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CoDAS 2024To map the vocal risk in professional classical singers, analyzing their self-assessment of voice and self-perception of singing voice handicap and vocal fatigue.
PURPOSE
To map the vocal risk in professional classical singers, analyzing their self-assessment of voice and self-perception of singing voice handicap and vocal fatigue.
METHODS
The study sample comprised of 52 professional classical choir singers, aged 31 to 72 years. They answered an online questionnaire in Google Forms, addressing their characterization, self-assessment of voice, the Voice Handicap Index-10 (VHI-10), Classical Singing Handicap Index (CSHI), and Vocal Fatigue Index (VFI).
RESULTS
The mean self-assessment of voice was between "Good" and "Very good" (1.2). The mean total VHI-10 score was 1.35, which is below the cutoff. The mean total CSHI score was 10.04. The mean total VFI score was 10.83, near the cutoff value. Classical singers who use their voice to give examples to students in their classes had higher scores in VHI-10 (p = 0.013), VFI voice restriction (p = 0.011), and VFI total score (p = 0.015). Besides, classical singers who already visited a Speech-Language Pathologist for voice problems had higher scores in VFI voice restriction (p = 0.040) and VFI recovery with voice rest (p = 0.019), in addition to correlations between instrument scores.
CONCLUSION
Professional classical singers did not have voice handicaps. However, their self-perception of vocal fatigue was more present when the singing voice was used, such as giving examples with their own voice in class. Having had voice problems and visited a Speech-Language Pathologist in the past led to a greater perception of vocal recovery with rest.
Topics: Humans; Voice Quality; Singing; Middle Aged; Adult; Voice Disorders; Male; Self Concept; Female; Aged; Surveys and Questionnaires; Occupational Diseases; Self-Assessment; Disability Evaluation
PubMed: 38896630
DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20242023088pt -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Jun 2024Among dozens of known epigenetic marks, naturally occurring phosphorothioate (PT) DNA modifications are unique in replacing a non-bridging phosphate oxygen with...
Among dozens of known epigenetic marks, naturally occurring phosphorothioate (PT) DNA modifications are unique in replacing a non-bridging phosphate oxygen with redox-active sulfur and function in prokaryotic restriction-modification and transcriptional regulation. Interest in PTs has grown due to the widespread distribution of the , and genes among bacteria and archaea, as well as the discovery of PTs in 5-10% of gut microbes. Efforts to map PTs in complex microbiomes using existing next-generation and direct sequencing technologies have failed due to poor sensitivity. Here we developed PT-seq as a high-sensitivity method to quantitatively map PTs across genomes and metagenomically identify PT-containing microbes in complex genomic mixtures. Like other methods for mapping PTs in individual genomes, PT-seq exploits targeted DNA strand cleavage at PTs by iodine, followed by sequencing library construction using ligation or template switching approaches. However, PT-specific sequencing reads are dramatically increased by adding steps to heat denature the DNA, block pre-existing 3'-ends, fragment DNA after T-tailing, and enrich iodine-induced breaks using biotin-labeling and streptavidin beads capture. Iterative optimization of the sensitivity and specificity of PT-seq is demonstrated with individual bacteria and human fecal DNA.
PubMed: 38895297
DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.03.597111 -
Placenta Jun 2024The congenital condition gastroschisis is associated with delayed villous development and placental malperfusion, suggesting placental involvement. This study uses RNA...
The congenital condition gastroschisis is associated with delayed villous development and placental malperfusion, suggesting placental involvement. This study uses RNA sequencing to compare the placental transcriptome in pregnancies with and without gastroschisis. 180 coding genes were differentially expressed, mapping to multiple gene ontology pathways. Altered placental gene expression may represent fetal signalling to the placenta, and these changes could contribute to the pathogenesis of gastroschisis and associated morbidities, including fetal growth restriction.
PubMed: 38870840
DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2024.06.001 -
PLoS Computational Biology May 2024The field of 3D genome organization produces large amounts of sequencing data from Hi-C and a rapidly-expanding set of other chromosome conformation protocols (3C+)....
The field of 3D genome organization produces large amounts of sequencing data from Hi-C and a rapidly-expanding set of other chromosome conformation protocols (3C+). Massive and heterogeneous 3C+ data require high-performance and flexible processing of sequenced reads into contact pairs. To meet these challenges, we present pairtools-a flexible suite of tools for contact extraction from sequencing data. Pairtools provides modular command-line interface (CLI) tools that can be flexibly chained into data processing pipelines. The core operations provided by pairtools are parsing of.sam alignments into Hi-C pairs, sorting and removal of PCR duplicates. In addition, pairtools provides auxiliary tools for building feature-rich 3C+ pipelines, including contact pair manipulation, filtration, and quality control. Benchmarking pairtools against popular 3C+ data pipelines shows advantages of pairtools for high-performance and flexible 3C+ analysis. Finally, pairtools provides protocol-specific tools for restriction-based protocols, haplotype-resolved contacts, and single-cell Hi-C. The combination of CLI tools and tight integration with Python data analysis libraries makes pairtools a versatile foundation for a broad range of 3C+ pipelines.
Topics: Software; Chromosomes; Computational Biology; Humans; Sequence Analysis, DNA; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Chromosome Mapping
PubMed: 38809952
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012164 -
BMC Genomics Apr 2024Genomic architecture is a key evolutionary trait for living organisms. Due to multiple complex adaptive and neutral forces which impose evolutionary pressures on...
BACKGROUND
Genomic architecture is a key evolutionary trait for living organisms. Due to multiple complex adaptive and neutral forces which impose evolutionary pressures on genomes, there is a huge variability of genomic features. However, their variability and the extent to which genomic content determines the distribution of recovered loci in reduced representation sequencing studies is largely unexplored.
RESULTS
Here, by using 80 genome assemblies, we observed that whereas plants primarily increase their genome size by expanding their intergenic regions, animals expand both intergenic and intronic regions, although the expansion patterns differ between deuterostomes and protostomes. Loci mapping in introns, exons, and intergenic categories obtained by in silico digestion using 2b-enzymes are positively correlated with the percentage of these regions in the corresponding genomes, suggesting that loci distribution mostly mirrors genomic architecture of the selected taxon. However, exonic regions showed a significant enrichment of loci in all groups regardless of the used enzyme. Moreover, when using selective adaptors to obtain a secondarily reduced loci dataset, the percentage and distribution of retained loci also varied. Adaptors with G/C terminals recovered a lower percentage of selected loci, with a further enrichment of exonic regions, while adaptors with A/T terminals retained a higher percentage of loci and slightly selected more intronic regions than expected.
CONCLUSIONS
Our results highlight how genome composition, genome GC content, RAD enzyme choice and use of base-selective adaptors influence reduced genome representation techniques. This is important to acknowledge in population and conservation genomic studies, as it determines the abundance and distribution of loci.
Topics: Base Composition; Genomics; Animals; Introns; Genome; Exons; Genetic Loci; Genome Size; Plants; DNA, Intergenic
PubMed: 38664648
DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10312-3 -
Placenta Jun 2024Placental insufficiency may lead to preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. There is no cure for placental insufficiency, emphasizing the need for monitoring fetal...
INTRODUCTION
Placental insufficiency may lead to preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. There is no cure for placental insufficiency, emphasizing the need for monitoring fetal and placenta health. Current monitoring methods are limited, underscoring the necessity for imaging techniques to evaluate fetal-placental perfusion and oxygenation. This study aims to use MRI to evaluate placental oxygenation and perfusion in the reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) model of placental insufficiency.
METHODS
Pregnant rats were randomized to RUPP (n = 11) or sham surgery (n = 8) on gestational day 14. On gestational day 19, rats imaged using a 7T MRI scanner to assess oxygenation and perfusion using T2* mapping and 3D-DCE MRI sequences, respectively. The effect of the RUPP on the feto-placental units were analyzed from the MRI images.
RESULTS
RUPP surgery led to reduced oxygenation in the labyrinth (24.7 ± 1.8 ms vs. 28.0 ± 2.1 ms, P = 0.002) and junctional zone (7.0 ± 0.9 ms vs. 8.1 ± 1.1 ms, P = 0.04) of the placenta, as indicated by decreased T2* values. However, here were no significant differences in fetal organ oxygenation or placental perfusion between RUPP and sham animals.
DISCUSSION
The reduced placental oxygenation without a corresponding decrease in perfusion suggests an adaptive response to placental ischemia. While acute reduction in placental perfusion may cause placental hypoxia, persistence of this condition could indicate chronic placental insufficiency after ischemic reperfusion injury. Thus, placental oxygenation may be a more reliable biomarker for assessing fetal condition than perfusion in hypertensive disorders of pregnancies including preeclampsia and FGR.
Topics: Animals; Pregnancy; Female; Placental Insufficiency; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Placenta; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Disease Models, Animal; Oxygen; Placental Circulation; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Contrast Media
PubMed: 38657321
DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2024.04.008 -
Journal of Cardiology Cases Apr 2024Non-reentrant fascicular tachycardia (NRFT) developed in a 6-year-old Japanese boy. Because of drug-resistant recurrences, he received catheter mapping and ablation at...
UNLABELLED
Non-reentrant fascicular tachycardia (NRFT) developed in a 6-year-old Japanese boy. Because of drug-resistant recurrences, he received catheter mapping and ablation at age 10 years. An electrocardiogram exhibited a superior left-axis deviation, a right bundle branch block-type configuration, and relatively narrow QRS with sharp R wave. It suggested verapamil-sensitive ventricular tachycardia (VT), but showed no sensitivity to verapamil or reentrant characteristics in the electrophysiological study. Detailed VT mapping determined the earliest presystolic Purkinje potential on the left posterior fascicle at the mid-ventricular septum. Radiofrequency current applications to the lesion led to his NRFT-free life without restriction.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Purkinje-related idiopathic ventricular tachycardias (VTs) are commonly due to reentrant mechanisms, and non-reentrant fascicular tachycardia (NRFT) is a rare form of idiopathic VT in adults. Although it is crucial to distinguish NRFT from reentrant VTs, there is no information about the electrophysiological studies and the treatment effect in pediatric-onset NRFT.
PubMed: 38646079
DOI: 10.1016/j.jccase.2023.12.002 -
PloS One 2024Chilling sensitivity is one of the greatest challenges affecting the marketability and profitability of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) in the US and worldwide....
Genetic linkage mapping and quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) to identify genomic regions associated with cold tolerance and major volatiles.
Chilling sensitivity is one of the greatest challenges affecting the marketability and profitability of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) in the US and worldwide. Currently, there are no sweet basils commercially available with significant chilling tolerance and traditional aroma profiles. This study was conducted to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) responsible for chilling tolerance and aroma compounds in a biparental mapping population, including the Rutgers advanced breeding line that served as a chilling tolerant parent, 'CB15', the chilling sensitive parent, 'Rutgers Obsession DMR' and 200 F2 individuals. Chilling tolerance was assessed by percent necrosis using machine learning and aroma profiling was evaluated using gas chromatography (GC) mass spectrometry (MS). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were generated from genomic sequences derived from double digestion restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (ddRADseq) and converted to genotype data using a reference genome alignment. A genetic linkage map was constructed and five statistically significant QTLs were identified in response to chilling temperatures with possible interactions between QTLs. The QTL on LG24 (qCH24) demonstrated the largest effect for chilling response and was significant in all three replicates. No QTLs were identified for linalool, as the population did not segregate sufficiently to detect this trait. Two significant QTLs were identified for estragole (also known as methyl chavicol) with only qEST1 on LG1 being significant in the multiple-QTL model (MQM). QEUC26 was identified as a significant QTL for eucalyptol (also known as 1,8-cineole) on LG26. These QTLs may represent key mechanisms for chilling tolerance and aroma in basil, providing critical knowledge for future investigation of these phenotypic traits and molecular breeding.
Topics: Humans; Quantitative Trait Loci; Ocimum basilicum; Plant Breeding; Chromosome Mapping; Phenotype; Genomics; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Genetic Linkage
PubMed: 38593174
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299825 -
BMC Health Services Research Apr 2024Quality has been a persistent challenge in the healthcare system, particularly in resource-limited settings. As a result, the utilization of innovative approaches is... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Quality has been a persistent challenge in the healthcare system, particularly in resource-limited settings. As a result, the utilization of innovative approaches is required to help countries in their efforts to enhance the quality of healthcare. The positive deviance (PD) approach is an innovative approach that can be utilized to improve healthcare quality. The approach assumes that solutions to problems are already available within the community and identifying and sharing those solutions can help others to resolve existing issues. Therefore, this scoping review aimed to synthesize the evidence regarding the use of the PD approach in healthcare system service delivery and quality improvement programs.
METHODS
Articles were retrieved from six international databases. The last date for article search was June 02, 2023, and no date restriction was applied. All articles were assessed for inclusion through a title and/or abstract read. Then, articles that passed the title and abstract review were screened by reading their full texts. In case of duplication, only the full-text published articles were retained. A descriptive mapping and evidence synthesis was done to present data with the guide of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis extension for Scoping Reviews checklist and the results are presented in text, table, and figure formats.
RESULTS
A total of 125 articles were included in this scoping review. More than half, 66 (52.8%), of the articles were from the United States, 11(8.8%) from multinational studies, 10 (8%) from Canada, 8 (6.4%) from the United Kingdom and the remaining, 30 (24%) are from other nations around the world. The scoping review indicates that several types of study designs can be applied in utilizing the PD approach for healthcare service and quality improvement programs. However, although validated performance measures are utilized to identify positive deviants (PDs) in many of the articles, some of the selection criteria utilized by authors lack clarity and are subject to potential bias. In addition, several limitations have been mentioned in the articles including issues in operationalizing PD, focus on leaders and senior managers and limited staff involvement, bias, lack of comparison, limited setting, and issues in generalizability/transferability of results from prospects perspective. Nevertheless, the limitations identified are potentially manageable and can be contextually resolved depending on the nature of the study. Furthermore, PD has been successfully employed in healthcare service and quality improvement programs including in increasing surgical care quality, hand hygiene practice, and reducing healthcare-associated infections.
CONCLUSION
The scoping review findings have indicated that healthcare systems have been able to enhance quality, reduce errors, and improve patient outcomes by identifying lessons from those who exhibit exceptional practices and implementing successful strategies in their practice. All the outcomes of PD-based research, however, are dependent on the first step of identifying true PDs. Hence, it is critical that PDs are identified using objective and validated measures of performance as failure to identify true PDs can subsequently lead to failure in identifying best practices for learning and dissemination to other contextually similar settings.
Topics: Humans; Delivery of Health Care; Quality of Health Care; Quality Improvement; Canada; United Kingdom
PubMed: 38589897
DOI: 10.1186/s12913-024-10850-2 -
Social Science & Medicine (1982) May 2024Service restrictions refer to temporary or permanent bans of individuals from a program or an organization's services, and are widely used in emergency shelter systems....
Service restrictions refer to temporary or permanent bans of individuals from a program or an organization's services, and are widely used in emergency shelter systems. Limited research exists on how service restrictions unfold and their impacts on people experiencing homelessness. This qualitative study used in-depth interviews with timeline mapping to examine the antecedents and consequences of service restrictions from emergency shelters among people experiencing homelessness in two cities in Ontario, Canada. A total of 49 people experiencing homelessness who had been restricted from an emergency shelter program in the past year were recruited and included in the study analysis. A pragmatic and integrative approach was used for data analysis that involved the development of meta-matrices to identify prominent and divergent perspectives and experiences with regard to service restriction antecedents and consequences. Study findings underscored that service restrictions were often the result of violence and aggression, primarily between service users. There were regional differences in other service restriction reasons, including substance use and possession. Service restrictions affected the shelter status of almost all participants, with many subsequently experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and cycling through institutional health, social, and criminal justice services (i.e., institutional circuitry). Other health and social consequences included substance use relapses and hospitalizations; cold-related injuries due to post-restriction unsheltered homelessness; suicidality; food insecurity; diminished contact with support network and connections; and intense feelings of anger, fear, and hopelessness. Overall, the study findings advance our understanding of the role of homeless services in pathways into unsheltered homelessness and institutional circuitry, which raise critical questions about how to mitigate the harms associated with service restrictions, while concurrently facilitating safety and upholding the rights of people experiencing homelessness and emergency shelter staff.
Topics: Humans; Ill-Housed Persons; Female; Ontario; Male; Qualitative Research; Adult; Emergency Shelter; Middle Aged
PubMed: 38574591
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116831