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Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate Tai Chi group training among patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) aged 70 years and older., Background: Physical activity is recommended for CHF treatment. Tai Chi is found to be beneficial to different patient groups, although few studies focus on older patients with CHF., Design: A mixed methods study. Participants were randomly assigned to Tai Chi training twice a week for 16 weeks ( N  =   25) or control ( N  =   20). Quantitative data were collected at baseline, at the end of the training period and 6 months after training, assessing self-rated fatigue and quality of life, natriuretic peptides and physical performance. Individual qualitative interviews were conducted with participants ( N  =   10) in the Tai Chi training group., Results: No statistical differences between the Tai Chi training group and the control group in quality of life or natriuretic peptides was found. After 16 weeks, the training group tended to rate more reduced activity and the control group rated more mental fatigue. Participants in the training group rated increased general fatigue at follow-up compared with baseline. Qualitative interviews showed that Tai Chi training was experienced as a new, feasible and meaningful activity. The importance of the leader and the group was emphasized. Improvements in balance were mentioned and there was no physical discomfort., Conclusion: Tai Chi was experienced as a feasible and meaningful form of physical exercise for patients with CHF aged over 70 years despite lack of achieved health improvement. Further investigations, using feasibility and meaningfulness as outcome variables seems to be useful.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their oxygenated analogues (OPAHs) are ubiquitous air pollutants known to cause adverse health effects. PAH air levels are commonly monitored by active sampling but passive sampling has become popular because of its lower cost and simplicity, which facilitate long-term sampling and increased spatial coverage. However, passive samplers are less suitable for short-term sampling and are in general less accurate than active samplers because they require reliable sampling rate (Rs) measurements for individual analytes under diverse environmental conditions. In this study a small passive sampler designed to sample both particle-bound and gaseous compounds was evaluated and calibrated for PAHs and OPAHs in a traffic environment by co-deployment with active samplers for two weeks. Despite the relatively low average air concentrations of PM10 (20 μg/m(3)), PM2.5 (5 μg/m(3)), total PAHs (4.2 ng/m(3)), and OPAHs (2.3 ng/m(3)) at the site, detectable quantities (on average 24 times above blank values) of the full range of PAHs and OPAHs were captured, with low variability (average RSD of 16%). This was accomplished by using a Tenax(®) TA-modified glass fiber substrate that is compatible with highly sensitive thermal desorption GC-MS analysis, which made it possible to achieve detection limits per sample in the pg range. Experiments with inverted samplers revealed that the relative contribution of gravitational settling to the sampling of particles carrying PAHs and OPAHs was around 3.5 times larger than other deposition mechanisms. Average Rs values for individual OPAHs and PAHs were 0.046 ± 0.03 m(3)/day and 0.12 ± 0.07 m(3)/day, respectively, with no appreciable difference between the values for particle-associated and gaseous compounds. Furthermore, the Rs values were competitive with other currently used passive samplers if normalized for substrate area. Overall, the new sampler's performance, simplicity and ability to generate relatively time-resolved data make it a promising candidate for diverse SVOC monitoring studies., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The success of IVF treatment is dependent upon embryo quality and coordinated growth and differentiation of the endometrium. Aromatase P450 expression in the human endometrium is thought to be restricted to women with proliferative reproductive tract disorders such as endometriosis, leiomyomas and adenomyosis., Methods: To determine whether endometrial aromatase P450 mRNA expression is prognostic of IVF outcome, we quantified transcript levels in biopsy specimens from a cohort of subfertile patients awaiting IVF treatment using real-time quantitative PCR., Results: Aromatase P450 transcripts were detected in all endometria examined, although the levels varied considerably between samples, ranging from 0.22 to 486.6 arbitrary units (a.u.). The clinical pregnancy rate in women with high endometrial aromatase P450 mRNA levels (> or = 8.3 a.u.; n = 21) was 9.5% compared with 30.1% in those patients with low expression levels (<8.3 a.u.; n = 101) (P < 0.05). The cycle day of the endometrial biopsy, cause of infertility, age, parity, number of oocytes collected and number of embryos transferred did not differ between patients with high versus low endometrial aromatase P450 mRNA levels (P > 0.1)., Conclusions: Our results indicate that endometrial P450 mRNA levels can identify women at increased risk of IVF treatment failure.

Background: In a previous study on the effect of electro-acupuncture (EA) in combination with a paracervical block (PCB) as an analgesic method during oocyte aspiration in IVF treatment, EA appeared to increase the pregnancy rate. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that EA as an analgesic during oocyte aspiration would result in: (i) a better IVF pregnancy rate than with alfentanil; (ii) peroperative analgesia that was as good as that produced by alfentanil; (iii) less postoperative abdominal pain, nausea and stress; and (iv) a reduction in the use of additional analgesics. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) concentrations in follicular fluid (FF) were analysed when possible., Methods and Results: In this prospective, randomized, multicentre clinical trial, 286 women undergoing oocyte aspiration were randomly allocated to the EA group (EA plus a PCB) or to the alfentanil group (alfentanil plus a PCB). No significant differences were found between the EA and alfentanil groups in any of the IVF variables. NPY concentrations in FF were significantly higher in the EA group compared with the alfentanil group. No correlation between pregnancy rate and NPY concentrations was found in either analgesic group. Both EA plus a PCB and alfentanil plus a PCB induced adequate peroperative analgesia during oocyte aspiration evaluated using the visual analogue scale. After 2 h, the EA group reported significantly less abdominal pain, other pain, nausea and stress than the alfentanil group. In addition, the EA group received significantly lower amounts of additional alfentanil than the alfentanil group., Conclusion: EA does not improve pregnancy rate in the present clinical situation. The observation that NPY concentrations in FF were higher in the EA group may be important for human ovarian steroidogenesis. The analgesic effects produced by EA are as good as those produced by conventional analgesics, and the use of opiate analgesics with EA is lower than when conventional analgesics alone are used.

A new method for monitoring phenotypic profiles of pure cultures and complex microbial communities was evaluated. The approach was to stain microorganisms with a battery of fluorescent dyes prior to flow cytometry analysis (FCM) and to analyse the data using multivariate methods, including principal component analysis and partial least squares. The FCM method was quantitatively evaluated using different mixtures of pure cultures as well as microbial communities. The results showed that the method could quantitatively and reproducibly resolve both populations and communities of microorganisms with 5% abundance in a diverse microbial background. The feasibility of monitoring complex microbial communities over time during the biodegradation of naphthalene using the FCM method was demonstrated. The biodegradation of naphthalene occurred to differing extents in microcosms representing three different types of aromatic-contaminated groundwater and a sample of bio-basin water. The FCM method distinguished each of these four microbial communities. The phenotypic profiles were compared with genotypic profiles generated by random-amplified polymorphic DNA analysis. The genotypic profiles of the microbial communities described only the microbial composition, and not their functional change, whereas the phenotypic profiles seemed to contain information on both the composition and the functional change of the microorganisms. Furthermore, event analysis of the FCM data showed that microbial communities with initially differing compositions could converge towards a similar composition if they had a capacity for high levels of degradation, whereas microbial communities with similar initial compositions could diverge if they differed in biodegrading ability.