Measurement of ageing effects on muscle tone and mechanical properties of rectus femoris and biceps brachii in healthy males and females using a novel hand-held myometric device

BackgroundAge and gender effects on muscle tone and mechanical properties have not been studied using hand-held myometric technology. Monitoring changes in muscle properties with ageing in community settings may provide a valuable assessment tool for detecting those at risk of premature decline and sarcopenia.ObjectiveThis study aimed to provide objective data on the effects of ageing and gender on muscle tone and mechanical properties of quadriceps (rectus femoris) and biceps brachii muscles.MethodsIn a comparative study of 123 healthy males and females (aged 18-90 years; n=61 aged18-35; n=62 aged 65-90) muscle tone, elasticity and stiffness were measured using the MyotonPRO device.ResultsStiffness was greater and elasticity lower in older adults for BB and RF (p<0.001). Tone was significantly greater in older adults for BB but not for RF when data for males and females were combined (p=0.28). There were no gender differences for BB in either age group. In RF, males had greater stiffness (young males 292 vs females 233 N/m; older males 328 vs females 311 N/m) and tone (young 16.4 vs 13.6 Hz; older 16.7 vs 14.9 Hz). Elasticity in RF was lower in young males than females but did not differ between the older groups (both males and females log decrement 1.6).ConclusionsStiffness and tone increased with ageing and elasticity decreased. These findings have implications for detecting frailty using a novel biomarker. Age and gender differences are important to consider when assessing effects of pathological conditions on muscle properties in older people

Movement control testing of older people in community settings: description of a screening tool and intra-rater reliability

Objective: To determine the intra-rater reliability of a newly developed movement screening tool; the ‘Movement control screen for older people in community settings’. The movement screening tool aims to identify movement control impairments which can potentially influence movement function. Method: Thirty one active female recreational golfers, aged 65-77 years,carried out three movement control tests included in the screening tool. Performance was videorecorded to enable repeated ratings. Each test was evaluated by criteria which were rated as pass or fail and ratings were carried out three weeks apart to examine intra-rater reliability. Reliability was assessed using percentage agreement and Cohen’s Kappa. Results: Percentage agreementfor each test ranged from 93.0-97.3%, with an overall mean agreement of 95.5%. Kappa values for test scores ranged from 0.35-0.90. Percentage agreement for individual criteria ranged from 83.0-100.0%, with kappa values ranging from 0.00-1.00. Discussion: Acceptable intra-rater reliability was established for overall tests scores of the screening tool but certain criteria wereidentified as being less reliable than others. Recommendations are made for refinement of some criteria to improve reliability of the screening tool.<br/

Maternal diabetes induces congenital heart defects in mice by altering the expression of genes involved in cardiovascular development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Congenital heart defects are frequently observed in infants of diabetic mothers, but the molecular basis of the defects remains obscure. Thus, the present study was performed to gain some insights into the molecular pathogenesis of maternal diabetes-induced congenital heart defects in mice.</p> <p>Methods and results</p> <p>We analyzed the morphological changes, the expression pattern of some genes, the proliferation index and apoptosis in developing heart of embryos at E13.5 from streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice. Morphological analysis has shown the persistent truncus arteriosus combined with a ventricular septal defect in embryos of diabetic mice. Several other defects including defective endocardial cushion (EC) and aberrant myofibrillogenesis have also been found. Cardiac neural crest defects in experimental embryos were analyzed and validated by the protein expression of NCAM and PGP 9.5. In addition, the protein expression of Bmp4, Msx1 and Pax3 involved in the development of cardiac neural crest was found to be reduced in the defective hearts. The mRNA expression of <it>Bmp4</it>, <it>Msx1 </it>and <it>Pax3 </it>was significantly down-regulated (<it>p </it>< 0.001) in the hearts of experimental embryos. Further, the proliferation index was significantly decreased (<it>p </it>< 0.05), whereas the apoptotic cells were significantly increased (<it>p </it>< 0.001) in the EC and the ventricular myocardium of the experimental embryos.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is suggested that the down-regulation of genes involved in development of cardiac neural crest could contribute to the pathogenesis of maternal diabetes-induced congenital heart defects.</p

A core outcome set to evaluate physical activity interventions for people living with dementia

Background and Objectives: A core outcome set (COS) to evaluate physical activity (PA) interventions for people living with dementia is needed, as the development of guidelines is currently limited by important heterogeneity in this field of research. Development of COS often includes Delphi surveys, but people living with dementia are often excluded. This study aimed to reach consensus on this COS using a modified Delphi survey to enable the participation of people living with dementia. Research Design and Methods: Two stakeholders groups took part in a Delphi survey (Group 1: people living with dementia and family caregivers; Group  2: professionals from different backgrounds, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and researchers). Caregivers and professionals completed the survey remotely. Participants living with dementia took part face-to-face, using a card sorting strategy. The consensus process was finalized with a consensus meeting. Results: Ninety-five participants of both groups completed the modified Delphi. Of those, 11 attended the consensus meeting. The card sorting strategy was successful at including people living with dementia. Seven outcomes reached consensus: preventing falls; doing what you can do; staying healthy and fit; walking better, being able to stand up and climb stairs; feeling brighter; enjoying the moment; and, feeling useful and having a purpose. Discussion and Implications: Robust and innovative methodological strategies were used to reach a consensus on a COS (what to measure) to evaluate PA for people living with dementia. Future work will focus on the selection of the most appropriate tools to measure these outcomes (how to measure).publishe

Classification Based Analysis on Cancer Datasets Using Predictor Measures

Cancer is a life-threatening disease. Probably the most effective way to reduce cancer deaths is to detect it earlier. Diagnosing the disease earlier needs an accurate and reliable procedure which could be used by physicians to distinguish between cancer from malignant ones without leaving for surgical biopsy. Data mining offers solution for such types of the problems where a large quantity of information about patients and their conditions are stored in clinical database. This paper focuses on prediction of some such diseases like Leukemia and Breast cancers. Naïve Bayes and SVM prediction models are built for the prediction and classification. The performance of the proposed models produced significant results of above 96% while compared with other models in terms of accuracy, computational time and convergence. Keywords: Prediction, Data Mining, Diagnosis, Cancer, Naïve Bayes, Supper Vector machine (SVM). DOI: 10.7176/CEIS/10-6-05 Publication date:July 31st 201

Patient reported outcome measures in physical activity interventions for people with dementia

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