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Journal of Alzheimer's Disease : JAD 2024The potential neuroprotective effects of regular physical activity on brain structure are unclear, despite links between activity and reduced dementia risk.
BACKGROUND
The potential neuroprotective effects of regular physical activity on brain structure are unclear, despite links between activity and reduced dementia risk.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationships between regular moderate to vigorous physical activity and quantified brain volumes on magnetic resonance neuroimaging.
METHODS
A total of 10,125 healthy participants underwent whole-body MRI scans, with brain sequences including isotropic MP-RAGE. Three deep learning models analyzed axial, sagittal, and coronal views from the scans. Moderate to vigorous physical activity, defined by activities increasing respiration and pulse rate for at least 10 continuous minutes, was modeled with brain volumes via partial correlations. Analyses adjusted for age, sex, and total intracranial volume, and a 5% Benjamini-Hochberg False Discovery Rate addressed multiple comparisons.
RESULTS
Participant average age was 52.98±13.04 years (range 18-97) and 52.3% were biologically male. Of these, 7,606 (75.1%) reported engaging in moderate or vigorous physical activity approximately 4.05±3.43 days per week. Those with vigorous activity were slightly younger (p < 0.00001), and fewer women compared to men engaged in such activities (p = 3.76e-15). Adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and multiple comparisons, increased days of moderate to vigorous activity correlated with larger normalized brain volumes in multiple regions including: total gray matter (Partial R = 0.05, p = 1.22e-7), white matter (Partial R = 0.06, p = 9.34e-11), hippocampus (Partial R = 0.05, p = 5.96e-7), and frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes (Partial R = 0.04, p≤1.06e-5).
CONCLUSIONS
Exercise-related physical activity is associated with increased brain volumes, indicating potential neuroprotective effects.
Topics: Humans; Male; Female; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Neuroprotective Agents; Brain; Gray Matter; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Exercise
PubMed: 38073389
DOI: 10.3233/JAD-230740 -
British Dental Journal Oct 2023
Topics: Denture, Complete; Denture, Partial, Removable; Denture Bases
PubMed: 37891290
DOI: 10.1038/s41415-023-6456-7 -
The Journal of Heart and Lung... Jun 2024Heart valve replacement in children is an unsolved problem in congenital cardiac surgery because state-of-the-art heart valve implants do not grow. This leads to serial... (Review)
Review
Heart valve replacement in children is an unsolved problem in congenital cardiac surgery because state-of-the-art heart valve implants do not grow. This leads to serial repeat operations to replace outgrown heart valve implants. Partial heart transplantation is a new transplant that helps alleviate this problem by delivering growing heart valve implants. In the future, partial heart transplantation has the potential to complement conventional heart transplantation for treating children with congenital cardiac disease primarily affecting the heart valves.
Topics: Humans; Heart Transplantation; Child; Heart Defects, Congenital; Heart Valve Prosthesis; Forecasting; Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation
PubMed: 38368912
DOI: 10.1016/j.healun.2024.02.010 -
Anais Da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias 2023The evolution of cooperation in microbes is a challenge to explain because microbes producing costly goods for the benefit of any strain types (cooperators) often...
The evolution of cooperation in microbes is a challenge to explain because microbes producing costly goods for the benefit of any strain types (cooperators) often withstand the threat of elimination by interacting with individuals that exploit these benefits without contributing (defectors). Here we developed an individual-based model to investigate whether partial privatization via the partial secretion of goods can favor cooperation in structured, surface-attaching microbial populations, biofilms. Whether partial secretion can favor cooperation in biofilms is unclear for two reasons. First, while partial privatization has been shown to foster cooperation in unstructured populations, little is known about the role of partial privatization in biofilms. Second, while limited diffusion of goods favors cooperation in biofilms because molecules are more likely to be shared with genetically-related individuals, partial secretion reduces goods that could have been directed towards genetically related individuals. Our results show that although partial secretion weakens the role that limited diffusion has on fostering cooperation, partial secretion favors cooperation in biofilms. Overall, our results provide predictions that future experiments could test to reveal contributions of relatedness and partial secretion to the social evolution of biofilms.
Topics: Humans; Privatization; Biofilms; Biological Evolution; Cooperative Behavior
PubMed: 38126521
DOI: 10.1590/0001-3765202320220985 -
International Journal of Psychiatry in... Sep 2023Worldwide, there are now three marketed dopamine D2 partial agonists: aripiprazole, brexpiprazole and cariprazine. These three drugs share a number of properties other... (Review)
Review
Worldwide, there are now three marketed dopamine D2 partial agonists: aripiprazole, brexpiprazole and cariprazine. These three drugs share a number of properties other than their action at D2 receptors. Pharmacologically, they are 5HT2 antagonists and D3 and 5HT1A partial agonists but with little or no alpha-adrenergic, anticholinergic or antihistaminic activity. They also share a long duration of action. Clinically, D2 partial agonists are effective antipsychotics and generally have useful antimanic and antidepressant activity. They are usually well tolerated, causing akathisia and insomnia only at the start of treatment, and are non-sedating. These drugs also share a very low risk of increased prolactin and of weight gain and accompanying metabolic effects. They may also have a relatively low risk of tardive dyskinesia. There is some evidence that they are preferred by patients to dopamine antagonists. Individual dopamineD2 partial agonists have much in common and as a group they differ importantly from dopamine D2 antagonists. Dopamine D2 partial agonists should be considered a distinct class of antipsychotics.Key pointsD2 partial agonists share many pharmacological and clinical propertiesD2 partial agonists differ in several important respects from D2 antagonistsD2 partial agonists should be considered a discrete class of antipsychotics.
Topics: Humans; Antipsychotic Agents; Dopamine Agonists; Dopamine; Aripiprazole; Receptors, Dopamine D2
PubMed: 36495086
DOI: 10.1080/13651501.2022.2151473 -
Pediatric Transplantation Jun 2024Partial heart transplantation delivers growing heart valve implants by transplanting the part of the heart containing the necessary heart valve only. In contrast to... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Partial heart transplantation delivers growing heart valve implants by transplanting the part of the heart containing the necessary heart valve only. In contrast to heart transplantation, partial heart transplantation spares the native ventricles. This has important implications for partial heart transplant biology, including the allowable ischemia time, optimal graft preservation, primary graft dysfunction, immune rejection, and optimal immunosuppression.
AIMS
Exploration of partial heart transplant biology will depend on suitable animal models. Here we review our experience with partial heart transplantation in rodents, piglets, and non-human primates.
MATERIALS & METHODS
This review is based on our experience with partial heart transplantation using over 100 rodents, over 50 piglets and one baboon.
RESULTS
Suitable animal models for partial heart transplantation include rodent heterotopic partial heart transplantation, piglet orthotopic partial heart transplantation, and non-human primate partial heart xenotransplantation.
DISCUSSION
Rodent models are relatively cheap and offer extensive availability of research tools. However, rodent open-heart surgery is technically not feasible. This limits rodents to heterotopic partial heart transplant models. Piglets are comparable in size to children. This allows for open-heart surgery using clinical grade equipment for orthoptic partial heart transplantation. Piglets also grow rapidly, which is useful for studying partial heart transplant growth. Finally, nonhuman primates are immunologically most closely related to humans. Therefore, nonhuman primates are most suitable for studying partial heart transplant immunobiology and xenotransplantation.
CONCLUSIONS
Animal research is a privilege that is contingent on utilitarian ethics and the 3R principles of replacement, reduction and refinement. This privilege allows the research community to seek fundamental knowledge about partial heart transplantation, and to apply this knowledge to enhance the health of children who require partial heart transplants.
Topics: Heart Transplantation; Animals; Swine; Models, Animal; Transplantation, Heterologous; Papio; Humans; Graft Rejection; Transplantation, Heterotopic; Rats; Disease Models, Animal; Rodentia
PubMed: 38766977
DOI: 10.1111/petr.14788