Musculoskeletal Diseases Role in the Frailty Syndrome: A Case-Control Study.

Frailty syndrome severely burdens older age, and musculoskeletal diseases are of paramount importance in its development. The aim of this study is to unravel the contribution of musculoskeletal diseases to frailty syndrome. This is a case-control study, and we enrolled 55 robust community-dwelling age- and gender-matched patients, with 58 frail and pre-frail subjects. Frailty was diagnosed according to the Fried criteria (FP), and the Fragility Index (FI) was calculated. In all the subjects, a comprehensive geriatric assessment was carried out. Their nutritional status was evaluated by the Mini Nutritional Assessment and Bioelectrical Impedance Analyses. Their bone density (BMD), bone turnover, muscle mass, strength and performance were evaluated. Here, we show that the prevalence of frailty varies according to the diagnostic criteria used and that FP and FI showed a moderate to good agreement. Despite age and gender matching, frail subjects had lower muscle strength, performance and BMD. Their quality of life and cognitive performance were reduced in the frail subjects compared to the robust ones. Muscular strength and performance, together with mood, significantly predicted the diagnosis of frailty, whereas BMD and bone turnover did not. In conclusion, we show that sarcopenia plays a pivotal role in predicting the diagnosis of frailty, whereas osteoporosis does not

How did italian adolescents with disability and parents deal with the covid-19 emergency?

The COVID-19 emergency has imposed distanced education and has interrupted most rehabilitation services. Adolescents with disabilities have been isolated, and the burden on their families has been exacerbated. A cross-sectional survey was administered to adolescents with disability and to parents of disabled children to describe their experience during lockdown and their concerns or expectations about rehabilitation. A sample of 53 adolescents and 239 parents completed the survey. Adolescents were ages 13\u201318 years old (45.3% female). Most parents were between 35 and 55 years old (84.9% female). While 53.6% of the parents reported no positive effects of the lockdown, 92.5% of the adolescents expressed favorable consequences. The increased time spent with family members was judged positively by 27.2% of parents and by 64.2% of adolescents. Concern for their child\u2019s disability was expressed by 47.3% of parents, while 73.6% of adolescents expressed concerns regarding the ban on meeting friends. In both groups, anxiety symptoms were correlated with the fear of contracting COVID-19 and with financial problems. Parents would have liked even more remote support from school and healthcare professionals, which was available for most participants. Thus, socioeconomic support, assistive technology and telerehabilitation strategies might help families with disabilities during a lockdown

Normative values of resting heart rate variability in young male contact sport athletes: Reference values for the assessment and treatment of concussion

Objective: The objective of this study was to identify the main determinants of heart rate variability (HRV) in male athletes aged 14 to 21 years who practice competitive contact sports and to integrate these determinants with the aim of defining normative values of short-term HRV in the time and frequency domains. Methods: Participants (n = 369) were aged 14 to 21 years and included 221 football players and 148 ice hockey players. HRV was measured for 5 min at rest, and standard HRV parameters in the time and frequency domains were calculated. Heart rate (HR), age, body mass index (BMI), number of sports weekly practices (WSP) and concussion history (mTBI) were considered determinants potentially able to influence HRV. Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that HR was the primary determinant of standard HRV parameters. The models accounted for 13% to 55% of the total variance of HRV and the contribution of HR to this model was the strongest (β ranged from −0.34 to −0.75). HR was the only determinant that significantly contributes to all HRV parameters. To counteract this dependence, we calculated HRV corrected by the mean RR interval (RRm). Such corrections do not remove any physiological differences in HRV; they simply remove the mathematical bias. HRV parameters were therefore normalized, and their normative limits were developed relative to the mean heart rate. After correction, the correlation coefficients between HR and all corrected HRV parameters were not statistically significant and ranged from −0.001 to 0.045 (p > 0.40 for all). The automatically corrected HRV calculator, which recalculates standard HRV parameters and converts them into corrected parameters in addition to determining whether a given value is within normal limits, facilitates clinical interpretation. Conclusion: This study provides for the first time corrected normative values of short-term and resting state HRV parameters in competitive contact sport athletes aged 14 to 21 years. These values were developed independently of the major determinants of HRV. The baseline values for HRV parameters given here could be used in clinical practice when assessing and monitoring cerebral concussions. They may assist in decision making for a safe return to play. 2023 Ziadia, Sassi, Trudeau and Fait

solar building systems for the mediterranean region research outputs between italy and france

This paper comes from previous investigations carried out by the authors, in France and Italy, and from a cross border cooperation projects based on the joint collaboration between the University of Corsica Pascal Paoli and the University of Genoa. The authors focus on the enhancement of passive solar systems and thermal solar systems, with particular attention to their operation/efficiency and their architectural integration. The exchange between Italian and French experiences, especially between regions with similar climate, can enhance solar building strategies, in accordance with the new European energy standards as well as the Mediterranean climate, the traditional construction technologies and users' needs

Persistence of upper stratospheric wintertime tracer variability into the Arctic spring and summer

Using data from the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) and Aura satellites, we have categorized the interannual variability of winter- and springtime upper stratospheric methane (CH4). We further show the effects of this variability on the chemistry of the upper stratosphere throughout the following summer. Years with strong wintertime mesospheric descent followed by dynamically quiet springs, such as 2009, lead to the lowest summertime CH4. Years with relatively weak wintertime descent, but strong springtime planetary wave activity, such as 2011, have the highest summertime CH4. By sampling the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) according to the occultation pattern of the AIM Solar Occultation for Ice Experiment (SOFIE), we show that summertime upper stratospheric chlorine monoxide (ClO) almost perfectly anticorrelates with the CH4. This is consistent with the reaction of atomic chlorine with CH4 to form the reservoir species, hydrochloric acid (HCl). The summertime ClO for years with strong, uninterrupted mesospheric descent is about 50 % greater than in years with strong horizontal transport and mixing of high CH4 air from lower latitudes. Small, but persistent effects on ozone are also seen such that between 1 and 2 hPa, ozone is about 4–5 % higher in summer for the years with the highest CH4 relative to the lowest. This is consistent with the role of the chlorine catalytic cycle on ozone. These dependencies may offer a means to monitor dynamical effects on the high-latitude upper stratosphere using summertime ClO measurements as a proxy. Additionally, these chlorine-controlled ozone decreases, which are seen to maximize after years with strong uninterrupted wintertime descent, represent a new mechanism by which mesospheric descent can affect polar ozone. Finally, given that the effects on ozone appear to persist much of the rest of the year, the consideration of winter/spring dynamical variability may also be relevant in studies of ozone trends

Association of socioeconomic position and childhood obesity in Finland: a registry-based study

OBJECTIVE: To identify what dimensions of socioeconomic position (SEP) are most closely associated with childhood obesity in Finland, leveraging population-wide data among the whole child population aged 2–17 years in Finland. DESIGN: Registry-based study. SETTING: Data from several administrative registries linked on individual level covering the whole of Finland were used. Data on height and weight measurements in 2018 were obtained from the Register of Primary Health Care visits and data on sociodemographic and socioeconomic indicators (2014–2018) from Statistics Finland. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 2–17 years with valid height and weight measurements performed at the child health clinic or school healthcare in 2018 (final n=194 423). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Obesity was defined according to WHO Growth Reference curves. Sociodemographic and socioeconomic indicators were linked on individual level for adults (both parents) who lived in the same household (42 predictors). Boosted regression model was used to analyse the contribution of SEP to obesity. RESULTS: From socioeconomic indicators, annual household income (12.6%) and mother and father’s educational level (12.6% and 8.1%, respectively) had the highest relative influence on obesity risk. The relative influence of a child’s sex was 7.7%. CONCLUSIONS: The parents’ SEP was inversely associated with obesity among the offspring. A remarkable number of objective SEP indicators were analysed with parents’ education and household income finally being the indicators most strongly associated with obesity among children. In future research, more attention should be paid to reliable and objective ways of measuring educational status and income rather than on developing new SEP indicators. Administrative registries with information on both healthcare and socioeconomic indicators can in future provide better opportunities to assess the influence of SEP on various health risks

High-performance versatile setup for simultaneous Brillouin-Raman micro-spectroscopy

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Physical Society via the DOI in this record.Brillouin and Raman scattering spectroscopy are established techniques for the nondestructive contactless and label-free readout of mechanical, chemical and structural properties of condensed matter. Brillouin-Raman investigations currently require separate measurements and a site-matched approach to obtain complementary information from a sample. Here we demonstrate a new concept of fully scanning multimodal micro-spectroscopy for simultaneous detection of Brillouin and Raman light scattering in an exceptionally wide spectral range, from fractions of GHz to hundreds of THz. It yields an unprecedented 150 dB contrast, which is especially important for the analysis of opaque or turbid media such as biomedical samples, and spatial resolution on a sub-cellular scale. We report the first applications of this new multimodal method to a range of systems, from a single cell to the fast reaction kinetics of a curing process, and the mechano-chemical mapping of highly scattering biological samples.S. Corezzi acknowledges financial support from MIUR-PRIN (Project No. 2012J8X57P). S. Caponi acknowledges support from PAT (Provincia Autonoma di Trento) (GP/PAT/2012) “Grandi Progetti 2012” Project “MaDEleNA.” P. S., A. M., M. P. acknowledge financial support from Centro Nazionale Trapianti (Project: “Studio di cellule per uso clinico umano, con particolare riferimento a modelli cellulari (liposomi) e linee cellulari in interazione con crioconservanti e con materiali biocompatibili”). L. C. and S. Caponi acknowledge financial support from Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto Officina dei Materiali. F. P. acnowledges support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant No. EP/M028739/1 (F. P.)). The authors acknowledge Jacopo Scarponi for valuable help in setting up the hardware and software system for simultaneous Raman and BLS measurements