute and relative time taken to reach each maximum value were determined. In FS, ttotal and the absolute phase duration (except for Transition), were all significantly shorter (p = 0.000). The relative phase duration was not altered (p > 0.05), except for the Extension shortening (p = 0.001). The maximum angular displacement was altered only for the thigh (decreased, p = 0.038) and shank (increased, p = 0.004). Maximum angular velocities and linear accelerations were all significantly increased (p = 0.000 for all). The absolute time to reach the maximum values shortened in FS (p ≤ 0.05), while, the relative times were not altered (p > 0.05), except for the delayed trunk maximum angular displacement (p = 0.039). Inertial sensing appears to identify the motion speed effect on STW segmental kinematics and their temporal events in healthy young men. The results of the study may contribute improving the preventive or rehabilitation interventions in persons with impaired postural control.

FPCA-based method to select optimal sampling schedules that capture between-subject variability in longitudinal studies

A critical component of longitudinal study design involves determining the sampling schedule. Criteria for optimal design often focus on accurate estimation of the mean profile, although capturing the between-subject variance of the longitudinal process is also important since variance patterns may be associated with covariates of interest or predict future outcomes. Existing design approaches have limited applicability when one wishes to optimize sampling schedules to capture between-individual variability. We propose an approach to derive optimal sampling schedules based on functional principal component analysis (FPCA), which separately characterizes the mean and the variability of longitudinal profiles and leads to a parsimonious representation of the temporal pattern of the variability. Simulation studies show that the new design approach performs equally well compared to an existing approach based on parametric mixed model (PMM) when a PMM is adequate for the data, and outperforms the PMM-based approach otherwise. We use the methods to design studies aiming to characterize daily salivary cortisol profiles and identify the optimal days within the menstrual cycle when urinary progesterone should be measured.

Temporal patterns of dengue epidemics: The case of recent outbreaks in Kaohsiung

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether major dengue outbreaks in the last two decades in Kaohsiung follow a precise temporal pattern.

METHODS

Government daily lab-confirmed dengue case data from three major dengue outbreaks occurring during the last two decades in Kaohsiung in 2002, 2014 and 2015, is utilized to compute the corresponding weekly cumulative percentage of total case numbers. We divide each of the three time series data into two periods to examine the corresponding weekly cumulative percentages of case numbers for each period. Pearson's correlation coefficient was calculated to compare quantitatively the similarity between the temporal patterns of these three years.

RESULTS

Three cutoff points produce the most interesting comparisons and the most different outcomes. Pearson's correlation coefficient indicates quantitative discrepancies in the similarity between temporal patterns of the three years when using different cutoff points.

CONCLUSIONS

Temporal patterns in 2002 and 2014 are comparatively more similar in early stage. The 2015 outbreak started late in the year, but ended more like the outbreak in 2014, both with record-breaking number of cases. The retrospective analysis shows that the temporal dynamics of dengue outbreaks in Kaohsiung can strongly vary from one year to another, making it difficult to identify any common predictor.

Haze is an important medium for the spread of rotavirus

This study investigated whether the rotavirus infection rate in children is associated with temperature and air pollutants in Hangzhou, China. This study applied a distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) to assess the effects of daily meteorological data and air pollutants on the rotavirus positive rate among outpatient children. There was a negative correlation between temperature and the rotavirus infection rate. The impact of temperature on the detection rate of rotavirus presented an evident lag effect, the temperature change shows the greatest impact on the detection rate of rotavirus approximate at lag one day, and the maximum relative risk (RR) was approximately 1.3. In 2015, the maximum cumulative RR due to the cumulative effect caused by the temperature drop was 2.5. Particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and PM10 were the primary air pollutants in Hangzhou. The highest RR of rotavirus infection occurred at lag 1-1.5 days after the increase in the concentration of these pollutants, and the RR increased gradually with the increase in concentration. Based on the average concentrations of PM2.5 of 53.9 μg/m(3) and PM10 of 80.6 μg/m(3) in Hangzhou in 2015, the cumulative RR caused by the cumulative effect was 2.5 and 2.2, respectively. The current study suggests that temperature is an important factor impacting the rotavirus infection rate of children in Hangzhou. Air pollutants significantly increased the risk of rotavirus infection, and dosage, lag and cumulative effects were observed.

Effect of Temporal Pattern of Radiation in Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy on Cell Cycle Progression and Apoptosis of ACHN Renal Cell Carcinoma Cell Line

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The existence of a hypersensitive radiation response to doses below 1 Gy is well established for many normal and tumor cell lines. The aim of this study was to ascertain the impact of temporal pattern modeling IMRT on survival, cell cycle and apoptosis of human RCC cell line ACHN, so as to provide radiobiological basis for optimizing IMRT plans for this disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The ACHN renal cell carcinoma cell line was used in this study. Impact of the triangle, V, small-large or large-small temporal patterns in the presence and absence of threshold dose of hyper-radiosensitivity at the beginning of patterns were studied using soft agarclonogenic assays. Cell cycle and apoptosis analysis were performed after irradiation with the temporal patterns.

RESULTS

For triangle and small-large dose sequences, survival fraction was significantly reduced after irradiation with or without threshold dose of hyper-radiosensitivity at the beginning of the patterns. In all of the dose patterns, cell cycle distributions and the percentage of apoptotic cells at 24 h after irradiation with or without priming dose of hyper-radiosensitivity showed no significant difference. However, apoptotic cells were increased when beams with the smallest dose applied at the beginning of dose pattern like triangle and small-large dose sequence.

CONCLUSION

These data show that the biologic effects of single fraction may differ in clinical settings depending on the size and sequence of the partial fractions. Doses at the beginning but not at the end of sequences may change cytotoxicity effects of radiation.

Structure, inter-annual recurrence, and global-scale connectivity of airborne microbial communities

Dust coming from the large deserts on Earth, such as the Sahara, can travel long distances and be dispersed over thousands of square kilometers. Remote dust deposition rates are increasing as a consequence of global change and may represent a mechanism for intercontinental microbial dispersal. Remote oligotrophic alpine lakes are particularly sensitive to dust inputs and can serve as sentinels of airborne microbial transport and the ecological consequences of accelerated intercontinental microbial migration. In this study, we applied high-throughput sequencing techniques (16S rRNA amplicon pyrosequencing) to characterize the microbial communities of atmospheric deposition collected in the Central Pyrenees (NE Spain) along three years. Additionally, bacteria from soils in Mauritania and from the air-water interface of high altitude Pyrenean lakes were also examined. Communities in aerosol deposition varied in time with a strong seasonal component of interannual similarity. Communities from the same season tended to resemble more each other than those from different seasons. Samples from disparate dates, in turn, slightly tended to have more dissimilar microbial assemblages (i.e., temporal distance decay), overall suggesting that atmospheric deposition may influence sink habitats in a temporally predictable manner. The three habitats examined (soil, deposition, and air-water interface) harbored distinct microbial communities, although airborne samples collected in the Pyrenees during Saharan dust outbreaks were closer to Mauritian soil samples than those collected during no Saharan dust episodes. The three habitats shared c.a. 1.4% of the total number of microbial sequences in the dataset. Such successful immigrants were spread in different bacterial classes. Overall, this study suggests that local and regional features may generate global trends in the dynamics and distribution of airborne microbial assemblages, and that the diversity of viable cells in the high atmosphere is likely higher than previously expected.

Hospital based infectious disease related proportional mortality study

Objective:

To understand the temporal trends in mortality in Rural Central India.

Design:

Retrospective review of physician issued death certificates from a rural teaching hospital.

Materials and Methods:

Physician issued death certificates from 1979 to 2008, available with a rural teaching hospital were analyzed and information on age, gender, date, and cause of death was abstracted. We estimated cause-specific, proportional mortality ratio (PMR) stratified by age, and gender. We compared the difference in PMR in first fifteen years of the study period (period A, 1979-1993) with the later (period B, 1994-2008).

Results:

We found 20494 death certificates between 1979 and 2008. Proportion of infectious disease related mortality declined from 35% in 1979-1983-26% in 2004-2008. In the same periods, injury related mortality increased from 4.6% to 13.4%, and chronic disease mortality from 19% to 28%. The absolute difference in PMR (per 1000 deaths) was statistically significant between period B and period A, for infections (a decline of 80.67 [95% CI 66.97-94.03]), chronic diseases (an increase of 45.85 [95% CI 33.49-58.55]), and injuries (an increase of 42.98 [95% CI 33.87-52.26]).

Conclusion:

Temporal trend in mortality from a single hospital in rural Central-India over the past three decades shows decline in infectious diseases, and rise in injuries and chronic diseases.

Obesity and chronic stress are able to desynchronize the temporal pattern of serum levels of leptin and triglycerides

Disruption of the circadian system can lead to metabolic dysfunction as a response to environmental alterations. This study assessed the effects of the association between obesity and chronic stress on the temporal pattern of serum levels of adipogenic markers and corticosterone in rats. We evaluated weekly weight, delta weight, Lee index, and weight fractions of adipose tissue (mesenteric, MAT; subcutaneous, SAT; and pericardial, PAT) to control for hypercaloric diet-induced obesity model efficacy. Wistar rats were divided into four groups: standard chow (C), hypercaloric diet (HD), stress plus standard chow (S), and stress plus hypercaloric diet (SHD), and analyzed at three time points: ZT0, ZT12, and ZT18. Stressed animals were subjected to chronic stress for 1h per day, 5 days per week, during 80 days. The chronic exposure to a hypercaloric diet was an effective model for the induction of obesity and metabolic syndrome, increasing delta weight, Lee index, weight fractions of adipose tissue, and triglycerides and leptin levels. We confirmed the presence of a temporal pattern in the release of triglycerides, corticosterone, leptin, and adiponectin in naïve animals. Chronic stress reduced delta weight, MAT weight, and levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and leptin. There were interactions between chronic stress and obesity and serum total cholesterol levels, between time points and obesity and adiponectin and corticosterone levels, and between time points and chronic stress and serum leptin levels. In conclusion, both parameters were able to desynchronize the temporal pattern of leptin and triglyceride release, which could contribute to the development of metabolic diseases such as obesity and metabolic syndrome.

The temporal pattern of stimulation may be important to the mechanism of deep brain stimulation

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has emerged as an important and potentially powerful treatment option for the management of carefully selected patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) who are not adequately controlled by standard medication therapy. Though considerable advances have been made, the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of DBS remain unclear despite its clinical efficacy. It is now widely held that both excitation and inhibition can occur secondary to stimulation, and it is suspected that abnormal synchronized oscillations may also be important in the mechanism of DBS. Other potentially important processes, including blood flow changes, local and upstream neurogenesis, and the modulation of neurotransmitters through stimulation of bordering astrocytes are also being investigated. Recent research has suggested that the temporal pattern of DBS stimulation is also an important variable in DBS neuromodulation, yet the extent of its influence on DBS efficacy has yet to be determined. As high stimulation frequency alone does not appear to be sufficient for optimal symptom suppression, attention to stimulation pattern might lead to more effective symptom control and reduced side effects, possibly at a lower frequency. Stimulation pattern may be potentially amenable to therapeutic modulation and its role in the clinical efficacy of DBS should be addressed through further focus and research.