Background in 2010, the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) published a sarcopenia definition that aimed to foster advances in identifying and caring for people with sarcopenia. In early 2018, the Working Group met again (EWGSOP2) to update the original definition in order to reflect scientific and clinical evidence that has built over the last decade. This paper presents our updated findings. Objectives to increase consistency of research design, clinical diagnoses and ultimately, care for people with sarcopenia. Recommendations sarcopenia is a muscle disease (muscle failure) rooted in adverse muscle changes that accrue across a lifetime; sarcopenia is common among adults of older age but can also occur earlier in life. In this updated consensus paper on sarcopenia, EWGSOP2: (1) focuses on low muscle strength as a key characteristic of sarcopenia, uses detection of low muscle quantity and quality to confirm the sarcopenia diagnosis, and identifies poor physical performance as indicative of severe sarcopenia; (2) updates the clinical algorithm that can be used for sarcopenia case-finding, diagnosis and confirmation, and severity determination and (3) provides clear cut-off points for measurements of variables that identify and characterise sarcopenia. Conclusions EWGSOP2's updated recommendations aim to increase awareness of sarcopenia and its risk. With these new recommendations, EWGSOP2 calls for healthcare professionals who treat patients at risk for sarcopenia to take actions that will promote early detection and treatment. We also encourage more research in the field of sarcopenia in order to prevent or delay adverse health outcomes that incur a heavy burden for patients and healthcare systems.

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Sarcopenia: Revised European consensus on definition and diagnosis

Physiological and ecological constraints play key roles in the evolution of plant growth patterns, especially in relation to defenses against herbivores. Phenotypic and life history theories are unified within the growth-differentiation balance (GDB) framework, forming an integrated system of theories explaining and predicting patterns of plant defense and competitive interactions in ecological and evolutionary time. Plant activity at the cellular level can be classified as growth (cell division and enlargement) of differentiation (chemical and morphological changes leading to cell maturation and specialization). The GDB hypothesis of plant defense is premised upon a physiological trade-off between growth and differentiation processes. The trade-off between growth and defense exists because secondary metabolism and structural reinforcement are physiologically constrained in dividing and enlarging cells, and because they divert resources from the production of new leaf area. Hence the dilemma of plants: Th...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2830650.pdf

The dilemma of plants: To grow or defend.

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation is recognized as a core component of the management of individuals with chronic respiratory disease. Since the 2006 American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS) Statement on Pulmonary Rehabilitation, there has been considerable growth in our knowledge of its efficacy and scope.

Purpose: The purpose of this Statement is to update the 2006 document, including a new definition of pulmonary rehabilitation and highlighting key concepts and major advances in the field.

Methods: A multidisciplinary committee of experts representing the ATS Pulmonary Rehabilitation Assembly and the ERS Scientific Group 01.02, “Rehabilitation and Chronic Care,” determined the overall scope of this update through group consensus. Focused literature reviews in key topic areas were conducted by committee members with relevant clinical and scientific expertise. The final content of this Statement was agreed on by all members.

Results: An updated definition of pulmonary rehabilitation is proposed. New data are presented on the science and application of pulmonary rehabilitation, including its effectiveness in acutely ill individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and in individuals with other chronic respiratory diseases. The important role of pulmonary rehabilitation in chronic disease management is highlighted. In addition, the role of health behavior change in optimizing and maintaining benefits is discussed.

Conclusions: The considerable growth in the science and application of pulmonary rehabilitation since 2006 adds further support for its efficacy in a wide range of individuals with chronic respiratory disease

Read More: http://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201309-1634ST

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An official American thoracic society/European respiratory society statement: Key concepts and advances in pulmonary rehabilitation

Repeated, intense use of muscles leads to a decline in performance known as muscle fatigue. Many muscle properties change during fatigue including the action potential, extracellular and intracellular ions, and many intracellular metabolites. A range of mechanisms have been identified that contribute to the decline of performance. The traditional explanation, accumulation of intracellular lactate and hydrogen ions causing impaired function of the contractile proteins, is probably of limited importance in mammals. Alternative explanations that will be considered are the effects of ionic changes on the action potential, failure of SR Ca2+ release by various mechanisms, and the effects of reactive oxygen species. Many different activities lead to fatigue, and an important challenge is to identify the various mechanisms that contribute under different circumstances. Most of the mechanistic studies of fatigue are on isolated animal tissues, and another major challenge is to use the knowledge generated in these studies to identify the mechanisms of fatigue in intact animals and particularly in human diseases.

/pdf/skeletal-muscle-fatigue-cellular-mechanisms-d0dzk4w31g.pdf

Skeletal Muscle Fatigue: Cellular Mechanisms

Publisher Summary Lectins play an important role in the development of immunology. Lectins also find application in serological laboratories for typing blood and determining secretor status, separating leucocytes from erythrocytes, and agglutinating cells from blood in the preparation of plasma. They serve as reagents for the detection, isolation, and characterization of carbohydrate-containing macromolecules, including blood-group antigens. In their interaction with saccharides, lectins serve as models for carbohydrate-specific antibodies, with the important advantage to purify lectins in gram quantities. Lectins are classified according to their carbohydrate-binding specificity that includes D-mannose(D-glucose)-binding lectins and 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose-binding lectins. The chapter considers only those lectins that have been purified to homogeneity, and studied with regard to their biophysical, biochemical, and carbohydrate-binding specificity. The chapter also describes the cell-binding and biological properties of lectins. The chapter concludes with the description of several glycopeptide structures showing the carbohydrate-binding loci with which various lectins interact.

The lectins : carbohydrate-binding proteins of plants and animals

There is considerable inter-individual variability in adaptations to endurance training. We hypothesised that those individuals with a low local leg-muscle peak aerobic capacity \( (\dot{V} {\text{O}}_{{2{\text{peak}}}}) \) relative to their whole-body maximal aerobic capacity \( ( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{2\max}) \) would experience greater muscle training adaptations compared to those with a relatively high \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{{2{\text{peak}}}} \). 53 untrained young women completed one-leg cycling to measure \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{{2{\text{peak}}}} \) and two-leg cycling to measure \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{2\max} \). The one-leg \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{{2{\text{peak}}}} \) was expressed as a ratio of the two-leg \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{2\max} \) (Ratio1:2). Magnetic resonance imaging was used to indicate quadriceps muscle volume. Measurements were taken before and after completion of 6 weeks of supervised endurance training. There was large inter-individual variability in the pre-training Ratio1:2 and large variability in the magnitude of training adaptations. The pre-training Ratio1:2 was not related to training-induced changes in \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{2\max} \) (P = 0.441) but was inversely correlated with changes in one-leg \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{{2{\text{peak}}}} \) and muscle volume (P < 0.05). No relationship was found between the training-induced changes in two-leg \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{2\max} \) and one-leg \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{{2{\text{peak}}}} \) (r = 0.21; P = 0.129). It is concluded that the local leg-muscle aerobic capacity and Ratio1:2 vary from person to person and this influences the extent of muscle adaptations following standardised endurance training. These results help to explain why muscle adaptations vary between people and suggest that setting the training stimulus at a fixed percentage of \( \dot{V} {\text{O}}_{2\max} \) might not be a good way to standardise the training stimulus to the leg muscles of different people.

Inter-individual variability in adaptation of the leg muscles following a standardised endurance training programme in young women.

Genotype × environment interactions associated with temperature were shown to occur in populations of L. corniculatus. The effects were related to the genetic structure of the populations. We were able to show, however, that cold temperature does not act directly as a selective agent on the polymorphism of cyanogenesis in L. corniculatus.

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The effect of temperature on the polymorphism of cyanogenesis in Lotus corniculatus L.

Pituitary hormones have an important role during exercise yet relatively little is known about the stimulus for their release. Body temperature progressively increases during prolonged steady-state exercise in the heat and we have investigated the role that this may play in the release of prolactin, growth hormone and cortisol (as an indicator of adrenocorticotropic hormone) into the circulation. Fit young male subjects exercised at 73% V(O2,max) until volitional fatigue at 20 degrees C and at 35 degrees C (30% relative humidity at both temperatures). Rectal temperature and mean skin temperature were monitored and blood samples analysed for lactate, glucose, cortisol, growth hormone and prolactin concentrations. During the first 20 min, core temperature rose continuously and to a similar extent at both temperatures, while mean skin temperature was approximately 4 degrees C lower during exercise in the cool. Blood glucose concentration was essentially constant throughout the period of exercise while lactate concentration increased in the first 10 min and then remained constant with very similar changes in the two exercise conditions. Prolactin and growth hormone concentrations both increased during the exercise period while the concentration of cortisol declined slightly before rising slightly over the 40 min period. Prolactin release was significantly greater when exercise was carried out in the heat while there was no difference in the release of growth hormone or cortisol in the two conditions. When plotted as a function of rectal temperature, growth hormone concentration showed a linear relationship which was the same at ambient temperatures of 35 degrees C and 20 degrees C. Prolactin concentration had a curvilinear relationship with rectal temperature and this differed markedly at the two ambient temperatures. Cortisol concentration showed no dependence on any measure of body temperature. Our results are consistent with some aspect of body temperature being a stimulus for growth hormone and prolactin secretion; however, the precise mechanism clearly differs between the two hormones and we suggest that skin temperature modulates prolactin release, but does not affect the release of growth hormone.

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/eph8802593

Ambient Temperature and the Pituitary Hormone Responses to Exercise in Humans

https://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S0003-9993(04)00163-7/pdf

David A. Jones

Papers

Inter-individual variability in adaptation of the leg muscles following a standardised endurance training programme in young women.

The effect of temperature on the polymorphism of cyanogenesis in Lotus corniculatus L.

Ambient Temperature and the Pituitary Hormone Responses to Exercise in Humans

Reproducibility of maximal quadriceps strength and its relationship to maximal voluntary activation in postpoliomyelitis syndrome

The time course of myonuclear accretion during hypertrophy in young adult and old rat plantaris muscle