METHODS: A stratified random sample of 679 female Chinese university students (age, mean ± SD = 19.792 ± 1.007) participated in the study. The surveys comprised the Theory of Reasoned Action Questionnaire (TRA-Q) and the Body Shape Questionnaire (BS-Q) to assess their body shape concerns and behavioral intentions regarding eating disorders. Structural equation modeling was used to test the extended TRA model, with body shape as an additional predictor and BMI as a moderator.
RESULTS: Body shape positively affected attitudes (β = 0.444, p
METHODS: A dataset from the 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) was used. The sample consisted of 17,938 women aged 15-49 years who desired no more children. Binary logistic regression was conducted for data analyses.
RESULTS: Of the total respondents, 73% used contraceptive methods. Contraceptive use was strongly associated with secondary education among couples (odds ratio [OR] = 1.27; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.17-1.37) and the working status of the husband (OR=2.62; 95% CI=2.07-3.32). The respondents living in rural areas (OR=1.14; 95% CI= 1.06-1.23) and in the Java-Bali region (OR=1.36; 95% CI=1.27-1.46) were more likely to use contraceptive methods. However, the respondents aged more than 35 years were less likely to use contraceptives.
CONCLUSION: Among women who desire no more children, contraceptive use is associated with educational level, age and place of residence. Educated women tend to be empowered and have better access to contraceptive services, improving their chances of using contraception. Healthcare providers and policymakers need to promote the use of contraceptive services including counselling for couples with a low educational level, urban women and women who live in the outer Java-Bali region.
METHOD: A total of 137 fecal samples of the elderly were collected, and subjected to DNA analysis, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Plasma samples were subjected to mass spectrometry proteomic analysis. The parameters of the subjects measured include functional reach test (FRT), handgrip strength (HGS), Visual Cognitive Assessment Test (VCAT), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), timed up and go (TUG) and UCLA three-item loneliness scale (UCLA-3).
RESULT: At the genus level, Alistipes which are potential drivers of dysbiosis, are significantly increased in CF subjects. Proteobacteria are also negatively linked to FRT, HGS, VCAT, and MoCA, but positively correlated to TUG and UCLA-3. Lactoferrin was upregulated in pre-frail subjects. The plasma apolipoprotein AI (Apo-AI) was upregulated 5 times in the CF subjects.
CONCLUSION: These findings provide evidence for dietary intervention to alter gut microbiota that may modulate cognitive status.
METHOD: Male Sprague Dawley rats were used for the induction of diabetes by intraperitoneal injection of nicotinamide (50 mg/kg and streptozotocin 50 mg/kg), and SD was induced by intracisternal administration of GOD (50 U/5 µl at 1 µL/minute). The BC (50 and 100 mg/kg; p.o.) and donepezil (1 mg/kg; p.o.) were administered for 15 consecutive days. The cognitive function was assessed by the Morris water maze test and biomarkers i.e., blood glucose & insulin; serum nitric oxide (NO); tissue acetylcholinesterase (AChE), galectin-1 (G1), NADPH oxidase (NOX4) activity & glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) levels were evaluated.
RESULT: GOD potentially changes the neurovascular unit in the brain which leads to a rise the insulin resistance (IR), NO, G1, & GLUT1 levels; and decreases the NOX4 activity. The GOD causes the potential cognitive dysfunctions. However, the treatment of BC attenuated the GOD-associated cognitive dysfunction and biomarker changes.
CONCLUSION: The present results revealed that BC possesses the ameliorative potential against GOD-induced neurotoxicity and SD due to its anti-oxidative, anti-cholinesterase, reduction of IR, prevention of microglial activation, and enhancement of the glucose update actions.
METHOD: This study employed a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) design. It involved 54 male basketball players aged 18 to 24 from three universities. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: control group (CG), mental fatigue group (MFG), and mental fatigue-mindfulness group (MF-MG). Players in the MFG and MF-MG underwent a 30-minute Stroop task to induce MF. Subsequently, players in the MF-MG engaged in a 30-minute audio mindfulness intervention. Basketball tactical performance was assessed in the small side games (SSG).
RESULTS: There were no significant differences in total tactics observed across groups and over time. However, when examining specific tactical sub-variables, significant differences were found in ball reversal, dribble penetration into the key area, and off-ball screen between the CG and MFG in the post-test. Furthermore, significant differences were noted in ball reversal, dribble penetration into the key area, on-ball screen, and off-ball screen between the MFG and MF-MG in the post-test.
CONCLUSION: The basketball tactical performances, particularly in areas such as ball reversal, dribble penetration into the key area, on-ball screen, and off-ball screen, were negatively impacted by MF. Notably, the brief mindfulness intervention effectively restored these performance aspects. This suggests that coaches and trainers should place increased emphasis on players' mental well-being and consider incorporating brief mindfulness interventions into their training programs. More studies that investigate mindfulness intervention on the comprehensive aspects of basketball performance should be focused on in the future.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to develop a multiscale deep learning model to segment cardiac organs based on MRI imaging data. Good segmentation performance is difficult to achieve due to the complex nature of the cardiac structure, which includes a variety of chambers, arteries, and tissues. Furthermore, the human heart is also constantly beating, leading to motion artifacts that reduce image clarity and consistency. As a result, a multiscale method is explored to overcome various challenges in segmenting cardiac MRI images.
METHODS: This paper proposes DeSPPNet, a multiscale-based deep learning network. Its foundation follows encoder-decoder pair architecture that utilizes the Spatial Pyramid Pooling (SPP) layer to improve the performance of cardiac semantic segmentation. The SPP layer is designed to pool features from densely convolutional layers at different scales or sizes, which will be combined to maintain a set of spatial information. By processing features at different spatial resolutions, the multiscale densely connected layer in the form of the Pyramid Pooling Dense Module (PPDM) helps the network to capture both local and global context, preserving finer details of the cardiac structure while also capturing the broader context required to accurately segment larger cardiac structures. The PPDM is incorporated into the deeper layer of the encoder section of the deep learning network to allow it to recognize complex semantic features.
RESULTS: An analysis of multiple PPDM placement scenarios and structural variations revealed that the 3-path PPDM, positioned at the encoder layer 5, yielded optimal segmentation performance, achieving dice, intersection over union (IoU), and accuracy scores of 0.859, 0.800, and 0.993, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: Different PPDM configurations produce a different effect on the network; as such, a shallower layer placement, like encoder layer 4, retains more spatial data that need more parallel paths to gather the optimal set of multiscale features. In contrast, deeper layers contain more informative features but at a lower spatial resolution, which reduces the number of parallel paths required to provide optimal multiscale context.
METHODS: Participants took 6 mg of lutein and 1 mg of zeaxanthin, along with 100 mg elderberry extract once daily for a duration of 20 days. Ocular health was assessed using the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), while immune status was evaluated with the Immune Status Questionnaire (ISQ).
RESULTS: Results showed that combined supplementation significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the OSDI scores in the intervention group from 38.15 ± 11.14 to 18.26 ± 5.57, reflecting a 52.2% reduction. A similar trend was observed with the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), indicating significant (p < 0.05) improvement from 5.31 ± 1.62 to 6.73 ± 1.74, equivalent to a 26.7% improvement. Although the intervention group showed a 15.9% improvement in ISQ scores by the study's end, this was not significantly different from the placebo group, suggesting that higher dosages or longer durations may be needed to observe a meaningful effect. Additionally, findings from the Food Frequency Questionnaire revealed that the average dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin among participants was only 663.49 µg, equating to just 5.5% of the suggested optimal daily intake. This low consumption is concerning, as it is inversely correlated with the risk of ocular diseases.
CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, these findings support the use of combined supplementation as an adjuvant approach to improving ocular health.