Effects of an Intervention with Selenium and Coenzyme Q on Five Selected Age-Related Biomarkers in Elderly Swedes Low in Selenium: Results That Point to an Anti-Ageing Effect-A Sub-Analysis of a Previous Prospective Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Randomised Clinical Trial.

Ageing is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). As no single biomarker reflects the full ageing process, we aimed to investigate five CVD- and age-related markers and the effects of selenium and coenzyme Q10 intervention to elucidate the mechanisms that may influence the course of ageing. This is a sub-study of a previous prospective double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial that included 441 subjects low in selenium (mean age 77, 49% women).

Internet-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and its Association With Self-efficacy, Depressive Symptoms, and Physical Activity: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial in Patients With Cardiovascular Disease.

Background: In patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD), knowledge about the associations among changes in depressive symptoms, self-efficacy, and self-care activities has been requested. This is because such knowledge can be helpful in the design of behavioral interventions aimed to improve self-efficacy, reduce depressive symptoms, and improve performance of self-care activities in CVD patients.

Objective: We aim to evaluate if internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) improves self-efficacy and explore the relationships among changes in depressive symptoms, self-efficacy, and physical activity, as well as the influence of iCBT on these relationships.

Improved cardiovascular health by supplementation with selenium and coenzyme Q10: applying structural equation modelling (SEM) to clinical outcomes and biomarkers to explore underlying mechanisms in a prospective randomized double-blind placebo-controlled intervention project in Sweden.

Purpose: Selenium and coenzyme Q10 have synergistic antioxidant functions. In a four-year supplemental trial in elderly Swedes with a low selenium status, we found improved cardiac function, less cardiac wall tension and reduced cardiovascular mortality up to 12 years of follow-up. Here we briefly review the main results, including those from studies on biomarkers related to cardiovascular risk that were subsequently conducted.

Trajectories and associations between depression and physical activity in patients with cardiovascular disease during participation in an internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy programme.

Background: There is a lack of knowledge about internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy in patients with cardiovascular disease, and its effects on depressive symptoms and physical activity.

Aim: To examine trajectories of depressive symptoms and physical activity, and to explore if these trajectories are linked with the delivery of internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy.

Methods: A secondary-analysis of data collected in a randomised controlled trial that evaluated the effects of a 9-week internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy programme compared to an online discussion forum on depressive symptoms in cardiovascular disease patients.

Correction to: Swedish translation and validation of the Pediatric Insomnia Severity Index.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Swedish translation and validation of the Pediatric Insomnia Severity Index.

Background: To increase health and well-being in young children, it is important to acknowledge and promote the child's sleep behaviour. However, there is a lack of brief, validated sleep screening instruments for children. The aims of the study were to (1) present a Swedish translation of the PISI, (2) examine the factor structure of the Swedish version of PISI, and test the reliability and validity of the PISI factor structure in a sample of healthy children in Sweden.

The associations between psychological distress and healthcare use in patients with non-cardiac chest pain: does a history of cardiac disease matter?

Background: Psychological distress such as somatization, fear of body sensations, cardiac anxiety and depressive symptoms is common among patients with non-cardiac chest pain, and this may lead to increased healthcare use. However, the relationships between the psychological distress variables and healthcare use, and the differences in relation to history of cardiac disease in these patients has not been studied earlier. Therefore, our aim was to explore and model the associations between different variables of psychological distress (i.

Less fibrosis in elderly subjects supplemented with selenium and coenzyme Q10-A mechanism behind reduced cardiovascular mortality?

Background: In an intervention study where 221 healthy elderly persons received selenium and coenzyme Q10 as a dietary supplement, and 222 received placebo for 4 years we observed improved cardiac function and reduced cardiovascular mortality. As fibrosis is central in the aging process, we investigated the effect of the intervention on biomarkers of fibrogenic activity in a subanalysis of this intervention study.

Material And Methods: In the present subanalysis 122 actively treated individuals and 101 controls, the effect of the treatment on eight biomarkers of fibrogenic activity were assessed.

Vitamin D levels and depressive symptoms in patients with chronic heart failure.

Background: Vitamin D (Vit D) is suggested to play a role in the regulation of physical function as well as in depression. Since, Vit D deficiency is common in patients with heart failure (HF), this study aims to explore if Vit D levels are associated with depressive symptoms and if this association is mediated by the patients' physical function.

Method: 506 HF patients (mean age 71, 38% women) were investigated.

Levels of sP-selectin and hs-CRP Decrease with Dietary Intervention with Selenium and Coenzyme Q10 Combined: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background/objectives: Inflammation and oxidative stress are central in many disease states. The major anti-oxidative enzymes contain selenium. The selenium intake in Europe is low, and supplementation with selenium and coenzyme Q10, important anti-oxidants, was evaluated in a previous study.

Sleep disordered breathing, hypoxia and inflammation: associations with sickness behaviour in community dwelling elderly with and without cardiovascular disease.

Background: Inflammation can induce a cluster of symptoms, referred to as sickness behaviour (e.g., depressive symptoms, sleep disturbances, pain and fatigue).

The contribution of hypoxia to the association between sleep apnoea, insomnia, and cardiovascular mortality in community-dwelling elderly with and without cardiovascular disease.

Aims: This study explores if nightly hypoxia (i.e. percentage of sleep time with oxygen saturation lower than 90% (SaO2<90%)) contributed to the association between sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and insomnia in community-dwelling elderly with and without cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Sickness behavior in community-dwelling elderly: associations with impaired cardiac function and inflammation.

Sickness behavior is a cluster of symptoms that occur as a response to an infection and alterations in the inflammatory response. Under normal circumstances, sickness behavior is fully reversible once the pathogen has been cleared. Aging and chronic illness such as heart failure are associated with enhanced inflammatory activity that lasts for a long duration and no longer represents an adaptive response.

The contribution of heart failure to sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms in older adults.

Background: The aim of this study was to explore the associations between physical symptoms, sleep disturbances, and depressive symptoms in community-dwelling elderly individuals, comparing persons with and without heart failure (HF).

Methods: A total of 613 older adults (mean age 78 years) underwent clinical and echocardiographic examinations. Questionnaires were used to evaluate sleep disturbances and depressive symptoms.

Symptom profile of undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnoea in hypertensive outpatients in primary care: a structural equation model analysis.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) has been linked to hypertension in sleep clinic populations, but little is known about the symptom profile of undiagnosed OSA in hypertensive outpatients in primary care.

Aim: To explore characteristics associated with undiagnosed OSA in hypertensive primary care patients.

Methods: Cross-sectional design, including 411 consecutive patients (52% women), mean age 57.

Depressive symptoms and inflammation in patients hospitalized for heart failure.

Background: Depressive symptoms in patients with heart failure (HF) are common and might be associated with inflammation. No studies have examined both the cross-sectional and prospective association between inflammation and depressive symptoms in patients with HF with adequate correction for disease severity. The aim of this study was to describe if the cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with depressive symptoms in hospitalized HF patients.

Determinants of global perceived health in community-dwelling elderly screened for heart failure and sleep-disordered breathing.

The relationships between heart failure (HF), sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), insomnia, depressive symptoms, and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), as well as their relationship to Global Perceived Health (GPH) in an elderly community-dwelling population, have not been explored. Data from 331 community-dwelling elderly (71-87 years old) were collected by echocardiography, polygraphy, and specific questionnaires. Factor analyses and structural equation modeling were used to explore the relationships between HF, SDB, sleep, psychosocial factors, and GPH.

Natriuretic peptide biomarkers as information indicators in elderly patients with possible heart failure followed over six years: a head-to-head comparison of four cardiac natriuretic peptides.

Background: Little is known about the differences between natriuretic peptides used to evaluate elderly patients with heart failure. The aim of the study was to evaluate the information and the power to predict cardiovascular mortality derived from an analysis of cardiac natriuretic peptides from the same study population and at the same time.

Methods And Results: In all, 415 elderly patients (age 65-82 years) in primary health care were evaluated and followed for 6 years.

Oxygen saturation and cognitive performance.

The purpose of the experiments was to investigate how inhalation of 100% oxygen affected cognitive performance. A test battery was developed that was designed to capture different aspects of cognitive processes, i.e.