Resveratrol and vascular health: evidence from clinical studies and mechanisms of actions related to its metabolites produced by gut microbiota.

Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of mortality worldwide, with dietary factors being the main risk contributors. Diets rich in bioactive compounds, such as (poly)phenols, have been shown to potentially exert positive effects on vascular health. Among them, resveratrol has gained particular attention due to its potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action. Nevertheless, the results in humans are conflicting possibly due to interindividual different responses. The gut microbiota, a complex microbial community that inhabits the gastrointestinal tract, has been called out as potentially responsible for modulating the biological activities of phenolic metabolites in humans. The present review aims to summarize the main findings from clinical trials on the effects of resveratrol interventions on endothelial and vascular outcomes and review potential mechanisms interesting the role of gut microbiota on the metabolism of this molecule and its cardioprotective metabolites. The findings from randomized controlled trials show contrasting results on the effects of resveratrol supplementation and vascular biomarkers without dose-dependent effect. In particular, studies in which resveratrol was integrated using food sources, i.e., red wine, reported significant effects although the resveratrol content was, on average, much lower compared to tablet supplementation, while other studies with often extreme resveratrol supplementation resulted in null findings. The results from experimental studies suggest that resveratrol exerts cardioprotective effects through the modulation of various antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-hypertensive pathways, and microbiota composition. Recent studies on resveratrol-derived metabolites, such as piceatannol, have demonstrated its effects on biomarkers of vascular health. Moreover, resveratrol itself has been shown to improve the gut microbiota composition toward an anti-inflammatory profile. Considering the contrasting findings from clinical studies, future research exploring the bidirectional link between resveratrol metabolism and gut microbiota as well as the mediating effect of gut microbiota in resveratrol effect on cardiovascular health is warranted.

Isoflavones Effects on Vascular and Endothelial Outcomes: How Is the Gut Microbiota Involved?

Isoflavones are a group of (poly)phenols, also defined as phytoestrogens, with chemical structures comparable with estrogen, that exert weak estrogenic effects. These phytochemical compounds have been targeted for their proven antioxidant and protective effects. Recognizing the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), there is a growing interest in understanding the potential cardiovascular benefits associated with these phytochemical compounds. Gut microbiota may play a key role in mediating the effects of isoflavones on vascular and endothelial functions, as it is directly implicated in isoflavones metabolism. The findings from randomized clinical trials indicate that isoflavone supplementation may exert putative effects on vascular biomarkers among healthy individuals, but not among patients affected by cardiometabolic disorders. These results might be explained by the enzymatic transformation to which isoflavones are subjected by the gut microbiota, suggesting that a diverse composition of the microbiota may determine the diverse bioavailability of these compounds. Specifically, the conversion of isoflavones in equol-a microbiota-derived metabolite-seems to differ between individuals. Further studies are needed to clarify the intricate molecular mechanisms behind these contrasting results.

Exploring factors influencing the severity of pregnancy anemia in India: a study using proportional odds model.

Pregnancy-associated anemia is a significant health issue that poses negative consequences for both the mother and the developing fetus. This study explores the triggering factors of anemia among pregnant females in India, utilizing data from the Demographic and Health Survey 2019-21. Chi-squared and gamma tests were conducted to find out the relationship between anemia and various socioeconomic and sociodemographic elements. Furthermore, ordinal logistic regression and multinomial logistic regression were used to gain deeper insight into the factors that affect anemia among pregnant women in India. According to these findings, anemia affects about 50% of pregnant women in India. Anemia is significantly associated with various factors such as geographical location, level of education, and wealth index. The results of our study indicate that enhancing education and socioeconomic status may serve as viable approaches for mitigating the prevalence of anemia disease developed in pregnant females in India. Employing both Ordinal and Multinominal logistic regression provides a more comprehensive understanding of the risk factors associated with anemia, enabling the development of targeted interventions to prevent and manage this health condition. This paper aims to enhance the efficacy of anemia prevention and management strategies for pregnant women in India by offering an in-depth understanding of the causative factors of anemia.

Prehospital acute life-threatening cardiovascular disease in elderly: an observational, prospective, multicentre, ambulance-based cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to explore the association of demographic and prehospital parameters with short-term and long-term mortality in acute life-threatening cardiovascular disease by using a hazard model, focusing on elderly individuals, by comparing patients under 75 years versus patients over 75 years of age. DESIGN: Prospective, multicentre, observational study. SETTING: Emergency medical services (EMS) delivery study gathering data from two back-to-back studies between 1 October 2019 and 30 November 2021. Six advanced life support (ALS), 43 basic life support and five hospitals in Spain were considered. PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients suffering from acute life-threatening cardiovascular disease attended by the EMS. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality from any cause within the first to the 365 days following EMS attendance. The main measures included prehospital demographics, biochemical variables, prehospital ALS techniques used and syndromic suspected conditions. RESULTS: A total of 1744 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The 365-day cumulative mortality in the elderly amounted to 26.1% (229 cases) versus 11.6% (11.6%) in patients under 75 years old. Elderly patients (≥75 years) presented a twofold risk of mortality compared with patients ≤74 years. Life-threatening interventions (mechanical ventilation, cardioversion and defibrillation) were also related to a twofold increased risk of mortality. Importantly, patients suffering from acute heart failure presented a more than twofold increased risk of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed the prehospital variables associated with the long-term mortality of patients suffering from acute cardiovascular disease. Our results provide important insights for the development of specific codes or scores for cardiovascular diseases to facilitate the risk of mortality characterisation.

Prehospital qSOFA, mSOFA, and NEWS2 performance for sepsis prediction: A prospective, multi-center, cohort study.

Background: Nowadays, there is no gold standard score for prehospital sepsis and sepsis-related mortality identification. The aim of the present study was to analyze the performance of qSOFA, NEWS2 and mSOFA as sepsis predictors in patients with infection-suspected in prehospital care. The second objective is to study the predictive ability of the aforementioned scores in septic-shock and in-hospital mortality. Methods: Prospective, ambulance-based, and multicenter cohort study, developed by the emergency medical services, among patients (n = 535) with suspected infection transferred by ambulance with high-priority to the emergency department (ED). The study enrolled 40 ambulances and 4 ED in Spain between 1 January 2020, and 30 September 2021. All the variables used in the scores, in addition to socio-demographic data, standard vital signs, prehospital analytical parameters (glucose, lactate, and creatinine) were collected. For the evaluation of the scores, the discriminative power, calibration curve and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used. Results: The mSOFA outperformed the other two scores for mortality, presenting the following AUCs: 0.877 (95%CI 0.841-0.913), 0.761 (95%CI 0.706-0.816), 0.731 (95%CI 0.674-0.788), for mSOFA, NEWS, and qSOFA, respectively. No differences were found for sepsis nor septic shock, but mSOFA's AUCs was higher than the one of the other two scores. The calibration curve and DCA presented similar results. Conclusion: The use of mSOFA could provide and extra insight regarding the short-term mortality and sepsis diagnostic, backing its recommendation in the prehospital scenario.

Effects of the Menstrual Cycle on Jumping, Sprinting and Force-Velocity Profiling in Resistance-Trained Women: A Preliminary Study.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the menstrual cycle on vertical jumping, sprint performance and force-velocity profiling in resistance-trained women. A group of resistance-trained eumenorrheic women (n = 9) were tested in three phases over the menstrual cycle: bleeding phase, follicular phase, and luteal phase (i.e., days 1-3, 7-10, and 19-21 of the cycle, respectively). Each testing phase consisted of a battery of jumping tests (i.e., squat jump [SJ], countermovement jump [CMJ], drop jump from a 30 cm box [DJ30], and the reactive strength index) and 30 m sprint running test. Two different applications for smartphone (My Jump 2 and My Sprint) were used to record the jumping and sprinting trials, respectively, at high speed (240 fps). The repeated measures ANOVA reported no significant differences (p ≥ 0.05, ES < 0.25) in CMJ, DJ30, reactive strength index and sprint times between the different phases of the menstrual cycle. A greater SJ height performance was observed during the follicular phase compared to the bleeding phase (p = 0.033, ES = -0.22). No differences (p ≥ 0.05, ES < 0.45) were found in the CMJ and sprint force-velocity profile over the different phases of the menstrual cycle. Vertical jump, sprint performance and the force-velocity profiling remain constant in trained women, regardless of the phase of the menstrual cycle.

Does Arch Stiffness Influence Running Spatiotemporal Parameters? An Analysis of the Relationship between Influencing Factors on Running Performance.

This study aimed to determine the influence of arch stiffness on running spatiotemporal parameters at a common speed for a wide range of endurance runners (i.e., 12 km·h-1). In total, 97 runners, 52 men and 45 women, completed a treadmill running protocol at 12 km·h-1. Spatiotemporal parameters were measured using the OptoGait system, and foot structure was assessed by determining arch stiffness. Since between-sex differences were found in anthropometric and foot structure variables, data analysis was conducted separately for men and women, and body mass and height were considered as covariates. For both sexes, a k-means cluster analysis grouped participants according to arch stiffness, by obtaining a group of low-arch stiffness (LAS group) and a group of high-arch stiffness (HAS group), with significant differences in arch stiffness (p < 0.001, for both men and women). No significant differences between LAS and HAS groups were found in running spatiotemporal parameters, regardless of sex (p ≥ 0.05). For both sexes, the partial correlation analysis reported no significant correlations (p ≥ 0.05) between foot structure variables and running spatiotemporal parameters. The results obtained show no differences in spatiotemporal gait characteristics during running at submaximal velocity between runners with low-arch stiffness and those with high-arch stiffness, regardless of sex. These findings may have important implications for clinicians and coaches by adding more evidence to the debate about the use of static foot classification measures when characterizing the foot and its biomechanics during running.