Effects of Exercise Alone or in Combination with High-Protein Diet on Muscle Function, Aerobic Capacity, and Physical Function in Middle-Aged Obese Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Obesity accelerates and exacerbates the age-related changes on muscle function and exercise capacity. In addition, the middle-aged population is often overlooked when talking about the prevention of sarcopenia. This study investigated the effects of exercise alone or in combination with a high-protein diet on muscle function and physical fitness in middle-aged obese adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-nine middle-aged (50-64 years old) obese adults were randomly assigned to one of the following groups: control group (C; n=23), exercise group (E; n=23) or exercise plus high-protein group (EP; n=23). Individuals within the E and EP groups received 12 weeks of exercise training; whereas, the individuals in the EP group also received a high-protein diet intervention (1.6g/kg/day). Individuals within the C group were asked to maintain their lifestyle for 12 weeks. Participants were evaluated before and after the intervention. Outcome measures included maximal exercise capacity, muscle function and functional physical performance. Analysis of covariance was used to determine the effects of the intervention. RESULTS: After the intervention, the E and EP groups had greater maximal work rate, peak oxygen consumption, and muscle power during muscle contractions at 180°/sec than that in the C group (P<0.05). The EP group, but not the E group, showed significant improvement in the sit-to-stand test and climbing stairs test than the C group after the intervention (P<0.05). Within group comparisons showed that the anaerobic threshold only increased in the EP group (+12% from pre-test). CONCLUSIONS: For middle-aged obese adults, exercise with a high-protein diet not only improved muscle power and exercise capacity but also enhanced their functional physical performance.

The presence probability of mandibular lingla and antilingula.

PURPOSE: The lingula and antilingula are crucial surgical landmarks for mandibular setback surgery. The purpose of study was to investigate the correlation of presence probability between lingual and antilingula. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 180 cone-beam computed tomography sides were collected from 90 patients. The probability of absence of the lingula and antilingula was recorded with respect to the gender, mandible (unilateral and bilateral), and skeletal patterns (Class I, II, III); in addition, the correlations between these variables were analysed. RESULTS: Of the 180 sides, 9 sides showed the absence of the lingula (5%) and 34 sides showed the absence of the antilingula (18.9%). Pearson's test revealed that the presence of the lingula and antilingula differed nonsignificantly with respect to gender and skeletal patterns, respectively. The bilateral presence of the lingula was observed in 16 sides (91.1%), and that of the antilingula was observed in 122 sides (67.8%). Pearson's test verified a significant correlation between the presence of the left and right lingula (P<0.05). By contrast, gender and skeletal patterns were nonsignificantly correlated with the presence of the lingula and antilingula. The presence of the lingula was also nonsignificantly correlated with that of the antilingula. CONCLUSION: Gender and skeletal patterns were nonsignificantly correlated with the presence of the lingula and antilingula, respectively. The presence of the lingula was also nonsignificantly correlated with that of the antilingula. Consequently, lingula and antilingula cannot serve as the absolute standards for mandibular setback surgery.

Network analysis of depression and anxiety symptom relationships in a psychiatric sample.

BACKGROUND: Researchers have studied psychological disorders extensively from a common cause perspective, in which symptoms are treated as independent indicators of an underlying disease. In contrast, the causal systems perspective seeks to understand the importance of individual symptoms and symptom-to-symptom relationships. In the current study, we used network analysis to examine the relationships between and among depression and anxiety symptoms from the causal systems perspective. METHOD: We utilized data from a large psychiatric sample at admission and discharge from a partial hospital program (N = 1029, mean treatment duration = 8 days). We investigated features of the depression/anxiety network including topology, network centrality, stability of the network at admission and discharge, as well as change in the network over the course of treatment. RESULTS: Individual symptoms of depression and anxiety were more related to other symptoms within each disorder than to symptoms between disorders. Sad mood and worry were among the most central symptoms in the network. The network structure was stable both at admission and between admission and discharge, although the overall strength of symptom relationships increased as symptom severity decreased over the course of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Examining depression and anxiety symptoms as dynamic systems may provide novel insights into the maintenance of these mental health problems.

Validation of the PHQ-9 in a psychiatric sample.

BACKGROUND: The PHQ-9 was originally developed as a screener for depression in primary care and is commonly used in medical settings. However, surprisingly little is known about its psychometric properties and utility as a severity measure in psychiatric populations. We examined the full range of psychometric properties of the PHQ-9 in patients with a range of psychiatric disorders (i.e., mood, anxiety, personality, psychotic). METHODS: Patients (n=1023) completed the PHQ-9 upon admission and discharge from a partial hospital, as well as other self-report measures of depression, anxiety, well-being, and a structured diagnostic interview. RESULTS: Internal consistency was good (α=.87). The PHQ-9 demonstrated a strong correlation with a well-established measure of depression, moderate correlations with related constructs, a weak correlation with a theoretically unrelated construct (i.e., disgust sensitivity), and good sensitivity to change, with a large pre- to post-treatment effect size. Using a cut-off of ≥13, the PHQ-9 demonstrated good sensitivity (.83) and specificity (.72). A split-half exploratory factor analysis/confirmatory factor analysis suggested a two-factor solution with one factor capturing cognitive and affective symptoms and a second factor reflecting somatic symptoms. Psychometric properties did not differ between male and female participants. LIMITATIONS: No clinician-rated measure of improvement, and the sample lacked ethnoracial diversity. CONCLUSIONS: This first comprehensive validation of the PHQ-9 in a large, psychiatric sample supported its use as a severity measure and as a measure of treatment outcome. It also performed well as a screener for a current depressive episode using a higher cut-off than previously recommended for primary care samples.

Who are gynandromorphophilic men? Characterizing men with sexual interest in transgender women.

BACKGROUND: Gynandromorphophilia (GAMP) is sexual interest in gynandromorphs (GAMs; colloquially, shemales). GAMs possess a combination of male and female physical characteristics. Thus, GAMP presents a challenge to conventional understandings of sexual orientation as sexual attraction to the male v. female form. Speculation about GAMP men has included the ideas that they are homosexual, heterosexual, or especially, bisexual. METHOD: We compared genital and subjective sexual arousal patterns of GAMP men with those of heterosexual and homosexual men. We also compared these groups on their self-ratings of sexual orientation and sexual interests. RESULTS: GAMP men had arousal patterns similar to those of heterosexual men and different from those of homosexual men. However, compared to heterosexual men, GAMP men were relatively more aroused by GAM erotic stimuli than by female erotic stimuli. GAMP men also scored higher than both heterosexual and homosexual men on a measure of autogynephilia. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide clear evidence that GAMP men are not homosexual. They also indicate that GAMP men are especially likely to eroticize the idea of being a woman.

Abnormal error processing in depressive states: a translational examination in humans and rats.

Depression has been associated with poor performance following errors, but the clinical implications, response to treatment and neurobiological mechanisms of this post-error behavioral adjustment abnormality remain unclear. To fill this gap in knowledge, we tested depressed patients in a partial hospital setting before and after treatment (cognitive behavior therapy combined with medication) using a flanker task. To evaluate the translational relevance of this metric in rodents, we performed a secondary analysis on existing data from rats tested in the 5-choice serial reaction time task after treatment with corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), a stress peptide that produces depressive-like signs in rodent models relevant to depression. In addition, to examine the effect of treatment on post-error behavior in rodents, we examined a second cohort of rodents treated with JDTic, a kappa-opioid receptor antagonist that produces antidepressant-like effects in laboratory animals. In depressed patients, baseline post-error accuracy was lower than post-correct accuracy, and, as expected, post-error accuracy improved with treatment. Moreover, baseline post-error accuracy predicted attentional control and rumination (but not depressive symptoms) after treatment. In rats, CRF significantly degraded post-error accuracy, but not post-correct accuracy, and this effect was attenuated by JDTic. Our findings demonstrate deficits in post-error accuracy in depressed patients, as well as a rodent model relevant to depression. These deficits respond to intervention in both species. Although post-error behavior predicted treatment-related changes in attentional control and rumination, a relationship to depressive symptoms remains to be demonstrated.

Three-dimensional structural imaging of starch granules by second-harmonic generation circular dichroism.

Chirality is one of the most fundamental and essential structural properties of biological molecules. Many important biological molecules including amino acids and polysaccharides are intrinsically chiral. Conventionally, chiral species can be distinguished by interaction with circularly polarized light, and circular dichroism is one of the best-known approaches for chirality detection. As a linear optical process, circular dichroism suffers from very low signal contrast and lack of spatial resolution in the axial direction. It has been demonstrated that by incorporating nonlinear interaction with circularly polarized excitation, second-harmonic generation circular dichroism can provide much higher signal contrast. However, previous circular dichroism and second-harmonic generation circular dichroism studies are mostly limited to probe chiralities at surfaces and interfaces. It is known that second-harmonic generation, as a second-order nonlinear optical effect, provides excellent optical sectioning capability when combined with a laser-scanning microscope. In this work, we combine the axial resolving power of second-harmonic generation and chiral sensitivity of second-harmonic generation circular dichroism to realize three-dimensional chiral detection in biological tissues. Within the point spread function of a tight focus, second-harmonic generation circular dichroism could arise from the macroscopic supramolecular packing as well as the microscopic intramolecular chirality, so our aim is to clarify the origins of second-harmonic generation circular dichroism response in complicated three-dimensional biological systems. The sample we use is starch granules whose second-harmonic generation-active molecules are amylopectin with both microscopic chirality due to its helical structure and macroscopic chirality due to its crystallized packing. We found that in a starch granule, the second-harmonic generation for right-handed circularly polarized excitation is significantly different from second-harmonic generation for left-handed one, offering excellent second-harmonic generation circular dichroism contrast that approaches 100%. In addition, three-dimensional visualization of second-harmonic generation circular dichroism distribution with sub-micrometer spatial resolution is realized. We observed second-harmonic generation circular dichroism sign change across the starch granules, and the result suggests that in thick biological tissue, second-harmonic generation circular dichroism arises from macroscopic molecular packing. Our result provides a new method to visualize the organization of three-dimensional structures of starch granules. The second-harmonic generation circular dichroism imaging method expands the horizon of nonlinear chiroptical studies from simplified surface/solution environments to complicated biological tissues.

Chiral imaging of collagen by second-harmonic generation circular dichroism.

We provide evidence that the chirality of collagen can give rise to strong second-harmonic generation circular dichroism (SHG-CD) responses in nonlinear microscopy. Although chirality is an intrinsic structural property of collagen, most of the previous studies ignore that property. We demonstrate chiral imaging of individual collagen fibers by using a laser scanning microscope and type-I collagen from pig ligaments. 100% contrast level of SHG-CD is achieved with sub-micrometer spatial resolution. As a new contrast mechanism for imaging chiral structures in bio-tissues, this technique provides information about collagen morphology and three-dimensional orientation of collagen molecules.

Geophysical, archaeological, and historical evidence support a solar-output model for climate change.

Although the processes of climate change are not completely understood, an important causal candidate is variation in total solar output. Reported cycles in various climate-proxy data show a tendency to emulate a fundamental harmonic sequence of a basic solar-cycle length (11 years) multiplied by 2(N) (where N equals a positive or negative integer). A simple additive model for total solar-output variations was developed by superimposing a progression of fundamental harmonic cycles with slightly increasing amplitudes. The timeline of the model was calibrated to the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary at 9,000 years before present. The calibrated model was compared with geophysical, archaeological, and historical evidence of warm or cold climates during the Holocene. The evidence of periods of several centuries of cooler climates worldwide called "little ice ages," similar to the period anno Domini (A.D.) 1280-1860 and reoccurring approximately every 1,300 years, corresponds well with fluctuations in modeled solar output. A more detailed examination of the climate sensitive history of the last 1, 000 years further supports the model. Extrapolation of the model into the future suggests a gradual cooling during the next few centuries with intermittent minor warmups and a return to near little-ice-age conditions within the next 500 years. This cool period then may be followed approximately 1,500 years from now by a return to altithermal conditions similar to the previous Holocene Maximum.

In search of a physical theory of time.

The variable time considered in science is a measurement. The relation of time to other variables is expressed in rates, and the variable time is seldom explicitly included in equations describing chemical reactions or radioactive decays. Recalling that the Greek word atom is applicable to indivisible particles in both spatial and temporal worlds, the term chronon is proposed to designate elementary particles of time in parallel to the atom in space. Considerations of interactions of chronons with material and nonmaterial objects could promote understanding of several paradoxes in physical and biological sciences.

Self-similarity of the "1/f noise" called music.

Suggestions have been made that computer musicians should attempt to compose fractal music, and questions have been raised whether there is such a thing as fractal music. Voss and Clark observed that music is scaling, or 1/f noise, as analyzed on the basis of the amplitude (loudness) of the audio signals; they failed to find a fractal distribution of acoustic frequencies (music notes) in music. Analyzing Bach's and Mozart's compositions, we have shown that the incidence of the frequency intervals, or of the changes of acoustic frequency, has a fractal geometry. Fractal phenomena are characterized by scale-independency. The purpose of this investigation is to demonstrate the self-similarity of music and to explore its implications.

Fractal geometry of music.

Music critics have compared Bach's music to the precision of mathematics. What "mathematics" and what "precision" are the questions for a curious scientist. The purpose of this short note is to suggest that the mathematics is, at least in part, Mandelbrot's fractal geometry and the precision is the deviation from a log-log linear plot.

Hydrogen and deuterium loss from the terrestrial atmosphere: a quantitative assessment of nonthermal escape fluxes.

A comprehensive one-dimensional photochemical model extending from the middle atmosphere (50 km) to the exobase (432 km) has been used to study the escape of hydrogen and deuterium from the Earth's atmosphere. The model incorporates recent advances in chemical kinetics as well as atmospheric observations by satellites, especially the Atmosphere Explorer C satellite. The results suggest: (1) the escape fluxes of both H and D are limited by the upward transport of total hydrogen and total deuterium at the homopause (this result is known as Hunten's limiting flux theorem); (2) about one fourth of total hydrogen escape is thermal, the rest being nonthermal; (3) escape of D is nonthermal; and (4) charge exchange and polar wind are important mechanisms for the nonthermal escape of H and D, but other nonthermal mechanisms may be required. The efficiency to escape from the terrestrial atmosphere for D is 0.74 of the efficiency for H. If the difference between the D/H ratio measured in deep-sea tholeiite glass and that of standard sea water, delta D = -77%, were caused by the escape of H and D, we estimate that as much water as the equivalent of 36% of the present ocean might have been lost in the past.

Mass mortality and its environmental and evolutionary consequences.

The latest Mesozoic and earliest Tertiary sediments at Deep Sea Drilling Project site 524 provide an amplified record of environmental and biostratographic changes at the end of Cretaceous. Closely spaced samples, representing time intervals as short as 10(2) or 10(3) years, were analyzed for their bulk carbonate and trace-metal compositions, and for oxygen and carbon isotopic compositions. The data indicate that at the end of Cretaceous, when a high proportion of the ocean's planktic organisms were eliminated, an associated reduction in productivity led to a partial transfer of dissolved carbon dioxide from the oceans to the atmosphere. This resulted in a large increase of the atmospheric carbon dioxide during the next 50,000 years, which is believed to have caused a temperature rise revealed by the oxygen-isotope data. The lowermost Tertiary sediments at site 524 include fossils with Cretaceous affinities, which may include both reworked individuals and some forms that survived for a while after the catastrophe. Our data indicate that many of the Cretaceous pelagic organisms became extinct over a period of a few tens of thousands of years, and do not contradict the scenario of cometary impact as a cause of mass mortality in the oceans, as suggested by an iridium anomaly at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary.