Physical Fitness and Frailty in Males after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Childhood: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study

Purpose and methods: To analyze physical fitness, physical activity and the prevalence of frailty in male long-term survivors of pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We performed a Nordic two-center study of 98 male survivors (mean age 28.7 years, range 18.5–47.0) treated with pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) 1980–2010 in denmark or finland. physical fitness was evaluated by the dominant hand grip-strength, timed up-and-go, sit-to-stand, gait speed and two-minute walk tests. Results: Survivors presented significantly lower muscle strength and muscle endurance in the dominant hand-grip strength (median Z-score −0.7, range −4.3–3.9) and sit-to-stand tests (median Z-score −1.5, range −3.5–2.5) compared to age and sex matched normative values of the tests. However, mobility and gait speed were not affected on a group level. The prevalence of frailty (pre-frail 20% or frail 10%) was high among the survivors. In multiple regression analysis, chronic graft-versus-host disease, shorter stature, higher body fat mass and hazardous drinking predicted prefrail/frail status. Common cardiovascular risk factors, such as increased levels of serum triglycerides, higher resting heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, were associated with lower physical fitness. Conclusion: Low muscle strength and a high incidence of frailty were observed in survivors of pediatric HSCT. There is a predominant risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in the long-term

Physical Fitness and Frailty in Males after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Childhood : A Long-Term Follow-Up Study

Simple Summary The prevalence of frailty is increased among young adult childhood cancer survivors and is associated with early morbidity and mortality. The aim of our study was to analyze physical fitness, physical activity and the prevalence of frailty in male long-term survivors of pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We observed significantly lower muscle strength and muscle endurance in the hand-grip and sit-to-stand tests compared to the age and sex matched normative reference values of the tests. Furthermore, 30% of the survivors were considered pre-frail or frail. Chronic graft-versus-host disease, shorter stature, higher body fat mass and hazardous drinking predicted prefrail/frail status. Common cardiovascular risk factors were associated with poor physical fitness and low physical activity level. These results indicate a need for cardiometabolic follow up as well as health education in the decades following HSCT. Purpose and methods: To analyze physical fitness, physical activity and the prevalence of frailty in male long-term survivors of pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We performed a Nordic two-center study of 98 male survivors (mean age 28.7 years, range 18.5-47.0) treated with pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) 1980-2010 in denmark or finland. physical fitness was evaluated by the dominant hand grip-strength, timed up-and-go, sit-to-stand, gait speed and two-minute walk tests. Results: Survivors presented significantly lower muscle strength and muscle endurance in the dominant hand-grip strength (median Z-score -0.7, range -4.3-3.9) and sit-to-stand tests (median Z-score -1.5, range -3.5-2.5) compared to age and sex matched normative values of the tests. However, mobility and gait speed were not affected on a group level. The prevalence of frailty (pre-frail 20% or frail 10%) was high among the survivors. In multiple regression analysis, chronic graft-versus-host disease, shorter stature, higher body fat mass and hazardous drinking predicted prefrail/frail status. Common cardiovascular risk factors, such as increased levels of serum triglycerides, higher resting heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, were associated with lower physical fitness. Conclusion: Low muscle strength and a high incidence of frailty were observed in survivors of pediatric HSCT. There is a predominant risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in the long-term.Peer reviewe

Physical Fitness and Frailty in Males after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Childhood: A Long-Term Follow-Up Study

Purpose and methods: To analyze physical fitness, physical activity and the prevalence of frailty in male long-term survivors of pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We performed a Nordic two-center study of 98 male survivors (mean age 28.7 years, range 18.5–47.0) treated with pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) 1980–2010 in denmark or finland. physical fitness was evaluated by the dominant hand grip-strength, timed up-and-go, sit-to-stand, gait speed and two-minute walk tests. Results: Survivors presented significantly lower muscle strength and muscle endurance in the dominant hand-grip strength (median Z-score −0.7, range −4.3–3.9) and sit-to-stand tests (median Z-score −1.5, range −3.5–2.5) compared to age and sex matched normative values of the tests. However, mobility and gait speed were not affected on a group level. The prevalence of frailty (pre-frail 20% or frail 10%) was high among the survivors. In multiple regression analysis, chronic graft-versus-host disease, shorter stature, higher body fat mass and hazardous drinking predicted prefrail/frail status. Common cardiovascular risk factors, such as increased levels of serum triglycerides, higher resting heart rate and diastolic blood pressure, were associated with lower physical fitness. Conclusion: Low muscle strength and a high incidence of frailty were observed in survivors of pediatric HSCT. There is a predominant risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in the long-term

The stratigraphy and chronology of the fluvial sediments at Warsash, UK: implications for the Palaeolithic archaeology of the River Test

This paper reports new fieldwork at Warsash which clarifies the terrace stratigraphic framework of the Palaeolithic archaeology of the region. Sections were recorded in former gravel pits and at coastal locations, supplemented by the use of ground penetrating radar and luminescence dating techniques. The region’s extensive borehole archive was also analysed to produce a revised terrace stratigraphy at Warsash and for the Test valley as a whole. At Warsash, some of the sediments previously identified as the Mottisfont/Lower Warsash Terrace are reassigned to the Hamble, Belbin/Upper Warsash and Ganger Wood/Mallards Moor Terraces. A luminescence dating programme, using test procedures not utilised in earlier dating studies in the region, yielded age estimates for the Hamble and Mottisfont/Lower Warsash Terraces at Warsash and also highlighted the complicated nature of the fluvial sediments of the River Test, suggesting that published luminescence ages for these deposits should be treated with some caution. This study indicates that the data used to construct terrace stratigraphies also requires careful assessment. The use of bedrock height and sediment thickness data produces more coherent long profile correlations than those produced by terrace surface data alone. The revised terrace stratigraphy provides the framework for the Palaeolithic archaeology at Warsash and clarifies correlations within and between archaeologically important sediments of the Test Valley, enabling it to contribute to discussions on the Lower-Middle Pleistocene settlement history of southern Britain

Early Ipswichian (last interglacial) sea level rise in the channel region : Stone Point Site of Special Scientific Interest, Hampshire, England

Constraining the speed of sea level rise at the start of an interglacial is important to understanding the size of the ‘window of opportunity’ available for hominin migration. This is particularly important during the last interglacial when there is no evidence for significant hominin occupation anywhere in Britain. There are very few finer grained fossiliferous sequences in the Channel region that can be used to constrain sea level rise and they are preserved only to the north of the Channel, in England. Of these, the sequence at Stone Point SSSI is by far the most complete. Data from this sequence has been previously reported, and discussed at a Quaternary Research Association Field Meeting, where a number of further questions were raised that necessitated further data generation. In this paper, we report new data from this sequence – thin section analysis, isotopic determinations on ostracod shells, new Optical Stimulated Luminescence ages and Amino Acid Recem analyses. These show early sea level rise in this sequence, starting during the pre-temperate vegetation zone IpI, but no early warming. The implications of this almost certainly last interglacial sequence for the human colonisation of Britain and our understanding of the stratigraphic relationship of interglacial estuarine deposits with their related fluvial terrace sequences is explored

The refinement of the automated TL dating procedure and perspectives for the archaeological application of the method as demonstrated by the results from sites of known age

The use of an automated reader for thermoluminescence dating at Ris0 has already been described at last year's Symposium and at the Specialist TL Seminar in Oxford in July 1978. Further refinements to the dating method are described here including the necessity for a separate beta source calibration for each individual sample and the use of a scintillation counter as a new method of determining the on-site background gamma dose. The results of a TL dating programme on a number of well -dated Danish archaeological excavation sites are then presented and the TL ages are compared, where possible, to the known ages obtained from other dating methods. The perspectives for the further archaeological application of the method are then discussed.L'application d'un appareil automatisé pour la datation par thermoluminescence à Ris0 a déjà été décrite au symposium de l'année dernière et au "Specialist TL Seminar" à Oxford, juillet 1978. Des raffinements supplémentaires à la méthode de datation sont décrits ici, y compris la nécessité de faire un étalonnage de la source beta pour chaque échantillon et l'application d'un compteur de scintillations pour déterminer la dose gamma d'un gisement. Les résultats d'un programme de datation par TL d'un nombre de gisements archéologiques danois bien datés sont présentés et les âges TL sont comparés avec les âges connus, obtenus par d'autres méthodes de datation. Ensuite, les perspectives pour l'application de la méthode TL pour datation sont discutées.Bell W. T., Mejdahl Vagn, Winther-Nielsen M. The refinement of the automated TL dating procedure and perspectives for the archaeological application of the method as demonstrated by the results from sites of known age. In: Revue d'Archéométrie, n°4, 1980. pp. 127-137