Force-Controlled Balance Perturbations Associated with Falls in Older People: A Prospective Cohort Study

Balance recovery from an unpredictable postural perturbation can be a challenging task for many older people and poor recovery could contribute to their risk of falls. This study examined associations between responses to unpredictable perturbations and fall risk in older people. 242 older adults (80.064.4 years) underwent assessments of stepping responses to multi-directional force-controlled waist-pull perturbations. Participants returned monthly falls calendars for the subsequent 12 months. Future falls were associated with lower force thresholds for stepping in the posterior and lateral but not anterior directions. Those with lower posterior force thresholds for stepping were 68% more likely to fall at home than those with higher force thresholds for stepping. These results suggest that amount of force that can be withstood following an unpredictable balance perturbation predicts future falls in community-dwelling older adults. Perturbations in the posterior direction best discriminated between future fallers and non-fallers

Inflammasome-Mediated IL-1β Production in Humans with Cystic Fibrosis

Inflammation and infection are major determinants of disease severity and consequently, the quality of life and outcome for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) is a key inflammatory mediator. Secretion of biologically active IL-1β involves inflammasome-mediated processing. Little is known about the contribution of IL-1β and the inflammasomes in CF inflammatory disease. This study examines inflammasome-mediated IL-1β production in CF bronchial epithelial cell lines and human patients with CF.Bronchial epithelial cell lines were found to produce negligible amounts of basal or stimulated IL-1β compared to hematopoeitic cells and they did not significantly upregulate caspase-1 activity upon inflammasome stimulation. In contrast, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from both CF and healthy control subjects produced large amounts of IL-1β and strongly upregulated caspase-1 activity upon inflammasome stimulation. PBMCs from CF patients and controls displayed similar levels of caspase-1 activation and IL-1β production when stimulated with inflammasome activators. This IL-1β production was dependent on NF-κB activity and could be enhanced by priming with LPS. Finally, chemical inhibition of CFTR activity in control PBMCs and THP-1 cells did not significantly alter IL-1β or IL-8 production in response to P. aeruginosa.Hematopoeitic cells appear to be the predominant source of inflammasome-induced pro-inflammatory IL-1β in CF. PBMCs derived from CF subjects display preserved inflammasome activation and IL-1β secretion in response to the major CF pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, our data do not support the hypothesis that increased IL-1β production in CF subjects is due to an intrinsic increase in NF-κB activity through loss of CFTR function

A novel broad specificity fucosidase capable of core α1-6 fucose release from N-glycans labeled with urea-linked fluorescent dyes

Host-parasite interactio

Breastfeeding-Associated Hypernatremia: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

There are increasing reports on hypernatremia, a potentially devastating condition, in exclusively breastfed newborn infants. Our purposes were to describe the clinical features of the condition and identify the risk factors for it. We performed a review of the existing literature in the National Library of Medicine database and in the search engine Google Scholar. A total of 115 reports were included in the final analysis. Breastfeeding-associated neonatal hypernatremia was recognized in infants who were ≤ 21 days of age and had ≥ 10% weight loss of birth weight. Cesarean delivery, primiparity, breast anomalies or breastfeeding problems, excessive prepregnancy maternal weight, delayed first breastfeeding, lack of previous breastfeeding experience, and low maternal education level were significantly associated with breastfeeding-associated hypernatremia. In addition to excessive weight loss (≥ 10%), the following clinical findings were observed: poor feeding, poor hydration state, jaundice, excessive body temperature, irritability or lethargy, decreased urine output, and epileptic seizures. In conclusion, the present survey of the literature identifies the following risk factors for breastfeeding-associated neonatal hypernatremia: cesarean delivery, primiparity, breastfeeding problems, excessive maternal body weight, delayed breastfeeding, lack of previous breastfeeding experience, and low maternal education level