Magnitude and Composition of Sedentary Behavior in Older Adults Living in a Retirement Community.

High amount of sedentary behavior (SB) has been associated with a multitude of adverse health events in older adults. There are limited data regarding SB in older adults living in retirement communities (RC). This study described the magnitude and composition of SB [non-screen sedentary time (NSST) and screen sedentary time (SST)] in older adults living in a RC and documented variation in this behavior as a function of demographic, health, health behavior and clinical variables. This cross sectional descriptive study enrolled and assessed 100 older males and females living a RC located in the Midwest region of United States. Participants completed a questionnaire for sample characterization and a SB questionnaire. Metric of SB (i.e., TST, NSST and SST) were analyzed overall and separated by the variables of interest. Participants reported on average 10 h/day of sedentary activity (65% on NSST and 35% on SST). Older adults reported to spend most of their awaking hours in activities such as reading, watching TV and computer use. Significant variations on NSST and SST were observed for gender, BMI, perceived health, mobility aid use and number of chronic diseases. These findings may help in the development of tailored strategies and interventions focusing on reducing SB in this particular under-researched subgroup.

Age- and Sex-Dependent Effects of Moderate Exercise on Endogenous Pain Inhibition in Rats.

Diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNICs), or the pain inhibits pain phenomenon, refer to reduced pain-like behaviors that are displayed following a noxious conditioning stimulus located far from the test stimulus and have also been referred to as "descending control of nociception" when measured in awake-behaving animals. In this study, we sought to determine the impact of moderate long-term exercise on the DCN response and determine if this effect differed across age and sex. After a six-week exercise program consisting of 30 min of moderate treadmill running 5 days a week, the animals' forepaws were injected with capsaicin, and DCN responses were assessed using thermal withdrawal latencies of the hind paw. Young, exercised male and female rats displayed prolonged DCN responses relative to their sedentary counterparts, with the young exercised male group displaying longer-lasting DCN facilitation than the young exercised females. Exercise did not impact DCN responses in either male or female aged rats. Additionally, the serum testosterone levels did not change following exercise in any group. Importantly, the levels of corticosterone did not change following the exercise program, indicating that changes in the DCN response are not due to stress-induced analgesia. Our findings suggest that moderate exercise can facilitate the DCN response in young animals, even when this exercise does not change the levels of serum testosterone.

Intraganglionic reactive oxygen species mediate inflammatory pain and hyperalgesia through TRPA1 in the rat.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated in nociceptive pathways in response to inflammation and injury. ROS are accumulated within the sensory ganglia following peripheral inflammation, but the functional role of intraganlionic ROS in inflammatory pain is not clearly understood. The aims of this study were to investigate whether peripheral inflammation leads to prolonged ROS accumulation within the trigeminal ganglia (TG), whether intraganglionic ROS mediate pain hypersensitivity via activation of TRPA1, and whether TRPA1 expression is upregulated in TG during inflammatory conditions by ROS. We demonstrated that peripheral inflammation causes excess ROS production within TG during the period when inflammatory mechanical hyperalgesia is most prominent. Additionally, scavenging intraganglionic ROS attenuated inflammatory mechanical hyperalgesia and a pharmacological blockade of TRPA1 localized within TG also mitigated inflammatory mechanical hyperalgesia. Interestingly, exogenous administration of ROS into TG elicited mechanical hyperalgesia and spontaneous pain-like responses via TRPA1, and intraganglionic ROS induced TRPA1 upregulation in TG. These results collectively suggest that ROS accumulation in TG during peripheral inflammation contributes to pain and hyperalgesia in a TRPA1 dependent manner, and that ROS further exacerbate pathological pain responses by upregulating TRPA1 expression. Therefore, any conditions that exacerbate ROS accumulation within somatic sensory ganglia can aggravate pain responses and treatments reducing ganglionic ROS may help alleviate inflammatory pain.

Stepwise introduction of thiolates in copper-indium binuclear complexes.

We report the synthesis and characterization of copper-indium binuclear I-III complexes composing the series (Ph(3)P)(2)CuIn(SEt)(x)Cl(4-x) (1-5; 0 < or = x < or = 4). Members of the series, which are prepared by variations in the stoichiometry, are compared in terms of their solid-state structures, spectroscopic features, and suitability as precursors for CuInS(2) materials. The regiochemistry of thiolate substitution, the preference for monomeric versus dimeric (eight-membered ring) structures, and new synthetic strategies informed by this series are all discussed.

Divergent syntheses of copper-indium bimetallic single-source precursors via thiolate ligand exchange.

Several copper-indium bimetallic single-source precursors (SSPs 2-9) have been prepared efficiently by exchange reactions of (Ph(3)P)(2)CuIn(SEt)(4) (1) with protic ligands. This divergent approach has been successfully applied on multigram scales to produce nearly quantitative yields of known and newly reported SSPs. The former group features the previously difficult target (Ph(3)P)(2)CuIn(SePh)(4) (2), and the latter includes (Ph(3)P)(2)CuIn(SEt)(2)(SePh)(2) (3), the first SSP to incorporate both sulfur and selenium within a single copper-indium bimetallic complex.