How to Improve the Functional Capacity of Frail and Pre-Frail Elderly People? Health, Nutritional Status and Exercise Intervention. The EXERNET-Elder 3.0 Project

Aging is associated with the impairment of health and functional capacity, and physical exercise seems to be an effective tool in frailty prevention and treatment. The purpose of this study was to present the methodology used in the EXERNET-Elder 3.0 project that aims to evaluate the immediate and residual effects and of a multicomponent exercise training program called Elder-fit on frailty, fitness, body composition and quality of life, and also to analyse a possible dietary intake interaction according to health and metabolic status. A total of 110 frail and pre-frail elders participated in this study and were divided into a control group (CG = 52) and an intervention group (IG = 58). The IG performed a supervised multicomponent exercise training program of 6 months and 3 days per week, which included strength, endurance, balance, coordination and flexibility exercises, while the CG continued with their usual daily activities. Both groups received four speeches about healthy habits along the project. Four evaluations were performed: at baseline, after 3 months of training, at the end of the training program (6 months) and 4 months after the program had ended to examine the effects of detraining. Evaluating the efficacy, safety and feasibility of this program will help to develop efficacious physical interventions against frailty. Further, protocols should be described accurately to allow exercise programs to be successfully replicated

"Fat but powerful'' paradox: association of muscle power and adiposity markers with all-cause mortality in older adults from the EXERNET multicentre study

Objectives: To assess the influence of muscle power and adiposity on all-cause mortality risk and to evaluate the fat but powerful'' (F+P) (or fat but fit'') paradox in older adults. Methods: A total of 2563 older adults (65 €''91 years old) from the EXERNET multicentre study were included. Adiposity (body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, body fat percentage (BF%) and fat index), allometric and relative power (sit-to-stand muscle power test) and various covariates (age, sex, hypertension, smoking status and walking and sitting times per day) were registered at baseline. All-cause mortality was recorded during a median follow-up of 8.9 years. Participants were classified into four groups: lean and powerful (L+P), F+P, lean but weak and fat and weak (F+W). Cox proportional hazard regression models and adjusted HRs were calculated. Results: According to BMI and waist circumference, all-cause mortality risk was reduced in the F+P (HR=0.55 and 0.63, p=0.044 and 0.049, respectively) and L+P (HR=0.57 and 0.58, p=0.043 and 0.025, respectively) groups. According to BF%, all-cause mortality decreased in the L+P group (HR=0.53; p=0.021), and a trend for a reduction was reported in the F+P group (HR=0.57; p=0.060). According to fat index, a survival benefit was only noted in the L+P group (HR=0.50; p=0.049). Higher levels of relative power reduced all-cause mortality risk among older people (HR=0.63 and 0.53, p=0.006 and 0.011, respectively). Conclusion: Powerful older people exhibited a reduced 9-year all-cause mortality regardless of BMI, waist circumference and BF%. Obesity according to fat index blunted the survival benefits of being powerful

KELT-20b: A Giant Planet With A Period Of P ~ 3.5 Days Transiting The V ~ 7.6 Early A Star HD 185603

We report the discovery of KELT-20b, a hot Jupiter transiting a early A star, HD 185603, with an orbital period of days. Archival and follow-up photometry, Gaia parallax, radial velocities, Doppler tomography, and AO imaging were used to confirm the planetary nature of KELT-20b and characterize the system. From global modeling we infer that KELT-20 is a rapidly rotating ( ) A2V star with an effective temperature of K, mass of , radius of , surface gravity of , and age of . The planetary companion has a radius of , a semimajor axis of au, and a linear ephemeris of . We place a upper limit of on the mass of the planet. Doppler tomographic measurements indicate that the planetary orbit normal is well aligned with the projected spin axis of the star ( ). The inclination of the star is constrained to , implying a three-dimensional spin–orbit alignment of . KELT-20b receives an insolation flux of , implying an equilibrium temperature of of ∼2250 K, assuming zero albedo and complete heat redistribution. Due to the high stellar , KELT-20b also receives an ultraviolet (wavelength nm) insolation flux of , possibly indicating significant atmospheric ablation. Together with WASP-33, Kepler-13 A, HAT-P-57, KELT-17, and KELT-9, KELT-20 is the sixth A star host of a transiting giant planet, and the third-brightest host (in V ) of a transiting planet

Neonatal infrared thermography images in the hypothermic ruminant model: Anatomical-morphological-physiological aspects and mechanisms for thermoregulation

Hypothermia is one factor associated with mortality in newborn ruminants due to the drastic temperature change upon exposure to the extrauterine environment in the first hours after birth. Ruminants are precocial whose mechanisms for generating heat or preventing heat loss involve genetic characteristics, the degree of neurodevelopment at birth and environmental aspects. These elements combine to form a more efficient mechanism than those found in altricial species. Although the degree of neurodevelopment is an important advantage for these species, their greater mobility helps them to search for the udder and consume colostrum after birth. However, anatomical differences such as the distribution of adipose tissue or the presence of type II muscle fibers could lead to the understanding that these species use their energy resources more efficiently for heat production. The introduction of unconventional ruminant species, such as the water buffalo, has led to rethinking other characteristics like the skin thickness or the coat type that could intervene in the thermoregulation capacity of the newborn. Implementing tools to analyze species-specific characteristics that help prevent a critical decline in temperature is deemed a fundamental strategy for avoiding the adverse effects of a compromised thermoregulatory function. Although thermography is a non-invasive method to assess superficial temperature in several non-human animal species, in newborn ruminants there is limited information about its application, making it necessary to discuss the usefulness of this tool. This review aims to analyze the effects of hypothermia in newborn ruminants, their thermoregulation mechanisms that compensate for this condition, and the application of infrared thermography (IRT) to identify cases with hypothermia

BRIVA-LIFE–A multicenter retrospective study of the long-term use of brivaracetam in clinical practice

Objectives: Evaluate long-term effectiveness and tolerability of brivaracetam in clinical practice in patients with focal epilepsy. Materials and Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective study. Patients aged =16 years were started on brivaracetam from November 2016 to June 2017 and followed over 1 year. Data were obtained from medical records at 3, 6 and 12 months after treatment initiation for evaluation of safety- and seizure-related outcomes. Results: A total of 575 patients were included in analyses; most had been treated with =4 lifetime antiepileptic drugs. Target dosage was achieved by 30.6% of patients on the first day. Analysis of primary variables at 12 months revealed that mean reduction in seizure frequency was 36.0%, 39.7% of patients were =50% responders and 17.5% were seizure-free. Seizure-freedom was achieved by 37.5% of patients aged =65 years. Incidence of adverse events (AEs) and psychiatric AEs (PAEs) was 39.8% and 14.3%, respectively, and discontinuation due to these was 8.9% and 3.7%, respectively. Somnolence, irritability, and dizziness were the most frequently reported AEs. At baseline, 228 (39.7%) patients were being treated with levetiracetam; most switched to brivaracetam (dose ratio 1:10-15). Among those who switched because of PAEs (n = 53), 9 (17%) reported PAEs on brivaracetam, and 3 (5.7%) discontinued because of PAEs. Tolerability was not highly affected among patients with learning disability or psychiatric comorbidity. Conclusions: In a large population of patients with predominantly drug-resistant epilepsy, brivaracetam was effective and well-tolerated; no unexpected AEs occurred over 1 year, and the incidence of PAEs was lower compared with levetiracetam

First joint observations of space weather events over Mexico

Abstract. The Mexican Space Weather Service (SCiESMEX in Spanish) and National Space Weather Laboratory (LANCE in Spanish) were organized in 2014 and in 2016, respectively, to provide space weather monitoring and alerts, as well as scientific research in Mexico. In this work, we presenttheresultsofthefirstjointobservationsoftwoevents (22 June and 29 September 2015) with our local network of instruments and their related products. This network includes the MEXART radio telescope (solar flare and radio burst), the Compact Astronomical Low-frequency, Low-cost Instrument for Spectroscopy in Transportable Observatories (CALLISTO)attheMEXARTstation(solarradioburst),the Mexico City Cosmic Ray Observatory (cosmic ray fluxes), GPS receiver networks (ionospheric disturbances), and the Teoloyucan Geomagnetic Observatory (geomagnetic field). The observations show that we detected significant space weather effects over the Mexican territory: geomagnetic and ionospheric disturbances (22 June 2015), variations in cosmicrayfluxes,andalsoradiocommunications’interferences (29September2015).Theeffectsoftheseperturbationswere registered,forthefirsttime,usingspaceweatherproductsby SCiESMEX:totalelectroncontent(TEC)maps,regionalgeomagneticindexKmex,radiospectrographsoflowfrequency, and cosmic ray fluxes. These results prove the importance of monitoring space weather phenomena in the region and the need to strengthening the instrumentation network

Martian Atmospheric Temperature and Density Profiles During the First Year of NOMAD/TGO Solar Occultation Measurements

We present vertical profiles of temperature and density from solar occultation (SO) observations by the “Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery” (NOMAD) spectrometer on board the Trace Gas Orbiter during its first operational year, which covered the second half of Mars Year 34. We used calibrated transmittance spectra in 380 scans, and apply an in-house pre-processing to clean data systematics. Temperature and CO2 profiles up to about 90 km, with consistent hydrostatic adjustment, are obtained, after adapting an Earth-tested retrieval scheme to Mars conditions. Both pre-processing and retrieval are discussed to illustrate their performance and robustness. Our results reveal the large impact of the MY34 Global Dust Storm (GDS), which warmed the atmosphere at all altitudes. The large GDS aerosols opacity limited the sounding of tropospheric layers. The retrieved temperatures agree well with global climate models (GCM) at tropospheric altitudes, but NOMAD mesospheric temperatures are wavier and globally colder by 10 K in the perihelion season, particularly during the GDS and its decay phase. We observe a warm layer around 80 km during the Southern Spring, especially in the Northern Hemisphere morning terminator, associated to large thermal tides, significantly stronger than in the GCM. Cold mesospheric pockets, close to CO2 condensation temperatures, are more frequently observed than in the GCM. NOMAD CO2 densities show oscillations upon a seasonal trend that track well the latitudinal variations expected. Results uncertainties and suggestions to improve future data re-analysis are briefly discussed