Optimal transition cow health is the key to success of the subsequent lactation, and increasing attention has been focused on management and nutritional practices that support it. Physiological ...stress during the transition period alters the efficiency of the immune system, making the lactating dairy cow more susceptible to infectious diseases, such as mastitis and metritis, with subsequent impairment of reproductive performance.
Trace elements have a specific role in free radical control at the cellular level and influence the anti-oxidant/free radical balance. Dietary trace elements must be available for absorption throughout the whole of the digestive process until they reach the final site of absorption in the small intestine. Negative interactions between minerals can occur and, as the intestinal environment lowers the absorption of ionic minerals, chelation technology has been developed to increase mineral bioavailability. Organic trace elements have been used in dairy cow experiments, resulting in significant improvements in udder health, lameness and reproductive performance.
Background
Definitions and diagnostic criteria for all medical conditions are regularly subjected to reviews and revisions as knowledge advances. In the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, it ...has taken almost three decades for diagnostic nomenclature to undergo major re‐examination. The shift towards presymptomatic and pre‐dementia stages of AD has brought prevention and treatment trials much closer to each other than before.
Methods
Here we discuss: (i) the impact of diagnostic reliability on the possibilities for developing preventive strategies for AD; (ii) the scientific evidence to support moving from observation to action; (iii) ongoing intervention studies; and (iv) the methodological issues and prospects for balancing strategies for high‐risk individuals with those for broad population‐based prevention.
Results
The associations between neuropathology and cognition are still not entirely clear. In addition, the risk factors for AD dementia and the neuropathological hallmarks of AD may not necessarily be the same. Cognitive impairment has a clearer clinical significance and should therefore remain the main focus of prevention. Risk/protective factors for dementia/AD need to be studied from a life‐course perspective. New approaches in prevention trials include enrichment strategies based on genetic risk factors or beta‐amyloid biomarkers (at least four ongoing pharmacological trials), and multidomain interventions simultaneously targeting various vascular and lifestyle‐related risk factors (at least three ongoing trials). Experience from prevention programmes in other chronic diseases can provide additional methodological improvements.
Conclusions
Building infrastructures for international collaborations is necessary for managing the worldwide public health problem of AD and dementia. The International Database on Aging and Dementia (IDAD) and the European Dementia Prevention Initiative (EDPI) are examples of ongoing international efforts aiming to improve the methodology of preventive studies and provide the basis for larger intervention trials.
•Low cycle fatigue lives were evaluated in Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr.•Prismatic slip bands are associated with crack formation in primary α.•Crack initiation occurs in β grains with specific crystallographic ...orientations.•Multiple lengthscales have to be considered to predict crack initiation sites.
Low cycle fatigue crack initiation was investigated in a Ti-5Al-5Mo-5V-3Cr alloy with a bimodal microstructure. In particular, the crystallographic orientations of both α and β phases at crack initiation sites were characterized. Crack formation is shown to generally proceed along prismatic slip bands in primary α grains. A key role of the interplay between elastic and plastic anisotropies of both α and β phases was evidenced as the crystallographic orientation of the surrounding β matrix is a critical parameter as well. Different lengthscales have thus to be considered for an accurate prediction of fatigue crack initiation in near-β titanium alloys.
Introduction
The use of a simple, safe, and easy to perform assessment tool, like gait speed, to evaluate vulnerability to adverse outcomes in community-dwelling older people is appealing, but its ...predictive capacity is still questioned. The present manuscript summarises the conclusions of an expert panel in the domain of physical performance measures and frailty in older people, who reviewed and discussed the existing literature in a 2-day meeting held in Toulouse, France on March 12–13, 2009. The aim of the IANA Task Force was to state if, in the light of actual scientific evidence, gait speed assessed at usual pace had the capacity to identify community-dwelling older people at risk of adverse outcomes, and if gait speed could be used as a single-item tool instead of more comprehensive but more time-consuming assessment instruments.
Methods
A systematic review of literature was performed prior to the meeting (Medline search and additional pearling of reference lists and key-articles supplied by Task Force members). Manuscripts were retained for the present revision only when a high level of evidence was present following 4 pre-selected criteria: a) gait speed, at usual pace, had to be specifically assessed as a single-item tool, b) gait speed should be measured over a short distance, c) at baseline, participants had to be autonomous, community-dwelling older people, and d) the evaluation of onset of adverse outcomes (i.e. disability, cognitive impairment, institutionalisation, falls, and/or mortality) had to be assessed longitudinally over time. Based on the prior criteria, a final selection of 27 articles was used for the present manuscript.
Results
Gait speed at usual pace was found to be a consistent risk factor for disability, cognitive impairment, institutionalisation, falls, and/or mortality. In predicting these adverse outcomes over time, gait speed was at least as sensible as composite tools.
Conclusions
Although more specific surveys needs to be performed, there is sufficient evidence to state that gait speed identifies autonomous community-dwelling older people at risk of adverse outcomes and can be used as a single-item assessment tool. The assessment at usual pace over 4 meters was the most often used method in literature and might represent a quick, safe, inexpensive and highly reliable instrument to be implemented.
The frailty syndrome has recently attracted attention of the scientific community and public health organizations as precursor and contributor of age-related conditions (particularly disability) in ...older persons. In parallel, dementia and cognitive disorders also represent major healthcare and social priorities. Although physical frailty and cognitive impairment have shown to be related in epidemiological studies, their pathophysiological mechanisms have been usually studied separately. An International Consensus Group on “Cognitive Frailty” was organized by the International Academy on Nutrition and Aging (I.A.N.A) and the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (I.A.G.G) on April 16th, 2013 in Toulouse (France). The present report describes the results of the Consensus Group and provides the first definition of a “Cognitive Frailty” condition in older adults. Specific aim of this approach was to facilitate the design of future personalized preventive interventions in older persons. Finally, the Group discussed the use of multidomain interventions focused on the physical, nutritional, cognitive and psychological domains for improving the well-being and quality of life in the elderly. The consensus panel proposed the identification of the so-called “cognitive frailty” as an heterogeneous clinical manifestation characterized by the simultaneous presence of both physical frailty and cognitive impairment. In particular, the key factors defining such a condition include: 1) presence of physical frailty and cognitive impairment (CDR=0.5); and 2) exclusion of concurrent AD dementia or other dementias. Under different circumstances, cognitive frailty may represent a precursor of neurodegenerative processes. A potential for reversibility may also characterize this entity. A psychological component of the condition is evident and concurs at increasing the vulnerability of the individual to stressors.
The Geroscience aims at a better understanding of the biological processes of aging, to prevent and/or delay the onset of chronic diseases and disability as well as to reduce the severity of these ...adverse clinical outcomes. Geroscience thus open up new perspectives of care to live a healthy aging, that is to say without dependency. To date, life expectancy in healthy aging is not increasing as fast as lifespan. The identification of biomarkers of aging is critical to predict adverse outcomes during aging, to implement interventions to reduce them, and to monitor the response to these interventions. In this narrative review, we gathered information about biomarkers of aging under the perspective of Geroscience. Based on the current literature, for each hallmark of biological aging, we proposed a putative biomarker of healthy aging, chosen for their association with mortality, age-related chronic diseases, frailty and/or functional loss. We also discussed how they could be validated as useful predictive biomarkers.
PDF
