Supporting early-career dementia researchers: Identifying support needs and ways forward via a European study.

INTRODUCTION: Early-career researchers contribute significantly to dementia research and clinical practice. However, a growing group of early-career dementia researchers (ECDRs) lack appropriate support throughout their careers. Thus, we aim to (i) explore support needs, (ii) determine recommendations, and (iii) set the agenda for organizations to better support ECDRs. METHODS: An iterative, explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was applied. First ECDRs' needs were identified using an online survey informed by the Vitae Researcher Development Framework. Next, priority areas were selected and explored qualitatively with ECDRs in two workshops, utilizing the World Café methodology. RESULTS: Sixty-five ECDRs throughout Europe completed the survey, with the majority reporting that greater support is needed in terms of funding and career opportunities, social support and well-being, and "wide-reaching" dissemination. DISCUSSION: Based on the findings, six recommendations for support organizations, funding bodies, and universities to better support ECDRs are formulated, each intended for specific target audiences. HIGHLIGHTS: This article reports on focal points of career-related support needed in doctoral education and postdoctoral employment to foster a healthier academic environment, including finance, work-life balance, dissemination of research findings, and supervision, both in general and in dementia fields specifically. Funding and resources were identified as a significant challenge, and there was a call for more long-term positions and transition funding for postdoctoral researchers. Early-career dementia researchers addressed the need for support in producing outputs for non-academic audiences, including people living with dementia. The importance of disseminating research to diverse audiences has long been recognized; thus, it is critical that early-career dementia researchers be supported in this effort. Recommendations were formulated for researcher support (organizations), funding bodies, and universities. These recommendations include providing support for disseminating research to non-academic audiences, offering training in supervision skills, and promoting peer-to-peer mentoring and social activities for early-career dementia researchers.

Monoclonal free light chain detection and quantification: Performances and limits of available laboratory assays.

The detection and quantification of immunoglobulin free light chains in serum and urine is recommended for the diagnosis and monitoring of monoclonal gammopathies according to the guidelines of the International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG). Several tests are currently available in the clinical laboratory to detect and quantify free light chains but although quality, efficiency, and effectiveness have been improved, the results are still variable and poorly harmonized and standardized. The present review article wants to analyze these aspects, with a keen eye on techniques, such as mass spectrometry, that could replace in the practical clinical laboratory the current methods including Bence-Jones protein assay and free light chain immunoassays.

Effect of industrial processing and storage procedures on oxysterols in milk and milk products.

Oxysterols are products of enzymatic and/or chemical cholesterol oxidation. While some of the former possess broad antiviral activities, the latter mostly originate from the deterioration of the nutritional value of foodstuff after exposure to heat, light, radiation and oxygen, raising questions about their potential health risks. We evaluated the presence of selected oxysterols in bovine colostrum and monitored the evolution of their cholesterol ratio throughout an entire industrial-scale milk production chain and after industrially employed storage procedures of milk powders. We report here for the first time the presence of high levels of the enzymatic oxysterol 27-hydroxycholesterol (27OHC) in concentrations of antiviral interest in bovine colostrum (87.04 ng mL-1) that decreased during the first postpartum days (56.35 ng mL-1). Of note, this oxysterol is also observed in milk and milk products and is not negatively affected by industrial processing or storage. We further highlight an exponential increase of the non-enzymatic oxysterols 7ß-hydroxycholesterol (7ßOHC) and 7-ketocholesterol (7KC) in both whole (WMPs) and skimmed milk powders (SMPs) during prolonged storage, confirming their role as reliable biomarkers of cholesterol oxidation over time: after 12 months, 7ßOHC reached in both SMPs and WMPs amounts that have been found to be potentially toxic in vitro (265.46 ng g-1 and 569.83 ng g-1, respectively). Interestingly, industrial processes appeared to affect the generation of 7ßOHC and 7KC differently, depending on the presence of fat in the product: while their ratios increased significantly after skimming and processing of skimmed milk and milk products, this was not observed after processing whole milk and milk cream.

A narrative synthesis systematic review of digital self-monitoring interventions for middle-aged and older adults.

OBJECTIVE: Self-monitoring is crucial to raise awareness for own behaviors and emotions, and thus facilitate self-management. The composition of self-monitoring within interventions, however, varies and guidelines are currently unavailable. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of technology-based self-monitoring interventions that intend to improve health in middle-aged and older adults (>45 years). METHODS: Five online databases were systematically searched and articles were independently screened. A narrative synthesis of 26 studies with 21 unique interventions was conducted. Primary focus lay on the composition of self-monitoring within interventions, including technology used, health-aspects monitored, and type of feedback provided. Secondly, the usability of/adherence to the self-monitoring treatment, intervention effects, and their sustainability were examined. FINDINGS: Studies concentrated on middle-aged adults (mean of 51 years). Mobile technologies seem necessary to ensure flexible self-monitoring in everyday life. Social health aspects were rarely monitored. Mechanisms and the sustainability of intervention effect are understudied. CONCLUSION: Digital self-monitoring technologies hold promise for future trials as they seem suitable to understand and support health-related self-management. Key elements including automatic and personal feedback following the blended care principle were highlighted and may guide study designs. Prospectively, research is especially needed to study sustained self-monitoring to support disease prevention and lasting lifestyle changes.

Self-regulation and obesity: the role of executive function and delay discounting in the prediction of weight loss.

Obesity rates are rising worldwide. Executive function and delay discounting have been hypothesized to play important roles in the self-regulation of behavior, and may explain variance in weight loss treatment success. First, we compared individuals with obesity (n = 82) to healthy weight controls (n = 71) on behavioral and self-report measures of executive function (working memory, inhibition and shifting) and delay discounting. Secondly, the individuals with obesity took part in a multidisciplinary weight loss program and we examined whether executive function and delay discounting predicted weight change. Individuals with obesity displayed weaker general and food-specific inhibition, and weaker self-reported executive function. Better behavioral working memory and better self-reported inhibition skills in daily life were predictive of greater weight loss. As findings are correlational, future studies should investigate the causal relationship between executive function and weight loss, and test whether intervening on executive function will lead to better prevention and treatment of obesity.

Gamified working memory training in overweight individuals reduces food intake but not body weight.

Working Memory (WM) plays a crucial role in successful self-regulation of behavior, including weight regulation. Improving WM might therefore be a promising strategy to support weight loss. In the present study, overweight individuals with a desire to lose weight (N = 91) received an online lifestyle intervention, in conjunction with either 25 sessions of gamified WM training (experimental condition) or a sham training (control). Primary outcomes were Body Mass Index (BMI) and food intake at posttest. Secondary outcomes were executive functioning, self-control, eating style, eating psychopathology and healthy eating. Data were analyzed with mixed regression analyses with condition as between-subjects factor (experimental versus control) and time as within-subjects factor (baseline, posttest, FU1 after one month and FU2 after six months). Results revealed that the experimental condition increased their WM span more than control from pretest to posttest, and these gains were retained at FU1, though lost at FU2. No transfer effects of WM training to other executive functioning measures were found. During the bogus taste test at posttest, participants in the experimental condition consumed significantly less than participants in the control condition. However, both conditions showed a small reduction in BMI, improved eating style, reduced eating disorder pathology, and reported more self-control and a healthier eating pattern. In conclusion, the current results provide some evidence that WM training can improve eating behavior at the short term. However, the WM gains were short-lived, and the added value of WM training as an intervention to promote weight loss could not be established. Future studies should test the added value of WM training booster sessions to promote weight loss over a prolonged period of time.

Novel roles for well-known players: from tobacco mosaic virus pests to enzymatically active assemblies.

The rod-shaped nanoparticles of the widespread plant pathogen tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) have been a matter of intense debates and cutting-edge research for more than a hundred years. During the late 19th century, their behavior in filtration tests applied to the agent causing the 'plant mosaic disease' eventually led to the discrimination of viruses from bacteria. Thereafter, they promoted the development of biophysical cornerstone techniques such as electron microscopy and ultracentrifugation. Since the 1950s, the robust, helically arranged nucleoprotein complexes consisting of a single RNA and more than 2100 identical coat protein subunits have enabled molecular studies which have pioneered the understanding of viral replication and self-assembly, and elucidated major aspects of virus-host interplay, which can lead to agronomically relevant diseases. However, during the last decades, TMV has acquired a new reputation as a well-defined high-yield nanotemplate with multivalent protein surfaces, allowing for an ordered high-density presentation of multiple active molecules or synthetic compounds. Amino acid side chains exposed on the viral coat may be tailored genetically or biochemically to meet the demands for selective conjugation reactions, or to directly engineer novel functionality on TMV-derived nanosticks. The natural TMV size (length: 300 nm) in combination with functional ligands such as peptides, enzymes, dyes, drugs or inorganic materials is advantageous for applications ranging from biomedical imaging and therapy approaches over surface enlargement of battery electrodes to the immobilization of enzymes. TMV building blocks are also amenable to external control of in vitro assembly and re-organization into technically expedient new shapes or arrays, which bears a unique potential for the development of 'smart' functional 3D structures. Among those, materials designed for enzyme-based biodetection layouts, which are routinely applied, e.g., for monitoring blood sugar concentrations, might profit particularly from the presence of TMV rods: Their surfaces were recently shown to stabilize enzymatic activities upon repeated consecutive uses and over several weeks. This review gives the reader a ride through strikingly diverse achievements obtained with TMV-based particles, compares them to the progress with related viruses, and focuses on latest results revealing special advantages for enzyme-based biosensing formats, which might be of high interest for diagnostics employing 'systems-on-a-chip'.

Taking control: Working memory training in overweight individuals increases self-regulation of food intake.

Working memory (WM) plays a critical role in cognitive control by shielding self-regulatory goals from distraction by desire-related thoughts and emotions. This study examined whether training WM increases self-regulation in overweight participants. It was hypothesized that WM training would decrease psychopathological eating-related thoughts, (over)consumption of food in response to emotions and external cues, food intake and body weight. Overweight participants (n = 50) performed 20-25 sessions of WM training or control/sham training. The dependent measures were self-reported eating-related psychopathology, self-reported emotional/external eating behavior, food intake during a bogus taste test, and body weight, assessed before training, immediately following training, and at one-month follow-up. Relative to control, WM training reduced psychopathological eating-related thoughts and emotional eating (but not external eating). These effects were still present at follow-up, one month later. Food intake and body weight did not show an overall effect of training, though WM training did reduce food intake among highly restrained participants. WM training effectively reduced eating-related thoughts, overeating in response to negative emotions, and food intake among participants with strong dietary restraint goals. Hence, these findings indicate that WM training may strengthen self-regulation by shielding dieting goals from distraction by unwanted eating-related thoughts and emotions.

Focus on the future: Episodic future thinking reduces discount rate and snacking.

Obesity seems related to a preference for immediate gratification. By changing this focus on short term benefits to a more future-oriented outlook, delay discounting (impulsive decision making) can be changed by a manipulation of episodic future thinking (EFT). EFT comprises a vivid mental simulation of general future experiences. EFT may also affect consumption of unhealthy foods, which can be seen as a choice for immediate gratification. Recent research shows that future orientation should be tailored to the behavior at outcome. We therefore hypothesize that the effectiveness of EFT on food intake could be enhanced by making the content food-related. We conducted a 2 (future vs past thinking) by 2 (food vs non-food related thoughts) between-subject design experiment in female undergraduates (N = 94), to compare the efficacy of EFT versus the recalling of episodic past events in reducing discount rate and caloric intake. Content of imagery was either unrestricted or food-related. Participants engaged in EFT or control episodic imagery while snacks were offered to freely consume, and next the Monetary Choice Questionnaire was completed as a measure of delay discounting, while again being engaged in EFT or control imagery. Both types of EFT reduced delay discounting, however, only food-related EFT lead to more restricted caloric consumption. Thus, we found evidence that EFT reduced discount rate during decision making. However, in order to restrict caloric intake, EFT should entail food-related imagery. As discount rate and caloric intake were not related in the current sample, the underlying mechanism remains to be discovered. Results however suggest that EFT is a promising technique to resist immediate gratification.

Impulsivity and overeating in children in the absence and presence of hunger.

Overweight children appear to be more responsive to environmental, hedonic cues and easily overeat in the current obesogenic environment. They are also found to overeat in the absence of hunger, and this overeating seems related to impulsivity: impulsive participants are more prone to external eating. However, some studies showed that impulsive adults are also more prone to hunger cues: impulsive participants overate especially when feeling hungry. This would mean impulsive people are more reactive to both external and internal cues. The overeating was limited to palatable high energy-dense foods: hunger made them fancy a snack. In the current study, we wanted to test the interaction between impulsivity, hunger and consumption of food type in children. Impulsivity was measured in 88 children between the ages of 7 and 9. Next, half of the participants performed a taste test before their own regular lunch and half of the participants immediately after their lunch. During the taste test, low, medium and high energy-dense food items were presented. Results showed that impulsive children ate more high energy-dense foods than low impulsive children, both before and after their lunch. No differences were found on low or medium energy-dense foods. Impulsive children therefore showed normal sensitivity for internal hunger and satiety cues, but abnormal response to high energy-dense foods. This might render them vulnerable to tasty temptation in the environment and to weight gain in their future.

Time orientation and eating behavior: Unhealthy eaters consider immediate consequences, while healthy eaters focus on future health.

Time orientation could play an important role in eating behavior. The current study investigated whether eating behavior is associated with the Consideration of Future Consequences scale (CFC). Specifically, it was examined whether unhealthy eaters consider the future less and are more concerned with immediate gratification. A related measure of time orientation is delay discounting, a process by which a reinforcer becomes less valuable when considered later in time. Recent research argues that the relation between time orientation and health behaviors is measured best at a behavior-specific level. In the current study, we explored the relationships between CFC and discount rate - both general and food-specific - and their influence on healthy eating. Participants with ages 18 to 60 (N = 152; final sample N = 146) filled in an online questionnaire consisting of the CFC, a food-specific version of the CFC (CFC-food), the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (MCQ) and an adapted MCQ version with snack food as a reinforcer. Self-reported healthy eating was positively related to the future subscale (r = .48, p < .001) and negatively to the immediate subscale of the CFC-food (r = -.43, p < .001). The general CFC and discount rate (MCQ and MCQ-snack) were not related to healthy eating (all p > .05). In order to predict behavior, measurements of time orientation should thus be tailored to the behavior of interest. Based on current results, shifting one's concern from the immediate consequences of eating to a more future-oriented perspective may present an interesting target for future interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating and reducing overweight.

TMV nanorods with programmed longitudinal domains of differently addressable coat proteins.

The spacing of functional nanoscopic elements may play a fundamental role in nanotechnological and biomedical applications, but is so far rarely achieved on this scale. In this study we show that tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and the RNA-guided self-assembly process of its coat protein (CP) can be used to establish new nanorod scaffolds that can be loaded not only with homogeneously distributed functionalities, but with distinct molecule species grouped and ordered along the longitudinal axis. The arrangement of the resulting domains and final carrier rod length both were governed by RNA-templated two-step in vitro assembly. Two selectively addressable TMV CP mutants carrying either thiol (TMVCys) or amino (TMVLys) groups on the exposed surface were engineered and shown to retain reactivity towards maleimides or NHS esters, respectively, after acetic acid-based purification and re-assembly to novel carrier rod types. Stepwise combination of CP(Cys) and CP(Lys) with RNA allowed fabrication of TMV-like nanorods with a controlled total length of 300 or 330 nm, respectively, consisting of adjacent longitudinal 100-to-200 nm domains of differently addressable CP species. This technology paves the way towards rod-shaped scaffolds with pre-defined, selectively reactive barcode patterns on the nanometer scale.

Doenças articulares no idoso / Osteoarticular disease in the elderly

O envelhecimento populacional é responsável pelo aumento da prevalência de doenças osteoarticulares associadas à dor, deformidades articulares e incapacidade funcional. As principais doenças osteoarticulares no idoso são a osteoartrite, artrite reumatoide e gota e essas podem causar dor e, consequentemente, impacto negativo na vida dos idosos. Portanto, o reconhecimento precoce e o tratamento adequado dessas enfermidades são essenciais para a prevenção de deformidades e manutenção da funcionalidade e qualidade de vida destes indivíduos.

Dor no idoso / The pain in the elderly

A base para se diagnosticar e tratar a dor no idoso foi revisada e examinada a partir de estudos de revisão da literatura e estudos clínicos. Serão discutidos a abordagem da dor coexistindo com o envelhecimento, as vantagens e limitações dos métodos diagnósticos e o seu tratamento.A dor na população idosa tem impacto sobre a função física, o funcionamento psicossocial e sobre outros aspectos relacionados à qualidade de vida. Assim, este problema deve ser reconhecido como sendo extremamente relevante, o que justifica a importância de se estudar as formas de avaliação e mensuração da dor nesta população especificamente. O tratamento da dor nos indivíduos idosos pode e deve ser realizado, observando que o plano terapêutico será adaptado às suas necessidades específicas. Isso exige especialização no tratamento médico combinada com um conhecimento profundo das características médicas e psicológicas dos idosos.

Two-year follow-up study of elderly residents in S. Paulo, Brazil: methodology and preliminary results

Estudos transversais recentes mostraram alta prevalência de doenças crônicas e incapacidades físicas entre idosos. Considerando o rápido processo de envelhecimento do Brasil e as conseqüências que esse aumento de idosos com doenças crônicas e incapacidades associadas acarretará para o sistema de saúde, fazia-se necessário estudo que pudesse superar as limitaçöes dos dados transversais, permitindo determinar quais os fatores determinantes de uma vida longa e livre de doenças incapacitantes, o chamado envelhecimento bem sucedido. É apresentada a metodologia do primeiro estudo epidemiológico longitudinal com idosos residentes na comunidade, no Brasil. O perfil do cohorte inicial é comparado com dados de estudos anteriores a com o perfil dos näo respondentes para avaliar a validade de análises longitudinais futuras. O projeto EPIDOSO (Epidemiologia do Idoso) seguiu por dois anos 1.667 idosos (65+), residentes em Säo Paulo. Consistiu de duas ondas, cada qual com três inquéritos: domiciliar, clínico e laboratorial. O perfil da populaçäo näo diferiu de estudos anteriores, mostrando maioria de mulheres, viúvas, vivendo em domicílios multigeracionais, com uma alta prevalência de doenças crônicas, distúrbios psiquiátricos e incapacidades físicas. A despeito de todas as dificuldades inerentes a um estudo longitudinal, o grupo de näo-respondentes ao segundo inquérito domiciliar näo diferiu significativamente dos respondentes, assegurando análises longitudinais livres desse tipo de viés. Em relaçäo aos inquéritos clínico e laboratorial, os näo-respondentes mostraram-se mais velhos e mais incapacitados que os respondentes, limitando o uso dos dados clínicos e laboratoriais a análises pertinentes a uma cohorte mais jovem e saudável. Sexo, educaçäo, apoio familiar e nível socioeconômico näo influenciaram de forma significativa a taxa de näo-resposta, ao contrário do que se costuma verificar

3q aberration and monosomy 7 in ANLL presenting with high platelet count and diabetes insipidus.

Diabetes insipidus and thrombocytosis were presenting symptoms in a case of adult ANLL-M1. Cytogenetic investigations revealed a typical 3q rearrangement, i.e. inv(3)(q21q26). A subclone with monosomy 7 was also found and documented by FISH analysis. Correlations between clinical/hematological features and cytogenetic/FISH results are discussed.