Validity of digital thermal monitoring techniques to assess vascular reactivity following finger and brachial occlusion

Digital thermal monitoring (DTM) using the VENDYS-II device is an alternative, fully automated and noninvasive methodology to evaluate endothelial function using temperature change on finger as a surrogate measure of the magnitude of vascular reactivity index (VRI). Due to the simplicity, it could provide a more feasible technique to assess vascular endothelial function in the clinical setting. A most recent modification to the technique includes the application of occlusion cuff at the base of a finger. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the validity of the VENDYS-II device compared with the standard flow-mediated dilation (FMD) protocol. Thirty-eight (22 males; 38±15 years) participants varying widely in age, health status, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status were studied. Occlusion cuff was placed over the right antecubital fossa or at the base of the right index finger. Temperature monitors were placed on bilateral index fingers to assess change in temperature throughout 5-minute occlusion and recovery phases. FMD was obtained simultaneously using high-resolution ultrasound. Shear rate total area under the curve (SR [subscript AUC]) was calculated for 180 cardiac cycles following cuff release. Mean brachial artery FMD was 7.5±2.2% and mean SR [subscript AUC] was 43,924±10,256. SR [subscript AUC] was significantly correlated with VRI obtained from brachial occlusion (r=0.34; p<0.05), but more strongly correlated with finger occlusion VRI (r=0.43; p<0.05) (Figure 1). Inversely, brachial FMD was more strongly correlated with brachial occlusion VRI (r=0.69; p<0.05), than finger occlusion VRI (r=0.53; p<0.05). VRI values obtained with the finger occlusion (1.58±0.29 AU) were not significantly different from VRI measured with the brachial artery occlusion (1.55±0.26 AU) (p=0.47), and both VRI values were moderately correlated with each other (r=0.25; p=0.47) Therefore, finger-based VRI may be a valid and novel alternative measure of endothelial function that is more suitable than the standard FMD or hyperemic shear rate for the assessment of endothelial function in the routine clinical setting.Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Glycation-induced inactivation of malate dehydrogenase protection by aspirin and a lens molecular chaperone, α-crystallin

AbstractNon-enzymic glycosylation (glycation) of structural proteins has been widely studied as a possible mechanism in the long-term complications of diabetes. Here we show that glycation inactivates malate dehydrogenase. Aspirin affords some protection against the glycation, but α-crystallin, a lens protein which appears to act as a molecular chaperone in other systems, is much more effective. For example, 5 mM glucose completely inactivates malate dehydrogenase in four days, and 5 μg α-crystallin/ml provides complete protection against this inactivation. Fructose, a superior glycating agent, inactivates the enzyme in 24 hours but even so the same low concentration of α-crystallin is able to protect 80% of the activity. Other proteins provide no protection at the same concentration. The inactivation of malate dehydrogenase and other enzymes by glycation could play a role in diabetic complications, and molecular chaperones like α-crystallin could serve to protect them

Sexual Function, Behavior, and Satisfaction in Master Athletes

Sexual function and satisfaction are good indicators of overall life satisfaction and important elements of successful aging. Currently, it is not clear if maintaining habitual exercise into later life would yield the benefits of maintaining sexual activity and satisfaction. PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship between sustained participation in competitive exercise and its effects on sexual function, behavior, and satisfaction. METHODS: A total of 166 masters athletes (97 men; 57±13 years) who had been training 45.6±15.9 years in various sports disciplines including swimming, cycling, and running completed a comprehensive questionnaire. On average, the participants were involved in aerobic and resistance trainings 5 times and 2 times per week, respectively. The data of the questionnaire response were compared with the existing survey data on the general population. RESULTS: Almost 80% of the athletes reported very good or excellent overall health status, and ~75% were married. The presence of impotence emerged in the 50s and increased thereafter with aging. More than 80% of the athletes had a sexual desire at least once a week with a large discrepancy between genders (CONCLUSION: Masters athletes demonstrate high sexual function and satisfaction to later ages

A Practical and Easier Measure of Endothelial Function Applicable to the Routine Clinical Setting?

The VENDYS-II is an alternative, fully automated and noninvasive methodology to evaluate endothelial function using temperature change on finger as a surrogate measure of the magnitude of vascular reactivity index (VRI). Due to the simplicity, it could provide a more feasible technique to assess vascular endothelial function in the clinical setting and possibly for home-based measurements similar to blood pressure. A most recent modification to the technique includes the application of cuff occlusion at the base of a finger instead of the upper or lower arm. Purpose: To assess the validity of the VENDYS-II device compared with the standard flow-mediated dilation (FMD) protocol. Methods: Twenty-one participants (14 males; 36±16 years) varying widely in age, health, ethnic, and socioeconomic status were studied. Occlusion cuff was placed below the antecubital fossa or at the base of the index finger. Temperature monitors were placed on bilateral index fingers to assess change in temperature throughout 5-minute occlusion and recovery phases. FMD was obtained simultaneously using high-resolution ultrasound. Results: Mean brachial artery FMD was 7.4±2.6%. Measures of VRI obtained with the upper arm occlusion (r=0.58) and finger occlusion (r=0.51) were significantly associated with simultaneously obtained brachial artery FMD. VRI values obtained with finger occlusion and brachial occlusion were weakly correlated with each other (r=0.24). Moreover, mean VRI values obtained with different occlusion sites were not significantly different (1.6±0.4 vs. 1.6±0.3). Conclusion: Finger-based VRI may be a promising and novel alternative measure of endothelial function that is more suitable than the standard FMD for the assessment of endothelial function in the routine clinical setting

The role of pre-sleep cognitions in adolescent sleep-onset problems

© 2018 Elsevier BV. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (March 2018) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policy.Study Objectives: To examine the relationship between pre-sleep cognitions and sleep-onset difficulties in an adolescent sample. Methods: Participants were 385 students (59% male) from grades 9 to 11, between 13 and 18 yrs old (M=15.6, SD=1.0), from 8 co-educational high schools of varied socioeconomic status in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The cross-sectional study used a questionnaire battery including the Sleep Anticipatory Anxiety Questionnaire - Adolescent Version [SAAQ-A], completed during school time, followed by 8 days of sleep diary completion and wearing wrist actigraphy to obtain subjective and objective sleep onset latency [SOL]. Results: Significant relationships were found between somatic arousal (SAAQ-A subscale) and objective SOL, and between sleep-related cognitions (SAAQ-A subscale) and subjective SOL and SOL overestimation (sleep misperception). No relationships were found between subjective SOL and somatic or rehearsal and planning cognitions. Objective SOL was not related to rehearsal and planning, or sleep-related cognition scores, and sleep misperception had no relationship with somatic, and rehearsal and planning cognition scores. Conclusions: These findings are similar to those in clinical adult populations, but also notably different, for example the lack of association between negative sleep-related pre-sleep cognitions and objective sleep difficulty. This study’s results provide a basis for existing relationships between negative pre-sleep cognitions and subjective and objective sleep difficulties in this population to be examined causally in more detail

Assessing the cost of global biodiversity and conservation knowledge

Knowledge products comprise assessments of authoritative information supported by stan-dards, governance, quality control, data, tools, and capacity building mechanisms. Considerable resources are dedicated to developing and maintaining knowledge productsfor biodiversity conservation, and they are widely used to inform policy and advise decisionmakers and practitioners. However, the financial cost of delivering this information is largelyundocumented. We evaluated the costs and funding sources for developing and maintain-ing four global biodiversity and conservation knowledge products: The IUCN Red List ofThreatened Species, the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems, Protected Planet, and the WorldDatabase of Key Biodiversity Areas. These are secondary data sets, built on primary datacollected by extensive networks of expert contributors worldwide. We estimate that US$160million (range: US$116–204 million), plus 293 person-years of volunteer time (range: 278–308 person-years) valued at US$14 million (range US$12–16 million), were invested inthese four knowledge products between 1979 and 2013. More than half of this financingwas provided through philanthropy, and nearly three-quarters was spent on personnelcosts. The estimated annual cost of maintaining data and platforms for three of these knowl-edge products (excluding the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems for which annual costs were notpossible to estimate for 2013) is US$6.5 million in total (range: US$6.2–6.7 million). We esti-mated that an additional US$114 million will be needed to reach pre-defined baselines ofdata coverage for all the four knowledge products, and that once achieved, annual mainte-nance costs will be approximately US$12 million. These costs are much lower than those tomaintain many other, similarly important, global knowledge products. Ensuring that biodi-versity and conservation knowledge products are sufficiently up to date, comprehensiveand accurate is fundamental to inform decision-making for biodiversity conservation andsustainable development. Thus, the development and implementation of plans for sustain-able long-term financing for them is critical

Leptin interacts with glucagon-like peptide-1 neurons to reduce food intake and body weight in rodents

AbstractThe adipose tissue hormone, leptin, and the neuropeptide glucagon-like peptide-1 (7–36) amide (GLP-1) both reduce food intake and body weight in rodents. Using dual in situ hybridization, long isoform leptin receptor (OB-Rb) was localized to GLP-1 neurons originating in the nucleus of the solitary tract. ICV injection of the specific GLP-1 receptor antagonist, exendin(9–39), at the onset of dark phase, did not affect feeding in saline pre-treated controls, but blocked the reduction in food intake and body weight of leptin pre-treated rats. These findings suggest that GLP-1 neurons are a potential target for leptin in its control of feeding

International meta-analysis of PTSD genome-wide association studies identifies sex- and ancestry-specific genetic risk loci.

The risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following trauma is heritable, but robust common variants have yet to be identified. In a multi-ethnic cohort including over 30,000 PTSD cases and 170,000 controls we conduct a genome-wide association study of PTSD. We demonstrate SNP-based heritability estimates of 5-20%, varying by sex. Three genome-wide significant loci are identified, 2 in European and 1 in African-ancestry analyses. Analyses stratified by sex implicate 3 additional loci in men. Along with other novel genes and non-coding RNAs, a Parkinson's disease gene involved in dopamine regulation, PARK2, is associated with PTSD. Finally, we demonstrate that polygenic risk for PTSD is significantly predictive of re-experiencing symptoms in the Million Veteran Program dataset, although specific loci did not replicate. These results demonstrate the role of genetic variation in the biology of risk for PTSD and highlight the necessity of conducting sex-stratified analyses and expanding GWAS beyond European ancestry populations

Chapter 4 Design Options, Implementation Issues and Evaluating Success of Ecologically Engineered Shorelines

Human population growth and accelerating coastal development have been the drivers for unprecedented construction of artificial structures along shorelines globally. Construction has been recently amplified by societal responses to reduce flood and erosion risks from rising sea levels and more extreme storms resulting from climate change. Such structures, leading to highly modified shorelines, deliver societal benefits, but they also create significant socioeconomic and environmental challenges. The planning, design and deployment of these coastal structures should aim to provide multiple goals through the application of ecoengineering to shoreline development. Such developments should be designed and built with the overarching objective of reducing negative impacts on nature, using hard, soft and hybrid ecological engineering approaches. The design of ecologically sensitive shorelines should be context-dependent and combine engineering, environmental and socioeconomic considerations. The costs and benefits of ecoengineered shoreline design options should be considered across all three of these disciplinary domains when setting objectives, informing plans for their subsequent maintenance and management and ultimately monitoring and evaluating their success. To date, successful ecoengineered shoreline projects have engaged with multiple stakeholders (e.g. architects, engineers, ecologists, coastal/port managers and the general public) during their conception and construction, but few have evaluated engineering, ecological and socioeconomic outcomes in a comprehensive manner. Increasing global awareness of climate change impacts (increased frequency or magnitude of extreme weather events and sea level rise), coupled with future predictions for coastal development (due to population growth leading to urban development and renewal, land reclamation and establishment of renewable energy infrastructure in the sea) will increase the demand for adaptive techniques to protect coastlines. In this review, we present an overview of current ecoengineered shoreline design options, the drivers and constraints that influence implementation and factors to consider when evaluating the success of such ecologically engineered shorelines

Parent-of-origin-specific allelic associations among 106 genomic loci for age at menarche.

Age at menarche is a marker of timing of puberty in females. It varies widely between individuals, is a heritable trait and is associated with risks for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and all-cause mortality. Studies of rare human disorders of puberty and animal models point to a complex hypothalamic-pituitary-hormonal regulation, but the mechanisms that determine pubertal timing and underlie its links to disease risk remain unclear. Here, using genome-wide and custom-genotyping arrays in up to 182,416 women of European descent from 57 studies, we found robust evidence (P < 5 × 10(-8)) for 123 signals at 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche. Many loci were associated with other pubertal traits in both sexes, and there was substantial overlap with genes implicated in body mass index and various diseases, including rare disorders of puberty. Menarche signals were enriched in imprinted regions, with three loci (DLK1-WDR25, MKRN3-MAGEL2 and KCNK9) demonstrating parent-of-origin-specific associations concordant with known parental expression patterns. Pathway analyses implicated nuclear hormone receptors, particularly retinoic acid and γ-aminobutyric acid-B2 receptor signalling, among novel mechanisms that regulate pubertal timing in humans. Our findings suggest a genetic architecture involving at least hundreds of common variants in the coordinated timing of the pubertal transition