Physical and functional fitness changes in older adults in response to a traditional training program and a Wii enhanced training program

The Wii Fit Plus Balance program has been recommended as an alternative training tool for older adults to improve physical and functional fitness. However, the effectiveness of the Wii Fit Plus in combination with traditional training approaches in older adults is unclear. PURPOSE: To compare changes in physical fitness measures in older adults (OA) engaging in two different training programs: 1) traditional exercises performed by the control group (CG) and 2) traditional exercises complemented by Wii balance games performed by the experimental group (EG). METHODS: 35 untrained OA (mean ± SD Age: 68.86 ± 6.13; BMI: 28.89 ± 5.32) with no exercise history were recruited and randomly assigned to either the CG or EG group. CG and EG programs both included cardio, strength, flexibility, and balance training exercises. However, subjects in the EG group performed additional balance exercises using Wii fit plus program. Both CG and EG subjects exercised twice per week for twelve weeks. Fitness assessments were based on standard procedures including the chair stand, gallon jug transfer, 8 foot up-and-go tests, as well as a long ramp walk and medicine ball throw tests. Data were collected at weeks 1, 6, and 12. Data analysis was conducted using the general linear mixed model with alpha level set at p\u3c0.05. RESULTS: A significant time effect was found for all fitness measures in both groups from week 1 to 6 (p\u3c0.001) and week 1 to 12 (p\u3c0.001). In general CG and EG subjects made 5.5% to 31.7% improvement from Week 1 to 6 and 8.1% to 52.5% improvement from Week 1 to 12. No significant group effects were observed between the CG and EG groups (p\u3e0.370). Also, no significant group by time interactions were observed for any of the fitness measures (p\u3e0.290). CONCLUSION: It appears that the use of the Wii Fit Plus Balance in conjunction with a traditional exercise program does not provide added significant fitness benefits for older adults. While additional fitness benefits are not evident, it appears that both a traditional exercise program alone and a traditional exercise program combined with the Wii Fit Plus Balance training may elicit significant fitness improvements

A Novel Inducible Prophage from Burkholderia Vietnamiensis G4 is Widely Distributed across the Species and Has Lytic Activity against Pathogenic Burkholderia.

Burkholderia species have environmental, industrial and medical significance, and are important opportunistic pathogens in individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF). Using a combination of existing and newly determined genome sequences, this study investigated prophage carriage across the species B. vietnamiensis, and also isolated spontaneously inducible prophages from a reference strain, G4. Eighty-one B. vietnamiensis genomes were bioinformatically screened for prophages using PHASTER (Phage Search Tool Enhanced Release) and prophage regions were found to comprise up to 3.4% of total genetic material. Overall, 115 intact prophages were identified and there was evidence of polylysogeny in 32 strains. A novel, inducible Mu-like phage (vB_BvM-G4P1) was isolated from B. vietnamiensis G4 that had lytic activity against strains of five Burkholderia species prevalent in CF infections, including the Boston epidemic B. dolosa strain SLC6. The cognate prophage to vB_BvM-G4P1 was identified in the lysogen genome and was almost identical (>93.5% tblastx identity) to prophages found in 13 other B. vietnamiensis strains (17% of the strain collection). Phylogenomic analysis determined that the G4P1-like prophages were widely distributed across the population structure of B. vietnamiensis. This study highlights how genomic characterization of Burkholderia prophages can lead to the discovery of novel bacteriophages with potential therapeutic or biotechnological applications

Farming for the future self-assessment tool (SAT)

Western Australian produce is some of the cleanest, safest and most reliable in the world. It is also being produced in an increasingly sustainable manner as our primary producers adopt documented and industry agreed, current recommended practices. International markets and local consumers want to be confident that their goods have been produced in a sustainable manner. Farming for the Future now gives Western Australian producers a process to demonstrate this. Farming for the Future is working with industry to identify relevant, scientifically valid and measurable sustainable practices. These on-farm practices are being aligned with business, community and government plans for business, social and environmental targets.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1073/thumbnail.jp

Comparing web-based mindfulness with loving-kindness and compassion training for promoting well-being in pregnancy: Protocol for a three-arm pilot randomized controlled trial

© Amy Louise Finlay-Jones, Jacqueline Ann Davis, Amanda O\u27Donovan, Keerthi Kottampally, Rebecca Anne Ashley, Desiree Silva, Jeneva Lee Ohan, Susan L Prescott, Jenny Downs. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 14.10.2020. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. Background: Promoting psychological well-being and preventing distress among pregnant women is an important public health goal. In addition to adversely impacting the mother’s health and well-being, psychological distress in pregnancy increases the risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, compromises infant socioemotional development and bonding, and heightens maternal and child vulnerability in the postpartum period. Mindfulness and compassion-based interventions show potential for prevention and early intervention for perinatal distress. As there is an established need for accessible, scalable, flexible, and low-cost interventions, there is increased interest in the delivery of these programs on the web. This project aims to pilot a three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) to determine the feasibility of a full-scale RCT comparing 2 web-based interventions (mindfulness vs loving-kindness and compassion) with a web-based active control condition (progressive muscle relaxation). Objective: The primary objective of this study is to assess the feasibility of an RCT protocol comparing the 3 conditions delivered on the web as a series of instructional materials and brief daily practices over a course of 8 weeks. The second objective is to explore the experiences of women in the different intervention conditions. The third objective is to estimate SD values for the outcome measures to inform the design of an adequately powered trial to determine the comparative efficacy of the different conditions. Methods: Pregnant women (n=75) participating in a longitudinal birth cohort study (the ORIGINS project) will be recruited to this study from 18 weeks of gestational age. We will assess the acceptability and feasibility of recruitment and retention strategies and the participants’ engagement and adherence to the interventions. We will also assess the experiences of women in each of the 3 intervention conditions by measuring weekly changes in their well-being and engagement with the program and by conducting a qualitative analysis of postprogram interviews. Results: This project was funded in September 2019 and received ethics approval on July 8, 2020. Enrollment to the study will commence in September 2020. Feasibility of a full-scale RCT will be assessed using ADePT (a process for decision making after pilot and feasibility trials) criteria. Conclusions: If the study is shown to be feasible, results will be used to inform future full-scale RCTs. Evidence for flexible, scalable, and low-cost interventions could inform population health strategies to promote well-being and reduce psychological distress among pregnant women

Fecal microbiota transfer between young and aged mice reverses hallmarks of the aging gut, eye, and brain

Background: Altered intestinal microbiota composition in later life is associated with inflammaging, declining tissue function, and increased susceptibility to age-associated chronic diseases, including neurodegenerative dementias. Here, we tested the hypothesis that manipulating the intestinal microbiota influences the development of major comorbidities associated with aging and, in particular, inflammation affecting the brain and retina. Methods: Using fecal microbiota transplantation, we exchanged the intestinal microbiota of young (3 months), old (18 months), and aged (24 months) mice. Whole metagenomic shotgun sequencing and metabolomics were used to develop a custom analysis workflow, to analyze the changes in gut microbiota composition and metabolic potential. Effects of age and microbiota transfer on the gut barrier, retina, and brain were assessed using protein assays, immunohistology, and behavioral testing. Results: We show that microbiota composition profiles and key species enriched in young or aged mice are successfully transferred by FMT between young and aged mice and that FMT modulates resulting metabolic pathway profiles. The transfer of aged donor microbiota into young mice accelerates age-associated central nervous system (CNS) inflammation, retinal inflammation, and cytokine signaling and promotes loss of key functional protein in the eye, effects which are coincident with increased intestinal barrier permeability. Conversely, these detrimental effects can be reversed by the transfer of young donor microbiota. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that the aging gut microbiota drives detrimental changes in the gut–brain and gut–retina axes suggesting that microbial modulation may be of therapeutic benefit in preventing inflammation-related tissue decline in later life. [MediaObject not available: see fulltext.] Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Localization and functional consequences of a direct interaction between TRIOBP-1 and hERG/KCNH2 proteins in the heart

Reduced levels of hERG protein and the corresponding repolarizing current IKr can cause arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death, but the underlying cellular mechanisms controlling hERG surface expression are not well understood. We identified TRIOBP-1, an F-actin binding protein previously associated with actin polymerization, as a putative hERG-interacting protein in a yeast-two hybrid screen of a cardiac library. We corroborated this interaction using Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) in HEK293 cells and co-immunoprecipitation in HEK293 cells and native cardiac tissue. TRIOBP-1 overexpression reduced hERG surface expression and current density, whereas reducing TRIOBP-1 expression via shRNA knockdown resulted in increased hERG protein levels. Immunolabeling in rat cardiomyocytes showed that native TRIOBP-1 overlapped predominantly with myosin binding protein C and secondarily with rat ERG. In human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, TRIOBP-1 overexpression caused intracellular co-sequestration of hERG signal, reduced native IKr, and disrupted action potential repolarization. Calcium currents were also reduced to a lesser degree and cell capacitance was increased. These findings establish that TRIOBP-1 interacts directly with hERG and can affect protein levels, IKr magnitude, and cardiac membrane excitability

Volume 03

Introduction from Dean Dr. Charles Ross Little Shop of Horrors by Longwood Theater Department Who Has the Hottest Hotsauce in Farmville: A Quantitative Comparison of Sauces from Local Restaurants by Cheryl Peck and Charles Hoever Precipitation Effects on the Growth of White Oaks and Virginia Pines on the Mt. Vernon Plantation by Brittany Anderson Design and Synthesis of Novel Ion Binding Molecules for Self-Assembly and Sensing Applications by J. Ervin Sheldon A Statistical Analysis of Algorithms for Playing SameGame by Richard Hayden Intersecting Cylinders at Arbitrary Angles by Yuri Calustro Putting a Foot in the Revolving Door: Strategies for Reducing Teacher Attrition by Candice Fleming and Rebecca Franklin The Effect of Presentation on Spanish Vocabulary Recall by Ashley Yocum How Attractive Are You? Individuals Sensitivity to Number of Sexual Partners by Danielle M. Jagoda and Cristina M. Valdivieso Culturally Relevant Practices for Teaching Code-Switching to African-American Students in Kindergarten Classrooms by Jameka Jones Two Poems – “Dust” and “Check Out Girls” by Amy Ellis Three Poems – “Rosewood Massacre, 1923”, “Jarring” and “Reverence” by Ashley Maser Three Poems – “Dirty Thunderstorm”, “Summer Hide \u27N Seek Car Tag” and “Bliss” by Erikk Shupp Analysis of the Wilton Diptych by Jamie Yurasits “Nod”, “Corriline” “Flying” “Familiar” by Alexander Leonhart Papermaking by Kenny Wolfe and Sally Meadows “Plant” by J. Haley, Amy Jackson, and Morgan Howard “Dare to Dart” by Amy Jackson, Adrienne Heinbaugh and Melissa Dorton Untitled Photographs by Hopson “Lockets” by Morgan Howard Graphic Designs and Untitled Photographs by Ciarra Stalker Selections from a Senior Recital by Joshua Davi

Establishing the impact of COVID-19 on the health outcomes of domiciliary care workers in Wales using routine data: a protocol for the OSCAR study

Introduction Domiciliary care workers (DCWs) continued providing social care to adults in their own homes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on health outcomes of DCWs is currently mixed, probably reflecting methodological limitations of existing studies. The risk of COVID-19 to workers providing care in people's homes remains unknown. Objectives To quantify the impact of COVID-19 upon health outcomes of DCWs in Wales, to explore causes of variation, and to extrapolate to the rest of the UK DCW population. Methods Mixed methods design comprising cohort study of DCWs and exploratory qualitative interviews. Data for all registered DCWs in Wales is available via the SAIL Databank using a secured, privacy-protecting encrypted anonymisation process. Occupational registration data for DCWs working during the pandemic will be combined with EHR outcome data within the SAIL Databank including clinical codes that identify suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases. We will report rates of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 infections and key health outcomes including mortality and explore variation (by factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation quintile, rurality, employer, comorbidities) using regression modelling, adjusting for clustering of outcome within Health Board, region and employer. A maximum variation sample of Welsh DCWs will be approached for qualitative interview using a strategy to include participants that vary across factors such as sex, age, ethnicity and employer. The interviews will inform the quantitative analysis modelling. We will generalise the quantitative findings to other UK nations. Discussion Using anonymised linked occupational and EHR data and qualitative interviews, the OSCAR study will quantify the risk of COVID-19 on DCWs' health and explore sources of variation. This will provide a secure base for informing public health policy and occupational guidance