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Introduction: Obesity aligned with quadriceps muscle weakness contributes to the high incidence of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), which is prevalent in women. Although molecular signatures of KOA have been suggested, the association between biopsychosocial responses and the plasma metabolomic profile in overweight/ obese women with KOA remains in its early stages of investigation. This study aims to associate the plasma metabolome with biopsychosocial parameters of overweight/obese women diagnosed with KOA. Methods: Twenty-eight overweight/obese women (Control-n = 14; KOA-n = 14) underwent two visits to the laboratory. Functional tests and questionnaires assessing biopsychosocial parameters were administered during the first visit. After 48 h, the participants returned to the laboratory for blood collection. Specific to the KOA condition, the Numerical Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK), and Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) were applied. Results: Thirteen molecules were different between groups, and four correlated with KOA's biopsychosocial parameters. DG 22:4-2OH and gamma-Glutamylvaline were inversely associated with KOSS leisure and TSK score, respectively. LysoPE 18:0 and LysoPE 20:5 were positively associated with KOSS symptoms and TSK score, respectively. Discussion: While the correlations of LysoPE 18:0 and gamma-Glutamylvaline are supported by existing literature, this is not the case for DG 22:4-2OH and LysoPE 20:5. Further studies are recommended to better elucidate these correlations before dismissing their potential involvement in the biopsychosocial factors of the disease.
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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Tibial diaphysis fractures are common injuries resulting from high-to-low-energy traumas in patients of all age groups, but few reports currently provide complementary parameters for the assessment of bone healing processes in the postoperative period. Serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and the scores from the Radiographic Union Scale for Tibial Fractures (RUST) can promote new horizons in this context. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the behavior of ALP and RUST through within-subject comparisons from immediately post-surgery to 49 days after tibial diaphysis fracture repair. METHODS: This article included four case studies where patients underwent the same procedures. Adults of both sexes aged 18 to 60 years with tibial fractures requiring surgery were included. After surgical intervention (T1), the patients were followed for 49 days after surgery, returning for follow-up appointments on the 21st (T2) and 49th (T3) days. At the follow-up appointments, new X-ray images were obtained, and blood samples were collected for ALP measurement. RESULTS: Serum ALP levels increased by T2 following tibial reamed intramedullary nailing surgery. While this increase persisted into T3 for two patients, a decline was observed during the same period for the other two patients. Both events are indicative of the bone consolidation process, and RUST scores at the T3 corroborate this perspective for all patients included in this study. Considering that delta ALP (T3-T1 value) was lower in patients who exhibited the highest RUST score, we suggest that a synchronized analysis between ALP and RUST allows medics to diagnose bone consolidation. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, it can be concluded that the analysis of ALP alongside RUST may be complementary for evaluating bone consolidation following tibial reamed intramedullary nailing surgery, but future studies are needed to confirm this assertion.
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Although the link between sleep and hematological parameters is well-described, it is unclear how this integration affects the swimmer's performance. The parameters derived from the non-invasive critical velocity protocol have been extensively used to evaluate these athletes, especially the aerobic capacity (critical velocity-CV) and the anaerobic work capacity (AWC). Thus, this study applied the complex network model to verify the influence of sleep and hematological variables on the CV and AWC of young swimmers. Thirty-eight swimmers (male, n = 20; female, n = 18) completed five experimental evaluations. Initially, the athletes attended the laboratory facilities for venous blood collection, anthropometric measurements, and application of sleep questionnaires. Over the 4 subsequent days, athletes performed randomized maximal efforts on distances of 100, 200, 400, and 800-m. The aerobic and anerobic parameters were determined by linear function between distance vs. time, where CV relates to the slope of regression and AWC to y-intercept. Weighted but untargeted networks were generated based on significant (p < 0.05) correlations among variables regardless of the correlation coefficient. Betweenness and eigenvector metrics were used to highlight the more important nodes inside the complex network. Regardless of the centrality metric, basophils and red blood cells appeared as influential nodes in the networks with AWC or CV as targets. The role of other hematologic components was also revealed in these metrics, along with sleep total time. Overall, these results trigger new discussion on the influence of sleep and hematologic profile on the swimmer's performance, and the relationships presented by this targeted complex network can be an important tool throughout the athlete's development.