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Copyright of Innere Medizin (2731-7080) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Key summary points: Aim: The aim of the work is to characterize the study population in whom reactive balance training on a perturbation treadmill was feasible. Findings: More than half of the participants had some cognitive impairment with < 24 pts. (median MoCA 21 pts.), 35% were prefrail and 61% were frail. The drop-out rate was initially 31% and was reduced to 12% after adding a short pre-test on the treadmill. Message: Reactive balance training on a perturbation treadmill is feasible for prefrail and frail geriatric patients. Purpose: Prefrail and frail geriatric patients are at high risk of falling. Perturbation-based balance training on a treadmill appears to be highly effective, but there are no studies in prefrail and frail geriatric hospital patients. The aim of the work is to characterize the study population in whom reactive balance training on a perturbation treadmill was feasible. Methods: The study is recruiting patients with at least one fall event in the past year (age ≥ 70). The patients complete a minimum of 60-min treadmill training with/without perturbations on at least 4 occasions. Results: Until now, 80 patients (mean age 80 ± 5) took part in the study. More than half of the participants had some cognitive impairment with < 24 pts. (median MoCA 21 pts.), 35% were prefrail and 61% were frail. The drop-out rate was initially 31% and was reduced to 12% after adding a short pre-test on the treadmill. Conclusion: Reactive balance training on a perturbation treadmill is feasible for prefrail and frail geriatric patients. Its effectiveness in fall prevention in this population needs to be proven. Trial registration: German Clinical trial register (DRKS-ID: DRKS00024637 on 24.02.2021). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/objectives: Poor food intake is a major etiological factor of malnutrition. This research aims to describe the prevalence of recent and current low food intake (LIRC) and to identify factors associated with LIRC in adult hospital patients from different medical specialities.Subject/methods: 1865 patients participating in the nutritionDay survey 2016-2020 in Germany were included. LIRC was defined by decreased eating both on nutritionDay and in the week before hospitalisation. Multivariate binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with LIRC overall and in different specialities.Results: LIRC was observed in 21.1% of all patients, with the highest prevalence in Gastroenterology (26.6%) and the lowest in Neurology (11.2%). Weight loss within three months before nutritionDay (OR 2.62 [95% CI 1.93-3.56]), (very) poor self-rated health (2.17 [1.62-2.91]), female sex (1.98 [1.50-2.61]), uncertain weight loss (1.90 [1.03-3.51]), digestive disease (1.90 [1.40-2.56]), inability to walk without assistance (1.55 [1.14-2.12]) and emergency admission (1.38 [1.02-1.86]) were associated with increased risk, cardiac insufficiency (0.55 [0.37-0.83]) and being in a neurological ward (0.51 [0.28-0.92]) with decreased risk in the total sample. In Gastroenterology and Oncology, estimates were higher than in the entire sample; no significant associations were found in Neurology and Geriatrics, presumably due to the low prevalence of LIRC in Neurology and limited data quality in Geriatrics.Conclusion: LIRC is common in German hospital patients and associated with female sex, poor health and decreased functional status. Interdisciplinary differences suggest a discipline-specific approach to dealing with malnutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/objectives: The Mini Nutritional Assessment Short-Form (MNA-SF) is the recommended screening tool for older persons. Data on interrater reliability in clinical routine are rare. Thus, we wanted to quantify the interrater reliability of the MNA-SF in hospital.Subjects/methods: This observational cross-sectional study was undertaken retrospectively. The study population comprised 105 participants. Risk of malnutrition was measured twice with the routine MNA-SF performed by nurses (within 24 h after admission) and a dedicated dietician (one to three days after the first MNA-SF). The MNA-SF score was analyzed for interrater reliability between nurse and dietician.Results: Participants' mean age was 82.4 (±7.1) years and 71 (68%) were women. The mean total MNA-SF score was 7.4 (±2.4) assessed by dietician and 7.8 (±2.3) assessed by nurse. The intra-class correlation coefficient between the total MNA-SF scores was 0.74 (0.61; 0.82), indicating moderate reliability. For the MNA-SF nutritional status, Cohens Kappa was 0.37 (p < 0.05) showing a fair agreement.Conclusion: Multiple misclassifications were observed between malnutrition and risk of malnutrition. Because mean scores were near the border between malnutrition and risk of malnutrition, we recommend to consider the total MNA-SF score in addition to the three risk groups to assess nutritional risk in geriatric hospital patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant–herbivore networks comprise over 40% of the global biodiversity and are negatively impacted by habitat loss and fragmentation. However, the extent to which these networks are affected by chronic anthropogenic disturbances and aridity, the most common threats to biodiversity in dry forests, remain unknown. In this study, we examined plant and insect herbivore communities and their interaction networks facing chronic disturbance and aridity gradients in the Caatinga dry forest of northeast Brazil. Our results indicate that aridity and disturbance differentially influenced plant and insect communities. Aridity was accompanied by a reduction in the richness of plant, but not insect species. In contrast, while disturbance was associated with an increase in species richness of sap-sucking insects, it remained unrelated to plant richness. Both aridity and disturbance were identified as factors shaping plant community composition, while insect assemblages only corresponded to aridity. Aridity, but not disturbance, was consistently accompanied by a reduction in network metrics. More precisely, aridity was negatively correlated with network specialization and with the modularity of local webs. Our results also showed that aridity can alter the specialization of specific insect species, suggesting that not only species composition changes can be a key factor modifying network topology, but also shifts in insect behavior across environmental gradients. Our key takeaways are: (1) aridity adversely impacts the dry forest plant community; (2) disturbance can benefit insect feeding guilds such as sap-sucking; and (3) aridity can provoke less specialized interactions at both, species, and network levels. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that aridity disrupts plant–insect herbivore interactions and may trigger cascading extinctions of insect species by reducing the specialization level of their interaction networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background/objectives: Iron deficiency is common in older patients. We investigated whether iron deficiency is an independent risk factor for functional impairment, low muscle function, fatigue, and rehabilitation progress in older hospitalized patients.Subjects/methods: Two hundred twenty-four patients (age range 65-95 years; 67% females) who were consecutively admitted to a geriatric acute care ward participated in this prospective longitudinal observational study. Ferritin, iron, transferrin in serum, and blood hemoglobin were measured and current iron supplementation was recorded. Fatigue and comorbidity were measured using the fatigue severity scale and Charlson Comorbidity Index, respectively. Barthel Index, handgrip strength, and isometric knee extension strength were conducted at the time of hospital admission and before discharge.Results: Ninety-one (41%) patients had iron deficiency in which the majority had functional iron deficiency (78/91, 86%). Absolute iron deficiency with and without anemia was diagnosed in 12 (13%) and one patients, respectively. Barthel Index and handgrip and knee extension strength significantly improved during hospitalization in iron deficiency and non-iron deficiency groups. Knee extension strength showed better improvement in iron-deficient patients receiving iron supplementation and iron supplementation during hospital stay was the main predictor for improvement in knee extension strength. Comorbidity, iron deficiency, and changes in handgrip strength were the major independent risk factors for poor improvement in Barthel Index during hospitalization. There were significant associations between patients' fatigue and iron deficiency, comorbidity, and female gender.Conclusion: Iron deficiency is an independent risk factor for fatigue and poor functional recovery among older hospitalized patients. Iron supplementation seems to be capable of improving functional performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Habitat fragmentation and forest management have been considered to drastically alter the nature of forest ecosystems globally. However, much uncertainty remains regarding the causative mechanisms mediating temperate forest responses, such as forest physical environment and the structure of woody plant assemblages, regardless of the role these forests play for global sustainability. In this paper, we examine how both habitat fragmentation and timber exploitation via silvicultural operations affect these two factors at local and habitat spatial scales in a hyper-fragmented landscape of mixed beech forests spanning more than 1500 km2 in SW Germany. Variables were recorded across 57 1000 m2 plots covering four habitats: small forest fragments, forest edges within large control forests, as well as managed and unmanaged forest interior sites. As expected, forest habitats differed in disturbance level, physical conditions and community structure at plot and habitat scale. Briefly, diversity of plant assemblages differed across all forest habitats (highest in edge forests) and correlated with integrative indices of edge, fragmentation and management effects. Surprisingly, managed and unmanaged forests did not differ in terms of species richness at local spatial scale, but managed forests exhibited a clear signal of physical/floristic homogenization as species promoted by silviculture proliferated; i.e. impoverished communities at landscape scale. Moreover, functional composition of plant communities responded to the microclimatic regime within forest fragments, resulting in a higher prevalence of species adapted to these microclimatic conditions. Our results underscore the notion that forest fragmentation and silvicultural management (1) promote changes in microclimatic regimes, (2) alter the balance between light-demanding and shade-adapted species, (3) support diverse floras across forest edges, and (4) alter patterns of beta diversity. Hence, in human-modified landscapes edge-affected habitats can be recognized as biodiversity reservoirs in contrast to impoverished managed interior forests. Furthermore, our results ratify the role of unmanaged forests as a source of environmental variability, species turnover, and distinct woody plant communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fact that hearing impairment, as many other age-related changes, is somehow both aging and disease, may be a barrier to the recognition and treatment of hearing loss in older persons. But what I am sure about is that we should support all professionals offering smart hearing devices to our patients and that we should encourage older persons to start to adapt to hearing aids early enough, before the invisible damage of cognition and social life has occurred and before it may be too late for the proper individual adjustment of a hearing aid. The update on treatment options for age-related hearing loss by Thomas and Völter gives an overview about the wide range of treatment options. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The relationship between hypophosphatemia (HP) and malnutrition in older hospitalized patients has received little attention. We sought to investigate this association among this population. The study participants were consecutively admitted to a geriatric acute care ward in six hospitals. Malnutrition screening was conducted by Mini Nutritional Assessment-Short Form. Patients were divided into two groups according to serum phosphate: HP (<0.68 mmol/l) and non-HP groups (>0.68 mmol/l). Of 335 participants, 7% of subjects had HP. Malnutrition or nutritional risk was present in 86 and 56% of participants with and without HP, respectively (P = 0.003). The analysis indicated 9.8, 86.4, 97.9 and 44.0% sensitivity, positive predictive value, specificity and negative predictive value of HP with regard to malnutrition, respectively. This study demonstrated that HP in older hospitalized patients is associated with malnutrition and may be used as an indicator of nutritional risk. Contrary, normal serum phosphate does not exclude being at nutritional risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Leaf-cutting ants (LCAs) are dominant herbivores of the Neotropics, as well as economically important pests. Their foraging ecology and patterns/mechanisms of food selection have received considerable attention. Recently, it has been documented that LCAs exhibit a delayed rejection of previously accepted food plants following treatment with a fungicide that makes the plants unsuitable as substrate for their symbiotic fungus. Here, we investigated whether LCAs similarly reject plants with induced chemical defenses, by combining analysis of volatile emissions with dual-choice bioassays that used LCA subcolonies ( Atta sexdens L.). On seven consecutive days, foraging ants were given the choice between leaf disks from untreated control plants and test plants of Vitis vinifera ssp. vinifera L. treated with the phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) to mimic herbivore attack. Chemical analysis revealed the emission of a characteristic set of herbivore-induced volatile organic compounds (VOC) from JA-induced plants. Dual-choice experiments indicated that workers did not show any preference initially, but that they avoided JA-treated plants from day five onwards. Our finding that A. sexdens foragers learn to avoid VOC-emitting plants, which are likely detrimental to their symbiotic fungus, represents the first evidence for avoidance learning in attine ants toward plants with induced defenses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Facilitative effects and plant-plant interactions are well known for higher plants, but there is a lack of information about their relevance in cryptogams. Additional information about facilitative effects between bryophytes and lichens would be an important contribution to recent research on positive plant-plant interactions, as these can have striking influences not only on the organisation of early successional terrestrial communities but also on succession dynamics by kick-starting ecosystem development through the import of key nutrients. We investigated and quantified these mechanisms between Peltigera rufescens and its associated mosses. Moss-associated thalli had a different morphology that led to several benefits from the association. They had 66% higher net photosynthetic rate and, because the majority of the gas exchange of lichen thalli took place through the lower surface, there was a further increase as the CO concentration was >25% higher beneath moss-associated thalli. Microclimatic measurements showed that mean light levels were substantially lower and temperature extremes slightly ameliorated for moss-associated thalli. As a consequence, desiccation was slower which is, together with an increase in thallus thickness and water storage, the reason for extended periods of optimal net photosynthesis for the moss-associated thalli. All these benefits combined to produce a growth rate of the moss-associated thalli which was significantly higher, twice that of non-associated thalli [0.75 ± 0.4 vs. 0.30 ± 0.1 mm/month (mean ± SD)]. This appears to be the first demonstration of a strong mechanistic basis for facilitative effects between lichens and bryophytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf-cutting ants ( Atta spp.) have become a topical issue in Neotropical ecology, particularly because they are reaching hyper-abundance due to escalating levels of fragmentation in recent years. Yet, despite intensive research on their role as dominant herbivores, there is still insufficient documentation on the impacts of their large, long-lived nests on plant assemblage structure and ecosystem functioning. Our study aimed at investigating the magnitude, nature, and spatial extent of nest influence by assessing 11 attributes of ant nest, canopy structure, light environment and sapling assemblage for 20 colonies in four plots along nest-understorey gradients in a large remnant of Atlantic forest. We also monitored the performance of seeds and seedlings of Chrysophyllum viride, an abundant shade-tolerant species. Previously unrecognized canopy gaps above ant nests (0.04–87.9 m2) occurred in 95% of all colonies surveyed. Overall, canopy openness and light availability at least doubled in ant nest plots compared with distant understorey plots. These drastic changes in the light environment paralleled those in plant assemblage: sapling density almost tripled (mean ± SE: 0.42 ± 0.1 saplings m−2) and sapling species richness doubled (0.16 ± 0.02 species m−2) in distant plots, as did shade-tolerant species. After a 1-year period, only 33 ± 15.6% of the seeds germinated and all seedlings died on nests, whereas seed germination reached 68 ± 5.1% in distant plots and 66.4 ± 7.6% of their seedlings survived after 12 months. Therefore, plot location was the most significant explanatory variable for predictable and conspicuous changes in the light environment and structure of sapling assemblages. Our findings greatly extend knowledge on the role played by leaf-cutting ants as ecosystem engineers by demonstrating that ant nest-mediated disturbance promotes environmental modifications in tens of meters around nests and is thus, strong enough to drive plant recruitment and consequently alter both the floristic and functional signature of plant assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High animal and plant richness in tropical rainforest communities has long intrigued naturalists. It is unknown if similar hyperdiversity patterns are reflected at the microbial scale with unicellular eukaryotes (protists). Here we show, using environmental metabarcoding of soil samples and a phylogeny-aware cleaning step, that protist communities in Neotropical rainforests are hyperdiverse and dominated by the parasitic Apicomplexa, which infect arthropods and other animals. These host-specific parasites potentially contribute to the high animal diversity in the forests by reducing population growth in a density-dependent manner. By contrast, too few operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of Oomycota were found to broadly drive high tropical tree diversity in a host-specific manner under the Janzen-Connell model. Extremely high OTU diversity and high heterogeneity between samples within the same forests suggest that protists, not arthropods, are the most diverse eukaryotes in tropical rainforests. Our data show that protists play a large role in tropical terrestrial ecosystems long viewed as being dominated by macroorganisms.