Objectives
To review the impact of social isolation during COVID-19 pandemic on mental and physical health of older people and the recommendations for patients, caregivers and health professionals.
...Design
Narrative review.
Setting
Non-institutionalized community-living people.
Participants
20.069 individuals from ten descriptive cross-sectional papers.
Measurements
Articles since 2019 to 2020 published on Pubmed, Scielo and Google Scholar databases with the following MeSh terms (‘COVID-19’, ‘coronavirus’, ‘aging’, ‘older people’, ‘elderly’, ‘social isolation’ and ‘quarantine’) in English, Spanish or Portuguese were included. The studies not including people over 60 were excluded. Guidelines, recommendations, and update documents from different international organizations related to mental and physical activity were also analysed.
Results
41 documents have been included in this narrative review, involving a total of 20.069 individuals (58% women), from Asia, Europe and America. 31 articles included recommendations and 10 addressed the impact of social distancing on mental or physical health. The main outcomes reported were anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality and physical inactivity during the isolation period. Cognitive strategies and increasing physical activity levels using apps, online videos, telehealth, are the main international recommendations.
Conclusion
Mental and physical health in older people are negatively affected during the social distancing for COVID-19. Therefore, a multicomponent program with exercise and psychological strategies are highly recommended for this population during the confinement. Future investigations are necessary in this field.
One of the most important applications of genomic selection in maize breeding is to predict and identify the best untested lines from biparental populations, when the training and validation sets are ...derived from the same cross. Nineteen tropical maize biparental populations evaluated in multienvironment trials were used in this study to assess prediction accuracy of different quantitative traits using low-density (~200 markers) and genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), respectively. An extension of the Genomic Best Linear Unbiased Predictor that incorporates genotype × environment (GE) interaction was used to predict genotypic values; cross-validation methods were applied to quantify prediction accuracy. Our results showed that: (1) low-density SNPs (~200 markers) were largely sufficient to get good prediction in biparental maize populations for simple traits with moderate-to-high heritability, but GBS outperformed low-density SNPs for complex traits and simple traits evaluated under stress conditions with low-to-moderate heritability; (2) heritability and genetic architecture of target traits affected prediction performance, prediction accuracy of complex traits (grain yield) were consistently lower than those of simple traits (anthesis date and plant height) and prediction accuracy under stress conditions was consistently lower and more variable than under well-watered conditions for all the target traits because of their poor heritability under stress conditions; and (3) the prediction accuracy of GE models was found to be superior to that of non-GE models for complex traits and marginal for simple traits.
Summary
Background
No studies have evaluated the potential of egg oral immunotherapy (egg‐OIT) to induce sustained unresponsiveness after discontinuing therapy following short‐term treatments.
...Objective
We assessed the efficacy of short‐course egg‐OIT to induce sustained unresponsiveness.
Methods
Sixty‐one egg‐allergic children, 5 to 17 years old, with positive double‐blind placebo‐controlled food challenge (DBPCFC) to dehydrated egg white (EW) were randomized to receive egg‐OIT (OITG) for 3 months (maintenance dose one undercooked egg every 48 hours) or to continue egg avoidance diet (control group, CG) for 4 months. Children who completed egg‐OIT avoided egg for 1 month. At 4 months, both groups underwent a DBPCFC. OITG participants who passed this challenge were instructed to add egg to their diet ad libitum. Immune markers were studied at different time points.
Results
Ninety‐three percent (28/30) of OITG children were desensitized in a median of 32.5 days (IQR, 14 days). At 4 months, 1/31 (3%) in CG passed DBPCFC and 11/30(37%) of OITG (95% CI, 14 to 51%; P = 0.003), all of them were consuming egg at 36 months. A decrease in EW, OVA and OVM skin test results and OVA‐specific IgE (sIgE) levels was observed on OITG at 4 months (P = 0.001). EW‐, OVA‐ and OVM‐sIgE levels prior to the start of egg avoidance diet were lower in OITG children who passed DBPCFC at 4 months than in those who did not pass it. EW‐ and OVM‐sIgE showed the best diagnostic performance in predicting DBPCFC result at 4 months. Levels above optimal EW‐sIgE cut‐off of 7.1 kU/L indicated 90% probability of failing DBPCFC.
Conclusion
This is the first demonstration of sustained unresponsiveness with a three‐month egg‐OIT protocol. Almost all treated subjects were desensitized and 37% achieved sustained unresponsiveness. EW‐sIgE levels at the end of treatment predicted sustained unresponsiveness. This protocol shows a new approach to OIT for egg‐allergic children.
Incorporating carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) into polymers can enhance their mechanical behavior; however, enhancement depends strongly on compatibility and homogeneous dispersion. Actual methods to ...succeed high dispersion and compatibility are complicated, have solvent‐associated problems, and long processing times. The present work proposes the increase of the dispersion and compatibility of CNPs in a polypropylene (PP) matrix to obtain a nanocomposite with high mechanical properties, using simple, fast, and green methodologies: the modification of the CNPs by cold propylene plasma and the synergistic effect resulting from mixtures of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) with PP matrix by melt mixing. Mixtures of CNFs and GNPs in 9:1, 8:2, and 7:3 ratios at 1 and 5 wt/wt% with and without surface modification by cold propylene plasma were fabricated. The compatibility and dispersion of the CNPs in the PP matrix were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Raman spectroscopy, and the results were related to the mechanical properties. The results show that the use of mixtures improved the dispersion in the system and hindered the reagglomeration of CNPs, whereas surface modification with plasma promotes higher compatibility between the phases. The elastic modulus of PP reached an increase of 127.40% using a modified mixture by plasma in a 7:3 ratio (CNF:GNPs) at 5 wt/wt%, while when the CNPs were used individually, the modified CNFs and GNPs at 5 wt/wt%, reached 97.77% and 111.85%, respectively. In addition, a finite element analysis shows that the stresses in nanocomposites fabricated with mixtures of CNPs are supported to a greater extent by GNPs than CNFs due to their morphology with a low number of graphene sheets, which allows them to have greater flexibility.
Influence of methods for promoting dispersion and compatibility: melt mixing, cold plasma modification, and mixtures of carbon nanoparticles of different geometries on enhancing the elastic modulus of polypropylene nanocomposites with carbon nanofibers and graphene nanoplatelets.
Background
Microscopic residual disease (MRD) after surgery can be a challenging situation in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) and there is a lack of evidence concerning its management.
...Objective
To evaluate the prognosis of CSCC with MRD and the usefulness of postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) in CSCC with MRD.
Methods
Retrospective cohort study of CSCC with MRD through a 10‐year period (2010–2019) (n = 244). Disease‐free survival and event‐free survival were assessed using R (v.3.4.1), considering competing risks. Evaluated outcomes were local recurrence (LR), nodal metastases (NMs), and disease‐specific death (DSD).
Results
Median age was 88y (IQR: 10.5). A total of 145 (59.43%) were men and 69 (28.28%) were immunosuppressed. Median tumour diameter and thickness were 19 and 6.4 mm (IQR 11 and 5.5 mm). Patients treated by re‐excision had a relapse rate of 4.3% compared with 11.30% and 29.71% in those who received PORT and observation (P = 0.045). The use of PORT was associated with a lower risk of LR compared with observation (HR = 0.206 0.049–0.859, P = 0.030), but not with a lower risk of NMs or DSDs. In the multivariable models, PORT was again associated with a lower risk of LR than observation (HR = 0.167 0.039–0.708, P = 0.014), but not with lower risk of metastasis and death.
Conclusions
We always should try to obtain clear margins after surgery. PORT improves local control in CSCC with MRD, but when administered to the tumour bed, it does not reduce the risk of NM and DSD.
•Active ageing is multidimensional: health-participation-lifelong learning-security.•There is no consensus on how to measure the construct and its different components.•Little care is paid to the ...role of active ageing in reducing mortality as people age.•We identified the factor structure of each active ageing domain using principal component analysis.•Promoting the physical health component of active ageing is key to enhance survival.
The World Health Organization’s active ageing model is based on the optimisation of four key “pillars”: health, lifelong learning, participation and security. It provides older people with a policy framework to develop their potential for well-being, which in turn, may facilitate longevity. We sought to assess the effect of active ageing on longer life expectancy by: i) operationalising the WHO active ageing framework, ii) testing the validity of the factors obtained by analysing the relationships between the pillars, and iii) exploring the impact of active ageing on survival through the health pillar.
Based on data from a sample of 801 community-dwelling older adults, we operationalised the active ageing model by taking each pillar as an individual construct using principal component analysis. The interrelationship between components and their association with survival was analysed using multiple regression models.
A three-factor structure was obtained for each pillar, except for lifelong learning with a single component. After adjustment for age, gender and marital status, survival was only significantly associated with the physical component of health (HR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.47−0.93; p = 0.018). In turn, this component was loaded with representative variables of comorbidity and functionality, cognitive status and lifestyles, and correlated with components of lifelong learning, social activities and institutional support.
According to how the variables clustered into the components and how the components intertwined, results suggest that the variables loading on the biomedical component of the health pillar (e.g. cognitive function, health conditions or pain), may play a part on survival chances.
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the physics of the photovoltaic cell.The book is designed as an overview for those in the fields of optics and optical engineering, as well as those ...interested in energy policy, economics and photo-to-electricenergy conversion. This book is intended for upper-level graduate students who have areasonably good understanding of solid state physics and for scientists and engineersinvolved in research and development of solar cells.
Here, we investigated for the first time the frequency and number of circulating tumor plasma cells (CTPC) in peripheral blood (PB) of newly diagnosed patients with localized and systemic plasma cell ...neoplasms (PCN) using next-generation flow cytometry (NGF) and correlated our findings with the distinct diagnostic and prognostic categories of the disease. Overall, 508 samples from 264 newly diagnosed PCN patients, were studied. CTPC were detected in PB of all active multiple myeloma (MM; 100%), and smoldering MM (SMM) patients (100%), and in more than half (59%) monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) cases (p <0.0001); in contrast, CTPC were present in a small fraction of solitary plasmacytoma patients (18%). Higher numbers of CTPC in PB were associated with higher levels of BM infiltration and more adverse prognostic features, together with shorter time to progression from MGUS to MM (p <0.0001) and a shorter survival in MM patients with active disease requiring treatment (p ≤ 0.03). In summary, the presence of CTPC in PB as assessed by NGF at diagnosis, emerges as a hallmark of disseminated PCN, higher numbers of PB CTPC being strongly associated with a malignant disease behavior and a poorer outcome of both MGUS and MM.
Total and available Cu and Zn levels were assessed in plant biomass, as well as in two rhizosphere fractions (tightly adhering rhizosphere (TAR), and loosely adhering rhizosphere (LAR)), in wild ...plants species from vineyard soils. Both TAR and LAR fractions were enriched in total Cu and Zn (1.7 and 1.6 times, respectively), and in available Cu and Zn (2.2 and 19.5 times, respectively), with the former being significantly higher for TAR than for LAR fractions. Mean values for total Cu accumulation in root and aerial biomass of the studied wild plants were 84 and 66 mg kg−1, respectively, being 57 and 79 mg kg−1 for Zn. No correlations were found among metal contents in plant biomass and available Cu and Zn concentrations in the rhizosphere fractions. Translocation factor (TF) values for Zn (range 1.0–3.5) indicate preferential accumulation in the aerial biomass in all the studied wild plants. On the contrary, TF for Cu shows a greater variability, depending on plant species, and ranging from 0.2 to 5.9. Regarding bioaccumulation factor (BAF), ranges were 0.03–0.27 and 0.13–0.58, for Cu and Zn, respectively. Results suggest that D. sanguinalis, P. hieracioides, S. viridis, and T. barbata could be useful for Cu remediation in the studied soils, by means of phytostabilization processes.
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•Available Cu levels were higher in rhizosphere than in bulk soil.•Cu and Zn increases in the rhizosphere were associated to increases in organic matter.•Zn was accumulated mainly in the aerial biomass of wild plants.•Cu accumulation in roots or aerial biomass was dependent on wild plant species.•Low Cu translocation in D. sanguinalis, P. hieracioides, S. viridis, T. barbata
Predictive ability of yet‐to‐be observed litter size (pig) grain yield (wheat) records of several reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) regression models combining different number of Gaussian or ...t kernels was evaluated. Predictive performance was assessed as the average (over 50 replicates) predictive correlation in the testing set. Predictions from these models were combined using three different types of model averaging: (i) mean of predicted phenotypes obtained in each model, (ii) weighted average using mean squared error as weight or (iii) using the marginal likelihood as weight. (ii) and (iii) were obtained in a validation set with 5% of the data. Phenotypes consisted of 2598, 1604 and 1879 average litter size records from three commercial pig lines and wheat grain yield of 599 lines evaluated in four macro‐environments. SNPs from the PorcineSNP60 BeadChip and 1447 DArT markers were used as predictors for the pig and wheat data analyses, respectively. Gaussian and univariate t kernels led to same predictive performance. Multikernel RKHS regression models overcame shortcomings of single kernel models (increasing the predictive correlation of RKHS models by 0.05 where 3 Gaussian or t kernels were fitted in the RKHS models simultaneously). None of the proposed averaging strategies improved the predictive correlations attained with single models using multiple kernel fitting.
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