The association of physical function and physical performance with DNA methylation clocks in oldest-old living in Singapore - the SG90 cohort.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) methylation (DNAm) clocks estimate biological age according to DNA methylation. This study investigated the associations between measures of physical function and physical performance and ten DNAm clocks in the oldest-old in Singapore. The SG90 cohort included a subset of community-dwelling oldest-old from the Singapore Chinese Health Study (SCHS) and Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Study (SLAS).

Measuring physical activity, automaticity and memory are determinants for physical activity promotion among physical therapists in cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation: a cross-sectional survey.

Purpose: The study aims to identify determinants of implementation behavior among physical therapists frequently promoting physical activity (PA) in cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation.

Methods: A cross-sectional online survey incorporating the Determinants of Implementation Behavior Questionnaire (DIBQ) and anchored by the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) was sent to physical therapists working in cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation practices in Australia and Singapore. All items on the DIBQ were scored on a 7-point Likert scale from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree.

Incense Use and the Risk of Chronic Limb-Threatening Ischemia Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in the Singapore Chinese Health Study.

Background: Epidemiologic studies have shown that daily exposure to incense smoke is associated with greater risk of cardiovascular mortality, which suggests that chronic exposure to incense could be linked to atherosclerosis. We studied the association between home incense use and the risk of chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), the most severe outcome of peripheral arterial disease.

Methods: We used data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, which recruited 63,257 Chinese participants 45-74 years old from 1993-1998.

Relationship between handgrip strength and timed up-and-go test on hospitalization costs in older adults: a population-based study.

Background: Weak handgrip strength and slow timed up-and-go (TUG) time are known risk factors for hospitalization among older adults; however, few studies have investigated the relationships between these physical tests and future hospitalization costs.

Methods: We used data from 13,613 participants in the population-based Singapore Chinese Health Study who underwent assessment for handgrip strength and TUG time at a mean age of 74 years. Hospitalization costs for the subsequent year, among those who survived for at least one year thereafter, were ascertained via linkage with administrative healthcare finance data.

Bilayer 3D co-culture platform inducing the differentiation of normal fibroblasts into cancer-associated fibroblast like cells: New in vitro source to obtain cancer-associated fibroblasts.

This study presents a novel in vitro bilayer 3D co-culture platform designed to obtain cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs)-like cells. The platform consists of a bilayer hydrogel structure with a collagen/polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel for fibroblasts as the upper layer and an alginate hydrogel for tumor cells as the lower layer. The platform enabled paracrine interactions between fibroblasts and cancer cells, which allowed for selective retrieval of activated fibroblasts through collagenase treatment for further study.