Skeletal Muscle Health and Cognitive Function: A Narrative Review

Sarcopenia is the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function with advancing age. It involves both complex genetic and modifiable risk factors, such as lack of exercise, malnutrition and reduced neurological drive. Cognitive decline refers to diminished or impaired mental and/or intellectual functioning. Contracting skeletal muscle is a major source of neurotrophic factors, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which regulate synapses in the brain. Furthermore, skeletal muscle activity has important immune and redox effects that modify brain function and reduce muscle catabolism. The identification of common risk factors and underlying mechanisms for sarcopenia and cognition may allow the development of targeted interventions that slow or reverse sarcopenia and also certain forms of cognitive decline. However, the links between cognition and skeletal muscle have not been elucidated fully. This review provides a critical appraisal of the literature on the relationship between skeletal muscle health and cognition. The literature suggests that sarcopenia and cognitive decline share pathophysiological pathways. Ageing plays a role in both skeletal muscle deterioration and cognitive decline. Furthermore, lifestyle risk factors, such as physical inactivity, poor diet and smoking, are common to both disorders, so their potential role in the muscle–brain relationship warrants investigation.     

Enoxaparin in the prevention of deep venous thrombosis after major surgery: multicentric study. The Italian Study Group

Four hundred forty-six patients with Tourette Syndrome (TS) and/or their parents completed a 52-item self-report survey about vocal and motor tics, and the frequency of associated co-morbid conditions of aggression, obsessions and compulsions, attentional problems, sleep disturbance, mood disturbance, anxiety, and self-mutilative behaviours which have been frequently reported in the literature on TS. Respondents also responded to an open-ended question regarding the most disabling aspects of TS. Results were analyzed within two age groups; under 18 years of age (N = 245) and 18 years of age or older (N = 177). Tics and associated conditions were the most frequently reported disabling aspect by both age groups. Subjects under age 18, however, reported significantly more frequent problems with hyperactivity, temper control, aggressive behaviours and sleepwalking than adults with TS.     

Nursing home food services linked with risk of malnutrition.

PURPOSE: Links between food service characteristics and residents' risk of malnutrition were examined. METHODS: Cognitively intact residents meeting inclusion criteria and living in one of 38 participating nursing homes were randomly sampled. The final sample consisted of 132 residents, who were screened for risk of malnutrition and completed a face-to-face interview questionnaire about dining experiences. Additional data came from participants' medical charts, and each institution's food service manager completed a written questionnaire. Frequencies and logistic regressions were used to describe the sample and to examine relationships between risk of malnutrition and food service characteristics. RESULTS: Overall, 37.4% of participants were at risk of malnutrition. Food service factors, including food packages, lids, and dishes that were difficult to manipulate (b=0.285, p=0.009), bulk food-delivery systems (b=1.329, p=0.036), overall food satisfaction (b=0.253, p=0.044), menu cycle length (b=-2.162, p=0.003), and porcelain dishes (b=-0.345, p=0.052), all were significantly associated with risk of malnutrition. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings clearly show a need for nursing homes to modify certain aspects of food service that may increase the risk of malnutrition among cognitively intact residents.     

Evaluating the patient satisfaction questionnaire after inpatient treatment in phoniatrics and pediatric audiology--a contribution to quality control?]

Baker and confectioner apprentices have been included in a prospective follow-up study in the region of East Thuringia, to evaluate risk factors for the development of hand dermatitis. Starting in August 1996, the apprentices have been interviewed and examined in a standardized way right at the beginning (n=91) of their vocational training, 6 (n=79) and 12 months (n=63) later. To gain objective data, TEWL score was also assessed at 3 standardized sites on the hands. In their case histories, 3.3% (n=3) of the apprentices reported hand dermatitis. The 1st assessment after 2 to 4 weeks vocational training revealed hand eczema in 17.5% (n=16) of the individuals. At the follow-up after 6 months of training 29.1% (n=23), and after 12 month of training 27.0% (n=17), of the apprentices had hand dermatitis of mild to moderate severity. Within 6 months, the TEWL score rose significantly (p<0.001) from 11.9 g m(-2) h(-1) (-/+5.4) to 16.8 g m(-2) h(-1) (-/+9.5). After 12 months, the TEWL score was 14.9 g m(-2) h(-1) (-/+4.6). For the atopic skin diathesis (>10 points of Diepgen's atopy score), there was a significant tendency to be a predictive factor for the development of occupational hand dermatitis. TEWL score failed to correlate with the development of skin damage in our study. The same was true for respiratory atopy and metal sensitization.     

Exosomal Cargo May Hold the Key to Improving Reproductive Outcomes in Dairy Cows

The reproductive status of dairy cows remains a challenge for dairy farmers worldwide, with impaired fertility linked to a significant reduction in herd profitability, due in part to impaired immunity, increased metabolic pressure, and longer postpartum anestrous interval (PPAI). Exosomes are nanovesicles released from a variety of cell types and end up in circulation, and carry proteins, bioactive peptides, lipids, and nucleic acids specific to the place of origin. As such, their role in health and disease has been investigated in humans and animals. This review discusses research into exosomes in the context of reproduction in dairy herds and introduces recent advances in mass-spectrometry (MS) based proteomics that have a potential to advance quantitative profiling of exosomal protein cargo in a search for early biomarkers of cattle fertility.     

A new variety of low-linolenic rapeseed oil; Characteristics and room-odor tests

Two Canadian rapeseed oils, “Westar” and “low-linolenic”, supplied by the Canola Council were studied and compared with a French rapeseed. The linolenic acid content of the low-linolenic variety is about 3%. This drop in the C18∶3 is completely compensated for by an increase in the C18∶2. Seventy-two percent of the triglycerides with at least one linolenic chain disappeared. A strong increase in the OOL and OLL was observed. The room-odor tests showed that the “low-linolenic” had a significantly higher odor score than the French rapeseed and the “Westar”, both of these being very similar. A fruity odor dominated in the “low-linolenic”, and the fishy painty odors were particularly reduced.     

Inactivation of Fusarium oxysporum Conidia in Soil with Gaseous Ozone – Preliminary Studies

ABSTRACT

In this study, the efficiency of gaseous ozone (O₃) injected in the soil as an oxidizing agent for the inactivation of F. oxysporum was evaluated under laboratory conditions. The results show the treatment reached an inactivation efficiency of 76% after an applied dose of 0.40 g O₃ kg ^?1 soil. This shows that the injection of O₃ can be a viable alternative to control pathogenic organisms in the soils. Nevertheless, it is clear that more studies on determining the effects of this treatment on soil quality are needed.     

Online recognition of sketched arrow-connected diagrams

We introduce a new, online, stroke-based recognition system for hand-drawn diagrams which belong to a group of documents with an explicit structure obvious to humans but only loosely defined from the machine point of view. We propose a model for recognition by selection of symbol candidates, based on evaluation of relations between candidates using a set of predicates. It is suitable for simpler structures where the relations are explicitly given by symbols, arrows in the case of diagrams. Knowledge of a specific diagram domain is used—the two domains are flowcharts and finite automata. Although the individual pipeline steps are tailored for these, the system can readily be adapted for other domains. Our entire diagram recognition pipeline is outlined. Its core parts are text/non-text separation, symbol segmentation, their classification and structural analysis. Individual parts have been published by the authors previously and so are described briefly and referenced. Thorough evaluation on benchmark databases shows the accuracy of the system reaches the state of the art and is ready for practical use. The paper brings several contributions: (a) the entire system and its state-of-the-art performance; (b) the methodology exploring document structure when it is loosely defined; (c) the thorough experimental evaluation; (d) the new annotated database for online sketched flowcharts and finite automata diagrams.