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• This study provides age group- and sex-specific reference values for home-based gait speed in Brazilians aged 50 years and over. • Home-based gait speed reduced with increasing age in both sexes. • Home-based gait speed was lower in women compared to men in the 60-69 and 70-79 age groups. • Age group and education were associated with home-based gait speed in men. • Age group, education, and waist circumference were associated with home-based gait speed in women. To investigate home-based gait speed performance for men and women stratified by age group and its associations with sociodemographic and anthropometric variables. Data from the 2nd wave of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil, 2019-2021) were used. Gait speed was tested twice at home over 3.0 meters at usual pace. Associations of sociodemographic and anthropometric variables with gait speed were evaluated using gamma regression. Median gait speed value reduced with increasing age in both sexes [men: 0.70 m/s (50-59 years) to 0.53 m/s (≥80 years); women: 0.68 m/s (50-59 years) to 0.48 m/s (≥80 years)] and was significantly lower in women than men in the age groups of 60-69 and 70-79 years. Age group and education among men and age group, education, and waist circumference among women were significantly associated with gait speed. Our findings may be helpful as reference values to identify mobility limitation among older Brazilians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Brazil and England are 2 countries at different stages in their demographic, epidemiological, and nutritional transitions and with distinct socioeconomic and politic contexts, but with similar universal health systems. We aimed to examine disability and its association with objective anthropometric indicators of nutritional status, including BMI, waist circumference, and waist-to-height ratio, comparing older Brazilian and English adults. Methods We used cross-sectional data from 2 nationally representative aging studies. For Brazil, we included 9412 participants who participated in the baseline (2015–2016) of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil). The English data were from 8024 participants of the wave 6 (2012–2013) of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA). Disability was defined as difficulty to perform at least 1 activity of daily living. We used logistic regression models to examine the association between anthropometric indicators and disability, adjusted for sociodemographic and health-related characteristics, considering the interaction term between each anthropometric indicator and country. Results All health-related characteristics were worse in Brazil than England, although the prevalence of disability was similar among Brazilian (17.85%) and English (16.27%) older adults. Fully adjusted models showed statistically significant interaction terms between country and anthropometric indicators. The strength of the associations in Brazil was weaker compared with England. All anthropometric indicators were positively associated with disability: elevated BMI, in Brazil (OR: 1.27; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.51) and in England (OR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.51, 2.14); elevated waist circumference, in Brazil (OR: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.44) and in England (OR: 1.90; 95% CI: 1.51, 2.37); and elevated waist-to-height ratio, in Brazil (OR: 1.20; 95% CI: 0.96, 1.52) and in England (OR: 1.83; 95% CI: 1.37, 2.44). Conclusions Elevated BMI and waist circumference increased the odds of disability in both populations. However, these associations were stronger in England than in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The AIMS normative age scale is appropriate for Brazilian infants. • The sequence of gross motor development for Brazilian infants is similar to Canadian infants. • Ages of attainment vary for some items between samples. Previous validity studies of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS), using raw scores and percentile curves for group comparisons, showed that infants in Brazil achieved gross motor milestones at later ages. Validity of the AIMS norms were later reassessed using a logistic regression model that placed the AIMS items on an age scale. Our study examined the validity of the AIMS norms for Brazilian infants using the recommended method for calculating and comparing item locations. Data from 732 Brazilian infants (2009–11), 3 days to 18 months old, were compared to the AIMS normative sample (n = 2202). Logistic regression placed the AIMS items of both samples on age scales representing the age at which 50% of infants passed an item and compared the two datasets. Pearson correlation coefficient tested the association across samples. 47 of the 58 AIMS items met the criterion for stable regression to calculate item locations of the Brazilian dataset. Based on the age when 50% of the infants passed a criterion, most of the items from the Brazilian sample (n = 28) differed by two weeks or less compared to the Canadian normative sample. The sequence and age for the emergence of AIMS items were similar between the Brazilian and Canadian samples. Canadian norms are appropriate for clinical decisions and research with Brazilian infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the mandibular and articular dynamics and the presence of complications associated with surgical or nonsurgical treatments of condylar fractures.Study Design: Clinical trials that compared open reduction internal fixation and maxillomandibular fixation in patients with condylar fractures were included. We performed an electronic search of PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences) databases starting from February 2017 and updated in January 2019 and found 467 articles. We evaluated methodologic quality by using the criteria from Cochrane's Collaboration Tool.Results: After independent screening of abstracts, we assessed the full texts of 88 articles; 9 studies were included for qualitative synthesis; but only 8 were included for the meta-analysis. Four studies were considered to have high risk of bias, and 5 were considered to have low risk. The risk ratio (RR = 0.20; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.13-0.32) was observed for complications. The quality of evidence, using GRADE software, was considered low for maximum mouth opening and protrusive movement and moderate for lateral excursion movement and complications.Conclusions: This review suggested that open reduction internal fixation and maxillomandibular fixation are effective. However, surgical treatment presented higher objective parameters. Nonsurgical treatment presented a high index of complications, such as malocclusion, pain and deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of this 2-phase study were to elucidate pharmacokinetics (PK), in vivo 24-hour recovery, and red blood cell (RBC) survival properties of RBC-encapsulated dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP) prepared using the EryDex System (EDS). The 24-hour RBC recovery and T50 survival phase studied subjects were randomized to receive autologous RBCs loaded with either 15-20 mg DSP (Group 1A) or sham saline (Group 2A). Loaded RBCs were radiolabeled with 51-Cr, and the labeled RBCs were followed over time in vivo . The PK phase evaluated dose levels of 2.5-5 mg (Group 1B) and 15-20 mg (Group 2B) DSP encapsulated in RBCs infused into healthy randomized subjects. The mean ± SD 24-hour RBC recovery was 77.9% ± 3.3% and 72.7% ± 10.5% for Groups 1A and 2A, respectively. The mean ± SD RBC life span was 84.3 ± 8.3 days in Group 1A and 88.9 ± 6.2 days in Group 2A. The PK phase actual DSP loading doses (mean ± SEM) were 4.2 ± 0.27 mg and 16.9 ± 0.90 mg in Groups 1B and 2B, respectively. Release of dexamethasone from RBCs in vivo peaked at 1 hour, and a sustained release of dexamethasone could be detected until 35 days after the single intravenous infusion in Group 2B. The mean RBC in vivo recovery for DSP-loaded processed cells compares similarly to the 24-hour recovery of regulated RBC products intended for transfusion. There was a minimal but acceptable adverse impact on the survival of EDS-processed RBCs. DSP-loaded autologous RBCs, prepared using the EDS, delivered a sustained dose of dexamethasone in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammation, particularly elevated IL-6 serum levels, has been associated with increased mortality risk, mostly in Caucasians. The influence of genetic ethno-racial background on this association is unknown. We examined associations between baseline serum levels of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and other cytokines (IL1-2, TNF, IL-10, and IL1β) and chemokines (CCL2, CCL5, CXCL8, CXCL9 and CXCL10) with 15-year mortality in 1,191 admixed Brazilians aged 60 years and over. Elevated IL6 level (but not other biomarkers) was associated with increased risk of deaths with fully adjusted hazard ratios of 1.51 (95% CI = 1.15, 1.97), 1.54 (95% CI = 1.20, 1.96) and 1.79 (95% CI = 1.40, 2.29) for the 2nd, 3rd and the highest quartiles, respectively. Genomic African and Native American proportions did not modify the association ( p > 0.05). The discriminatory ability to predict death of a model based on IL-6 alone was similar as that of a comprehensive morbidity score (C statistics = 0.59 and 0.60, respectively). The abilities of IL-6 and the morbidity score models to predict death remained stable for very long term after the baseline measurement. Our results indicate that genome-based African and Native American ancestries have no impact on the prognostic value of IL-6 for mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The ability of inflammatory markers to predict disability in later life has received growing attention. However, the current evidence came predominantly from Caucasians and the role of genomic ancestry has not been investigated. Objective We investigated the prognostic value of multiple citokynes and chemokines for incident disability in admixed older Brazilians and whether genomic African and Native American ancestry affects the association. Design Population-based longitudinal study. Setting The Bambui-Epigen (Brazil) Cohort Study of Aging. Subjects 1171 males and females aged ≥60 years over 15-year of follow-up. Methods Outcome examined was incident activity of daily living (ADL) disability assessed annually (10,039 measures were performed). Serum levels of citokynes (IL6, IL12, TNF, IL10, and IL1β) and chemokines (CCL2, CCL5, CXCL8, CXCL9 and CXCL10) were measured at baseline. We used 370,539 Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) to estimate each individual genomic ancestry proportions. Potential confounding variables included a wide range of socio-demographic variables and health indicators. Statistical analyses were based on competing risk framework. Results The incidence rate of disability was 57.9 per 1000 person-years. IL6 level at the highest quartile showed an independent association with ADL disability (SRH = 1.32; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.70). Other inflammatory markers showed no statistically significant associations with the outcome. Neither genomic African nor Native American ancestry had an effect modifier on the associations (P for interaction >0.05 for all). Conclusion Among multi-inflammatory markers, only IL6 had the potential to identify people at increased risk of ADL disability, independently of ethno-racial background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Erythrocyte-based drug delivery systems are emerging as potential new solutions for the release of drugs into the bloodstream. The aim of the present work was to assess the performance of a fully automated process (EDS) for the ex-vivo encapsulation of the pro-drug dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP) into autologous erythrocytes in compliance with regulatory requirements. The loading method was based on reversible hypotonic hemolysis, which allows the opening of transient pores in the cell membrane to be crossed by DSP. The efficiency of encapsulation and the biochemical and physiological characteristics of the processed erythrocytes were investigated in blood samples from 34 healthy donors. It was found that the processed erythrocytes maintained their fundamental properties and the encapsulation process was reproducible. The EDS under study showed greater loading efficiency and reduced variability compared to previous EDS versions. Notably, these results were confirmed using blood samples from Ataxia Telangiectasia (AT) patients, 9.33 ± 1.40 and 19.41 ± 2.10 mg of DSP (mean ± SD, n = 134) by using 62.5 and 125 mg DSP loading quantities, respectively. These results support the use of the new EDS version 3.2.0 to investigate the effect of erythrocyte-delivered dexamethasone in regulatory trials in patients with AT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The relationship between taste perception and eating disorders was investigated. • Taste impairments occurred differently in obese subjects with eating disorders. • Subjects with mixed eating disorders shown a reduced perception of salty stimuli. • Emotional and external eating characterized obese with eating disorders. • Targeting taste might be a promising strategy to personalize the dietary approach. Eating disorders (i.e., food addiction and binge eating) are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and are considered one of the most common underlying causes of weight loss failure. Despite ongoing efforts to better understand dysregulated eating, the core phenomenon of the mechanisms underlying the perception of food properties and the possible sensory deficits in eating disorders remains scarcely investigated. This is surprising as the perception of food plays a central role in choosing what we eat and could be relevant in maintaining disordered eating behaviours in patients with obesity. To address this knowledge gap, we tested the hypothesis that taste response profiles are differentially linked to nutritional status and eating disorder types. In addition, a range of eating behavioural attitudes associated with over-consumption was also evaluated to assess their importance in driving abnormal eating. One hundred and twenty-two patients with obesity were studied (37 simple obese; 43 obese with food addiction; 42 obese with co-occurring food addiction and binge eating). Forty-three subjects were recruited as the control group. Sweet and salty taste thresholds (target stimuli associated with binge/compulsive eating) were measured with the 3-Alternative-Forced-Choice method, and eating habits (external, emotional, and restrained eating) were assessed by the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Results generally showed that patients with obesity (with and without eating disorders) presented a significantly (p < 0.001) lower acuity to sweet and salty tastes compared to controls. In particular, patients with co-occurring food addiction and binge eating showed the highest salty threshold compared to the other groups. Moreover, this group had significantly (p < 0.001) higher emotional and external eating scores than the others. Our data suggest that targeting taste might be a novel approach toward weight control to prevent the risk of therapeutic failure, identify new intervention strategies and, above all, personalise the type of dietary approach to be adopted with the obesity endophenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]