Gerontology最新文献

Introduction: We analyzed the effect of dexmedetomidine (DEX) as a local anesthetic adjuvant on postoperative delirium (POD) in elderly patients undergoing elective hip surgery.

Methods: In this study, 120 patients undergoing hip surgery were enrolled and randomly assigned to two groups: fascia iliaca compartment block with DEX + ropivacaine (the Y group, n = 60) and fascia iliaca compartment block with ropivacaine (the R group, n = 60). The primary outcomes: presence of delirium during the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) period and on the first day (D1), the second day (D2), and the third day (D3) after surgery. The secondary outcomes: preoperative and postoperative C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), occurrence of insomnia on the preoperative day, day of operation, D1 and D2; HR values of patients in both groups before iliac fascia block (T1), 30 min after iliac fascia block (T2), at surgical incision (T3), 20 min after incision (T4), when they were transferred out of the operating room (T5) and after leaving the recovery room (T6) at each time point; VAS for T1, PACU, D1, D2; the number of patients requiring remedial analgesics within 24 h after blockade and related complications between the two groups.

Results: A total of 97 patients were included in the final analysis, with 11 and 12 patients withdrawing from the R and Y groups, respectively. The overall incidence of POD and its incidence in the PACU and ward were all lesser in the Y group than in the R group (p < 0.05). Additionally, fewer cases required remedial analgesia during the PACU period, and more vasoactive drugs were used for maintaining circulatory system stability in the Y group as compared to the R group (p < 0.05). At the same time, the incidence of intraoperative and postoperative bradycardia in the Y group was higher than that in the R group, accompanied by lower postoperative CRP and ESR (all p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided high fascia iliaca compartment block with a combination of ropivacaine and DEX can reduce the incidence of POD, the use of intraoperative opioids and postoperative remedial analgesics, and postoperative inflammation in elderly patients who have undergone hip surgery, indicating that this method could be beneficial in the prevention and treatment of POD.

Introduction: Multiple morbidities, including neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, which result in diminished decision-making capacity (DMC), make care and care planning complicated for residential aged care facility (RACF) residents. While advance care planning has been highlighted as essential for ensuring that this population receives care that is coherent with their wishes, there are few models specifically designed for this population. This study aimed to explore the current practices for care planning and decision-making for Swiss RACF residents who no longer have medical DMC.

Methods: Semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 23 nurses in three RACFs and with 13 physicians working in 9 RACFs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 health care proxies of 16 residents without DMC. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify the most salient themes across the dataset.

Results: Analyses identified many collaborative processes between nurses, physicians, and health care proxies including family meetings, reconstructing residents' presumed will, making anticipatory decisions, and documenting these decisions. These processes were, however, highly variable and differed between institutions and between residents within each facility, with a lack of standardization. This variability was highlighted to be problematic for information transmission within facilities and in case of hospital or facility transfer.

Conclusions: These results highlight the importance of standardized yet flexible processes of care planning for people who no longer have DMC and provide insights for the development of such models specifically designed to address this problem.

Introduction: Driving and walking, the two main modes of mobility, require numerous common skills in the motor, sensory, and cognitive domains that deteriorate with age. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between walking and driving in healthy older drivers and to determine whether certain cognitive processes are involved in both modes of mobility.

Method: Seventy-six older drivers from the Safe Move cohort were assessed in the following three domains: (1) cognition, using parts A and B of the Trail Making Test (TMT), the digit symbol substitution test (DSST), the Stroop test, and the Digit span; (2) gait, using a dual-task (DT) paradigm with a counting task; and (3) driving, assessed via a 40-50 min on-road test. Analyses were also performed on 2 subgroups: young-old (70-74 years old; n = 43) and old-old (≥75 years; n = 33).

Results: Four significant correlations were found across the whole sample between gait performance under DT conditions and driving scores. One correlation was also found in old-old adults. None were found in young-old adults. Furthermore, several cognitive measures were significantly correlated to both modes of mobility: TMT-A and B completion time in the whole sample, and DSST performance in the whole sample and old-old adults.

Discussion/conclusion: Walking in complex conditions and on-road driving performance are closely related in healthy older drivers. Visuospatial attention, processing speed, and executive function are crucial and common cognitive processes to both modes of mobility in this population. Impairment in these cognitive functions should thus alert health professionals as it can quickly lead to mobility disorders, loss of autonomy and social isolation. Developing specific preventive programs and mobility support systems for healthy older adults is also crucial.

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent clinical chronic degenerative condition characterized by the degeneration of articular cartilage. Currently, drug treatments for OA come with varying degrees of side effects, making the development of new therapeutic approaches for OA imperative. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known to mitigate the progression of OA primarily through paracrine effects. The conditioned medium (CM) derived from MSCs encapsulates a variety of paracrine factors secreted by these cells.

Methods: In this study, we investigated the effect of the CM of infrapatellar fat pad-derived MSCs (IPFSCs) on OA in vitro and in vivo, as well as and the potential underlying mechanisms. We established three experimental groups: the normal group, the OA group, and the CM intervention group. In vitro experiments, we used methods such as qPCR, Western blot, immunofluorescence, and flow cytometry to detect the impact of CM on OA chondrocytes. In vivo experiments, we evaluated the changes in the knee joints of OA rats after intra-articular injection of CM treatment.

Results: The results showed that injection of CM into the knee joint inhibited OA development in a rat model induced by destabilization of the medial meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament transection. The CM increased the deposition of extracellular matrix-related components (type II collagen and Proteoglycan). The activation of PI3K/AKT/NF-κB signaling pathway was induced by IL-1β in chondrocytes, which was finally inhibited by CM-IPFSCs treatment.

Conclusion: In summary, IPFSCs-CM may have therapeutic potential for OA.

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the association of respiratory muscle strength with sarcopenia and its indicators in the oldest old.

Methods: Maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), maximum expiratory pressure (MEP), and sarcopenia-related factors (handgrip strength and appendicular lean mass) were evaluated in a cohort of n = 286 (45.5% female) non-frail, community-dwelling persons aged 83.6 ± 3.0 years (age range 80-97 years).

Results: The sample presented a sarcopenia prevalence of 32.2%. Sarcopenic subjects showed comparable MIP and MEP as non-sarcopenic ones (female: MIP 43.9 ± 18.9 vs. 50.3 ± 19.5, p = 0.053; MEP 63.0 ± 23.0 vs. 69.2 ± 19.1, p = 0.067; male: MIP, 65.1 ± 24.4 vs. 64.4 ± 23.9, p = 0.433; MEP 87.7 ± 33.3 vs. 93.8 ± 30.9, p = 0.124). Statistically significant but very low associations were found between grip strength and MIP (r = 0.193 for male, p < 0.05 and r = 0.257 for female participants, p < 0.01) and MEP (r = 0.200 for male, p < 0.01 and r = 0.191 for female participants, p < 0.05). Lean mass was significantly correlated to MIP and MEP in female (r = 0.253, p < 0.01 and r = 0.343, p < 0.01, respectively), whereas this association was not found in male participants. Grip strength was the only statistically significant predictor of MEP (r2 = 0.212, p < 0.001), while MIP was independently predicted by age, male sex, and grip strength (r2 = 0.177, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Peripheral muscle strength is a statistically significant, albeit weak predictor for respiratory muscle strength in well-functioning, community-dwelling persons aged 80+. When confronted to a low grip strength, one should be aware of concomitant respiratory muscle weakness, as this is a known risk factor for atelectasis and pneumonia. Given the relatively low association with handgrip strength, respiratory muscle strength testing might be indicated.

Introduction: Long noncoding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) has been shown to be involved in Parkinson's disease (PD) progression, but its mechanism needs to be further explored.

Methods: Mice were injected with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) to induce PD mice models, and BV2 cells were treated with lipopolysaccharides (LPS) to mimic PD cell models. MALAT1 expression and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) protein level were examined using quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively. Cell functions were tested by cell counting kit 8 assay and flow cytometry. The interaction between MALAT1 and SOCS3 was confirmed using RNA pull-down and RIP assays.

Results: MALAT1 was upregulated in MPTP-induced PD mice and LPS-induced BV2 cells. Silencing of MALAT1 increased viability, while inhibiting apoptosis and inflammation in LPS-induced BV2 cells. Besides, MALAT1 enhanced the SOCS3 promoter methylation to decrease its expression by recruiting DNMT1, DNMT3A, and DNMT3B. Furthermore, SOCS3 knockdown eliminated sh-MALAT1-mediated the inhibition effect on LPS-induced BV2 cell injury. In vivo, MALAT1 silencing ameliorated neurological impairment and neuroinflammation in MPTP-induced PD mice.

Conclusion: Our data revealed that MALAT1 worsened PD processes via inhibiting SOCS3 expression by increasing its promoter methylation.

Background: The related functions of skeletal muscle and brain decrease significantly with age, and muscle-brain-related diseases are primarily associated with each other. Exercise can promote the secretion of myokines in skeletal muscle, showing a beneficial effect on the function of both, reflecting muscle-brain crosstalk. However, the key mechanism of action of exercise-regulated myokines in muscle-brain diseases remains unclear.

Summary: This review is intended to sort out and explore the key mechanism of the effect of exercise regulatory myokines on muscle-brain diseases through summarizing the relevant literature on the level of motor regulatory myokines in recent years and pay special attention to the impact of exercise type, intensity, and duration on myokine expression levels.

Key messages: The mechanism by which exercise regulates myokine levels in muscle-brain diseases is explained, and an effective exercise prescription for myokine expression that is more suitable for the elderly based on relevant literature is proposed. This work may hold certain value for subsequent exercise treatment of chronic diseases in the elderly and for further research on muscle-brain crosstalk.

Introduction: We aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of frailty (defined by the Study of Osteoporotic Fracture [SOF] index and the Clinical Frailty Scale [CFS]) in hospitalized patients with acute decompensated heart failure (HF).

Methods: A total of 1,053 patients over 75 years of age, who were primarily admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of acute decompensated HF, were enrolled. The prognostic value of frailty by the two tools for predicting all-cause mortality was analyzed using multivariate Cox regression models.

Results: The incidence of frailty was 57.1% when using the SOF index, 37.6% when using the CFS, and 23.3% when using both tools. Frailty, via the SOF index or CFS, was an independent predictor of all-cause mortality in model 1, after adjustment for significantly associated factors by univariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR] 1.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04-1.84, p = 0.027; HR 1.53, 95% CI 1.15-2.05, p = 0.003, respectively), and in model 2, after adjustment for previously reported prognostic factors (HR 1.42, 95% CI 1.07-1.89, p = 0.015; HR 1.56, 95% CI 1.17-2.07, p = 0.002, respectively). Compared to non-frail patients, frail patients via both tools had a significantly higher incidence of all-cause mortality in models 1 (adjusted HR 2.16, 95% CI 1.42-3.29, p < 0.001) and 2 (adjusted HR 2.30, 95% CI 1.51-3.50, p < 0.001).

Conclusions: Combined frailty screening using the SOF index and CFS contributed to stratify the risk of mortality in patients with acute decompensated HF.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the plant-based dietary index and vision impairment (VI), hearing impairment (HI), and dual sensory impairment (DSI) among Chinese aged 65 and older.

Methods: Based on the 2018 data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a cross-sectional study was conducted on 14,859 samples. The assessment of dietary quality utilized the plant-based diet index (PDI), healthy plant-based diet index (hPDI), and unhealthy plant-based diet index (uPDI). Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations between PDIs and sensory impairments. Additionally, restricted cubic spline analysis was utilized to investigate the nonlinear association between PDIs and sensory impairments.

Results: Participants in the highest quintile of PDI exhibited reduced prevalence of VI (OR 0.78, 95% CI: 0.67-0.90, ptrend <0.001), HI (OR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.70-0.99, ptrend <0.001), and DSI (OR 0.62, 95% CI: 0.51-0.77, ptrend <0.001) relative to those in the lowest quintile. Moreover, individuals who ranked in the highest quintile for hPDI exhibited a 25% reduced risk of VI disease. Conversely, those in the highest quintile of uPDI were associated with increased prevalence of VI (OR 1.37, 95% CI: 1.17-1.61, ptrend <0.001), HI (OR 1.36, 95% CI: 1.12-1.65, ptrend <0.001), and DSI (OR 1.56, 95% CI: 1.25-1.95, ptrend <0.001). The relationship between PDIs increasing by every 10 units and sensory impairments showed similar patterns. Notably, hPDI demonstrated a nonlinear relationship with HI (pfor nonlinearity = 0.001), while the others exhibited linear associations.

Conclusion: The increase in PDI and hPDI correlates with a reduced prevalence of one or more sensory impairments. Conversely, an increase in uPDI is associated with an elevated prevalence of multiple sensory impairments. Our study findings emphasize the significance of plant-based food quality, advocating for adherence to a plant-based dietary pattern while reducing the intake of less healthy plant foods and animal-based products.