Using a virtual game system to innovate pulmonary rehabilitation: safety, adherence and enjoyment in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: The present pilot study tested the use of a virtual game system (VGS) for exercise training in patients with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease undergoing pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Safety, feasibility, enjoyment and adherence were assessed.

Methods: VGS (Wii [2006], Nintendo, USA) games were prescreened and categorized into lower- and upper-body workouts.

Relativistic parameters of senescence.

The laws of biochemistry and biology are governed by parameters whose description in mathematical formulas is based on the three-dimensional space. It is a fact, however, that the life span of a cell and its specific functions, though limited, can be extended or diminished depending on the genetic code but also, on the natural pressure of the environment. The plasticity exhibited by a cellular system has been attributed to the change of the three-dimensional structure of the cell, with time being a simple measure of this change.

Autonomic neuropathy and gastrointestinal motility disorders in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Introduction: There is little information on the gastrointestinal motility abnormalities and autonomic neuropathy of children with gastrointestinal symptoms and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM).

Methods: The authors studied 33 consecutive patients (mean age, 15.3 years; 13 males) with T1DM (median duration, 7.

Serum levels of the senescence biomarker clusterin/apolipoprotein J increase significantly in diabetes type II and during development of coronary heart disease or at myocardial infarction.

Clusterin/apolipoprotein J (hereafter ApoJ) is a conserved secreted glycoprotein expressed by a wide array of tissues and being implicated in several physiological processes. ApoJ has been shown to associate with both normal in vitro aging, namely replicative senescence, as well as with stress induced premature senescence. In vivo, the protein is up-regulated in many severe physiological disturbances that relate to advanced aging, including accumulation in the artery wall during the development of atherosclerosis.