A path analysis on the direct and indirect effects of the unit environment on eating dependence among cognitively impaired nursing home residents

BACKGROUND: This study aims to estimate the direct and indirect effects of the unit environment alongside individual and nursing care variables on eating dependence among residents who are cognitively impaired and living in a nursing home. METHOD: A multicentre observational study was carried out in 2017: 13 Italian nursing homes were involved in data collection. Included residents were aged > 65 at baseline, living in the considered facility for the last 6 months and during the entire study period and having received at least one comprehensive assessment. Data were collected (a) at the individual level: eating dependence using the Edinburgh Feeding Evaluation in Dementia Scale and other clinical variables; (b) at the nursing care level with daily interventions to maintain eating independence assessed with a checklist; and (c) at the nursing home level, using the Therapeutic Environment Screening Survey for Nursing Homes. RESULTS: One thousand twenty-seven residents were included with an average age of 85.32 years old (95% CI: 84.74-85.89), mainly female (781; 76%). The path analysis explained the 57.7% variance in eating dependence. Factors preventing eating dependence were: (a) at the individual level, increased functional dependence measured with the Barthel Index (β - 2.374); eating in the dining room surrounded by residents (β - 1.802) as compared to eating alone in bed; and having a close relationship with family relatives (β - 0.854), (b) at the nursing care level, the increased number of interventions aimed at promoting independence (β - 0.524); and (c) at the NH level, high scores in 'Space setting' (β - 4.446), 'Safety' (β - 3.053), 'Lighting' (β - 2.848) and 'Outdoor access' (β - 1.225). However, environmental factors at the unit level were found to have also indirect effects by influencing the degree of functional dependence, the occurrence of night restlessness and the number of daily interventions performed by the nursing staff. CONCLUSION: Eating dependence is a complex phenomenon requiring interventions targeting individual, nursing care, and environmental levels. The NH environment had the largest direct and indirect effect on residents' eating dependence, thus suggesting that at this level appropriate interventions should be designed and implemented

Influence of γ-glutamyltransferase and alkaline phosphatase activity on in vitro fertilisation of bovine frozen/thawed semen

AbstractThe aim of this work was to evaluate whether the residual amount of γ-glutamyl-transferase (GGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in bovine sperm after freezing/thawing is correlated with fertility parameters, including blastocyst rates after in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The enzyme activities were determined in both spermatozoa and supernatant after centrifugation. While ALP was only correlated with sperm viability, GGT activity was correlated with sperm motility (rs = .4; p < .05) both in sperm and supernatant. Interestingly, GGT activity was also correlated with cleavage (rs = .5; p < .05 and .8; p < .01, for sperm and supernatant respectively) and blastocyst (rs = .6 and .9, for sperm and supernatant respectively; p < .01) rates obtained after IVF. These results suggest that GGT could play an important role in the protection of sperm against oxidative stress and could be considered a reliable marker to assess frozen/thawed sperm quality in bovine

Effect of Aqueous Extract of Maca Addition to an Extender for Chilled Canine Semen

Antioxidant supplementation has been proposed as a new strategy to improve the long-term preservation of semen. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of Maca supplementation of semen extender on quality-related canine semen parameters during cooling. Ejaculates from nine dogs were cooled for 7 days in the absence (control group) or in the presence of 10, 20 and 50 μL/mL of an aqueous extract of Maca. Sperm were evaluated for sperm viability, motility, DNA fragmentation and lipid peroxidation after 3 h, 24 h, 4 days and 7 days of storage. The addition of 10 μL/mL of Maca preserved sperm DNA and plasma membrane integrity at 3 h and increased sperm curvilinear velocity after 24 h. Treatment with 20 and 50 μL/mL of Maca increased the percentage of hyperactivated sperm after 3 h. Moreover, semen treated with 20 μL/mL of Maca decreased lipid peroxidation at 24 h. A significant reduction of sperm DNA and plasma membrane integrity as well as of kinetics parameters between 3 and 24 h of refrigerated storage with the higher concentration tested was observed. Although Maca was not able to protect canine semen with extended refrigeration storage time, it increased hyperactivation and preserved DNA integrity in short-term storage

Increased Serum Beta-Secretase 1 Activity is an Early Marker of Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Beta-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) is the rate-limiting enzyme in amyloid-beta (A beta) plaques formation. BACE1 activity is increased in brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and plasma levels of BACE1 appears to reflect those in the brains.Objective: In this work, we investigated the role of serum BACE1 activity as biomarker for AD, estimating the diagnostic accuracy of the assay and assessing the correlation of BACE1 activity with levels of A beta(1-40), A beta(1-42), and A beta(40/42) ratio in serum, known biomarkers of brain amyloidosis.Methods: Serum BACE1 activity and levels of A beta(1-40), A beta(1-42), were assessed in 31 AD, 28 MCI, diagnosed as AD at follow-up (MCI-AD), and 30 controls. The BACE1 analysis was performed with a luciferase assay, where interpolation of relative fluorescence units with a standard curve of concentration reveals BACE1 activity. Serum levels of A beta(1-40), A beta(1-42) were measured with the ultrasensitive Single Molecule Array technology.Results: BACE1 was increased (higher than 60%) in AD and MCI-AD: a cut-off of 11.04 kU/L discriminated patients with high sensitivity (98.31%) and specificity (100%). Diagnostic accuracy was higher for BACE1 than A beta(40/42) ratio. High BACE1 levels were associated with worse cognitive performance and earlier disease onset, which was anticipated by 8 years in patients with BACE1 values above the median value (&gt; 16.67 kU/L).Conclusion: Our results provide new evidence supporting serum/plasma BACE1 activity as an early biomarker of AD

Effects of dietary supplementation of conjugated linoleic acids and their inclusion in semen extenders on bovine sperm quality

Isomers of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) enhances circulating insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) levels. Furthermore, fertility rate of breeding bulls is positively correlated to seminal plasma IGF-I concentration. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of dietary CLA supplementation and inclusion to the semen extender on bovine semen quality and freezability. Fourteen bulls, randomly assigned to control (CTL) and CLA (50 g/day) groups, were supplemented for 10 weeks. Samples were collected at Weeks −2 (before supplementation), 0, 4, 6 (during supplementation), 10, and 11 (after supplementation). Blood and seminal plasma were analyzed for IGF-I; the ejaculates were frozen in the following subgroups: CTL (no addition to semen extender), CLA c9, t11 (50 µM), CLA c9, t11 (100 µM), CLA t10, c12 (50 µM), CLA t10, c12 (100 µM), and CLA mix (50 µM each of CLA c9, t11 and CLA t10, c12). Sperm motility, morphology, viability, mitochondrial membrane potential, and reactive oxidative species were assessed. CLA supplementation decreased ejaculates’ total volume, increased sperm concentration, beat cross frequency, and decreased oxidative stress; it also increased plasma and seminal plasma IGF-I levels compared to the CTL. The inclusion of CLA c9, t11 100 µM and CLA mixture in the extender increased live spermatozoa percentage post-thawing compared to other groups. Our results show a beneficial effect of CLA supplementation on semen quality; however, further studies evaluating fertilization rates are necessary to corroborate the results.The National Research Foundation South Africa/ Research and Innovation Support and Advancement and the Research and Technology fund.http://www.mdpi.com/journal/animalspm2021Production Animal Studie

Effects of dietary supplementation of conjugated linoleic acids and their inclusion in semen extenders on bovine sperm quality

Isomers of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) enhances circulating insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) levels. Furthermore, fertility rate of breeding bulls is positively correlated to seminal plasma IGF-I concentration. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of dietary CLA supplementation and inclusion to the semen extender on bovine semen quality and freezability. Fourteen bulls, randomly assigned to control (CTL) and CLA (50 g/day) groups, were supplemented for 10 weeks. Samples were collected at Weeks −2 (before supplementation), 0, 4, 6 (during supplementation), 10, and 11 (after supplementation). Blood and seminal plasma were analyzed for IGF-I; the ejaculates were frozen in the following subgroups: CTL (no addition to semen extender), CLA c9, t11 (50 µM), CLA c9, t11 (100 µM), CLA t10, c12 (50 µM), CLA t10, c12 (100 µM), and CLA mix (50 µM each of CLA c9, t11 and CLA t10, c12). Sperm motility, morphology, viability, mitochondrial membrane potential, and reactive oxidative species were assessed. CLA supplementation decreased ejaculates’ total volume, increased sperm concentration, beat cross frequency, and decreased oxidative stress; it also increased plasma and seminal plasma IGF-I levels compared to the CTL. The inclusion of CLA c9, t11 100 µM and CLA mixture in the extender increased live spermatozoa percentage post-thawing compared to other groups. Our results show a beneficial effect of CLA supplementation on semen quality; however, further studies evaluating fertilization rates are necessary to corroborate the results.The National Research Foundation South Africa/ Research and Innovation Support and Advancement and the Research and Technology fund.http://www.mdpi.com/journal/animalspm2021Production Animal Studie

Social cognition in people with schizophrenia: A cluster-analytic approach

Background The study aimed to subtype patients with schizophrenia on the basis of social cognition (SC), and to identify cut-offs that best discriminate among subtypes in 809 out-patients recruited in the context of the Italian Network for Research on Psychoses. Method A two-step cluster analysis of The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), the Facial Emotion Identification Test and Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores was performed. Classification and regression tree analysis was used to identify the cut-offs of variables that best discriminated among clusters. Results We identified three clusters, characterized by unimpaired (42%), impaired (50.4%) and very impaired (7.5%) SC. Three theory-of-mind domains were more important for the cluster definition as compared with emotion perception and emotional intelligence. Patients more able to understand simple sarcasm (14 for TASIT-SS) were very likely to belong to the unimpaired SC cluster. Compared with patients in the impaired SC cluster, those in the very impaired SC cluster performed significantly worse in lie scenes (TASIT-LI <10), but not in simple sarcasm. Moreover, functioning, neurocognition, disorganization and SC had a linear relationship across the three clusters, while positive symptoms were significantly lower in patients with unimpaired SC as compared with patients with impaired and very impaired SC. On the other hand, negative symptoms were highest in patients with impaired levels of SC. Conclusions If replicated, the identification of such subtypes in clinical practice may help in tailoring rehabilitation efforts to the person's strengths to gain more benefit to the person

Innovative strategies to improve fertility of buffalo semen

The improvement of fertility is an important contribution that applied scientific research can provide to buffalo breeding, especially in productive areas like the Campania region. Many studies have been conducted to improve the management of the female reproductive system, while insufficient are the information about the effect of the male on the reproductive efficiency in this species. Buffalo is a photoperiodic animal that tends to increase the reproductive activity during periods when daylight hours decrease. In particular, in the male, it is manifested by a reduction of libido when daylight hours increase. This causes a reduction in the number of jumps and a worsening of the qualitative characteristics of the semen produced . Also, the cryopreservation process influences the quality of the semen causing premature sperm capacitation hence, reducing its longevity in the female reproductive tract. At present, for cryopreservation of semen, standard protocols are used equally for all species, not considering the significant interspecific differences that exist. The aim of the research was, therefore, to evaluate the effect of season on buffalo frozen-thawed semen and to improve its quality by analyzing the effects of the addition of antioxidants such as resveratrol at various concentrations (0.5, 1, 10 and 50 uM), carnitine (2.5 and 7.5 mM ) and sterols, such as cholesterol (1.5 and 3 mg /ml), to the standard freezing extenders. The addition of antioxidants and / or sterol has stabilized the sperm membrane, reducing the state of capacitation, improving motility and consequently semen quality. The effect of the photoperiod was evident with a better semen quality during autumn. Based on these results was also evaluated fertilizing capacity both in vivo (resveratrol and cholesterol) and in vitro (resveratrol and carnitine)selecting concentrations that showed a more marked effect on the stabilization of the sperm membrane. The results obtained suggest that the premature capacitation after cryopreservation of spermatozoa is reduced during the favorable season and that the addition of antioxidants and / or sterols has a positive effect on buffalo semen quality and consequently, on in vitro and in vivo fertility

Scattered linear sets in a finite projective line and translation planes

Lunardon and Polverino construct a translation plane starting from a scattered linear set of pseudoregulus type in $\mathrm{PG}(1,q^t)$. In this paper a similar construction of a translation plane $\mathcal A_f$ obtained from any scattered linearized polynomial $f(x)$ in $\mathbb F_{q^t}[x]$ is described and investigated. A class of quasifields giving rise to such planes is defined. Denote by $U_f$ the $\mathbb F_q$-subspace of $\mathbb F_{q^t}^2$ associated with $f(x)$. If $f(x)$ and $f'(x)$ are scattered, then $\mathcal A_f$ and $\mathcal A_{f'}$ are isomorphic if and only if $U_f$ and $U_{f'}$ belong to the same orbit under the action of $\Gamma\mathrm L(2,q^t)$. This gives rise to as many distinct translation planes as there are inequivalent scattered linearized polynomials. In particular, for any scattered linear set $L$ of maximum rank in $\mathrm{PG}(1,q^t)$ there are $c_\Gamma(L)$ pairwise non-isomorphic translation planes, where $c_\Gamma(L)$ denotes the $\Gamma\mathrm L$-class of $L$, as defined by Csajb\'ok, Marino and Polverino. A result by Jha and Johnson allows to describe the automorphism groups of the planes obtained from the linear sets not of pseudoregulus type defined by Lunardon and Polverino

Scattered linear sets in a finite projective line and translation planes

In [15], Lunardon and Polverino construct a translation plane starting from a scattered linear set of pseudoregulus type in $PG(1,q^t)$. In this paper a similar construction of a translation plane $A_f$ obtained from any scattered linearized polynomial $f(x)$ in \F_{q^t}[x] is described and investigated. A class of quasifields giving rise to such planes is defined. Denote by $U_f$ the $F_q$-subspace of $T_{q^t}^2$ associated with $f(x)$. If $f(x)$ and $f'(x)$ are scattered, then $A_f$ and $A_{f'}$ are isomorphic if and only if $U_f$ and $U_{f'}$ belong to the same orbit under the action of \GaL(2,q^t). This gives rise to the same number of distinct translation planes as the number of inequivalent scattered linearized polynomials. In particular, for any scattered linear set $L$ of maximum rank in $PG(1,q^t)$ there are $c_\Gamma(L)$ pairwise non-isomorphic translation planes, where $c_\Gamma(L)$ denotes the \GaL-class of $L$, as defined in [5] by Csajbók, Marino and Polverino. A result by Jha and Johnson [8] allows to describe the automorphism groups of the planes obtained from the linear sets not of pseudoregulus type defined in [15]