Compared to soil or aquatic ecosystems, the atmosphere is still an underexplored environment for microbial diversity. In this study, we surveyed the composition, variability and sources of microbes (bacteria and fungi) in the near surface atmosphere of a highly populated area, spanning ~ 4,000 Km2 around the city center of Madrid (Spain), in different seasonal periods along two years. We found a core of abundant bacterial genera robust across space and time, most of soil origin, while fungi were more sensitive to environmental conditions.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Enzastaurin.html  Microbial communities showed clear seasonal patterns driven by variability of environmental factors, mainly temperature and accumulated rain, while local sources played a minor role. We also identified taxa in both groups characteristic of seasonal periods, but not of specific sampling sites or plant coverage. The present study suggests that the near surface atmosphere of urban environments contains an ecosystem stable across relatively large spatial and temporal scales, with a rather homogenous composition, modulated by climatic variations. As such, it contributes to our understanding of the long-term changes associated to the human exposome in the air of highly populated areas.While the extent of pharmaceutical consumption within a society/community is of high relevance to its health, economy and general wellbeing, this data is often not readily available. Herein, we strengthen a wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) approach as a way to track the consumption of pharmaceuticals within the sampled community. This method is less laborious than established questionnaire or databases approaches and allows a higher temporal and spatial resolution. The WBE approach was conducted by sampling influent wastewater from two wastewater treatment plants of different size. A total of 39 targeted compounds were quantified by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The number of prescriptions and the defined daily doses for each prescription was obtained from the reference database of The Catalan Health System to validate the wastewater-based approach. The wastewater sampling and the data inquiry were both executed during the same period (October 2019) and standardised for comparison to treatments per 1,000 inhabitants per day. The back-calculation parameters were improved from previous studies by including the faecal excretion rate of the pharmaceuticals. For prescription only pharmaceuticals, where prescription numbers are expected to be a good estimate of consumption, our WBE approach agreed with 27 out of 32 ( less then 0.7 order of magnitude). Common over-the-counter pharmaceuticals such as acetaminophen, ibuprofen and naproxen showed much higher values for treatments per day per 1,000 inhabitant in wastewater than prescribed, reflecting the usefulness of WBE in obtaining an estimate of the total consumption i.e. with and without a prescription.This study evaluated whole body vibration (WBV), non-driving task performance, muscle activity, and self-reported discomfort and motion sickness between different seat suspension systems in a simulated vehicle environment. In a repeated-measures laboratory experiment where field-measured 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) passenger vehicle vibration was replicated on a 6-DOF motion platform, we measured WBV, non-driving task (pointing, typing, web-browsing, and reading) performance, low back (erector spinae), shoulders (trapezius) and neck (splenius capitis and sternocleido-mastoid) muscle activity, and self-reported discomfort and motion sickness from three different seats a vertical (z-axis) active suspension, multi-axial active suspension [vertical (z-axis) + lateral (y-axis)], and a static suspension-less seat (current seat type in all passenger cars). Both the vertical and multi-axial active suspension seats significantly reduced the vertical WBV exposure (p 0.07), and motion sickness (p = 0.53) across three different seats. These findings indicate that the active suspension seats may have potential to future reduce the vertical and total WBV exposures, respectively. However, none of the suspension seats demonstrate any significant benefits on the non-driving task performance, muscle activity, self-reported discomfort and motion sickness measures in a simulated vehicle environment.This study investigated the acceptance of tablets technology among cognitively impaired older adults from individual and contextual levels when used in cognitive training. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design, comprising a post-usage questionnaire survey and focus groups, was used for data collection. A number of 57 community-dwelling cognitively impaired older people in Hong Kong completed an eight-week, home-based cognitive training using tablets delivered by older volunteers. The acceptance of the tablet usage for cognitive training was evaluated using questionnaire survey. Focus groups were conducted with participants, volunteers, and social workers to explore their experiences of tablet usage for cognitive training. Results indicated that attitudes toward tablets and facilitating conditions were predictors of intention to use tablets at the individual level. Tablets were perceived as beneficial on cognition, enjoyment, learning, social relationships, and communication. Contextual level factors that can encourage tablets usage include capacity building, empowerment, supports from the organization, and trust.Persons with serious mental illness die on average more than 10 years younger than those in the overall population, mostly due to natural causes. Previous studies have identified predictors of natural cause mortality in this population but few have been prospective studies using clinical variables from in-person evaluations. A cohort of 1494 individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depressive disorder were assessed at baseline and mortality status was determined from the US National Death Index after up to 20 years of follow-up. Analyses included multivariate Cox proportional hazard models to determine independent predictors of natural cause mortality. A total of 125 (8.4%) individuals died of natural causes. In multivariate models, the strongest predictor of mortality after age was tobacco smoking at baseline with a dose-related effect. Having diabetes, a cardiovascular condition, particularly hypertension, and lower cognitive functioning were also significant risks, along with divorced/separated status.