Cognitive impairment (CI) is known to be mediated by several risk and protective factors, many of which are potentially modifiable. Therefore, it is important to have up-to-date studies that address ...a standard assessment of psychosocial, clinical and lifestyle variables.
We conducted a cross-sectional observational study, with a 24-month timeframe, to estimate the relationship between risk and protective factors associated with dementia, according to the A-to-Z Dementia Knowledge. Participants were considered at CI risk if they tested positive for at least one of three validated CI screening tests: The Memory Impairment Screening, Short Portable Mental State Questionnaire, and Semantic Verbal Fluency. The A-to-Z data Collection included Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener and Geriatric Depression Scale.
The estimated prevalence of CI was 22.6% in a sample of 709 patients with an average of 69.3±10.3 years. The risk factors gradually associated with cognitive decline were hypertension, loneliness, and depression. In contrast, the protective factors gradually associated with less cognitive decline were internet use, reading, and intellectually stimulating jobs. Finally, living alone, having diabetes, taking benzodiazepines, and sleeping more than 9 h were statistically significant associated with CI, whereas to do memory training or a family history of dementia was characteristic of patients without CI.
A joint assessment of the influence of psychosocial, clinical, and lifestyle-related factors is needed to develop dementia prevention strategies.
Medication adherence is a priority for health systems worldwide and is widely recognised as a key component of quality of care for disease management. Adherence-related indicators were rarely ...explicitly included in national health policy agendas. One barrier is the lack of standardised adherence terminology and of routine measures of adherence in clinical practice. This paper discusses the possibility of developing adherence-related performance indicators highlighting the value of measuring persistence as a robust indicator of quality of care. To standardise adherence and persistence-related terminology allowing for benchmarking of adherence strategies, the European Ascertaining Barriers for Compliance (ABC) project proposed a Taxonomy of Adherence in 2012 consisting of three components: initiation, implementation, discontinuation. Persistence, which immediately precedes discontinuation, is a key element of taxonomy, which could capture adherence chronology allowing the examination of patterns of medication-taking behaviour. Advances in eHealth and Information Communication Technology (ICT) could play a major role in providing necessary structures to develop persistence indicators. We propose measuring persistence as an informative and pragmatic measure of medication-taking behaviour. Our view is to develop quality and performance indicators of persistence, which requires investing in ICT solutions enabling healthcare providers to review complete information on patients’ medication-taking patterns, as well as clinical and health outcomes.
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•Virgin olive oil enriched with bioactive compounds from the olive fruit (polyphenols and triterpenic acids), improves postprandial insulin release and peripheral tissue ...sensitivity.•Matsuda index of insulin sensitivity improves after the intake of bioactive compounds-enriched virgin olive oil.•The insulinogenic index improved after the intake of polyphenol-enriched virgin olive oil.
Scope. The postprandial effects of virgin olive oils (VOOs) enriched with phenolic compounds and triterpenes from the olive fruit on plasma glucose and insulin (primary outcomes), and gastrointestinal hormones responses were evaluated in healthy adults.
Single doses (30 mL) of three oils were evaluated: optimized polyphenols-rich VOO (OVOO); functional olive oil (FOO): OVOO enriched with triterpene acids; and VOO with low content of polyphenols. Postprandial plasma insulin release was lower after the intake of the FOO compared to VOO, while plasma glucose levels were lower after the intake of the VOO compared to OVOO. Matsuda's index of insulin sensitivity improved after the intake of FOO and OVOO, while the insulinogenic index and gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) tended to improve after the intake of OVOO.
The enrichment of VOOs with bioactive compounds from the olive fruit increases its benefits, improving postprandial insulin release and peripheral tissue sensitivity.
Background
Cognitive impairment (CI) is often diagnosed at moderate stages, with an estimated time for diagnosis of two years. However, the early diagnosis of CI allows the control of modifiable risk ...factors to prevent the development of dementia at later ages. In addition, the community pharmacy is a close, accessible, and trustworthy health establishment where the pharmacist often participates in disease prevention, becoming a suitable healthcare center for facilitating the detection of cases of CI
Method
A cross‐sectional observational study was designed using a structured personal interview. Participants were aged 50 or older with subjective memory complaints. Pharmacies in the province of Valencia (Spain) were invited to participate voluntarily by the organization entities. Before the start‐up of the service, the participating pharmacists received specific training. In the personal interview with the patient, after signing the corresponding informed consent, three validated questionnaires were conducted to assess their cognitive status: Memory Impairment Screening (MIS), Semantic Verbal Fluency (FVS), and Pfeiffer’s Short Portable Mental State Questionnaire (SPMSQ). Whenever possible, a fourth questionnaire was carried out: Brief Informant Test (Brief TIN). Data collection was carried out through a computer platform. This project was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University CEU‐Cardenal Herrera (registration number CEEI21/198).
Result
Between February 2021 and July 2023, 44 pharmacies participated, and 534 patients were screened. Of them, 194 (36%) had at least one positive test result, therefore having possible CI. After their corresponding referral to the doctor, 52 (29%) patients were referred to the hospital neurology department, of which 42 (81%) had been diagnosed with cognitive decline. Finally, the average time from the first evaluation by a pharmacist to a diagnosis by the specialist was six months.
Conclusion
Preliminary results of the screening for cognitive impairment show that the community pharmacy is a critical point in the approach to early detection of dementia and that collaboration and coordination between different levels of care is enhanced through such programs.
Objetivo: detectar personas en riesgo alto o muy alto de padecer diabetes mellitus tipo 2 (DM2) o alteraciones del metabolismo de los hidratos de carbono, derivación para posible diagnóstico al ...médico y realizar una intervención educativa. Métodos: estudio observacional transversal y longitudinal prospectivo con intervención educativa en farmacias comunitarias situadas en la provincia de Valencia entre junio y noviembre de 2018. Se incluyeron usuarios de las farmacias comunitarias, mayores de 18 años, no diagnosticados de DM2 que aceptaron realizar la encuesta. Muestreo no probabilístico. Variable principal: puntuación en el test Findrisc, determinación capilar (si F≥15), intervención y número de diagnósticos de DM2 y preDM2. Las diferencias entre grupos se calcularon con el test de chi-cuadrado, t de Student o de Wilcoxon. Resultados: el estudio se realizó en 25 farmacias. La muestra incluyó a 752 usuarios. De ellos, 148 (19,7 %) tenían alto o muy alto riesgo de DM2 (F≥15). Se realizaron 118 determinaciones capilares válidas (22 no aceptaron y 8 no la repitieron), 78 (10,4 %) tuvieron resultados superiores a los normales y a 48 (6,4 %) se les derivó al médico. 32 de estos no fueron al médico o no informaron al farmacéutico del resultado. De los 16 que conocemos el resultado, 12 (1,6 %) fueron diagnosticados de diabetes o prediabetes. Conclusiones: los resultados de este estudio piloto dejan entrever la utilidad de la farmacia comunitaria como agente con un papel importante en el cribado de DM2 al detectar el presente trabajo casi un 20 % de usuarios con un riesgo elevado de padecer la enfermedad.
In this work we analyze the spoiling potential of Meyerozyma guilliermondii in yogurt. The analysis was based on contaminated samples sent to us by an industrial laboratory over two years. All the ...plain and fruit yogurt packages were heavily contaminated by yeasts, but only the last ones, containing fermentable sugars besides lactose, were spoiled by gas swelling. These strains were unable to grow and ferment lactose (as the type strain); they did grow on lactate plus galactose, fermented glucose and sucrose, and galactose (weakly), but did not compete with lactic acid bacteria for lactose. This enables them to grow in any yogurt, although only those with added jam were spoiled due to the fermentation of the fruit sugars. Fermentation, but not growth, was strongly inhibited at 8 °C. In consequence, in plain yogurt as well as in any yogurt maintained at low temperature, yeast contamination would not be detected by the consumer. The risk could be enhanced because the species has been proposed for biological control of fungal infections in organic agriculture. The combination of the IGS PCR-RFLP (amplification of the intergenic spacer region of rDNA followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis) method and mitochondrial DNA-RFLP makes a good tool to trace and control the contamination by M. guilliermondii.
This case study follows an elite athlete and measures her performance during cancer treatment. It improves the knowledge on applied physiology showing the details of her training program and ...demonstrating the strong ability of the athlete to continue training and competing at a high level during antineoplastic treatment. Exercise training improved body composition but failed to restore previous cardiorespiratory, muscle strength and power, and running performance levels.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity to return to competition of a 28-yr-old female 400-m hurdle elite athlete after a diagnosis of breast cancer. The study lasted 14 mo after diagnosis. She was tested four times (T1–T4) to measure body mass (BM), body mass index (BMI), percentage of total fat mass (TFM%), total fat-free mass (TFFM%), bone mineral density (BMD), one-repetition maximum (1RM), and maximal power (MP) in bench press and half squat, maximum oxygen uptake, and 400-m dash and hurdles. T0 (baseline time) was established with values before diagnosis. BM and BMI increased from T0 to T1 (5.3% and 5.2%) and remained stable. BMD experienced no change. TFM% values decreased from T1 to T4 (3.5%). TFFM% values increased from T1 to T3 (0.9%). During T1–T2, the athlete presented a global decline from T0 in 1RM
Squat
, 1RM
Bench
, MP
Squat
, and MP
Bench
(32.6%, 27.2%, 37.5%, and 27.6%, respectively). Results during T3–T4 were also lower for these parameters from T0 (23.3%, 20.6%, 23.4%, and 11%). During T1–T2, the V̇o
2max
declined compared with T0 (1.8% and 6.4%), showing a small increase at T3 (+1%) and reaching the lowest level at T4 (9%). During T1–T2, the time record of 400-m dash (8.3%) and hurdles (7.4%) increased. However, a slight improvement was found at T3 (1.3% and 0.6%, respectively). The results of this case study reflect that exercise training improved body composition, maintained BMD and TFFM, but could not completely reverse the worsening of the cardiorespiratory, muscle strength and power, and running performance levels.
NEW & NOTEWORTHY This case study follows an elite athlete and measures her performance during cancer treatment. It improves the knowledge on applied physiology showing the details of her training program and demonstrating the strong ability of the athlete to continue training and competing at a high level during antineoplastic treatment. Exercise training improved body composition but failed to restore previous cardiorespiratory, muscle strength and power, and running performance levels.
In this work, we developed a specific PCR assay for Debaryomyces hansenii strains that uses a putative homologous PAD1 region (729bp) present in this yeast species as a target. The amplification of ...this sequence with the D. hansenii specific primer pair (DhPADF/DhPADR) was found to be a rapid, specific and an affordable method enabling identification of D. hansenii from other yeast strains. Primers were tested in almost 100 strains, 49 strains from Type Culture Collection belonging to the genus Debaryomyces and to other yeast species commonly found in foods or related genera. These primers were able to discriminate between closely related species of Debaryomyces, such as Debaryomyces fabryi and Debaryomyces subglobosus, with a 100% detection rate for D. hansenii. Also, the method was tested in 45 strains from different foods. Results confirmed the specificity of the PCR method and detected two earlier misidentifications of D. hansenii strains obtained by RFLP analysis of the 5.8S ITS rDNA region. Subsequently we confirmed by sequencing the D1/D2 domain of 26S rDNA that these strains belonged to D. fabryi. We call attention in this work to the fact that the RFLPs of the 5.8S ITS rDNA profiles of D. hansenii, D. fabryi and D. subglobosus are the same and this technique will thus lead to incorrect identifications.
•A rapid and affordable PCR method for the detection of Debaryomyces hansenii.•This method permits to separate D. hansenii from D. subglobosus and D. fabryi.•No false results were detected among the 22 yeast species studied.
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