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Objective: This study implemented a 12-week walking program using the mobile app WalkON among college students and evaluated its effects. Methods: This study used a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group, pre/post design. The WalkON program was conducted from September to December 2022, involving 50 participants in the experimental group and 52 participants in the control group. Results: Significant between-group differences were observed as follows. Sleep quality evaluation score (i.e. higher scores mean poorer sleep quality) decreased more significantly in the experimental group (vs. control group; 1.40 vs. 0.34 points, respectively; p = .027). Anxiety decreased more in the experimental group than in the control group (2.08 vs. 1.75 points, respectively; p = .020). Regarding the mean score of the "health responsibility" domain of health-promoting behaviors, the experimental group saw an increase of 0.25 points compared to 0.15 in the control group (p = .005). The self-efficacy level increased by an average of 0.34 points in the experimental group and 0.03 points in the control group (p = .046). Conclusions: The WalkON program has the potential to positively influence physical activity engagement and health-promoting behaviors in college students. It could be an effective strategy for promoting the physical and mental health of college students lacking engagement in physical activity. This study is significant in that it provides evidence of a mobile app-based program potentially useful to encourage college students to increase their regular physical activity through walking exercises, something especially pertinent in the new norm of contactless environments post-COVID-19.
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OBJECTIVE: The development of individual subtypes based on biomarkers offers a cost-effective and timely avenue to comprehending individual differences pertaining to mental health, independent from individuals' subjective insights. Incorporating 2-channel electroencephalography (EEG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG), we sought to establish a subtype classification system with clinical relevance. METHODS: One hundred healthy participants and 99 patients with psychiatric disorders were recruited. Classification thresholds were determined using the EEG and PPG data from 2,278 individuals without mental disorders, serving to classify subtypes in our sample of 199 participants. Multivariate analysis of variance was applied to examine psychological distinctions among these subtypes. K-means clustering was employed to verify the classification system. RESULTS: The distribution of subtypes differed between healthy participants and those with psychiatric disorders. Cognitive abilities were contingent upon brain subtypes, while mind subtypes exhibited significant differences in symptom severity, overall health, and cognitive stress. K-means clustering revealed that the results of our theory-based classification and data-driven classification are comparable. The synergistic assessment of both brain and mind subtypes was also explored. CONCLUSION: Our subtype classification system offers a concise means to access individuals' mental health. The utilization of EEG and PPG signals for subtype classification offers potential for the future of digital mental healthcare.
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Individuals' beliefs about the malleability of emotions have been theorised to play a role in their psychological distress by influencing emotion regulation processes, such as the use of emotion regulation strategies. We conducted a meta-analysis to test this idea across studies with a focus on the relationships between emotion malleability beliefs and five distinct emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal, suppression, avoidance, rumination, and acceptance. Further, using two-stage meta-analytic structural equation modelling (TSSEM), we examined whether the emotion regulation strategies mediate the cross-sectional relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and psychological distress across studies. Thirty-seven studies were included in the meta-analyses and 55 cross-sectional studies were included in the TSSEM. Results demonstrated that, across studies, emotion malleability beliefs were significantly associated with greater use of putatively helpful strategies (particularly with cognitive reappraisal) and less use of putatively unhelpful strategies (particularly with avoidance). The use of cognitive reappraisal and avoidance partially mediated the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and psychological distress. These results highlight the importance of considering beliefs about the malleability of emotions in the context of emotion regulation. These findings suggest the potential role of emotion malleability beliefs in interventions for individuals with emotion regulation-related difficulties and psychological distress.
Subject(s)
Emotional Regulation , Emotions , Humans , Psychological DistressABSTRACT
Bioconjugation of proteins can substantially expand the opportunities in biopharmaceutical development, however, applications are limited for the gene editing machinery despite its tremendous therapeutic potential. Here, a self-delivered nanomedicine platform based on bioorthogonal CRISPR/Cas9 conjugates, which can be armed with a chemotherapeutic drug for combinatorial therapy is introduced. It is demonstrated that multi-functionalized Cas9 with a drug and polymer can form self-condensed nanocomplexes, and induce significant gene editing upon delivery while avoiding the use of a conventional carrier formulation. It is shown that the nanomedicine platform can be applied for combinatorial therapy by incorporating the anti-cancer drug olaparib and targeting the RAD52 gene, leading to significant anti-tumor effects in BRCA-mutant cancer. The current development provides a versatile nanomedicine platform for combination treatment of human diseases such as cancer.
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CRISPR-Cas Systems , Gene Transfer Techniques , Humans , CRISPR-Cas Systems/genetics , Pharmaceutical Preparations , Nanomedicine , Gene EditingABSTRACT
The discovery and implementation of media that derive from bioinspired designs and bear optical readouts featuring large Stokes shifts are of continued interest to a wide variety of researchers and clinicians. Myco-F, a novel mycophenolic acid precursor-based probe features a cleavable tert-butyldimethylsiloxy group to allow for fluoride detection. Myco-F exhibits high selectivity and specificity towards F- (Stokes shift = 120 nm). All measurements were performed in complete aqueous media (LOD=0.38 µM). Myco-F enables detection of fluoride ions in living HEK293 cells and localizes in the eye region (among other regions) of the zebrafish. DFT calculations support the proposed ESIPT working photomechanism.
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Fluorides , Zebrafish , Animals , Humans , Mycophenolic Acid , HEK293 Cells , Fluorescent DyesABSTRACT
This study aimed to investigate the impact of implementing a primary care physician (PCP) counseling program for the youth population with healthcare needs. This quasi-experimental study used a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design, and was conducted at Salim Health Innovation Clinic in Seoul between February and October 2019 comprising 46 participating youths (intervention group) and 48 nonparticipating youths (control group). After 6 months of implementation, drinking (alcohol use control) decreased significantly in the intervention group (0.84 points). There was a significant difference in the anxiety level with a decrease of 2.86 and 0.65 points in the intervention and control groups (Pâ =â .011) respectively. There was also a significant difference in the health responsibility domain (Pâ =â .04). Moreover, a significant difference in self-efficacy level was found with a mean increase of 0.18 and 0.16 points in the intervention and control groups (Pâ =â .001), respectively. The youth population is more prone to neglect self-care due to poor physical and mental health status and no hope for the future because of a lack of jobs and rising housing prices. The program reinforces health-promoting behavior for managing stress and practicing eating high-quality meals, regular exercise, and regular health screening, which can help implement continuous and effective healthcare.
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Physicians, Primary Care , Humans , Adolescent , Counseling , Self Efficacy , Self Care , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
Potent oxidants such as peroxynitrite (ONOO-) play important roles in the regulation of different physiopathological processes; their overproduction is thought to potentially cause several diseases in living organisms. Hence, the precise and selective monitoring of ONOO- is imperative for elucidating its interplay and roles in pathological and physiological processes. Herein, we present a novel diphenyl phosphinate-masked benzoindocyanin "turn-on" fluorogenic probe to help detect mitochondrial ONOO- in living cells and zebrafish models. A pale yellow color solution of BICBzDP turns rose-red upon the addition of ONOO-, selectively, contrary to that of other competitive bioactive molecules. BICBzDP displays an ultra-sensitivity detection limit (47.8 nM) with outstanding selectivity and sensitivity towards mitochondrial ONOO- and possesses a notable 68-fold fluorescence enhancement involving a large redshift of 91 nm. Importantly, further biological experimental investigations with BICBzDP indicate specific sensitivity and reliability of the probe to track the ONOO- level, not only in live cells, but also demonstrates dynamic fluctuations in the inflammatory zebrafish animal models. Thus, BICBzDP could be employed as a future potential biological tool for exploiting the role of ONOO- in a variety of different physiological systems.
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Fluorescent Dyes , Peroxynitrous Acid , Animals , Gallbladder , Models, Animal , Reproducibility of Results , ZebrafishABSTRACT
The importance of active sonar is increasing due to the quieting of submarines and the increase in maritime traffic. However, the multipath propagation of sound waves and the low signal-to-noise ratio due to multiple clutter make it difficult to detect, track, and identify underwater targets using active sonar. To solve this problem, machine learning and deep learning techniques that have recently been in the spotlight are being applied, but these techniques require a large amount of data. In order to supplement insufficient active sonar data, methods based on mathematical modeling are primarily utilized. However, mathematical modeling-based methods have limitations in accurately simulating complicated underwater phenomena. Therefore, an artificial intelligence-based sonar signal synthesis technique is proposed in this paper. The proposed method modified the major modules of the Tacotron model, which is widely used in the field of speech synthesis, in order to apply the Tacotron model to the field of sonar signal synthesis. To prove the validity of the proposed method, spectrograms of synthesized sonar signals are analyzed and the mean opinion score was measured. Through the evaluation, we confirmed that the proposed method can synthesize active sonar data similar to the trained one.
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Artificial Intelligence , Sound , Models, TheoreticalABSTRACT
Background:Women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus suffer from anxiety and depression, which make controlling blood glucose levels difficult.Introduction:This quasi-experimental study uses a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design to investigate the effects of a web-based self-care program on self-care behaviors, anxiety, depression, and blood glucose in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus.Methods:The subjects of the study were outpatients being treated in the Department of Endocrinology at Hospital G, located in Seoul near University C, from July 15, 2015, to December 31, 2016. The experimental and control groups contained 22 participants each. The experimental group received a 12-week web-based program and one session of nutrition education; the control group received nutrition education. Using the SPSS program, pre-post changes in blood glucose, anxiety, depression, and self-care behaviors were examined between the two groups by a repeated-measures ANOVA.Results:After the 12 weeks intervention, self-care behaviors increased in both groups, and blood glucose monitoring increased in the experimental group (p = 0.001). Anxiety in the experimental group decreased by 5.1 points but increased by 1.0 point in the control group (p = 0.048). Depression increased in both groups. Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) levels decreased in the experimental group but increased in the control group (p = 0.001).Discussion:In addition to reducing HbA1C and anxiety, the web-based self-care program was effective in increasing the frequency of daily blood glucose monitoring in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus.Conclusions:This study will be helpful in informing an anxiety intervention program, blood glucose control, and healthy self-care behaviors in women with gestational diabetes mellitus.
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Anxiety/epidemiology , Blood Glucose , Depression/epidemiology , Diabetes, Gestational/psychology , Patient Education as Topic/organization & administration , Self-Management/psychology , Adult , Counseling/organization & administration , Diabetes, Gestational/epidemiology , Diabetes, Gestational/therapy , Female , Glycated Hemoglobin , Healthy Lifestyle , Humans , Internet , Nutrition Therapy , Pregnancy , Socioeconomic FactorsABSTRACT
In the present work, ZnO nanostructures were synthesized by monoethanolamine (MEA)-assisted ultrasonic method at low temperature. Structural analysis was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the formation of hexagonal wurtzite structure of ZnO. The effect of ammonia water on the molecular structure of MEA, and its effect on the morphology of ZnO nanostructures were monitored by electron microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results suggest that ZnO nanoparticles with 100 nm in diameter were produced in case of MEA-assisted ultrasonic method. However, as ammonia water was added into the reaction system the morphology of ZnO nanoparticles changed into nanorods, flower-like nanostructures and finally microrods. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) studies showed that as prepared ZnO nanostructures were single crystalline in nature and grew in different directions resulted in the formation of various structures. The growth mechanism of as prepared ZnO nanostructures was discussed in detail. It was proposed that the addition of ammonia water into the reaction system resulted into the formation of ethylene diamine (EDA) which directed the growth of ZnO. The optical property was studied by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy showed only UV emission and no defects mediated visible emission.