Cardiovascular Outcomes in Young Adulthood in a Population-Based Very Low Birth Weight Cohort.

OBJECTIVES: To assess differences in left heart structure and function, and endothelial function in a national cohort of very low birth weight (VLBW) young adults and term-born controls. STUDY DESIGN: The New Zealand VLBW study is a prospective, population-based, longitudinal cohort study which included all infants born <1500 g in 1986. The VLBW cohort (n = 229; 71% of survivors) and term-born controls (n = 100), were assessed at age 26-30 years. Measures of left heart structure and function were evaluated by echocardiography, vascular function was assessed using blood pressure, reactive hyperemia index, and arterioventricular coupling by calculating left ventricular (LV) and arterial elastance. RESULTS: Compared with controls, those born VLBW had smaller LVs, even when indexed for body surface area (mean LV mass, 89.7 ± 19.3 g/m2 vs 95.0 ± 22.3 g/m2 [P = .03]; LV end-diastolic volume, 58.3 ± 10.9 mL/m2 vs 62.4 ± 12.4 mL/m2 [P = .002]; and LV end-systolic volume, 20.8 ± 4.9 mL/m2 vs 22.6 ± 5.8 mL/m2 [P = .004]). VLBW participants had lower stroke volume (median, 37.2 mL/m2 [IQR, 33-42 mL/m2] vs median, 40.1 mL/m2 [IQR, 34-45 mL/m2]; P = .0059) and cardiac output (mean, 4.8 ± 1.2 L/min vs 5.1 ± 1.4 L/min; P = .03), but there was no difference in ejection fraction. The VLBW group had higher LV elastance (3.37 ± 0.88 mm Hg/mL vs 2.86 ± 0.75 mm Hg/mL; P < .0001) and arterial elastance (1.84 ± 0.4 vs 1.6 ± 0.4; P < .0001) and lower reactive hyperemia index (0.605 ± 0.28 vs 0.688 ± 0.31; P = .041). These measures were influenced by birth weight and sex, but we found limited associations with other perinatal factors. CONCLUSIONS: Being born preterm and VLBW is associated with differences in cardiovascular structure and function in adulthood. This population may be more vulnerable to cardiovascular pathology as they age. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12612000995875.

Tactile acuity is disrupted in osteoarthritis but is unrelated to disruptions in motor imagery performance.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether tactile acuity is disrupted in people with knee OA and to determine whether tactile acuity, a clinical signature of primary sensory cortex representation, is related to motor imagery performance (MIP; evaluates working body schema) and pain. METHODS: Experiment 1: two-point discrimination (TPD) threshold at the knee was compared between 20 participants with painful knee OA, 20 participants with arm pain and 20 healthy controls. Experiment 2: TPD threshold, MIP (left/right judgements of body parts) and usual pain were assessed in 20 people with painful knee OA, 17 people with back pain and 38 healthy controls (20 knee TPD; 18 back TPD). RESULTS: People with painful knee OA had larger TPD thresholds than those with arm pain and healthy controls (P < 0.05). TPD and MIP were not related in people with knee OA (P = 0.88) but were related in people with back pain and in healthy controls (P < 0.001). Pain did not relate to TPD threshold or to MIP (P > 0.15 for all). CONCLUSION: In painful knee OA, tactile acuity at the knee is decreased, implying disrupted representation of the knee in primary sensory cortex. That TPD and MIP were unrelated in knee OA, but related in back pain, suggests that the relationship between them may vary between chronic pain conditions. That pain was not related to TPD threshold nor MIP suggests against the idea that disrupted cortical representations contribute to the pain of either condition.

Physiological state influences the social interactions of two honeybee nest mates.

Physiological state profoundly influences the expression of the behaviour of individuals and can affect social interactions between animals. How physiological state influences food sharing and social behaviour in social insects is poorly understood. Here, we examined the social interactions and food sharing behaviour of honeybees with the aim of developing the honeybee as a model for understanding how an individual's state influences its social interactions. The state of individual honeybees was manipulated by either starving donor bees or feeding them sucrose or low doses of ethanol to examine how a change in hunger or inebriation state affected the social behaviours exhibited by two closely-related nestmates. Using a lab-based assay for measuring individual motor behaviour and social behaviour, we found that behaviours such as antennation, willingness to engage in trophallaxis, and mandible opening were affected by both hunger and ethanol intoxication. Inebriated bees were more likely to exhibit mandible opening, which may represent a form of aggression, than bees fed sucrose alone. However, intoxicated bees were as willing to engage in trophallaxis as the sucrose-fed bees. The effects of ethanol on social behaviors were dose-dependent, with higher doses of ethanol producing larger effects on behaviour. Hungry donor bees, on the other hand, were more likely to engage in begging for food and less likely to antennate and to display mandible opening. We also found that when nestmates received food from donors previously fed ethanol, they began to display evidence of inebriation, indicating that ethanol can be retained in the crop for several hours and that it can be transferred between honeybee nestmates during trophallaxis.

2006-based national population projections for the U.K. and constituent countries.

The 2006-based national population projections, carried out by the Office for National Statistics in consultation with the devolved administrations, show the population of the UK rising from 60.6 million in 2006, passing 65 million in 2016 and 70 million in 2028, to reach 71.1 million by 2031. In the longer-term, the projections suggest that the population will continue rising beyond 2031 for the full length of the projection period. The population will become older with the median age expected to rise from 39.0 years in 2006 to 41.8 years by 2031. Since the last projection round legislation has been passed to increase the state pension age from 65 to 66 for both sexes between 2024 and 2026. Despite this change, the number of people of working age for every person of state pensionable age will reduce from 3.32 in 2006 to 2.91 by 2031. The legislation includes further increases in the state pension age to 68 for both sexes by 2046.