scholarly journals Walking Football During Ramadan Fasting for Cardiometabolic and Psychological Health Benefits to the Physically Challenged and Aged Populations

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sueziani Binte Zainudin ◽  
Dee Dee A. Salle ◽  
Abdul Rashid Aziz

Concurrent exercise and intermittent fasting regimens for long periods have been shown to enhance cardiometabolic health in healthy individuals. As exercise and fasting confer health benefits independently, we propose that Muslims who are fasting, especially those experiencing health and clinical challenges, continually engage in physical activity during the Ramadan month. In this opinion piece, we recommend walking football (WF) as the exercise of choice among Muslims who are fasting. WF can be played by any individual regardless of the level of fitness, skills, and age. WF has been shown to elicit cardiovascular and metabolic stress responses, which are suitable for populations with low fitness levels. Most importantly, WF has the inherent characteristics of being a fun team activity requiring social interactions among participants and, hence, likely to encourage long-term consistent and sustainable participation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 123-123
Author(s):  
Scott Leiser ◽  
Christopher Choi ◽  
Ajay Bhat ◽  
Charles Evans

Abstract An organism’s ability to respond to stress is crucial for long-term survival. These stress responses are coordinated by distinct but overlapping pathways, many of which have been found to also regulate longevity in multiple organisms across species. Despite extensive effort, our understanding of these pathways and how they affect aging remains incomplete and thus is a key area of study in Geroscience. Our previous work identified flavin-containing monooxygenase-2 (fmo-2) as a key longevity-promoting gene downstream of at least three longevity promoting pathways, including the hypoxic response, the pentose phosphate pathway, and the dietary restriction pathway. Based on the commonalities of these pathways, we hypothesized that fmo-2, a classically annotated xenobiotic enzyme, might play a key endogenous role in responding to metabolic stress. Our resulting data, using metabolic profiling and further epistatic analysis, both support this hypothesis and link fmo-2’s mechanism to modifications to one-carbon metabolism (OCM), a key intermediate pathway between the nucleotide metabolism, methylation, and transsulfuration pathways. Using mathematical modeling and a novel metabolomics approach, we were able to further identify the likely mechanism of fmo-2-mediated metabolic effects, and connect them to both OCM and downstream components. We propose a model whereby nematode fmo-2 represents a class of enzymes that are able to modify large aspects of metabolism, similar to how transcription factors modify gene expression, and that fmo-2 is a key member of a conserved metabolic stress response.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5349
Author(s):  
Mayes Alswady-Hoff ◽  
Johanna Samulin Erdem ◽  
Santosh Phuyal ◽  
Oskar Knittelfelder ◽  
Animesh Sharma ◽  
...  

There is little in vitro data available on long-term effects of TiO2 exposure. Such data are important for improving the understanding of underlying mechanisms of adverse health effects of TiO2. Here, we exposed pulmonary epithelial cells to two doses (0.96 and 1.92 µg/cm2) of TiO2 for 13 weeks and effects on cell cycle and cell death mechanisms, i.e., apoptosis and autophagy were determined after 4, 8 and 13 weeks of exposure. Changes in telomere length, cellular protein levels and lipid classes were also analyzed at 13 weeks of exposure. We observed that the TiO2 exposure increased the fraction of cells in G1-phase and reduced the fraction of cells in G2-phase, which was accompanied by an increase in the fraction of late apoptotic/necrotic cells. This corresponded with an induced expression of key apoptotic proteins i.e., BAD and BAX, and an accumulation of several lipid classes involved in cellular stress and apoptosis. These findings were further supported by quantitative proteome profiling data showing an increase in proteins involved in cell stress and genomic maintenance pathways following TiO2 exposure. Altogether, we suggest that cell stress response and cell death pathways may be important molecular events in long-term health effects of TiO2.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel D. Zordan ◽  
Melanie L. Bell ◽  
Melanie Price ◽  
Cheryl Remedios ◽  
Elizabeth Lobb ◽  
...  

AbstractContextThe short-term impact of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) following bereavement is well documented. The longer term sequelae of PGD however are poorly understood, possibly unrecognized, and may be incorrectly attributed to other mental health disorders and hence undertreated.ObjectivesThe aims of this study were to prospectively evaluate the prevalence of PGD three years post bereavement and to examine the predictors of long-term PGD in a population-based cohort of bereaved cancer caregivers.MethodsA cohort of primary family caregivers of patients admitted to one of three palliative care services in Melbourne, Australia, participated in the study (n= 301). Sociodemographic, mental health, and bereavement-related data were collected from the caregiver upon the patient's admission to palliative care (T1). Further data addressing circumstances around the death and psychological health were collected at six (T2,n= 167), 13 (T3,n= 143), and 37 months (T4,n= 85) after bereavement.ResultsAt T4, 5% and 14% of bereaved caregivers met criteria for PGD and subthreshold PGD, respectively. Applying the total PGD score at T4, linear regression analysis found preloss anticipatory grief measured at T1 and self-reported coping measured at T2 were highly statistically significant predictors (bothp< 0.0001) of PGD in the longer term.ConclusionFor almost 20% of caregivers, the symptoms of PGD appear to persist at least three years post bereavement. These findings support the importance of screening caregivers upon the patient's admission to palliative care and at six months after bereavement to ascertain their current mental health. Ideally, caregivers at risk of developing PGD can be identified and treated before PGD becomes entrenched.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mickey Agha ◽  
Mason O. Murphy ◽  
Jeffrey E. Lovich ◽  
Joshua R. Ennen ◽  
Christian R. Oldham ◽  
...  

Context There is little information available on how research activities might cause stress responses in wildlife, especially responses of threatened species such as the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii). Aims The present study aims to detect behavioural effects of researcher handling and winter precipitation on a natural population of desert tortoises in the desert of Southwestern United States, over the period 1997 to 2014, through extensive assessments of capture events during multiple research studies, and capture–mark–recapture survivorship analysis. Methods Juvenile and adult desert tortoises were repeatedly handled with consistent methodology across 18 years during 10 study seasons. Using a generalised linear mixed-effects model, we assessed the effects of both research manipulation and abiotic conditions on probability of voiding. Additionally, we used a Cormack–Jolly–Seber model to assess the effects of winter precipitation and voiding on long-term apparent survivorship. Key results Of 1008 total capture events, voiding was recorded on 83 (8.2%) occasions in 42 different individuals. Our top models indicated that increases in handling time led to significantly higher probabilities of voiding for juveniles, females and males. Similarly, increases in precipitation resulted in significantly higher probabilities of voiding for juveniles and females, but not for males. Tortoise capture frequency was negatively correlated with voiding occurrence. Cormack–Jolly–Seber models demonstrated a weak effect of winter precipitation on survivorship, but a negligible effect for both voiding behaviour and sex. Conclusions Handling-induced voiding by desert tortoises may occur during common research activities and years of above average winter precipitation. Increased likelihood of voiding in individuals with relatively low numbers of recaptures suggested that tortoises may have perceived researchers initially as predators, and therefore voided as a defensive strategy. Voiding does not appear to impact long-term survivorship in desert tortoises at this site. Implications This study has demonstrated that common handling practices on desert tortoise may cause voiding behaviour. These results suggest that in order to minimise undesirable behavioural responses in studied desert tortoise populations, defined procedures or protocols must be followed by the investigators to reduce contact period to the extent feasible.


2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Braedley ◽  
Prince Owusu ◽  
Anna Przednowek ◽  
Pat Armstrong

2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Leung ◽  
Anthony Singhal

Qigong meditation is an ancient form of meditation that has been linked with various health benefits. We were interested in whether or not this form of meditation has a relationship with personality. To this end, we administered the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to eighty Qigong meditation practitioners and seventy-four non-practitioners. The results showed that the number of years of Qigong practice was negatively correlated with neuroticism, but there was no relationship with extraversion. Even after controlling for age, gender, and education level, the practitioners were significantly less neurotic than the nonpractitioners. The study of Qigong meditation and personality may lead to a greater understanding of the various disorders characterized by high neuroticism, and may provide a viable treatment option for long-term health.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Sipol ◽  
Erik Hameister ◽  
Busheng Xue ◽  
Julia Hofstetter ◽  
Maxim Barenboim ◽  
...  

Cancer cells are in most instances characterized by rapid proliferation and uncontrolled cell division. Hence, they must adapt to proliferation-induced metabolic stress through intrinsic or acquired anti-metabolic stress responses to maintain homeostasis and survival. One mechanism to achieve this is to reprogram gene expression in a metabolism-dependent manner. MondoA (also known as MLXIP), a member of the MYC interactome, has been described as an example of such a metabolic sensor. However, the role of MondoA in malignancy is not fully understood and the underlying mechanism in metabolic responses remains elusive. By assessing patient data sets we found that MondoA overexpression is associated with a worse survival in pediatric common acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Using CRISPR/Cas9 and RNA interference approaches, we observed that MondoA depletion reduces transformational capacity of B-ALL cells in vitro and dramatically inhibits malignant potential in an in vivo mouse model. Interestingly, reduced expression of MondoA in patient data sets correlated with enrichment in metabolic pathways. The loss of MondoA correlated with increased tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity. Mechanistically, MondoA senses metabolic stress in B-ALL cells by restricting oxidative phosphorylation through reduced PDH activity. Glutamine starvation conditions greatly enhance this effect and highlight the inability to mitigate metabolic stress upon loss of MondoA in B-ALL. Our findings give a novel insight into the function of MondoA in pediatric B-ALL and support the notion that MondoA inhibition in this entity offers a therapeutic opportunity and should be further explored.


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