The Impact of Distance Learning and COVID-19 Lockdown on Students' Physical Activity and Musculoskeletal Health.

PURPOSE: During the past two years, in most institutions worldwide, educational activities were remodeled for remote delivery, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of two-year distance learning on the physical activity and musculoskeletal health of university students. METHODS: This was a national, cross-sectional study using data collected via an online questionnaire distributed through university communication platforms, which included questions on online education routines, musculoskeletal health, and physical activity of university students. RESULTS: In total, 1,366 students (65% female, 35% male) from 11 universities took part in the survey. The most common sites of reported pain were the neck (59.5%), shoulders (22.8%), back (29%), and low back (66.7%). Musculoskeletal pain significantly increased during the lockdown, according to the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain (before: 2.7 ± 1.6; during: 5.5 ± 2.2, p<0.001). Everyday pain was referred by significantly more students during the lockdown (4.5% vs 36.1 %, p<0.001), while the percentage of asymptomatic students was significantly decreased (40.5% vs 6.1%, p<0.001). Concerning physical activity, the percentage of students who did not exercise significantly increased during the lockdown (15.1% vs 23.2%, p<0.001). Distance learning and total screen time were positively correlated with VAS for pain scores. On the contrary, an increased frequency of ergonomic position, walking intervals, and physical activity was associated with significantly decreased VAS for pain scores. CONCLUSIONS: Distance learning and limited physical activity led to a significant increase in musculoskeletal pain in university students, while exercise and ergonomic body position were considered protective factors. Interventions to encourage physical activity and healthy studying habits should be developed by universities, since distance learning may be again necessary for the future.

Effect of PM2.5 Levels on ED Visits for Respiratory Causes in a Greek Semi-Urban Area.

Fine particulate matter that have a diameter of <2.5 µm (PM2.5) are an important factor of anthropogenic pollution since they are associated with the development of acute respiratory illnesses. The aim of this prospective study is to examine the correlation between PM2.5 levels in the semi-urban city of Volos and Emergency Department (ED) visits for respiratory causes. ED visits from patients with asthma, pneumonia and upper respiratory infection (URI) were recorded during a one-year period. The 24 h PM2.5 pollution data were collected in a prospective manner by using twelve fully automated air quality monitoring stations. PM2.5 levels exceeded the daily limit during 48.6% of the study period, with the mean PM2.5 concentration being 30.03 ± 17.47 µg/m3. PM2.5 levels were significantly higher during winter. When PM2.5 levels were beyond the daily limit, there was a statistically significant increase in respiratory-related ED visits (1.77 vs. 2.22 visits per day; p: 0.018). PM2.5 levels were also statistically significantly related to the number of URI-related ED visits (0.71 vs. 0.99 visits/day; p = 0.01). The temperature was negatively correlated with ED visits (r: −0.21; p < 0.001) and age was found to be positively correlated with ED visits (r: 0.69; p < 0.001), while no statistically significant correlation was found concerning humidity (r: 0.03; p = 0.58). In conclusion, PM2.5 levels had a significant effect on ED visits for respiratory causes in the city of Volos.

A systematic investigation of sclerosing mesenteritis through CT and MRI.

Sclerosing mesenteritis is primarily diagnosed through histologic and radiologic evaluation; however, only a few works provide a systematic description using MRI. This work presents the case of a 68-year-old male, who was admitted for a routine cholecystectomy. Intraoperativly, a large mass was identified dislocating the abdominal viscera. The microscopic examination revealed vascular congestion of the omentum. The contrast-enhanced CT and MRI scans revealed the presence of a heterogenous, lipomatous mass with lesions visible only in T2W and contrast-enhanced T1W MRI. Based on these findings, the diagnosis of sclerosing mesenteritis was made. According to the available literature, depending on the stage of sclerosing mesenteritis, different radiologic features are encountered; however, it is possible that features from more than one form of the condition coexist in the same lesion. We therefore suggest that a combination of MRI sequences should be acquired for a more accurate staging of the condition.

Heat shock proteins can protect aged human and rodent cells from different stressful stimuli.

Heat shock proteins (hsps) are induced by stressful stimuli and have been shown to protect cells and organs from such stresses both in vitro and in vivo. Because of this, mildly stressful stimuli, sufficient to induce hsp over-expression can protect against a subsequent more severe stress. In cells from aged individuals, however, no hsp induction is observed upon exposure to stress and no protective effect of a mild stress is observed. Here, we show that bypassing the block to hsp induction by artificially over-expressing hsps, can produce a protective effect against a variety of damaging stimuli in cells from aged rats or aged humans, indicating that hsps can have a protective effect in aged cells, provided successful over-expression can be achieved. Hence, hsps over-expression could be of therapeutic benefit in aged individuals if procedures to over-express the hsps can be developed either by devising non-stressful procedures to induce endogenous hsp over-expression or by developing vectors able to efficiently deliver exogenous hsps.

Optimisation of herpes simplex virus-based vectors for delivery to human peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) represent a significant target for gene delivery both for therapeutic and experimental purposes. Thus far however, it has proved difficult to develop vectors capable of high efficient gene delivery to unstimulated PBMCs. We have tested a range of different vectors derived from herpes simplex virus (HSV) which differ in their degree of disablement in terms of their gene delivery efficiency to unstimulated human PBMCs and ability to deliver a reporter gene. None of the viruses had any significant toxic effect in PBMCs. However, optimal gene delivery to unstimulated PBMCs was obtained with a semidisabled virus lacking functional genes encoding ICP34.5 and Vmw65 which was more efficient than either nondisabled or more extremely disabled viruses. Expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) with this virus was observed in up to 50% of PBMCs 1 day after infection, and reporter gene expression was detectable by Western blotting and immunofluorescence at undiminished levels at the longest time points tested, up to 5 days after infection. This optimised HSV vector may thus represent an effective tool for gene delivery to unstimulated PBMCs in culture.