Technologies monitoring and improving biosecurity compliance in barn anterooms.

People can act as mechanical vectors, and introduce and spread infectious diseases on farms. Preventive measures, such as changing boots and washing hands, need systematic implementation to manage this risk. Unfortunately, biosecurity compliance regarding biosecurity measures in barn anterooms has been shown to be generally low in all animal production systems. Indeed, the main challenge with biosecurity is maintaining compliance. The development of an effective on-farm biosecurity program requires several elements. These include farm and barn designs facilitating implementation of biosecurity measures; consistently communicating with all personnel and visitors informing them about threats and biosecurity; training programs for all farm personnel, explaining why biosecurity is effective in preventing infectious disease transmission, which measures are needed, and how to best implement them. All these components would be further optimized if automated monitoring systems were implemented with feedback mechanisms. Technologies are now available and are being adapted to the farm context to monitor biosecurity compliance. Two pilot projects using radio-frequency-identification-based (RFID) real-time continuous automated monitoring system quantifying hand sanitizing and boot compliance were conducted. The first one (MediHand Trace system) was a system designed to monitor and provide real-time feedback for handwashing in a hospital environment. It was functional for this task, although not sturdy enough for long-term use in a farm environment. The second system was a prototype designed for barns and with foot mats allowing the monitoring of footwear management as well as handwashing. These pilot studies have shown that real-time feedback helps improve compliance. However, the efficacy of the systems was very dependent on the physical set-up of the anteroom.

Transcriptomic modulation in response to high-intensity interval training in monocytes of older women with type 2 diabetes.

PURPOSE: Type 2 diabetes is associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases, lowering the quality of life and increasing mortality rates of affected individuals. Circulating monocytes are tightly involved in the atherosclerosis process leading to cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and their inflammatory profile can be modified by exercise. The objective was to exploratory identify genes associated with CVD that could be regulated by high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in monocytes of type 2 diabetes patients. METHODS: Next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses were conducted on isolated circulating monocytes (CD14+) of six women aged 60 and over with type 2 diabetes who completed a 12-week supervised HIIT intervention on a treadmill. RESULTS: Following the intervention, a reduction of resting diastolic blood pressure was observed. Concomitant with this result, 56 genes were found to be downregulated following HIIT intervention in isolated monocytes. A large proportion of the regulated genes was involved in cellular adhesion, migration and differentiation into an "atherosclerosis-specific" macrophage phenotype. CONCLUSION: The downregulation of transcripts in monocytes globally suggests a favorable cardiovascular effect of the HIIT in older women with type 2 diabetes. In the context of precision medicine and personalized exercise prescription, shedding light on the fundamental mechanisms underlying HIIT effects on the gene profile of immune cells is essential to develop efficient nonpharmacological strategies to prevent CVD in high-risk population.

Increased odds of having the metabolic syndrome with greater fat-free mass: counterintuitive results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database.

BACKGROUND: It is well established that body composition influences metabolic health, but emerging data are conflicting with the largely purported idea that a large fat-free mass (FFM) has a protective effect on health. A potential explanation for these discrepancies is the way FFM is represented. The first objective is to determine the association between the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and FFM when the latter was represented in three different ways: 1-absolute FFM; 2-relative to squared height (FFMi); and 3-relative to body weight (FFM%). The second objective is to assess the impact of FFM on the relative risk of having the MetS after taking fat mass, physical activity, and sociodemographic variables into account. METHODS: A total of 5274 individuals from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database were studied. Age-specific and sex-specific quartiles of the three representations of FFM were defined, and the prevalence of MetS was determined in each of them. Quartiles of FFMi (kg/m2 ) were used to calculate the odds ratios of having the MetS independently of FM, physical activity levels, and sociodemographic variables. RESULTS: The prevalence of MetS decreased with increasing quartiles of whole-body FFM% (Q1: 40%; Q4: 10%) but grew with increasing quartiles of absolute FFM (Q1: 13%; Q4: 40%) and FFMi (Q1: 10%; Q4: 44%). Similar results were observed for appendicular and truncal FFM. The odds ratios of having the MetS, independently of fat mass, physical activity, and sociodemographic variables, were significantly greater in the fourth quartile of FFMi when compared with the first quartiles of each specific subgroup [Q4 vs. Q1: younger men: 4.16 (1.99-8.68); younger women: 5.74 (2.46-13.39); older men: 1.98 (1.22-3.22); older women: 2.88 (1.69-4.90); all P ≤ 0.01]. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the notion that the representation of FFM significantly influences its association with MetS and that a larger FFM, whether absolute or relative to height, is associated with alterations in cardiometabolic health.

Obesity among postmenopausal women: what is the best anthropometric index to assess adiposity and success of weight-loss intervention?

OBJECTIVES: First, to establish the respective ability of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and relative fat mass index (RFM), to estimate body fat (BF%) measured by DXA (DXA-BF%) and correctly identify postmenopausal women living with obesity (BF% > 35). Second, to identify the best indicator of successful weight-loss intervention in postmenopausal women living with obesity. METHODS: A total of 277 women (age: 59.8 ±â€Š5.3 y; BF%: 43.4 ±â€Š5.3) from five weight-loss studies with complete data for anthropometric measurements [BMI = weight/height (kg/m2); WC (cm)] and BF% were pooled together. Statistical performance indicators were determined to assess ability of RFM [64-(20 × height/waist circumference) + (12 × sex)], BMI and WC to estimate BF% before and after weight-loss intervention and to correctly identify postmenopausal women living with obesity. RESULTS: Compared with RFM (r = 0.51; r2 = 0.27; RMSE = 4.4%; Lin's CCC = 0.46) and WC (r = 0.49; r2 = 0.25; RMSE = 4.8%; Lin's CCC = 0.41), BMI (r = 0.73; r2 = 0.52; RMSE = 3.7%; Lin's CCC = 0.71) was the best anthropometric index to estimate DXA-BF% and correctly identify postmenopausal women living with obesity (sensitivity + specificity: BMI = 193; RFM = 152; WC = 158), with lower misclassification error, before weight-loss intervention. After weight-loss, the change in BMI was strongly correlated with change in DXA-BF%, indicating that the BMI is the best indicator of success weight-loss intervention. CONCLUSION: In the absence of more objective measures of adiposity, BMI is a suitable proxy measure for BF% in postmenopausal women, for whom a lifestyle intervention is relevant. Furthermore, BMI can be used as an indicator to assess success of weight-loss intervention in this subpopulation.

Extraction of nucleic acids from blood: unveiling the potential of active pneumatic pumping in centrifugal microfluidics for integration and automation of sample preparation processes.

This paper describes the development of an on-chip nucleic acid (NA) extraction assay from whole blood using a centrifugal microfluidic platform that allows for pneumatic actuation of liquids during rotation. The combination of pneumatic and centrifugal forces makes it possible to perform fluidic operations without the need for integrating active control elements on the microfluidic cartridge. The cartridge is fabricated from thermoplastic polymers (e.g., Zeonor 1060R) and features a simple design that is compatible with injection molding. In addition, the cartridge is interfaced with two external vials for off-chip storage of the blood sample and retrieval of the eluted NA solution, respectively. On-chip capture of NAs is performed using an embedded solid-phase extraction matrix composed of commercial glass microfiber filters (Whatman GF/D and GF/F). The yield of the automated, on-chip extraction protocol, determined by measuring absorbance at 260 nm, is comparable to some of the best manually operated kits (e.g., Qiagen QIAamp DNA Mini Kit) while providing low assay-to-assay variability due to the high level of control provided by the platform for each processing step. The A260/A280 and A260/A230 ratios of the absorbance spectra also reveal that protein contamination of the sample is negligible. The capability of the pneumatic platform to circulate air flux through the microfluidic conduit was used to dry leftover ethanol residues retained in the capture matrix during washing. This method, applied in combination with localized heating, proved effective for reducing ethanol contamination in eluted samples from ∼12% to 1% (v/v).

Autopsy as gold standard in FDG-PET studies in dementia.

Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with F18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is increasingly used as an adjunct to clinical evaluation in the diagnosis of dementia. Considering that most FDG-PET studies in dementia use clinical diagnosis as gold standard and that clinical diagnosis is approximately 80% sensitive or accurate, we aim to review the evidence-based data on the diagnostic accuracy of brain FDG-PET in dementia when cerebral autopsy is used as gold standard. We searched the PubMed and Medline databases for dementia-related articles that correlate histopathological diagnosis at autopsy with FDG-PET imaging and found 47 articles among which there were only 5 studies of 20 patients or more. We were able to conclude that sensitivity and specificity of FDG-PET for Alzheimer's disease are good, but more studies using histopathological diagnosis at autopsy as gold standard are needed in order to evaluate what FDG-PET truly adds to premortem diagnostic accuracy in dementia.