Self‐Acupressure for Older Adults With Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141019/1/acr23262_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/141019/2/acr23262.pd

Feasibility of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Self-Administered Acupressure for Symptom Management in Older Adults with Knee Osteoarthritis

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of a study to evaluate the efficacy of self-administered acupressure in pain and related symptom management for older people with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Feasibility with regard to (1) sample recruitment and retention, (2) treatment fidelity and adherence, and (3) tolerability and adverse events was examined. Methods: The study was a randomized controlled trial. Community-living older adults were recruited and randomly assigned to one of three groups: verum acupressure, sham acupressure, and usual care. Participants in the first two groups learned their respective acupressure protocol during their first center visit and from a set of materials. They were asked to practice the protocol at home once daily, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks. Participants attended three center visits and received weekly phone calls from a research assistant in an 8-week study period. Both quantitative and qualitative data collected from center visits and weekly phone calls were used to examine study feasibility. Results: A total of 150 participants (mean age, 73 years; 38% men) were enrolled; 83% completed all three center visits. Among those assigned to verum and sham acupressure groups, 94% passed a fidelity check at the second visit, more than 80% reported performing self-administered acupressure as instructed most of the time, and about 10% reported discomfort from performing the acupressure. Thirty adverse events were reported; most were related to pre-existing health conditions. Conclusions: It is feasible to conduct a study of self-administered acupressure for symptom management in community-living older adults with knee osteoarthritis, although sample recruitment may be challenging.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140088/1/acm.2015.0231.pd

Environmental Impact Assessment process for deep-sea mining in ‘the Area’

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is key to the robust environmental management of industrial projects; it is used to anticipate, assess and reduce environmental and social risks of a project. It is instrumental in project planning and execution, and often required for financing and regulatory approval to be granted. The International Seabed Authority currently requires an EIA for deep-sea mining (DSM) in areas beyond national jurisdiction (the Area), but the existing regulations present only a portion of a robust EIA process. This article presents an ideal EIA process for DSM, drawing upon the application of EIA from allied industries. It contains screening, scoping and assessment phases, along with the development of an environmental management plan. It also includes external review by experts, stakeholder consultation, and regulatory review. Lessons learned from application of EIA elsewhere are discussed in relation to DSM, including the integration of EIA into UK domestic law, and the reception of EIAs prepared for seabed ore extraction in the Exclusive Economic Zones of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Finally, four main challenges of implementing the EIA process to DSM in the Area are presented: 1) EIA process for DSM needs to incorporate mechanisms to address uncertainty; 2) detailed requirements for the EIA process phases should be made clear; 3) mechanisms are needed to ensure that the EIA influences decision making; and, 4) the EIA process requires substantial input and involvement from the regulator

Antioxidant activity and characterization of whey protein-based beverages: Effect of shelf life and gastrointestinal transit on bioactivity

Whey proteins can exhibit antioxidant activity. The objectives of this study were to formulate model whey based beverages with well-established antioxidants (plant polyphenols, vitamins and astaxanthin) to investigate (1) the antioxidant shelf life over a 24-week period and (2) the antioxidant activity after upper gastrointestinal transit. Pilot scale processing (pasteurization, ultra-high temperature or spray drying) was used to prepare beverages which were representative of current product formats. In vitro gastrointestinal digestion of test samples was performed using the standardised INFOGEST method and antioxidant activity of samples was determined using ABTS, FRAP and ORAC. Results from the antioxidant shelf life study provided evidence that powder products functionality was preserved. Whey beverages (pasteurised or spray dried) increased or maintained antioxidant activity during gastrointestinal transit. Combination of whey with additional antioxidant ingredients increased the bioactivity of formulated products; however, this greater bioactivity was altered after gastrointestinal transit, depending on processing type and antioxidant methodology. Industrial relevance: Whey protein-based antioxidant beverages could benefit the elderly consumer to meet their increased protein requirements and boost their antioxidant status. Consumer's acceptance for whey protein-based beverages often improves with clear formulations. This work generated whey protein-based UHT beverages with greater stability and clarity than pasteurised formulations. A novel combination of plant and marine antioxidants increased antioxidant activity of whey protein-based formulations. Furthermore, to suit export markets this work generated spray dried whey protein formulations that did not alter antioxidant potentialThis work was funded by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, FIRM 13F354-WheyGSH and 15F604-TOMI). A. R. Corrochano was in receipt of a Teagasc Walsh Fellowship. E. Arranz also received funding from Enterprise Ireland (MF2018-0151) and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 71365

Mechanical properties of α-tricalcium phosphate-based bone cements incorporating regenerative biomaterials for filling bone defects exposed to low mechanical loads

Calcium phosphate-based cements with enhanced regenerative potential are promising biomaterials for the healing of bone defects. With a view to the use of such cements for low load bearing applications such as sinus augmentation or filling extraction sites, we have prepared α-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP)-based bone cements including materials that we would expect to improve their regenerative potential, and describe the mechanical properities of the resulting formulations herein. Formulations incorporated α-TCP, hydroxyapatite, biopolymer-thickened wetting agents, sutures, and platelet poor plasma. The mechanical properties of the composites were composition dependent, and optimized formulations had clinically relevant mechanical properties. Such calcium phosphate-based cements have potential as replacements for cements such as those based on polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)

A Pooled Genome-Wide Association Study of Asperger Syndrome.

Asperger Syndrome (AS) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication, alongside the presence of unusually repetitive, restricted interests and stereotyped behaviour. Individuals with AS have no delay in cognitive and language development. It is a subset of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC), which are highly heritable and has a population prevalence of approximately 1%. Few studies have investigated the genetic basis of AS. To address this gap in the literature, we performed a genome-wide pooled DNA association study to identify candidate loci in 612 individuals (294 cases and 318 controls) of Caucasian ancestry, using the Affymetrix GeneChip Human Mapping version 6.0 array. We identified 11 SNPs that had a p-value below 1x10-5. These SNPs were independently genotyped in the same sample. Three of the SNPs (rs1268055, rs7785891 and rs2782448) were nominally significant, though none remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Two of our top three SNPs (rs7785891 and rs2782448) lie in loci previously implicated in ASC. However, investigation of the three SNPs in the ASC genome-wide association dataset from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium indicated that these three SNPs were not significantly associated with ASC. The effect sizes of the variants were modest, indicating that our study was not sufficiently powered to identify causal variants with precision.This work was funded by grants to SBC from the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK, Target Autism Genome, and the Autism Research Trust (ART). LM and SEF were supported by the Max Planck Society. VW is funded by St. John’s College, Cambridge and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from PLoS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.013120

Parameter identification through mode isolation for reaction-diffusion systems on arbitrary geometries

We present a computational framework for isolating spatial patterns arising in the steady states of reaction-diffusion systems. Such systems have been used to model many natural phenomena in areas such as developmental and cancer biology, cell motility and material science. In many of these applications, often one is interested in identifying parameters which will lead to a particular pattern for a given reaction-diffusion model. To attempt to answer this, we compute eigenpairs of the Laplacian on a variety of do- mains and use linear stability analysis to determine parameter values for the system that will lead to spatially inhomogeneous steady states whose patterns correspond to particular eigenfunctions. This method has previously been used on domains and surfaces where the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are found analytically in closed form. Our contribution to this methodology is that we numerically compute eigenpairs on arbitrary domains and surfaces. Here we present examples and demonstrate that mode isolation is straightforward especially for low eigenvalues. Additionally we see that the inhomogeneous steady state can be a linear combination of eigenfunctions. Finally we show an example suggesting that pattern formation is robust on similar surfaces in cases that the surface either has or does not have a boundary

One hundred mosaic embryos transferred prospectively in a single clinic: exploring when and why they result in healthy pregnancies

Objective To investigate the parameters of mosaicism and the biological mechanisms leading to healthy pregnancies from mosaic embryo transfers. Design Prospective study. Setting IVF center and associated research laboratory. Patient(s) Fifty-nine patients. Intervention(s) Embryos underwent blastocyst-stage preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy by next-generation sequencing. Trophectoderm biopsies containing 20%–80% abnormal cells were deemed mosaic, and corresponding blastocysts were transferred. Mosaic embryos donated to research were examined for karyotype concordance in multiple biopsies and assessed for cell proliferation and death by immunofluorescence and computational quantitation. Main Outcome Measure(s) Chemical start of pregnancy, implantation, fetal heartbeat, and birth. Result(s) Globally, mosaic embryos showed inferior clinical outcomes compared with euploid embryos. Aneuploid cell percentage in trophectoderm biopsies did not correlate with outcomes, but type of mosaicism did, as embryos with single mosaic segmental aneuploidies fared better than all other types. Mosaic blastocysts generated from oocytes retrieved at young maternal ages (?34 years) showed better outcomes than those retrieved at older maternal ages. Mosaic embryos displayed low rates of karyotype concordance between multiple biopsies and showed significant elevation of cell proliferation and death compared with euploid embryos. Conclusion(s) After euploid embryos, mosaic embryos can be considered for transfer, prioritizing those of the single segmental mosaic type. If a patient has mosaic embryos available that were generated at different ages, preference should be given to those made at younger ages. Intrablastocyst karyotype discordance and differential cell proliferation and death might be reasons that embryos classified as mosaic can result in healthy pregnancies and babies