Elevated blood pressure reduction after α-lipoic acid supplementation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

The aim of the comprehensive meta-analysis was to systematically explore the reductive effect of α-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation on systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). The related records were selected from PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and Persian databases including SID and Magiran from earliest date 1980 until August 2018. The heterogeneities were assessed by I 2 test (I 2 < 50) and � 2 test on Cochrane�s Q statistic. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and their 95 confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated for change in SBP and DBP. Subgroup analyses were also carried out by baseline BP, clinical condition, dosage of supplementation, and duration of study. As a result, a total of seven studies with 478 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Compared to the controls, ALA supplementation significantly reduced both SBP (SMD = �0.81, 95 CI: �1.20, �0.41) and DBP (SMD = �1.50, 95 CI: �2.86, �0.15) with a reduction of 8.1 and 6.7 mmHg of the mean SBP and DBP, respectively. Significant heterogeneity was detected in SBP and DBP; however, subgroup analysis of baseline BP showed significant reduction in both SBP and DBP heterogeneities. Indeed, a statistically significant reduction in BP was observed in subsets of elevated BP as compared with hypertensive patients. In conclusion, the current meta-analysis revealed that ALA supplementation lowers BP in subjects, especially those with elevated BP. © 2019, Springer Nature Limited

Dietary intake and lifestyle behavior in different phenotypes of polycystic ovarian syndrome: a case-control study

Objective: To compare dietary intake and lifestyle behaviour in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and healthy women. Methods: 160 healthy women (partner with male infertility) were recruited to a control group; 168 women with PCOS (diagnosed on ultrasound) were recruited to a case study group for this cross-sectional comparative study. The case group was classified into three phenotypes based on presence or absence of menstrual disorder (M), hyperandrogenism (HA), and polycystic ovary according to sonography (PCO): HA+PCO (n=53), PCO+M (n=57) and M+HA+PCO (n=66). Dietary intake and lifestyle behaviour were measured using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and a lifestyle questionnaire (LQ). Results: The mean energy (P<0.001) and fat intake (P<0.001) were greater in PCOS groups compared with the control group. The average energy and fat intake were greater in HA+M+PCO group after age and BMI adjustment compared with other phenotypes (P<0.001). In comparison with the control group, lifestyle scores were lower in the PCOS group in the fields of physical activity, weight and nutrition control after age and BMI adjustment (P<0.001). The average score of lifestyle in the fields of physical activity, weight and nutrition control, and psychological health was lower in the phenotype HA+M+PCO compared with other phenotypes (P<0.001). Conclusions: Limited energy and fat intake is strongly recommended in Iranian women with PCOS especially in phenotype HA+M+PCO. Consultation on improvement of psychological health and the importance of weight and nutrition control, and appropriate physical activity in patients especially in HA+M+PCO is advocated. Keywords: Lifestyle, polycystic ovarian syndrome, die

The impact of depression, self-esteem, and body image on sleep quality in patients with PCOS: a cross-sectional study

Background: To date, some factors associated with quality of sleep in patients with PCOS have been identified. Previous studies have mainly focused on limited psychological variables related to sleep disorder without evaluating them in a comprehensive framework. Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of predictive factors on the sleep quality of PCOS patients using structural equation modeling (SEM). Material and methods: The present study is a case control that is done in an infertility clinic in Hormozgan, Iran. The case group (n = 201) consisted of women with PCOS and the control group (n = 199) was healthy women whose partners had male infertility. All the women recruited to the study completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Body Image Concern Investigation, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index on attendance at the Hormozgan Infertility Clinic. Direct and indirect relationship between clinical signs, psychological situation, self-esteem, and body image was studied as independent predictors of sleep quality using structural equation modeling. Results: Compared with the control group, there was a lower sleep quality in women with PCOS in all fields, especially subjective sleep quality (P < 0.05), daytime function (P = 0.001), and use of sleep medication (P = 0.003). The strongest effect from a psychological variable on sleep quality was body image which had negative impact on sleep quality of patients with PCOS. Conclusion: Our study showed that body image plays an important role in the sleep quality of women with PCOS. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Cognitive and Tactile Factors Affecting Human Haptic Performance in Later Life

Background: Vision and haptics are the key modalities by which humans perceive objects and interact with their environment in a target-oriented manner. Both modalities share higher-order neural resources and the mechanisms required for object exploration. Compared to vision, the understanding of haptic information processing is still rudimentary. Although it is known that haptic performance, similar to many other skills, decreases in old age, the underlying mechanisms are not clear. It is yet to be determined to what extent this decrease is related to the age-related loss of tactile acuity or cognitive capacity. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated the haptic performance of 81 older adults by means of a cross-modal object recognition test. Additionally, we assessed the subjects ’ tactile acuity with an apparatus-based two-point discrimination paradigm, and their cognitive performance by means of the non-verbal Raven-Standard-Progressive matrices test. As expected, there was a significant age-related decline in performance on all 3 tests. With the exception of tactile acuity, this decline was found to be more distinct in female subjects. Correlation analyses revealed a strong relationship between haptic and cognitive performance for all subjects. Tactile performance, on the contrary, was only significantly correlated with male subjects ’ haptic performance. Conclusions: Haptic object recognition is a demanding task in old age, especially when it comes to the exploration o

Clogging of permeable pavements in semi-arid areas

Urban development and consequently covering more areas by the impervious surfaces, has led to the decrease in natural process of rainfall infiltration and as a result deduction in ground water recharge. This decrease in ground water recharge has caused number of environmental concerns such as the decrease in base flow in streams and drying up of drinking water supplies. In arid and semi arid areas with low annual rainfall and high evapotranspiration (P/ET<0.5) no excess water for run-off or ground water recharge would be available. Therefore capturing the rainfall for water supplies in such regions is more important. Due to these problems and by considering the role of permeable pavements in capturing water and replenishment of aquifers, using this kind of paving has been considered as a sustainable solution. Although permeable pavements have been used as a sustainable way to reduce the impacts of urbanization on water quality and improving water management in urban areas but they also have some disadvantages. Clogging in these pavements is the main problem which causes the decrease in infiltration rate. Review of existing researches shows that most of the researches about clogging have been limited to western countries with almost the same climatic condition and the effect of climate on clogging has not been considered yet, especially in dry regions. Although in these areas capturing more rainfall to recharge ground water is really vital. Therefore the effect of climate on clogging of the permeable pavements should be investigated more to choose the proper pavement for dry climate and increasing the infiltration rate. In order to investigate the effect of semi-arid climate on clogging of the permeable pavements, porous concrete was chosen in this research as the proper type to apply in these areas. As the fine dust in these areas is the main cause of clogging, the pavement behavior under this condition was evaluated by the lab experiment. During the lab experiment different sub-bases (sand and stone) were also examined to see the differences in clogging process under various conditions. The results from this research shows that the wind suspended particles, as the main cause of clogging in semi-arid areas, can be washed through the pavement and cause a very slow clogging process. Comparison the results of different sub-bases shows the significant effect of the pores size in the sub-base on the clogging process. In case of higher porous sub-base, sediments can be migrated from the pavement to the sub-base easily. But in case of less porous sub-base the blocking of the interface and first layers of the sub-base can create more resistance through the flow migration. As the clogging in case of larger particles happens rapidly, therefore in order to design the pavement, average size of particles that can go through it should be taken into account.Water ManagementCivil Engineering and Geoscience

Retraction Note: Elevated blood pressure reduction after α-lipoic acid supplementation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (Journal of Human Hypertension, (2019), 10.1038/s41371-019-0174-2)

The Editors have retracted this article because there are fundamental errors in the data presented that undermine the conclusions drawn. Standard errors were used instead of standard deviations when using data from one of the studies (Koh et al) included in the meta-analyses. Numerous inconsistencies were noted from the numbers used in the meta-analyses when compared to the original studies. All authors agree to this retraction. Boccardi V, Taghizadeh M, Amirjani S, Jafarnejad S. Elevated blood pressure reduction after α-lipoic acid supplementation: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Hum Hypertens. 2019 Feb 11:1. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited