Physiological Metrics Research Articles

Use of a physiological reflex to standardize vagal nerve stimulation intensity improves data reproducibility in a memory extinction assay

BackgroundModulating brainstem activity, via electrical vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), influences cognitive functions, including memory. However, controlling for changes in stimulus efficacy during chronic studies, and response variability between subjects, is problematic.Objective/Hypothesis: We hypothesized that recruitment of an autonomic reflex, the Hering-Breuer reflex, would provide robust confirmation of VNS efficacy. We compared this to measurement of electrode resistance over time. We also examined whether VNS modulates contextual memory extinction. MethodsElectrodes for VNS and diaphragm electromyography recording were implanted into anesthetized Sprague Dawley rats. When conscious, we measured the electrode resistance as well as the minimum VNS current required to evoke the Hering-Breuer reflex, before, and after, an inhibitory avoidance assay - a two chamber, dark/light model, where the dark compartment was paired with an aversive foot shock. The extinction of this contextual memory was assessed in sham and VNS treated rats, with VNS administered for 30 s at 1.5 times the Hering-Breuer reflex threshold during extinction memory formation. ResultsAssessment of VNS-evoked Hering-Breuer reflex successfully identified defective electrodes. VNS accelerated extinction memory and decreased multiple physiological metrics of fear expression. We observed an inverse relationship between memory extinction and respiratory rate during the behavioural assay. Additionally, no current - response relationship between VNS and extinction memory formation was established. ConclusionThese data demonstrate that reliable, experimental VNS studies can be produced by verifying reflex initiation as a consequence of stimulation. Further, studies could be standardised by indexing stimulator efficacy to initiation of autonomic reflexes.

Effect of Sleep and Biobehavioral Patterns on Multidimensional Cognitive Performance: Longitudinal, In-the-Wild Study.

BackgroundWith nearly 20% of the US adult population using fitness trackers, there is an increasing focus on how physiological data from these devices can provide actionable insights about workplace performance. However, in-the-wild studies that understand how these metrics correlate with cognitive performance measures across a diverse population are lacking, and claims made by device manufacturers are vague. While there has been extensive research leading to a variety of theories on how physiological measures affect cognitive performance, virtually all such studies have been conducted in highly controlled settings and their validity in the real world is poorly understood.ObjectiveWe seek to bridge this gap by evaluating prevailing theories on the effects of a variety of sleep, activity, and heart rate parameters on cognitive performance against data collected in real-world settings.MethodsWe used a Fitbit Charge 3 and a smartphone app to collect different physiological and neurobehavioral task data, respectively, as part of our 6-week-long in-the-wild study. We collected data from 24 participants across multiple population groups (shift workers, regular workers, and graduate students) on different performance measures (vigilant attention and cognitive throughput). Simultaneously, we used a fitness tracker to unobtrusively obtain physiological measures that could influence these performance measures, including over 900 nights of sleep and over 1 million minutes of heart rate and physical activity metrics. We performed a repeated measures correlation (rrm) analysis to investigate which sleep and physiological markers show association with each performance measure. We also report how our findings relate to existing theories and previous observations from controlled studies.ResultsDaytime alertness was found to be significantly correlated with total sleep duration on the previous night (rrm=0.17, P<.001) as well as the duration of rapid eye movement (rrm=0.12, P<.001) and light sleep (rrm=0.15, P<.001). Cognitive throughput, by contrast, was not found to be significantly correlated with sleep duration but with sleep timing—a circadian phase shift toward a later sleep time corresponded with lower cognitive throughput on the following day (rrm=–0.13, P<.001). Both measures show circadian variations, but only alertness showed a decline (rrm=–0.1, P<.001) as a result of homeostatic pressure. Both heart rate and physical activity correlate positively with alertness as well as cognitive throughput.ConclusionsOur findings reveal that there are significant differences in terms of which sleep-related physiological metrics influence each of the 2 performance measures. This makes the case for more targeted in-the-wild studies investigating how physiological measures from self-tracking data influence, or can be used to predict, specific aspects of cognitive performance.

Remarkably high and consistent tolerance of a Red Sea coral to acute and chronic thermal stress exposures

AbstractGlobal warming is resulting in unprecedented levels of coral mortality due to mass bleaching events and, more recently, marine heatwaves, where rapid increases in seawater temperature cause mortality within days. Here, we compare the response of a ubiquitous scleractinian coral, Stylophora pistillata, from the northern Red Sea to acute (7 h) and chronic (7–11 d) thermal stress events that include temperature treatments of 27°C (i.e., the local maximum monthly mean), 29.5°C, 32°C, and 34.5°C, and assess recovery of the corals following exposure. Overall, S. pistillata exhibited remarkably similar responses to acute and chronic thermal stress, responding primarily to the temperature treatment rather than duration or heating rate. Additionally, corals displayed an exceptionally high thermal tolerance, maintaining their physiological performance and suffering little to no loss of algal symbionts or chlorophyll a up to 32°C, before the host suffered from rapid tissue necrosis and mortality at 34.5°C. While there was some variability in physiological response metrics, photosynthetic efficiency measurements (i.e., maximum quantum yield Fv/Fm) accurately reflected the overall physiological response patterns, with these measurements used to produce the Fv/Fm effective dose (ED50) metric as a proxy for the thermal tolerance of corals. This approach produced similar ED50 values for the acute and chronic experiments (34.47°C vs. 33.81°C), highlighting the potential for acute thermal assays with measurements of Fv/Fm as a systematic and standardized approach to quantitively compare the upper thermal limits of reef‐building corals using a portable experimental system.

Independent and combined impact of hypoxia and acute inorganic nitrate ingestion on thermoregulatory responses to the cold

PurposeThis study assessed the impact of normobaric hypoxia and acute nitrate ingestion on shivering thermogenesis, cutaneous vascular control, and thermometrics in response to cold stress.MethodEleven male volunteers underwent passive cooling at 10 °C air temperature across four conditions: (1) normoxia with placebo ingestion, (2) hypoxia (0.130 FiO2) with placebo ingestion, (3) normoxia with 13 mmol nitrate ingestion, and (4) hypoxia with nitrate ingestion. Physiological metrics were assessed as a rate of change over 45 min to determine heat loss, and at the point of shivering onset to determine the thermogenic thermoeffector threshold.ResultIndependently, hypoxia expedited shivering onset time (p = 0.05) due to a faster cooling rate as opposed to a change in central thermoeffector thresholds. Specifically, compared to normoxia, hypoxia increased skin blood flow (p = 0.02), leading to an increased core-cooling rate (p = 0.04) and delta change in rectal temperature (p = 0.03) over 45 min, yet the same rectal temperature at shivering onset (p = 0.9). Independently, nitrate ingestion delayed shivering onset time (p = 0.01), mediated by a change in central thermoeffector thresholds, independent of changes in peripheral heat exchange. Specifically, compared to placebo ingestion, no difference was observed in skin blood flow (p = 0.5), core-cooling rate (p = 0.5), or delta change in rectal temperature (p = 0.7) over 45 min, while nitrate reduced rectal temperature at shivering onset (p = 0.04). No interaction was observed between hypoxia and nitrate ingestion.ConclusionThese data improve our understanding of how hypoxia and nitric oxide modulate cold thermoregulation.

Efficacy of prayer in inducing immediate physiological changes: a systematic analysis of objective experiments.

To assess the immediate impact of prayer on physiological state by systematically reviewing objective, controlled experimental studies in the literature. Experimental studies measuring objective physiological changes induced by prayer. Studies containing the keyword, "Prayer" anywhere in the title or abstract were curated from the following databases: Public/Publisher Medline (PubMed), Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE) and the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) in May 2019. Titles and abstracts were screened with the remaining 30 articles analyzed for inclusion. Only experimental studies were included. Eight experimental studies were identified of which five investigated neurocognitive changes and three investigated systemic physiological changes during prayer. The five studies focusing on neuroactivity used functionalMRI (fMRI), electroencephalography or SPECT imaging toobtain measurements. The remaining three studies analyzed an array of systemic physiological metrics, including blood pressure, heart rate, respiratoryrate, peripheral resistance, baroreceptor sensitivity and/or cardiovascular rhythm variability during prayer. All studies aside from one saw objective changes during prayer. Neurocognitive changes were mainly associated with improved mental functioning, control and pain tolerance. Prayer was found to slow down physiological functions in two of the three vital-based studies, with the third reporting no change in physiological status. None of the studies measured blood marker changes. Experimental studies show prayer to induce healthy neurocognitive and physiological changes. Additional studies exploring objective measures from prayer are encouraged to provide practitioners with a more nuanced, scientific perspective when it comes to prescribing prayer as a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapy.

Quantification of pulmonary perfusion in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis with first pass dynamic contrast-enhanced perfusion MRI

IntroductionIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal disease of lung scarring. Many patients later develop raised pulmonary vascular pressures, sometimes disproportionate to the interstitial disease. Previous therapeutic approaches that have...

CellExplorer, a Framework for Visualizing and Characterizing Single Neurons

The large diversity of neuron types of the brain, provides the means by which cortical circuits perform complex operations. Neuron types can be described by a broad set of electrophysiological characteristics, afferent inputs, neuron targets and molecular features. To quantify, visualize, and standardize these features, we developed the open-source Matlab-based framework, CellExplorer. It consists of three components: a processing module, a flexible data structure, and a powerful graphical interface. The processing module calculates standardized physiological metrics, performs neuron type classification from electrophysiological features, finds putative monosynaptic connections and saves it to a standardized yet flexible machine-readable format. The graphical interface makes it possible to explore any combination of computed features at the speed of a mouse click. The framework allows users to process, curate and relate their data to a growing publicly available collection of neurons. In addition to data mining, CellExplorer can link genetically identified cell types to physiological properties of tens of thousands of single neurons collected across laboratories, potentially leading to interlaboratory standards of single cell metrics.

PressION: An All-Fabric Piezoionic Pressure Sensor for Extracting Physiological Metrics in Both Static and Dynamic Contexts

The strategy of detecting physiological signals and body movements using fabric-based pressure sensors offers the opportunity to unobtrusively collect multimodal health metrics using loose-fitting, familiar garments in natural environments. (A. Kiaghadi, S. Z. Homayounfar, J. Gummeson, T. Andrew, and D. Ganesan, Proc. ACM Interact. Mob. Wearable Ubiquitous Technol., 3, 1–29 (2019)). However, many sensing scenarios, such as sleep and posture monitoring, involve an added static pressure from exerted body weight, which overpowers weaker pressure signals originating from heartbeats, respiration and pulse and phonation. Here, we introduce an all-fabric piezoionic pressure sensor (PressION) that, on account of its ionic conductivity, functions over a wide range of static and dynamic applied pressures (from subtle ballistic heartbeats and pulse waveforms, to larger-scale body movements). This piezoionic sensor also maintains its pressure responsivity in the presence of an added background pressure and upon integration into loose-fitting garments. The broad ability of PressION to record a wide variety of physiological signals in realistic environments was confirmed by acquiring heartbeat, pulse, joint motion, phonation and step data from different body locations. PressION’s sensitivity, along with its low-cost fabrication process, qualifies it as a uniquely useful sensing element in wearable health monitoring systems.

The Role of Physiological Responses in a VR-Based Sound Localization Task

Virtual reality (VR) has recently emerged as a platform that can be employed in the context of e-health applications. Even though the majority of VR-based applications focus on visual stimuli as the main content, audio also plays a very important role. If someone has an issue with auditory processing, the comprehension of auditory information is compromised. This condition reflects negatively on one’s quality of life, given the impact of audio perception on one’s ability to communicate effectively or to differentiate and ignore “noise”. This work aims to design a VR application that can be used to: (a) optimize multimodal VR experiences based on user trials (b) extract user data continuously throughout the experiment (c) evaluate a user’s auditory processing ability. To accomplish this goal, participants are required to localise a sound source in space in the presence of multiple listening conditions with simple and complex sound stimuli configurations. Data collected from users consists of physiological and objective metrics. The results of this study highlight the relationship between user behaviour (head movement, fixation points) and performance in the sound localisation task. This information can be used to design future applications with the purpose of training one’s auditory localisation ability. In addition, the evaluation compared the impact of using two interaction methods to perform this task: using a pointer or eye gaze to indicate the location of the target source. The findings from this study show statistically significant differences in terms of physiological response when subjects are exposed to different interaction methods, with greater immersion and performance for the pointer group.

Effects of Season, Gravidity, and Streamflow on Body Condition from Tail Width in Two Federally Listed Salamanders, Eurycea sosorum and E. tonkawae

In population studies, individual physiological metrics can reveal important aspects of ecology and act as indicators of overall population health. Body condition is frequently used as a metric of physiological status and commonly quantified as some function of mass relative to structural size. In this study, we examined the natural variation in body condition of two central Texas spelerpines (Eurycea sosorum and E. tonkawae: Plethodontidae) to understand their nutritional status as a function of environmental variability and reproductive condition. Rather than using a mass-based metric to generate a body condition index (BCI), we used residuals from a linear regression of tail width vs. body length measured from subject photographs taken from the dorsal perspective. Overall, mean BCI for both species was lowest in the winter and generally higher in spring and summer. Streamflow had a small positive effect on E. tonkawae BCI and a negative effect on E. sosorum BCI. Gravid individuals for both species had lower BCI during autumn and winter (when the proportion of gravid individuals was the greatest) than nongravid individuals. By contrast, the few gravid E. sosorum we observed in summer had higher BCI than nongravid individuals. Our results provide important baseline information on the ecology of these federally protected salamanders and demonstrate the utility of a BCI based on width instead of mass.

Association Between Short-Term Annoyance and Several Physiological Parameters During Different Amounts of Nocturnal Aircraft Noise Exposure

Abstract Annoyance is the most prevalent community response to environmental noise. Observational and experimental lab studies have shown that exposure to environmental noise leads to annoyance, sleep disturbance, daytime sleepiness, increased heart rate and increased blood pressure. However, previous literature is preliminary based on controlled settings or experimental design, raising the question of the generalizability and applicability in daily life scenarios. This study aimed to investigate two main research questions. First, what is the relationship between short-term annoyance and different amounts of nocturnal aircraft noise exposure in daily life? Second, what is the relationship between physiological parameters, including heart rate, number of awakenings, sleep efficiency, sleep duration and different amounts of nocturnal aircraft noise exposure in daily life? This study also aimed to explore the suitability of non-invasive commercially available activity trackers to measure physiological metrics in a scientific way. During this field study, participants were wearing Fitbit Charge 3 activity trackers recording heart rate and different sleep-derived metrics (e.g. deep sleep duration, sleep efficiency and awakenings). The used activity trackers were readily available, non-intrusive, relatively cheap and easy to use by the participants. Simultaneously, a logbook was used by the participants to track the subjective perception and situational context of air traffic noise exposure. The noise levels corresponding to the exposure of air traffic of each participant were calculated based on the location of the participant and the corresponding radar track using an aircraft noise monitoring system. We hypothesize that a higher amount of exposure to aircraft noise in real life will be associated with increased annoyance, increased rest heartrate, higher number of awakenings, decreased sleep efficiency and decreased deep sleep duration. Preliminary results on the interactions between aircraft noise exposure, perceived annoyance and physiological metrics suggest increased nocturnal aircraft noise exposure seems to negatively affect sleep efficiency and deep sleep duration.

Effects of Wearable Devices with Biofeedback on Biomechanical Performance of Running-A Systematic Review.

This present review includes a systematic search for peer-reviewed articles published between March 2009 and March 2020 that evaluated the effects of wearable devices with biofeedback on the biomechanics of running. The included articles did not focus on physiological and metabolic metrics. Articles with patients, animals, orthoses, exoskeletons and virtual reality were not included. Following the PRISMA guidelines, 417 articles were first identified, and nineteen were selected following the removal of duplicates and articles which did not meet the inclusion criteria. Most reviewed articles reported a significant reduction in positive peak acceleration, which was found to be related to tibial stress fractures in running. Some previous studies provided biofeedback aiming to increase stride frequencies. They produced some positive effects on running, as they reduced vertical load in knee and ankle joints and vertical displacement of the body and increased knee flexion. Some other parameters, including contact ground time and speed, were fed back by wearable devices for running. Such devices reduced running time and increased swing phase time. This article reviews challenges in this area and suggests future studies can evaluate the long-term effects in running biomechanics produced by wearable devices with biofeedback.

Looking beyond the eyeball test: A novel vitality index to predict recovery after esophagectomy

ObjectivesTo (1) measure 4 physiologic metrics before esophagectomy, (2) use these in an index to predict composite postoperative outcome after esophagectomy, and (3) compare predictive accuracy of this index to that of the Fried Frailty Index and Modified Frailty Index. MethodsGrip strength (kilograms), 30-second chair sit-stands (number), 6-minute walk distance (meters), and normalized psoas muscle area (cm2/m) were measured for 77 consenting patients from January 1, 2018, to April 1, 2019. Imbalanced random forest classification estimated probability of a composite postoperative outcome, which included mortality, respiratory complications, anastomotic leak, delirium, length of stay ≥14 days, discharge to nursing facility, and readmission. G-mean error was used to compare predictive accuracy among indexes. ResultsMedian grip strength was 38 kg (25th-75th percentiles, 31-44), number of sit-stands 11 (10-14), psoas muscle area to height ratio 6.9 cm2/m (6.0-8.2), and 6-minute walk distance 407 m (368-451). There was generally weak correlation between these metrics, with the highest between 30-second sit-stands and 6-minute walk distance (r = 0.57). Age, degree of patient-reported exhaustion, and the 4 objective metrics comprised the Esophageal Vitality Index, which had a lower G-mean error of 32% (31-33) than the Fried Frailty Index, 37% (37-38), and the Modified Frailty Index, 48% (47-48). ConclusionsThe Esophageal Vitality Index, an objective, simple assessment consisting of grip strength, 30-second chair sit-stands, 6-minute walk, and psoas muscle area to height ratio outperformed commonly used frailty indexes in predicting postesophagectomy mortality and morbidity. The index provides a robust picture of patients' fitness for surgery beyond the qualitative “eyeball” test.

Temporal controls on crown nonstructural carbohydrates in southwestern US tree species.

In trees, large uncertainties remain in how nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) respond to variation in water availability in natural, intact ecosystems. Variation in NSC pools reflects temporal fluctuations in supply and demand, as well as physiological coordination across tree organs in ways that differ across species and NSC fractions (e.g., soluble sugars vs starch). Using landscape-scale crown (leaves and twigs) NSC concentration measurements in three foundation tree species (Populus tremuloides, Pinus edulis, Juniperus osteosperma), we evaluated in situ, seasonal variation in NSC responses to moisture stress on three timescales: short-term (via predawn water potential), seasonal (via leaf δ13C) and annual (via current year's ring width index). Crown NSC responses to moisture stress appeared to depend on hydraulic strategy, where J. osteosperma appears to regulate osmotic potentials (via higher sugar concentrations), P. edulis NSC responses suggest respiratory depletion and P. tremuloides responses were consistent with direct sink limitations. We also show that overly simplistic models can mask seasonal and tissue variation in NSC responses, as well as strong interactions among moisture stress at different timescales. In general, our results suggest large seasonal variation in crown NSC concentrations reflecting the multiple cofunctions of NSCs in plant tissues, including storage, growth and osmotic regulation of hydraulically vulnerable leaves. We emphasize that crown NSC pool size cannot be viewed as a simple physiological metric of stress; in situ NSC dynamics are complex, varying temporally, across species, among NSC fractions and among tissue types.

Mavacamten: a novel small molecule modulator of β-cardiac myosin for treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

ABSTRACT Introduction Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common known monogenetic cardiovascular disorder which frequently leads to symptoms such as dyspnea and exercise intolerance. Current guideline-recommended pharmacotherapies have variable therapeutic responses. Mavacamten, a small molecule modulator of β-cardiac myosin, reduces hypercontractility, a central mechanism in the pathogenesis of HCM. Mavacamten has recently been evaluated in Phase 2 and 3 clinic trials for obstructive and nonobstructive symptomatic HCM Areas covered This article reviews available preclinical and clinical trials assessing the efficacy and safety of Mavacamten for the treatment of symptomatic obstructive and nonobstructive HCM Expert opinion Findings from Phase 2 and 3 trials suggest that Mavacamten represents a very promising new therapy for the treatment of symptomatic patients with HCM. Treatment leads to an improvement in symptomatic and physiologic metrics for symptomatic patients with HCM with minimal adverse events. Patients with obstructive HCM demonstrated a significant improvement in LVOT gradient, NYHA functional class, Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), Overall Summary Score (OSS), and numerical rating scale (NRS) dyspnea scores; and patients with both obstructive and nonobstructive HCM had significant improvement in serum N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentrations.

Exploring approach motivation: Correlating self-report, frontal asymmetry, and performance in the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task.

Frontal EEG asymmetry has been investigated as a physiological metric of approach motivation, with higher left frontal activity (LFA) suggested to reflect approach motivation. However, correlations between LFA and traditional metrics of approach motivation (e.g., scores from the behavioral inhibition system/behavioral approach system [BIS/BAS] survey) are inconsistent. It is also not clear how LFA correlates to approach motivation on an observable, behavioral level. Here, we tested correlations between BIS/BAS scores, LFA, and performance in the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT). In our sample (n = 49), BIS/BAS results did not correlate to LFA values (resting or task states), and were also unrelated to EEfRT performance variables. We found evidence of significant and distinct correlations between LFA and EEfRT performance. Resting-state LFA positively correlated to effort expenditure on lower utility trials, where reward size and/or probability were suboptimal. Task-onset LFA captured in the first 5 min of the task was related to overall behavioral performance in the EEfRT. High task-onset LFA correlated to high trial completion rates, high-effort trial selection percentages, and overall monetary earnings. One interpretation of these initial findings is that resting-state LFA reflects approach tendencies to expend effort, but that this extends to suboptimal situations, whereas task-state LFA better reflects effortful approach toward high-utility goals. Given the relatively small sample size and the risk of Type I/II errors, we present the study as exploratory and the results as preliminary. However, the findings highlight interesting initial links between LFA and EEfRT performance. The need for larger replication studies is discussed.

Challenges and Opportunities of Deferoxamine Delivery for Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Deferoxamine mesylate (DFO) is an FDA-approved, hexadentate iron chelator routinely used to alleviate systemic iron burden in thalassemia major and sickle cell patients. Iron accumulation in these disease states results from the repeated blood transfusions required to manage these conditions. Iron accumulation has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and secondary injury following intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Chelation of brain iron is thus a promising therapeutic strategy for improving behavioral outcomes and slowing neurodegeneration in the aforementioned disease states, though the effectiveness of DFO treatment is limited on several accounts. Systemically administered DFO results in nonspecific toxicity at high doses, and the drug's short half-life leads to low patient compliance. Mixed reports of DFO's ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) also appear in literature. These limitations necessitate novel DFO formulations prior to the drug's widespread use in managing neurodegeneration. Herein, we discuss the various dosing regimens and formulations employed in intranasal (IN) or systemic DFO treatment, as well as the physiological and behavioral outcomes observed in animal models of AD, PD, and ICH. The clinical progress of chelation therapy with DFO in managing neurodegeneration is also evaluated. Finally, the elimination of intranasally administered particles via the glymphatic system and efflux transporters is discussed. Abundant preclinical evidence suggests that intranasal DFO treatment improves memory retention and behavioral outcome in rodent models of AD, PD, and ICH. Several other biochemical and physiological metrics, such as tau phosphorylation, the survival of tyrosine hydroxylase-positive neurons, and infarct volume, are also positively affected by intranasal DFO treatment. However, dosing regimens are inconsistent across studies, and little is known about brain DFO concentration following treatment. Systemic DFO treatment yields similar results, and some complex formulations have been developed to improve permeability across the BBB. However, despite the success in preclinical models, clinical translation is limited with most clinical evidence investigating DFO treatment in ICH patients, where high-dose treatment has proven dangerous and dosing regimens are not consistent across studies. DFO is a strong drug candidate for managing neurodegeneration in the aging population, but before it can be routinely implemented as a therapeutic agent, dosing regimens must be standardized, and brain DFO content following drug administration must be understood and controlled via novel formulations.

Wearable Sensing Devices for Point of Care Diagnostics.

The growth of smart wearable sensing systems has gained immense importance in the present mode of data acquisition and signaling in pharmaceutical, healthcare, and wellness industries. Presently, application of smart wearables is gaining prominence in several fitness activities, therapeutics, and diagnostic areas. Smart wearable biosensors offer real-time monitoring of physiological metrics and biomarkers that are specific to certain diseases in ambulant condition. This review offers a broad overview of the state-of-the-art progress on smart wearable biosensors focusing on applications in point of care diagnostics. A careful comparison of presently available commercial devices, implementation in clinical trials, and validation also have been highlighted in the present review. This work concludes with challenges and future prospects for scientists and engineers working in the nascent interdisciplinary field.

What are you actually measuring? A review of techniques that integrate the stress response on distinct time‐scales

AbstractThe field of stress physiology has rapidly expanded, particularly in those fields interested in identifying chronic stress in wild animals. Despite this expansion, stress remains difficult to assess and understand, due in large part to the temporal complexities of common stress measurement techniques.While the stress response happens on a short time‐scale, chronic stress results over longer time‐scales. Therefore, the temporal dynamics of techniques used to assess ‘stress’ need to be fully understood in order to be applied correctly.In this review, we provide information on 37 physiological and behavioural metrics that are commonly used to measure stress, especially in wild free‐living vertebrates, with a particular focus on which time‐scale they integrate stress.We organize these metrics into seven broad categories based on which physiological system they are most closely associated with (glucocorticoids, sympathetic/parasympathetic nervous system, immune, metabolic, cellular/molecular, tissue development and behaviour).We conclude by summarizing which kind of biological questions and variation each technique is most suitable for.This review will enable researchers to understand the temporal dynamics of stress measurement techniques for better design of future studies.A freePlain Language Summarycan be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

The use of technology in tracking soccer players\u2019 health performance: a scoping review

BackgroundQuantifying soccer players’ performance using different types of technologies helps coaches in making tactical decisions and maintaining players’ health. Little is known about the relation between the performance measuring technologies and the metrics they measure. The aim of this study is to identify and group the different types of technologies that are used to track the health-related performance metrics of soccer players.MethodsWe conducted a systematic search for articles using IEEE Xplore, PubMed, ACM DL, and papers from the Sports Medicine Journal. The papers were screened and extracted by two reviewers. The included papers had to fall under several criteria, including being about soccer, measuring health-related performance, and using technology to measure players’ performance. A total of 1,113 papers were reviewed and 1,069 papers were excluded through the selection process.ResultsWe reviewed 44 papers and grouped them based on the technology used and health-related metrics tracked. In terms of technology, we categorized the used technologies into wearable technologies (N=27/44) and in-field technologies (N=14/44). We categorized the tracked health-related metrics into physiological metrics (N=16/44) and physical metrics (N=44/44). We found out that wearable technologies are mainly used to track physical metrics (N=27/27) and are also used to track physiological metrics (N=14/27). In-field technologies are only used to track physical metrics (N=24/24).ConclusionUnderstanding how technology is related to players’ performance and how it is used leads to an improvement in the monitoring process and performance outcomes of the players.