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Aging affects negatively the immune system, defined as immunosenescence, which increases the susceptibility of elderly persons to infection, autoimmune disease, and cancer. There are strong indications that physical exercise in elderly persons may prevent the age-related decline in immune response without significant side effects. Consequently, exercise is being considered as a safe mode of intervention to reduce immunosenescence. The aim of this review was to appraise the existing evidence regarding the impact of exercise on surface markers of cellular immunosenescence in either young and old humans or animals. PubMed and Web of Science were systematically screened, and 28 relevant articles in humans or animals were retrieved. Most of the intervention studies demonstrated that an acute bout of exercise induced increases in senescent, naïve, memory CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes and significantly elevated apoptotic lymphocytes in peripheral blood. As regards long-term effects, exercise induced increased levels of T-lymphocytes expressing CD28+ in both young and elderly subjects. Few studies found an increase in natural killer cell activity following a period of training. We can conclude that exercise has considerable effects on markers of cellular aspects of the immune system. However, very few studies have been conducted so far to investigate the effects of exercise on markers of cellular immunosenescence in elderly persons. Implications for immunosenescence need further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this investigation was to compare the performance and cost of the Carba NP test with the Rapid CARB Screen Kit in detecting the presence of carbapenemase in Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Ninety-two Enterobacteriaceae and 19 P. aeruginosa strains were used in this study. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to determine whether these microorganisms harboured bla, bla, bla, bla and bla. The Carba NP test and Rapid CARB Screen Kit were used on the strains according to the standardised protocols. The sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of the tests were calculated. The cost of performing one test was also calculated. Forty-five Enterobacteriaceae and six P. aeruginosa were found to harbour carbapenemase-encoding genes. The Carba NP test had sensitivities of 91.1 % and 100 % for Enterobacteriaceae and P. aeruginosa, respectively. The Rapid CARB Screen Kit had sensitivities of 73.3 % and 66.7 % for Enterobacteriaceae and P. aeruginosa, respectively. The specificity of both tests was 100 %. The approximated price for performing one Carba NP test was 0.31 Euros and for CARB Screen Kit, it was 1.25 Euros. The Carba NP test performed better than the Rapid CARB Screen Kit in detecting carbapenemase production in Enterobacteriaceae and P. aeruginosa. The cost to perform both tests is reasonable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated whether screening for insulinoma-associated protein (IA-2) beta (IA-2β) autoantibodies (IA-2βA) and zinc transporter-8 (ZnT8) autoantibodies (ZnT8A) improves identification of first-degree relatives of type 1 diabetic patients with a high 5-year disease risk, which to date has been based on assays for insulin autoantibodies (IAA), GAD autoantibodies (GADA) and IA-2 autoantibodies (IA-2A). IA-2βA and ZnT8A (using a ZnT8 carboxy-terminal hybrid construct, CW-CR, carrying 325Arg and 325Trp) were determined by radiobinding assay in 409 IAA+, GADA+ and/or IA-2A+ siblings or offspring (<40 years) of type 1 diabetic patients consecutively recruited by the Belgian Diabetes Registry. The median (interquartile range) age of the first-degree relatives was 12 (6–19) years. Of the first-degree relatives, 24% were IA-2A+ ( n = 97), 14% ( n = 59) IA-2βA+ and 20% ( n = 80) ZnT8A+. IA-2βA and ZnT8A were significantly ( p < 0.001) associated with IA-2A and prediabetes ( n = 86); in IA-2A− first-degree relatives ( n = 312) the presence of IA-2βA and ZnT8A was associated with an increased progression rate to diabetes ( p < 0.001). Positivity for IA-2A and/or ZnT8A emerged as the most sensitive combination of two markers to identify first-degree relatives with a 5-year progression rate to diabetes of 45% (survival analysis) and as strongest predictor of diabetes (Cox regression analysis). Omission of first-degree relatives protected by HLA-DQ genotypes or maternal diabetes reduced the group to be followed from n = 409 to n = 246 (40%) with minor loss in the number of prediabetic IA-2A+ or ZnT8A+ first-degree relatives identified ( n = 3). IA-2A+ and/or ZnT8A+ first-degree relatives may be the participants of choice in future secondary prevention trials with immunointervention in relatives of type 1 diabetic patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]