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Effects of Resistance Exercise on Neuroprotective Factors in Middle and Late Life: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
No full textNeuroprotective factors are involved in brain functioning. Although physical exercise has been shown to have a positive influence on these factors, the effect of resistance exercise on them is not well known. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to 1) estimate the efficacy of resistance exercise on major neuroprotective factors, such as insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in middle and late life and 2) determine whether the effect is dose dependent. A systematic search was conducted in CINAHL, Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Scopus, PEDro, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science up to November 2022. Random effects models were used to estimate standardized mean differences (SMDs) and their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the effect of resistance exercise on peripheral IGF-1, BDNF or VEGF levels in older adults. Thirty randomized clinical trials with 1247 subjects (53.25% women, 45-92 years) were included in the systematic review, and 27 were selected for the meta-analysis. A significant effect of resistance exercise on IGF-1 levels was observed (SMD: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.27, 0.69), being more effective when performing 3 sessions/week (SMD: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.31, 0.79) but not on BDNF (SMD: 0.33; 95% CI: -0.29, 0.94). The effect on VEGF could not be determined due to the scarcity of studies. Our data support the resistance training recommendation in middle and late life, at a frequency of at least 3 sessions/week, to mitigate the neurological and cognitive consequences associated with aging, mainly through IGF-1
Chronic intermittent hypoxia promotes glomerular hyperfiltration and potentiates hypoxia-evoked decreases in renal perfusion and PO2
No full textIntroduction: Sleep apnea (SA) is highly prevalent in patients with chronic kidney disease and may contribute to the development and/or progression of this condition. Previous studies suggest that dysregulation of renal hemodynamics and oxygen flux may play a key role in this process. The present study sought to determine how chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) associated with SA affects regulation of renal artery blood flow (RBF), renal microcirculatory perfusion (RP), glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and cortical and medullary tissue PO2 as well as expression of genes that could contribute to renal injury. We hypothesized that normoxic RBF and tissue PO2 would be reduced after CIH, but that GFR would be increased relative to baseline, and that RBF, RP, and tissue PO2 would be decreased to a greater extent in CIH vs. sham during exposure to intermittent asphyxia (IA, FiO2 0.10/FiCO2 0.03). Additionally, we hypothesized that gene programs promoting oxidative stress and fibrosis would be activated by CIH in renal tissue. Methods: All physiological variables were measured at baseline (FiO2 0.21) and during exposure to 10 episodes of IA (excluding GFR). Results: GFR was higher in CIH-conditioned vs. sham (p < 0.05), whereas normoxic RBF and renal tissue PO2 were significantly lower in CIH vs. sham (p < 0.05). Reductions in RBF, RP, and renal tissue PO2 during IA occurred in both groups but to a greater extent in CIH (p < 0.05). Pro-oxidative and pro-fibrotic gene programs were activated in renal tissue from CIH but not sham. Conclusion: CIH adversely affects renal hemodynamic regulation and oxygen flux during both normoxia and IA and results in changes in renal tissue gene expression. Copyright © 2023 Kious, Savage, Twohey, Highum, Philipose, Díaz, Del Rio, Lang, Clayton and Marcus.Iowa Osteopathic Education Research Fund; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, NHLBI, (R15 HL138600-01); Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico, FONDECYT, (1220950); Institute of Engineering Research, Seoul National University, IOER, (12-22-05)Universidad Autónoma de Chil
Consideracions ètiques i jurídiques de la IA en Educació Superior: Desafiaments i Perspectives
No full textThe use of Artificial Intelligence, hereafter AI, has become widespread in the academic and student community. ChatGPT is a generative language modelling tool that presents opportunities and challenges beyond regulation. Ethical principles and a prospective law must be combined with a proper education of the educational community in order to use AI as a tool in knowledge generation and not mere decontextualised information that can lead to failure in the goals of higher education as well as the goals of the larger social development of modern society, which is an inclusive and solidarity-based education. © 2023 University of Toronto Press. All rights reserved.Universidad Autónoma de Chil
A transfobia como doença social: discursos de vulnerabilidades em homens trans e pessoas transmasculinas
No full textObjective: to analyze the repercussions of transphobia on trans men’s and transmasculine people’s health. Method: a qualitative study carried out with 38 participants, 35 trans men and three trans men, who attended specialized transgender health services in Bahia, Brazil. In-depth interviews were carried out between June 2019 and February 2020. The Discourse of Collective Subject technique was used and interpretation based on the theoretical concept of transphobia. Results: transphobia has intra and interpersonal repercussions on the life and health of trans men and transmasculine people who attend health services. There were experiences of violence in the private space, fraying of family ties; discrimination in the school space; limitation in professional/work opportunities; barriers to self-care and access to health services; elaboration of trans identity protection strategies; consequences of transphobia on psycho-emotional health. Conclusion: transphobia is a social disease that affects different life and health dimensions. It causes damage to the socialization of trans men and transmasculine people, in addition to health service spaces as well as in family environments, schools, universities and at work, which result in non-adherence to self-care, distancing from health services and psycho-emotional distress. © 2023, Associacao Brasilerira de Enfermagem. All rights reserved.Universidad Autónoma de Chil
Documento de consenso para la determinación e informe del perfil lipídico en laboratorios clínicos españoles: ¿Qué parámetros debe incluir un perfil lipídico básico?
No full textCardiovascular diseases (CVD) continue to be the main cause of death in our country. Adequate control of lipid metabolism disorders is a key challenge in cardiovascular prevention that is far from being achieved in real clinical practice. There is a great heterogeneity in the reports of lipid metabolism from Spanish clinical laboratories, which may contribute to its poor control. For this reason, a working group of the main scientific societies involved in the care of patients at vascular risk, has prepared this document with a consensus proposal on the determination of the basic lipid profile in cardiovascular prevention, recommendations for its realization and unification of criteria to incorporate the lipid control goals appropriate to the vascular risk of the patients in the laboratory reports. © 2023 Elsevier España, S.L.U., Arán Ediciones, Sociedad Española de Arteriosclerosis (SEA), ), Sociedad Española de Medicina de Laboratorio (SEQCML), Sociedad Española de Cardiología (SEC), Sociedad Española de Angiología y Cirugía Vascular (SEACV), Sociedad Española de Cirugía Cardiovascular y Endovascular (SECCE), Sociedad Española de Diabetes (SED), Sociedad Española de Endocrinología y Nutrición (SEEN), Sociedad Española de Hipertensión y Riesgo Vascular (SEHLELHA), Sociedad Española de Medicina de Familia y Comunitaria (SEMFyC), Sociedad Española de Medicina Interna (SEMI), Sociedad Española de Médicos Generales y de Familia (SEMG), Sociedad Española de Nefrología (SEN) y Sociedad Española de Neurología (SEN)
Education for Sustainable Development: Challenges for Postgraduate Programmes
No full textAs the world faces progressive and interconnected global crises and conflicts, the educational expectations set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are in jeopardy. With the COVID-19 pandemic in its third year, the war in Ukraine has exacerbated the food, energy, humanitarian, and refugee crises, all against the backdrop of an unfolding climate emergency. The aim of this research is to analyse the challenges faced by postgraduate programmes in training human talent for sustainable development on the basis of Grounded Theory. To do so, we have used a dialogical intervention through the complementary experiences of authorities of higher-education institutions that live day by day for a fair, quality, and sustainable education. With a naturalistic qualitative method, where the hermeneutic analysis procedure is structured in five phases, and with data from key informants from 9 countries, 20 interviews are obtained with key informants in Latin American and Spanish universities during 2021, according to inclusion criteria such as: belonging to a higher-education institution, with a doctorate degree, with more than 10 years of experience in management, and training in postgraduate programmes. The data are processed through ATLAS.ti9, which allows for the analysis of the key informants’ discourses. The findings show that the university institutions that currently offer postgraduate programmes are considering improving the quality of education; the first challenge is to redesign the curricula according to the demands of the current and future world, incorporating technological resources and knowledge of the environment; inter- and transdisciplinary curricula that form enterprising postgraduates with a solid ethical life project; critical, complex, and systemic thinking.Universidad Autónoma de Chil
Análisis de red de síntomas emocionales y su relación con distintos tipos de cibervictimización
No full textBackground: Cyberbullying is a highly prevalent problem in our society with important implications for adolescent psychological wellbeing. The objective of the study was to examine the network structure of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale in a sample of youths, and find out the relationships between different types of cybervictimization and the presence of negative emotional states. Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The sample was made up of 2,171 high school students with a mean age of 13.84 (with 50.53% males and 49.47% females). The Cybervictimization Questionnaire (CYVIC) and the Spanish version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were administered. Results: Positive correlations were found between all the dimensions of the DASS-21 and the types of cybervictimization. The network structure showed that the different nodes of three emotional states were positively related to each other (although some relationships were stronger than others). Furthermore, girls had significantly higher means in depression, anxiety, and stress. In analyzing the network, the strongest associations in both sexes were found to be between anxiety and written-verbal cybervictimization and exclusion. Conclusions: Negative emotional states and types of cybervictimization were related in a complex network where efforts to approach reduction of emotional symptoms associated with cybervictimization could produce lasting benefits for the emotional wellbeing of youths © 2023 Colegio Oficial de la Psicología de Madrid. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Universidad Autónoma de Chil
Wettability of Amino Acid-Functionalized PSMA Electrospun Fibers for the Modulated Release of Active Agents and Its Effect on Their Bioactivity
No full textThe ideal treatment for chronic wounds is based on the use of bioactive dressings capable of releasing active agents. However, the control of the rate at which these active agents are released is still a challenge. Bioactive polymeric fiber mats of poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) [PSMA] functionalized with amino acids of different hydropathic indices and L-glutamine, L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine levels allowed obtaining derivatives of the copolymers named PSMA@Gln, PSMA@Phe and PSMA@Tyr, respectively, with the aim of modulating the wettability of the mats. The bioactive characteristics of mats were obtained by the incorporation of the active agents Calendula officinalis (Cal) and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). A higher wettability for PSMA@Gln was observed, which is in accordance with the hydropathic index value of the amino acid. However, the release of AgNPs was higher for PSMA and more controlled for functionalized PSMA (PSMAf), while the release curves of Cal did not show behavior related to the wettability of the mats due to the apolar character of the active agent. Finally, the differences in the wettability of the mats also affected their bioactivity, which was evaluated in bacterial cultures of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 33592, an NIH/3T3 fibroblast cell line and red blood cells. © 2023 by the authors.ANID-Chile; Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico, FONDECYT, (1191467, 1200853, 1231631)Universidad Autónoma de Chil
Licochalcone A: A Potential Multitarget Drug for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment
No full textLicochalcone A (Lico-A) is a flavonoid compound derived from the root of the Glycyrrhiza species, a plant commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine. While the Glycyrrhiza species has shown promise in treating various diseases such as cancer, obesity, and skin diseases due to its active compounds, the investigation of Licochalcone A’s effects on the central nervous system and its potential application in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) treatment have garnered significant interest. Studies have reported the neuroprotective effects of Lico-A, suggesting its potential as a multitarget compound. Lico-A acts as a PTP1B inhibitor, enhancing cognitive activity through the BDNF-TrkB pathway and exhibiting inhibitory effects on microglia activation, which enables mitigation of neuroinflammation. Moreover, Lico-A inhibits c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1, a key enzyme involved in tau phosphorylation, and modulates the brain insulin receptor, which plays a role in cognitive processes. Lico-A also acts as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, leading to increased levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (Ach) in the brain. This mechanism enhances cognitive capacity in individuals with AD. Finally, Lico-A has shown the ability to reduce amyloid plaques, a hallmark of AD, and exhibits antioxidant properties by activating the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a key regulator of antioxidant defense mechanisms. In the present review, we discuss the available findings analyzing the potential of Lico-A as a neuroprotective agent. Continued research on Lico-A holds promise for the development of novel treatments for cognitive disorders and neurodegenerative diseases, including AD. Further investigations into its multitarget action and elucidation of underlying mechanisms will contribute to our understanding of its therapeutic potential. © 2023 by the authors.Fundación ADEY; Institut de Neurociències UB, (CEX2021-001159-M); Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, FCT, (127303); Generalitat de Catalunya, (2021 SGR 00288); Instituto de Salud Carlos III, ISCIII, (CD22/00125); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, MICINN, (PID2021-122473OA-I00, PID2021-123462OB-I00); Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas, CIBERNED, (CB06/05/2004, PI2021/03)Universidad Autónoma de Chil
Differences between finger and toe Meissner corpuscles: Searching for the optimal place to analyze meissner corpuscles in cutaneous biopsy
No full textBackground: Skin biopsy is a minimally invasive and repeatable technique, applicable in any part of the body that can allows for diagnosis and control of treatments, but to analyze Meissner corpuscles biopsy of glabrous skin is necessary it is recommendable obtained the maximal amount it is possible. Changes in density, size, and morphology occurs in several peripheral neuropathies as well as diseases affecting the central nervous system. Methods: We used immunohistochemistry and image analysis to establish differences in the immunohistochemical profile, density, morphology, size and depth relative to the epidermis of Meissner's corpuscles from fingers and toes in a homogeneous age-group. Results: The morphology of Meissner corpuscles was variable. In fingers ellipsoidal non-lobulated corpuscles predominate (about 82%) while in toes most of them showed irregular morphology (60%). No differences between fingers and toes were noted in the basic immunohistochemical profile, except for capsulation. The mean density of Meissner corpuscles was 3,22 ± 0,86/mm2 and 1,15 ± 0,71/mm2, respectively; and the Meissner corpuscles index was 1,09 ± 0,07 and 0,28 ± 0,09, respectively. Regarding the size Meissner corpuscles from the fingers measured 108 ± 24.2 μm x 64 ± 9 μm, and those from toes 87 ± 21.2 μm x 34 ± 6 μm. Finally, the depth relative to the epidermis was 3.6 ± 0.9 μm in fingers and 19 ± 16.2 μm in toes. Conclusion: the study of Meissner corpuscles in cutaneous biopsy from fingers may offer advantages over that from toes because in fingers Meissner's corpuscles are more abundant and superficial, larger, and express more regularly the defining markers of the main corpuscular components.Universidad Autónoma de Chil