Musical feedback system Jymmin leads to enhanced physical endurance in the elderly: A feasibility study

Background and objectives: Active music-making in combination with physical exercise has evoked several positive effects in users of different age groups. These include enhanced mood, muscular effectivity, pain threshold, and decreased perceived exertion. The present study tested the applicability of this musical feedback system, called Jymmin®, in combination with strength-endurance exercises in a population of healthy older adults. Research design and methods: Sixteen healthy, physically inactive older adults (5 males, 11 females) at the mean age of 70 years performed physical exercise in two conditions: A conventional work-out while listening passively music and a Jymmin® work-out, where musical sounds were created with one's work-out movements. According to the hypothesis that strength-endurance is increased during musical feedback exercise, parameters relating to strength-endurance were assessed, including exercise duration, number of repetitions, perceived exertion (RPE), and participants' mental state (Multidimensional Mood State Questionnaire; MDMQ). Results: Results show that participants exercised significantly longer while doing Jymmin® (Mdn = 248.75 s) as compared to the conventional work-out (Mdn = 182.73 s), (Z = 3.408, p = 0.001). The RPE did not differ between conventional work-out and the Jymmin® condition, even though participants worked out significantly longer during the Jymmin® condition (Mdn = 14.50; Z = −0.905; p = 0.366). The results of the MDMQ showed no significant differences between both conditions (Z = −1.037; p = 0.300). Discussion and implications: Results show that participants could work out longer while showing the same perceived exertion, relating to increased physical endurance. Music feedback work-out encouraged a greater degree of isometric contractions (muscle actively held at fixed length) and, therefore, less repetitions in this condition. In addition to the previously described effect on muscle effectivity, this non-stereotypic contraction pattern during music feedback training may have enhanced endurance in participants supporting them to better proportion energetic reserves during training (pacing)

Regional but not global temperature variability underestimated by climate models at supradecadal timescales

Knowledge of the characteristics of natural climate variability is vital when assessing the range of plausible future climate trajectories in the next decades to centuries. The reliable detection of climate fluctuations on multidecadal to centennial timescales depends on proxy reconstructions and model simulations, as the instrumental record extends back only a few decades in most parts of the world. Systematic comparisons between model-simulated and proxy-based inferences of natural variability, however, often seem contradictory. Locally, simulated temperature variability is consistently smaller on multidecadal and longer timescales than is indicated by proxy-based reconstructions, implying that climate models or proxy interpretations might have deficiencies. In contrast, at global scales, studies found agreement between simulated and proxy reconstructed temperature variations. Here we review the evidence regarding the scale of natural temperature variability during recent millennia. We identify systematic reconstruction deficiencies that may contribute to differing local and global model–proxy agreement but conclude that they are probably insufficient to resolve such discrepancies. Instead, we argue that regional climate variations persisted for longer timescales than climate models simulating past climate states are able to reproduce. This would imply an underestimation of the regional variability on multidecadal and longer timescales and would bias climate projections and attribution studies. Thus, efforts are needed to improve the simulation of natural variability in climate models accompanied by further refining proxy-based inferences of variability.This study was undertaken by members of CVAS and 2k Network, working groups of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) Global Research association. This is a contribution to the SPACE ERC, STACY and PALMOD projects. The SPACE ERC project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 716092). STACY has been funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, project no. 395588486). This work has also been supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), through the PalMod project (subprojects 01LP1926B (O.B.), 01LP1926D (M.C.) and 01LP1926C (B.E., P.S. and N.W.)) from the Research for Sustainability initiative (FONA). B.E. is supported by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. E.M.-C. was supported by the PARAMOUR project, funded by the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique–FNRS and the FWO under the Excellence of Science (EOS) programme (grant no. O0100718F, EOS ID no. 30454083). A.H. was supported by a Legacy Grant from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. B.M. was supported by LINKA20102 and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation project CEX2018‐000794‐S. The work originated from discussions at the CVAS working group of PAGES at a workshop at the Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg, which was funded by a Hengstberger Prize. We thank N. Beech, C. Brierley, F. Gonzalez-Rouco and M. MacPartland for comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. This manuscript uses data provided by the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modelling, which is responsible for CMIP and PMIP. We thank the research groups for producing and kindly making their model outputs, measurements and palaeoclimate reconstructions available to us. Editorial assistance, in the form of language editing and correction, was provided by XpertScientific Editing and Consulting Services. We acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Oxytocin and cholecystokinin secretion in women with colectomy

BACKGROUND: Cholecystokinin (CCK) concentrations in plasma have been shown to be significantly higher in colectomised subjects compared to healthy controls. This has been ascribed to reduced inhibition of CCK release from colon. In an earlier study CCK in all but one woman who was colectomised, induced release of oxytocin, a peptide present throughout the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The aim of this study was thus to examine if colectomised women had a different oxytocin response to CCK compared to healthy controls. METHODS: Eleven women, mean age 34.4 ± 2.3 years, who had undergone colectomy because of ulcerative colitis or constipation were studied. Eleven age-matched healthy women served as controls. All subjects were fasted overnight and given 0.2 μg/kg body weight of CCK-8 i.v. in the morning. Samples were taken ten minutes and immediately before the injection, and 10, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 min afterwards. Plasma was collected for measurement of CCK and oxytocin concentrations. RESULTS: The basal oxytocin and CCK concentrations in plasma were similar in the two groups. Intravenous injection of CCK increased the release of oxytocin from 1.31 ± 0.12 and 1.64 ± 0.19 pmol/l to 2.82 ± 0.35 and 3.26 ± 0.50 pmol/l in controls and colectomised women, respectively (p < 0.001). Given the short half-life of CCK-8 in plasma, the increased concentration following injection could not be demonstrated in the controls. On the other hand, in colectomised women, an increase of CCK in plasma was observed for up to 20 minutes after the injection, concentrations increasing from 1.00 ± 0.21 to a maximum of 1.81 ± 0.26 pmol/l (p < 0.002). CONCLUSION: CCK stimulates the release of oxytocin in women. There is no difference in plasma concentrations between colectomised and controls. However, colectomy seems to reduce the metabolic clearance of CCK. The hyperCCKemia in patients who had undergone colectomy is consequently not only dependent on CCK release, but may also depend on reduced clearance

Past abrupt changes, tipping points and cascading impacts in the Earth system

The geological record shows that abrupt changes in the Earth system can occur on timescales short enough to challenge the capacity of human societies to adapt to environmental pressures. In many cases, abrupt changes arise from slow changes in one component of the Earth system that eventually pass a critical threshold, or tipping point, after which impacts cascade through coupled climate–ecological–social systems. The chance of detecting abrupt changes and tipping points increases with the length of observations. The geological record provides the only long-term information we have on the conditions and processes that can drive physical, ecological and social systems into new states or organizational structures that may be irreversible within human time frames. Here, we use well-documented abrupt changes of the past 30 kyr to illustrate how their impacts cascade through the Earth system. We review useful indicators of upcoming abrupt changes, or early warning signals, and provide a perspective on the contributions of palaeoclimate science to the understanding of abrupt changes in the Earth system

Can we predict Λ\Lambda for the Non-SUSY sector of the Landscape ?

We propose a new selection criteria for predicting the most probable wavefunction of the universe that propagates on the string landscape background, by studying its dynamics from a quantum cosmology view. Previously we applied this proposal to the $SUSY$ sector of the landscape. In this work the dynamic selection criterion is applied to the investigation of the non-$SUSY$ sector.In the absence of detailed information about its structure, it is assumed that this sector has a stochastic distribution of vacua energies.The calculation of a distribution probability for the cosmological constants $\Lambda_{eff}$, obtained from the density of states $\rho$, indicates that the most probable wavefunction is peaked around universes with zero $\Lambda_{eff}$. In contrast to the {\it extended wavefunction} solutions found for the $SUSY$ sector with $N$-vacua and peaked around $\Lambda_{eff}\simeq \frac{1}{N^2}$, wavefunctions residing on the non-$SUSY$ sector exhibit {\it Anderson localization}.Although minisuperspace is a limited approach it presently provides a dynamical quantum selection rule for the most probable vacua solution from the landscape.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Replacement of α-galactosidase A in Fabry disease: effect on fibroblast cultures compared with biopsied tissues of treated patients

The function and intracellular delivery of enzyme therapeutics for Fabry disease were studied in cultured fibroblasts and in the biopsied tissues of two male patients to show diversity of affected cells in response to treatment. In the mutant fibroblasts cultures, the final cellular level of endocytosed recombinant α-galactosidases A (agalsidases, FabrazymeTM, and ReplagalTM) exceeded, by several fold, the amount in control fibroblasts and led to efficient direct intra-lysosomal hydrolysis of (3H)Gb3Cer. In contrast, in the samples from the heart and some other tissues biopsied after several months of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with FabrazymeTM, only the endothelial cells were free of storage. Persistent Gb3Cer storage was found in cardiocytes (accompanied by increase of lipopigment), smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, sweat glands, and skeletal muscle. Immunohistochemistry of cardiocytes demonstrated, for the first time, the presence of a considerable amount of the active enzyme in intimate contact with the storage compartment. Factors responsible for the limited ERT effectiveness are discussed, namely post-mitotic status of storage cells preventing their replacement by enzyme supplied precursors, modification of the lysosomal system by longstanding storage, and possible relative lack of Sap B. These observations support the strategy of early treatment for prevention of lysosomal storage

Gene expression profiling for molecular distinction and characterization of laser captured primary lung cancers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We examined gene expression profiles of tumor cells from 29 untreated patients with lung cancer (10 adenocarcinomas (AC), 10 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), and 9 small cell lung cancer (SCLC)) in comparison to 5 samples of normal lung tissue (NT). The European and American methodological quality guidelines for microarray experiments were followed, including the stipulated use of laser capture microdissection for separation and purification of the lung cancer tumor cells from surrounding tissue.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Based on differentially expressed genes, different lung cancer samples could be distinguished from each other and from normal lung tissue using hierarchical clustering. Comparing AC, SCC and SCLC with NT, we found 205, 335 and 404 genes, respectively, that were at least 2-fold differentially expressed (estimated false discovery rate: < 2.6%). Different lung cancer subtypes had distinct molecular phenotypes, which also reflected their biological characteristics. Differentially expressed genes in human lung tumors which may be of relevance in the respective lung cancer subtypes were corroborated by quantitative real-time PCR.</p> <p>Genetic programming (GP) was performed to construct a classifier for distinguishing between AC, SCC, SCLC, and NT. Forty genes, that could be used to correctly classify the tumor or NT samples, have been identified. In addition, all samples from an independent test set of 13 further tumors (AC or SCC) were also correctly classified.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data from this research identified potential candidate genes which could be used as the basis for the development of diagnostic tools and lung tumor type-specific targeted therapies.</p