Neuromuscular control of masticatory muscles in people with intellectual disability, middle-aged adults and older adults.

BACKGROUND: Motor control issues are common for people with intellectual disabilities (PWID), resulting in difficulties with basic activities of daily living, including eating. Mastication, which is crucial for digestion and overall health, is poorly understood in this population. PWID shows frailty similar to older people, highlighting the importance of comparing masticatory motor control with older adults. This study compared the neuromuscular control of the masticatory muscles in middle-aged, PWID and older adults. METHODS: A cross-sectional analytical design was used. During the mastication task of a carrot piece (2 cm in diameter and weighing 0.5 g), surface electromyography was used to record muscle activity patterns from the right and left masseter and temporalis muscles. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess neuromuscular control. A z-score normalisation of the first component's variance from PCA to identify those individuals with altered neuromuscular control. A mixed ANOVA was performed to assess the interaction between principal components, groups and body composition. RESULTS: Thirty PWIDs (aged 35-55 years), middle-aged adults and 32 older adults were recruited. PWID and older adults showed decreased neuromuscular control of the masticatory muscles compared to middle-aged control adults (P < 0.05). PWID had the highest proportion of individuals with altered neuromuscular control of the masticatory muscle (53%) compared to older adults (19%) and middle-aged adults (0%) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that PWID and older adults have reduced neuromuscular control compared to middle-aged adults. Notably, a significant proportion of the PWID showed altered masticatory muscle control compared to older adults. Further research is needed to explore the potential benefits of masticatory muscle training for PWID.

Effects of the Dietary Supplementation of Sucupira (Pterodon Emarginatus Vog. ) and Copaiba (Copaifera Langsdorffii) Resinoils on Chicken Breast and Thigh Meat Quality and Oxidative Stability

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the addition of the oil resins ofsucupira (Pterodon emarginatus Vog.) and copaiba (Copaifera langsdorffii) to broiler diets on chicken meat composition, quality, and lipid peroxidation. 350 one-d-old broiler chicks were submitted to seven treatments, consisting of the diets supplemented with copaiba (COP) or sucupira (SUC) resin oils at three different concentrations (500, 900, and 1300 ppm) plus a negative control diet (CONT). At 37 days of age, 10 birds per treatment were selected according to the average weight of the experimental unit and slaughtered to collect breast and thigh meat, which was stored at 4°C for 24 hours to evaluate pH, color (L*, a*, b*), cooking weight loss (CWL), and shear force (SF). Raw meat was vacuum packed and stored frozen until lipid peroxidation analysis. Meat samples were pooled to prepare pre-cooked meatballs (30 ± 0.5g), stored under refrigeration (eight days), and analyzed every two days for TBARS concentration. Results were analyzed using the PROC GLM and MIXED procedures (SAS statistical software). Plant oils increased (p<0.05) breast meat humidity (HU) and crude protein (CP) levels and reduced (p<0.05) total lipid (TLC) and ash (AS) levels when compared with the CONT treatment. Plant oils increased (p<0.05) thigh meat HU when compared with the CONT. High COP dietary levels reduced (p<0.05) breast meat CWL, and increased (p<0.05) thigh meat L* values when compared to CONT, except for SUC500 and SUC900. The dietary inclusion of plant oil resins showed a pro-oxidant effect (p<0.01) on breast meat when compared with the CONT. Low SUC dietary supplementation levels significantly reduced (p<0.01) the concentration of secondary oxidation products in thigh meat.

Effects of the Dietary Supplementation of Sucupira (Pterodon Emarginatus Vog. ) and Copaiba (Copaifera Langsdorffii) Resinoils on Chicken Breast and Thigh Meat Quality and Oxidative Stability

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the addition of the oil resins ofsucupira (Pterodon emarginatus Vog.) and copaiba (Copaifera langsdorffii) to broiler diets on chicken meat composition, quality, and lipid peroxidation. 350 one-d-old broiler chicks were submitted to seven treatments, consisting of the diets supplemented with copaiba (COP) or sucupira (SUC) resin oils at three different concentrations (500, 900, and 1300 ppm) plus a negative control diet (CONT). At 37 days of age, 10 birds per treatment were selected according to the average weight of the experimental unit and slaughtered to collect breast and thigh meat, which was stored at 4°C for 24 hours to evaluate pH, color (L*, a*, b*), cooking weight loss (CWL), and shear force (SF). Raw meat was vacuum packed and stored frozen until lipid peroxidation analysis. Meat samples were pooled to prepare pre-cooked meatballs (30 ± 0.5g), stored under refrigeration (eight days), and analyzed every two days for TBARS concentration. Results were analyzed using the PROC GLM and MIXED procedures (SAS statistical software). Plant oils increased (p<0.05) breast meat humidity (HU) and crude protein (CP) levels and reduced (p<0.05) total lipid (TLC) and ash (AS) levels when compared with the CONT treatment. Plant oils increased (p<0.05) thigh meat HU when compared with the CONT. High COP dietary levels reduced (p<0.05) breast meat CWL, and increased (p<0.05) thigh meat L* values when compared to CONT, except for SUC500 and SUC900. The dietary inclusion of plant oil resins showed a pro-oxidant effect (p<0.01) on breast meat when compared with the CONT. Low SUC dietary supplementation levels significantly reduced (p<0.01) the concentration of secondary oxidation products in thigh meat.(AU)

Diabetes and exercise in the elderly.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is highly prevalent among the elderly. Age-associated changes in body composition, obesity and sedentary behavior are some of the main factors responsible for the increased prevalence of diabetes in this population. Elderly patients experience important and specific issues, including the association of comorbidities and geriatric syndromes, use of many medications, the presence of dependencies and frailty. Physical activity has been shown to be as effective for the treatment of diabetes in the elderly as in younger patients, so that its practice must be strongly encouraged. Resistive activities are preferable for the frail and vulnerable diabetic elderly. Aerobic activities should be prescribed whenever possible, and the association of both modalities is the best choice. Moderate- to high-intensity exercises are more effective for glycemic control and, unlike previously thought, are generally safe for the elderly population. The frequency of exercising should be at least 3 days/week for aerobic and 2 days/week for resistance activities. Balance exercises may be beneficial in special situations. In the elderly patient, special care must be taken for: the presence of contraindications for the practice of each exercise modality; the interactions and limitations imposed by medications, chronic comorbidities and geriatric syndromes; the higher possibility of developing hypoglycemia, especially if insulin is used for treatment, and the prevention of orthostatic hypotension that may be worsened by dehydration. The prescription of exercises tailored for each patient's preferences and limitations is highly effective not only for glycemic control, but also for improving independence, self-esteem and quality of life.

The Caenorhabditis elegans genome: a multifractal analysis.

The Caenorhabditis elegans genome has several regular and irregular characteristics in its nucleotide composition; these are observed within and between chromosomes. To study these particularities, we carried out a multifractal analysis, which requires a large number of exponents to characterize scaling properties. We looked for a relationship between the genetic information content of the chromosomes and multifractal parameters and found less multifractality compared to the human genome. Differences in multifractality among chromosomes and in regions of chromosomes, and two group averages of chromosome regions were observed. All these differences were mainly dependent on differences in the contents of repetitive DNA. Based on these properties, we propose a nonlinear model for the structure of the C. elegans genome, with some biological implications. These results suggest that examining differences in multifractality is a viable approach for measuring local variations of genomic information contents along chromosomes. This approach could be extended to other genomes in order to characterize structural and functional regions of chromosomes.

Simple and fast lateral flow test for classification of leprosy patients and identification of contacts with high risk of developing leprosy

The interruption of leprosy transmission is one of the main challenges for leprosy control programs since no consistent evidence exists that transmission has been reduced after the introduction of multidrug therapy. Sources of infection are primarily people with high loads of bacteria with or without clinical signs of leprosy. The availability of a simple test system for the detection of antibodies to phenolic glycolipid-I (PGL-I) of Mycobacterium leprae to identify these individuals may be important in the prevention of transmission. We have developed a lateral flow assay, the ML Flow test, for the detection of antibodies to PGL-I which takes only 10 min to perform. An agreement of 91% was observed between enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and our test; the agreement beyond chance (kappa value) was 0.77. We evaluated the use of whole blood by comparing 539 blood and serum samples from an area of high endemicity. The observed agreement was 85.9% (kappa = 0.70). Storage of the lateral flow test and the running buffer at 28 degrees C for up to 1 year did not influence the results of the assay. The sensitivity of the ML Flow test in correctly classifying MB patients was 97.4%. The specificity of the ML Flow test, based on the results of the control group, was 90.2%. The ML Flow test is a fast and easy-to-perform method for the detection of immunoglobulin M antibodies to PGL-I of M. leprae. It does not require any special equipment, and the highly stable reagents make the test robust and suitable for use in tropical countries.