Pain and its relation to depressive symptoms in frail older people living in the community: an observational study

The association of pain and depression represents an important health problem that is correlated with high rates of disability, morbidity, greater consumption of health care resources, and socioeconomic difficulties. Understanding the interaction between pain and depression is an important issue in light of the fact that physicians frequently fail to accurately assess and diagnose pain symptoms, and that elderly patients suffering from pain are particularly likely to receive inaccurate treatments. The aim of the present study was to describe the prevalence of pain and to investigate the association between pain and depressive symptoms in a representative sample of frail elderly people living in the community (n=5,372). The results show that more than 15% and 40% of elderly patients experienced pain less than daily and daily, respectively. The average score on the depression scale was significantly lower in patients without pain (2.5+/-2.5) than patients with less than daily and daily pain (3.2+/-2.5 and 3.6+/-2.5, respectively) (P<0.001). Without substantial differences between men and women, the rate of each depressive symptom was significantly and progressively higher among patients suffering less than daily and daily pain compared to those without pain. In conclusion, this study provides evidence from a large sample of frail elderly people that individuals suffering pain present an elevated risk to experience depressive symptoms. Treatment models that put together the assessment and the treatment of both pain and depression are indispensable for better outcomes.     

Cortical Responses to Chinese Phonemes in Preschoolers Predict Their Literacy Skills at School Age

We investigated whether preschoolers with poor phonological awareness (PA) skills had impaired cortical basis for detecting speech feature, and whether speech perception influences future literacy outcomes in preschoolers. We recorded ERP responses to speech in 52 Chinese preschoolers. The results showed that the poor PA group processed speech changes differentially compared to control group in mismatch negativity (MMN) and late discriminative negativity (LDN). Furthermore, speech perception in kindergarten could predict literacy outcomes after literacy acquisition. These suggest that impairment in detecting speech features occurs before formal reading instruction, and that speech perception plays an important role in reading development.     

Straight ileo-anal anastomosis with myectomy as an alternative to ileal pouch-anal anastomosis in restorative proctocolectomy

Restorative proctocolectomy with various types of reservoir is widely used in the elective surgery of ulcerative colitis and familial adenomatous polyposis. Both, advantages and disadvantages of this procedure are well known and documented. Straight ileo-anal anastomosis (IAA) yields unsatisfactory clinical results due to the lack of storage capacity of the distal ileum and the frequency of bowel movements related to high pressure ileal waves. In an attempt to create an alternative to the above procedures, we have performed a straight ileo-anal anastomosis with two rectangular (10 cmx1 cm) myectomies down to 2 cm, above the anastomotic line. The two myectomies are spaced at 120° to each other and to the mesenteric border of the ileal loop. The rationale of this approach is to reduce the peristaltic drive of the ileum by weakening the muscular wall. This study presents the results in three patients operated on with this new method in the last year.

---

Résumé Le rétablissement de la continuité avec différents types de réservoirs après proctocolectomie est actuellement largement utilisé pour le traitement chirurgical électif de la colite ulcéro-hémorragique et de la polypose familiale. Les avantages et les inconvénients de cette technique sont bien connus et bien documentés. Les anastomoses iléoanales directes donnent de mauvais résultats cliniques en raison de l'absence d'une capacité de réservoir de l'iléon distal et en raison des exonérations fréquentes résultant de pressions iléales élevées. Dans le but de développer une alternative aux techniques décrites cidessus, nous avons réalisé des anastomoses iléoanales directes complétées par deux myectomies (10 cmx1 cm) jusqu'à 2 cm au-dessus de la zone anastomotique. Ces deux myectomies sont situées à 120 degrés l'une de l'autre et à 120 degrés de l'insertion mésentérique de l'iléon. La justification de cette approche est d'obtenir une diminution de la péristaltique de l'iléon par affaiblissement de la paroi musculaire. Cette étude présente les résultats obtenus chez trois patients, opérés selon cette technique au cours de la dernière année.

     

The effects of exercise training associated with low-level laser therapy on biomarkers of adipose tissue transdifferentiation in obese women

Investigations suggest the benefits of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) to improve noninvasive body contouring treatments, inflammation, insulin resistance and to reduce body fat. However, the mechanism for such potential effects in association with exercise training (ET) and possible implications in browning adiposity processes remains unclear. Forty-nine obese women were involved, aged between 20 and 40 years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30–40 kg/m². The volunteers were divided into Phototherapy (808 nm) and SHAM groups. Interventions consisted of exercise training and phototherapy applications post exercise for 4 months, with three sessions/week. Body composition, lipid profile, insulin resistance, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), WNT5 signaling, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) were measured. Improvements in body mass, BMI, body fat mass, lean mass, visceral fat, waist circumference, insulin, HOMA-IR, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and ANP in both groups were demonstrated. Only the Phototherapy group showed a reduction in interleukin-6 and an increase in WNT5 signaling. In addition, it was possible to observe a higher magnitude change for the fat mass, insulin, HOMA-IR, and FGF-21 variables in the Phototherapy group. In the present investigation, it was demonstrated that exercise training associated with LLLT promotes an improvement in body composition and inflammatory processes as previously demonstrated. The Phototherapy group especially presented positive modifications of WNT5 signaling, FGF-21, and ANP, possible biomarkers associated with browning adiposity processes. This suggests that this kind of intervention promotes results applicable in clinical practice to control obesity and related comorbidities.     

In Search of the Perfect Phenotype: An Analysis of Linkage and Association Studies of Reading and Reading-Related Processes

Reading ability and specific reading disability (SRD) are complex traits involving several cognitive processes and are shaped by a complex interplay of genetic and environmental forces. Linkage studies of these traits have identified several susceptibility loci. Association studies have gone further in detecting candidate genes that might underlie these signals. These results have been obtained in samples of mainly European ancestry, which vary in their languages, inclusion criteria, and phenotype assessments. Such phenotypic heterogeneity across samples makes understanding the relationship between reading (dis)ability and reading-related processes and the genetic factors difficult; in addition, it may negatively influence attempts at replication. In moving forward, the identification of preferable phenotypes for future sample collection may improve the replicability of findings. This review of all published linkage and association results from the past 15 years was conducted to determine if certain phenotypes produce more replicable and consistent results than others.     

Spatio-temporal population structuring and genetic diversity retention in depleted Atlantic Bluefin tuna of the Mediterranean Sea

Fishery genetics have greatly changed our understanding of population dynamics and structuring in marine fish. In this study, we show that the Atlantic Bluefin tuna (ABFT, Thunnus thynnus), an oceanic predatory species exhibiting highly migratory behavior, large population size, and high potential for dispersal during early life stages, displays significant genetic differences over space and time, both at the fine and large scales of variation. We compared microsatellite variation of contemporary (n = 256) and historical (n = 99) biological samples of ABFTs of the central-western Mediterranean Sea, the latter dating back to the early 20th century. Measures of genetic differentiation and a general heterozygote deficit suggest that differences exist among population samples, both now and 96–80 years ago. Thus, ABFTs do not represent a single panmictic population in the Mediterranean Sea. Statistics designed to infer changes in population size, both from current and past genetic variation, suggest that some Mediterranean ABFT populations, although still not severely reduced in their genetic potential, might have suffered from demographic declines. The short-term estimates of effective population size are straddled on the minimum threshold (effective population size = 500) indicated to maintain genetic diversity and evolutionary potential across several generations in natural populations.