Publications by authors named "Thomas Buford"

Article Synopsis
  • - This study investigates the link between alcohol consumption and falls among people with HIV (PWH), highlighting that falls are a major health issue, especially for older adults and PWH.
  • - Researchers categorized participants (315 PWH, mostly male, average age 52) into drinking levels (none, non-hazardous, hazardous) and analyzed the relationship between their drinking habits and fall incidents using various statistical methods.
  • - Findings revealed that hazardous drinkers had a significantly higher risk of falls and recurrent falls compared to non-hazardous drinkers, but the amount of alcohol consumed daily in grams did not show a clear connection to fall risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Ageing is a growing global concern, with projections that by 2030, one in six people will be 60 or older, highlighting the need to understand the biological processes and healthcare challenges associated with ageing.
  • The World Health Organization defines intrinsic capacity (IC) as the collective physical and mental abilities of an individual, with five vital components: locomotion, cognition, psychological, sensory, and vitality capacity (VC).
  • The review emphasizes the benefits of exercise in maintaining VC among older adults, discussing its positive effects on energy metabolism, neuromuscular function, immune response, mitochondrial health, and gene methylation, while also identifying potential areas for future research and interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • This study examines racial differences in comorbidities among individuals with heart failure (HF), specifically focusing on the role of social determinants of health (SDOH) in these disparities.
  • Researchers analyzed data from Black and White participants aged 45 and older who were hospitalized for heart failure between 2003 and 2017 to identify variations in health conditions like diabetes and hypertension.
  • The findings indicate that socioeconomic status partially explains higher rates of diabetes, anemia, and chronic kidney disease in Black adults with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but other SDOH did not significantly account for differences in other health issues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Low food security is common among people with HIV (PWH) and is associated with poorer health outcomes. Frailty, an aging-related outcome that is increasingly prevalent among PWH, may be stimulated by low food security. We assessed associations between food security and frailty among PWH.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

People with HIV (PWH) are at an increased risk for cognitive impairment. Lifestyle factors can have protective effects on cognition; little work has examined diet and cognitive function in PWH. In this cross-sectional pilot study, 86 PWH (mean age 56 years) completed diet recalls and a neurocognitive assessment.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alzheimer's disease (AD) not only affects cognition and neuropathology, but several other facets capable of negatively impacting quality of life and potentially driving impairments, including altered gut microbiome (GMB) composition and metabolism. Aged (20 + mo) female TgF344-AD and wildtype rats were cognitively characterized on several tasks incorporating several cognitive domains, including task acquisition, object recognition memory, anxiety-like behaviors, and spatial navigation. Additionally, metabolic phenotyping, GMB sequencing throughout the intestinal tract (duodenum, jejunum, ileum, colon, and feces), neuropathological burden assessment and marker gene functional abundance predictions (PICRUSt2) were conducted.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is a gut-derived metabolite associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). In preclinical and observational studies, resveratrol and exercise training have been suggested as potential strategies to reduce the systemic levels of TMAO. However, evidence from experimental studies in humans remains unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aging is associated with low-grade inflammation that increases the risk of infection and disease, yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Gut microbiota composition shifts with age, harboring microbes with varied immunogenic capacities. We hypothesized the gut microbiota acts as an active driver of low-grade inflammation during aging.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Frailty is common among cardiac patients; however, frailty assessment data from patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) are limited. The purpose of this observational study was to identify the prevalence and factors related to frailty in addition to unique frailty marker groupings in a cohort of sedentary adults with PAD. We grouped three PAD-relevant frailty characteristics using Fried's frailty phenotype -1) exhaustion, (2) weakness, and (3) slowness-and observed the prevalence of pre-frailty (1-2 characteristics) and frailty (3 characteristics) in the PAD cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Skeletal muscle dysfunction is a common extrapulmonary manifestation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Alterations in skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain expression, with reduced type I and increased type II myosin heavy chain expression, are associated with COPD severity when studied in largely male cohorts. The objectives of this study were (1) to define an abnormal myofibre proportion phenotype in both males and females with COPD and (2) to identify transcripts and transcriptional networks associated with abnormal myofibre proportion in COPD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

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.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Low skeletal muscle mass (LSMM) worsens survival outcomes in adults with blood cancers, leading to increased treatment-related toxicities and lower overall survival rates.
  • The study analyzed data from 20 studies with 3468 patients, focusing on outcomes like overall survival, progression-free survival, and non-relapse mortality associated with LSMM.
  • Results showed significant negative impacts of LSMM on survival rates, suggesting the need for more research to explore the reasons behind this association and potential intervention strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: This study examined the relationships among adiposity, handgrip, physical function, inflammation (ie, senescence-associated secretory phenotype chemokines as biomarkers of aging and frailty), and sex hormones in aging people with HIV.

Methods: This cross-sectional exploratory study included 150 people with HIV aged ≥40 years (67.3% of participants were male).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Previous research indicates ethnic/race group differences in pain and neurodegenerative diseases. Accounting for socioenvironmental factors reduces ethnic/race group differences in clinical and experimental pain. In the current study sample, we previously reported that in individuals with knee pain, ethnic/race group differences were observed in bilateral temporal lobe thickness, areas of the brain associated with risk for Alzheimer's disease, and related dementias.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: Employ a novel testing method to assess Multi Directional Impact Protection System (MIPS) helmet technology on rotational velocity and acceleration during head impact.

Methods: An optimization study was completed utilizing a 50th percentile male Hybrid III anthropomorphic test device (ATD). Helmets included expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) and two different MIPS helmets (MIPS 1, MIPS 2).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Delirium is a common complication during acute care hospitalizations in older adults. A substantial percentage of admissions are for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (ACSCs) or potentially avoidable hospitalizations-conditions that might be treated early in the outpatient setting to prevent hospitalization and hospital complications.

Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study examined rates of delirium among older adults hospitalized for ACSCs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) mitigates age-related decline in cognition and brain volume. Little is known, however, about the effects of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on cognitive aging and the relationship between HIIT, cognition, hippocampal subfield volumes, and cerebral oxygen extraction fraction (OEF). Older sedentary women participated in an 8-week HIIT intervention.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: People with HIV (PWH) are aging and are experiencing higher rates of abdominal adiposity. Physical activity is an effective nonpharmacological strategy to reduce adiposity in the general aging population. Yet, the relationship between physical activity and adiposity in people with well controlled HIV is unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To examine whether delirium predicts occurrence of hospital-associated disability (HAD), or functional decline after admission, among hospitalized older adults.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Setting And Participants: General inpatient (non-ICU) units of a large regional Southeastern US academic medical center, involving 33,111 older adults ≥65 years of age admitted from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2019.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Angiotensin (1-7) [Ang (1-7)] is an active heptapeptide of the noncanonical arm of the renin-angiotensin system that modulates molecular signaling pathways associated with vascular and cellular inflammation, vasoconstriction, and fibrosis. Preclinical evidence suggests that Ang (1-7) is a promising therapeutic target that may ameliorate physical and cognitive function in late life. However, treatment pharmacodynamics limits its clinical applicability.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hospital-associated disability (HAD) is a common complication during the course of acute care hospitalizations in older adults. Many admissions are for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), considered potentially avoidable hospitalizations-conditions that might be treated in outpatient settings to prevent hospitalization and HAD. We compared the incidence of HAD between older adults hospitalized for ACSCs versus those hospitalized for other diagnoses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Modifications to Fried's frailty phenotype (FFP) are common. We evaluated a self-reported modified frailty phenotype (Mod-FP) used among people with HIV (PWH). Among 522 PWH engaged in two longitudinal studies, we assessed validity of the four-item Mod-FP compared with the five-item FFP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Inflammation is an indicator of oxidative stress that may contribute to cardiovascular diseases in older people living with HIV (OPWH). Physical activity (PA) may reduce these biomarkers in OPWH, but little is known about the association of PA with inflammatory and cardiovascular biomarkers. We sought to examine the inflammatory and cardiovascular biomarker correlates of PA and sedentary behavior in OPWH.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The role of cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) on physical health-related quality of life (P-HRQoL) and quality of sleep was examined among 261 PLWH ≥40 years, recruited from a university-affiliated HIV clinic in the Deep U.S. South.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF