Tsarpela O, In¯uence of vibration on mechanical power and electromyogram activity in human arm ¯exor muscles

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the inuence of vibration on the mechanical properties of arm exors. A group of 12 international level boxers, all members of the Italian national team, voluntarily participated in the experiment: all were engaged in regular boxing training. At the beginning of the study they were tested whilst performing forearm¯exion with an extra load equal to 5% of the subjects' body mass. Following this, one arm was given the experimental treatment (E; mechanical vibration) and the other was the control (no treatment). The E treatment consisted of ®ve repetitions lasting 1-min each of mechanical vibration applied during arm¯exion in isometric conditions with 1 min rest between them. Further tests were performed 5 min immediately after the treatment on both limbs. The results showed statistically signi®cant enhancement of the average power in the arm treated with vibrations. The root mean square electromyogram (EMG rms ) had not changed following the treatment but, when divided by mechanical power, (P) as an index of neural eciency, it showed statistically signi®cant increases. It was concluded that mechanical vibrations enhanced muscle P and decreased the related EMG/P relationship in elite athletes. Moreover, the analysis of EMG rms recorded before the treatment and during the treatment itself showed an enormous increase in neural activity during vibration up to more than twice the baseline values. This would indicate that this type of treatment is able to stimulate the neuromuscular system more than other treatments used to improve neuromuscular properties

LDOC1 expression in fibroblasts of patients with Down syndrome

Abstract Down syndrome (DS) is characterised by intellectual disability and is caused by trisomy 21. Apoptosis is a programmed cell death process and is involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer. People with DS can develop some traits of Alzheimer disease at an earlier age than subjects without trisomy 21. The leucine zipper, down regulated in cancer 1 (LDOC1) appears to be involved in the apoptotic pathways. The aim of the present work was to detect the presence of intracellular synthesis of LDOC1 protein and LDOC1 mRNA in fibroblast cultures from DS subjects. The western blot shows the presence of LDOC1 protein in fibroblasts of DS subjects but no evidence of LDOC1 protein in fibroblasts of normal subjects. LDOC1 gene mRNA expression is increased in fibroblasts from DS subjects compared to fibroblasts from normal subjects. The data obtained from this study strengthen the hypothesis that the over-expression of LDOC1 gene could play a role in determining the phenotype of individuals with DS but does not exclude that this results from apoptotic mechanisms

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 expression in fibroblasts of Down syndrome subjects

Abstract Down syndrome (DS) is the most common chromosomal disorder. It is featured by intellectual disability and is caused by trisomy 21. People with DS can develop some traits of Alzheimer disease at an earlier age than subjects without trisomy 21. Apoptosis is a programmed cell death process under both normal physiological and pathological conditions. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 is a mediator of programmed-necrotic cell death and appears to be also involved in the apoptosis. The aim of the present work was to detect the intracellular distribution of PARP-1 protein using immunofluorescence techniques and the expression of PARP-1 mRNA in culture of fibroblasts of DS subjects. The analysis of the intracellular distribution of PARP-1 show a signal at the nuclear level in about 75 % of the cells of DS subjects with a slight uniformly fluorescent cytoplasm. In contrast, in about 65% of the analyzed fibroblasts of the normal subjects only a slight fluorescent was found. These observations have been confirmed by PARP-1 gene mRNA expression evaluation. The data obtained from this study strengthen the hypothesis that the over-expression of PARP-1 gene could have a role in the activation of the apoptotic pathways acting in the neurodegenerative processes in DS

Effectiveness and safety of filgotinib in rheumatoid arthritis: a real-life multicentre experience

Objectives: We investigated the effectiveness and safety of filgotinib in a real-life multicentre cohort of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Methods: RA patients were evaluated at baseline and after 12 and 24 weeks and were stratified based on previous treatments as biologic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (bDMARD)-naive and bDMARD-insufficient responders (IR). Concomitant usage of methotrexate (MTX) and oral glucocorticoids (GC) was recorded. At each timepoint we recorded disease activity, laboratory parameters and adverse events. Results: 126 patients were enrolled. 15.8% were bDMARD-naive (G0), while 84% were bDMARD-IR (G1). In G0, 45% of patients were in monotherapy (G2) and 55% were taken MTX (G3). In G1, 50% of patients were in monotherapy (G4) and 50% used MTX (G5).A significant reduction in all parameters at 12 weeks was observed; in the extension to 24 weeks the significant reduction was maintained for patient global assessment (PGA), examiner global assessment (EGA), visual analogue scale (VAS) pain, VAS fatigue, disease activity score (DAS)28- C-reactive protein (CRP) and CRP values. Filgotinib in monotherapy showed better outcomes in bDMARD-naive patients, with significant differences for patient reported outcomes (PROs) and DAS28-CRP. At 12 weeks, low disease activity (LDA) and remission were achieved in a percentage of 37.2 % and 10.7 % by simplified disease activity index (SDAI), 42.6 % and 5.7 % by clinical disease activity index (CDAI), 26.8 % and 25.2 % by DAS28-CRP, respectively. A significant decrease in steroid dose was evidenced in all patients. We observed a major adverse cardiovascular event in one patient and an increase in transaminase in another. No infections from Herpes Zoster were reported. Conclusions: Our real-world data confirm the effectiveness and safety of filgotinib in the management of RA, especially in bDMARD-naive patients

Influence of daily beer or ethanol consumption on physical fitness in response to a high-intensity interval training program. The BEER-HIIT study

The authors would like to thank all the participants that took part of the study for their time and effort. We are grateful to Ms. Ana Yara PostigoFuentes for her assistance with the English language. This study is part of Cristina Molina-Hidalgo’s Doctoral Thesis conducted in the Official Doctoral Programme in Psychology of the University of Granada, Spain.Background: High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an effective approach to improve physical fitness, but consuming beer, which is a regular practice in many physically active individuals, may interfere with these effects. The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of a 10-week (2 days/week) HIIT program on cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength and power parameters, and also to assess the possible influence on them of a moderate consumption of beer (at least from Monday to Friday) or its alcohol equivalent. Methods: Young (24 ± 6 years old) healthy adults (n = 73, 35 females) were allocated to five groups. Four groups participated in the HIIT intervention program while the fifth group was a control Non-Training group (n = 15). Participants in the training groups chose whether they preferred receiving alcohol or alcohol-free beverages. Those choosing alcohol were randomized to either beer or ethanol intake: (i) T-Beer group (alcohol beer, 5.4%; n = 13) or (ii) T-Ethanol (sparkling water with vodka, 5.4%; n = 14). Those choosing alcohol-free intake were randomized to (iii) T-Water group (sparkling water, 0.0%; n = 16), or (iv) T-0.0Beer group (alcohol-free beer, 0.0%; n = 15). Men ingested 330 ml of the beverage at lunch and 330 ml at dinner; women ingested 330 ml at dinner. Before and after the intervention, maximal oxygen uptake in absolute and relative terms (VO2max.), maximal heart rate, total test duration, hand grip strength and four types of vertical jumps were measured. Results: HIIT induced significant improvements in absolute and relative values of VO2max, and total test duration (all p < 0.05) in all the training groups; also, clinical improvements were found in hand grip strength. These positive effects were not influenced by the regular intake of beer or alcohol. No changes in the vertical jumps occurred in any of the groups. Conclusions: A moderate beer or alcohol intake does not mitigate the positive effect of a 10-week HIIT on physical fitness in young healthy adults. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03660579. Registered 20 September 2018. Retrospectively registered.Centro de Informacion Cerveza y Salud (CICS), Madrid, SpainSpanish Government FPU14/04172 FPU15/0396

Quantitative MRI Harmonization to Maximize Clinical Impact: The RIN-Neuroimaging Network

Neuroimaging studies often lack reproducibility, one of the cardinal features of the scientific method. Multisite collaboration initiatives increase sample size and limit methodological flexibility, therefore providing the foundation for increased statistical power and generalizable results. However, multisite collaborative initiatives are inherently limited by hardware, software, and pulse and sequence design heterogeneities of both clinical and preclinical MRI scanners and the lack of benchmark for acquisition protocols, data analysis, and data sharing. We present the overarching vision that yielded to the constitution of RIN-Neuroimaging Network, a national consortium dedicated to identifying disease and subject-specific in-vivo neuroimaging biomarkers of diverse neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. This ambitious goal needs efforts toward increasing the diagnostic and prognostic power of advanced MRI data. To this aim, 23 Italian Scientific Institutes of Hospitalization and Care (IRCCS), with technological and clinical specialization in the neurological and neuroimaging field, have gathered together. Each IRCCS is equipped with high- or ultra-high field MRI scanners (i.e., ≥3T) for clinical or preclinical research or has established expertise in MRI data analysis and infrastructure. The actions of this Network were defined across several work packages (WP). A clinical work package (WP1) defined the guidelines for a minimum standard clinical qualitative MRI assessment for the main neurological diseases. Two neuroimaging technical work packages (WP2 and WP3, for clinical and preclinical scanners) established Standard Operative Procedures for quality controls on phantoms as well as advanced harmonized quantitative MRI protocols for studying the brain of healthy human participants and wild type mice. Under FAIR principles, a web-based e-infrastructure to store and share data across sites was also implemented (WP4). Finally, the RIN translated all these efforts into a large-scale multimodal data collection in patients and animal models with dementia (i.e., case study). The RIN-Neuroimaging Network can maximize the impact of public investments in research and clinical practice acquiring data across institutes and pathologies with high-quality and highly-consistent acquisition protocols, optimizing the analysis pipeline and data sharing procedures

Differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementias with the explainable MRI based machine learning algorithm MUQUBIA

Biomarker-based differential diagnosis of the most common forms of dementia is becoming increasingly important. Machine learning (ML) may be able to address this challenge. The aim of this study was to develop and interpret a ML algorithm capable of differentiating Alzheimer's dementia, frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and cognitively normal control subjects based on sociodemographic, clinical, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) variables. 506 subjects from 5 databases were included. MRI images were processed with FreeSurfer, LPA, and TRACULA to obtain brain volumes and thicknesses, white matter lesions and diffusion metrics. MRI metrics were used in conjunction with clinical and demographic data to perform differential diagnosis based on a Support Vector Machine model called MUQUBIA (Multimodal Quantification of Brain whIte matter biomArkers). Age, gender, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Dementia Staging Instrument, and 19 imaging features formed the best set of discriminative features. The predictive model performed with an overall Area Under the Curve of 98%, high overall precision (88%), recall (88%), and F1 scores (88%) in the test group, and good Label Ranking Average Precision score (0.95) in a subset of neuropathologically assessed patients. The results of MUQUBIA were explained by the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. The MUQUBIA algorithm successfully classified various dementias with good performance using cost-effective clinical and MRI information, and with independent validation, has the potential to assist physicians in their clinical diagnosis

Stretch-shortening cycle in skeletal muscle function : with special reference to elastic energy and potentiation of myoelectrical activity

Mechanical behaviour of human leg extensor muscles was investigated under conditions of varied stretch-shortening (eccentric-concentric) cycle movements of the vertical jump. In these exercises the muscular performance was always greater than that in pure concentric contraction. The enhanced performance was due to the storage and re-use of elastic energy. When examined with 226 subjects this elastic potentiation was observed to be both sex and age dependent. In another series of experiments the pre-stretch movement prior to shortening shifted the force-velocity curve to the right. Similarly the net mechanical efficiency of the positive work was increased from 20 % (no rebound jumps) to 30-40 % (rebound jumps). The results also indicated that not only the mechanical behaviour of muscle was modified due to stretching of active muscle, but the electromyographic activity was also increased, but primarily during the eccentric phase of the cycle. Elastic potentiation was also sensitive to the duration and velocity of the stretch and suggestion was made that, although the influence of muscle structure was not examined directly in the present study, utilization of elastic energy may occur differently according to whether slow or fast muscles were activated under various conditions of the stretch-shortening cycle