Unconventional Settings Research Articles

Unveiling the Interconnections Between Art, Politics, and Society in the Soviet System Through Art: A Case Study of the Exhibition “1972. Breaking Through the Wall”

Summary This article is dedicated to analysing the exhibition “1972. Breaking Through the Wall” from several perspectives: the curator, the viewers, and the exhibition architect tasked with creating an environment for the art exhibition in an unconventional setting. The article examines the curators’ choices, discusses the work of the exhibition architect within the context of heritage conservation requirements, and presents the results of a viewer survey. This exhibition raised the issue of the significance of alternative creativity, opposed to the official narrative, in a non-free society. It focused on Lithuanian art from the 1960s to the 1980s that countered the official Soviet cultural course. The exhibition’s prehistory includes the historical fact that in the spring of 1972, a young man self-immolated in Kaunas in protest against the lack of freedom. These events had direct and indirect reverberations in the arts, although they were not exhibited at the time due to fear of repression. This difficult experience has left its mark on Lithuanian culture and collective memory. The exhibition highlighted the role of various societal groups in opposing the ruling authorities and establishing personal and creative freedom as the highest value. The art display, composed of works from professionals (fine arts, theatre) and amateurs (rock and big beat musicians) from the 1960s to 1980s who resisted official Soviet art, clearly demonstrated how Kaunas – the capital of Lithuania from 1920 to 1940 – was influenced by the city’s prominent pre-war modernism (environment and lifestyle) and the Soviet ideology imposed on the entire country. The clash of two diametrically opposed ideological stances and artistic principles in Soviet Lithuania led to the emergence of an alternative culture. For the first time in the history of Lithuanian exhibitions, this exhibition showed how the social and the arts were affected by the pressure exerted by the official authorities. The visitor survey showed that the positive reactions to the exhibition were also due to socio-political events that have become embedded in the nation’s memory. The events stored in the collective memory of the nation correlated with specific creative artefacts and historical details, which the younger generation saw for the first time. Noteworthy was the symbiosis of emotional experiences among visitors of different ages, observing exhibits with both artistic and historical value. As indicated by the visitor survey, the exhibition facilitated the establishment of a closer connection between generations. The exhibition’s display in a cultural heritage site – the former post office building (by architect Feliksas Vizbaras, 1932) – was a complex task creatively resolved by contemporary architects.

Abstract B089: A community-based participatory approach to developing a salon-based HPV self-collection intervention

Abstract Background: Black women in the US experience higher rates of cervical cancer mortality due to delayed diagnosis from lower screening rates. Contributing to this disparity, especially for those who are 40-64 years old, are provider bias, costs, and limited access. Recent FDA approval of HPV self-collection and current innovative research efforts for clinical and simulated home- based HPV self-collection bring promise of increasing access. However, like other innovations, equitable dissemination of HPV self-collection will be challenging. Our project seeks to distribute HPV self-collection kits in unconventional settings like hair salons. We conducted a community-based participatory study using concept mapping to gather diverse insights to design a salon-based HPV self-collection intervention. Methods: We employed GroupWisdom and REDCap online platforms to engage with our participants. Participants were members of the Black Community Advisory Council of Tucson (Black CACTus). Concept mapping steps involved: 1) Brainstorming statements from a prompt, 2) Sorting statements into piles according to meaning by each participant, 3) Rating the importance and feasibility of statements, 4) Reviewing the cluster map, and 5) Reviewing a draft/proposed intervention. Results: Black CACTus members (n=10) included hairstylists (n=3), salon clients (n=4), and healthcare providers (n=3). All participants identified as Black women, with two also identifying as Latina and White. Participants were 23-53 years old. Brainstorming yielded 39 statements. A six-cluster map was generated using the sorting data. Cost-related factors like "free" or "covered by insurance," as well as convenience, were rated as highly important by all participants. Development of clear communication and education about screening benefits, test results, and timely delivery of results were regarded as the most feasible. Conclusions: To equitably increase cervical cancer screening we must look beyond traditional clinical settings to trusted community locales like hair salons. Including the voice of the community and cultural and contextual factors is vital when tailoring cancer screening initiatives, particularly for Black women. Our study used concept mapping, in a collaborative, iterative process with vested community members to identify intervention elements and implementation strategies that have the potential to increase access to and uptake of cervical cancer screening among Black women. Citation Format: Kelly N.B. Palmer, Namoonga M. Mantina, Adebola Adegboyega, Itunu O. Sokale, Kathleen Pryor, Azaria Suero-Davis, Trevon Brooks, Jennifer Hatcher. A community-based participatory approach to developing a salon-based HPV self-collection intervention [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B089.

Single-site DFT+DMFT for vanadium dioxide using bond-centered orbitals

We present a combined density-functional theory and single-site dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) study of vanadium dioxide (VO2) using an unconventional set of bond-centered orbitals as the basis of the correlated subspace. VO2 is a prototypical material undergoing a metal-insulator transition (MIT), hosting both intriguing physical phenomena and the potential for industrial applications. With our choice of correlated subspace basis, we investigate the interplay of structural dimerization and electronic correlations in VO2 in a computationally cheaper way compared to other state-of-the-art methods, such as cluster DMFT. Our approach allows us to treat the rutile and M1 monoclinic VO2 phases on an equal footing and to vary the dimerizing distortion continuously, exploring the energetics of the transition between the two phases. The choice of basis presented in this work hence offers a complementary view on the long-standing discussion of the MIT in VO2 and suggests possible future extensions to other similar materials hosting molecular-orbital-like states. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

The Multifaceted Interactions of Dictyostelium Atg1 with Mitochondrial Function, Endocytosis, Growth, and Development.

Autophagy is a degradative recycling process central to the maintenance of homeostasis in all eukaryotes. By ensuring the degradation of damaged mitochondria, it plays a key role in maintaining mitochondrial health and function. Of the highly conserved autophagy proteins, autophagy-related protein 1 (Atg1) is essential to the process. The involvement of these proteins in intracellular signalling pathways, including those involving mitochondrial function, are still being elucidated. Here the role of Atg1 was investigated in the simple model organism Dictyostelium discoideum using an atg1 null mutant and mutants overexpressing or antisense-inhibiting atg1. When evaluated against the well-characterised outcomes of mitochondrial dysfunction in this model, altered atg1 expression resulted in an unconventional set of phenotypic outcomes in growth, endocytosis, multicellular development, and mitochondrial homeostasis. The findings here show that Atg1 is involved in a tightly regulated signal transduction pathway coordinating energy-consuming processes such as cell growth and multicellular development, along with nutrient status and energy production. Furthermore, Atg1's effects on energy homeostasis indicate a peripheral ancillary role in the mitochondrial signalling network, with effects on energy balance rather than direct effects on electron transport chain function. Further research is required to tease out these complex networks. Nevertheless, this study adds further evidence to the theory that autophagy and mitochondrial signalling are not opposing but rather linked, yet strictly controlled, homeostatic mechanisms.

Devon Energy and Software Partners Enable Automatic Bottomhole Pressure Calculations

_ More than a decade ago, Devon Energy made it a priority to enhance its digital infrastructure which has led to a step change in internal data access along with how the company securely works with its third-party vendors. Easy access to relevant, trustworthy, and value-adding data has become the norm, not the exception, for the US oil and gas producer’s subsurface engineering teams. The upside extends beyond mere convenience, however, and translates directly into faster decision making which is one of the keys to success in the dynamic landscape of unconventional developments. When data is seamlessly connected for daily consumption, engineers engage with it regularly, integrating it into their daily workflows. Additionally, we see that the frequency of use is directly correlated with accessibility. The emphasis on accessibility reflects Devon’s proactive efforts to treat its data more and more as a valuable asset. By democratizing data and analysis tools, business-impacting insights are more readily available to engineers and decision-makers throughout the organization. This case study outlines one of the most recent and tangible outcomes of this collaborative philosophy: automatic calculation of bottomhole pressure (BHP). Solving for Bottomhole Pressures As shown in Fig. 1, accurate and reliable flowing BHP data is a critical input for a number of important engineering applications in both conventional and unconventional settings: reservoir simulation, production diagnostics, nodal analysis, rate transient analysis, pressure transient analysis, and material balance. The list goes on, but the overarching point is that BHP data allows engineers to make informed decisions, i.e., high-confidence estimations on future well production, reservoir management, and optimization strategies. The rub is that acquiring accurate BHP measurements has historically been a luxury service that is too costly to scale up beyond a few science projects. Operators that desire such critical data often turn to BHP gauges, which are positioned down in the wellbore to measure pressure at a specific depth. But given an average cost of $50,000 per installation, it is estimated that less than 5% of all horizontal wells drilled during the North American shale revolution have benefited from the use of downhole gauges. Without a downhole gauge, operators must calculate the pressures from surface pressure. The problem here is again one of scale. Using surface pressure has traditionally required the manual gathering of the proper data sets and calculating BHP. From there, the process is not only time consuming but considered to be error prone. Applying any of the published methods may take a reasonably experienced engineer half an hour to complete a BHP calculation and the odds of a miscalculation rise as the data set grows in size and complexity.

A simple medical device development according to normative values of calf circumference across ages: results from the Italian Longevity Check-up 7+ (Lookup 7+) project.

Wide consensus exists on the notion that low muscle mass is a predictor of negative health-related events, such as disability, morbidity, and mortality. Indeed, the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2 had identified muscle mass as the key component to confirm the diagnosis of sarcopenia. However, the lack of normative values for muscle mass across ages hampers the practical assessment of this important parameter. The aim of the present study was to produce cross-sectional centile and normative values for calf circumference (a surrogate estimation of muscle mass) across a wide spectrum of ages using a large and unselected sample of community-dwellers enrolled in the Longevity Check-up 7+ (Lookup 7+) project. This is a cross-sectional study using the data of Lookup 7+ project, an ongoing study started in June 2015 and conducted in unconventional settings (i.e., exhibitions, malls, and health promotion campaigns). Candidate participants were considered eligible for enrolment if they were at least 45years of age and provided written informed consent. Calf circumference was measured using an inextensible but flexible plastic tape in a sitting position with the knee and ankle at a right angle and the feet resting on the floor. Normative values for calf circumference from ages 45 to 80+years were generated. A total of 11814 participants were enrolled from 1 June 2015 to 30 September 2022. The mean age of participants included in the analyses was 61.8years (standard deviation; 10.2years; range: 45-98years), and 6686 (57%) were women. Normative values for calf circumference were obtained for men and women, stratified by age groups. Accordingly, a calf circumference tape, with colour bands that demarcate the centiles range into which the patient falls, was created and validated. Our study established age- and gender-specific centile reference values for calf circumference. The calf circumference tape can be used to easily interpret the assessment in every-day practice for the early detection of individuals with or at risk of sarcopenia and malnutrition.

Association of Physical Activity and Exercise with Physical Performance and Muscle Mass in Older Adults: Results from the Longevity Check-Up (Lookup) 7+ Project.

Regular engagement in physical activity (PA) or physical exercise (PE) is effective at improving physical performance and body composition in older adults. Less is known about the benefits that may be obtained through combining PA with PE and whether the effects of activity habits differ between men and women. This study cross-sectionally investigated the association of PA and/or PE with physical performance and anthropometric measures in a large and relatively unselected sample of older adults enrolled in the Longevity Check-up (Lookup) 7+ project. Participants were individuals 65 years and older living in the community who were recruited in unconventional settings across Italy. Adherence to PA or PE was operationalized as involvement in light walking or various types of exercise, respectively, at least twice weekly for a minimum of 30 min per session throughout the last 12 months. Physical performance measures included handgrip strength and five-time sit-to-stand (5STS) tests. Lower-limb muscle power and appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM) were estimated through validated equations. We analyzed data of 4119 participants, of whom 2222 (53.4%) were women. The mean age was 72.8 ± 5.8 years in men and 72.1 ± 5.4 years in women. Regular engagement in PA + PE was reported by 139 (7.3%) men and 100 (4.5%) women. Results indicated that regular walking activity and/or PE were significantly associated with better physical performance and greater ASM with sex-specific patterns. Associations were also influenced by the type of activity, physical performance assessment tool, and anthropometric parameters. Men engaged in PA + PE performed better on the 5STS test and had greater handgrip strength, ASM, and relative and specific muscle power than those practicing either PA or PE. In women, the combination of PA and PE was associated with greater handgrip strength. The findings of this study indicate that older adults regularly practicing PA + PE had better physical performance than those who only engaged in either modality. In men, the combination of PA and PE was also associated with greater ASM.

Technology Focus: Reserves Management (December 2023)

Time and time again, I meet industry specialists who should have a detailed knowledge of the Petroleum Resources Management System (PRMS) and handling uncertainty in the inputs for resource assessment or to the rest of the evaluation work flow. Often, however, the understanding of PRMS basics, application, or reporting seems to be lacking. This year’s Reserves Management papers are chosen to revisit some basics around both reserves delineation and asset management. Paper SPE 210358 reminds evaluators to use multiple approaches (triangulation?) in the presence of uncertainty to derive the best estimates for Proved Reserves, but this should apply equally to all resource assessment. It also stresses the requirement, sometimes overlooked, to ensure that the approach/technology is proven and calibrated to work in the exact situation, both subsurface and surface. Uncertainty is inherent in our business, though difficult to communicate, and we should do all we can to incorporate it correctly. Also looking at the effect of uncertainty, paper SPE 213385 focuses on Monte Carlo simulation for commercialization around well performance in unconventional settings, but its application can be to any technical or commercial uncertainty. Too many people overly focus on precision (the decimal places in the answer) but lose focus on accuracy or usefulness of the work. Uncertainty can lead to errors in the first, and certainly the second, significant figure, thus invalidating all the misleading precision. Analysis should model the parameters to include the true state of knowledge. It seems ever more difficult to avoid discussions of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a major challenge facing the industry, especially when trying to monetize massive high-CO2 fields. Paper SPE 214359 discusses how the Malaysian authorities and Petronas seek to manage and incentivize CCS in their domain and achieve socially desirable goals with improved efficiency—specifically, centralizing the disposal of CO2 through an organization taking the separated gas from the producers. It creates efficiencies through scale and targeted regulatory incentives that do not need to be applied to the direct producers. It reminds me of how liquefied natural gas facilities often are commercially separated from the upstream to manage project financing and improve project feasibility. The recommended additional reading papers delve further into PRMS disclosure details and implications; how allocating volumes (and costs) for incremental decisions can change the optimal outcome; some more around how volumes and costs flow through to economics and how this can be an issue in complex fields; and, lastly, an unusual proposal of uncertainty around the 1P, 2P, and 3P values. Certainly, they remind the reader to consider the effect of uncertainty on volumetrics and categorization. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE 209695 Can Reasonable Certainty Be Assessed From Disclosed Proved Reserves Revisions? by Enrique Morales, ISVA Oil and Gas Consultancy, et al. SPE 211458 An Algorithm for Calculating Incremental Production in an Integrated Asset Model by Peter Richard Paul Cunningham, Serafim, et al. SPE 212826 Impact of Financial Assumptions on Economic Viability of Incremental Projects by M.A. Mian, O&G Knowledge Sharing Platform SPE 209217 Probabilistic Reserves Categorization Using Percentiles of a Single Probability Distribution by M.A. Mian, O&G Knowledge Sharing Platform

Sex- and age-specific normative values of lower extremity muscle power in Italian community-dwellers.

Muscle power is associated with health-related parameters. Simple equations were validated to estimate lower extremity muscle power measures based on the time to complete the five-repetition sit-to-stand test. The present study was conducted to provide lower extremity muscle power estimates and produce centile values in a large and relatively unselected population across a wide age spectrum. Data were from the Longevity Check-up 7+ (Lookup 7+) project, an ongoing initiative conducted in unconventional settings (e.g., exhibitions, shopping centres and health promotion campaigns) across Italy to foster adoption of healthy lifestyles. Absolute, relative, allometric and specific muscle power measures of the lower extremities were estimated using validated formulas. Cross-sectional centile and normative values for muscle power measures from 18 to 81+years were produced for the two sexes. Smoothed normative curves for men and women were constructed using the lambda-mu-sigma method. From 1 June 2015 to 31 October 2021, 13 515 participants were enrolled of whom 12864 were eligible for the present study. Mean age was 55.9years (standard deviation: 14.8years; range: 18-98years), and 7217 (56.%) were women. Absolute, relative, allometric and specific muscle power declined significantly with age. Specific patterns of decline were observed according to sex and muscle power parameter. Absolute muscle power peaked at 41-50 and 31-40years in men and women, respectively. Afterwards, a decline rate of approximately 12% per decade was observed, regardless of sex. Relative muscle power showed the largest reduction with age, such that it was 40.6% and 46.4% smaller in men and women older than 80, respectively, compared with those aged 18-30years. Age-related changes in allometric and specific muscle power measures were similar between men and women. Data from the Lookup 7+ project indicate that lower extremity muscle power estimated using simple equations is significantly associated with age. Sex-specific patterns of decline in absolute and relative muscle power were observed with age. Allometric and specific muscle power declined at a similar rate in men and women.

Practicing Outside the Lines: Using Acupuncture in the Athletic Training Room and on the Field.

Acupuncture can be used to treat athletes in an outpatient clinic setting, athletic training room, or even on a football field sideline. This article details 3 scenarios, in 3 illustrative cases, in which acupuncture was used for sports medicine in more unconventional settings. The author describes each case and shares his observations about them. First, acupuncture was used on a high-school football field sideline to help alleviate acute calf cramping in a player. Second, acupuncture was used in a division 2 college athletic training room to treat a player with subacute thoracic pain that was not improving with the usual treatments provided by the athletic trainers. Third, acupuncture was used to treat hamstring strain and tightness in a professional National Football League player to enhance his performance. These situations demonstrate the versatility of acupuncture in the realm of sports medicine. Acupuncture is an added-value service for athletes, and acupuncture providers should not be afraid to promote it in this population that is always looking for a competitive advantage.

Protein Intake from Various Foods Sources Is Negatively Associated with Cardiometabolic Risk Markers in Italian Older Adults

ObjectivesTo examine the relationships between protein intake from various food sources and cardiometabolic risk markers in Italian older adults.DesignCross-sectional study. Setting: Unconventional settings across Italy (e.g., exhibitions, health promotion campaigns).ParticipantsPeople 65+ years who provided a written informed consent.MeasurementsBlood pressure (BP), blood glucose, total blood cholesterol, and anthropometric indices were assessed. Daily protein intake was estimated for 12 food items listed in a food frequency questionnaire.ResultsThree-thousand four-hundred twenty-four older adults (mean age: 72.7 ± 5.7 years; 55% women) were included in the study. Results of linear regression analysis indicated that protein intake from several food sources was negatively associated with BP, waist and hip circumferences, and waist-to-hip ratio in both sexes. Blood glucose levels were inversely associated with many protein sources in women. Positive associations were observed between some protein sources and total blood cholesterol in both men and women.ConclusionOur findings suggest that dietary protein is differentially associated with cardiometabolic risk factors depending on sex and food sources.

Adherence to aerobic training combined with high protein intake is associated with low blood pressure in Italian older adults: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundLifestyle habits have a key role in cardiometabolic health. The effects of combined aerobic training (AT) and high protein intake (HPI) on cardiometabolic parameters in older adults are not well established.AimsTo investigate the association of AT and HPI with blood pressure (BP), blood glucose, and total blood cholesterol levels in a sample of Italian older adults enrolled in the Longevity Check-up 7 + (Lookup 7 +) study.MethodsLookup 7 + is an ongoing project started in June 2015 and conducted in unconventional settings (e.g., exhibitions, malls, health promotion campaigns) across Italy with the aim of fostering adoption of healthy lifestyles in the general population. For the present investigation, analyses were conducted in participants 65 + years and with body mass index values ≥ 18.5 kg/m2 (n = 3219). Systolic (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP), blood glucose, and total blood cholesterol were measured. Protein intake was estimated using a 12-item food frequency questionnaire. HPI was operationalized as a daily protein intake ≥ 0.8 g/kg of body weight. AT was operationalized as the practice of running and/or swimming for 60 + minutes at least twice weekly during the previous year.ResultsThe mean age of the 3219 participants was 72.7 ± 5.7 years, and 55.2% were women. Adherence to AT combined with a HPI was negatively and independently associated with SPB (β: − 4.976; 95% confidence interval: − 9.8 to − 0.08). No other significant associations were observed.Discussion and conclusionsOur results indicate that AT combined with HPI was negatively associated with SBP in a large and relatively unselected sample of Italian older adults living in the community. These findings need confirmation by ad hoc designed studies.

Antimicrobial-Resistant Enterobacterales Recovered from the Environment of Two Zoological Institutions Include Enterobacter cloacae Complex ST171 Producing KPC-4 Carbapenemase.

Environmental surfaces can serve as reservoirs for pathogens and antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria in healthcare settings. Although active surveillance programs are used in veterinary and human healthcare, unconventional settings like zoological facilities are often overlooked, even though antimicrobials are used to maintain the health of their animal collections. Here, we used electrostatic cloths to conduct active environmental surveillance over a 2-year period at two zoological institutions to determine contamination prevalence of human-only and mixed animal-human touch environments with AMR bacteria. We recovered Enterobacterales isolates that expressed quinolone resistance, an AmpC-like phenotype, and an extended-spectrum β-lactamase phenotype from 144 (39%), 141 (38.2%), and 72 (19.5%) of the environmental samples, respectively. The zoological institutions, areas and exhibits within the zoological facility, and sampling surface type affected the odds of recovering AMR bacteria from the environment. Three carbapenemase-producing Enterobacter cloacae complex ST171 isolates recovered from one zoological facility harbored an IncH12 plasmid with a Tn4401b-KPC-4 transposon conferring multidrug resistance. One isolate maintained three tandem repeats of a Tn4401b-KPC-4 element on an IncHI2 plasmid, although this isolate was susceptible to the four carbapenem drugs tested. These three isolates and their IncH12 plasmids shared significant genomic similarity with two E. cloacae complex isolates recovered from canine patients at a regional veterinary hospital during year 2 of this study. Our results indicated that surface environments at zoological institutions can serve as reservoirs for AMR bacteria and their genes and have implications for animal and public health. IMPORTANCE Environmental surfaces can be a source of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria that pose a risk to human and animal health. Zoological institutions are unique environments where exotic animals, staff, and visitors intermingle and antimicrobials are used to maintain animal health. However, zoological environments are often overlooked as reservoirs of AMR bacteria. Here, we show that zoological environments can serve as reservoirs of fluoroquinolone-resistant and extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant bacteria. In addition, we isolated three carbapenemase-producing Enterobacter cloacae complex strains carrying blaKPC-4, including one with a unique, tandem triplicate of the Tn4401b-KPC-4 element. Comparative whole genomics of these isolates with two E. cloacae complex isolates from patients at a regional veterinary hospital highlighted the possibility of local KPC-4 spread between animal environments. Our results suggest that environments at zoological institutions serve as reservoirs for AMR bacteria and pose a hypothetical One Health risk to the public, staff, and the wild animal populations in captivity.

Engagement in Aerobic Exercise Is Associated with a Reduced Prevalence of Sarcopenia and Severe Sarcopenia in Italian Older Adults.

The present study was conducted to test the association between adherence to specific exercise modalities and sarcopenia severity in Italian older adults. Data were collected as part of the ongoing Longevity Check-Up 7+ (Lookup 7+) project. Lookup 7+ began in June 2015 and has since been conducted in unconventional settings (e.g., exhibitions, malls, social events) throughout Italy. In the present study, we used data on adults 65 years and older. Sarcopenia was identified according to the simultaneous presence of dynapenia and low appendicular muscle mass. Muscle strength was measured by isometric handgrip and sit-to-stand (STS) testing. Sarcopenia was categorized as severe if participants reported difficulty or inability to walk 400 m. Engagement in running and/or swimming (RS) or strength training with or without stretching (SS) was used to define exercise modalities. Analyses were conducted in 3289 participants (mean age: 72.7 ± 5.7 years; 1814 women). The results of the binary regression showed negative associations between RS and the presence of STS-based sarcopenia in women, and between RS and STS-based severe sarcopenia in men. Collectively, these findings indicate that RS is negatively associated with the presence of sarcopenia in large sample of relatively unselected Italian older adults.

Protein Intake Is Associated with Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels in Italian Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The present study was conducted to test the association between protein intake and blood pressure, glucose levels, and blood cholesterol in a large sample of Italian older adults. Longevity Check-up 7+ (Lookup 7+) is an ongoing project that started in June 2015. The project is conducted in unconventional settings (e.g., exhibitions, malls, health promotion campaigns) across Italy with the aim of fostering adoption of healthy lifestyles in the general population. For the present study, participants were eligible if they were 65+ years and provided written informed consent. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and blood glucose and cholesterol levels were assessed. Protein intake was estimated using a 12-item food frequency questionnaire. Three-thousand four-hundred and four older adults were included in the study. The results of the linear regression showed an inverse association between protein intake (as a continuous variable) and DBP, and a positive correlation with blood cholesterol levels. The findings of the present study indicate that a high intake of protein was negatively associated with DBP and positively associated with total blood cholesterol levels in a large cohort of Italian older adults, after adjustment for numerous covariates.

Coupling Men in Couplet Space: Pope to Gunn

Abstract: Donald davie, a serious man, had serious doubts, but his friend Thom Gunn kept assuring him that contemporary poetry could be at once really gay and really traditional. Gunn thought so partly because several major poets who helped forge the tradition as he and Davie knew it, poets such as Christopher Marlowe and Walt Whitman, were themselves gay.1 He also thought so, as his recently published letters confirm, because of his counterintuitive conviction that historical poetic techniques can enhance "improvisatory and up-to-date subject matter."2 Free verse caught the sensation of modern freedom but sometimes fell short in reflecting on it or thinking through it. Gunn, who moved from Cambridge to California in 1954, maintained that poets seeking to represent a queer experience or unconventional setting might be better off relying on the time-tested shaping power of established meters and rhymes. Formal control could then serve as both a defining part of the exploration—an order within freedom—and a device for assessing it, as though from the outside. This inside-and-out defense of traditional form is one he adopted from his Stanford teacher Yvor Winters, for whom poetry's formal discipline (as Gunn puts it) "does not reject experience" but offers "a means of simultaneously conveying it, in all its variety, and evaluating it."3 Experience was the rub for Donald Davie, who in 1982 claimed that his friend's poetry had cut itself off from the literary past by embracing queer content.4 Gunn had good reason to disagree. The very sequence in which he came out in his verse, far from marking a clean break with Winters and traditional form, attests to his ongoing involvement with them. That coming-out sequence takes place in couplets that deserve to be called Popean. But they're Popean in a specific sense, defined not just by regular meter and rhyme but especially by line-ending punctuation that allows enjambment to make room for intimacy.

A Novel Method for the Extraction of Fetal ECG Signals from Wearable Devices.

The role of fetal surveillance for the prediction and timely assessment of fetal distress is widely established. Fetal ECG (fECG) monitoring via wearable devices is a feasible solution for performing continuous monitoring of fetal wellbeing and it has seen a net increase in popularity in recent years. In this paper, we propose a novel adaptation of the Smart AdaptiVe Ecg Recognition (SAVER) algorithm for the detection of fECG in long-duration recordings acquired in clinical as well as unconventional settings. The methodology was trained and tested on 50 recordings of duration 1 hour ( 59.33 ±5.54 min) obtained using the Monica AN24 fetal monitor. We validated the performance against the automatic extraction performed by the Monica DK software. Our results show superior reliability of the proposed methodology in extracting fECG and associated estimates of fetal heart rate (fHR). Clinical relevance- The proposed methodology provides an efficient and reliable approach for the extraction of fECG signals acquired via wearable technologies, enabling continuous monitoring of fECG in and outside clinical settings.

Self-reported difficulty in walking 400 meters: the “red flag” for probable sarcopenia

BackgroundSarcopenia is associated with adverse outcomes in older people. Several tools are recommended to assess muscle mass, muscle strength and physical performance, but are not always available in daily practice.ObjectiveThe aim of the present study is to evaluate if there is a correlation between the personal perception of physical performance (assessed through a question on personal functional status) and the effective presence of sarcopenia (according to the EWGSOP2 definition) using data from the Longevity Check-up 7 + project.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingThe Longevity Check-up 7 + project is an ongoing study started in June 2015 and conducted in unconventional settings (i.e., exhibitions, malls, and health promotion campaigns).SubjectsCandidate participants are eligible for enrollment if they are at least 18 years of age and provide written informed consent. For the present study subjects 65 years age old and older have been considered (n = 2901).MethodsAccording to the most recent EWGSOP2 consensus definition, subjects were defined to be affected by probable sarcopenia when handgrip strength was less than 27 kg in male and less than 16 kg in female, respectively. Furthermore, a single question assessed the perceived health status regarding own physical performance: “Do you have any difficulty in walking 400 m?”.ResultsUsing the EWGSOP2 algorithm, 529 (18,9%) participants were identified as affected by probable sarcopenia with a significant higher prevalence among subjects with self-reported difficulty in walking 400 m compared to participant without any difficulty (33.6% versus 13.1%, respectively; p < 0.001). Relative to participants without self-reported difficulty, those subjects with self-reported difficulty in walking 400 m showed a significantly higher risk of sarcopenia (odds ratio [OR]: 3.34; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.75–4.07).ConclusionsA single “Red Flag” question such as “Do you have any difficulty in walking 400 m?” should be considered as a recommended method for screening probable sarcopenia risk.

Bubbles in capillaries: Relaxing traditional assumptions

<h2>Abstract</h2> The dynamics of long gas bubbles and thin liquid films in confined channels is a classical problem in fluid mechanics and has been studied extensively under the assumptions of two-dimensional (Hele-Shaw cells or axisymmetric tubes) geometries, very viscous flows, negligible inertial and gravitational effects, and isothermal conditions. However, recent engineering applications such as microfluidics, where channels present angular cross-sections, or two-phase cooling via microchannel flow boiling, where low-viscosity fluids are utilised, require relaxation of these assumptions to deliver robust design principles. This work presents new insights into bubbles and thin films dynamics that emerge when studying this flow in unconventional settings. When bubbles propagate in noncircular capillaries, liquid films are much thinner than what observed in pipes and cross-stream film drainage induces a monotonic film thinning towards the bubble rear. Inertial forces cause the appearance of undulations at the bubble rear, which are described well by augmenting the traditional lubrication theory. Gravitational forces are impactful already when the Bond number is much smaller than unity, despite Bo<1 being a popular criterion to disregard the impact of gravity. Finally, these insights are exploited to explain heat transfer trends emerging from numerical simulations of flow boiling in microchannels for thermal management applications.

Cation ordering, twinning, and pseudo-symmetry in silicate garnet: The study of a birefringent garnet with orthorhombic structure

AbstractThe crystal structure of a birefringent garnet (~Adr53Grs47) that occurs as a late-stage rim on andradite from Stanley Butte, Graham County, Arizona is analyzed and refined using single-crystal XRD. The structure has an orthorhombic I 2/a 1 2/d (unconventional setting for Fddd) space group symmetry, with unit-cell parameters of a = b = 11.966(3) Å, c = 11.964(3) Å, α = β = 90°, γ = 90.29(2)°, V = 1713.0(7) Å3, Z = 8. The orthorhombic garnet displays very high birefringence (δ ~0.021) produced by the strong Fe-Al ordering in the octahedral sites, with Fe occupancies of 0.804 and 0.221 in Y1 and Y2 sites, respectively. Diffraction peaks (such as 101 and 103) violating the Ia3d symmetry of cubic garnet are obvious even in powder XRD pattern. The homogenization temperatures of the fluid inclusions suggest that the low-crystallization temperature is responsible for the ordered orthorhombic structure. The strong ordering state of the structure and the sharp boundaries in the chemical zoning in the crystal (between ~Adr53Grs47 and ~Adr100) indicate the orthorhombic intermediate grandite garnet is a thermodynamically stable phase at low temperature, separated by wide miscibility gaps from the pure end-members (grossular and andradite) with cubic structures. Most of the previously reported triclinic garnet structures are likely artifacts produced by pseudo-merohedral twinning of less-ordered orthorhombic structure, as indicated by the characteristic pairing pattern of different Y-sites with the same occupancies.