Relationship between functional fitness, medication costs and mood in elderly people

Objective: to verify if functional fitness (FF) is associated with the annual cost of medication consumption and mood states (MSt) in elderly people. Methods: a cross-sectional study with 229 elderly people aged 65 years or more at Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Coimbra, Portugal. Seniors with physical and psychological limitations were excluded, as well as those using medication that limits performance on the tests. The Senior Fitness Test was used to evaluate FF, and the Profile of Mood States - Short Form to evaluate the MSt. The statistical analysis was based on Mancova, with adjustment for age, for comparison between men and women, and adjustment for sex, for comparison between cardiorespiratory fitness quintiles. The association between the variables under study was made with partial correlation, controlling for the effects of age, sex and body mass index. Results: an inverse correlation between cardiorespiratory fitness and the annual cost of medication consumption was found (p < 0.01). FF is also inversely associated with MSt (p < 0.05). Comparisons between cardiorespiratory fitness quintiles showed higher medication consumption costs in seniors with lower aerobic endurance, as well as higher deterioration in MSt (p < 0.01). Conclusion: elderly people with better FF and, specifically, better cardiorespiratory fitness present lower medication consumption costs and a more positive MSt

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Measurement of J/ψ -pair production in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV and study of gluon transverse-momentum dependent PDFs

The production cross-section of J/ψ pairs in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV is measured using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb−1 collected by the LHCb experiment. The measurement is performed with both J/ψ mesons in the transverse momentum range 0 &lt; pT&lt; 14 GeV/c and rapidity range 2.0 &lt; y &lt; 4.5. The cross-section of this process is measured to be 16.36 ± 0.28 (stat) ± 0.88 (syst) nb. The contributions from single-parton scattering and double-parton scattering are separated based on the dependence of the cross-section on the absolute rapidity difference ∆y between the two J/ψ mesons. The effective cross-section of double-parton scattering is measured to be σeff = 13.1 ± 1.8 (stat) ± 2.3 (syst) mb. The distribution of the azimuthal angle ϕCS of one of the J/ψ mesons in the Collins-Soper frame and the pT-spectrum of the J/ψ pairs are also measured for the study of the gluon transverse-momentum dependent distributions inside protons. The extracted values of ⟨cos 2ϕCS⟩ and ⟨cos 4ϕCS⟩ are consistent with zero, but the presence of azimuthal asymmetry at a few percent level is allowed

Reading efficiency index: un nuovo score per la valutazione del campo visivo utile nelle attività visive per vicino

Obiettivo: valutare un nuovo parametro campimetrico correlabile con l’abilita nella lettura per vicino in soggetti con estesi difetti campimetrici centrali e paracentrali di differente natura. Materiali e metodi: 40 occhi affetti da difetti campimetrici centrali e paracentrali di varia natura sono stati sottoposti ad esame campimetrico computerizzato ed a valutazione della velocita di lettura. Per ciascun occhio e stato ricavato il punteggio campimetrico di efficienza nella lettura (“Reading Efficiency Index”) ed e stato correlato con i risultati del test di lettura. Risultati: esiste una correlazione direttamente proporzionale tra visus, velocita di lettura e “Reading Efficiency Index” campimetrico fino a valori di quest’ultimo pari al 60%. Per valori superiori al 60% dell’indice campimetrico si osserva che, a parita di velocita di lettura, il visus ed il campo visivo sono in rapporto complementare l’uno con l’altro. Conclusioni: il “Reading EfficiencyIndex” si e dimostrato utile nel valutare l’effettivo peso del campo visivo residuale nel determinismo dell’efficienza nella lettura di un occhio con importanti difetti campimetrici centrali e paracentrali.Reading efficiency index: un nuovo score per la valutazione del campo visivo utile nelle attività visive per vicin

External ophthalmomyiasis by Oestrus ovis larvae diagnosed in a Papanicolaou-stained conjunctival smear.

Human ophthalmomyiasis is an eye infection associated with the larvae of certain flies of the Order Diptera (Insecta). This parasitic infection is classified as internal, orbital or external in relation to the location of the larvae.1 External ophthalmomyiasis is caused by species of a number of families, which include Oestrus ovis. This species, also called 'sheep bot fly', is a parasite specific to ovines and can only incidentally affect man. Adult Oestrus ovis females normally project their larvae into the muzzle of sheep while flying. In humans, the face and particularly the eyes are affected, these larvae being responsible for most cases of human external ophthalmomyiasis.2,3 In sheep, the larvae climb into the nasal passages reaching the frontal sinuses. After a few months, they detach and complete their life cycle in the soil from which the adult emerges at the next favourable season. The cycle ends in the human host as the parasite dies after a few days or weeks. While the infection is uncommon and reported only sporadically in Northern Italy, shepherds, farmers and people living in rural areas where sheep are bred are particularly affected.4,5 The larva, a millimetre in length and equipped with two oral hooks and numerous rows of tiny spines, irritates the conjunctival layer provoking an acute foreign body sensation, photophobia, blepharospasm, a watery to mucopurulent discharge, a sometimes painful chemosis with oedema of the eyelids.2,4 The prognosis is normally benign. Careful conjunctival examination can demonstrate the typical larvae. We report a human case of this infection, which occurred in Northern Italy and was diagnosed by cytological examination of a Papanicolaou-stained conjunctival smear