Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC): human studies design and protocol.

Physical activity, including structured exercise, is associated with favorable health-related chronic disease outcomes. Although there is evidence of various molecular pathways that affect these responses, a comprehensive molecular map of these molecular responses to exercise has not been developed. The Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) is a multicenter study designed to isolate the effects of structured exercise training on the molecular mechanisms underlying the health benefits of exercise and physical activity.

Risk of interpersonal violence during and after pregnancy among people with schizophrenia: a population-based cohort study.

Background: Schizophrenia is associated with increased risk of experiencing interpersonal violence. Little is known about risk specifically around the time of pregnancy.

Methods: This population-based cohort study included all individuals (aged 15-49 yr) listed as female on their health cards who had a singleton birth in Ontario, Canada, between 2004 and 2018.

Disability and Interpersonal Violence in the Perinatal Period.

Objective: To compare the risk of interpersonal violence experienced by pregnant and postpartum individuals with physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, or intellectual or developmental disabilities with those without disabilities, and to examine whether a prepregnancy history of interpersonal violence puts individuals with disabilities, at excess risk of interpersonal violence in the perinatal period.

Method: This population-based study included all individuals aged 15-49 years with births in Ontario, Canada, from 2004 to 2019. Individuals with physical (n=147,414), sensory (n=47,459), intellectual or developmental (n=2,557), or multiple disabilities (n=9,598) were compared with 1,594,441 individuals without disabilities.

Effects of Exercise Training With and Without Ranolazine on Peak Oxygen Consumption, Daily Physical Activity, and Quality of Life in Patients With Chronic Stable Angina Pectoris.

Ranolazine reduces angina frequency and increases exercise capacity. We hypothesized that exercise training with ranolazine would allow subjects to train at greater intensities, resulting in greater improvements in exercise capacity, physical activity, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). In a pilot study, subjects with chronic stable angina pectoris were randomized to ranolazine (n = 13) or placebo (n = 16).

Prevalence and correlates of psychological distress among 13-14 year old adolescent girls in North Karnataka, South India: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Mental health disorders among adolescents have emerged as a major public health issue in many low and middle-income countries, including India. There is a paucity of research on the determinants of psychological distress, particularly among the poorest girls in the poorest communities. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and correlates of different indicators of psychological distress among 13-14 year old low caste girls in rural, south India.

Ten weeks of high-intensity interval walk training is associated with reduced disease activity and improved innate immune function in older adults with rheumatoid arthritis: a pilot study.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease in which adults have significant joint issues leading to poor health. Poor health is compounded by many factors, including exercise avoidance and increased risk of opportunistic infection. Exercise training can improve the health of patients with RA and potentially improve immune function; however, information on the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in RA is limited.

Gene expression of types I, II, and VI collagen, aggrecan, and chondroitin-6-sulfotransferase in the human annulus: in situ hybridization findings.

Background Context: Within each lamellar bundle in the annulus, disc cells produce a complex and sophisticated architectural organization which acts to meet the unique biomechanical needs of the disc. How cells coordinate expression of genes throughout the disc is an important but as yet poorly understood process. For the annulus, such coordination probably involves cell-cell communication as well as growth factor and mechanoreceptor signaling to appropriately maintain the disc extracellular matrix (ECM) for the prevention of annular tears.

Demographic factors that influence human disc cell proliferation in vitro.

Background Context: Although previous work has shown that greater age, greater disc degeneration, female gender, and surgical derivation of disc tissue had deleterious effects on cell proliferative potential, relatively little is known about the association between disc cell proliferation in vitro and clinical donor characteristics.

Purpose: To identify the relationships between donor characteristic and the in vitro proliferative potential of human disc cells from the annulus.

Study Design/setting: Studies were approved by the human subjects Institutional Review Board.

Three-dimensional culture of human disc cells within agarose or a collagen sponge: assessment of proteoglycan production.

The objective of the present study was to assess proteoglycan production by human intervertebral disc cells cultured in vitro in selected cell carriers. Based on previous studies which evaluated disc cells seeded into collagen sponge, collagen gel, agarose, alginate or fibrin gel three-dimensional (3D) cell carriers, collagen sponge and agarose were found to provide superior microenvironments for formation of extracellular matrix (ECM). A standardized test design was used to evaluate ECM formed after 14 days of culture using the 1,9-dimethylmethylene blue (DMB) assay to assess sulfated glycosaminoglycan (S-GAG) production.

Cellular, but not matrix, immunolocalization of SPARC in the human intervertebral disc: decreasing localization with aging and disc degeneration.

Study Design: Human intervertebral disc anulus tissue was obtained in a prospective study of immunolocalization of SPARC (secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine) (osteonectin). Experimental studies were approved by the authors' Human Subjects Institutional Review Board. Discs were obtained from surgical specimens and from control donors.

Colony formation and matrix production by human anulus cells: modulation in three-dimensional culture.

Study Design: Human intervertebral disc cells from the anulus were tested in a study of colony formation and extracellular matrix (ECM) production during long-term three-dimensional culture with exposure to selected cytokines. Experimental studies were approved by the authors' Human Subjects Institutional Review Board.

Objectives: To quantitatively evaluate colony formation and qualitatively assess ECM production (using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization) in cells derived from Thompson Grades I to V discs and tested in culture with cytokines and nutrient supplementation.

Cell-based tissue engineering for the intervertebral disc: in vitro studies of human disc cell gene expression and matrix production within selected cell carriers.

Background Context: Little is known about how disc cells attach, proliferate and form extracellular matrix (ECM) within carrier materials. Such information is needed to help formulate criteria for successful cell-carrier interactions in tissue engineering.

Purpose: To compare proliferation, ECM production and gene expression in annulus cells cultured in a variety of cell carrier materials with potential application in tissue engineering of the disc.

Autologous intervertebral disc cell implantation: a model using Psammomys obesus, the sand rat.

Study Design: Work presented here used a small animal model to illustrate the feasibility of autologous disc cell implantation.

Objectives: To develop a small animal model for autologous disc cell implantation.

Summary Of The Background Data: The use of autologous disc cells in the potential treatment of disc degeneration offers attractive possibilities for novel therapies.

Expression and localization of estrogen receptor-beta in annulus cells of the human intervertebral disc and the mitogenic effect of 17-beta-estradiol in vitro.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that estrogens exert effects in different tissues throughout the body, and that the estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta) may be important for the action of estrogen (17-beta-estradiol) on the skeleton. The cellular localization of ERbeta in the human intervertebral disc, however, has not yet been explored.

Methods: Human disc tissue and cultured human disc cells were used for immunocytochemical localization of ERbeta.