The Associations between Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Physical Function in Community-Dwelling Older Japanese Men and Women

Objective: The relationships between physical activity (PA) and physical function (PF) among older Japanese adults have been examined before, with some studies reporting that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is positively associated with PF. However, it is unclear whether the observed associations differ between men and women. In this study, we investigated the associations of objectively measured MVPA, light physical activity (LPA), and sedentary time (ST) with different PF levels in older Japanese men and women. Subjects and Methods: A total of 810 community-dwelling subjects aged 65–75 years were investigated (52.1% women, 47.9% men). The PF variables included grip strength, one-leg standing, usual and maximum walking speeds, and chair-standing time. PA (MVPA, LPA, and ST) and the number of steps taken daily were assessed for seven consecutive days by a tri-axial accelerometer. We determined the sex-specific quartiles of MVPA, LPA, and ST and analyzed their associations with physical function in separate models for each exposure measure. Results: In the crude analysis, MVPA was significantly associated with all PF variables in the men, and with the usual walking speed, max. walking speed, and chair-standing time in the women. Neither LPA nor ST was significantly associated with any PF variables. After adjusting potential confounding factors, significant associations between MVPA and usual walking speed remained in the men and women. Conclusions: Only greater moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was significantly associated with higher levels of PF variables in both men and women. Thus, time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) can help older adults maintain or improve their physical function.

Comparison of General-Social Health and Corona-Induced Anxiety Between Active and Inactive Students in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: General health includes physical and mental health and their interactions, and physical activity can improve people's mental and social health. The present study has compared general-social health and COVID-19-induced anxiety between active and inactive students during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: A causal-comparative research design was used in this study. The statistical population consisted of all students of the Farhangian University of Mashhad (2,500 students) in 2020, out of whom 752 students were randomly selected (323 men and 429 women). Subjects were assessed for general health, social health, and COVID-19-induced anxiety. Data normality was investigated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and data were analyzed statistically using independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient test.Results: The results of the present study showed that there was a significant difference between general health and COVID-19-induced anxiety of active and inactive students (p = 0.001), but no significant difference was observed between these two groups in social health (p ≥ 0.05). Results obtained regarding the correlation indicated that there was a significant correlation between general and social health in both active and inactive students (p = 0.001). However, there was no significant correlation between COVID-19-induced anxiety and general-social health (p ≥ 0.05).Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, it can be said that an active lifestyle and physical activity are important factors to improve general health and reduce anxiety, especially in specific conditions of the COVID-19 outbreak. Therefore, it is recommended that students have a regular exercise program to reduce their anxiety and increase the level of their physical health.

Indirect Predictors of Visceral Adipose Tissue in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Comparison of Methods

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) accumulation, is a part of a polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) phenotype. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) provides a gold standard measurement of VAT. This study aimed to compare ten different indirect methods of VAT estimation in PCOS women. The study included 154 PCOS and 68 age- and BMI-matched control women. Subjects were divided into age groups: 18–30 y.o. and 30–40 y.o. Analysis included: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist/height 0.5 (WHT.5R), visceral adipose index (VAI), lipid accumulation product (LAP), and fat mass index (FMI). VAT accumulation, android-to-gynoid ratio (A/G), and total body fat (TBF) was measured by DXA. ROC analysis revealed that WHtR, WHT.5R, WC, BMI, and LAP demonstrated the highest predictive value in identifying VAT in the PCOS group. Lower cut-off values of BMI (23.43 kg/m2) and WHtR (0.45) were determined in the younger PCOS group and higher thresholds of WHtR (0.52) in the older PCOS group than commonly used. Measuring either: WHtR, WHT.5R, WC, BMI, or LAP, could help identify a subgroup of PCOS patients at high cardiometabolic risk. The current observations reinforce the importance of using special cut-offs to identify VAT, dependent on age and PCOS presence.

Trajectories of Depression and Their Associations with Mortality in Older People in Korea over 12 Years

Background: As the course of depression and depressive symptoms over a lifetime varies between individuals, we used trajectory models based on the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging to repeatedly measure symptoms over a follow-up period of 12 years to reveal the association with mortality.Methods: Three thousand five hundred sixty-one (1,483 men and 2,078 women) subjects aged over 65 years were included. Using the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D 10), a trajectory model was classified into different depressive symptom groups by gender. Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the association between depression trajectory and all-cause mortality.Results: We identified four trajectories of depressive symptoms in both men and women characterized by low CES-D 10 scores throughout the study: Low trajectory (LT), Moderate high trajectory (MHT), High, but increasing trajectory (HIT), and High, but decreasing trajectory (HDT). The adjusted hazard ratios of the HIT, HDT, and MHT compared with LT in men were 2.12 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43-3.16), 1.52 (95% CI, 0.96-2.40), and 1.58 (95% CI, 1.10-2.26), respectively. In women, ratios of each group were 1.62 (95% CI, 1.25-2.10), 0.84 (95% CI, 0.61-1.16), and 1.20 (95% CI, 0.99-1.46).Conclusions: Highly depressive symptoms that increased over the 12 years period were associated with the highest risk of mortality in the Korean elderly population. The trajectory group with remitting depressive symptoms (HDT), despite having a similar baseline level of mood symptoms as the high increasing group (HIT) experienced a lower mortality risk in both men and women.

Vertebral Fractures in Ireland: A Sub-analysis of the DXA HIP Project

Osteoporosis is an important global health problem resulting in fragility fractures. The vertebrae are the commonest site of fracture resulting in extreme illness burden, and having the highest associated mortality. International studies show that vertebral fractures (VF) increase in prevalence with age, similarly in men and women, but differ across different regions of the world. Ireland has one of the highest rates of hip fracture in the world but data on vertebral fractures are limited. In this study we examined the prevalence of VF and associated major risk factors, using a sample of subjects who underwent vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) performed on 2 dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) machines. A total of 1296 subjects aged 40 years and older had a valid VFA report and DXA information available, including 254 men and 1042 women. Subjects had a mean age of 70 years, 805 (62%) had prior fractures, mean spine T-score was − 1.4 and mean total hip T-scores was − 1.2, while mean FRAX scores were 15.4% and 4.8% for major osteoporotic fracture and hip fracture, respectively. Although 95 (7%) had a known VF prior to scanning, 283 (22%) patients had at least 1 VF on their scan: 161 had 1, 61 had 2, and 61 had 3 or more. The prevalence of VF increased with age from 11.5% in those aged 40–49 years to > 33% among those aged ≥ 80 years. Both men and women with VF had significantly lower BMD at each measured site, and significantly higher FRAX scores, P < 0.01. These data suggest VF are common in high risk populations, particularly older men and women with low BMD, previous fractures, and at high risk of fracture. Urgent attention is needed to examine effective ways to identify those at risk and to reduce the burden of VF.

Relative bioavailability of H3B-6545 tablets versus capsules and drug-drug interaction between H3B-6545 and pantoprazole.

e13022 Background: H3B-6545 is a selective, orally available, small molecule antagonist of the estrogen receptor (ER), covalently binding to a cysteine residue at position 530 of both wild-type and the constitutively active mutant ERα proteins. H3B-6545 demonstrated preliminary clinical antitumor activity in breasts cancer patients in phase 1b/2. Methods: This was an open-label phase 1 study to evaluate the relative bioavailability of H3B-6545 from a tablet formulation compared to capsules, and the effect of pantoprazole on the pharmacokinetics of H3B-6545, in healthy post-menopausal women. Subjects were randomized (1:1 ratio) to a combined crossover and fixed sequence 3 periods treatment: A single oral dose (SOD) of 450 mg H3B-6545 fasted on day 1 (capsules or tablets), followed by a 4-day washout; A SOD of 450 mg H3B-6545 fasted on day 5 (crossover formulation from the first period), followed by a 4-day washout; daily oral doses of 40 mg pantoprazole on days 9 to 15 with coadministration of a SOD of 450 mg H3B-6545 (tablets) on day 15. Results: A total of 16 subjects were enrolled and received at least one dose of H3B-6545 and 15 subjects completed all 3 periods. One subject assigned to the tablet/capsule treatment sequence withdrew from the study due to subject decision on day 13 (Period 3), following completion of Period 1 (H3B-6545 tablet) and Period 2 (H3B-6545 capsule). Following a SOD of H3B-6545 capsules alone, tablets alone, or tablets at steady-state QD of pantoprazole, H3B-6545 geometric mean Cmax was about 1070, 1120 and 1330 ng/mL, respectively, AUC was about 16600, 17500 and 18300 ng.h/mL, respectively, half-life was about 11.0, 11.0 and 10.2 hours, respectively, and the median Tmax was about 3.0, 4.0, and 2.0 hours post dose, respectively. The ratio (capsule/tablet) of Cmax and AUC was both about 0.95; steady-state pantoprazole QD increased H3B-6545 Cmax by 20% with no change in AUC. Nine subjects (56.3%) reported at least 1 TEAE during the study with constipation being the most common (43.8%); all TEAEs were mild in severity. There were no SAEs reported. Conclusions: Plasma PK of H3B-6545 is similar between tablets and capsules, and in the absence or presence of pantoprazole. Concurrent use of gastric acid reducers had a minimal effect on H3B-6545 exposure and was not considered clinically meaningful.

SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine-Induced Antibody Response and Reinfection in Persons with Past Natural Infection

Several studies have shown that subjects with a history of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection had significantly higher antibody titers than previously uninfected vaccinees after vaccination with mRNA vaccine. Yet no information is available for other vaccines. In the current observational cohort study, 105 health care workers who had received Covishield an Adeno associated viral vector-based DNA vaccine were enrolled at Sarojini Nadu Medical College Agra, India. The study included 40 (23 men and 17 women) subjects with a previous history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and 65 participants (39 men and 26 women) who were not infected previously. Both the groups received the adenovirus vector vaccine ChAdOx1-S recombinant vaccines (Covishield, Astra Zeneca). The levels of SARS-CoV-2-anti-spike-IgG-antibodies titer were measured using Electrochemiluminescence immunoassay on Roche platform as arbitrary units per milliliter (AU/ml). After 28 days of the second dose, subjects with no previous SARSCoV-2 infection showed a significantly lower level of circulating anti-spike-IgG-antibody titers compared to previously infected participants. After the second dose, we also observed a significant increase in SARS-CoV-2 infection in subjects with no prior history of SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to subjects with a previous history of natural infection. The most important observation of the study is a low percentage of infection in previously infected subjects. The finding of the study also indicates the presence of robust humoral memory response in previously infected patients.

Early cardiac change after menopause-an open level comparative study

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide which is more prevalent in women after menopause. Hormonal changes associated with menopause are accountable for dyslipidemia pattern that causes CVD and associated complications. Therefore, the present study was commenced to compare the lipid profile in pre- and postmenopausal women. A total of 100 samples were collected from women, 50 from premenopausal and 50 from postmenopausal women, and analyzed for Total Cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) and Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL-). TC, TG, HDL, and LDL were highly significantly increased in postmenopausal women when compared to premenopausal women. DL/HDL ratio was significantly elevated in postmenopausal women than in premenopausal women. MI was significantly positively correlated with TC and TG in both pre- and postmenopausal population and it was positively correlated with HDL in the premenopausal population while negatively correlated in the postmenopausal population. Since more of the atherogenic lipid parameters are increased in postmenopausal women, they appear to be more prone to have CVD and associated complications in the near future. Hence, it is mandatory to monitor and manage dyslipidemia patterns in every woman experiencing menopause. To investigate whether menopause may induce left ventricular structural and functional adaptations in normotensive and hypertensive women, we compared in a case-control setting 50 untreated hypertensive premenopausal women with 50 postmenopausal women and 50 normotensive premenopausal women with 50 postmenopausal women. Subjects were individually physically examined & matched by age (38.2±5.9years to 50±1.03years), clinic systolic blood pressure (128.6±1.05mm Hg & 134±1.2mm Hg), clinic diastolic blood pressure (74.6±1.3mm Hg & 74.6±1.2mm Hg), and body mass index (55.3±8.8kg to 55.6±5.9kg) respectively. We conclude that menopause is associated with blunted day-night blood pressure reduction, impaired left the ventricular systolic performance, and concentric left ventricular geometric pattern. These findings are independent of the presence or absence of high blood pressure.

Micronutrient supplementation among pregnant women in western Algeria

Background: Although micronutrient supplementation is a frequent practice during pregnancy, it remains poorly documented, particularly in Algeria. Aims: Our objective was to assess the prevalence and factors associated with the use of micronutrient supplements among pregnant women. Subjects and Methods: The data of the present study were obtained from a cross-sectional survey conducted through a questionnaire among 384 pregnant women receiving prenatal care at a major mother and child specialized hospital in Sidi-Bel-Abbes city (Algeria). Results: This study showed that 83.1% of pregnant women were taking micronutrient supplements. Among these women, 70,8% were taking a multi-supplementation. The two most frequently reported micronutrients were: iron (77.9%) and folic acid (77.3%). The highest rates of supplementation were recorded in the third trimester. Other common supplements used were: magnesium, iodine, vitamin D, vitamin C, omega 3, and calcium (46.4%, 38.8% 36.5%, 34.6%, 27.3%, and 21.4% respectively). It appears that these products were mainly dispensed in pharmacies under medical prescription. The variables significantly associated with their use were: Education level, pregnancy age, parity, pre-conception consultation, urbanicity, and physical activity. Conclusions: Collecting these types of data is essential not only to document micronutrient supplement intake, but also to help implement awareness campaigns about their use during pregnancy and whether they are necessary to ensure adequate micronutrient intake. Keywords: Micronutrients, supplementation, Pregnancy, Algeria.

PERBEDAAN TINGKAT KEBERSYUKURAN PADA PEREMPUAN LAJANG DAN SUDAH MENIKAH

The sense of gratitude that women have is not always the same between single and married women. Subjects in this study were 46 participants aged 22-36 years. The instrument used in this study was the GQ-6 gratitude scale compiled by McCullough, Emmons & Tsang. The data analysis used was the 2-sample difference test technique, namely the Independent sample t-test. Based on the results of the research data analysis, it can be concluded that there are significant differences in single and married women related to the level of gratitude. This can be seen from the results of statistical data analysis with the t test technique which shows a probability value of 0.034> 0.05 which indicates a significant difference. Thus the difference in the average actually occurs in real terms. In conclusion, married women have a higher level of gratitude (M = 35.95) than single women (M = 34.04). Rasa kebersyukuran yang dimiliki oleh perempuan tidak selalu sama antara perempuan lajang dan menikah. Subjek dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 46 orang partisipan yang berumur 22-36 tahun. Instrumen yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah skala syukur GQ-6 yang di susun oleh McCullough, Emmons & Tsang. Analisis data yang digunakan adalah teknik uji perbedaan 2 sampel yaitu Independent sampel t-test. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data penelitian dapat diperoleh kesimpulan bahwa terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan pada perempuan lajang dan sudah menikah terkait dengan tingkat kebersyukuran. Hal tersebut dapat dilihat dari hasil analisis data statistik dengan teknik uji t yang menunjukkan nilai probabilitas 0,034 > 0,05 yang mengindikasikan adanya perbedaan yang signifikan. Dengan demikian perbedaan rata-rata yang ada benar-benar terjadi secara nyata. Sebagai kesimpulannya adalah perempuan yang sudah menikah memiliki tingkat kebersyukuran yang lebih tinggi (M = 35,95) dibandingkan perempuan lajang (M = 34,04).