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Background: A large proportion of individuals with anxiety-related disorders refrain from seeking treatment. This may be because traditional exposure treatments induce anxiety. However, advances in exposure using virtual reality technology may encourage more individuals to seek treatment. Furthermore, using biomarkers with VR-based exposure may enable clinicians to assess anxiety levels objectively and collect data in a naturalistic setting. Methods: Here, we conduct a systematic review of the literature on the use of biomarkers in VR-based exposure treatment for anxiety. Twenty-seven studies were included, with a total of 1046 participants. Results: We found that heart rate was the only biomarker that tentatively could identify changes within (75% of instances) and between sessions (60% of instances). The levels of synchrony between the findings for overall biomarkers and the results from questionnaires showed inconclusive results. Regarding the levels of synchrony between the findings for particular biomarkers and the results from questionnaires, only skin conductance level was highly synchronous for differences between groups (87% of instances). Conclusion: Based on the present review, biomarkers cannot yet be used reliably to distinguish differences in self-reported symptoms of anxiety in VR-based exposure treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) aims at reconstructing the electric conductivity distribution in a body from electro-static boundary measurements. The inverse problem is severely ill-posed, especially when only partial data is considered. In this work, we propose three methods for the combined reconstruction and segmentation in EIT with partial data. Firstly, we introduce a regularization that takes spatial information into account and corrects for limited coverage. Secondly, we exploit the Chan–Vese method for improving the segmentation step. Finally, we utilize an optimization framework with a level-set approach to simultaneously reconstruct and segment inclusions. The work is done in the context of the Kuopio Tomography Challenge 2023. We demonstrate on experimental tank data that each of the three methods performs significantly better than a classical linearization approach, especially in partial-data scenarios. In particular, the level-set method drastically improves the reconstruction of inclusions with complicated boundaries; this method is superior among our contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A current fault line in the study of crime fiction as a transnational genre is to what extent crime novels offer readers genuine cosmopolitan windows onto other worlds and cultures or whether it simply is bound to reproduce trite imagologies and national stereotypes. The overarching premise for this article is to explore the extent to which Henning Mankell's crime novels and their adaptations engage the character Wallander's own and “other” worlds with a cosmopolitan perspective, by considering the mutations of Wallander's fictional local world as intricately tied to discursive geopolitical realities of the post–Cold War world. More specifically, I consider what may be gained from exploring the Wallander series within two distinct – yet, I shall argue, related – perspectives on geopolitics and crime fiction: on the one hand, the geopolitics of the translation, adaptation, and reception networks that have “worlded” the Wallander series (what I call Wallander's geopolitical adaptation networks), and on the other, the fictional geopolitical networks that weave the Global North and the Global South together in several of Mankell's intricate crime plots (Wallander's dark geopolitics).

Objective: To investigate the potential associations between functional capacity, muscle strength, body composition, and disease‐related measures and quality of life in patients with myositis. Methods: Baseline measures of functional capacity (functional index 3 (FI3), 2‐minute walk test (2MWT), timed up and go (TUG) and 30‐s sit‐to‐stand (30‐STS)), muscle strength (incl. leg and handgrip strength), maximal leg extensor power, body composition (appendicular lean mass, fat percentage/mass) and disease‐related measures (disease activity & damage core sets) were examined for their associations with quality of life (physical‐ and mental component summary scores, Short Form 36 questionnaire (SF‐36)) by means of Spearman's correlation analysis. Results: A total of 32 patients with myositis were included. Positive correlations between SF‐36 physical component summary score (PCS) and FI3, 30‐STS, TUG, 2MWT, leg extensor power, leg strength, bench press strength, and handgrip strength were observed. In contrast, fat percentage and fat mass correlated negatively with PCS. In disease‐related measures, Extramuscular global assessment, health assessment questionnaire, physician global damage, and patient global damage scores were negatively associated with SF‐36 PCS. No correlations to the mental component summary score of SF‐36 were observed. Conclusion: All measures of functional capacity were positively related to the SF‐36 physical component summary score, indicating higher functional capacity positively affects quality of life in patients with myositis. Health assessment questionnaire and patient global damage scores demonstrated the strongest correlations with SF‐36 physical component summary scores, further supporting these patient‐reported outcomes as viable monitoring tools in patients with myositis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf dark respiratory CO2-release (RD) is, according to some literature, dependent on the rate of leaf transpiration. If this is true, then at a given vapor pressure deficit, the leaf stomatal conductance (gs) will be expected to be a controlling factor of measured RD at any given time. We artificially lowered leaf gs by applying abscisic acid (ABA). Although leaf RD generally covaried temporally with gs, artificially lowering gs by applying ABA does not affect the measured leaf RD. These results indicate that observed diel fluctuations in gs are not directly influencing the measured leaf RD, thereby simplifying both future studies and the interpretation of past studies of the underlying environmental- and physiological drivers of temporal variation in leaf RD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context No information exists on the long-lasting effects of supraphysiological anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs) usage on the myocellular properties of human skeletal muscle in previous AAS users. Objective We hypothesized that former AAS users would demonstrate smaller myonuclei domains (ie, higher myonuclei density) than matched controls. Methods A community-based cross-sectional study in men aged 18-50 years engaged in recreational strength training. Muscle biopsies were obtained from the m. vastus lateralis. Immunofluorescence analyses were performed to quantify myonuclei density and myofiber size. Results Twenty-five males were included: 8 current and 7 previous AAS users and 10 controls. Median (25th-75th percentiles) accumulated duration of AAS use was 174 (101-206) and 140 (24-260) weeks in current and former AAS users, respectively (P =.482). Geometric mean (95% CI) elapsed duration since AAS cessation was 4.0 (1.2; 12.7) years among former AAS users. Type II muscle fibers in former AAS users displayed higher myonuclei density and DNA to cytoplasm ratio than controls, corresponding to smaller myonuclei domains (P =.013). Longer accumulated AAS use (weeks, log2) was associated with smaller myonuclei domains in previous AAS users: beta-coefficient (95% CI) −94 (−169; −18), P =.024. Type I fibers in current AAS users exhibited a higher amount of satellite cells per myofiber (P =.031) than controls. Conclusion Muscle fibers in former AAS users demonstrated persistently higher myonuclei density and DNA to cytoplasm ratio 4 years after AAS cessation suggestive of enhanced retraining capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging is typically associated with decreased muscle strength and rate of force development (RFD), partly explained by motor unit remodeling due to denervation, and subsequent loss of fast-twitch type II myofibers. Exercise is commonly advocated to counteract this detrimental loss. However, it is unclear how life-long strength versus endurance training may differentially affect markers of denervation and reinnervation of skeletal myofibers and, in turn, affect the proportion and morphology of fast-twitch type II musculature. Thus, we compared fiber type distribution, fiber type grouping, and the prevalence of atrophic myofibers (-1,494 lm2) in strength-trained (OS) versus endurance-trained (OE) master athletes and compared the results to recreationally active older adults (all >70 yr, OC) and young habitually active references (<30 yr, YC). Immunofluorescent stainings were performed on biopsy samples from vastus lateralis, along with leg press maximal strength and RFD measurements. OS demonstrated similar type II fiber distribution (OS: 52.0 ± 16.4%; YC: 51.1 ± 14.4%), fiber type grouping, maximal strength (OS: 170.0 ± 18.9 kg, YC: 151.0 ± 24.4 kg), and RFD (OS: 3,993 ± 894 N·s-1, YC: 3,470 ± 1,394 N·s-1) as young, and absence of atrophic myofibers (OS: 0.2 ± 0.7%; YC: 0.1 ± 0.4%). In contrast, OE and OC exhibited more atrophic fibers (OE: 1.2 ± 1.0%; OC: 1.1 ± 1.4%), more grouped fibers, and smaller proportion of type II fibers (OE: 39.3 ± 11.9%; OC: 35.0 ± 12.4%) than OS and YC (all P < 0.05). In conclusion, strength-trained master athletes were characterized by similar muscle morphology as young, which was not the case for recreationally active or endurance-trained old. These results indicate that strength training may preserve type II fibers with advancing age in older men, likely as a result of chronic use of high contractile force generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed to examine the acute effect of low-load (LL) exercise with blood-flow restriction (LL-BFR) on microvascular oxygenation and muscle excitability of the vastus medialis (VM) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles during a single bout of unilateral knee extension exercise performed to task failure. Seventeen healthy recreationally resistance-trained males were enrolled in a within-group randomized cross-over study design. Participants performed one set of unilateral knee extensions at 20% of one-repetition maximum (1RM) to task failure, using a LL-BFR or LL free-flow (LL-FF) protocol in a randomized order on separate days. Changes in microvascular oxygenation and muscle excitability in VL and VM were assessed using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and surface electromyography (sEMG), respectively. Pain measures were collected using the visual analog scale (VAS) before and following set completion. Within- and between- protocol comparisons were performed at multiple time points of set completion for each muscle. During LL-BFR, participants performed 43% fewer repetitions and reported feeling more pain compared to LL-FF (p<0.05). Normalized to time to task failure, LL-BFR and LL-FF generally demonstrated similar progression in microvascular oxygenation and muscle excitability during exercise to task failure. The present results demonstrate that LL-BFR accelerates time to task failure, compared with LL-FF, resulting in a lower dose of mechanical work to elicit similar levels of oxygenation, blood-pooling, and muscle excitability. LL-BFR may be preferable to LL-FF in clinical settings where high workloads are contraindicated, although increased pain experienced during BFR may limit its application. Highlights Compared to free flow (FF), neuromuscular fatigue mechanisms are accelerated during blood flow restricted (BFR) training. This can be observed as changes in microvascular oxygenation and muscle excitability occurring at a ∼43% faster mean rate during BFR compared to FF. BFR exercise seems to elicit the same level of neuromuscular fatigue as FF training within a shorter timeframe. This reduces total joint load and may be especially helpful in cases where high training volumes may be contraindicated (e.g. recovering from a sports injury or orthopedic surgery). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]