The Pulse of Singapore: Short-Term HRV Norms.

Short-term heart rate variability (HRV) is increasingly used to assess autonomic nervous system activity and found to be useful for monitoring and providing care due to its quick measurement. With evidence of low HRV associated with chronic diseases, mental disorders, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, having normative data of HRV across the age spectrum would be useful for monitoring health and well-being of a population. This study examines HRV of healthy Singapore sample, with ages ranging from 10 to 89 years. Short-term HRV of five minutes was measured from 2,143 participants. 974 males and 1,169 females, and overall HRV was found to be 42.4ms (RMSSD) and 52.0 ms (SDNN) with a further breakdown of HRV by age and gender. Overall HRV declined with age and gender, although gender differences dissipated in the 60s age range onwards, with the 50s age range having the sharpest decline in HRV. Short-term HRV norms were similar to Nunan et al.'s (2010) systematic review in various populations and less similar to Choi et al.'s (2020) study on Koreans.

Nanofiber Based Organic Solvent Anion Exchange Membranes for Selective Separation of Monovalent anions.

Present anion exchange membranes are generally constructed by simple and positively charged polymers with insufficient organic solvent resistance, and exhibit a low selectivity in the separation of anions. Here, dissolving poly(paraphenylene terephthalamide) nanofibers into small nanofibers and performing a reaction with quaternary ammonium groups in the one-dimensional small nanofibers, high-performance anion exchange membranes were successfully fabricated. By increasing the 2,3-epoxypropyl trimethylammonium chloride content, the synthesized amide nanofiber quaternary ammonium membranes (ANF#QA) exhibited a higher anion exchange capacity (as high as 1.75 mmol·g-1) and achieved a high electrochemical performance. In electrodialysis, the ANF#QA-10 membrane showed an exceptional Cl- selectivity in dilute and concentrated cells. Due to the dense structure and presence of carboxyl groups on the nanofibers, the ANF#QA membranes exhibited a selective separation of monovalent anions. After 48 h of immersion in aqueous acetone solutions, the final ANF#QA-10 membrane exhibited high desalination and concentration efficiency as the initial membrane. This work highlights the promising use of positive charges on small nanofibers, and proposes the design of a special anion exchange membrane, which can be used for electrodialysis in organic solvent solutions, and to selectively separate monovalent anions.

Arts for ageing well: a propensity score matching analysis of the effects of arts engagements on holistic well-being among older Asian adults above 50 years of age.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency and intensity of arts engagement inclusive of active and passive engagements in arts, culture and heritage activities among Singaporean adults aged 50 and above, and examine the relationships between participatory art and holistic well-being. DESIGN: Cross-sectional stratified household survey. SETTING: All residential areas across Singapore's Central, East, North, North-East and West Regions. PARTICIPANTS: 1067 community-dwelling, Singaporean older adults between the ages of 50 and 95 years were recruited. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Respondents completed a self-reported questionnaire, consisting of standardised ad hoc items assessing the frequencies and durations of active and passive participatory arts engagement, as well as validated psychometric assessments on psychosociospiritual health including the primary outcome measure on quality of life, and the secondary outcome measures on physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and social well-being. sociodemographic information, as well as frequency and intensity of physical activity were also collected. RESULTS: Passive engagement (60%) and active engagement (17%) in the arts were associated with better holistic wellness and social support. Specifically, findings from the propensity score matching and independent t-test analyses revealed that adults aged 50 and above who passively engaged in arts and culture-related events experienced higher quality of life (t(728)=3.35, p=0.0008, d=0.25), perceived health (t(728)=2.21, p=0.0277, d=0.16) and sense of belonging (t(728)=2.17, p=0.03, d=0.16), as compared with those who did not. Moreover, those who actively engaged in participatory arts experienced greater quality of life (t(442)=3.68, p=0.0003, d=0.36), self-rated health (t(442)=2.59, p=0.0099, d=0.25), spiritual well-being (t(442)=3.75, p=0.0002, d=0.37), meaning in life (t(442)=5.03, p<0.0001, d=0.50) and sense of peace (t(442)=3.72, p=0.0002, d=0.36), as compared with those who did not actively engaged in the arts. CONCLUSION: This study provided robust evidence to support a significant causal relationship between arts engagements and holistic well-being. Recommendations for art-based public health and elderly care research, practice and policy are discussed.

A single nucleotide polymorphism of the cholecystokinin-B receptor predicts risk for pancreatic cancer.

There currently are no tests available for early diagnosis or for the identification of patients at risk for development of pancreatic cancer. We report the discovery of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the cholecystokinin B receptor (CCKBR) gene predicts survival and risk of pancreatic cancer. Growth of human pancreatic cancer is stimulated by gastrin through the CCKBR and an alternatively spliced isoform of the CCKBR gene called CCKCR. One hundred and ten surgically resected benign and malignant pancreatic tissues as well as normal pancreas were prospectively evaluated for CCKBR genotype and protein expression. Analysis demonstrated the expression of the spliced isoform, CCKCR, was associated with a (SNP) (C > A) at position 32 of the intron 4 (IVS 4) of the CCKBR gene. Since the SNP is within an intron, it has not previously been identified in the GWAS studies. Only patients with the A/A or A/C genotypes, exhibited immunoreactivity to a selective CCKCR antibody. Survival among pancreatic cancer patients with the A-SNP was significantly shorter (p = 0.0001, hazard ratio = 3.63) compared with individuals with C/C genotype. Other variables such as surgical margins, lymph node status, histologic grade or adjuvant chemotherapy were not associated with survival. Furthermore, having one or two of the A-alleles was found to increase the risk of pancreatic adenocarcinoma by 174% (p = 0.0192) compared with the C/C wild type. Cancer cells transfected to overexpress the CCKCR demonstrated increased proliferation over controls. Genetic screening for this SNP may aid in early detection of pancreatic cancer in high risk subjects.