197 research outputs found
Effects of physical exercise interventions in frail older adults: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials
[Abstract] Background: Low physical activity has been shown to be one of the most common components of frailty, and
interventions have been considered to prevent or reverse this syndrome. The purpose of this systematic review
of randomized, controlled trials is to examine the exercise interventions to manage frailty in older people.
Methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched
using specific keywords and Medical Subject Headings for randomized, controlled trials published during the period of
2003–2015, which enrolled frail older adults in an exercise intervention program. Studies where frailty had been defined
were included in the review. A narrative synthesis approach was performed to examine the results. The Physiotherapy
Evidence Database (PEDro scale) was used to assess the methodological quality of the selected studies.
Results: Of 507 articles, nine papers met the inclusion criteria. Of these, six included multi-component exercise
interventions (aerobic and resistance training not coexisting in the intervention), one included physical comprehensive
training, and two included exercises based on strength training. All nine of these trials included a control group receiving
no treatment, maintaining their habitual lifestyle or using a home-based low level exercise program. Five investigated the
effects of exercise on falls, and among them, three found a positive impact of exercise interventions on this
parameter. Six trials reported the effects of exercise training on several aspects of mobility, and among them, four
showed enhancements in several measurements of this outcome. Three trials focused on the effects of exercise
intervention on balance performance, and one demonstrated enhanced balance. Four trials investigated functional ability,
and two showed positive results after the intervention. Seven trials investigated the effects of exercise intervention on
muscle strength, and five of them reported increases; three trials investigated the effects of exercise training on body
composition, finding improvements in this parameter in two of them; finally, one trial investigated the effects of exercise
on frailty using Fried’s criteria and found an improvement in this measurement. Exercise interventions have demonstrated
improvement in different outcome measurements in frail older adults, however, there were large differences between
studies with regard to effect sizes.
Conclusions: This systematic review suggested that frail older adults seemed to benefit from exercise interventions,
although the optimal program remains unclear. More studies of this topic and with frail populations are needed to select
the most favorable exercise program
The prevalence of bronchiectasis in patients with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency: initial report of EARCO
Background: Although bronchiectasis has been recognised as a feature of some patients with Alpha1-Antitrypsin deficiency the prevalence and characteristics are not widely known. We wished to determine the prevalence of bronchiectasis and patient characteristics. The first cohort of patients recruited to the EARCO (European Alpha1 Research Collaboration) International Registry data base by the end of 2021 was analysed for radiological evidence of both emphysema and bronchiectasis as well as baseline demographic features.
Results: Of the first 505 patients with the PiZZ genotype entered into the data base 418 (82.8%) had a reported CT scan. There were 77 (18.4%) with a normal scan and 38 (9.1%) with bronchiectasis alone. These 2 groups were predominantly female never smokers and had lung function in the normal range. The remaining 303 (72.5%) ZZ patients all had emphysema on the scan and 113 (27%) had additional evidence of bronchiectasis.
Conclusions: The data indicates the bronchiectasis alone is a feature of 9.1% of patients with the PiZZ genotype of Alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency but although emphysema is the dominant lung pathology bronchiectasis is also present in 27% of emphysema cases and may require a different treatment strategy
Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set
We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s
using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays
in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at
production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton
collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment
at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity.
We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the
B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2,
-1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in
agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model
value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +-
0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by
other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012
Molecular basis of caspase-1 polymerization and its inhibition by a new capping mechanism
Inflammasomes are cytosolic caspase-1-activation complexes that sense intrinsic and extrinsic danger signals, and trigger inflammatory responses and pyroptotic cell death. Homotypic interactions among Pyrin domains and caspase recruitment domains (CARDs) in inflammasome-complex components mediate oligomerization into filamentous assemblies. Several cytosolic proteins consisting of only interaction domains exert inhibitory effects on inflammasome assembly. In this study, we determined the structure of the human caspase-1 CARD domain (caspase-1[superscript CARD]) filament by cryo-electron microscopy and investigated the biophysical properties of two caspase-1-like CARD-only proteins: human inhibitor of CARD (INCA or CARD17) and ICEBERG (CARD18). Our results reveal that INCA caps caspase-1 filaments, thereby exerting potent inhibition with low-nanomolar K[subscript i] on caspase-1[superscript CARD] polymerization in vitro and inflammasome activation in cells. Whereas caspase-1[superscript CARD] uses six complementary surfaces of three types for filament assembly, INCA is defective in two of the six interfaces and thus terminates the caspase-1 filament
Co-infection with Bartonella bacilliformis and Mycobacterium spp. in a coastal region of Peru
Abstract Objective This study investigated an outbreak of Bartonellosis in a coastal region in Peru. Results A total of 70 (n = 70) samples with clinical criteria for the acute phase of Bartonellosis and a positive peripheral blood smear were included. 22.85% (n = 16) cases of the samples were positive for Bartonella bacilliformis by PCR and automatic sequencing. Of those positive samples, 62.5% (n = 10) cases were positive only for B. bacilliformis and 37.5% (n = 6) cases were positive to both Mycobacterium spp. and B. bacilliformis. The symptom frequencies were similar in patients diagnosed with Carrion’s disease and those co-infected with Mycobacterium spp. The most common symptoms were headaches, followed by malaise and arthralgia
Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species
Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict thatmost of the world’s >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century
First measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry in bottom-quark pair production at high mass
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation; the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; the National Science Council of the Republic of China; the Swiss National Science Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; the Bundesministerium fĂĽr Bildung und Forschung, Germany; the Korean World Class University Program, the National Research Foundation of Korea; the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Royal Society, United Kingdom; the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; the Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciĂłn, and Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010, Spain; the Slovak R&D Agency; the Academy of Finland; the Australian Research Council; and the EU community Marie Curie Fellowship Contract No. 302103
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