Preserving Brain Function in Aging: The Anti-glycative Potential of Berry Fruit

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) are naturally occurring macromolecules that are formed in vivo by the non-enzymatic modification of proteins, lipids, or nucleic acids by sugar, even in the absence of hyperglycemia. In the diet, AGEs are found in animal products, and additional AGEs are produced when those foods are cooked at high temperatures. Studies have linked AGEs to various age-related physiological changes, including wrinkles, diabetic complications, and neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer’s disease. Dietary berry fruits have been shown to reduce the severity or slow the progression of many physiological changes and disease pathologies that accompany aging. Emerging evidence has shown that the phytochemicals found in berry fruits exhibit anti-glycative activity. In this review, we briefly summarize the current evidence supporting the neuroprotective anti-glycative activity of berry fruits and their potential to preserve cognitive function during aging.     

Geschlechtsrollen(stereotypien) und Psychodrama

At first the article at hand presents conceptual clarifications. The main part is concerned with the question, whether and where gender role stereotypes become visible in psychodrama. To this effect I will deal briefly with the positioning of female founders of psychodrama. The following parts point out links to the psychodramatic approach including practical work. The selected comments and related examples are the personal choice from the author’s experience.     

The Effect of Vigorous- Versus Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Exercise on Insulin Action

Due to the beneficial effects on a wide range of modern medical conditions, most professional societies recommend regular aerobic exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle. Many of the exercise-related health benefits exhibit a dose-response relationship: Up to a point, more exercise is more beneficial. However, recent studies have suggested that different exercise intensities may provide distinct health benefits, independent of energy expenditure (i.e., exercise dose). One of these benefits, primarily mediated by the skeletal muscle, is exercise-related changes in insulin action and glucose homeostasis. Glucose uptake in the exercising muscle occurs through insulin-independent mechanisms whose downstream signaling events ultimately converge with insulin-signaling pathways, a fact that may explain why exercise and insulin have additive effect on skeletal muscle glucose uptake. Although the existing evidence is somewhat conflicting, well-controlled randomized studies suggest that, when controlled for total energy expenditure, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise improves insulin sensitivity more than vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise. The mechanisms underlying this difference are largely unknown. One possible explanation involves enhanced metabolism of fatty acid stores in the skeletal muscle by moderate-intensity exercise, which may directly improve insulin sensitivity. Overall, new technologic and physiologic investigative tools are beginning to shed light on the biology. Further understanding of these mechanisms will lead to better understanding of the clinical implications of a healthy lifestyle and may ultimately offer new therapeutic targets for common medical conditions such as insulin resistance and diabetes.     

The Traveling Microbiome

Given the recent interest in the human gut microbiome in health and disease, we have undertaken a review of the role of the gut microbiome as it relates to travel. Considering the microbiome as the interface with the external world of the traveler, not only from the perspective of protection from enteric infection by colonization resistance but also the possibility that a traveler’s unique microbiome may place him or her at lesser or greater risk for enteric infection. We review available data on travel, travelers’ diarrhea, and the use of antibiotics as it relates to changes in the microbiome and the acquisition of multi-drug-resistant bacteria and explore the interplay of these factors in the development of dysbiosis and the post-infectious sequelae of TD, specifically PI-IBS. In addition, we explore whether dietary changes in travel affect the gut microbiome in a way which modulates gastrointestinal function and susceptibility to infection and discuss whether pre- or probiotics have any meaningful role in prevention or treatment of TD. Finally, a discussion of important research gaps and opportunities in this area is identified.     

Depression statuses and related predictors in later life: A 10-year follow-up study in Israel

The aim of the current study was to investigate the factors associated with depression statuses in a 10-year follow-up of community-dwelling older adults in Israel. Longitudinal data were used from the Israeli sample of the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe, assessing the depressive symptoms in 1042 respondents, aged 50 or above, at three time points: 2004/2005 (Wave I); 2009/2010 (Wave II); and 2014/2015 (Wave III). Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine the relationships among explanatory variables and depression statuses (no-depression, intermittent depression, or persistent depression). Some 46.5 % of the participants suffered from intermittent or persistent depression. Five factors were associated with increasing the probability of both intermittent and persistent depression: being female, unemployed, less educated, physically disabled, and in poor health. Five other explanatory variables were associated only with a higher risk for persistent depression: low family income, widowhood, physical inactivity, more than two chronic diseases, and cognitive dysfunction. According to these findings, depression is common among older people in Israel. Low socio-economic status and poor subjective and physical health are significant determinants of depression statuses over time, underlining the importance of taking measures to improve these conditions in order to reduce the risk of depression in old age.     

Clinical Application of Spine Trabecular Bone Score (TBS)

Trabecular bone score (TBS) is a software program recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for post-acquisition processing of lumbar spine dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry images that allows assessment of bone texture as a surrogate for bone microarchitecture. Low TBS values are associated with increased risk of major osteoporotic fracture risk in postmenopausal women and men aged 40 years and older independent of BMD. TBS data can be used to adjust FRAX probability of fracture. As such, TBS data can be useful in osteoporosis treatment initiation decisions. Following treatment initiation, TBS increases are smaller than seen with BMD; at present, there is insufficient evidence that TBS can be used to monitor treatment. TBS may be particularly helpful in fracture risk prediction for those with diabetes mellitus or receiving glucocorticoid therapy, but additional validation of existing observations is needed. In summary, TBS should not be used alone to guide treatment initiation, but can be used with FRAX to estimate fracture probability in postmenopausal women and older men, thereby facilitating treatment initiation decisions.     

Evaluation of Sarcopenia by DXA

There are four body composition phenotypes widely used to describe older adults: normal, sarcopenic, obese, and sarcopenic obese. In this paper, we will discuss how DXA can be used to quantify body composition and how DXA can identify patients with sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity.     

Should MRAs be at the front row in heart failure? A plea for the early use of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in medical therapy for heart failure based on clinical experience

The brand new 2016 ESC guidelines for the treatment of acute and chronic heart failure continue to give a prominent place to mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in the treatment of chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). In the prevention of HF hospitalization and death, a class I, level of recommendation A, is given to MRAs for patients with HFrEF, who remain symptomatic despite treatment with an ACE-inhibitor and a beta-blocker and have an LVEF below 35 %. This recommendation is primarily based on two landmark trials, the RALES trial (for spironolactone) and the EMPHASIS-HF trial (for eplerenone). A crucial question is, however, why MRAs are advised only in “third place,” i.e., after optimal up-titration of ACE-inhibitors and beta-blockers. We wonder whether MRAs could not or should not be given earlier in the treatment of HFrEF, namely before or together with the up-titration of ACE-inhibitors and beta-blockers. Several arguments to support this plea are described in this short paper.