Circuito de exercícios sensoriais para o treinamento do equilíbrio funcional e possibilidade de quedas em pessoas idosas

Exercícios físicos auxiliam na melhora do equilíbrio, entretanto há carência de protocolos específicos para trabalhar preventivamente o equilíbrio funcional (EF) e a possibilidade de quedas (PQ) em idosos da comunidade. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar o efeito de um Circuito de exercícios sensoriais (CE) sobre o EF e a PQ em mulheres idosas. Completaram o estudo 57 idosas, divididas em grupo experimental (G1= 32; 65,61±4,72 anos) e grupo controle (G2 = 25; 68,41±4,99 anos). G1 praticou 12 semanas de CE composto por 13 estaçoes em forma de circuito. Foram realizadas 2 aulas semanais de 50 minutos de duraçao, compostas por aquecimento, exercícios sensoriais e volta à calma. O grau de dificuldade foi progressivo ao longo do treinamento. EF e PQ foram avaliados antes e depois da intervençao, respectivamente pela Escala de Equilíbrio de Berg (EEB) e pelo Indice de Possibilidade de Quedas (IPQ). Utilizou-se estatística nao paramétrica para análise dos dados, adotando-se em todos os testes nível de significância 5(p¾0,05). G1 apresentou incremento significativo no EF (p = 0,001) e reduçao significativa na PQ (p = 0,013). Estes resultados indicam que a prática do Circuito de exercícios sensoriais é capaz de melhorar o equilíbrio e diminuir a possibilidade de quedas em idosa

An analysis-ready and quality controlled resource for pediatric brain white-matter research

We created a set of resources to enable research based on openly-available diffusion MRI (dMRI) data from the Healthy Brain Network (HBN) study. First, we curated the HBN dMRI data (N = 2747) into the Brain Imaging Data Structure and preprocessed it according to best-practices, including denoising and correcting for motion effects, susceptibility-related distortions, and eddy currents. Preprocessed, analysis-ready data was made openly available. Data quality plays a key role in the analysis of dMRI. To optimize QC and scale it to this large dataset, we trained a neural network through the combination of a small data subset scored by experts and a larger set scored by community scientists. The network performs QC highly concordant with that of experts on a held out set (ROC-AUC = 0.947). A further analysis of the neural network demonstrates that it relies on image features with relevance to QC. Altogether, this work both delivers resources to advance transdiagnostic research in brain connectivity and pediatric mental health, and establishes a novel paradigm for automated QC of large datasets

Arousal increases neural gain via the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system in younger adults but not in older adults

In younger adults, arousal amplifies attentional focus to the most salient or goal-relevant information while suppressing other information. A computational model of how the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system can implement this increased selectivity under arousal and an fMRI study comparing how arousal affects younger and older adults’ processing indicate that the amplification of salient stimuli and the suppression of non-salient stimuli are separate processes, with aging affecting suppression without impacting amplification under arousal. In the fMRI study, arousal increased processing of salient stimuli and decreased processing of non-salient stimuli for younger adults. In contrast, for older adults, arousal increased processing of both low and high salience stimuli, generally increasing excitatory responses to visual stimuli. Older adults also showed decline in LC functional connectivity with frontoparietal networks that coordinate attentional selectivity. Thus, among older adults, arousal increases the potential for distraction from non-salient stimuli

Influence of moderate electric fields in β-lactoglobulin thermal unfolding and interactions

Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2019.125442.In this study, the effects of moderate electric fields during thermal denaturation of -lactoglobulin were examined through an in situ circular dichroism approach, complemented by intrinsic extrinsic fluorescence analysis. Results have shown that the effects of electric fields in protein unfolding were linearly dependent on the applied electric field intensity (V/cm) and increased by the use of low electric frequencies i.e. 50 to 200Hz. These electric effects caused significant changes on -lactoglobulin melting temperature, unfolded conformation and subsequent intermolecular interactions, revealed by the increase of surface hydrophobicity (ANS affinity) and higher conservation of retinol binding. The obtained data provides a clear evidence that moderate electric fields contribute to distinct folding/unfolding of -lactoglobulin, resulting in structural modifications. These findings are relevant for (bio)-technological applications involving electric fields processing, bringing new insights for the development of innovative strategies to control protein function and tune production of functional protein systems.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020, Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.Rui M.Rodrigues and Ricardo N. Pereira gratefully acknowledge FCT for their financial grants with references SFRH/BD/110723/2015 and SFRH/BPD/ 81887/2011, respectively. The authors would also like to acknowledge Pedro Silva for his contribution to this work.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio