A qualitative study of childhood cancer families' post-treatment needs and the impact of a community-based organization in a rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged, majority Hispanic/Latino region.

BACKGROUND: Individual- and population-level socioeconomic disadvantages contribute to unequal outcomes among childhood cancer survivors. Reducing health disparities requires understanding experiences of survivors from historically marginalized communities, including those with non-English language preference. PROCEDURE: We partnered with a community-based organization (CBO) serving families of children with cancer in a rural region in California with low socioeconomic status and majority Hispanic/Latino (H/L) residents. We interviewed English- and Spanish-speaking adolescent/young adult (AYA) childhood cancer survivors (≥15 years old, ≥5 years from diagnosis), parents, and CBO staff to evaluate post-treatment needs and impact of CBO support. Data were analyzed qualitatively using applied thematic analysis. Themes were refined through team discussions with our community partners. RESULTS: Twelve AYAs (11 H/L, 11 bilingual), 11 parents (eight H/L, seven non-English preferred), and seven CBO staff (five H/L, five bilingual) participated. AYAs (five female, seven male) were of median (min-max) age 20 (16-32) and 9 (5-19) years post diagnosis; parents (nine female, two male) were age 48 (40-60) and 14 (6-23) years post child's diagnosis. Themes included challenges navigating healthcare, communication barriers among the parent-AYA-clinician triad, and lasting effects of childhood cancer on family dynamics and mental health. Subthemes illustrated that language and rurality may contribute to health disparities. CBO support impacted families by serving as a safety-net, fostering community, and facilitating H/L families' communication. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood cancer has long-lasting effects on families, and those with non-English language preference face additional burdens. Community-based support buffers some of the negative effects of childhood cancer and may reduce disparities.

Sex differences in visuospatial cognition- a female advantage in jigsaw puzzle solving.

Mentally visualizing objects, understanding relationships between two- or three- dimensional objects, and manipulating objects in space are some examples of visuospatial abilities. Numerous studies have shown that male participants outperform female participants in visuospatial tasks, particularly in mental rotation. One exception is solving jigsaw puzzles. Performance by seven- to eight-year-old girls was found to be superior to that of boys of the same age (Kocijan et al. 2017). No study, however, has confirmed this finding in an adult population, where sex differences are often detectable. Seventy-nine young adult participants were given four different jigsaw puzzles and the Shepard and Metzler mental rotation test (MRT) with two main goals: First, to investigate possible sex differences in jigsaw puzzle solving, and second, to explore a potential relationship between mental rotation and jigsaw puzzle solving. We hypothesized that female participants would outperform males in the jigsaw puzzles but males would outperform females in the MRT. The findings confirmed this hypothesis. Notably, the male performance in jigsaw puzzle solving was attributed to their sex and mediated by their higher MRT scores. These results yielded two key insights. First, they indicate a dissociation between these two visuospatial abilities, jigsaw puzzle solving and mental rotation; and second, female and male participants capitalize on their distinct cognitive strengths when solving visuospatial tasks.

Prevalence, attitude, knowledge, and risk perception towards COVID-19 in COPD patients associated to biomass exposure.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients due to biomass exposure (BE-COPD) could be more affected than COPD due to tobacco smoke (TE-COPD) by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The aim of this work was to determine the prevalence of COVID-19 in BE-COPD and TE-COPD and if housing conditions, poor attitude, knowledge, and risk perception towards COVID-19, particularly in BE-COPD women, could represent a risk factor for contagion.An 11% prevalence of COVID-19 was found with no significant difference between COPD groups. The BE-COPD group showed poorer socioeconomic status. No significant differences were found to be associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection regarding housing conditions, poor knowledge, attitude, and risk perception towards COVID-19. Living in urban areas and perceiving risk in COVID-19 were significantly associated with increased adherence to sanitary measures and concern of contagion. Around 40% of all patients showed poor risk perception and adherence to sanitary measures towards COVID-19.

Differential effects of aging on spatial abilities.

Visuospatial functions are particularly vulnerable to the aging process. Decline of these processes can seriously affect an individual's functional independence and quality of life. Effectively assessing the spatial abilities of older adults is, therefore, crucial for identifying strategies to maintain cognitive functioning. The purpose of the present study was to use ecological tasks more comparable to activities of daily living to assess spatial ability in older adults. Three hands-on tasks (a visual search task, a low- and a high-mental rotation demand tasks) and a version of the well-known paper-based mental rotation of figures test (Shepard and Metzler, Science 171(3972):701-703, 1971) were given to 60-79-year-old female and male participants. The hands-on tasks required participants to locate, manipulate, and arrange real objects (i.e., toy bricks) in space. Age had a negative impact on visual search but not on mental rotation ability. Male participants outperformed females in the mental rotation tasks, but a trend for the opposite (better performance by females) was found for the visual search task. The results suggest that spatial abilities are not a monolithic construct and that sub-categories of this construct are affected by age and by sex differently. While visual search function is susceptible to decline during old age, mental rotation ability is not. In addition, unlike the paper-based test, the hands-on tasks were found to be age-appropriate with a feasible level of difficulty for all participants. The hands-on tasks may be more appealing as a tool to evaluate, maintain, and/or enhance spatial function in older adults.

One brick at a time: Building a developmental profile of spatial abilities.

Spatial abilities are not only fundamental for activities of daily living, but they are also markers of academic and professional success. It has remained a challenge, however, to understand their development across childhood and adolescence, partly because of the lack of spatial tasks that are appropriate across age groups. For example, the well-established paper-based mental rotation test (MRT) has been shown to be too difficult for children. In the current study, we tested girls and boys in three age groups: younger children (5-8-years-old), older children (9-12), and adolescents (13-17) on a hands-on visuospatial task using toy bricks: the brick-building task (BBT). Children completed a low- and a high-mental rotation demand (LMR and HMR) version of the BBT and the paper-based MRT. Correlations were found between all tasks. Children, especially females, found the HMR more challenging than the LMR condition, but all children successfully completed the BBT. In contrast, the MRT was too difficult for the younger children to solve performing at chance. Given this result and that the BBT is a game-like, 3D, interactive task, the BBT could be used to examine the biological and/or environmental factors that affect the early development of visuospatial abilities.

An evaluation of visuospatial skills using hands-on tasks.

Several tests of mental rotation ability have been used to investigate its development and the origins of sex differences. One of the most used tests is the mental rotation test (MRT) by Vandenberg and Kuse. A limitation of the MRT is that it is a pen-and-paper test with 2D images of 3D objects. This is a challenge to the ecological validity of the MRT because mental rotation typically involves physical 3D objects that are also physically manipulated. The purpose of the present study was to compare mental rotation ability as evaluated by the MRT to three new tasks with physical objects (toy bricks) that were physically manipulated. The different tasks allowed us to vary the processing demands on mental rotation while standardizing other aspects of the tasks. Fifty-nine females and twenty-eight males completed the LMR and HMR conditions (low- and high-mental rotation demands, respectively) of the brick building task (BBT), a visual search task, and the MRT. As demands on mental rotation for the BBT increased, performance decreased and a sex difference, with males outperforming females, increased. There were correlations between all tasks, but they were larger between the versions of the BBT with the MRT. The results suggest that spatial skill is an assembly of interrelated subskills and that the sex difference is sensitive to the demands on mental rotation and dimensionality crossing. The benefits of the BBT are that it is ecologically valid, avoids dimensionality crossing, and the demands on mental rotation can be manipulated.

Functional Ingredients From Brassicaceae Species: Overview and Perspectives.

Brassicaceae vegetables are important crops consumed worldwide due to their unique flavor, and for their broadly recognized functional properties, which are directly related to their phytochemical composition. Isothiocyanates (ITC) are the most characteristic compounds, considered responsible for their pungent taste. Besides ITC, these vegetables are also rich in carotenoids, phenolics, minerals, and vitamins. Consequently, Brassica's phytochemical profile makes them an ideal natural source for improving the nutritional quality of manufactured foods. In this sense, the inclusion of functional ingredients into food matrices are of growing interest. In the present work, Brassicaceae ingredients, functionality, and future perspectives are reviewed.

Paraganglioma in pregnancy: interdisciplinary management during pregnancy.

Paragangliomas are tumors that originate from the extra-adrenal neural crest, the incidence of which during pregnancy is not more than two to eight cases per million people per year and are known to be highly morbid. The purpose of this report is to describe the experience and results obtained during management of a primigravida diagnosed with paraganglioma on week 21.2 and received both medical and surgical management with good maternal and perinatal outcomes. This case report evidences the importance of practicing interdisciplinary management of patients with clinical suspicion of paragangliomas or pheochromocytomas during pregnancy at high-complexity centers even in a medium-income country.

[Epidemiology of caprine brucellosis in the Central Zone of the State of Veracruz]. / Epidemiología de la brucelosis caprina en la Zona Centro del Estado de Veracruz.

INTRODUCTION: Brucellosis is a disease of high morbidity that affects several animal species, is transmitted to humans and, therefore, is a zoonosis. It is caused by bacteria of the genus Brucella. In this study we aim to determine seroprevalence, risk factors, and spatial distribution of caprine brucellosis in 14 municipalities in the central region of the state of Veracruz. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-stratified multistage study was conducted between 2009 and 2012. It included 572 animals of 81 production units selected by consensus according to the value tables of ​​Cannon and Roe. The diagnosis was by Card Testing and Radial Immunodiffusion. The seroprevalence was determined with the VassarStats® risk factor program and odds. RESULTS: The overall seroprevalence was 0.52% (95% CI: 0.13-1.65) and production units 2.47% (95% CI: 0.43-9.46). They were identified as risk factor for infection, production units in feedlot system and Card Testing seroconversion to vaccine against brucellosis; and as a protective factor, vaccination. CONCLUSIONS: Seroprevalence and distribution of goat brucellosis is low, the intensive system is a risk, and according with the Health Ministry in order that human cases are scarce.

A new troglobitic species of the spider genus Tengella Dahl (Araneae, Tengellidae) from Chiapas, Mexico.

A new species of troglobitic spider of the genus Tengella Dahl is described from Mexico: Tengella kalebi new species, from a limestone cave in Chiapas, Mexico. The species is described on the basis of adult male and females. This is the fifth species described for the genus Tengella, the third species described from Mexico, the first species that has notable troglomorphic modifications, and the first ecribellate Tengella species.

Efficacy of the use of perfluorocarbon as a temporary tamponade agent in severe ocular trauma and/or complex retinopexy: a scoping review.

BACKGROUND: Perfluorocarbon (PFC)possesses unique chemical properties that favor the pigment epithelium's adhesion and allows the drainage of subretinal fluid through retinal holes present in retinal detachment cases. However, PFC as a temporary tamponade agent has been limited due to its high potential for toxicity. MAIN BODY: We conducted a scoping review regarding the use of PFC in vitreoretinal surgery as a temporary tamponade in subjects with severe ocular trauma or severe retinal detachment who received a therapeutic intervention (vitrectomy via posterior approach with the use of PFC as a temporary tamponade), compared to vitrectomy without the use of PFC as a temporary tamponade. Outcomes of interest were retinal reattachment, visual acuity (VA), postoperative complications and retinal toxicity. The search was performed in Medline, Medline In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Medline Daily Update, Embase databases. Reference lists from relevant review articles were also included. Two hundred thirty-eight studies were found, with no duplicate entries. In the first selection, 230 articles were eliminated; in the second selection, 6 additional articles were discarded. In total, 8 articles were obtained in this review. Two selected articles corresponded to animal studies and 6 to studies in humans. Regarding study design, 5 were case series, and 1 was a cohort study. CONCLUSION: PFC as a short-term tamponade had high rates of reapplication, improved VA, and the most frequent adverse effects were reversible after PFC withdrawal. Nonetheless, the quality of the studies was poor. Studies with more rigorous methodologies are needed to determine visual and structural outcomes and potential risks of PFC use as a temporary tamponade in vitreoretinal surgery.

Optimal Brassicaceae family microgreens from a phytochemical and sensory perspective.

Microgreens, also called superfoods, emerge because of their high levels of nutrients, diverse flavour profiles, and sustainable cultivation methods, which make them culinary delights and valuable to a healthy and flavorful diet. The present study investigated Brassicaceae family microgreens, proposing a novel system (quality indices) that allows scoring among them. Fourteen Brassica microgreen species were morphological, phytochemical, and sensorial investigated. The morphological assessment revealed that radish microgreens exhibited the highest leaf area (p < 0.05), while red mizuna demonstrated superior yield. Cauliflower microgreens contained the highest concentrations of ascorbic acid (HPLC-DAD) and total phenolic content (p < 0.05). Phytochemical analysis using HPLC-MS/MS identified over 18 glucosinolates and phenolic compounds. Red mustard and red cabbage showed the highest glucosinolate content (p < 0.05). Watercress exhibited the highest phenolic compound content (p < 0.05), primarily flavonoids, while broccoli and radish contained the highest isothiocyanate levels. Cauliflower microgreens resulted in the most consumer-accepted variety. Appling quality indices scoring system identified radish, cauliflower, and broccoli microgreens as the most promising species. This study underscores the potential of Brassica microgreens as an excellent source of health-promoting phytochemicals with favorable market acceptance, providing valuable insights for both nutritional research and commercial applications.

End-of-Life Practices in an Intensive Care Unit of a Private Hospital in Mexico.

Background: Many factors, such as religion, geography, and customs, influence end-of-life practices. This variability exists even between different physicians. Objective: To observe and describe the end-of-life actions of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) and document the variables that might influence decision-making at the end of life. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study performed in the ICU patients of a private hospital from March 2017 to March 2022. We used the Philips Tasy Electronic Medical Record database of clinical records; 298 patients were included in the study during these five years (2017-2022). The data analysis was done with the statistical package SPSS version 23 for Windows. Results: A total of 297 patients were included in this study, of which more than half were men. About 60% of our sample had private health insurance, whereas the remaining paid out of pocket. Most patients had withholding treatment, followed by failed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, withdrawal treatment, and brain death, and none of the patients had acceleration of the dying process. The main cause of admission to the ICU in our center was respiratory complications. Most of our samples were Catholics. Conclusions: Decision-making at the end of life is a complex process. Active participation of the patient, when possible, the patient's family, doctors, and nurses, can give different perspectives and a more compassionate and individualized approach to end-of-life care.

Organic matter degradation determines the concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediments. Multivariate learning on environmental and experimental models.

Sediment organic matter (SOM) plays an important role in capturing polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) due to its affinity to hydrophobic and lipophilic compounds. Previous publications about correlations between PBDE concentrations and SOM content showed discrepancies among the results, reporting either significant positive correlations or no correlations at all. This work aimed to provide a deeper insight into SOM characteristics that might determine the concentrations of PBDEs in sediments. Sediment samples from Mendoza province, Argentina, were analyzed to contrast two models, environmental and experimental, using multivariate learning methods. Mendoza has been going through increasing events of drought and water scarcity, hence the occurrence, transport, and fate of contaminants as PBDEs in aquatic environments is of superlative importance. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares regression (PLS) were used to evaluate the correlations between physicochemical properties of sediments, semi-quantitative Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) area ratios obtained from SOM spectra, and PBDE concentrations in sediments. Moreover, a linear model was proposed to determine SOM density using FTIR area ratios and it was used as an additional variable in multivariate analyses. The results obtained from PCA and PLS were consistent and revealed that PBDE concentrations in sediments were correlated with a more degraded SOM, characterized by shorter and more branched hydrocarbon chains. PBDE concentrations were also correlated with higher SOM density values, which in turn were correlated with SOM degradation. These findings extend previous understanding and emphasize that not only is the organic matter content a factor in determining PBDE concentrations in sediments, but also and more significantly, its degree of degradation.

Brassicaceae microgreens: A novel and promissory source of sustainable bioactive compounds.

Microgreens are novel foods with high concentrations of bioactive compounds and can be grown easily and sustainably. Among all the microgreens genera produced, Brassicaceae stand out because of the wide evidence about their beneficial effects on human health attributed to phenolic compounds, vitamins, and particularly glucosinolates and their breakdown products, isothiocyanates and indoles. The phytochemical profile of each species is affected by the growing conditions in a different manner. The agronomic practices that involve these factors can be used as tools to modulate and enhance the concentration of certain compounds of interest. In this sense, the present review summarizes the impact of substrates, artificial lighting, and fertilization on bioactive compound profiles among species. Since Brassicaceae microgreens, rich in bioactive compounds, can be considered functional foods, we also included a discussion about the health benefits associated with microgreens' consumption reported in the literature, as well as their bioaccessibility and human absorption. Therefore, the present review aimed to analyze and systematize cultivation conditions of microgreens, in terms of their effects on phytochemical profiles, to provide possible strategies to enhance the functionality and health benefits of Brassicaceae microgreens.

Investing in Retail Food Safety: Assessing the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model Grant Program's Distribution Through an SDOH Lens.

Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) have a major impact on community health and quality of life. Healthy People 2030 has an increased focus on SDOH, given their contribution to health disparities and inequalities as a social phenomenon. Despite advances in food hygiene and sanitation, structural disparities related to SDOH leave food systems vulnerable. The Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards (VNRFRPS), otherwise known as the Retail Program Standards initiative is part of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s strategy for prevention-based food safety to reduce foodborne illness. The National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) work in partnership to administer the NEHA-FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model (RFFM) Grant Program. The program provides funding to State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) retail food regulatory agencies as they achieve and advance conformance with the VNRFRPS. In its first year (Calendar Year 2022) of the 3-year cycle, the grant program awarded $6.87M in funding to over 200 jurisdictions nationwide. The research note shares preliminary findings of utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map the first-year SLTT grant program awardees, with a selection of their jurisdiction's Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) metrics. Integration and analysis of program-specific grant funding and mapping with the relevant health determinants provide an opportunity to understand further the need for comprehensive program investments for greater impact and improvements in public health.

Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antihypertensive, and antiarrhythmic effect of indole-3-carbinol, a phytochemical derived from cruciferous vegetables.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular inflammation and oxidative stress are determining factors in high blood pressure and arrhythmias. Indole-3-carbinol is a cruciferous-derived phytochemical with potential anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. However, its implications on the modulation of cardiovascular inflammatory-oxidative markers are unknown. OBJECTIVES: To establish the effects of indole-3-carbinol on the oxidative-inflammatory-proarrhythmic conditions associated with hypertension. MATERIALS: Histological, biochemical, molecular, and functional aspects were evaluated in 1) Culture of mouse BV-2 glial cells subjected to oxidative-inflammatory damage by lipopolysaccharides (100 ng/mL) in the presence or absence of 40 µM indole-3-carbinol (n = 5); 2) Male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar Kyoto rats receiving indole-3-carbinol (2000 ppm/day, orally) during the first 8 weeks of life (n = 15); 3) Isolated rat hearts were submitted to 10 min regional ischemia and 10 min reperfusion. RESULTS: 1) lipopolysaccharides induced oxidative stress and increased inflammatory markers; indole-3-carbinol reversed both conditions (interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor α, the activity of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase, nitric oxide, inducible nitric oxide synthase, heat shock protein 70, all p < 0.01 vs lipopolysaccharides). 2) SHR rats showed histological, structural, and functional changes with increasing systolic blood pressure (154 ± 8 mmHg vs. 122 ± 7 mmHg in Wistar Kyoto rats, p < 0.01); Inflammatory-oxidative markers also increased, and nitric oxide and heat shock protein 70 decreased. Conversely, indole-3-carbinol reduced oxidative-inflammatory markers and systolic blood pressure (133 ± 8 mmHg, p < 0.01 vs. SHR). 3) indole-3-carbinol reduced reperfusion arrhythmias from 8/10 in SHR to 0/10 (p = 0.0007 by Fisher's exact test). CONCLUSIONS: Indole-3-carbinol reduces the inflammatory-oxidative-proarrhythmic process of hypertension. The nitric oxide and heat shock protein 70 are relevant mechanisms of indole-3-carbinol protective actions. Further studies with this pleiotropic phytochemical as a promising cardioprotective are guaranteed.

Implementation of NAO Robot Maze Navigation Based on Computer Vision and Collaborative Learning.

Maze navigation using one or more robots has become a recurring challenge in scientific literature and real life practice, with fleets having to find faster and better ways to navigate environments such as a travel hub, airports, or for evacuation of disaster zones. Many methodologies have been explored to solve this issue, including the implementation of a variety of sensors and other signal receiving systems. Most interestingly, camera-based techniques have become more popular in this kind of scenarios, given their robustness and scalability. In this paper, we implement an end-to-end strategy to address this scenario, allowing a robot to solve a maze in an autonomous way, by using computer vision and path planning. In addition, this robot shares the generated knowledge to another by means of communication protocols, having to adapt its mechanical characteristics to be capable of solving the same challenge. The paper presents experimental validation of the four components of this solution, namely camera calibration, maze mapping, path planning and robot communication. Finally, we showcase some initial experimentation in a pair of robots with different mechanical characteristics. Further implementations of this work include communicating the robots for other tasks, such as teaching assistance, remote classes, and other innovations in higher education.

Medical decision support system using weakly-labeled lung CT scans.

Purpose: Determination and development of an effective set of models leveraging Artificial Intelligence techniques to generate a system able to support clinical practitioners working with COVID-19 patients. It involves a pipeline including classification, lung and lesion segmentation, as well as lesion quantification of axial lung CT studies. Approach: A deep neural network architecture based on DenseNet is introduced for the classification of weakly-labeled, variable-sized (and possibly sparse) axial lung CT scans. The models are trained and tested on aggregated, publicly available data sets with over 10 categories. To further assess the models, a data set was collected from multiple medical institutions in Colombia, which includes healthy, COVID-19 and patients with other diseases. It is composed of 1,322 CT studies from a diverse set of CT machines and institutions that make over 550,000 slices. Each CT study was labeled based on a clinical test, and no per-slice annotation took place. This enabled a classification into Normal vs. Abnormal patients, and for those that were considered abnormal, an extra classification step into Abnormal (other diseases) vs. COVID-19. Additionally, the pipeline features a methodology to segment and quantify lesions of COVID-19 patients on the complete CT study, enabling easier localization and progress tracking. Moreover, multiple ablation studies were performed to appropriately assess the elements composing the classification pipeline. Results: The best performing lung CT study classification models achieved 0.83 accuracy, 0.79 sensitivity, 0.87 specificity, 0.82 F1 score and 0.85 precision for the Normal vs. Abnormal task. For the Abnormal vs COVID-19 task, the model obtained 0.86 accuracy, 0.81 sensitivity, 0.91 specificity, 0.84 F1 score and 0.88 precision. The ablation studies showed that using the complete CT study in the pipeline resulted in greater classification performance, restating that relevant COVID-19 patterns cannot be ignored towards the top and bottom of the lung volume. Discussion: The lung CT classification architecture introduced has shown that it can handle weakly-labeled, variable-sized and possibly sparse axial lung studies, reducing the need for expert annotations at a per-slice level. Conclusions: This work presents a working methodology that can guide the development of decision support systems for clinical reasoning in future interventionist or prospective studies.

Air quality in Mexico City during the COVID-19 lockdown possibly decreased COPD exacerbations.

The reduction of air pollution during the #COVID19 lockdown in Mexico City possibly reduced the exacerbation rate in #COPD patients due to biomass and tobacco despite that the self-isolation was not as strict as expected. https://bit.ly/3Iyv98t.