feedback control

BACKGROUND: Mediated diet and exercise methods yield effective short-term weight loss but are costly and hard to manage. However, web-based programs can serve many participants, offering ease of access and cost-efficiency. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a web-based weight management program through web-based education alone (MINE) or combined with tailored video feedback (MINE Plus) with a control (CO) group. METHODS: This intervention included 60 Korean women with overweight and obesity (BMI≥23 kg/m2 ) aged 19 years to 39 years old...

Where sea urchin harvest has been so intense that populations have drastically regressed, concerns have arisen about the effectiveness of harvesting management. According to the theory of phase transition in shallow rocky reefs between vegetated and barren habitats, sea urchin recruitment, a key population structuring process, seems hampered by some stabilizing feedback despite an end to local human harvest of sea urchins. To shed a light on predation effects on sea urchin recruits, a 27-day field experiment was conducted using mega-predator exclusion cages (40x40x40 cm, 1 cm in mesh size) in barren and turf substrates...

Streptococcus suis (S. suis) infections in weaned pigs are common and responsible for a high consumption of antimicrobials, and their presence is assumed to be multi-factorial. A specific evidence-based veterinary guideline to support the control of S. suis in weaned pigs was developed for veterinary practitioners in the Netherlands in 2014. Adherence to the S. suis clinical practice guideline helps veterinary practitioners to prevent and control the disease in a systematical approach and thereby improve antimicrobial stewardship and contribute to the prevention of antimicrobial resistance in animals and humans...

Neuroactive steroids are a type of steroid hormones produced within the nervous system or in peripheral glands and then transported to the brain to exert their neuromodulatory effects. Neuroactive steroids have pleiotropic effects, that include promoting myelination, neuroplasticity, and brain development. They also regulate important physiological functions, such as metabolism, feeding, reproduction, and stress response. The homoeostatic processes of metabolism and reproduction are closely linked and mutually dependent...

BACKGROUND: Catheter-based slow pathway modification (SPM) for atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) is traditionally performed at empiric sites using anatomical landmarks and test ablation feedback within the triangle of Koch (TK). While studies have described more tailored techniques such as bipolar low voltage bridge (LVB) and wavefront collision identification, few have systematically compared the diagnostic yields of each and none have investigated whether omnipolar mapping technology provides incremental benefit...

BACKGROUND: Advance care planning in dementia includes supporting the person and their family to consider important goals of care. International research reports the importance of psycho-social-spiritual aspects towards end of life. AIM: To develop a multidimensional international palliative care goals model in dementia for use in practice. DESIGN: International Delphi study integrating consensus and evidence from a meta-qualitative study...

CONTEXT: Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors lower blood glucose levels by promoting urinary glucose excretion, but their overall effects on hormonal and metabolic status remain unclear. OBJECTIVE: We here investigated the roles of insulin and glucagon in the regulation of glycemia in individuals treated with an SGLT2 inhibitor using mathematical model analysis. METHODS: Hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp and oral glucose tolerance tests were performed in 68 individuals with type 2 diabetes treated with the SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin...

In the realm of motor rehabilitation, Brain-Computer Interface Neurofeedback Training (BCI-NFT) emerges as a promising strategy. This aims to utilize an individual's brain activity to stimulate or assist movement, thereby strengthening sensorimotor pathways and promoting motor recovery. Employing various methodologies, BCI-NFT has been shown to be effective for enhancing motor function primarily of the upper limb in stroke, with very few studies reported in cerebral palsy (CP). Our main objective was to develop an electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI-NFT system, employing an associative learning paradigm, to improve selective control of ankle dorsiflexion in CP and potentially other neurological populations...

AIMS: We hypothesise that PTNS is a safe and effective treatment for OAB. Overactive bladder (OAB) is estimated to affect 11.8% of women worldwide, causing diminished quality of life. Lifestyle modifications, muscarinic receptor antagonist and beta-adrenoreceptor agonist remain the mainstay of treatment but are limited by their efficacy and adverse effects. Access to third-line therapies of intravesical botulinum toxin type A or sacral neuromodulation is limited by their invasive nature...

The primary goal of this study is to develop a wearable system for providing CNC machine operators with visual and tactile perception of triaxial cutting forces, thereby assisting operators in industrial environments to enhance work efficiency and prevent mechanical failures. To achieve this goal, we successfully integrated a virtual machining tool simulator with the remote-control wearable system (RCWS). Using the 'King Path' milling parameters, we employed the simulation software developed by the AIM-HI team to calculate static and dynamic cutting forces, converting this data into vibrational commands for the RCWS to generate corresponding tactile feedback...

OBJECTIVE: To improve timely and equitable access to postpartum blood pressure (BP) monitoring in individuals with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). METHODS: A quality improvement initiative was implemented at a large academic medical centre in the USA for postpartum individuals with HDP. The primary aim was to increase completed BP checks within 7 days of hospital discharge from 40% to 70% in people with HDP in 6 months. Secondary aims included improving rates of scheduled visits, completed visits within 3 days for severe HDP and unattended visits...

INTRODUCTION: This study aims to reduce potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) of statins and foster healthy lifestyle promotion in cardiovascular disease (CVD) primary prevention in low-risk patients. To this end, we will compare the effectiveness and feasibility of several de-implementation strategies developed following the structured design process of the Behaviour Change Wheel targeting key determinants of the clinical decision-making process in CVD prevention. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A cluster randomised implementation trial, with an additional control group, will be launched, involving family physicians (FPs) from 13 Integrated Healthcare Organisations (IHOs) of Osakidetza-Basque Health Service with non-zero incidence rates of PIP of statins in 2021...

Dynamic cerebral autoregulation (dCA) is the mechanism that describes how the brain maintains cerebral blood flow approximately constant in response to short-term changes in arterial blood pressure. This is known to be impaired in many different pathological conditions, including ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke, dementia and traumatic brain injury. Many different approaches have thus been used both to analyse and to quantify this mechanism in a range of healthy and diseased subjects, including data-driven models (in both the time and the frequency domain) and biophysical models...

Elevated ice shelf melt rates in West Antarctica have been attributed to transport of warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) onto the continental shelf via bathymetric troughs. These inflows are supplied by an eastward, subsurface slope current (referred to as the Antarctic Slope Undercurrent) that opposes the westward momentum input from local winds and tides. Despite its importance to basal melt, the mechanism via which the undercurrent forms, and thus what controls the shoreward heat transport, remains unclear...

The role of the cortex in shaping automatic whole-body motor behaviors such as walking and balance is poorly understood. Gait and balance are typically mediated through subcortical circuits, with the cortex becoming engaged as needed on an individual basis by task difficulty and complexity. However, we lack a mechanistic understanding of how increased cortical contribution to whole-body movements shapes motor output. Here we use reactive balance recovery as a paradigm to identify relationships between hierarchical control mechanisms and their engagement across balance tasks of increasing difficulty in young adults...

BACKGROUND: The high prevalence of cannabis use among young adults poses substantial global health concerns due to the associated acute and long-term health and psychosocial risks. Digital modalities, including websites, digital platforms, and mobile apps, have emerged as promising tools to enhance the accessibility and availability of evidence-based interventions for young adults for cannabis use. However, existing reviews do not consider young adults specifically, combine cannabis-related outcomes with those of many other substances in their meta-analytical results, and do not solely target interventions for cannabis use...

PURPOSE: We evaluated the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a standardized nurse delivered mobile phone intervention to improve adherence to antiretroviral treatment and clinical outcomes. METHODS: Feasibility and acceptability of the phone intervention was assessed with rates of eligibility, completed visits, and attritions. Intervention fidelity was assessed by checking recorded calls and feedback. Efficacy was assessed using a randomized controlled trial in which 120 women living with HIV and psychosocial vulnerabilities, were randomized to Treatment as Usual (TAU = 60) or TAU plus the mobile phone intervention (N = 60)...

OBJECTIVE: Many young adult female cancer survivors need to use reproductive medicine, surrogacy, or adoption to have a child. This study pilot tested Roadmap to Parenthood, a web-based, self-guided decision aid and planning tool for family building after cancer (disease agnostic). METHODS: A single-arm pilot study tested feasibility, acceptability, and obtained effect size estimates of the Roadmap tool. Participants, recruited via hospital-based and social media strategies, completed a baseline survey (T1), accessed the Roadmap tool (website), then completed surveys at one- and 3-months (T2 and T3, respectively)...

Previous studies suggest that bimanual coordination recruits neural mechanisms that explicitly couple control of the arms, resulting in symmetric kinematics. However, the higher symmetry for actions that require congruous joint motions compared to non-congruous joint motions calls into question the concept of control coupling as a general policy. An alternative view proposes that co-dependence might emerge from an optimal feedback controller that minimizes control effort and costs in task performance. Support for this view comes from studies comparing conditions in which both hands move a shared or independent virtual objects...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to observe, using Footscan analysis, the effect of electromyographic feedback functional electrical stimulation (FES) on the changes in the plantar pressure of drop foot patients. METHODS: This case-control study enrolled 34 stroke patients with foot drop. There were 17 cases received FES for 20 min per day, 5 days per week for 4 weeks (the FES group) and the other 17 cases only received basic rehabilitations (the control group)...