Association of altitude and urbanization with hypertension and obesity: analysis of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016.

Background: Nepal's Himalayan range attracts mountaineers, climbers and tourists from all across the globe. Limited recent evidence suggests that exposure to hypoxia at a higher altitude may be a risk factor for hypertension and a protective factor for obesity. The existing urban-rural disparities in Nepal in health and economic resources may be anticipated in the burden of hypertension and obesity, two rapidly growing public health issues, but they remain largely unstudied.

Food insecurity among senior citizens in high out-migration areas: evidence from Western Nepal.

Background: Food insecurity is a critical public health challenge, particularly in low- and middle-income countries such as Nepal. The demographic transition has resulted in a growing population of senior citizens. However, the determinants of food insecurity among Nepali senior citizens remain unknown.

Fast-track Innovation: Area Agencies on Aging Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Millions of older Americans depend on services provided by Area Agencies on Aging to support their nutritional, social, and health needs. Social distancing requirements and the closure of congregate activities due to COVID-19 resulted in a rapid and dramatic shift in service delivery modes. Area Agencies on Aging were able to quickly pivot due to their long-standing expertise in community needs assessment and cross-sectoral partnerships.

Multimodal Imaging of Cerebral Microhemorrhages and White Matter Degradation in Geriatric Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traditionally, neurobiologists have utilized microscale techniques of scientific investigation to uncover the fundamental organization and function of brain cells and neuronal ensembles. In recent decades, however, macroscale brain imaging methods like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) have facilitated a wider scope of understanding neural structure and function across the lifespan. Thanks to such methods, a broader picture of the relationship between microscale processes-studied by neurobiologists-and macroscale observations-made by clinicians-has emerged.

Knowledge and Perception Towards Universal Safety Precautions During Early Phase of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Nepal.

The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and perception of COVID-19 and relevant universal safety measures among the Nepalese population. A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among Nepalese adults from March 29 to April 07, 2020. A 13- and 15- items structured questionnaire assessed the COVID-19 related knowledge and perception of the universal safety measure.

The impacts of gene polymorphisms on methotrexate in Chinese psoriatic patients.

Background: Methotrexate (MTX) is the first-line treatment for psoriasis in China. The metabolic processes of MTX include various proteins and genes. Previous studies have shown that gene polymorphisms had significant impacts on the efficacy of MTX.

Linking Health And Social Services Through Area Agencies On Aging Is Associated With Lower Health Care Use And Spending.

Area Agencies on Aging are increasingly partnering with health care organizations to address the health-related social needs of older adults and contribute to multisector coalitions that promote community health. Using survey data for the period 2008-13, we examined the potential health impacts of establishing such partnerships. Partnerships with hospitals located in an agency's service county were associated with a reduction of $136 in average annual Medicare spending per beneficiary, while partnerships with mental health organizations in an agency's service county saw potentially avoidable nursing home use fall by 0.

Beyond repression of Nrf2: An update on Keap1.

Nrf2 (NFE2L2 - nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2) is a transcription factor, which is repressed by interaction with a redox-sensitive protein Keap1 (Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1). Deregulation of Nrf2 transcriptional activity has been described in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases, and the Nrf2/Keap1 axis has emerged as a crucial modulator of cellular homeostasis. Whereas the significance of Nrf2 in the modulation of biological processes has been well established and broadly discussed in detail, the focus on Keap1 rarely goes beyond the regulation of Nrf2 activity and redox sensing.

Novel Approaches to Teaching Aging and Disability: Active Learning Through Design and Exploration.

Active learning emphasizes student engagement and collaboration instead of more passive learning, which involves primarily listening to lectures in the classroom setting. The benefits of active learning are many with an emphasis on the expansion of higher-order processing and critical thinking skills. Active learning can be found in many best practice approaches in the Medicine, Science, Engineering, and Mathematics (MSTEM) fields.

Sex differences in the response to oxidative and proteolytic stress.

Sex differences in diseases involving oxidative and proteolytic stress are common, including greater ischemic heart disease, Parkinson disease and stroke in men, and greater Alzheimer disease in women. Sex differences are also observed in stress response of cells and tissues, where female cells are generally more resistant to heat and oxidative stress-induced cell death. Studies implicate beneficial effects of estrogen, as well as cell-autonomous effects including superior mitochondrial function and increased expression of stress response genes in female cells relative to male cells.

Association of vitamin D status with coronary artery disease in postmenopausal women.

The relationship between coronary artery disease (CAD) and low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels has emerged. Postmenopausal (PM) women are at increased risk of CAD and vitamin D (VitD) deficiency.To investigate the relationship between CAD and VitD levels in PM women.

The Examination of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living and Perceived Adulthood in Emerging Adults.

Emerging adults differ in terms of the extent to which they perceive themselves as adults. We examined how the ability to perform activities related to independent living (i.e.

Literacy skills, language use, and online health information seeking among Hispanic adults in the United States.

Objective: Online health information is underutilized among Hispanics with low English proficiency in the U.S. This study examines the association between a unique measure of general English literacy, language use, and online health information seeking among Hispanic adults.

Application of single-level and multi-level modeling approach to examine geographic and socioeconomic variation in underweight, overweight and obesity in Nepal: findings from NDHS 2016.

Nepal's dual burden of undernutrition and over nutrition warrants further exploration of the population level differences in nutritional status. The study aimed to explore, for the first time in Nepal, potential geographic and socioeconomic variation in underweight and overweight and/or obesity prevalence in the country, adjusted for cluster and sample weight. Data came from 14,937 participants, including 6,172 men and 8,765 women, 15 years or older who participated in the 2016 Nepal Demography and Health Survey (NDHS).

Potentially Inappropriate Medications in Belgrade, Serbia Nursing Home Residents: A Comparison of Two Approaches.

There is currently limited information on the comparative effectiveness of the European Union(7)-potentially inappropriate medication (EU(7)-PIM) list and the Beers criteria for screening PIMs, of which PIMs are a significant concern, in the geriatric population of nursing home residents. This study aims to determine and compare the rates of PIMs detected with the Beers criteria (five sections of which the first is a list of inappropriate medications in older adults) and the EU(7)-PIM list (based on the first section of the Beers criteria). The study, conducted in Gerontology Center Belgrade ( = 427), is retrospective and observational.

Food insecurity and dietary diversity among lactating mothers in the urban municipality in the mountains of Nepal.

Background: Adequate nutrition is essential during the lactation period for better maternal and child health outcomes. Although food insecurity and dietary monotony (defined as less diverse diet), two important determinants of undernutrition, are endemic in the rural mountains of Nepal, insufficiently examined and assessed for risk factors in mothers during lactation, a life stage of high nutritional demand. This study aimed to assess the status and factors associated with food insecurity and dietary diversity among lactating mothers residing in the mountains of Nepal.

Dried blood spots: Effects of less than optimal collection, shipping time, heat, and humidity.

Objectives: This study investigates how factors related to collection, storage, transport time, and environmental conditions affect the quality and accuracy of analyses of dried blood spot (DBS) samples.

Methods: Data come from the 2016 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) DBS laboratory reports and the HRS merged with the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Global Historical Climate Network Daily (NCDC GHCN-Daily) and the NCDC Local Climatological Data, by zip code. We ran regression models to examine the associations between assay values based on DBS for five analytes (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), C-reactive protein (CRP), and cystatin C) and the characteristics of DBS cards and drops, shipping time, and temperature, and humidity at the time of collection.

Reducing Hospital Readmissions Through a Skilled Nursing Facility Discharge Intervention: A Pragmatic Trial.

Objective: To determine if implementation of Project Re-Engineered Discharge (RED), designed for hospitals but adapted for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), reduces hospital readmissions after SNF discharge to the community in residents admitted to the SNF following an index hospitalization.

Design: A pragmatic trial.

Setting And Participants: SNFs in southeastern Massachusetts, and residents discharged to the community.

Construction and Validation of Risk-adjusted Rates of Emergency Department Visits for Long-stay Nursing Home Residents.

Background: Long-stay nursing home (NH) residents are at high risk of having emergency department (ED) visits, but current knowledge regarding risk-adjusted ED rates is limited.

Objectives: To construct and validate 3 quarterly risk-adjusted rates of long-stay residents' ED use: any ED visit, ED visits without hospitalization or observation stay (outpatient ED), and potentially avoidable ED visits (PAED).

Research Design: The authors calculated quarterly NH risk-adjusted ED rates from 2011 Q2 to 2013 Q3 national Medicare claims and Minimum Data Set data.

Black-White Differences in 20-year Trends in Cardiovascular Risk in the United States, 1990-2010.

Objective: Improvements in the Black-White difference in life expectancy have been attributed to improved diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and declines in cardiovascular disease mortality. However, it is unclear whether race differences in total cardiovascular risk and the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors have improved in the United States since the 1990s.

Design: Serial cross-sectional design.

Keap1 controls protein S-nitrosation and apoptosis-senescence switch in endothelial cells.

Premature senescence, a death escaping pathway for cells experiencing stress, is conducive to aging and cardiovascular diseases. The molecular switch between senescent and apoptotic fate remains, however, poorly recognized. Nrf2 is an important transcription factor orchestrating adaptive response to cellular stress.

Sense of community and its relationship with psychological well-being in assisted living.

Sense of community (SOC) is a comprehensive psychological assessment of the relationship between person and place and relates to positive psychological outcomes in community-living adults, but has not been tested in assisted living (AL). This study describes SOC, identifies associated factors, and explores the relationship between SOC and psychological well-being with a sample of AL residents. Participants included 202 residents of 21 ALs.

Programmed Activity Attendance in Assisted Living: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior with Additional Health Factors.

: Programmed activities contribute to the quality of life of assisted living (AL) residents, but attendance rates are often quite low. Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study explores relationships among social cognitive variables, multidimensional health factors, and programmed activity attendance in AL.: In a cross-sectional survey, 185 AL residents ( = 83.

Measuring redox effects on the activities of intracellular proteases such as the 20S Proteasome and the Immuno-Proteasome with fluorogenic peptides.

Proteolytic enzymes are often strongly affected by redox reactions, free radicals, oxidation, or oxidative stress. The 20S Proteasome and the Immuno-Proteasome are examples of major intracellular proteases whose concentration, transcription, translation, and proteolytic activity are all subject to redox regulation. Proteasomes are essential in maintaining overall protein homeostasis (or proteostasis), and their dysregulation results in detrimental phenotypes associated with various pathologies, including several common age-related diseases.

Neuroimaging of traumatic brain injury in military personnel: An overview.

Background: The incidence of blunt-force traumatic brain injury (TBI) is especially prevalent in the military, where the emergency care admission rate has been reported to be 24.6-41.8 per 10,000 soldier-years.