Feasibility and Comparative Effectiveness for the Delivery of the National Diabetes Prevention Program through Cooperative Extension in Rural Communities

The U.S. Cooperative Extension Service (CE) has potential to deliver the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP) to rural residents with prediabetes. However, the CE remains underutilized for the delivery of NDPP. We compared the feasibility/effectiveness of the NDPP (0–6 mos.) delivered by CE personnel to rural residents with prediabetes using Zoom® (CE-Zoom®) or by our research staff using Facebook® (FB). Adults (n = 31, age ~55 years) were enrolled (CE-Zoom® n = 16, FB n = 15). Attendance did not differ significantly between groups (CE Zoom® = 69%, FB = 83%, p = 0.15). Participant retention was similar in the CE Zoom® (88%) and FB groups (87%). CE-Zoom® and FB® groups provided weekly, self-monitoring data for 83% and 84% of the 24 potential weeks, respectively. Six-month weight loss was not different between groups (CE-Zoom® = −5.99 ± 8.0 kg, −5.4%, FB = −1.68 ± 3.3 kg, −1.6% p = 0.13). Participants achieving ≥5% weight loss was greater in the CE-Zoom® (44%) compared with the FB group (7%, p = 0.04). Participants achieving the NDPP program goal for physical activity (≥150 min/week) did not differ (CE-Zoom® = 75%, FB = 67%, p = 0.91). This pilot trial demonstrated the potential feasibility and effectiveness of the NDPP delivered by CE personnel in a group remote format (Zoom®) to adults with prediabetes living in rural areas

Older Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: Energy Costs of Human Activities in Adults Aged 60 and Older

Purpose: To describe the development of a Compendium for estimating the energy costs of activities in adults ≥60 years (OA Compendium). Methods: Physical activities (PAs) and their metabolic equivalent of task (MET) values were obtained from a systematic search of studies published in 4 sport and exercise databases (PubMed, Embase, SPORTDiscus (EBSCOhost), and Scopus) and a review of articles included in the 2011 Adult Compendium that measured PA in older adults. MET values were computed as the oxygen cost (VO2, mL/kg/min) during PA divided by 2.7 mL/kg/min (MET60+) to account for the lower resting metabolic rate in older adults. Results: We identified 68 articles and extracted energy expenditure data on 427 PAs. From these, we derived 99 unique Specific Activity codes with corresponding MET60+ values for older adults. We developed a website to present the OA Compendium MET60+ values: https://pacompendium.com. Conclusion: The OA Compendium uses data collected from adults ≥60 years for more accurate estimation of the energy cost of PAs in older adults. It is an accessible resource that will allow researchers, educators, and practitioners to find MET60+ values for older adults for use in PA research and practice

Nonpathological Extracellular Amyloid Is Present during Normal Epididymal Sperm Maturation

Amyloids are aggregated proteins characterized by a specific cross-β-sheet structure and are typically associated with neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease. Recently, however, several nonpathological amyloids have been found in intracellular organelles of normal mammalian tissues suggesting that amyloid may also carry out biological functions. We previously have shown that the epididymal cystatin CRES (cystatin-related epididymal spermatogenic), cst8, a reproductive-specific member of the cystatin superfamily of cysteine protease inhibitors, forms amyloid in vitro suggesting that CRES amyloid may also form in vivo within the epididymal lumen. Here we show that amyloid structures containing CRES are a component of the normal mouse epididymal lumen without any apparent cytotoxic effects on spermatozoa and that these structures change along the length of the tubule. These studies suggest the presence of a functional amyloid structure that may carry out roles in sperm maturation or maintenance of the luminal milieu and which itself may undergo maturational changes along the epididymis. In contrast to previous examples of functional amyloid which were intracellular, our studies now show that nonpathological/functional amyloid can also be extracellular. The presence of an extracellular and nonpathological amyloid in the epididymis suggests that similar amyloid structures may be present in other organ systems and may carry out distinctive tissue-specific functions

Patient-Reported Outcomes and Socioeconomic Status as Predictors of Clinical Outcomes after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Study from the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network 0902 Trial

This secondary analysis of a large, multi-center Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) randomized trial assessed whether patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and socioeconomic status (SES) before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) are associated with each other and predictive of clinical outcomes including time to hematopoietic recovery, acute graft-versus-host disease, hospitalization days, and overall survival (OS) among 646 allogeneic and autologous HCT recipients. Pre-transplant Cancer and Treatment Distress (CTXD), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and mental and physical component scores (MCS and PCS) of the SF-36 were correlated with each other and with SES variables. PROs and SES variables were further evaluated as predictors of clinical outcomes, with the PSQI and CTXD evaluated as OS predictors (p<.01 considered significant given multiple testing). Lower attained education was associated with increased distress (p=.002); lower income was related to worse physical functioning (p=.005) and increased distress (p=.008); lack of employment pre-transplant was associated with worse physical functioning (p<.01); unmarried status was associated with worse sleep (p=.003). In this large heterogeneous cohort of HCT recipients, while PROs and SES variables were correlated at baseline, they were not associated with any clinical outcomes. Future research should focus on HCT recipients at greater psychosocial disadvantage

Drak Is Required for Actomyosin Organization During Drosophila Cellularization

The generation of force by actomyosin contraction is critical for a variety of cellular and developmental processes. Nonmuscle myosin II is the motor that drives actomyosin contraction, and its activity is largely regulated by phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain. During the formation of the Drosophila cellular blastoderm, actomyosin contraction drives constriction of microfilament rings, modified cytokinesis rings. Here, we find that Drak is necessary for most of the phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain during cellularization. We show that Drak is required for organization of myosin II within the microfilament rings. Proper actomyosin contraction of the microfilament rings during cellularization also requires Drak activity. Constitutive activation of myosin regulatory light chain bypasses the requirement for Drak, suggesting that actomyosin organization and contraction are mediated through Drak’s regulation of myosin activity. Drak is also involved in the maintenance of furrow canal structure and lateral plasma membrane integrity during cellularization. Together, our observations suggest that Drak is the primary regulator of actomyosin dynamics during cellularization

Regional changes in thioflavin staining in the epididymis.

<p>a) Sequential centrifugation was carried out to isolate particulate material of varying molecular mass from the caput and corpus-cauda luminal fluid after first removal of spermatozoa by centrifugation at 500×g (pellet 1). Pellet 2, 5000×g; pellet 3, 15000×g; pellet 4, 250,000×g. Samples were air dried on a slide and stained with 0.1% thioflavin S. All images were captured with the same exposure times. Bar, 5 µm. b) 15 µg of protein from the caput (regions 1–3) and corpus-cauda (regions 4–5) pellet 4 was examined for thioflavin T fluorescence in a plate assay. Mean±SEM of three experiments.</p

CRES amyloid in the mouse epididymal lumen.

<p>a) Left, Western blot analysis of CRES in pellet and supernatant (S) fractions obtained after sequential centrifugation of the luminal fluid from caput region 1. Right, pretreatment of pellet 4 from caput region 1 with DMSO (+) prior to Western blot analysis of CRES. b) Filter trap assay of the supernatant (S) and high speed pellet (P) isolated from the luminal fluid from each of the five epididymal regions. Samples were spotted onto cellulose acetate (CA) overlying PVDF membrane followed by incubation with affinity purified CRES antibody. c) Pellet 4 samples from the caput luminal fluid were dried on a slide and stained with 0.05% thioflavin S followed by incubation with an affinity purified CRES antibody or IgG (control) followed by an Alexafluor 594 secondary antibody. d) Left panel, incubation of luminal fluid (LF) containing particulate material from the caput (regions 1–3)and corpus-cauda (regions 4–5) from CD-1 mice with protein aggregation disease (PAD) ligand followed by Western blot analysis using an affinity purified CRES antibody. Right panel, incubation of PAD ligand with luminal fluid isolated from the caput or corpus-cauda from CRES WT (wildtype) and KO (knockout) mice followed by Western blot analysis using affinity purified CRES antibody.</p

Amyloid structures in the mouse epididymal lumen.

<p>a) Dot blot analysis using All and OC antibodies to detect the oligomeric and fibrillar amyloid structures, respectively, in supernatant and high speed pellet fractions isolated from the five regions of the mouse epididymis. b) Thioflavin S (ThS) and Congo Red (CR) bound to similar structures including a film-like material (third panel) in the high speed pellet isolated from the caput (regions 1–3) and corpus-cauda (regions 4–5) luminal fluid from the mouse epididymis. Bar, 5 µm. c) X-ray diffraction of a 250,000×g pellet (pellet 4) isolated from the corpus-cauda luminal fluid. d) Transmission electron microscopy of an Epon embedded high speed pellet isolated from the caput epididymal luminal fluid. Bar, 100 µm.</p

Thioflavin S staining of epididymal luminal fluid.

<p>a) Caput luminal fluid was centrifuged to pellet spermatozoa and the resulting supernatant dried on a slide and stained with thioflavin S. Representative structures are shown. b) Luminal fluid was isolated after puncturing the caput and corpus-cauda epididymal tubules with a needle and allowing contents to disperse. After centrifugation to remove spermatozoa, the supernatant was dried on a slide and stained with thioflavin S. Bar, 5 µm.</p