The WHO active ageing pillars and its association with survival: Findings from a population-based study in Spain.

BACKGROUND: 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. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSION: 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.

Epidemiology behavior of leptospirosis in Ciénaga de Oro, Córdoba (Colombia).

The purpose of this study was to determine the epidemiology of leptospirosis in rural areas of Ciénaga de Oro, Córdoba, Colombia, a convenience sampling was carried out on 13 farms. The sample size was 325 reproductive age cows, 11 canine samples, and 20 humans. The samples were subjected to MAT analysis with 11 serogroups of Leptospira interrogans sensu lato. Once the MAT results were received, urine samples were collected from 78 cows, along with 39 water samples, for bacteriological cultures and PCR for the 16S rRNA gene in L. interrogans sensu lato. Positive PCR samples were sequenced to determine the possible genome species. The leptospirosis seroprevalence was 74.5% in the cattle, 70.0% in the dogs, and 45.5% in the humans. Although isolation was not achieved, L. interrogans sensu lato was detected by PCR in three urine samples and in a sample of wastewater. The sequencing confirmed the circulation of pathogenic species. The high prevalence of antibodies for L. interrogans sensu lato and the molecular evidence led to the inference that the rural areas of Ciénaga de Oro are endemic and that cattle can act as renal carriers and contaminate water sources, which increases the risk of contracting leptospirosis.

Multiple dose toxicity study of the humanized anti-epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody h-R3 intravenously administered to Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus monkeys.

The h-R3 is a humanized growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody (mAb) in development for the treatment of head and neck tumours in which malignant cells overexpress the Epidermal Growth Factor receptor. The present study was designed to evaluate the toxicity of repeated intravenous doses of the h-R3 mAb in a relevant species demonstrated by the avidin-biotin-peroxidase immunohistochemical (IHC) technique in skin biopsy samples from three Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus monkeys (green monkeys). Additionally, 18 green monkeys were daily intravenously treated during 14 consecutive days. Monkeys were distributed into three experimental groups with three animals of each sex in each group. Group I received saline solution and served as control group; group II received 2.85 mg/kg of h-R3 mAb; and group III received 11.4 mg/kg of the h-R3 mAb. During the study there were no deaths, neither pathological clinical signs, or variations in the corporal weight curve. The electroneurophysiological and sanguine chemistry results did not evidence alterations related to the assay substance. Areas of haematomas, haemorrhages and inflammation, probably related with the administration procedure, were observed at the administration zones of all animals; this fact could also explain the increase in the neutrophil count of all animals at the end of the study. The electrocardiography study showed that in the 14 days of the study one female monkey, from the higher dose group, shifted its cardiac axis from +60 degrees to + 120 degrees; this finding could be interpreted as a right ventricular elongation due to the relative high daily administered volume. It is concluded that doses up to 11.4 mg/kg of h-R3, intravenously administered during 14 consecutive days to Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus monkeys do not produce considerable toxic effects in the studied system.

Separate processing dynamics for texture elements, boundaries and surfaces in primary visual cortex of the macaque monkey.

A visual scene is rapidly segmented into the regions that are occupied by different objects and background. Segmentation may be initiated from the detection of boundaries, followed by the filling-in of the surfaces between these boundaries to render them visible. Alternatively, segmentation may be based on grouping of surface elements that are similar, so that boundaries are (implicitly) identified as the borders between elements that are grouped into objects. Here, we present recordings from awake monkey primary visual cortex that show that in late (>80 ms) components of the neural responses a correlate of boundary formation is expressed, followed by a filling-in (also called colouring) between the edges. These data favour a model of segmentation where boundary formation initiates surface filling-in.