Sarcopenia is defined as the old age syndrome characterized by profound decline in muscle mass and function. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and its risk factors in older ...adults.
Totally, 501 older people aged 65 years and older were recruited. Sarcopenia was defined according to the criteria of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS). For obtaining Skeletal Muscle mass Index (SMI), body composition was evaluated using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). Muscle strength and physical performance were measured by Handgrip Strength (HGS) and Gait Speed (GS), respectively. Nutritional status, physical activity level, and biochemical indicators were assessed, as well.
The prevalence of sarcopenia was 20.8%. Multiple logistic regression models of the predictors of decline in the components of sarcopenia showed that older age, low Body Mass Index (BMI), and serum albumin level were associated with a higher risk of low SMI. Low serum albumin level and older age were also predictive of low HGS. Besides, old age, high body fat mass, and low BMI were the risk factors of low GS. Conversely, increased Calf Circumference (CC) was protective against low SMI and GS. Finally, older age, male gender, low BMI, decreased mini-nutritional assessment score, low serum albumin level, and high body fat were associated with a higher risk of sarcopenia, whereas higher CC reduced its risk.
The prevalence of sarcopenia is high among elderly individuals. This study underlined that sarcopenia might develop in older adults with impaired nutritional status and high body fat mass. Further studies could evaluate the effects of appropriate nutritional interventions on sarcopenia management and prevention.
•Older adults' sarcopenia has become a new area in the field of musculoskeletal research and medicine.•Prevalence of sarcopenia was assessed in community-dwelling older adults according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) criteria.•Impaired nutritional status (low BMI, serum albumin and MNA score) and high body fat mass are significantly associated with higher risk of sarcopenia.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Dramatic body changes in pregnancy cause severe concerns among pregnant women about their appearance. Therefore, this study aimed to explore body perception in pregnant women.
The qualitative study, ...using the conventional content analysis approach, was conducted on Iranian pregnant women who were in their second or third trimester of pregnancy. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling method. In-depth and semi-structured interviews were held with 18 pregnant women aged 22 to 36 years, using open-ended questions. Sampling was performed until data saturation was reached.
Three main categories were extracted from 18 interviews: (1) "symbols," with two subcategories, including 'motherhood' and 'vulnerability,' (2) "feelings toward body changes," with five subcategories, including 'negative feelings toward skin changes,' 'feeling unfit,' 'attention-drawing body shape,' 'the ridiculous body shape' and 'obesity,' and (3) "attraction and beauty," with two subcategories, including 'sexual attraction' and 'facial beauty.'
The results showed that pregnant women's body perception could be described as maternal feelings and feminine attitudes toward changes during pregnancy compared to mental ideals of facial and body beauty. It is recommended that Iranian women's body perception during pregnancy be evaluated using this study results and that counseling interventions be implemented for women with negative body perceptions.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
This study was conducted with the aim of developing and psychometric evaluation of prenatal body image questionnaire in Farsi language. For preparation of the prenatal body image questionnaire, ...psychometric steps were performed on a questionnaire based on the results of a qualitative study. Construct validity was evaluated in a cross-sectional study of 300 Iranian pregnant women undergoing prenatal care in health centers in Isfahan, Iran. The results of the psychometric evaluation showed that the 30-item prenatal body image questionnaire in seven dimensions has a good validity and reliability, which is applicable to research on body image in pregnancy.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
In this paper, an all-digital, 10-bit, low-power Time-to-Digital Converter (TDC) is proposed for use in biomedical applications. To reduce the area and power consumption, as well as provide noise ...shaping capability, the Gated Ring Oscillator (GRO) architecture is chosen as the core for the proposed TDC. Regarding the problems created by the leakage current in GROs, especially in low-frequency applications, a new approach for data capturing is used. The proposed modified data capturing method tackles the leakage current effect and allows the TDC to operate at ultralow frequencies. The proposed TDC achieves a dynamic range of 1.76 µs, and the resolution of 1.76 ns at 1KS/s sampling frequency. Simulations were performed using the 0.13 µm CMOS process. The TDC power consumption was 45.85 nW at a 0.4 V supply and the Signal to Noise and Distortion Ratio (SNDR) was 54.55 dB.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Background Malnutrition is a common finding in hemodialysis patients and can increase oxidative stress and inflammation levels. Study Design A randomized, controlled, nonblinded, parallel trial. ...Setting & Participants 92 hemodialysis patients from a single center with malnutrition according to subjective global assessment (SGA) score (SGA score > 7). Intervention 3 treatment groups (23 patients each) received 220 mL of fermented vitamin E−fortified whey beverage (15 g of whey protein concentrate + 600 IU of vitamin E) or 220 mL of fermented whey beverage (15 g of whey protein concentrate) or vitamin E (600 IU) 3 times a week for 8 weeks. The control group (23 patients) received no intervention. Outcome & Measurements Primary outcomes were change in SGA score and malnutrition-inflammation score (MIS) from baseline to the end of the trial. Results At the end of the study, 83 patients were analyzed (2, 3, 1, and 3 patients left the study in the vitamin E–fortified whey beverage, whey beverage, vitamin E, and control groups, respectively). Changes in SGA scores were −3.48 (95% CI, −4.90 to −2.00), −3.22 (95% CI, −4.13 to −2.30), −1.70 (95% CI, −3.20 to −0.24), and 1.56 (95% CI, 0.60 to 2.50) for the vitamin E–fortified whey beverage, whey beverage, vitamin E, and control groups, respectively (overall P < 0.001; P ≤ 0.001 for each treatment group vs control). Changes in MISs were −3.17 (95% CI, −4.40 to −1.90), −1.83 (95% CI, −2.50 to −1.10), −2.30 (95% CI, −3.50 to −1.10), and 1.48 (95% CI, 0.65 to 2.30) for the vitamin E–fortified whey beverage, whey beverage, vitamin E, and control groups, respectively (overall P < 0.001; P < 0.001 for each treatment group vs control). Few adverse effects were reported in any group. Limitations Lack of blinding, small sample size, and short duration. Conclusions Whey protein in the form of a new fermented whey beverage and vitamin E supplementation may improve SGA score and MIS in the short term.
Sarcopenia is a progressive skeletal muscle disease in which oxidative stress has been proposed as one of the primary markers. The oxidative balance score (OBS) represents the oxidative balance of a ...person's dietary pattern using the merged intake of anti-oxidants and pro-oxidants. Therefore, the present study assessed the association between OBS and sarcopenia in Iranian older adults. In the current study, 80 people with sarcopenia and 80 without it were considered the case and control groups, respectively. All controls were matched by sex with cases. To confirm sarcopenia, skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), handgrip strength (HGS) measurement, and gait speed were used. Also, body composition was measured by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). A valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess all participants' dietary intake of pro-oxidants and anti-oxidants. Conditional logistic regression was applied to assess the association between OBS and sarcopenia. In the bivariate model, we observed lower odds of sarcopenia in the second and last tertile of OBS in comparison to the first tertile (T) (T
- odds ratio (OR) = 0.414, 95% confidence interval (CI) : 0.186-0.918 and T
- OR = 0.101, 95% CI: 0.041-0.248). After adjusting for potential confounders, the association was not significant in second and last tertile of OBS in comparision to the first one. The present study's findings demonstrated that overcoming exposure to anti-oxidants over pro-oxidants, as illustrated by a higher OBS, is not related to lower odds of sarcopenia in older adults.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Fermentation of lactose in milk by bacteria and yeasts naturally present in kefir grains produces a beverage that has been suggested to have cardiovascular benefits. This systematic review and ...meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to evaluate the effects of this kefir beverage on cardiometabolic risk factors.
Literature search utilised PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, and Google Scholar for articles published from inception until June 2021. Cardiometabolic risk indices extracted included insulin and insulin resistance (HOMA_IR), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting blood sugar (FBS), haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and body weight (BW). In total, six RCTs (314 subjects) were selected for the meta-analysis. Inverse-variance weighted mean difference (WMD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was calculated for the mean changes in TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C, FBS, HbA1c and BW compared to baseline. A random effects model was used to estimate the pooled WMD.
Kefir intake significantly reduced fasting insulin (WMD: -3.69 micro-IU/mL,95% CI: -6.30 to -1.07, p = 0.006, I
= 0.0%) and HOMA-IR (WMD: -2.56, 95% CI: -3.82 to -1.30,
<0.001, I
= 19.4%). No effect on TC (
= 0.088), TG (
= 0.824), HDL-C (
= 0.491), LDL-C (
= 0.910), FBS (
= 0.267), HbA1c (
= 0.339) or body weight (
= 0.439) were found for kefir treatment.
Kefir has a beneficial effect in decreasing insulin resistance; however, no effect was seen on BW, FBS, HbA1C, and lipid profile.
Low-rank Tensor Restoration for ERP extraction Sohrabi Bonab, Zahra; Shamsollahi, Mohammad B.
Biomedical signal processing and control,
January 2024, 2024-01-00, Volume:
87
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Event-related potential (ERP) data is essentially multi-dimensional, with correlated data in some spaces. Therefore, matrix and vector analysis results in structural information loss. Tensor ...decomposition can be used to explore the shared structural information of ERP signal among related conditions. Perceiving the decaying trends of the singular value changes of unfolding matrices indicate that they are low-rank matrices. Based on this assumption, in this work, a low-rank tensor restoration (LTR) method is proposed. An operator splitting method known as the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is adapted to tackle the proposed optimization problem with orthogonality and sparsity constraints. Accordingly, the problem is solved in a sequential fashion by computing the unconstrained and orthogonality constrained quadratic sub-problems with closed-form solutions. The algorithm is examined under three application areas, namely, noise removal, feature extraction and subject-to-subject transfer learning. The empirical evaluations on real P300-based ERP dataset demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Litigation delay is a serious concern for judicial systems. In 2017, Iran enacted regulations for digitizing the judicial system in order to address this problem. This article shows whether this new ...policy has been an efficient move and shows solutions with more long-term results for overcoming the litigation delay. To analyze the recent reforms' efficiency, I review Iran's dispute resolution performance using secondary data from Doing Business research and the Research Center of the Iranian parliament reports in measuring the doing business environmentfrom 2016, before adopting those regulations, and then until 2019. Finally, it is concluded that Law & Economics methodology is a suitable methodology for analyzing the efficiency of 2017 Iran’s policy, which also provides ways to achieve more sustainable results to overcome the litigation delay. The main finding of this study is that according to the Kaldor-Hicks efficiency, Iran's recent reforms related to digitizing the judicial system have been an efficient move; however, due to the nature of these reforms, this efficiency does not last permanently.
One of the key factors affecting women's behavior with fertility issues is their health literacy, but this topic has been less addressed in the existing studies. We aimed to determine the ...relationship between reproductive health literacy and components of healthy fertility in women of reproductive age.
This cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2019 to September 2014 on 230 married women who were referred to comprehensive health centers in Lordegan city. Data were collected using a reproductive health literacy questionnaire, demographic and fertility information checklist, and components of healthy fertility. Data analysis was done using SPSS software, version 20. Pearson, Spearman, and independent t-tests were used as appropriate.
The mean ± SD reproductive health literacy score in the participants was 43.80 ± 18.99 depicting an average literacy level in more than half of the women. Also, the reproductive health literacy score had a statistically significant relationship with the use of low-failure contraceptive methods (
< 0.001) and planned pregnancy (
= 0.03). However, this relationship was not significant regarding pre-pregnancy care (
= 0.88) and observing the interval between pregnancies (
= 0.57).
We found a relationship between the level of reproductive health literacy and the use of family planning methods with low failure and planned pregnancy. Hence, it seems that interventions to improve reproductive health literacy are effective in reducing the occurrence of high-risk pregnancies and unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. Therefore, it is suggested that the health system consider and provide education related to reproductive health literacy as a part of healthy reproductive services.
