Mobility Device Use and Frailty Progression in Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Mobility Limitations.

Objective: Examine the association between mobility device use and changes in a frailty index (FI) over one year in community-dwelling older adults with mobility limitations. Methods: Analyses utilized 2015-2016 data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study community-dwelling older adults (n = 3934). We calculated a validated 40-item deficit accumulation frailty index (FI) in 2015 and 2016 and compared one year change in FI in older adults with/without canes or walkers using multivariable logistic regression. Analyses were repeated with stratification by baseline frailty. Results: Device use was not associated with worsening frailty in the overall cohort, but was associated with worsening frailty in non-frail individuals when stratified by baseline frailty. Discussion: Device use does not worsen frailty in individuals who are frail at baseline. Device users who were not frail at baseline experienced worsening frailty suggesting additional contributing factors to their frailty aside from mobility limitations.

Nociceptive afferent phenotyping reveals that transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 promotes cold pain through neurogenic inflammation upstream of the neurotrophic factor receptor GFRα3 and the menthol receptor transient receptor potential melastatin 8.

ABSTRACT: The proper detection and behavioral response to painfully cold temperatures is critical for avoiding potentially harmful tissue damage. Cold allodynia and hyperalgesia, pain associated with innocuous cooling and exaggerated pain with noxious cold, respectively, are common in patients with chronic pain. In peripheral somatosensory afferents, the ion channels transient receptor potential melastatin 8 (TRPM8) and transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (TRPA1) are candidate receptors for innocuous and noxious cold temperatures, respectively. However, the role of TRPA1 as a cold sensor has remained controversial, and recent evidence suggests that TRPM8 channels and afferents mediate the detection of both pleasant and painful cold. To determine the role of TRPA1 afferents in cold-induced mouse behaviors in vivo, we used functional phenotyping by targeted nerve conduction block with the cell-impermeant lidocaine derivative QX-314. Surprisingly, we find that injection of QX-314 with TRPA1 agonists reduces cold-induced behaviors in mice, but does so in a TRPM8-dependent manner. Moreover, this effect is sexually dimorphic and requires the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor receptor GFRα3, as does cold hypersensitivity produced by the activation of TRPA1 channels. Taken together, these results suggest that under conditions of neurogenic inflammation, TRPA1 works upstream of GFRα3 and TRPM8 to produce cold hypersensitivity, providing novel insights into the role of TRPA1 channels in cold pain.

Reducing fertilization for cut roses: effect on crop productivity and twospotted spider mite abundance, distribution, and management.

Fertilization reduction could be a useful pest management tactic for floriculture crops if it reduced pest populations with little loss in crop yield and quality. We evaluated the response of the twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), to different fertilization levels for cut roses, Rosa hybrida L. 'Tropicana' and quantified fertilization effects on (1) management of T. urticae on roses, (2) abundance and distribution of T. urticae on roses, and (3) yield and quality of the cut rose crop. We tested two fertilization levels, 10% (15 ppm N) and 100% (150 ppm N) of the recommended level for commercial production, and three control methods: no control measure; a predatory mite, Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot; and a miticide, bifenazate. Combinations of both bottom up (fertilization) and top down (biological or chemical control) tactics provided a greater degree of T. urticae control than either tactic alone. Rose productivity was reduced with fertilization at 10% of the recommended level; therefore, we conducted studies with T. urticae on roses fertilized with 33% (50 ppm N), 50% (75 ppm N), and 100% (150 ppm N) of the recommended level. Mean numbers of T. urticae and T. urticae eggs per flower shoot were twice as high on roses fertilized with 100 versus 33% or 50% of the recommended level. Number of rose leaves and total leaf area infested by T. urticae were similar at all fertilization levels. Cut rose yield and marketability were not compromised on plants fertilized with 50% of the recommended level.