The Frail-LESS (LEss Sitting and Sarcopenia in Frail older adults) intervention to improve sarcopenia and maintain independent living via reductions in prolonged sitting: a randomised controlled feasibility trial protocol.

Background: Sarcopenia is a progressive and generalised loss of muscle mass and function with advancing age and is a major contributor to frailty. These conditions lead to functional disability, loss of independence, and lower quality of life. Sedentary behaviour is adversely associated with sarcopenia and frailty.

Validity and Acceptability of Wearable Devices for Monitoring Step-Count and Activity Minutes Among People With Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple wearable devices that purport to measure physical activity are widely available to consumers. While they may support increases in physical activity among people with multiple sclerosis (MS) by providing feedback on their performance, there is little information about the validity and acceptability of these devices. Providing devices that are perceived as inaccurate and difficult to use may have negative consequences for people with MS, rather than supporting participation in physical activity.

Findings from Structural MR Imaging in Military Traumatic Brain Injury.

Purpose: To describe the initial neuroradiology findings in a cohort of military service members with primarily chronic mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) from blast by using an integrated magnetic resonance (MR) imaging protocol.

Materials And Methods: This study was approved by the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center institutional review board and is compliant with HIPAA guidelines. All participants were military service members or dependents recruited between August 2009 and August 2014.

Exploring variations in functional connectivity of the resting state default mode network in mild traumatic brain injury.

A definitive diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is difficult due to the absence of biomarkers in standard clinical imaging. The brain is a complex network of interconnected neurons and subtle changes can modulate key networks of cognitive function. The resting state default mode network (DMN) has been shown to be sensitive to changes induced by pathology.

Imaging the evolution of reactivation pulmonary tuberculosis in mice using 18F-FDG PET.

Unlabelled: Latent tuberculosis infection affects one third of the world's population and can reactivate (relapse) decades later. However, current technologies, dependent on postmortem analyses, cannot follow the temporal evolution of disease.

Methods: C3HeB/FeJ mice, which develop necrotic and hypoxic tuberculosis lesions, were aerosol-infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The delayed pulmonary syndrome following acute high-dose irradiation: a rhesus macaque model.

Several radiation dose- and time-dependent tissue sequelae develop following acute high-dose radiation exposure. One of the recognized delayed effects of such exposures is lung injury, characterized by respiratory failure as a result of pneumonitis that may subsequently develop into lung fibrosis. Since this pulmonary subsyndrome may be associated with high morbidity and mortality, comprehensive treatment following high-dose irradiation will ideally include treatments that mitigate both the acute hematologic and gastrointestinal subsyndromes as well as the delayed pulmonary syndrome.

Noninvasive molecular imaging of tuberculosis-associated inflammation with radioiodinated DPA-713.

Background: Increased expression of translocator protein (TSPO) is a feature of microglial and macrophage activation. Since activated macrophages are key components of tuberculosis-associated inflammation, we evaluated radioiodinated DPA-713, a synthetic ligand of TSPO, for in vivo imaging of host response.

Methods: Mice were infected with aerosolized Mycobacterium tuberculosis and evaluated using whole-body [(125)I]iodo-DPA-713 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Vaccination with recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis PknD attenuates bacterial dissemination to the brain in guinea pigs.

Background: We have previously identified Mycobacterium tuberculosis PknD to be an important virulence factor required for the pathogenesis of central nervous system (CNS) tuberculosis (TB). Specifically, PknD mediates bacillary invasion of the blood-brain barrier, which can be neutralized by specific antisera, suggesting its potential role as a therapeutic target against TB meningitis.

Methodology/principal Findings: We utilized an aerosol challenge guinea pig model of CNS TB and compared the protective efficacy of recombinant M.

Perfusion deficits in patients with mild traumatic brain injury characterized by dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI.

Perfusion deficits in patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a military population were characterized by dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion imaging. Relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was calculated by a model-independent deconvolution approach from the tracer concentration curves following a bolus injection of gadolinium diethylenetriaminepentaacetate (Gd-DTPA) using both manually and automatically selected arterial input functions (AIFs). Linear regression analysis of the mean values of rCBF from selected regions of interest showed a very good agreement between the two approaches, with a regression coefficient of R = 0.

Examining intrinsic thalamic resting state networks using graph theory analysis: implications for mTBI detection.

A major challenge associated with understanding mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the absence of biomarkers in standard clinical imaging modalities. Furthermore, the inhomogeneity of mTBI location and intensity, combined with latent symptoms further complicates identification and treatment. A growing body of evidence suggests that the thalamus may be injured or susceptible to change as the result of mTBI.

Adjunctive TNF inhibition with standard treatment enhances bacterial clearance in a murine model of necrotic TB granulomas.

Background: It has been hypothesized that early host-responses during TB treatment may paradoxically promote survival of persistent bacteria. We therefore evaluated whether adjunctive inhibition of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-a key cytokine in host responses against TB-could hasten bacterial clearance in a mouse strain that develops necrotic lesions in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

Methodology/principal Findings: Six weeks after an aerosol infection, C3HeB/FeJ mice received standard TB treatment with or without adjunctive TNF inhibition (etanercept for the initial six weeks).

Mouse model of necrotic tuberculosis granulomas develops hypoxic lesions.

Background: Preclinical evaluation of tuberculosis drugs is generally limited to mice. However, necrosis and hypoxia, key features of human tuberculosis lesions, are lacking in conventional mouse strains.

Methods: We used C3HeB/FeJ mice, which develop necrotic lesions in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.