Frailty and Its Impact on Health-Related Quality of Life: A Cross-Sectional Study on Elder Community-Dwelling Preventive Health Service Users

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to identify the incidence of frailty and to investigate the relationship between frailty status and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in the community-dwelling elderly population who utilize preventive health services. METHODS: People aged 65 years and older who visited a medical center in Taipei City from March to August in 2011 for an annual routine check-up provided by the National Health Insurance were eligible. A total of 374 eligible elderly adults without cognitive impairment had a mean age of 74.6±6.3 years. Frailty status was determined according to the Fried frailty criteria. HRQoL was measured with Short Form-36 (SF-36). Multiple regression analyses examined the relationship between frailty status and the two summary scales of SF-36. Models were adjusted for the participants' sociodemographic and health status. RESULTS: After adjusting for sociodemographic and health-related covariables, frailty was found to be more significantly associated (p<0.001) with lower scores on both physical and mental health-related quality of life summary scales compared with robustness. For the frailty phenotypes, slowness represented the major contributing factor in the physical component scale of SF-36, and exhaustion was the primary contributing factor in the mental component scale. CONCLUSION: The status of frailty is closely associated with HRQoL in elderly Taiwanese preventive health service users. The impacts of frailty phenotypes on physical and mental aspects of HRQoL differ

Relationships, love and sexuality: what the Filipino teens think and feel

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In order to achieve a change among teens' sexual behavior, an important step is to improve our knowledge about their opinions concerning relationships, love and sexuality.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A questionnaire including topics on relationships, love and sexuality was distributed to a target population of 4,000 Filipino students from third year high school to third year college. Participants were obtained through multi-stage sampling of clusters of universities and schools. This paper concentrates on teens aged 13 to 18.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Students reported that they obtained information about love and sexuality mainly from friends. However, they valued parents' opinion more than friends'. They revealed few conversations with their parents on these topics. A majority of them would like to have more information, mainly about emotion-related topics. Almost half of respondents were not aware that condoms are not 100% effective in preventing STIs or pregnancies. More girls, compared to boys, were sensitive and opposed to several types of sexism. After adjusting for sex, age and institution, the belief of 100% condom effectiveness and the approval of pornography and sexism were associated with being sexually experienced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There is room for further encouraging parents to talk more with their children about sexuality, specially aspects related to feelings and emotions in order to help them make better sexual choices. Indeed, teens wish to better communicate with their parents on these issues. Condoms are regarded as safer than what they really are by almost half of the participants of this study, and such incorrect knowledge seems to be associated with sexual initiation.</p

Further Support to the Uncoupling-to-Survive Theory: The Genetic Variation of Human UCP Genes Is Associated with Longevity

In humans Uncoupling Proteins (UCPs) are a group of five mitochondrial inner membrane transporters with variable tissue expression, which seem to function as regulators of energy homeostasis and antioxidants. In particular, these proteins uncouple respiration from ATP production, allowing stored energy to be released as heat. Data from experimental models have previously suggested that UCPs may play an important role on aging rate and lifespan. We analyzed the genetic variability of human UCPs in cohorts of subjects ranging between 64 and 105 years of age (for a total of 598 subjects), to determine whether specific UCP variability affects human longevity. Indeed, we found that the genetic variability of UCP2, UCP3 and UCP4 do affect the individual's chances of surviving up to a very old age. This confirms the importance of energy storage, energy use and modulation of ROS production in the aging process. In addition, given the different localization of these UCPs (UCP2 is expressed in various tissues including brain, hearth and adipose tissue, while UCP3 is expressed in muscles and Brown Adipose Tissue and UCP4 is expressed in neuronal cells), our results may suggest that the uncoupling process plays an important role in modulating aging especially in muscular and nervous tissues, which are indeed very responsive to metabolic alterations and are very important in estimating health status and survival in the elderly

What Is New for an Old Molecule? Systematic Review and Recommendations on the Use of Resveratrol

Stilbenes are naturally occurring phytoalexins that generally exist as their more stable E isomers. The most well known natural stilbene is resveratrol (Res), firstly isolated in 1939 from roots of Veratrum grandiflorum (white hellebore) (1) and since then found in various edible plants, notably in Vitis vinifera L. (Vitaceae) (2). The therapeutic potential of Res covers a wide range of diseases, and multiple beneficial effects on human health such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities have been suggested based on several in vitro and animal studies (3). In particular, Res has been reported to be an inhibitor of carcinogenesis at multiple stages via its ability to inhibit cyclooxygenase, and is an anticancer agent with a role in antiangiogenesis (4). Moreover, both in vitro and in vivo studies showed that Res induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in tumor cells (4). However, clinical studies in humans evidenced that Res is rapidly absorbed after oral intake, and that the low level observed in the blood stream is caused by a fast conversion into metabolites that are readily excreted from the body (5). Thus, considerable efforts have gone in the design and synthesis of Res analogues with enhanced metabolic stability. Considering that reduced Res (dihydro- resveratrol, D-Res) conjugates may account for as much as 50% of an oral Res dose (5), and that D-Res has a strong proliferative effect on hormone-sensitive cancer cell lines such as breast cancer cell line MCF7 (6), we recently devoted our synthetic efforts to the preparation of trans-restricted analogues of Res in which the E carbon-carbon double bond is embedded into an imidazole nucleus. To keep the trans geometry, the two aryl rings were linked to the heteroaromatic core in a 1,3 fashion. Based on this design, we successfully prepared a variety of 1,4-, 2,4- and 2,5-diaryl substituted imidazoles including Res analogues 1, 2 and 3, respectively, by procedures that involve transition metal-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions and highly selective N-H or C-H direct arylation reactions as key synthetic steps. The anticancer activity of compounds 1–3 was evaluated against the 60 human cancer cell lines panel of the National Cancer Institute (NCI, USA). The obtained results, that will be showed and discussed along with the protocols developed for the preparation of imidazoles 1–3, confirmed that a structural optimization of Res may provide analogues with improved potency in inhibiting the growth of human cancer cell lines in vitro when compared to their natural lead. (1) Takaoka,M.J.Chem.Soc.Jpn.1939,60,1090-1100. (2) Langcake, P.; Pryce, R. J. Physiological. Plant Patology 1976, 9, 77-86. (3) Vang, O.; et al. PLoS ONE 2011, 6, e19881. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019881 (4) Kraft, T. E.; et al. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 2009, 49, 782-799. (5) Walle, T. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 2011, 1215, 9-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05842.x (6) Gakh,A.A.;etal.Bioorg.Med.Chem.Lett.2010,20,6149-6151

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

Online reporting for malaria surveillance using micro-monetary incentives, in urban India 2010-2011

Background The objective of this study was to investigate the use of novel surveillance tools in a malaria endemic region where prevalence information is limited. Specifically, online reporting for participatory epidemiology was used to gather information about malaria spread directly from the public. Individuals in India were incentivized to self-report their recent experience with malaria by micro-monetary payments. Methods Self-reports about malaria diagnosis status and related information were solicited online via Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Responders were paid $0.02 to answer survey questions regarding their recent experience with malaria. Timing of the peak volume of weekly self-reported malaria diagnosis in 2010 was compared to other available metrics such as the volume over time of and information about the epidemic from media sources. Distribution of Plasmodium species reports were compared with values from the literature. The study was conducted in summer 2010 during a malaria outbreak in Mumbai and expanded to other cities during summer 2011, and prevalence from self-reports in 2010 and 2011 was contrasted. Results Distribution of Plasmodium species diagnosis through self-report in 2010 revealed 59% for Plasmodium vivax, which is comparable to literature reports of the burden of P. vivax in India (between 50 and 69%). Self-reported Plasmodium falciparum diagnosis was 19% and during the 2010 outbreak and the estimated burden was between 10 and 15%. Prevalence between 2010 and 2011 via self-reports decreased significantly from 36.9% to 19.54% in Mumbai (p = 0.001), and official reports also confirmed a prevalence decrease in 2011. Conclusions With careful study design, micro-monetary incentives and online reporting are a rapid way to solicit malaria, and potentially other public health information. This methodology provides a cost-effective way of executing a field study that can act as a complement to traditional public health surveillance methods, offering an opportunity to obtain information about malaria activity, temporal progression, demographics affected or Plasmodium-specific diagnosis at a finer resolution than official reports can provide. The recent adoption of technologies, such as the Internet supports self-reporting mediums, and self-reporting should continue to be studied as it can foster preventative health behaviours.National Library of Medicine (U.S.) (5G08LM9776-2)National Library of Medicine (U.S.) (5R01LM010812-02)Google (Firm