Vitamin D Deficiency and Leisure Time Activities in the Elderly: Are All Pastimes the Same?

Background

Optimal vitamin D status is important for overall health and well-being, particularly in the elderly. Although vitamin D synthesis in the skin declines with age, exposure to sunlight still seems to help older-aged adults to achieve adequate serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels. Elderly people would therefore benefit from outdoor leisure activities, but the effects of different types of pastime on serum 25OHD levels have yet to be thoroughly investigated.

Aims

To assess the association of different pastimes with 25OHD deficiency in elderly subjects.

Methods

A sample of 2,349 community-dwelling elderly individuals (1,389 females and 960 males) enrolled in the Progetto Veneto Anziani was analyzed. Brisk walking, cycling, gardening and fishing were classed as outdoor activities, and dancing and gym workouts as indoor pastimes. Any activities undertaken for at least 1 hour/week during the previous month were considered as being practiced regularly. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between different pastimes and 25OHD deficiency.

Results

Serum 25OHD levels were significantly higher in individuals who engaged in outdoor pastimes (+25% in women, +27.7% in men) compared to those who did not. In particular, subjects regularly practicing gardening or cycling had higher serum 25OHD levels than those who did not, whereas 25OHD levels differed little between subjects who did or did not undertake indoor activities. Among the outdoor pastimes considered, logistic regression analysis confirmed a lower likelihood of vitamin D deficiency (25OHD<50 nmol/L) for cyclists (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.37–0.69 in women; OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.29–0.87 in men) and gardeners (OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.47–0.83 in women; OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.26–0.80), but not for brisk walkers.

Conclusions

Regular cycling and gardening reduce the likelihood of inadequate vitamin D status in Caucasian elderly people, irrespective of their age, BMI and comorbidities, and of the season of the year.     

Does Testosterone Therapy Increase the Risk of Prostate Cancer?

ObjectiveTo review factors affecting use of testosterone therapy for hypogonadism including the persistent controversial link between testosterone therapy and prostate cancer.MethodsWe reviewed studies investigating the relationship between testosterone therapy and prostate cancer progression and summarized strategies for hypogonadism management and prostate monitoring.ResultsTrials of up to 36 months in length and longitudinal studies consistently fail to demonstrate an increased prostate cancer risk associated with increased testosterone levels. No evidence of an associated relationship between exogenous testosterone therapy and prostate cancer has emerged from clinical trials or adverse event reports. It does not appear that exogenous testosterone accumulates in the prostate or provokes major biologic change in the prostate gland. In addition, preliminary evidence indicates that low endogenous testosterone may confer an increased risk of prostate cancer.ConclusionsMounting evidence demonstrates that there is a lack of association between testosterone therapy and prostate cancer progression. Testosterone therapy may be prescribed for men for whom it was once not considered. Careful monitoring of patients with hypogonadism who are receiving testosterone therapy is imperative. Well-designed, large-scale prospective clinical trials are necessary to adequately address prostate safety in hypogonadal men receiving testosterone therapy. (Endocr Pract. 2008;14:904-911)     

Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement in Healthy Individuals: A Compensation for Cognitive Deficits or a Question of Personality?

The ongoing bioethical debate on pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) in healthy individuals is often legitimated by the assumption that PCE will widely spread and become desirable for the general public in the near future. This assumption was questioned as PCE is not equally save and effective in everyone. Additionally, it was supposed that the willingness to use PCE is strongly personality-dependent likely preventing a broad PCE epidemic. Thus, we investigated whether the cognitive performance and personality of healthy individuals with regular nonmedical methylphenidate (MPH) use for PCE differ from stimulant-naïve controls. Twenty-five healthy individuals using MPH for PCE were compared with 39 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls regarding cognitive performance and personality assessed by a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery including social cognition, prosocial behavior, decision-making, impulsivity, and personality questionnaires. Substance use was assessed through self-report in an interview and quantitative hair and urine analyses. Recently abstinent PCE users showed no cognitive impairment but superior strategic thinking and decision-making. Furthermore, PCE users displayed higher levels of trait impulsivity, novelty seeking, and Machiavellianism combined with lower levels of social reward dependence and cognitive empathy. Finally, PCE users reported a smaller social network and exhibited less prosocial behavior in social interaction tasks. In conclusion, the assumption that PCE use will soon become epidemic is not supported by the present findings as PCE users showed a highly specific personality profile that shares a number of features with illegal stimulant users. Lastly, regular MPH use for PCE is not necessarily associated with cognitive deficits.     

Social Priming Improves Cognitive Control in Elderly Adults—Evidence from the Simon Task

We examined whether social priming of cognitive states affects the inhibitory process in elderly adults, as aging is related to deficits in inhibitory control. Forty-eight elderly adults and 45 young adults were assigned to three groups and performed a cognitive control task (Simon task), which was followed by 3 different manipulations of social priming (i.e., thinking about an 82 year-old person): 1) negative—characterized by poor cognitive abilities, 2) neutral—characterized by acts irrelevant to cognitive abilities, and 3) positive—excellent cognitive abilities. After the manipulation, the Simon task was performed again. Results showed improvement in cognitive control effects in seniors after the positive manipulation, indicated by a significant decrease in the magnitude of the Simon and interference effects, but not after the neutral and negative manipulations. Furthermore, a healthy pattern of sequential effect (Gratton) that was absent before the manipulation in all 3 groups appeared after the positive manipulation. Namely, the Simon effect was only present after congruent but not after incongruent trials for the positive manipulation group. No influence of manipulations was found in young adults. These meaningful results were replicated in a second experiment and suggest a decrease in conflict interference resulting from positive cognitive state priming. Our study provides evidence that an implicit social concept of a positive cognitive condition in old age can affect the control process of the elderly and improve cognitive abilities.     

Does Older Adults’ Cognitive Function Disrupt the Malleability of Their Attitudes toward Outgroup Members?: An fMRI Investigation

In the current study we examine how individual differences in older adults’ global cognitive function impacts the extent to which their attitudes toward stigmatized individuals are malleable. Because prior research has elucidated the neural processes that are involved in evaluating stigmatized individuals who are responsible or not responsible for their condition, a cognitive neuroscience approach may be well-suited to answer this question. In the current study, 36 older and 17 young adults underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while evaluating images of homeless people who were described as being responsible or not responsible for their condition. They also indicated how much pity they felt for each of the individuals in order to determine the extent to which their attitudes were malleable (e.g., more pity for not-responsible as compared to responsible individuals). Participants’ cognitive function and baseline measure of their attitudes toward stigmatized individuals (including homeless individuals) were assessed. Results revealed that although older adults’ attitudes were malleable, the extent to which this was true varied due to individual differences in their global cognitive function. Specifically, the difference in the magnitude of older adults’ self-reported pity for not-responsible as compared to responsible homeless individuals was predicted by their global cognitive function. Moreover, the difference in pity that older adults expressed toward not-responsible as compared to responsible homeless individuals was related to activity in the left insula and the anterior cingulate cortex (regions implicated in empathy). These results suggest that attitude malleability is affected by individual differences in global cognitive function.     

Does Hybridization Increase Evolutionary Rate? Data from the 28S-rDNA D8 Domain in Echinoderms

The divergent domain D8 of the large ribosomal RNA is very variable and extended in vertebrates compared to other eukaryotes. We provide data from 31 species of echinoderms and present the first comparative analysis of the D8 in nonvertebrate deuterostomes. In addition, we obtained 16S mitochondrial DNA sequences for the sea urchin taxa and analyzed single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) of D8 in several populations within the species complex Echinocardium cordatum. A common secondary structure supported by compensatory substitutions and indels is inferred for echinoderms. Variation mostly arises at the tip of the longest stem (D8a), and the most variable taxa also display the longest and most stable D8. The most stable variants are the only ones displaying bulges in the terminal part of the stem, suggesting that selection, rather than maximizing stability of the D8 secondary structure, maintains it in a given range. Striking variation in D8 evolutionary rates was evidenced among sea urchins, by comparison with both 16S mitochondrial DNA and paleontological data. In Echinocardium cordatum and Strongylocentrotus pallidus and S. droebachiensis, belonging to very distant genera, the increase in D8 evolutionary rate is extreme. Their highly stable D8 secondary structures rule out the possibility of pseudogenes. These taxa are the only ones in which interspecific hybridization was reported. We discuss how evolutionary rates may be affected in nuclear relative to mitochondrial genes after hybridization, by selective or mutational processes such as gene silencing and concerted evolution.     

Does Global Warming Increase Establishment Rates of Invasive Alien Species? A Centurial Time Series Analysis

Background

The establishment rate of invasive alien insect species has been increasing worldwide during the past century. This trend has been widely attributed to increased rates of international trade and associated species introductions, but rarely linked to environmental change. To better understand and manage the bioinvasion process, it is crucial to understand the relationship between global warming and establishment rate of invasive alien species, especially for poikilothermic invaders such as insects.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We present data that demonstrate a significant positive relationship between the change in average annual surface air temperature and the establishment rate of invasive alien insects in mainland China during 1900–2005. This relationship was modeled by regression analysis, and indicated that a 1°C increase in average annual surface temperature in mainland China was associated with an increase in the establishment rate of invasive alien insects of about 0.5 species year⁻¹. The relationship between rising surface air temperature and increasing establishment rate remained significant even after accounting for increases in international trade during the period 1950–2005. Moreover, similar relationships were detected using additional data from the United Kingdom and the contiguous United States.

Conclusions/Significance

These findings suggest that the perceived increase in establishments of invasive alien insects can be explained only in part by an increase in introduction rate or propagule pressure. Besides increasing propagule pressure, global warming is another driver that could favor worldwide bioinvasions. Our study highlights the need to consider global warming when designing strategies and policies to deal with bioinvasions.     

Does Dormancy Increase Fitness of Bacterial Populations in Time-Varying Environments?

A simple family of models of a bacterial population in a time varying environment in which cells can transit between dormant and active states is constructed. It consists of a linear system of ordinary differential equations for active and dormant cells with time-dependent coefficients reflecting an environment which may be periodic or random, with alternate periods of low and high resource levels. The focus is on computing/estimating the dominant Lyapunov exponent, the fitness, and determining its dependence on various parameters and the two strategies—responsive and stochastic—by which organisms switch between dormant and active states. A responsive switcher responds to good and bad times by making timely and appropriate transitions while a stochastic switcher switches continuously without regard to the environmental state. The fitness of a responsive switcher is examined and compared with fitness of a stochastic switcher, and with the fitness of a dormancy-incapable organism. Analytical methods show that both switching strategists have higher fitness than a dormancy-incapable organism when good times are rare and that responsive switcher has higher fitness than stochastic switcher when good times are either rare or common. Numerical calculations show that stochastic switcher can be most fit when good times are neither too rare or too common. This research was supported by NSF Grant DMS 0414270, Department of Mathematics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.     

Does Light Exposure during Embryonic Development Affect Cognitive Behavior in a Lizard?

Light is essential for embryonic development in many oviparous animals including fish, amphibians,and birds. However, light may be harmful for reptile embryos developing underground where they are in complete darkness and beneath thin eggshells.Nonetheless, how embryonic light conditions affect reptile development and offspring remains largely unknown. Here we incubated eggs in dark and light conditions to determine the effects of light exposure on embryonic development and offspring visual ability,spatial cognitive ability and growth in a lacertid lizard,Eremias argus. Our experiments demonstrated that light stimulation shortened incubation duration of eggs,but did not affect hatching success, offspring size, visual ability or survival. More interestingly, light exposure during incubation decreased spatial cognitive ability and post-hatching growth of offspring. On the basis of negative effects on offspring growth rates, our study indicates that in squamate reptiles with thin eggshells,light exposure in early development has negative effects on offspring cognitive ability.     

Do Hormones in Milk Affect the Function of the Neonatal Intestine?

The presence of a number of peptide hormones and other biologicallyactive peptides (BAP) in the milk of various species, togetherwith the low proteolytic activity in the gastrointestinal tractof newborns and "permeability" for macromolecules, suggeststheirpotential significance for the neonate I review the presence of hormones and other biologically activepeptides (BAP) in milks of various species. Furthermore, I summarizedata demonstrating the effects of orogastrically administeredBAP with special attention to epidermal growth factor.     

Does protein synthesis occur in the nucleus?

Although it is universally accepted that protein synthesis occurs in the cytoplasm, the possibility that translation can also take place in the nucleus has been hotly debated. Reports have been published claiming to demonstrate nuclear translation, but alternative explanations for these results have not been excluded, and other experiments argue against it. Much of the appeal of nuclear translation is that functional proofreading of newly made mRNAs in the nucleus would provide an efficient way to monitor mRNAs for the presence of premature termination codons, thereby avoiding the synthesis of deleterious proteins. mRNAs that are still in the nucleus-associated fraction of cells are subject to translational proofreading resulting in nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and perhaps nonsense-associated alternate splicing. However, these mRNAs are likely to be in the perinuclear cytoplasm rather than within the nucleus. Therefore, in the absence of additional evidence, we conclude that nuclear translation is unlikely to occur.     

Incident Subjective Cognitive Decline Does Not Predict Mortality in the Elderly – Results from the Longitudinal German Study on Ageing,Cognition, and Dementia (AgeCoDe)

Objective

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) might represent the first symptomatic representation of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is associated with increased mortality. Only few studies, however, have analyzed the association of SCD and mortality, and if so, based on prevalent cases. Thus, we investigated incident SCD in memory and mortality.

Methods

Data were derived from the German AgeCoDe study, a prospective longitudinal study on the epidemiology of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia in primary care patients over 75 years covering an observation period of 7.5 years. We used univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses to examine the relationship of SCD and mortality. Further, we estimated survival times by the Kaplan Meier method and case-fatality rates with regard to SCD.

Results

Among 971 individuals without objective cognitive impairment, 233 (24.0%) incidentally expressed SCD at follow-up I. Incident SCD was not significantly associated with increased mortality in the univariate (HR = 1.0, 95% confidence interval = 0.8–1.3, p = .90) as well as in the multivariate analysis (HR = 0.9, 95% confidence interval = 0.7–1.2, p = .40). The same applied for SCD in relation to concerns. Mean survival time with SCD was 8.0 years (SD = 0.1) after onset.

Conclusion

Incident SCD in memory in individuals with unimpaired cognitive performance does not predict mortality. The main reason might be that SCD does not ultimately lead into future cognitive decline in any case. However, as prevalence studies suggest, subjectively perceived decline in non-memory cognitive domains might be associated with increased mortality. Future studies may address mortality in such other cognitive domains of SCD in incident cases.     

Multi-Morbidity in Hospitalised Older Patients: Who Are the Complex Elderly?

Background

No formal definition for the “complex elderly” exists; moreover, these older patients with high levels of multi-morbidity are not readily identified as such at point of hospitalisation, thus missing a valuable opportunity to manage the older patient appropriately within the hospital setting.

Objectives

To empirically identify the complex elderly patient based on degree of multi-morbidity.

Design

Retrospective observational study using administrative data.

Setting

English hospitals during the financial year 2012–13.

Subjects

All admitted patients aged 65 years and over.

Methods

By using exploratory analysis (correspondence analysis) we identify multi-morbidity groups based on 20 target conditions whose hospital prevalence was ≥ 1%.

Results

We examined a total of 2788900 hospital admissions. Multi-morbidity was highly prevalent, 62.8% had 2 or more of the targeted conditions while 4.7% had six or more. Multi-morbidity increased with age from 56% (65-69yr age-groups) up to 67% (80-84yr age-group). The average multi-morbidity was 3.2±1.2 (SD). Correspondence analysis revealed 3 distinct groups of older patients. Group 1 (multi-morbidity ≤2), associated with cancer and/or metastasis; Group 2 (multi-morbidity of 3, 4 or 5), associated with chronic pulmonary disease, lung disease, rheumatism and osteoporosis; finally Group 3 with the highest level of multi-morbidity (≥6) and associated with heart failure, cerebrovascular accident, diabetes, hypertension and myocardial infarction.

Conclusions

By using widely available hospital administrative data, we propose patients in Groups 2 and 3 to be identified as the complex elderly. Identification of multi-morbidity patterns can help to predict the needs of the older patient and improve resource provision.     

IL-17 in spondyloarthritis: is the T-party over?

The past decade has witnessed significant progress in revealing an important role for IL-17 in the pathogenesis of several immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Recent studies have provided new insights into the cellular source of IL-17, originally identified as the signature cytokine of a distinct CD4⁺ T-cell subset known as Th17. Accumulating evidence suggests that the majority of the IL-17 released in inflammatory arthritis is produced by innate immune cells rather than T cells. Understanding molecular mechanisms behind these early innate immune responses will be the key to designing rational therapies targeting these important inflammatory pathways.     

Does cholinesterase participate in the intercellular interactions in pollen-pistil system?

Hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine and butyrylthiocholine has been observed in aqueous extracts from petunia pollen and pistils. The reproductive organs of self-compatible clone showed a higher rate of choline ester hydrolysis than those of self-incompatible clone. The highest rate of acetylthiocholine hydrolysis blocked by the cholinesterase inhibitors (physostigmine and neostigmine) was characteristic for the pollen of self-compatible clone. The incomplete (25 - 40 %) inhibition of hydrolysis in pistil extracts of self-compatible clone suggests the presence of unspecific esterases. The eight-fold lower hydrolysis was observed in the pistils of self-incompatible clone as compared to the pistils of compatible clone; neostigmine completely blocked this low hydrolytic activity. The treatment of flower buds with physostigmine and neostigmine (10-5 - 10-3 M) decreased the seed production by 10 - 20 % in compatible clone. When the surfaces of pistil stigmae were treated with physostigmine and neostigmine (10-5 - 10-3 M) before pollination, the seed formation was inhibited by 95 % after both self- and cross-pollination. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.