Reduced Inflammatory and muscle damage biomarkers following oral supplementation with bioavailable curcumin

This article seeks to determine the effects of oral curcumin supplementation on muscle and activities of daily living soreness, creatine kinase, and inflammatory cytokines following exercise-induced muscle damage

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

A High-fat Meal Alters Post-prandial mRNA Expression of SIRT1, SIRT4, and SIRT6

Sirtuins (SIRT) regulate the transcription of various genes involved in the development of diet-induced obesity and chronic disease; however, it is unknown how they change acutely following a high-fat meal. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a high-fat meal (65% kcals/d; 85% fat recommendation), on SIRT1-7 mRNA expression in blood leukocytes at 1, 3, and 5-h post-prandial. Men and women (N=24) reported to the lab following an overnight fast (>12H). Total RNA was isolated and reverse transcribed prior to using a Taqman qPCR technique with 18S rRNA as a normalizer to determine SIRT1-7 mRNA expression. An additional aliquot of serum was used to measure triglycerides. Data was analyzed using a RM ANOVA with P<0.05. Triglycerides (P<0.001; 124%) peaked at 3-h. SIRT 1 (P=0.004; 70%), and SIRT 6 (P=0.017; 53%) decreased expression at 3-h. SIRT4 (P=0.024) peaked at 5H relative to baseline (70%) and 3-h (68%). To our knowledge, this is the first study to report that consumption of a high-fat meal transiently alters SIRT mRNA expression consistent in a pattern that mirrors changes in serum triglycerides. Decrease in expression of SIRT1 and SIRT6 combined with an increased SIRT4 would be consistent with an increase in metabolic disease risk if maintained on a chronic basis

Physiological Responses to a 60-Minute Zumba® Class in College Age Females

Zumba® is a group exercise format that incorporates aerobic dance components and claims to be an appropriate physical activity to be included in an exercise prescription for improving cardiorespiratory fitness. The purpose of this study was to determine the energy expenditure and physiological effects of a 58.6 min Zumba® class and compare the average METs of the Zumba® class to the ACSM’s definition of vigorous activity of 6 METs. All participants (n=30) were volunteers from Zumba® classes at Texas Woman’s University. Participants attended three Zumba® classes to become familiar with the choreography. The Zumba® session where data was collected was performed in a standard class setting identical to the three familiarization classes. The Zumba® class was composed of 16 songs corresponding to a specific set of choreography. The Zumba® class was divided into a warm up phase, aerobic phase, and cool down phase. Oxygen consumption (VO2) was measured using a K4b2 Cosmed unit that the participant wore during the Zumba® class. A one sample t test was used to determine if there was a significant difference between the METs of the Zumba® class and 6 METs. A repeated measures ANOVA, with a Bonferroni post-hoc test, was used to determine if there was a significant difference between variables in the three phases of the Zumba® class. Significance level was set at p ≤ .05. Mean METs for the full Zumba® class (5.7 ± 1.8 METs) was not significantly different (p \u3c 0.05) from 6 METs. The HR during the aerobic phase (164 ± 12 bpm) was significantly higher (p \u3c 0.05) than the warm up (148 ± 25 bpm) and cool down phase (139 ± 20 bpm). Similarly, %HRmax was highest in the aerobic phase relative to warm up and cool down (83.7 ± 6.1% vs 75.2 ± 12.6% and 71.0 ± 10.4%, p \u3c 0.05, respectively). The cool down phase had a significantly lower (p \u3c 0.05) VO2 and energy expenditure (14.7 ± 4.9 ml/kg/min and 5.0 ± 1.3 kcal/min, respectively) than the warm up (20.2 ± 7.0 ml/kg/min and 6.8 ± 2.1 kcal/min) and aerobic phases (21.0 ± 6.8 ml/kg/min and 7.2 ± 1.9 kcal/min). Based on these results, Zumba® meets the ACSM Guidelines for the minimum recommendation for aerobic exercise intensity as a moderate intensity (3-6 METs) exercise