Dietary caloric input and tumor growth accelerate senescence and modulate liver and adipose tissue crosstalk.

Metabolic alterations are related to tumorigenesis and other age-related diseases that are accelerated by "Westernized" diets. In fact, hypercaloric nutrition is associated with an increased incidence of cancers and faster aging. Conversely, lifespan-extending strategies, such as caloric restriction, impose beneficial effects on both processes.

Epilepsy is associated with the accelerated aging of brain activity in sleep.

Objective: Although seizures are the cardinal feature, epilepsy is associated with other forms of brain dysfunction including impaired cognition, abnormal sleep, and increased risk of developing dementia. We hypothesized that, given the widespread neurologic dysfunction caused by epilepsy, accelerated brain aging would be seen. We measured the sleep-based brain age index (BAI) in a diverse group of patients with epilepsy.

Monte Carlo modeling and simulation of a new 3D printed phantom for WBC calibration with ballistic gel as a tissue substitute.

Whole-body counter (WBC) systems are used for in vivo monitoring in occupational internal dosimetry, typically calibrated using physical anthropomorphic phantoms. Our research group previously 3D-printed the Reference Female Phantom for Internal Dosimetry (RFPID) without internal organs specifically designed for WBC calibration. The RFPID and it is intended to fill it homogenously with ballistic gel, which is commonly used as a tissue equivalent in ballistic studies.

Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Brain Age and Health in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Single-Arm Pilot Clinical Trial.

Backgrounds: Sleep disturbances are prevalent among elderly individuals. While polysomnography (PSG) serves as the gold standard for sleep monitoring, its extensive setup and data analysis procedures impose significant costs and time constraints, thereby restricting the long-term application within the general public. Our laboratory introduced an innovative biomarker, utilizing artificial intelligence algorithms applied to PSG data to estimate brain age (BA), a metric validated in cohorts with cognitive impairments.

Comparison of the dosimetry of scandium-43 and scandium-44 patient organ doses in relation to commonly used gallium-68 for imaging neuroendocrine tumours.

Background: Several research groups have explored the potential of scandium radionuclides for theragnostic applications due to their longer half-lives and equal or similar coordination chemistry between their diagnostic and therapeutic counterparts, as well as lutetium-177 and terbium-161, respectively. Unlike the gallium-68/lutetium-177 pair, which may show different in-vivo uptake patterns, the use of scandium radioisotopes promises consistent behaviour between diagnostic and therapeutic radiopeptides. An advantage of scandium's longer half-life over gallium-68 is the ability to study radiopeptide uptake over extended periods and its suitability for centralized production and distribution.

Use of posturography in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: A systematic review.

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is characterised as a chronic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton. The force platform is an option for performing the postural assessment of these individuals.

Objectives: To review and evaluate the behaviour of the centre of pressure (CoP) variables during the postural control examination in patients with AS compared to a control group.

RFPID: development and 3D-printing of a female physical phantom for whole-body counter.

Whole-body counters (WBC) are used in internal dosimetry formonitoring in radiation protection. The calibration processes of a WBC set-up include the measurement of a physical phantom filled with a certificate radioactive source that usually is referred to a standard set of individuals determined by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). The aim of this study was to develop an anthropomorphic and anthropometric female physical phantom for the calibration of the WBC systems.

Rosuvastatin effect on atherosclerotic plaque metabolism: A subclinical atherosclerosis imaging study with F-NaF PET-CT.

Background And Aims: Atherosclerotic plaque fluorine-18 sodium fluoride (F-NaF) uptake on positron emission tomography with computed tomography (PET-CT) identifies active microcalcification and has been shown to correlate with clinical instability in patients with cardiovascular (CV) disease. Statin therapy promotes coronary macrocalcification over time. Our aim was to investigate rosuvastatin effect on atheroma F-NaF uptake.

Assessing Risk of Health Outcomes From Brain Activity in Sleep: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background And Objectives: Patterns of electrical activity in the brain (EEG) during sleep are sensitive to various health conditions even at subclinical stages. The objective of this study was to estimate sleep EEG-predicted incidence of future neurologic, cardiovascular, psychiatric, and mortality outcomes.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study with 2 data sets.

Effects of aquatic exercises in patients after total hip arthroplasty: A systematic review.

Background: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a surgical procedure that can alter physical function and quality of life.

Objectives: The aim was to verify the effects of aquatic exercises compared with exercises on land, control or other modalities, in patients undergoing THA on the primary outcomes: self-reported physical function, quality of life and pain; and secondary outcomes: muscle strength, functional capacity and gait.

Design: Systematic review that followed the PRISMA Statement and PROSPERO registered.

Decoding information about cognitive health from the brainwaves of sleep.

Sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) signals likely encode brain health information that may identify individuals at high risk for age-related brain diseases. Here, we evaluate the correlation of a previously proposed brain age biomarker, the "brain age index" (BAI), with cognitive test scores and use machine learning to develop and validate a series of new sleep EEG-based indices, termed "sleep cognitive indices" (SCIs), that are directly optimized to correlate with specific cognitive scores. Three overarching cognitive processes were examined: total, fluid (a measure of cognitive processes involved in reasoning-based problem solving and susceptible to aging and neuropathology), and crystallized cognition (a measure of cognitive processes involved in applying acquired knowledge toward problem-solving).

Sound and light levels in intensive care units in a large urban hospital in the United States.

Intensive care units (ICUs) may disrupt sleep. Quantitative ICU studies of concurrent and continuous sound and light levels and timings remain sparse in part due to the lack of ICU equipment that monitors sound and light. Here, we describe sound and light levels across three adult ICUs in a large urban United States tertiary care hospital using a novel sensor.

Factors Associated with Avoiding Referrals by Dental Teleconsulting Sessions in Brazil.

This cross-sectional analytical study assessed the frequency of avoided referrals of primary care to other care levels by dental teleconsulting and its association with individual and contextual variables using a multilevel approach. It appraised asynchronous dental teleconsulting sessions from the secondary database of the Monitoring and Evaluation System of the Telehealth Results during 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcome was "whether referral to secondary care was avoided".

Sleep staging in the ICU with heart rate variability and breathing signals. An exploratory cross-sectional study using deep neural networks.

To measure sleep in the intensive care unit (ICU), full polysomnography is impractical, while activity monitoring and subjective assessments are severely confounded. However, sleep is an intensely networked state, and reflected in numerous signals. Here, we explore the feasibility of estimating conventional sleep indices in the ICU with heart rate variability (HRV) and respiration signals using artificial intelligence methods We used deep learning models to stage sleep with HRV (through electrocardiogram) and respiratory effort (through a wearable belt) signals in critically ill adult patients admitted to surgical and medical ICUs, and in age and sex-matched sleep laboratory patients We studied 102 adult patients in the ICU across multiple days and nights, and 220 patients in a clinical sleep laboratory.

Monte Carlo calculation of whole body counter efficiency factors for different computational phantoms.

Individual monitoring can provide an estimate of the radioactivity present in the body of the exposed individuals. Periodic monitoring of occupationally exposed individuals is of great importance in case of accidental incorporation. Computational phantoms and Monte Carlo codes are often used to complement the calibration method of counting systems in internal dosimetry.

The sleep and wake electroencephalogram over the lifespan.

Both sleep and wake encephalograms (EEG) change over the lifespan. While prior studies have characterized age-related changes in the EEG, the datasets span a particular age group, or focused on sleep and wake macrostructure rather than the microstructure. Here, we present sex-stratified data from 3372 community-based or clinic-based otherwise neurologically and psychiatrically healthy participants ranging from 11 days to 80 years of age.

Sensing and Mapping the Effects of Cow Trampling on the Soil Compaction of the Montado Mediterranean Ecosystem.

The economic and environmental sustainability of extensive livestock production systems requires the optimisation of soil management, pasture production and animal grazing. Soil compaction is generally viewed as an indicator of soil degradation processes and a determinant factor in crop productivity. In the Montado silvopastoral ecosystem, characteristic of the Iberian Peninsula, animal trampling is mentioned as a variable to consider in soil compaction.

Professional Factors Associated with Case Resolution without Referrals of Orofacial Pain Cases to Secondary Dental Care by Telehealth in Brazil: A Cross-Sectional Study in 2019 and 2020.

This study aimed to identify professional factors associated with case resolution without a referral of orofacial pain to secondary health care by Brazilian Primary Health Care (PHC) practitioners who demanded asynchronous teleconsulting, stratified by year, in 2019 and 2020 (the COVID-19 Pandemic burst). A cross-sectional study employed secondary databases from asynchronous teleconsulting Telehealth Brazil Networks from January 2019 to December 2020. The outcome was the dichotomous variable "If referral to secondary care was avoided.

Calculation of absorbed dose in paediatric phantoms using Monte Carlo techniques for F-FDG and Tc-DMSA and the new TIAC.

The radiopharmaceuticals most commonly used in nuclear medicine are F-FDG and Tc-DMSA, both of which are administered to paediatric and adult patients using the same time activity coefficient. However, the IAEA recommends specific paediatric dosimetry. The aim of this work (TW) was to estimate the absorbed dose for F-FDG and Tc-DMSA using two paediatric voxel phantoms (Baby and Child) by Monte Carlo techniques.

High prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in the intensive care unit - a cross-sectional study.

Purpose: Sleep-disordered breathing may be induced by, exacerbate, or complicate recovery from critical illness. Disordered breathing during sleep, which itself is often fragmented, can go unrecognized in the intensive care unit (ICU). The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence, severity, and risk factors of sleep-disordered breathing in ICU patients using a single respiratory belt and oxygen saturation signals.

National analysis of dental teleconsulting of the Brazilian Telehealth Program.

This cross-sectional study nationally evaluated asynchronous dental teleconsulting services offered by the Telehealth Brazil Networks Program, using the 2019 Telehealth Results Monitoring and Evaluation System database and considering Brazilian regional differences. The following teleconsulting variables were collected: dentist's sex and specialty, date/time of question and answer, response time; dental specialty, professional satisfaction, and patient referral. Five Brazilian regions were socioeconomically characterized according to the Human Development Index, estimated population, Gini coefficient, coverage of dental specialty centers, oral health teams in Family Health Strategy, and oral health teams in primary health care (PHC).

The Sedentary Lifestyle and Masticatory Dysfunction: Time to Review the Contribution to Age-Associated Cognitive Decline and Astrocyte Morphotypes in the Dentate Gyrus.

As aging and cognitive decline progresses, the impact of a sedentary lifestyle on the appearance of environment-dependent cellular morphologies in the brain becomes more apparent. Sedentary living is also associated with poor oral health, which is known to correlate with the rate of cognitive decline. Here, we will review the evidence for the interplay between mastication and environmental enrichment and assess the impact of each on the structure of the brain.

Epidemiology of Clostridioides difficile Infection in Portugal: A Retrospective, Observational Study of Hospitalized Patients.

Introduction: Clostridioides difficile is the main cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea in Europe and North America. The aim of this study was to characterize the epidemiology and clinical burden of Clostridioides difficile infection among hospitalized patients in Portugal.

Material And Methods: Retrospective study conducted in six public hospital centers in Portugal.