Effect of age and gender on energy expenditure in common activities of daily living in a Chinese population.

PURPOSE: It is important to quantify the amount of energy expended in various common household tasks to provide objective information regarding physical activity recommendations in health promotion, weight management, or rehabilitation programs for older people with chronic diseases. These activities may be age/gender sensitive and culturally specific, and not included in current Compendium of Metabolic Equivalent (MET) values. This study measures the energy expenditure of commonly performed activities of daily living tasks in a Chinese population, examining age and gender differences. METHOD: Thirty younger adults (15 M, 15 F) and 78 older adults (26 M, 52 F) were recruited and energy expenditure was measured at rest and during activities using indirect calorimetry. RESULTS: Energy expenditure (O2 consumption/min/Kg) was lower in subjects aged >or=60 years compared with those <60 years but they also spend more time completing the task. No gender differences were observed. CONCLUSION: New MET values are derived for these two populations. These values would be useful in planning rehabilitation programmes for Chinese subjects with chronic diseases.

The cholinergic REM sleep induction test with pilocarpine in mildly depressed patients and normal controls.

Previous studies suggested that depressed patients enter rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep more quickly than normal controls following the administration of muscarinic agonists such as arecoline or RS 86. We recently reported that pilocarpine, an orally active muscarinic agonist, induced REM sleep and reduced Stage 3 & 4 (Delta) sleep in young normal volunteers. In this study we present preliminary evidence that pilocarpine had similar effects on REM latency, REM percentage, and Delta (Stages 3 & 4) sleep percentage in depressed patients and controls. Pilocarpine, however, decreased stage-4 sleep in controls more than in depressed patients. Because this group of patients were only mildly depressed at the time of the study, had a high frequency of comorbid substance abuse diagnoses, and had normal electroencephalogram (EEG) sleep patterns under placebo conditions, further studies are necessary to test the hypothesis that depressed patients show hypersensitive cholinergic REM sleep induction.

No antidepressant effect of biperiden compared with placebo in depression: a double-blind 6-week clinical trial.

Depression may result from an increased ratio of cholinergic to aminergic central neurotransmission. The effect of centrally active anticholinergic agents on depressive ratings in depressed patients, however, has not been well studied. In a previous open label 4-week clinical trial, Kasper et al. (1981) reported that biperiden (Akineton) had antidepressant effects in depressed patients. We compared the effects of placebo and biperiden in a randomized, double-blind, parallel-design 6-week study. All patients received placebo for the first week and then received either biperiden (< or = 12 mg/day) or a peripherally acting anticholinergic agent, glycopyrrolate (Robinul, 1 mg/day) for 4 weeks. All patients received placebo during week 6. Both groups significantly improved, but biperiden did not demonstrate any significant benefit compared with glycopyrrolate. In a subgroup of patients receiving biperiden, the percentage of rapid eye movement sleep was significantly decreased only in the first week of biperiden compared with the initial placebo week, suggesting that tolerance to the central effects of biperiden developed. Further studies would be needed to determine whether anticholinergic agents possess antidepressant properties.