Search

BackgroundAbnormal interstitial fluid accumulation remains the major cause for patients with heart failure (HF) to endure a myriad of distressing symptoms and a decline in their health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The lymphatic system is essential in regulating fluid balance within the interstitial compartment and has recently been recognized as an important target for the prevention and mitigation of congestion. This study aimed to investigate the effects of exercises in activating lymphatic system on symptom distress and HRQoL among patients with HF.Methods and resultsThis was a pre-determined, secondary analysis of the TOLF-HF [The-Optimal-Lymph-Flow for Heart Failure (TOLF-HF)] study, a two-arm pilot randomized controlled trial evaluating the preliminary effects of the lymphatic exercise intervention in enhancing interstitial decongestion among patients with HF. Participants were randomized to receive either a four-week TOLF-HF program in addition to standard care or standard care alone. The Chinese version of the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ) was employed to measure symptom distress and HRQoL before and after the intervention. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, the independent sample t-test, Pearson’s chi-square test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and covariance analysis. Of the 66 patients enrolled, 60 completed the study. The study results exhibited that the TOLF-HF intervention were effective in alleviating both physical and psychological symptom distress. The intervention group yielded significantly lower MLHFQ total scores in comparison to the control group. The odd ratio of achieving meaningful improvement in HRQoL in TOLF-HF group was 2.157 times higher than those in the control group.ConclusionsThe TOLF-HF program focusing on activating lymphatic system was effective in alleviating physical and psychological symptom distress as well as improving HRQoL for patients with HF. The tolerability, feasibility, and effectiveness of the TOLF-HF intervention make it a promising intervention for patients to manage HF.Clinical Trial Registrationhttp://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx, identifier (ChiCTR2000039121).

Abstract A modified Chromium 10x droplet-based protocol that subsamples cells for both short-read and long-read (nanopore) sequencing together with a new computational pipeline (FLAMES) is developed to enable isoform discovery, splicing analysis, and mutation detection in single cells. We identify thousands of unannotated isoforms and find conserved functional modules that are enriched for alternative transcript usage in different cell types and species, including ribosome biogenesis and mRNA splicing. Analysis at the transcript level allows data integration with scATAC-seq on individual promoters, improved correlation with protein expression data, and linked mutations known to confer drug resistance to transcriptome heterogeneity.

Precision health refers to personalized healthcare based on a person’s unique genetic, genomic, or omic composition within the context of lifestyle, social, economic, cultural and environmental influences to help individuals achieve well-being and optimal health. Precision health utilizes big data sets that combine omics (i.e. genomic sequence, protein, metabolite, and microbiome information) with clinical information and health outcomes to optimize disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention specific to each patient. Successful implementation of precision health requires interprofessional collaboration, community outreach efforts, and coordination of care, a mission that nurses are well-positioned to lead. Despite the surge of interest and attention to precision health, most nurses are not well-versed in precision health or its implications for the nursing profession. Based on a critical analysis of literature and expert opinions, this paper provides an overview of precision health and the importance of engaging the nursing profession for its implementation. Other topics reviewed in this paper include big data and omics, information science, integration of family health history in precision health, and nursing omics research in symptom science. The paper concludes with recommendations for nurse leaders in research, education, clinical practice, nursing administration and policy settings for which to develop strategic plans to implement precision health. Keywords: Nurses, Genomics, Omics, Precision medicine, Precision health

Background: The-Optimal-Lymph-Flow (TOLF) intervention aims to promote lymph flow through therapeutic lymphatic exercises to relieve lymphatic pain, swelling, lymphedema symptoms, and to decrease lymph fluid levels among breast cancer survivors. To enhance the efficacy of the TOLF intervention, an innovative, intelligent, Kinect-enhanced lymphatic exercise intervention (Kinect-TOLF) was developed to teach patients to perform the lymphatic exercises correctly. Objectives: This feasibility trial aimed to determine the feasibility, usability, and effects of the Kinect-TOLF on lymphatic pain, swelling, lymphedema symptoms, and lymph fluid levels. Methods: A single-arm feasibility trial with a pre- and post-test design was employed to recruit 30 breast cancer survivors with persistent lymphatic pain or swelling. Patients received a single training session to learn how to perform the lymphatic exercises using the Kinect-TOLF program. Descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, t -test, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients, linear regressions, and Cohen’s d were performed for data analysis. Qualitative data were assessed for common themes. Results: The Kinect-TOLF was effective in training patients to perform the lymphatic exercises correctly with high user satisfaction. Significant reductions were found in scores of lymphatic pain ( Med Δ = −1.00, CI = [−1.5, −0.1], P = .004), arm/hand swelling ( Med Δ = −1.00, CI = [−1.5, −0.5], P = .004), total swelling ( Med Δ = −1.5, CI = [−2.0, −1.0], P = .003), number of lymphedema symptoms ( M Δ = −3.8, CI = [−5.5, −2.1], P

This study explored the association between oral microbes and head and neck cancer (HNC) as well as symptoms related to patients with HNC before surgical treatment. Fifty-six patients with HNC and 64 matched healthy controls were recruited from West China hospital in Southwest China. The demographic, clinical, and symptom data were collected. Salivary samples were collected to determine the microbial characteristics using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Patients with HNC presented increased Capnocytophaga abundances. The oral microbial markers as Capnocytophaga (area under the curve=0.81) achieved a high classification power between the HNC patients and healthy controls. Moreover, using Capnocytophaga in conjunction with symptom of voice/speech difficulty achieved an overall predicting accuracy of 92.5% comparing with using Capnocytophaga alone (79.2% accuracy) in distinguishing the HNC patients from healthy controls. Salivary microbial profiles and HNC symptoms may be potential biomarkers for HNC screening.

Using Kinect sensors to monitor and provide feedback to patients performing intervention or rehabilitation exercises is an upcoming trend in healthcare. However, the joint positions measured by the Kinect sensor are often unreliable, especially for joints that are occluded by other parts of the body. Also, users' motion sequences differ significantly even when doing the same exercise and are not temporally aligned, making the evaluation of the correctness of their movement challenging. This paper aims to develop a Kinect-based intervention system, which can guide the users to perform the exercises more effectively. To circumvent the unreliability of the Kinect measurements, we developed a denoising algorithm using a Gaussian Process regression model. We simultaneously capture the joint positions using both a Kinect sensor and a motion capture (MOCAP) system during a training stage and train a Gaussian process regression model to map the noisy Kinect measurements to the more accurate MOCAP measurements. For the sequences alignment issue, we develop a gradient-weighted dynamic time warping approach that can automatically recognize the endpoints of different subsequences from the original user's motion sequence, and furthermore temporally align the subsequences from multiple actors. During a live exercise session, the system applies the same alignment algorithm to a live-captured Kinect sequence to divide it into subsequences, and furthermore compare each subsequence with its corresponding reference subsequence, and generates feedback to the user based on the comparison results. Our results show that the denoised Kinect measurements by the proposed denoising algorithm are more accurate than several benchmark methods and the proposed temporal alignment approach can precisely detect the end of each subsequence in an exercise with very small amount of delay. These methods have been integrated into a prototype system for guiding patients with risks for breast-cancer related lymphedema to perform a set of lymphatic exercises. The system can provide relevant feedback to the patient performing an exercise in real time.

Malignant fungating wounds present in 5–14% of advanced cancer patients in the United States and are a result of cancerous cells infiltrating and proliferating in the skin. Presentation of malignant fungating wounds often occurs in the last 6 months of life and therefore become symbols of impending death for patients and their families. Due to the incurable and severe nature of these wounds, patients require palliative care until death to minimize pain and suffering. Symptoms associated with these chronic wounds include malodor, pain, bleeding, necrosis, large amounts of exudate, increased microbial growth, and more. Limited research using culture-based techniques has been conducted on malignant fungating wounds and therefore no optimal approach to treating these wounds has been established. Despite limited data, associations between the cutaneous microbiome of these wounds and severity of symptoms have been made. The presence of at least one strain of obligate anaerobic bacteria is linked with severe odor and exudate. A concentration of over 105/g bacteria is linked with increased pain and exudate. Bacterial metabolites such as DMTS and putrescine are linked with components of malignant fungating wound odor and degradation of periwound skin. The few but significant associations made between the malignant fungating wound microbiome and severity of symptoms indicate that further study on this topic using 16S rRNA gene sequencing may reveal potential therapeutic targets within the microbiome to significantly improve current methods of treatment used in the palliative care approach.

Purpose: The-Optimal-Lymph-Flow health IT system (TOLF) is a patient-centered, web-and-mobile-based educational and behavioral health IT system focusing on safe, innovative, and pragmatic self-care strategies for lymphedema symptom management. The purpose of this study was to evaluate usability, feasibility, and acceptability of TOLF among the end-user of breast cancer survivors. Methods: Two types of usability testing were completed with 30 breast cancer survivors: heuristic evaluation and end-user testing. Each participant was asked to think aloud while completing a set of specified tasks designed to explicate and freely explore the system features. A heuristic evaluation checklist, the Perceived Ease of Use and Usefulness Questionnaire, and The Post Study System Usability Questionnaire were used to evaluate usability of the system. Open-ended questions were used to gather qualitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data were summarized thematically. Results: Breast cancer survivors were very satisfied with the system: 90% (n = 27) rated the system having no usability problems; 10% (n = 3) noted minor cosmetic problems: spelling errors or text font size. The majority of participants 96.6% (n = 29) strongly agreed that the system was easy to use and effective in helping to learn about lymphedema, symptoms and self-care strategies. Themes from the qualitative data included empowerment, high quality information, loving avatar simulation videos, easy accessibility, and user-friendliness. Conclusions: This usability study provided evidence on breast cancer survivor's acceptance and highly positive evaluation of TOLF's usability as well as feasibility of using technologically-driven delivery model to enhance self-care strategies for lymphedema symptom management.

Deteriorative environmental conditions in environmental justice (EJ) communities not only post direct health risks such as chronic illnesses, but also cause emotional distress such as anxiety, fear, and anger among residents, which may further exacerbate health risks. This study applies a descriptive phenomenological method to explore and describe the emotional experience of residents living in Ironbound, a known EJ community located in Newark, New Jersey. Twenty-three residents participated in the study. Four essential themes regarding the residents’ emotional experiences were elicited from 43 interviews: (1) being worried about the harmful effects of the surrounding pollution; (2) being distressed by the known historical pollution sources; (3) being frustrated by the unheard voices and/or lack of responses; and (4) being angered by the ongoing pollution sources. Participants not only expressed their emotions of worry, distress, frustration, and anger in detail but also described reasons or situations that provoked such negative emotions. Such detailed depictions provide insights into potential meaningful strategies to improve residents’ psychological wellbeing by alleviating negative emotions and meaningfully engaging residents in developing, implementing, and enforcing environmental laws, regulations, and policies to achieve EJ goals.

Background: Lymphedema (LE) is a significant clinical problem for breast cancer survivors. While the water displacement test and circumferential assessment using a tape measure (TM) are common methods to assess differences in arm volumes, faster and more reliable methods are needed. Study purposes, in breast cancer survivors (n = 294), were to compare the average total arm volumes and interlimb volume ratios for women with and without a history of LE, using a TM and three-dimensional (3D), whole-body surface scanner (3D scan); compare the level of agreement between arm volumes and interlimb volume ratios obtained using the two devices; and evaluate the percent agreement between the two measures in classifying cases of LE using three accepted thresholds. Methods and Results: Measurements were done using a spring-loaded TM and Fit3D ProScanner. Paired t-tests and Bland-Altman analyses were used to achieve the study aims. For circumference and volume comparisons, compared with the 3D scan, values obtained using the TM were consistently smaller. In terms of level of agreement, the Bland-Altman analyses demonstrated large biases and wide limits of agreement for the calculated arm volumes and volume ratios. In terms of the classification of caseness, using the 200-mL interlimb volume difference criterion resulted in 81.6% overall agreement; using the >10% volume difference between the affected and unaffected arms resulted in 78.5% overall agreement; and using the volume ratio ≥1.04 criterion resulted in 62.5% overall agreement. For all three accepted threshold criteria, the percentage of cases was significantly different between the TM and 3D scan techniques. Conclusions: The 3D technology evaluated in this study has the potential to be used for self-initiated surveillance for LE. With improvements in landmark identification and software modifications, it is possible that accurate and reliable total arm volumes can be calculated and used for early detection.

Background: While supine bioimpedance devices are used to evaluate for lymphedema (LE), stand-on devices are gaining popularity. Because research on differences in bioimpedance values between the two devices is limited, this study's purposes were to: (1) determine the average upper limb impedance values and inter-limb ratios for women who self-reported having (n = 34) or not having (n = 61) a history of LE, using a single-frequency supine device and a multifrequency stand-on device; (2) compare the level of agreement in inter-limb impedance ratios between the two devices; evaluate the percent agreement between the two devices in classifying cases of LE using established supine thresholds; and evaluate the percent agreement in classifying cases of LE between the supine device using previously established supine thresholds and the stand-on device using two published standing thresholds. Methods and Results: Bioimpedance measures were done using the two devices. For the entire sample, absolute impedance values for both the affected and unaffected limbs were significantly higher for the stand-on device in women with and without LE. Impedance values for the two methods were highly correlated. Bland-Altman analysis determined that for the entire range of impedance ratios the values for the two devices could not be used interchangeably. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the stand-on device can be a useful and valid tool to assess for LE. However, because agreement is not perfect, values obtained from the two devices should not be used interchangeably to evaluate for changes in impedance ratios, particularly for ratios of >1.20.

BackgroundThe-Optimal-Lymph-Flow (TOLF) intervention aims to promote lymph flow through therapeutic lymphatic exercises to relieve lymphatic pain, swelling, lymphedema symptoms, and to decrease lymph fluid levels among breast cancer survivors. To enhance the efficacy of the TOLF intervention, an innovative, intelligent, Kinect-enhanced lymphatic exercise intervention (Kinect-TOLF) was developed to teach patients to perform the lymphatic exercises correctly.ObjectivesThis feasibility trial aimed to determine the feasibility, usability, and effects of the Kinect-TOLF on lymphatic pain, swelling, lymphedema symptoms, and lymph fluid levels.MethodsA single-arm feasibility trial with a pre- and post-test design was employed to recruit 30 breast cancer survivors with persistent lymphatic pain or swelling. Patients received a single training session to learn how to perform the lymphatic exercises using the Kinect-TOLF program. Descriptive statistics, Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, t-test, Spearman's rank correlation coefficients, linear regressions, and Cohen's d were performed for data analysis. Qualitative data were assessed for common themes.ResultsThe Kinect-TOLF was effective in training patients to perform the lymphatic exercises correctly with high user satisfaction. Significant reductions were found in scores of lymphatic pain (MedΔ = -1.00, CI = [-1.5, -0.1], P = .004), arm/hand swelling (MedΔ = -1.00, CI = [-1.5, -0.5], P = .004), total swelling (MedΔ = -1.5, CI = [-2.0, -1.0], P = .003), number of lymphedema symptoms (MΔ = -3.8, CI = [-5.5, -2.1], P