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Individuals with neurological impairments often exhibit asymmetrical gait patterns. This study explored the potential of using functional electrical stimulation (FES) as a perturbation method during treadmill walking to promote gait symmetry adaptation by investigating whether the FES perturbation could induce gait adaptation concerning spatial and temporal gait symmetry in healthy subjects. In the FES perturbation, both legs received electrical pulses at the same period as the subjects' initial stride duration, and the temporal gap between the two pulses for each leg was manipulated over a 7-min period. Following this, subjects continued to walk for another 5 minutes without FES. Subjects participated in two trials: implicit and explicit. In the implicit trial, they walked comfortably during FES perturbation without consciously adjusting their gait. In the explicit trial, they voluntarily synchronized their toe-off phase to the stimulation timing. To examine the effects of the FES perturbation, we measured step length and stance time and then analyzed changes in step length and stance time symmetries alongside their subsequent aftereffects. During the explicit trial, subjects adapted their gait patterns to the electrical pulses, resulting in a directional change in stance time (temporal) symmetry, with the left stance becoming shorter than the right. The stance time asymmetry induced by FES perturbation showed a slight residual effect. In the implicit trial, the directional change trend was slightly observed but not statistically significant. No consistent trend in step length (spatial) symmetry changes was observed in either condition, indicating that subjects may adapt their spatial gait patterns independently of their temporal patterns. Our findings suggest that the applied FES perturbation strategy under explicit condition can induce adaptations in subjects' temporal gait asymmetry, particularly in stance. The implicit condition showed a similar slight trend but was not statistically significant. Further experiments would provide deeper understanding into the mechanism behind subjects' response to FES perturbations, as well as the long-term effects of these perturbations on the spatial and temporal aspects of gait symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human lung cancer carries high genetic alterations, expressing high tumor-specific neoantigens. Although orthotopic murine lung cancer models recapitulate many characteristics of human lung cancers, genetically engineered mouse models have fewer somatic mutations than human lung cancer, resulting in scarce immune cell infiltration and deficient immune responses. The endogenous mouse lung cancer model driven by Kras mutation and Trp53 deletion (KP model) has minimal immune infiltration because of a scarcity of neoantigens. Fine-tuning tumor antigenicity to trigger the appropriate level of antitumor immunity would be key to investigating immune responses against human lung cancer. We engineered the KP model to express antigens of OVA peptides (minOVA) as neoantigens along with ZsGreen, a traceable fluorescent conjugate. The KP model expressing minOVA exhibited stronger immunogenicity with higher immune cell infiltration comprised of CD8 + T cells and CD11c + dendritic cells (DCs). Consequently, the KP model expressing minOVA exhibits suppressed tumor growth compared to its origin. We further analyzed tumor-infiltrated DCs. The majority of ZsGreen conjugated with minOVA was observed in the conventional type 2 DCs (cDC2), whereas cDC1 has minimal. These data indicate that tumor immunogenicity regulates host immune responses, and tumor neoantigen is mostly recognized by cDC2 cells, which may play a critical role in initiating antitumor immune responses in an orthotopic murine lung cancer model., (© 2024. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.)

Background: Kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment for patients with end-stage kidney disease. Since the introduction of robot-assisted kidney transplantation (RAKT), several centers have applied this technique as an alternative to open kidney transplantation (OKT). The objective of this study is to analyze our early experience, focusing on surgical technique and learning curve, and postoperative outcomes of RAKT., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 782 living donor kidney transplantation recipients between January 2018 and January 2024. A propensity score-matched cohort of 50 RAKT and 150 OKT patients was evaluated for intraoperative and postoperative variables. Shewhart control charts and CUSUM analysis were used to evaluate technical outcomes and learning curves of RAKT. Postoperative eGFR values, complications, and biopsy results were compared for overall graft function and safety., Results: RAKT patients were associated with significantly longer overall operative, rewarming, and anastomosis times. Although overall postoperative eGFR trends showed comparable graft function between RAKT and OKT recipients (51.35±2.64 vs. 54.01±1.45; P=0.315), RAKT patients with extremely long rewarming times exhibited aggravated chronic scores at 1 year protocol biopsies (Δ Chronicity Index = 4.45±1.92, P<0.001). CUSUM analysis of rewarming time revealed that proficiency in RAKT is achieved after approximately 15 cases., Conclusions: Despite longer anastomosis and ischemic times, even during the early stages of RAKT adoption, the RAKT group did not differ significantly in graft function or postoperative complications from the OKT group., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Study Objectives: We aimed to identify the relationship between duration of categorized catch-up sleep on free days (CUS) and measured body mass index (BMI) in adults using the data from the seventh Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES VII), 2016., Methods: CUS duration was classified as ≤ 0, > 0-1, > 1-2, and > 2 hours. Being overweight or obese was defined as having a BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m 2 or ≥ 30.0 kg/m 2 , respectively., Results: Of 6,382 participants aged 19-80 years in the KNHANES VII survey of 2016, 201 and 583 participants were excluded because of shift-working and insufficient data, respectively. Of 5,598 participants, CUS was observed in 2,274 (44.9%) participants, of which 3,324 (55.1%), 1,043 (19.4%), 724 (14.7%), and 507 (10.8%) had CUS of ≤ 0, > 0-1, > 1-2, and > 2 hours, respectively; the prevalence of obesity was 5.6%, 5.6%, 4.8%, and 6.1%, respectively. The association between BMI and CUS duration showed a significant negative association in the CUS ≤ 0 hours group (beta [95% confidence interval], -0.394 [-0.646, -0.143], P = .002); however, other CUS groups did not show any significant association with BMI (CUS > 0-1 hours: -0.196 [-1.258, 0.865], P = .716; CUS > 1-2 hours, -0.542 [-1.625, 0.541], P = .325; CUS > 2 hours, -0.113 [-0.459, 0.233], P = .519)., Conclusions: Our findings provide an understanding of the relationship between CUS and BMI and can serve as an instructive basis for the management of BMI., Citation: Lee HJ, Cho S, Lee SH, Kim SJ, Kim KM, Chu MK. Catch-up sleep on free days and body mass index: results from the seventh Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2016. J Clin Sleep Med . 2024;20(1):39-47., (© 2024 American Academy of Sleep Medicine.)