Dirk Pette, remembered for his pioneering muscle research.

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dirk Pette. He passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on June 4, 2022. Dirk was an outstanding professor of biochemistry at the University of Konstanz, Germany and an internationally renowned researcher in the field of skeletal muscle biology. His research on electrical stimulation has had a profound impact on our understanding of myofiber type specification and the enormous adaptive potential of skeletal muscle. Under Dirk's leadership, new biological questions in the field of neuromuscular biology have developed into multidisciplinary approaches using advanced physiological, cell biological, and biochemical techniques. Dirk's research laboratory was frequently visited by a large number of national and international collaborators who familiarized themselves with the technically demanding stimulation protocols and bioanalytical techniques to study the intricate details of the highly complex process of fast-to-slow muscle transitions. Importantly, fundamental studies on the physiological effects of changes in innervation patterns on muscle phenotype have provided the scientific evidence base for a variety of innovative clinical applications. The skeletal muscle research community has lost one of its leading figures and an outstanding teacher of protein biochemistry. He leaves an inspiring legacy in the field of basic and applied myology. Dirk will be missed by his colleagues and by many students of neuromuscular biology and beyond.

State of art of mobility medicine: some more abstracts and evidence that the success of Pdm3 is based on extra-session relationships.

Scientific conferences increasingly suffer from the need for short presentations in which speakers like to dwell on the details of their work. A mitigating factor is to encourage discussion and planning of collaborations by organizing small meetings in a hotel large enough to host all attendees. This extends discussions' opportunities during morning breakfasts, lunches, dinners and long evenings together. Even if the vast majority of participants will not stay for the entire duration of the Conference, the possibilities for specialists to interact with specialists who are even very distant in terms of knowledge increase enormously. In any case, the results in terms of new job opportunities for young participants outweigh the costs for the organizers. Thirty years of Padova Muscle Days offer many examples, but the authors of this report on the state of the art of Mobility Medicine testify that this also happened in the 2024 Five Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (2024Pdm3) hosted at the Hotel Petrarca, Thermae of Euganea Hills and Padua, Italy which is in fact a valid countermeasure to the inevitable tendencies towards hyperspecialization that the explosive increase in scientific progress brings with it.

Program with last minute abstracts of the Padua Days on Muscle and Mobility Medicine, 27 February - 2 March, 2024 (2024Pdm3).

During the 2023 Padua Days on Muscle and Mobility Medicine the 2024 meeting was scheduled from 28 February to 2 March 2024 (2024Pdm3). During autumn 2023 the program was expanded with Scientific Sessions which will take place over five days (in 2024 this includes February 29), starting from the afternoon of 27 February 2024 in the Conference Rooms of the Hotel Petrarca, Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. As per consolidated tradition, the second day will take place in Padua, for the occasion in the Sala San Luca of the Monastery of Santa Giustina in Prato della Valle, Padua, Italy. Confirming the attractiveness of the Padua Days on Muscle and Mobility Medicine, over 100 titles were accepted until 15 December 2023 (many more than expected), forcing the organization of parallel sessions on both 1 and 2 March 2024. The five days will include lectures and oral presentations of scientists and clinicians from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, UK and USA. Only Australia, China, India and Japan are missing from this edition. But we are confident that authors from those countries who publish articles in the PAGEpress: European Journal of Translational Myology (EJTM: 2022 ESCI Clarivate's Impact Factor: 2.2; SCOPUS Cite Score: 3.2) will decide to join us in the coming years. Together with the program established by 31 January 2024, the abstracts will circulate during the meeting only in the electronic version of the EJTM Issue 34 (1) 2024. See you soon in person at the Hotel Petrarca in Montegrotto Terme, Padua, for the inauguration scheduled the afternoon of 27 February 2024 or on-line for free via Zoom. Send us your email address if you are not traditional participants listed in Pdm3 and EJTM address books.

Five Padua days on muscle and mobility medicine (2024Pdm3) 27 February - 2 March, 2024 at Hotel Petrarca, Thermae of Euganean Hills, Padua, and San Luca Hall, Prato della Valle, Padua, Italy.

At the end of the 2023 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine the next year's meeting was scheduled from 27 February to 2 March 2024 (2024Pdm3). During the summer and autumn the program was confirmed with Scientific Sessions that will take place over five days, starting in the afternoon of February 27, 2024 at the Conference Room of the Hotel Petrarca, Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. As usual, the next day will be spent in Padua, in this occasion at the San Luca Hall of the Santa Giustina monastery in Prato della Valle, Padua, Italy. Collected during Autumn 2023, many more titles and abstracts than expected were submitted, forcing the organization of parallel sessions both on March 1 and March 2 2024 confirming attractiveness of the 2024 Pdm3. The five days will include oral presentations of scientists and clinicians from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Switzerland, UK and USA. Together with the preliminary Program at December 1, 2023, the early submitted Abstracts is e-published in this Issue 33 (4) 2023 of the European Journal of Translational Myology (EJTM). You are invited to join, submitting your Last Minute Abstracts to ugo.carraro@unipd.it by February 1, 2024. Furthermore, with the more generous deadline of May 20, 2024, submit please "Communications" to the European Journal of Translational Myology (Clarivate's ESCI Impact factor 2.2; SCOPUS Cite Score: 3.2). See you soon at the Hotel Petrarca in Montegrotto Terme, Padua, on February 27, 2024, but the complete program can be followed from home via zoom connection.

Effects of the Full-Body in-Bed Gym program on quality of life, pain and risk of sarcopenia in elderly sedentary individuals: preliminary positive results of a Padua prospective observational study.

Age-related muscle loss poses a significant health concern in an aging population. This study aimed to assess the impact of a home Full-Body in-Bed Gym protocol on quality of life, pain and risk of sarcopenia in elderly subjects. A total of 22 subjects with a median age of 71.90 years were included in the study. Patients participating in the Full-Body in-Bed Gym program, with a frequency of three times a week for two months, demonstrated a significant enhancement in their quality of life, as indicated by the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) Mental Component Summary (p = 0.04), and an improvement in pain levels (p = 0.03). Although not statistically significant, there was also an improvement in sarcopenia risk. Patients were given the freedom to decide whether to continue treatment after the evaluation of outcomes. Patient compliance with the exercise protocol over six months indicated its feasibility and sustainability, even in the long term. These findings suggest that the Full-Body in-Bed Gym protocol may play a valuable role in mitigating age-related muscle loss, emphasizing the importance of further investigation into such rehabilitation and prevention strategies.

Optimized progression of Full-Body In-Bed Gym workout: an educational case report.

People suffering from fatigue syndromes spend less time exercising each day, thus aggravating their motor difficulties. Indeed, muscles and mobility deteriorate with age, while exercising muscles is the only sure countermeasure. It is useful to offer a safe and toll-free rehabilitation training: Full-Body In-Bed Gym, easy to learn and performe at home. We suggest a 10-20 min daily routine of easy and safe physical exercises that may improve the main 200 skeletal muscles used for every-day activities. Many of the exercises can be performed in bed (Full-Body In-Bed Gym), so hospital patients can learn this light workout before leaving the hospital. The routine consists of series of repetitions of 15 bodyweight exercises to be performed one after the other without time breaks in between. Alternating sequences of arm and leg exercises are followed by moving body parts in lying and sitting positions in bed. These are followed by series of tiptoeing off the bed. Progressive improvements can be tested by a series of push-ups on the floor. Starting from 3-5, number of repetitions are increased by adding 3 more every week. To maintain or even shorten total daily time of workout each movement is weekly speeded up. The devoted time every morning (or at least five days a week) to train all the major muscles of the body can remain under 10 minutes. Because there are no breaks during and between sets, the final push-ups become very challenging: at the end of the daily workout heart rate, depth and number of ventilations and frontal perspiration increase for a few minutes. We here provide an example of how to implement the progression of the Full-Body In-Bed Gym presenting an educational Case Report of a trained 80-year old person in stable pharmacological managements. In addition to strengthening the main muscles, including the ventilatory muscles, Although performed in bed, Full-Body In-Bed Gym is a resistance training equivalent to a short jog.. Started in early winter and continued regularly throughout spring and summer, Full-Body In-Bed Gym can help maintain independence of frail people, including those younger persons suffering with the fatigue syndrome related to the viral infection of the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

2023 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine: post-meeting Book of Abstracts.

The 2023 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (Pdm3) were held from March 29th to April 1st, 2023. Most of the abstracts were published electronically in the European Journal of Translational Myology (EJTM) 33 (1) 2023. Here we report the complete book of abstracts that confirms the interest of more than 150 scientists and clinicians from Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands and USA to gather to the Hotel Petrarca of Thermae of Euganean Hills, Padua, Italy for contributing and attending the Pdm3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC02D4uPWRg). The 2023 Pdm3 started March 29th in the historic Aula Guariento of thePadua Galilean Academy of Letters, Arts and Sciences with the Lecture of Prof. Carlo Reggiani and ended in the late afternoon with the Lecture of Professor Terje Lømo after introductory words of Professor Stefano Schiaffino. The program followed in the Hotel Petrarca Conferenece Halls from March 30 to April 1, 2023. The extended topic interests of specialists in basic myology sciences and clinicians, collected under the umbrella neologism of Mobility Medicine, is stressed also by expansion of Sections of the EJTM Editorial Board (https://www.pagepressjournals.org/index.php/bam/board). We hope that Speakers of the 2023 Pdm3 and readers of EJTM will submit "EJTM Communications" to the European Journal of Translational Myology (PAGEpress, Pavia, Italy) by May 31, 2023 and/or invited review and original articles for the 2023 special issue: "Pdm3" of Diagnostics, MDPI, Basel, Switzerland due September 30, 2023.

Last-minute abstracts of 2023 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (2023 Pdm3) and 2023 Editorial board of EJTM.

The 2023 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (Pdm3) are scheduled from March 29th to April 1st, 2023. The abstracts collected during autumn and early winter of 2022 were e- published in the issue 33 (1) 2023 of the European Journal of Translational Myology (EJTM). Now the last-minute abstracts are reported here (100 Oral presentations are listed in the final Program). All together they confirm the interest of very different international specialists, filling the four days of 2023Pdm3. Indeed, scientists and clinicians from Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands and USA will gather to the Hotel Petrarca of Thermae of Euganean Hills, Padua, Italy. The apparent heterogeneity of the specialists, collectively raccolti under the umbrella of the Mobility Medicine neologism is stressed by the need to extend the Sections of the 2023 Editorial Borad of EJTM also here reported. We hope that Speakers of the 2023 Pdm3 and readers of EJTM will submit "Communications" to the European Journal of Translational Myology by May 20, 2023 and/or to the 2023 Special Issue: "Pdm3" of the Journal Diagnostics, MDPI, Basel, Switzerland with deadline September 30, 2023. See you soon at the Hotel Petrarca of Montegrotto Terme, Padua, Italy. For a promo of the 2023 Pdm3 link to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC02D4uPWRg.

Abstracts of the 2023 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (2023Pdm3) to be held March 29 - April 1 at the Galileian Academy of Padua and at the Petrarca Hotel, Thermae of Euganean Hills, Padua, Italy.

At the end of the 2022 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (Pdm3) the next year's meeting was scheduled from 29 March to 1 April 2023. Despite the worsening evolution of the crisis in Eastern Europe, the program was confirmed in autumn 2022 with Scientific Sessions that will take place over three full days in the Aula Guariento of the Galileian Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences of Padua (March 29, 2023) and then at the Conference Room of the Hotel Petrarca, Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. Collected during autumn and early winter, many titles and abstracts where submitted (about 100 Oral presentations are listed in the preliminary Program by January 31, 2023) confirming attractiveness of the 2023 Pdm3. The four days will include oral presentations of scientists and clinicians from Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands and USA. Together with the preliminary Program at January 31, 2023, the Collection of Abstracts is e-published in this Issue 33 (1) 2023 of the European Journal of Translational Myology (EJTM). You are invited to join, submitting your Last Minute Abstracts to ugo.carraro@unipd.it by March 15, 2023. Furthermore, with the more generous deadline of May 20, 2023, submit please "Communications" to the European Journal of Translational Myology (SCOPUS Cite Score Tracker 2023: 3.2 by January 5, 2023) and/or to the 2023 Special Issue: "Pdm3" of the Journal Diagnostics, MDPI, Basel (I.F. near to 4.0) with deadline September 30, 2023. Both journals will provide discounts to the first accepted typescripts. See you soon at the Hotel Petrarca of Montegrotto Terme, Padua, Italy. For a promo of the 2023 Pdm3 link to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC02D4uPWRg.

2023 On-site Padua Days on Muscle and Mobiliy Medicine: Call for speakers.

The winter of 2022 approaches with the need to finalize our plans for next year. This is urgent for the 2023 Meeting of the Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (Pdm3) to be held March 29th to April 1st, 2023 at the Hotel Petrarca in the Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. A preliminary Pdm3 Program is almost ready with sessions, organzers and keynote speakers, but ther is still rooms for many interesting and interested young speakers. Some of the Pdm3 sessions dedicated to molecular and cellular myology are organized by old Pdm3 Friends, but there will also be interesting new entries, including those for Rehabilitation Sessions. No doubt that 2023 Pdm3 will attract old friends, but topics of a few sessions are at the frontiers of Translational Myology and new entries are most warmly acknowledged. This is true for both basic myology research, which include beside traditional MiRNA the new entry of the LNC-RNA and the "dark side of the genome". As to rehabilitation topics, beside the old friends of the "LBI workshop on muscle rehabilitation - from mouse to elderly", new entries are sessions on Muscle Fascia, Muscle Rehabilitation in Dentistry (that will organize also a Practical Course) and the session on "European Medical Thermalism and FEMTEC" that will also offer a practical Course. We hope that by January 20th, 2023 many old and new friends will send their abstracts to fill an half-empty program and then by May 1st, 2023 they submit Communications to EJTM that deserve them to increase the 2023 EJTM Impact Factor.

Will there be large or small gifts to PDM3 attendees and EJTM authors in March and June 2023?

The fall of 2022 approaches with the need to finalize our plans for next year. This is urgent for the 2023 Meeting of the Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine, (PDM3) to be held March 29 to April 1, 2023 at the Hotel Petrarca in the Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy, but there are also news related to the inclusion of the European Journal of Translational Myology (EJTM) in the Web of Science: Emerging Sources Citation Index - Clarivate (ESCI) database. A preliminary PDM3 flyer is almost ready with session program, organzers and keynote speakers. Some are the traditional organizers of the PDM3 sessions dedicated to molecular and cellular myology, but there will also be interesting new entries, including those of Rehabilitation Sessions. No doubt that PDM3 2023 will be a great gift for all Participants, as is the tradition of PDM3. The other big news scheduled for June 2023 is the Impact Factor 2022 that Clarivate will release next year. It could be a big or small gift. As Authors who publish in other Magazines, but even more as Referees we could contribute in the next months of 2022 to make a small gift from Clarivate bigger. In any case, it will be a great gift that has been awaited for many years for one of us, who is approaching 80 years of age next February 2023.

Post-meeting report of the 2022 On-site Padua Days on Muscle and Mobility Medicine, March 30 - April 3, 2022, Padua, Italy.

Despite COVID-19 outbreak, the program of the 2022 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (PDM3) was confirmed On-site in February from March 30 to April 2, 2022 to be held at the University of Padua Aula Magna and at Conference Hall of the Hotel Petrarca of Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. Over 130 abstracts, including the last-minute submissions listed below, convinced organizers to extend the program to five days. The sponsorship of the University of Florida and the willingness of attendees to meet friends after two years of virtual conferences were the keys of success, despite concerns for current events in East Europe. Only fourteen Virtual presentations were in the final program, eight due to last-minute Coronavirus infections and six for East Europe problems. The first two days of the programincluded scientists and clinicians of the University of Florida, USA and their invitees from Canada, France, Italy, Swiden, Swiss, UK and USA. Researchers and clinicians from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, UK and USA filled the program of last three days more oriented to aging and rehabilitation. The large majority of abstracts was e-published before the meeting; here are last-minute abstracts and the final program. The program of the 2023 On-site PDM3 was informally designed during the Meeting, but will be circulated during 2022 summer. Fix the dates in your agenda from Thursday March 28 to Friday March 31. For now, please, submit Communications to the European Journal of Translational Myology, PAGEpress, Pavia, Italy and Original Articles or Reviews to the Journal Diagnostics, MDPI, Basel, Swiss. Both journals will host Special PDM3 Sections and will apply 50% discount on editorial processing fees to the first 15 accepted typescripts.

The 2022 On-site Padua Days on Muscle and Mobility Medicine hosts the University of Florida Institute of Myology and the Wellstone Center, March 30 - April 3, 2022 at the University of Padua and Thermae of Euganean Hills, Padua, Italy: The collection of abstracts.

In the autumn of 2021, the 2022 Padua Days of Muscle and Mobility Medicine (PDM3) was planned to be held from March 30 to April 2, 2022. Despite the fact that Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak continued to impose restrictions all over the world, the program was planned with Scientific Sessions to occur over three full days at either the University of Padua Aula Magna or the Hotel Petrarca on the Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. During the winter the epidemic worsened, but waned by early February 2022, allowing confirmation of the planned On-site Meeting. The success of submission of abstracts (over 100 abstracts, i. e., three times the previous years) is attributable to the fact that the 2022 On-site PDM3 is a combined meeting, hosting the spring Meeting of the Myology Institute and Wellstone Center of the University of Florida, USA. The first three days will include a large series of presentations of the University of Florida scientists and clinicians and of their Invited Speakers from Canada, France, Switzerland Italy and the U.K. European researchers and clinicians from France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Slovenia, Russia and UK fill the program of last two days. To provide slot times to young Speakers, the 2022 On-site PDM3 was extended to April 3, 2022. The Collection of Abstracts is e-published in the 32 (1) 2022 Issue of the European Journal of Translational Myology (EJTM), together with the detailed Program organized in the Aula Magna of the University of Padua (March 30) and for March 31 - April 3, 2022 at the Conference Halls of Hotel Petrarca of the Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. The Program ends late on Sunday April 3, 2022 with an invitation to join the 2023 PDM3, March 27 - 31 at the Thermae of Euganean Hills (Padua), Italy. You are invited to join and to submit your Communications to the European Journal of Translational Myology and to a Special Issue of the Journal diagnostics, MDPI, Basel. Both journals will provide 50% discount to the first 15 accepted typescripts.

Reinnervation of Vastus lateralis is increased significantly in seniors (70-years old) with a lifelong history of high-level exercise (2013, revisited here in 2022).

In 2013 we presented results showing that at the histological level lifelong increased physical activity promotes reinnervation of muscle fibers in aging muscles. Indeed, in muscle biopsies from 70-year old men with a lifelong history of high-level physical activity, we observed a considerable increase in fiber-type groupings (F-TG), almost exclusively of the slow type. Slow-type transformation by denervation-reinnervation in senior sportsmen seems to fluctuate from those with scarce fiber-type transformation and groupings to almost fully transformed muscle, going through a process in which isolated fibers co-expressing fast and slow Myosin Heavy Chains (MHCs) seems to fill the gaps. Taken together, our results suggest that, beyond the direct effects of aging on the muscle fibers, changes occurring in skeletal muscle tissue appear to be largely, although not solely, a result of sparse denervation-reinnervation. The lifelong exercise allows the body to adapt to the consequences of the age-related denervation and to preserve muscle structure and function by saving otherwise lost muscle fibers through recruitment to different, mainly slow, motor units. These beneficial effects of high-level life-long exercise on motoneurons, specifically on the slow type motoneurones that are those with higher daily activity, and on muscle fibers, serve to maintain size, structure and function of muscles, delaying the functional decline and loss of independence that are commonly seen in late aging. Several studies of independent reserchers with independent analyses confirmed and cited our 2013 results. Thus, the results we presented in our paper in 2013 seem to have held up rather well.

Trauma of Peripheral Innervation Impairs Content of Epidermal Langerhans Cells.

Langerhans cells represent the first immune cells that sense the entry of external molecules and microorganisms at the epithelial level in the skin. In this pilot case-study, we evaluated Langerhans cells density and progression of epidermal atrophy in permanent spinal cord injury (SCI) patients suffering with either lower motor neuron lesions (LMNSCI) or upper motor neuron lesions (UMNSCI), both submitted to surface electrical stimulation. Skin biopsies harvested from both legs were analyzed before and after 2 years of home-based Functional Electrical Stimulation for denervated degenerating muscles (DDM) delivered at home (h-bFES) by large anatomically shaped surface electrodes placed on the skin of the anterior thigh in the cases of LMNSCI patients or by neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) for innervated muscles in the cases of UMNSCI persons. Using quantitative histology, we analyzed epidermal thickness and flattening and content of Langerhans cells. Linear regression analyses show that epidermal atrophy worsens with increasing years of LMNSCI and that 2 years of skin electrostimulation reverses skin changes, producing a significant recovery of epidermis thickness, but not changes in Langerhans cells density. In UMNSCI, we did not observe any statistically significant changes of the epidermis and of its content of Langerhans cells, but while the epidermal thickness is similar to that of first year-LMNSCI, the content of Langerhans cells is almost twice, suggesting that the LMNSCI induces an early decrease of immunoprotection that lasts at least 10 years. All together, these are original clinically relevant results suggesting a possible immuno-repression in epidermis of the permanently denervated patients.

Paolo Gava, a professional engineer, who has become a Master athlete, an amateur scientist and a lifelong friend.

Paolo Gava, (Conegliano, Treviso, September 1, 1946 - Stra, Venezia, Italy, July 19, 2021) was a sustainable resources engineer, who worked in Italy, France and England, leading research programs well before the current international interest in countering global warming. Passionate about Tango, Paolo kept himself in shape for many decades by running or pedaling or roller-skating, after years of training as a semi-professional athlete, competing and winning Italian and European short distance races in the Master classes. Then, Paolo applied his engineering skills to optimize comparisons between the results of the different Classes of Master Athletes, questioning the rules used by Italian and World Master Sports Associations. Friendly discussing during an after-dinner, he shocked us claiming that, in absence of diseases and trauma (Early Aging), the aging decay is a linear process from 30 to 110 years. Under our friendly pressure he was able to publish his first biomedical article, detailing his mathematical approaches and results in a 2015 issue of Experimental Aging Research, titled: Age-associated power decline from running, jumping and throwing male master world records. To honor his other legacies during his last six years of life, we add here further examples of Paolo's scientific studies and his relationships with senior colleagues and young students of sports and aging sciences.

Soft tissue radiodensity parameters mediate the relationship between self-reported physical activity and lower extremity function in AGES-Reykjavík participants.

Although previous studies have highlighted the association between physical activity and lower extremity function (LEF) in elderly individuals, the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain debated. Our recent work has recognized the utility of nonlinear trimodal regression analysis (NTRA) parameters in characterizing changes in soft tissue radiodensity as a quantitative construct for sarcopenia in the longitudinal, population-based cohort of the AGES-Reykjavík study. For the present work, we assembled a series of prospective multivariate regression models to interrogate whether NTRA parameters mediate the 5-year longitudinal relationship between physical activity and LEF in AGES-Reykjavík participants. Healthy elderly volunteers from the AGES-Reykjavík cohort underwent mid-thigh X-ray CT scans along with a four-part battery of LEF tasks: normal gait speed, fastest-comfortable gait speed, isometric leg strength, and timed up-and-go. These data were recorded at two study timepoints which were separated by approximately 5 years: AGES-I (n = 3157) and AGES-II (n = 3098). Participants in AGES-I were likewise administered a survey to approximate their weekly frequency of engaging in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (PAAGES-I). Using a multivariate mediation analysis framework, linear regression models were assembled to test whether NTRA parameters mediated the longitudinal relationship between PAAGES-I and LEFAGES-II; all models were covariate-adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and baseline LEF, and results were corrected for multiple statistical comparisons. Our first series of models confirmed that all four LEF tasks were significantly related to PAAGES-I; next, modelling the relationship between PAAGES-I and NTRAAGES-II identified muscle amplitude (Nm) and location (µm) as potential mediators of LEF to test. Finally, adding these two parameters into our PAAGES-I → LEFAGES-II models attenuated the prior effect of PAAGES-I; bootstrapping confirmed Nm and µm as significant partial mediators of the PAAGES-I → LEFAGES-II relationship, with the strongest effect found in isometric leg strength. This work describes a novel approach toward clarifying the mechanisms that underly the relationship between physical activity and LEF in aging individuals. Identifying Nm and µm as significant partial mediators of this relationship provides strong evidence that physical activity protects aging mobility through the preservation of both lean tissue quantity and quality.

MERG1A Protein Abundance Increases in the Atrophied Skeletal Muscle of Denervated Mice, But Does Not Affect NFκB Activity.

Skeletal muscle atrophy may occur with disease, injury, decreased muscle use, starvation, and normal aging. No reliably effective treatments for atrophy are available, thus research into the mechanisms contributing to muscle loss is essential. The ERG1A K+ channel contributes to muscle loss by increasing ubiquitin proteasome proteolysis (UPP) in the skeletal muscle of both unweighted and cachectic mice. Because the mechanisms which produce atrophy vary based upon the initiating factor, here we investigate atrophy produced by denervation. Using immunohistochemistry and immunoblots, we demonstrate that ERG1A protein abundance increases significantly in the Gastrocnemius muscle of rodents 7 days after both sciatic nerve transection and hind limb unweighting. Further, we reveal that ectopic expression of a Merg1a encoded plasmid in normal mouse Gastrocnemius muscle has no effect on activity of the NFκB transcription factor family, a group of proteins which contribute to muscle atrophy by modulation of the UPP. Further, although NFκB activity increases significantly after denervation, we show that expression of a plasmid encoding a dominant negative Merg1a mutant in Gastrocnemius muscle prior to denervation, has no effect on NFκB activity. Thus, although the ERG1A K+ channel increases UPP, it does not do so through modulation of NFκB transcription factors.

Skeletal muscle weakness in older adults home-restricted due to COVID-19 pandemic: a role for full-body in-bed gym and functional electrical stimulation.

Persons suffering with systemic neuromuscular disorders or chronic organ failures, spend less time for daily physical activity, aggravating their mobility impairments. From 2020, patients at risk are also older adults, who, though negative for the SARS-Cov-2 infection, suffer with a fatigue syndrome due to home restriction/quarantine. Besides eventual psycological managements, it could be useful to offer to these patients a rehabilitation workouts easy to learn and to independently repeat at home (Full-Body In-Bed Gym). Inspired by the proven capability to recover skeletal muscle contractility and strength by home-based volitional exercises and functional electrical stimulation (FES), we suggest for this fatigue syndrome a 10-20 min long daily routine of easy and safe physical exercises that may recover from muscle weakness the main 400 skeletal muscles used for every-day activities. Leg muscles could be trained also by an adjunctive neuro-muscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in frail old persons. Many of the exercises could be performed in bed (Full-Body in-Bed Gym), thus hospitalized patients can learn this light training before leaving the hospital. Full-Body in-Bed Gym is, indeed, an extension of well-established cardiovascular-ventilation rehabilitation training performed by patients after heavy surgery. Blood pressure readings, monitored before and after daily routine of Full-Body in-Bed Gym, demonstrate a transient decrease in peripheral resistance due to increased blood flow to major body muscles. Continued regularly, Full-Body in-Bed Gym may help maintaining independence of frail people, including those suffering with the fatigue syndrome related to the restrictions/quarantine imposed to the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gerta Vrbová, a guide and a friend for a generation of neuro-myologists - Her scientific legacies and relations with colleagues.

Gerta Sidonová - Vrbová, (Trnava, Slovakia, November 28, 1926 - London, UK, October 2, 2020) has been a key neuroscientist, who for almost half a century has contributed important findings and hypotheses on the relationships between motoneurons and skeletal muscle fibers, in particular on the differentiation and extent of plasticity of the peculiar characteristics of the different types of fibers present in mammalian muscles. This issue, Ejtm 31 (1), 2021, opens with the personal obituary authored by Dirk Pette, who remember his lifelong collaboration with Gerta, describing the many molecular and metabolic events that occur by changing the pattern of activation of adult muscle fibers through neuromuscular low frequency electrical stimulation. To honor the many scientific legacies of Gerta Vrbová and her impact on a generation of researchers studying myology and managements of neuromuscular disorders I add here additional examples of Gerta's scientific heritage and of her relations with colleagues.