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Symptoms associated with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) hinder overall functionality. This study examined factors that impacted daily life and contributed to overall daily functionality in adults with POTS (n = 958, ages 18–60). Descriptive and multiple linear regression analyses indicated that participants with fewer challenges in ADLs, IADLs, work, school, leisure, and socializing had overall better functionality. Furthermore, 'younger age with exercise tolerance', 'having a job', and 'no falls in the last year' were predictors of better functionality. A comprehensive approach to addressing physical, environmental, and psychological factors could help improve overall functionality and enhance quality of life in individuals with POTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important for clinicians to have a better understanding of stroke survivor's goals. Important performance analysis (IPA) is a tool that could be utilized to identify goal priorities in rehabilitation. To examine the utility of the IPA method to identify goal priorities in a diverse group of community dwelling stroke survivors. Thirty-eight stroke survivors completed private structured interviews and were asked to rate their perceived importance and performance of 37 goal areas. Important-performance analysis (IPA) was utilized to determine goal priorities for the overall sample. Different IPA methods used to identify goal priorities were compared. Goal priorities were also compared by age (dichotomized as <65 and ≥65 years) and sex (male or female). The IPA method effectively separated the goals into the four quadrants, and distinguished which goals were a priority for the sample of stroke survivors. The five goals that were consistently identified as a focus area were: hand function, driving, balance, memory, and arm strength. Men rated mood control as more important than women (p =.046). The two goals rated as being more important for those older than 65 were home accessibility (p =.008) and skin health (p <.001). Stroke survivors continue to have goals related to their stroke recovery in the years after their stroke. Both current performance as well as perceived importance should be considered during goal discussions with stroke survivors. IPA can help identify goal priorities in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College students have higher food insecurity than non-student households. The relationship between college student food security and nutrition literacy has not been explored. Across three campuses (n = 672), the relationship was assessed between food security and nutrition literacy. Low and very low food security were highly prevalent (44%) with very low food security highest among Black (30%) and freshmen students (32.7%). Among students with adequate nutrition literacy, a greater proportion were food secure (58%) with only 18% having low food security; however, this relationship was weak (r = +0.143, p < 0.01). Targeted measures to address food security must consider race and student class disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance stretchable strain sensors are highly desirable for various scenarios, such as health monitoring and human-robot interfaces. Here, we propose a universal strain engineering strategy that introduces an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of stress and promotes crack propagation behavior leading to a critical state between network and channel morphologies, achieving stretchable strain sensors with high sensitivity, a wide working range and good linearity. Approaches for introducing soft-rigid interfaces, enlarging elastic modulus mismatches and matching dimensions have been employed to execute the strategy for network-crack strain sensors with collapsed nanocone cluster structures as representatives. The strain sensors can be tuned to realize a gauge factor of 690.95 in a linear working range of 0–40% (R 2 = 0.993) or a gauge factor of 113.70 in a larger linear working range of 0–120% (R 2 = 0.999). Intraocular pressure monitoring and dynamic facial asymmetry assessment have been demonstrated based on these sensors to show their great application potential. [Display omitted] • A critical state between network and channel morphologies was achieved for crack-based sensors via strain engineering. • Sensitivity, stretchability, and linearity are co-optimized in strain sensors. • A GF of 690.95 in a linear working range of 0–40% can be realized with adjustability. • The highest sensitivity for intraocular pressure monitoring was achieved. • Dynamic facial asymmetry assessment was demonstrated for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sign language recognition is of great significance to connect the hearing/speech impaired and non-sign language communities. Compared to isolated word recognition, sentence recognition is more practical in real-world scenarios, but is also more complicated because continuous, high-quality sign data with distinct features must be collected and isolated signs must be identified with high accuracy. Here, we propose a wearable sign language recognition system enabled by a convolutional neural network (CNN) that integrates stretchable strain sensors and inertial measurement units attached to the body to perceive hand postures and movement trajectories. Forty-eight Chinese sign language words commonly used in daily life were collected and used to train the CNN model, and an isolated sign language word recognition accuracy of 95.85% was achieved. For sentence-level sign language recognition, we proposed a method that combines multiple sliding windows and uses correlation analysis to improve the CNN recognition performance, achieving a correct rate of 84% for 50 sign language sentence samples, showing good extendibility. [Display omitted] • A wearable system that attached to the body to perceive hand postures and movement trajectories was demonstrated. • A high accuracy of 95.85% was achieved in isolated sign language word recognition for Chinese sign language. • Combining multiple sliding windows and correlation analysis, a correct rate of 84% for sign language sentence was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovery of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus resources can be accomplished through treatment of the anaerobic fermentation supernatant from waste activated sludge (WAS). However, the anaerobic fermentation process is significantly influenced by pH values. In this article, thickened sludge from a secondary sedimentation tank of a wastewater treatment facility in Zhengzhou was used to conduct a batch test to examine the effect of pH values between 5.0 and 11.0 on the recovery efficiency of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus in sludge fermentation liquid. The results showed that the production of volatile fatty acids and the total suspended solids degradation rate of sludge reached the highest levels at pH 10.0, with 2481.35 mg/L and 54.11%, respectively, which was 1.45 times higher than the results of the unadjusted pH group. The highest efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus recovery in the supernatant of anaerobic fermentation was achieved at pH 10.0, with the mole ratio of Mg2+/NH4+-N of 1.5 and the mole ratio of PO43−/ NH4+-N of 1.0, yielding 96.55%. The actualization of sludge resource usage and the recovery of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus resources from WAS could be achieved simultaneously in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]