In repetitive upper limb activities, variability of muscle activity (a feature of motor variability) is linked to upper limb fatigability. Prior studies suggest that the variability response may change with age and could be related to the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin within the muscle. We determined, in female adults, how age affects adjustments in movement-to-movement variability of electromyograph (EMG) amplitude (RMS), oxygenation, and thickness with fatigue, and explored how these responses were related. Fifteen young (23.3 ± 3.1 years) and ten older (62.8 ± 6.9 years) females completed repeated trials of low-load, isokinetic, concentric/eccentric elbow flexion until maximal torque ≤ 70% of baseline. Movement-to-movement variability of EMG RMS in concentric phases of movement was quantified by the coefficient of variation (EMG CV), and muscle oxygenation and thickness (MTH) were quantified using near-infrared spectroscopy, and B-mode ultrasonography. Age*Time and Spearman ρ analyses were conducted. Age did not affect fatigability or Time-related changes in muscular measures (p > 0.05). Biceps brachii and brachialis EMG CV decreased, biceps brachii HbO2 decreased and did not fully recover, and biceps brachii and brachialis MTH increased. Higher initial brachialis EMG CV was related to less blunted oxygenation in young females (p = 0.021). Oxygenation responses were related to altered anterior deltoid EMG CV in young females but altered biceps brachii and brachialis EMG CV in older females. Age was not associated with changes in EMG CV, oxygenation, or thickness at similar performance fatigability in the concentric/eccentric elbow flexion task studied. Adjustments in biceps brachii oxygenation were linked to changes in EMG CV more local to the site of fatigue with older age.

Litigation is common in the context of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), adding contradicting motivations to individuals’ engagement in psychotherapeutic interventions. This study’s main goal was to explore the relationship between litigation status and emotional distress among children with PTSD following motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). We also present preliminary findings from a pilot study on treatment efficacy for children with PTSD, with and without litigation.

Participants included 76 children with PTSD following MVA and their main caregiving parent. The associations between litigation status (litigation involvement, litigation phase, and litigation’s emotional impact) and children’s global distress, PTSD, persistent post-concussion symptoms (PPCS), and sub-optimal effort, and parents’ PTSD symptoms were assessed before and after intervention for PTSD. Comorbid mTBI was explored as a possible moderating factor.

Involvement in litigation was not related tthat children with litigation involvement may benefit from treatment, thus litigation should not serve solely as an exclusion criterion for psychological intervention. A larger study should further explore this issue.Inflammatory disease (ID) is an umbrella term encompassing all illnesses involving chronic inflammation as the central manifestation of pathogenesis. These include, inflammatory bowel diseases, hepatitis, pulmonary disorders, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, pancreatitis, arthritis, periodontitis, psoriasis. The IDs create a severe burden on healthcare and significantly impact the global socio-economic balance. Unfortunately, the standard therapies that rely on a combination of anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents are palliative and provide only short-term relief. In contrast, the emerging concept of immunomodulatory nanosystems (IMNs) has the potential to address the underlying causes and prevent reoccurrence, thereby, creating new opportunities for treating IDs. The IMNs offer exquisite ability to precisely modulate the immune system for a therapeutic advantage. The nano-sized dimension of IMNs allows them to efficiently infiltrate lymphatic drainage, interact with immune cells, and subsequently to undergo rapid endocytosis by hyperactive immune cells (HICs) at inflamed sites. Thus, IMNs serve to restore dysfunctional or HICs and alleviate the inflammation. We identified that different IMNs exert their immunomodulatory action via either of the seven mechanisms to modulate; cytokine production, cytokine neutralization, cellular infiltration, macrophage polarization, HICs growth inhibition, stimulating T-reg mediated tolerance and modulating oxidative-stress. In this article, we discussed representative examples of IMNs by highlighting their rationalization, design principle, and mechanism of action in context of treating various IDs. Lastly, we highlighted technical challenges in the application of IMNs and explored the future direction of research, which could potentially help to overcome those challenges.The use of freshwater invertebrates for biomonitoring has been increasing for several decades, but little is known about relations between external exposure concentration of metals and their biodistribution among different tissues. One and multi-compartments toxicokinetic (TK) models are powerful tools to formalize and predict how a contaminant is bioaccumulated. The aim of this study is to develop modeling approaches to improve knowledge on dynamic of accumulation and fate of Cd and Hg in gammarid’s organs. Gammarids were exposed to dissolved metals (11.1 ± 1.2 µg.L-1 of Cd or 0.27 ± 0.13 µg.L-1 of Hg) before a depuration phase. MSA-2 concentration At each sampling days, their organs (caeca, cephalon, intestine and remaining tissues) were separated by dissection before analyses. Results allowed us to determine that i) G.fossarum takes up Cd as efficiently as the mussel M.galloprovincialis, but eliminates it more rapidly, ii) organs which accumulate and depurate the most, in terms of concentrations, are caeca and intestine for both metals; iii) the one-compartment TK models is the most relevant for Hg, while the multi-compartments TK model allows a better fit to Cd data, demonstrating dynamic transfer of Cd among organs.The aim of this study was to evaluate the dynamics of proteolysis during dough fermentation started with different lactic acid bacteria species, through the identification of intermediate and small-sized peptides generated during fermentation. Single-strain cultures of Levilactobacillus brevis, Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis, Companilactobacillus alimentarius, and Leuconostoc pseudomesenteroides were assayed as sourdough starters. Assays were carried out at lab-scale for 48 h of fermentation, using both unstarted and yeast-leavened dough as controls. Physicochemical and microbiological analyses were combined with peptidomic and proteomic profiling, identifying several hundreds of peptides mainly released from the water-soluble wheat proteins, including β-amylase, triticin, and serpins. Both α- and γ-gliadins were hydrolyzed, though only at the N-terminal domain, while the central protein region – encrypting celiac disease epitopes- remained unaffected. The bacterial-mediated consumption of sugars and the concomitant hydrolysis of starch degrading β-amylase could underlie improved digestibility and several nutritionally beneficial effects of sourdough baked products.