Exercise training in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus: a controlled randomized trial

Introduction

Exercise training has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy to counteract physical dysfunction in adult systemic lupus erythematosus. However, no longitudinal studies have evaluated the effects of an exercise training program in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (C-SLE) patients. The objective was to evaluate the safety and the efficacy of a supervised aerobic training program in improving the cardiorespiratory capacity in C-SLE patients.

Methods

Nineteen physically inactive C-SLE patients were randomly assigned into two groups: trained (TR, n = 10, supervised moderate-intensity aerobic exercise program) and non-trained (NT, n = 9). Gender-, body mass index (BMI)- and age-matched healthy children were recruited as controls (C, n = 10) for baseline (PRE) measurements only. C-SLE patients were assessed at PRE and after 12 weeks of training (POST). Main measurements included exercise tolerance and cardiorespiratory measurements in response to a maximal exercise (that is, peak VO₂, chronotropic reserve (CR), and the heart rate recovery (ΔHRR) (that is, the difference between HR at peak exercise and at both the first (ΔHRR1) and second (ΔHRR2) minutes of recovery after exercise).

Results

The C-SLE NT patients did not present changes in any of the cardiorespiratory parameters at POST (P > 0.05). In contrast, the exercise training program was effective in promoting significant increases in time-to-exhaustion (P = 0.01; ES = 1.07), peak speed (P = 0.01; ES = 1.08), peak VO₂ (P = 0.04; ES = 0.86), CR (P = 0.06; ES = 0.83), and in ΔHRR1 and ΔHRR2 (P = 0.003; ES = 1.29 and P = 0.0008; ES = 1.36, respectively) in the C-SLE TR when compared with the NT group. Moreover, cardiorespiratory parameters were comparable between C-SLE TR patients and C subjects after the exercise training intervention, as evidenced by the ANOVA analysis (P > 0.05, TR vs. C). SLEDAI-2K scores remained stable throughout the study.

Conclusion

A 3-month aerobic exercise training was safe and capable of ameliorating the cardiorespiratory capacity and the autonomic function in C-SLE patients.

Trial registration

NCT01515163.     

Automated Entire Thrombus Density Measurements for Robust and Comprehensive Thrombus Characterization in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

Background and Purpose

In acute ischemic stroke (AIS) management, CT-based thrombus density has been associated with treatment success. However, currently used thrombus measurements are prone to inter-observer variability and oversimplify the heterogeneous thrombus composition. Our aim was first to introduce an automated method to assess the entire thrombus density and then to compare the measured entire thrombus density with respect to current standard manual measurements.

Materials and Method

In 135 AIS patients, the density distribution of the entire thrombus was determined. Density distributions were described using medians, interquartile ranges (IQR), kurtosis, and skewedness. Differences between the median of entire thrombus measurements and commonly applied manual measurements using 3 regions of interest were determined using linear regression.

Results

Density distributions varied considerably with medians ranging from 20.0 to 62.8 HU and IQRs ranging from 9.3 to 55.8 HU. The average median of the thrombus density distributions (43.5 ± 10.2 HU) was lower than the manual assessment (49.6 ± 8.0 HU) (p<0.05). The difference between manual measurements and median density of entire thrombus decreased with increasing density (r = 0.64; p<0.05), revealing relatively higher manual measurements for low density thrombi such that manual density measurement tend overestimates the real thrombus density.

Conclusions

Automatic measurements of the full thrombus expose a wide variety of thrombi density distribution, which is not grasped with currently used manual measurement. Furthermore, discrimination of low and high density thrombi is improved with the automated method.     

Towards a framework for the evolutionary genomics of Kinetoplastids: what kind of data and how much?

The current status of kinetoplastids phylogeny and evolution is discussed in view of the recent progresses on genomics. Some ideas on a potential framework for the evolutionary genomics of kinetoplastids are presented.     

The role of intravascular ultrasound imaging in vascular brachytherapy

Intracoronary brachytherapy has recently emerged as a new therapy to prevent restenosis. Initial experimental work was achieved in animal models and the results were assessed by histomorphometry. Initial clinical trials used angiography to guide dosimetry and to assess efficacy. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) permits tomographic examination of the vessel wall, elucidating the true morphology of the lumen and transmural components, which cannot be investigated on the lumenogram obtained by angiography. This paper reviews the use of IVUS in the clinical studies of brachytherapy conducted to date. IVUS allows clinicians to make a thorough assessment of the remodeling of the vessel and appears to have a major role to play in facilitating understanding of the underlying mechanisms of action in this emerging field. The authors propose that state-of-the-art IVUS techniques should be employed to further knowledge of the mechanisms of action of brachytherapy in atherosclerotic human coronary arteries.     

Improving model construction of profile HMMs for remote homology detection through structural alignment

Background  

Remote homology detection is a challenging problem in Bioinformatics. Arguably, profile Hidden Markov Models (pHMMs) are one of the most successful approaches in addressing this important problem. pHMM packages present a relatively small computational cost, and perform particularly well at recognizing remote homologies. This raises the question of whether structural alignments could impact the performance of pHMMs trained from proteins in the Twilight Zone, as structural alignments are often more accurate than sequence alignments at identifying motifs and functional residues. Next, we assess the impact of using structural alignments in pHMM performance.     

山葡萄果实发育过程中花色苷和非花色苷酚成分及其含量的变化

以‘双红’山葡萄果实为试材,采用HPLC—MS／MS技术,分析山葡萄果实发育过程中果皮中花色苷和非花色苷酚成分及其含量的变化。结果表明,转色期前果皮内没有花色苷积累,随着果实的成熟,花色苷含量逐渐增加,成熟期的含量最高;非花色苷酚自花后2周至成熟期间的含量变化呈下降趋势。在山葡萄果实发育过程中检测出花色苷10种,其中双糖苷5种、单糖苷5种;非花色苷酚类物质检测到14种,其中苯甲酸类2种、肉桂酸类3种、黄烷-3-醇类2种、黄酮醇类5种、白藜芦醇类2种。     

直播水稻茎鞘非结构碳水化合物积累与转运的遗传剖析

为了揭示水稻（Oryza sativa）茎鞘非结构碳水化合物（nonstructural carbohydrate, NSC）积累与转运的遗传基础, 在大田直播条件下, 利用来源于Lemont/特青的重组自交系群体, 对5个相关性状进行了QTL定位。始穗期和成熟期共检测到3个茎鞘NSC含量QTL, 分别位于第1、9和12染色体上, 贡献率分别为13%、7%和7%, 增效等位基因均来自特青。检测到的2个NSC转运率QTL均位于第12染色体上, 贡献率分别为8%和14%。检测到的结实率和千粒重QTL分别为3个和4个, 3个结实率QTL的贡献率分别为9%、24%和6%, 4个千粒重QTL的贡献率分别为14%、11%、12%和13%。进一步的分析表明,来自Lemont的等位基因降低成熟期茎鞘NSC含量的同时却能提高NSC转运率、结实率和千粒重, 而来自特青的等位基因对NSC转运率和结实率均有增效作用, 这为性状间表型相关提供了重要的遗传解释。