Longitudinal Multiparametric Quantitative MRI Evaluation of Acute and Chronic Multiple Sclerosis Paramagnetic Rim Lesions.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs) are markers of chronic active biology and exhibit complex iron and myelin changes that may complicate quantification when using conventional MRI approaches.

Purpose: To conduct a multiparametric MRI analysis of PRLs.

Study Type: Retrospective/longitudinal.

Bird song comparison using deep learning trained from avian perceptual judgments.

Our understanding of bird song, a model system for animal communication and the neurobiology of learning, depends critically on making reliable, validated comparisons between the complex multidimensional syllables that are used in songs. However, most assessments of song similarity are based on human inspection of spectrograms, or computational methods developed from human intuitions. Using a novel automated operant conditioning system, we collected a large corpus of zebra finches' (Taeniopygia guttata) decisions about song syllable similarity.

Parental developmental experience affects vocal learning in offspring.

Cultural and genetic inheritance combine to enable rapid changes in trait expression, but their relative importance in determining trait expression across generations is not clear. Birdsong is a socially learned cognitive trait that is subject to both cultural and genetic inheritance, as well as being affected by early developmental conditions. We sought to test whether early-life conditions in one generation can affect song acquisition in the next generation.

Characterising 24-h skeletal muscle gene expression alongside metabolic & endocrine responses under diurnal conditions.

Context: Skeletal muscle plays a central role in the storage, synthesis, and breakdown of nutrients, yet little research has explored temporal responses of this human tissue, especially with concurrent measures of systemic biomarkers of metabolism.

Objective: To characterise temporal profiles in skeletal muscle expression of genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, circadian clocks, and autophagy and descriptively relate them to systemic metabolites and hormones during a controlled laboratory protocol.

Methods: Ten healthy adults (9M/1F, mean ± SD: age: 30 ± 10 y; BMI: 24.

"Like another human being in the room": a community case study of smart speakers to reduce loneliness in the oldest-old.

This community case study examined the potential benefits of smart speakers to tackle loneliness in the oldest old adults living in supported accommodation. The program was established as a collaboration between the supported accommodation provider and a technology company to explore the feasibility of smart speakers to alleviate resident loneliness. Loneliness in later life often accompanies a shrinking social circle, loss of a spouse or increased disability.

Substituting carbohydrate at lunch for added protein increases fat oxidation during subsequent exercise in healthy males.

Context: How pre-exercise meal composition influences metabolic and health responses to exercise later in the day is currently unclear.

Objective: Examine the effects of substituting carbohydrate for protein at lunch on subsequent exercise metabolism, appetite, and energy intake.

Methods: Twelve healthy males completed three trials in randomized, counterbalanced order.

Combined Turmeric, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D Ready-to-Drink Supplements Reduce Upper Respiratory Illness Symptoms and Gastrointestinal Discomfort in Elite Male Football Players.

Elite football is associated with the increased risk of illness, although targeted supplementation can reduce illness risk. This study assessed the effects of a supplement containing turmeric root within a black pepper and fat-soluble blend, vitamin C and vitamin D, on upper respiratory symptoms (URS), gastrointestinal symptoms (GIS), muscle soreness, and markers of inflammation and gut permeability in elite male footballers. Twenty-three footballers completed 3 weeks of no intervention (CON), followed by 16 weeks of daily consuming 60 mL of a commercially available supplement containing raw turmeric root (17.

Evolution of atrophied T2 lesion volume in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis: results from the phase 3 ORATORIO study.

Background: Atrophied T2-lesion volume (aT2-LV) is an exploratory imaging marker in multiple sclerosis (MS) reflecting the volume of lesions subsumed into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Objective: To investigate the effect of ocrelizumab (OCR) versus placebo (PBO) over 120 weeks on the accumulation of aT2-LV in a double-blind placebo-controlled (DBP) phase 3, primary-progressive (PP) MS study (ORATORIO; NCT01194570).

Methods: This post-hoc, MRI-blinded analysis evaluated 732 PPMS randomised to OCR (488) or PBO (244).

Concurrent invasions of European starlings in Australia and North America reveal population-specific differentiation in shared genomic regions.

A species' success during the invasion of new areas hinges on an interplay between the demographic processes common to invasions and the specific ecological context of the novel environment. Evolutionary genetic studies of invasive species can investigate how genetic bottlenecks and ecological conditions shape genetic variation in invasions, and our study pairs two invasive populations that are hypothesized to be from the same source population to compare how each population evolved during and after introduction. Invasive European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) established populations in both Australia and North America in the 19th century.

Turmeric supplementation improves markers of recovery in elite male footballers: a pilot study.

Football match-play causes muscle damage and provokes an inflammatory response. Rapid recovery is paramount to optimising subsequent performance and reducing injury risk. Turmeric contains high concentrations of curcumin, a polyphenol that has been shown to reduce muscle damage and soreness post-exercise in recreational exercisers.

Multi-arm U-Net with dense input and skip connectivity for T2 lesion segmentation in clinical trials of multiple sclerosis.

T2 lesion quantification plays a crucial role in monitoring disease progression and evaluating treatment response in multiple sclerosis (MS). We developed a 3D, multi-arm U-Net for T2 lesion segmentation, which was trained on a large, multicenter clinical trial dataset of relapsing MS. We investigated its generalization to other relapsing and primary progressive MS clinical trial datasets, and to an external dataset from the MICCAI 2016 MS lesion segmentation challenge.

Intermittent fasting and bone health: a bone of contention?

Intermittent fasting (IF) is a promising strategy for weight loss and improving metabolic health, but its effects on bone health are less clear. This review aims to summarise and critically evaluate the preclinical and clinical evidence on IF regimens (, alternate-day fasting (ADF) and time-restricted eating (TRE)/time-restricted feeding and bone health outcomes. Animal studies have utilised IF alongside other dietary practices known to elicit detrimental effects on bone health and/or in models mimicking specific conditions; thus, findings from these studies are difficult to apply to humans.

Effects of Morning Vs. Evening exercise on appetite, energy intake, performance and metabolism, in lean males and females.

Exercise is an important component of a weight management strategy. However, little is known about whether circadian variations in physiological and behavioural processes can influence the appetite and energy balance responses to exercise performed at different times of the day. This study compared the effects of morning and evening exercise on appetite, post-exercise energy intake, and voluntary performance.

Fasting Before Evening Exercise Reduces Net Energy Intake and Increases Fat Oxidation, but Impairs Performance in Healthy Males and Females.

Acute morning fasted exercise may create a greater negative 24-hr energy balance than the same exercise performed after a meal, but research exploring fasted evening exercise is limited. This study assessed the effects of 7-hr fasting before evening exercise on energy intake, metabolism, and performance. Sixteen healthy males and females (n = 8 each) completed two randomized, counterbalanced trials.

Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Crenezumab vs Placebo in Adults With Early Alzheimer Disease: Two Phase 3 Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trials.

Importance: Alzheimer disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by β-amyloid plaques and τ tangles in the brain, represents an unmet medical need with no fully approved therapeutics to modify disease progression.

Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of crenezumab, a humanized monoclonal immunoglobulin G4 antibody targeting β-amyloid oligomers, in participants with prodromal to mild (early) AD.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Two phase 3 multicenter randomized double-blind placebo-controlled parallel-group efficacy and safety studies of crenezumab in participants with early AD, CREAD and CREAD2, were initiated in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and were designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of crenezumab in participants with early AD.

Social isolation and the role of AgeTech in a post-COVID world.

The COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected social connection through enforced social isolation and loss of regular activities. For healthcare systems, various initiatives have sprung up, leveraging existing technologies to connect people with services, activities, and loved ones. Here we review some AgeTech offerings to address social isolation for healthcare leadership and management to consider.

Myelin water imaging in relapsing multiple sclerosis treated with ocrelizumab and interferon beta-1a.

Background: Myelin water imaging is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that quantifies myelin damage and repair in multiple sclerosis (MS) via the myelin water fraction (MWF).

Objective: In this substudy of a phase 3 therapeutic trial, OPERA II, MWF was assessed in relapsing MS participants assigned to interferon beta-1a (IFNb-1a) or ocrelizumab (OCR) during a two-year double-blind period (DBP) followed by a two-year open label extension (OLE) with ocrelizumab treatment.

Methods: MWF in normal appearing white matter (NAWM), including both whole brain NAWM and 5 white matter structures, and chronic lesions, was assessed in 29 OCR and 26 IFNb-1a treated participants at weeks 0, 24, 48 and 96 (DBP), and weeks 144 and 192 (OLE), and in white matter for 23 healthy control participants at weeks 0, 48 and 96.

Transcript- and annotation-guided genome assembly of the European starling.

The European starling, Sturnus vulgaris, is an ecologically significant, globally invasive avian species that is also suffering from a major decline in its native range. Here, we present the genome assembly and long-read transcriptome of an Australian-sourced European starling (S. vulgaris vAU), and a second, North American, short-read genome assembly (S.

Deformation-based morphometry identifies deep brain structures protected by ocrelizumab.

Background: Despite advancements in treatments for multiple sclerosis, insidious disease progression remains an area of unmet medical need, for which atrophy-based biomarkers may help better characterize the progressive biology.

Methods: We developed and applied a method of longitudinal deformation-based morphometry to provide voxel-level assessments of brain volume changes and identified brain regions that were significantly impacted by disease-modifying therapy.

Results: Using brain MRI data from two identically designed pivotal trials of relapsing multiple sclerosis (total N = 1483), we identified multiple deep brain regions, including the thalamus and brainstem, where volume loss over time was reduced by ocrelizumab (p < 0.

One week of high-fat overfeeding alters bone metabolism in healthy males: A pilot study.

Objectives: Short periods of excessive consumption of indulgent high-fat foods are common in Western society, but the effect this has on bone is unknown. The aim of this pilot study was to explore how a 7-d hyperenergetic, high-fat diet affects candidate biomarkers of bone metabolism.

Methods: The study included 12 healthy men with a mean age of 24 y (SD = 4 y) and body mass index (BMI) of 24.

Technology for Healthy Aging and Wellbeing: Co-producing Solutions.

Methods to facilitate co-production in mental health are important for engaging end users. As part of the Technology for Healthy Aging and Wellbeing (THAW) initiative we organized two interactive co-production workshops, to bring together older adults, health and social care professionals, non-governmental organizations, and researchers. In the first workshop, we used two activities: Technology Interaction and Scavenger Hunt, to explore the potential for different stakeholders to discuss late life mental health and existing technology.

Joint MRI T1 Unenhancing and Contrast-enhancing Multiple Sclerosis Lesion Segmentation with Deep Learning in OPERA Trials.

Background Deep learning-based segmentation could facilitate rapid and reproducible T1 lesion load assessments, which is crucial for disease management in multiple sclerosis (MS). T1 unenhancing and contrast-enhancing lesions in MS are those that enhance or do not enhance after administration of a gadolinium-based contrast agent at T1-weighted MRI. Purpose To develop deep learning models for automated assessment of T1 unenhancing and contrast-enhancing lesions; to investigate if joint training improved performance; to reproduce a known ocrelizumab treatment response; and to evaluate the association of baseline T1-weighted imaging metrics with clinical outcomes in relapsing MS clinical trials.

Starving Your Performance? Reduced Preexercise Hunger Increases Resistance Exercise Performance.

Background: Preexercise food intake enhances exercise performance due, in part, to the provision of exogenous carbohydrate. Food intake also suppresses hunger, but the specific influence of hunger on exercise performance has not been investigated. This study aimed to manipulate hunger by altering preexercise meal viscosity to examine whether hunger influences performance.