Background
The Mediterranean‐style diet (MD) is promoted as one of the healthiest dietary patterns and has been shown to reduce cognitive decline in some randomised controlled trials (RCTs). This ...pattern is plant‐based with a focus on vegetables, legumes, fish, and olive oil, with low intake of red meats and foods high in sugar and saturated fats. The Maintain Your Brain (MYB) study is an online multi‐domain RCT targeting modifiable risk factors for dementia, including diet. This study investigated cross‐sectional associations between adherence to a MD pattern and cognition.
Methods
Participants enrolled in MYB were recruited from the Sax Institute’s larger 45 and Up Study, and included those with all baseline MYB assessments (n=6236). Diet was assessed using the validated Mediterranean Diet and Culinary Index tool. This 50‐item tool assesses intake of nine desirable and four undesirable features of the MD diet and allows derivation of the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS). Computerised cognitive tests, administered through the MYB digital platform, were used to assess domains of executive function, complex attention, learning and memory and global cognition.
Results
Participants were 46% male, with mean (SD) age 65.0 (5.8) years, BMI 26.6 (4.9) kg/m2 and well educated (46% with tertiary education). Higher MEDAS scores were associated with being female, younger, better educated and having a lower BMI (all p<0.001). Overall participant adherence to a MD pattern was low; MEDAS score 6.1 (2.1)/14. After covariate adjustment and correction for multiple analyses in hierarchical linear regression models, better MEDAS scores were significantly associated with worse (lower) z‐scores for executive function (β ‐0.018, p=0.003). For every 1‐point higher MEDAS score, executive function z‐scores were 0.018 lower. This unexpected negative association was clinically very small. There were no significant associations with other cognitive domains.
Conclusion
Adherence to a MD was sub‐optimal in this well‐educated Australian sample. The one unexpected finding is likely not clinically meaningful given its size. Additionally, as this was a cross‐sectional study, reverse causality cannot be ruled out. Results from the main MYB RCT will provide data on MD acceptance and impact in a Western dietary environment.
Background
Dementia has no pharmacological cure. Therefore, lifestyle interventions targeting modifiable risk factors to reduce cognitive decline are of interest. This study examines the ...cross‐sectional relationships between two potentially protective behaviours: Mediterranean diet (MediDiet) adherence and physical activity (PA).
Method
Participants were recruited from the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study into the Maintain Your Brain trial. MediDiet adherence was assessed using the validated Mediterranean Diet and Culinary Index (MediCul) tool. The 50‐item tool consists of 17 sub‐categories focusing on key aspects of the MediDiet. Leisure time PA was assessed by a standard questionnaire and intensity was quantified using the BORG Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale, modified for strength and aerobic activities. Associations between the MediDiet and PA were investigated using hierarchical linear regression and analysis of covariance.
Result
6236 participants 55‐77 years; mean (SD)=65.0 (5.8) completed baseline assessments and were included. Mean (SD) MediCul score was 53.2 (13.0)/100), indicating low adherence to the MediDiet. Only 5% of participants achieved a score consistent with better cognitive outcomes in The PREDIMED study. Almost one‐half of participants (48.4%) met aerobic PA (150 min/week) but less than one‐quarter (24.2%) met resistance training (RT) recommendations (2 days/week). Unadjusted MediCul score explained a small but significant amount of the variance for light (1.0%) and moderate‐vigorous (MV) (3.1%) PA, both p<0.001. For light PA, the final model, including MediCul, age, sex, BMI, CAGE (alcohol use) score and diabetes explained 2.8% of the variance. For MV PA, the final model including MediCul, age, sex, BMI, CAGE, depression, diabetes and education explained 10.9% of the variance. A 10‐point higher MediCul score was associated with an additional 3.3 seconds of light PA/wk and additional 7.5 seconds of MV aerobic PA/wk (both p<0.001). Additionally, MediCul score was significantly higher in participants engaging in 2+days/wk of RT compared to 1 or fewer days/wk (56.6/100 vs. 52.2/100, respectively; p<0.001).
Conclusion
Both aerobic and RT PA are significantly but weakly associated with better diet, but the clinical meaningfulness, as well as any causal nature, of these relationships requires further exploration. The outcomes of the MYB trial will contribute substantively to this question.
High concentration of blood lead is accompanied by adverse health effects on growth of foetus and the newborn.
The aim of this study was to determine umbilical cord blood lead level and its ...relationship with birth weight, length and head circumference of the newborns in Abadan, Iran.
In this cross-sectional study, 3 ml blood was collected from the umbilical cord vein in 147 newborns, immediately after the birth. Blood lead was measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Data collection instruments included demographic questionnaire (age of mother, gestational age, newborn gender, job and education of mother) and also data registration form (umbilical cord blood lead concentration, weight, length, and head circumference of newborn). Data was analyzed with SPSS software version 16.0.
The mean of umbilical cord blood lead was determined 0.65±0.32 µg/dl (0.3-1.35 µg/dl). The decrease of birth weight with increased blood lead level was small and was not statistically significant. There was reverse significant correlation between umbilical cord blood lead level and birth length and head circumference. There was no significant correlation between blood lead and other variables such as age, weight, education and job of mother and gestational age.
Umbilical blood lead level was determined <5 µg/ dl. Excess of umbilical cord blood lead caused decreasing birth weight, length and head circumference of the newborns.
Urgent actions are imperative to assess ambient BTEX concentration in urban areas and increase awareness of the significant health risks linked to exposure to these volatile compounds. This study ...examines the spatiotemporal variations of BTEX concentration in BRT stations and provides a health risk assessment in Tabriz, located in the northwest of Iran. We collected samples repeatedly from four BRT stations and three areas between stations (N = 86). The mixture BTEX compounds had average concentrations ranging from 6.7 to 52.9 μg/m3, with the highest concentration belonging to o-xylene. Additionally, the average ratios of toluene/benzene, m-xylene/benzene, and o-xylene/benzene were 2.4, 2.3, and 3.0, respectively. Total BTEX concentrations were significantly higher in BRT stations than areas between stations. Furthermore, the concentration of total BTEX doubled in the evening compared to the morning. Although the maximum concentrations of BTEX were recorded in winter, there were no significant seasonal differences. The lifetime cancer risk (LCR) of benzene exposure was 1.07 × 10−7 and 1.52 × 10−5 for passengers and residents located in the vicinity of the BRT lane, respectively. In conclusion, this study suggests that emissions from BRT buses are one of the main contributors to BTEX in Tabriz.
•BTEX concentrations were significantly higher in BRT stations than in-between stations.•Total BTEX concentration doubled in the evening compared to the morning.•Total BTEX levels were only marginally higher in winter than summer.•The LCR for individuals located near the BRT lane exceeded the EPA-recommended value.
Microbial biofilms are a main cause of many chronic infections and mortalities, such as dental caries, cystic fibrosis, osteoradionecrosis, urinary tract infections and native valve endocarditis. ...These polymeric matrices are sessile communities with different rules from those forms via known planktonic bacteria. One of the important biofilm-producing human pathogens is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes death in the majority of people who suffer from cystic fibrosis, AIDS, burns and neutropenic cancer. To find a method for controlling the growth and resistance of P. aeruginosa biofilm, this study investigated the dispersion induction of this microorganism with a diffusible signal factor (DSF), cis-2-decenoic acid (CDA), in combination with Tobramycin as a useful antibiotic. Our findings confirmed that although CDA did not act as a dispersion inducer in this experiment, it did show an antimicrobial effect and decreased the MIC of Tobramycin. These results suggested that research on the probable new effects of DSF molecules will result in advances in the control of biofilm infections.
High heparin cofactor II (HCII) activity has recently been described to protect from coronary instent restenosis, presumably by inactivating thrombin in injured arteries. In this study, we ...investigated the association of HCII activity and restenosis after femoropopliteal stenting. We studied 63 consecutive patients with peripheral artery disease who underwent femoropopliteal stent implantation after initial failure of plain balloon angioplasty due to a significant residual stenosis (>30% lumen diameter reduction) or a flow limiting dissection. HCII activity was measured before stenting and patients were followed for median 10 months (interquartile range 6 to 17) for the occurrence of a first instent restenosis, defined as a >50% lumen diameter reduction by color coded duplex sonography and confirmed by angiography. Cumulative freedom from restenosis at 6 and 12 months in patients with lower HCII activity (100%, lower tertile, n=20) was 84% and 35% as compared to 93% and 72% in patients with high HCII activity (>100%, middle and upper tertile, n=43; p=0.024 by Log Rank test). Adjusting for the material of the implanted stents (nitinol vs. Wallstents), patients with a high HCII activity had a 0.39-fold reduced risk for instent restenosis (95% CI 0.17 to 0.90, p=0.028), additional adjustment for diabetes mellitus, poor run-off, critical limb ischemia and cumulative length of the stented segment did not alter the observed effect. Higher activity of heparin cofactor II may exert a protective effect against instent restenosis also in the femoropopliteal vessel area, confirming a prior observation after coronary stenting.
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