Fear of exercise and health-related quality of life in patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator

Several studies have reported improved survival rates thanks to the use of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in the treatment of patients with life-threatening arrhythmia. However, the effects of the ICD on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) of these patients are not clear. The aim of this study is to describe HR-QoL and fear of exercise in ICD patients. Eighty-nine ICD patients from the University Hospital in Groningen, the Netherlands, participated in this study. HR-QoL was measured using the Rand-36 and the Quality of Life After Myocardial Infarction Dutch language version questionnaires. Fear of exercise was measured using the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, Dutch version and the Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire, Dutch version. Association between outcome variables was analysed by linear regression analyses. Study results show that the HR-QoL of patients with ICDs in our study population is significantly worse than that of normal healthy people. Furthermore, fear of exercise is negatively associated with HR-QoL corrected for sex, age and number of years living with an ICD. After implantation of the ICD, patients with a clear fear of exercise should be identified and interventions should be considered in order to increase their HR-QoL

Effects of organically and conventionally produced feed on biomarkers of health in a chicken model

Consumers expect organic products to be healthier. However, limited research has been performed to study the effect of organic food on health. The present study aimed to identify biomarkers of health to enable future studies in human subjects. A feeding experiment was performed in two generations of three groups of chickens differing in immune responsiveness, which were fed identically composed feeds from either organic or conventional produce. The animals of the second generation were exposed to an immune challenge and sacrificed at 13 weeks of age. Feed and ingredients were analysed on macro- and micronutrients, i.e. vitamins, minerals, trace elements, heavy metals and microbes. The chickens were studied by general health and immune parameters, metabolomics, genomics and post-mortem evaluation. The organic and conventional feeds were comparable with respect to metabolisable energy. On average, the conventionally produced feeds had a 10 % higher protein content and some differences in micronutrients were observed. Although animals on both feeds were healthy, differences between the groups were found. The random control group of chickens fed conventional feed showed overall a higher weight gain during life span than the group on organic feed, although feed intake was mostly comparable. The animals on organic feed showed an enhanced immune reactivity, a stronger reaction to the immune challenge as well as a slightly stronger ‘catch-up growth’ after the challenge. Biomarkers for future research were identified in the parameters feed intake, body weight and growth rate, and in immunological, physiological and metabolic parameters, several of these differing most pronounced after the challeng

Breeding for improved welfare in pigs: a conceptual framework and its use in practice

Welfare of animals can be defined as the kind of feelings the environmental conditions bring about in the animals. These feelings depend on the needs of the animals and their degree of satisfaction. Needs of animals, and so their welfare, are partly genetically determined. Therefore, welfare can be changed by breeding. The aim of this study was to investigate how welfare of pigs under modern intensive farm conditions can be improved by genetic selection, with emphasis on the precise definition of the breeding goal and determination of the animal characteristics on which selection can be based in practice. The existing thermoregulation model was used to develop a conceptual framework that describes welfare of growing pigs and production sows with respect to each of their needs as a curvilinear function of the respective environmental conditions. The framework assumes that welfare in terms of feelings is reflected by the physiological and behavioural mechanisms the pig has to activate in order to cope with the various environmental conditions it encounters. Based on those physiological and behavioural responses to changing conditions, five welfare zones can be distinguished for each need. Breeding goals for welfare were defined in terms of the transition points between these welfare zones, such that future pigs would better cope with unfavourable or unfamiliar farming conditions, therewith quickening the domestication process, to some extent. However, as long as genetic parameters for these transition points are not available, more common welfare-related characteristics like temperament, stress resistance and robustness can be included in the breeding goal, as an alternative. For selection among potential breeding candidates, transition points between welfare zones can be determined in sib tests, thereby also collecting the data for estimating genetic parameters. As a cheaper alternative, breeding candidates could be tested under hard conditions and selected on their coping success. In addition, various behavioural tests and operant conditioning tests ( to test a pig's motivation to change its actual environment) can be carried out. Under common conditions on the farm, problems associated with coping (like incidences of diseases, injuries, and stereotypies) and/or other relevant traits ( e. g. saliva cortisol levels, longevity and even production traits) should be recorded routinely and used as selection index information. Selection for improved welfare should lead to more tolerant pigs that are better able to cope with possible unfavourable farm conditions by a more efficient use of the adaptation mechanisms they already possess. It should, however, not result in lowering husbandry standards. More research is needed to assess genetic correlations among various welfare aspects and with production traits to prevent undesired side effects in future populations of pigs

Orvieto, Angiolo

Objective. Although regular physical activity is an effective secondary prevention strategy for patients with a chronic disease, it is unclear whether patients change their daily physical activity after being diagnosed. Therefore, the aims of this study were to (1) describe changes in levels of physical activity in middle-aged women before and after diagnosis with a chronic disease (heart disease, diabetes, asthma, breast cancer, arthritis, depression); and to (2) examine whether diagnosis with a chronic disease affects levels of physical activity in these women. Methods. Data from 5 surveys (1998-2010) of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) were used. Participants (N = 4840, born 1946-1951) completed surveys every three years, with questions about diseases and leisure time physical activity. The main outcome measure was physical activity, categorized as: nil/sedentary, low active, moderately active, highly active. Results. At each survey approximately half the middle-aged women did not meet the recommended level of physical activity. Between consecutive surveys, 41%-46% of the women did not change, 24%-30% decreased, and 24%-31% increased their physical activity level. These proportions of change were similar directly after diagnosis with a chronic disease, and in the years before or after diagnosis. Generalized estimating equations showed that there was no statistically significant effect of diagnosis with a chronic disease on levels of physical activity in women. Conclusion. Despite the importance of physical activity for the management of chronic diseases, most women did not increase their physical activity after diagnosis. This illustrates a need for tailored interventions to enhance physical activity in newly diagnosed patients. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Noise Minimization in Cell-Free Gene Expression

Biochemical reactions that involve small numbers of molecules are accompanied by a degree of inherent randomness that results in noisy reaction outcomes. In synthetic biology, the ability to minimize noise particularly during the reconstitution of future synthetic protocells is an outstanding challenge to secure robust and reproducible behavior. Here we show that by encapsulation of a bacterial cell-free gene expression system in water-in-oil droplets, in vitro-synthesized MazF reduces cell-free gene expression noise &gt;2-fold. With stochastic simulations we identify that this noise minimization acts through both increased degradation and the autoregulatory feedback of MazF. Specifically, we find that the expression of MazF enhances the degradation rate of mRNA up to 18-fold in a sequence-dependent manner. This sequence specificity of MazF would allow targeted noise control, making it ideal to integrate into synthetic gene networks. Therefore, including MazF production in synthetic biology can significantly minimize gene expression noise, impacting future design principles of more complex cell-free gene circuits.</p

Macrocyclization of enzyme-based supramolecular polymers

AB type monomers for supramolecular polymers have been developed based on the strong and reversible noncovalent interaction between ribonuclease S-peptide (A) and S-protein (B), resulting in an active enzyme complex as the linking unit. Two AB-type protein constructs are synthesized differing in the length of the flexible oligo(ethylene glycol) spacer separating the two end groups. Using an experimental setup where size exclusion chromatography is directly coupled to Q-TOF mass spectrometry, we have analyzed the self-assembled architectures as a function of concentration. The theory of macrocyclization under thermodynamic control is used to quantitatively analyze the experimental data. Using this theory, we show that AB-type monomers linked by flexible linkers grow reversibly via ring-chain competition. Inherently the formation of linear polymeric assemblies is beyond the capability of these types of building blocks due to concentration limits of proteins. The results therefore contribute to the general understanding of supramolecular polymerization with biological building blocks and demonstrate design requirements for monomers if linear polymerization is desired