The Influence of Aging on the Functional Connectivity of the Human Basal Ganglia

Although basal ganglia (BG) are involved in the motor disorders of aged people, the effect of aging on the functional interaction of BG is not well-known. This work was aimed at studying the influence of aging on the functional connectivity of the motor circuit of BG (BGmC). Thirty healthy volunteers were studied (young-group 26.4 ± 5.7 years old; aged-group 63.1 ± 5.8 years old) with a procedure planned to prevent the spurious functional connectivity induced by the closed-loop arrangement of the BGmC. BG showed different functional interactions during the inter-task intervals and when subjects did not perform any voluntary task. Aging induced marked changes in the functional connectivity of the BGmC during these inter-task intervals. The finger movements changed the functional connectivity of the BG, these modifications were also different in the aged-group. Taken together, these data show a marked effect of aging on the functional connectivity of the BGmC, and these effects may be at the basis of the motor handicaps of aged people during the execution of motor-tasks and when they are not performing any voluntary motor task.

To See and to Tell: Lessing’s Criticism of Ageism in The Diary of a Good Neighbor

The Diary of a Good Neighbor is one of a series of works concerning age problems in the contemporary western society written by the Nobel laureate Doris Lessing. Through the record of the last days of Maudie Fowler, a ninety-two-year-old lower-class woman by a middle-aged professional Jane Somers, Lessing questions the modern social care system and criticizes the hidden social prejudice against the elderly. Lessing observes the defect of the modern social care institutions in oppressing individual choice and excluding aged people, and points out the professional service they provide cannot really comfort the aged individuals, which constructs a dilemma for both the institutions and the aged group. Different from the ageist neglect of the aged group, Lessing gives a detailed exhibition of both Maudie’s daily life and her inner world, which builds a personal connection between the old and the young and draws this isolated group close to the public. Lessing also explores the taboo topic of old age, sickness and death and gives a full display of Maudie’s tenacious wrestling with death, which shows the sublime of human life and challenges the ageist view of the co-decaying of spirit and body.

Potential Application of Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound in Delaying Aging for Mice

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) is one of the popular treatment modalities allowing to boost the proliferation, differentiation, and migratory activity of cells, which might be a powerful strategy for anti-aging. Seeking a novel setup for LIPUS would benefit the development of ultrasound therapeutics. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Here, we proposed a novel underwater exposure setup of LIPUS. C57BL/6 mice were reared in the designated age-groups, which consisted of a middle-aged group (12–14 months) and an old-age group (20–23 months). The age-related changes of body composition, imbalance of energy supply and demand, imbalance of signal network maintaining internal stability, and representative phenotypes of neurodegeneration and neuroplasticity with the presence and absence of underwater LIPUS in middle-aged and aged groups were evaluated. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The results showed that there were obvious aging changes, imbalance of energy supply and demand, imbalance of signal network maintaining homeostasis, neurodegeneration, and damage of neural plasticity in the middle-aged and aged group with or without the LIPUS. Although middle-aged group and aged group responded differently to LIPUS, they mostly generated positive results in relieving bone loss, improving ovarian structure, regulated immune system, and enhanced endurance ability, which should have declined over age. <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> These findings indicate that underwater extracorporeal LIPUS exposure could be employed as single or combined anti-aging strategies that generated positive outcomes against the process of aging.

Lower Limb Perfusion Asymmetries in Humans at Rest and Following Activity—A Collective View

The significance of lower limb perfusion asymmetries remains unknown in healthy individuals. Our study aims to understand how factors such as posture, sex, age, and body weight relate to perfusion. Data from studies previously published by our group, including experiments using laser Doppler flowmetry as the gold standard for perfusion measurements in baseline, (various) challenge, and recovery phases was assembled from a total of 139 healthy participants. Body position was shown to be a primary determinant of perfusion asymmetry, especially in women. Effects of sex and age were also analyzed. In a supine position, perfusion asymmetries seemed to relate negatively in the aged group of participants, where challenge and recovery seemed to follow different processes. In the upright position, young men and women have shown comparable distributions and asymmetry ratios at baseline and recovery. In the aged group, differences between sexes were observed at baseline, but again, the course of the asymmetry ratios with challenge was essentially similar in men and women. Our analysis suggests that ageing is a critical determinant in our upright study sample, as higher baseline asymmetries and longer recoveries after challenge were linked in older males with higher body mass index (BMI).

Application of Machine Learning and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Algorithm to Explore the Hub Genes in the Aging Brain

Aging is a major risk factor contributing to neurodegeneration and dementia. However, it remains unclarified how aging promotes these diseases. Here, we use machine learning and weighted gene co-expression network (WGCNA) to explore the relationship between aging and gene expression in the human frontal cortex and reveal potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets of neurodegeneration and dementia related to aging. The transcriptional profiling data of the human frontal cortex from individuals ranging from 26 to 106 years old was obtained from the GEO database in NCBI. Self-Organizing Feature Map (SOM) was conducted to find the clusters in which gene expressions downregulate with aging. For WGCNA analysis, first, co-expressed genes were clustered into different modules, and modules of interest were identified through calculating the correlation coefficient between the module and phenotypic trait (age). Next, the overlapping genes between differentially expressed genes (DEG, between young and aged group) and genes in the module of interest were discovered. Random Forest classifier was performed to obtain the most significant genes in the overlapping genes. The disclosed significant genes were further identified through network analysis. Through WGCNA analysis, the greenyellow module is found to be highly negatively correlated with age, and functions mainly in long-term potentiation and calcium signaling pathways. Through step-by-step filtering of the module genes by overlapping with downregulated DEGs in aged group and Random Forest classifier analysis, we found that MAPT, KLHDC3, RAP2A, RAP2B, ELAVL2, and SYN1 were co-expressed and highly correlated with aging.

Knowledge of Potato Growers About Improved Potato Production Technology in East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya

The study was conducted in East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya to measure the knowledge level of potato growers about improved production technology. A total number of 120 respondents were selected randomly from ten villages under Mylliem block because productivity, production and area under potato cultivation were found to be maximum. The data were collected by personnel interview method by using pre- tested interview schedule and later appropriate statistical analysis was done to find out the meaningful results. The findings of the study revealed that majority (61.67%) of the respondents belonged to the middle- aged group, 67.50 per cent of the respondents mainly depended on agriculture as their main occupation and 47.50 per cent of the respondents had an educational attainment up to primary level. The findings also revealed that majority (50.83%) of the respondents had medium level of knowledge towards improved potato production technology followed by 30% and 19.17% of the respondents with low and high levels of knowledge respectively.

Resilience, fear of COVID-19 and their relationship with cognitive functioning and mood: a study on the administrative staff of the University of Western Macedonia, Greece

Background: The present study examines the relationship between resilience, mood, fear for Covid-19, and cognitive functioning during pandemic Covid-19. Methods: A cross-sectional web-based study was conducted from December 2020 to January 2021 among the administrative staff of the University of Western Macedonia, Greece. Data was collected using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress (DASS 21), fear of Covid-19 scales (FCV-19S), and Cognitive functioning self-assessment scale (CFSS). Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis was performed using an independent Sample T-Test, Chi-Square Test, One-way ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis H Test, Spearman's Rank-Order Correlations, Pearson product-moment correlations, and Simple Linear Regression. SPSS version 22 was used for data analysis and the statistical significance was considered at less than 0.05. Results: Data of 88 university's administrative staff has undergone final analysis. Most of the respondents were females (78.4%), married (61.3%), middle-aged group (64.8%), held a post-graduate degree (56.8%) and 94.3% stated that they had not been sick with Covid-19. Our findings showed that the middle-aged group has statistically significantly higher fear on Covid-19 (P = 0.046), and more care of personal hygiene, stress (P = 0.040), than the young age group respectively. Women had a statistically significantly higher restriction to physical contact compared to men (P = 0.042), however, men had statistically significantly more trusted the results of clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines than women (P = 0.039), respectively. There was statistically significant and negative correlation between Resilience (CD) and cognitive functioning (r = -0.412, n = 87, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the result of a simple linear regression showed that an increase of one in CD corresponded to a 0.287 decrease in cognitive functioning. Conclusion: It is vital to continue monitoring the psychological and cognitive effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

PREVALENCE OF HALLUX VALGUS IN NORMAL INDIVIDUALS

To find out the prevalence of hallux valgus in normal individuals. The lateral deviation of the big toe at the first metatarsophalangeal joint is also known as Hallux valgus and is frequently common in women’s. The primary function of the foot is to control the body weight and to serve as a part of lever for its proper functioning. Basically body weight and the strain falls along with the centre of the foot and maintain the balance there by surrounding muscular activity. By any chance if this normal synchronization is disturbed in the performance of their function, in spite of accommodative power of nature to disease and deformity. Cross sectional study 200 male and female with or without foot pain were included. 38.59% and 31.46% of male and female have hallux valgus of right foot out of total samples. 45.61% and 39.15% of male and female have hallux valgus of left foot out of total samples. The result of the study concluded that the prevalence of hallux valgus deformity was greater in an older-aged group than the young-aged group and among which showed left foot was more commonly affected in both males and females. It also showed that it does not affect functional activity in normal young individual.

Combined Assessment of Preoperative Frailty and Sarcopenia Allows the Prediction of Overall Survival in Patients with Lung Cancer (NSCLC) and Surgically Treated Brain Metastasis

Neurosurgical resection represents an important therapeutic pillar in patients with brain metastasis (BM). Such extended treatment modalities require preoperative assessment of patients’ physical status to estimate individual treatment success. The aim of the present study was to analyze the predictive value of frailty and sarcopenia as assessment tools for physiological integrity in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who had undergone surgery for BM. Between 2013 and 2018, 141 patients were surgically treated for BM from NSCLC at the authors’ institution. The preoperative physical condition was assessed by the temporal muscle thickness (TMT) as a surrogate parameter for sarcopenia and the modified frailty index (mFI). For the ≥65 aged group, median overall survival (mOS) significantly differed between patients classified as ‘frail’ (mFI ≥ 0.27) and ‘least and moderately frail’ (mFI < 0.27) (15 months versus 11 months (p = 0.02)). Sarcopenia revealed significant differences in mOS for the <65 aged group (10 versus 18 months for patients with and without sarcopenia (p = 0.036)). The present study confirms a predictive value of preoperative frailty and sarcopenia with respect to OS in patients with NSCLC and surgically treated BM. A combined assessment of mFI and TMT allows the prediction of OS across all age groups.

O-211 The DNA double-strand break repair genes expression exhibits significant changes in the postnatal mouse testes from early to aged terms

Study question How does the DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair genes, Rad51, Rpa70, Ku80, and Xrcc4, expression change in the postnatal mouse testes from early to aged terms. Summary answer The Rad51, Rpa70, and Ku80 genes expression decreased in the postnatal mouse testes from early to aged terms. What is known already The DSB levels occurring in the spermatogenic cells during spermatogenesis increase during biological aging in men. DSBs can be repaired by specific repair mechanisms including homologous recombination (HR) or non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) pathways. While RAD51 and RPA70 are the main components of HR process, KU80 and XRCC4 play important roles in NHEJ pathway. As is known, gH2AX is a commonly used biomarker for determining the DSBs. Study design, size, duration The potential reasons of DSB levels in the spermatogenic cells during aging is not fully addressed yet. In this study, we aimed to analyze the expression of the Rad51, Rpa70, Ku80 and Xrcc4 genes at mRNA and protein levels in the postnatal mouse testes from early to aged terms. Participants/materials, setting, methods We comprised five groups based on the testicular histology, consisting of early (1- and 2-week-old), young (3- and 4-week-old), adult (5- and 6-week-old), late-adult (16-, 18- and 20-week-old), and aged (48-, 50- and 52-week-old). DSB repair genes expression at mRNA and protein levels were determined using qRT-PCR and immunohistochemistry techniques, respectively. The data were evaluated by using one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. P&lt;0.05 was considered statistically significant. Main results and the role of chance The Rad51, Rpa70, Ku80, and Xrcc4 mRNA levels significantly decreased in the aged group when compared to the young, adult and late-adult groups (P&lt;0.05). gH2AX was intensively localized in the nucleus of primary spermatocytes of postnatal testes, and its levels either in the total or seminiferous tubules or germinal epithelial cells involving primary spermatocytes, round spermatids, elongating spermatids, elongated spermatids, and Sertoli Cells were higher in the aged group than the remained groups (P&lt;0.05). The DSB repair proteins were detected in the spermatogenic cells, in which pachytene spermatocytes showed stronger intensity. The levels of RAD51 and RP70 proteins implicating in HR pathway were lower in the seminiferous tubules of the aged group when compared to the adult and late-adult groups (P&lt;0.05). Moreover, the total and seminiferous tubules analysis revealed that KU80 levels decreased in the aged group in comparison to the remaining groups except for early group, as observed for the spermatogonia, primary spermatocytes and round spermatids of the aged group (P&lt;0.05). Although there were no significant differences found in the total and seminiferous tubule analysis for XRCC4 protein, its levels decreased in the round spermatids and elongating spermatids of the aged group compared to the adult and late-adult groups. Limitations, reasons for caution The limitation of this study is that we did not isolate spermatogenic cell types from aged mice to compare adult ones. Wider implications of the findings The increase of DSB in the spermatogenic cells of aged mice may derive from reduced levels of RAD51, RPA70 and KU80 proteins playing roles in DSB repair. Further researches are required to determine the molecular mechanisms resulting in decrease of these protein levels. Trial registration number not applicable