Violence against aged people: a new issue?

O envelhecimento da população mundial é um fato concreto e de conhecimento público. O Brasil inicia seu processo de transição demográfica seguindo o padrão mundial: o aumento do número de idosos com possibilidade de atingir elevadas faixas etárias, o que traz a necessidade de pesquisas nesse campo, devido à demanda apresentada por essa nova parcela da população. A questão da violência doméstica contra idosos tem se ampliado e sugere necessidade de maior campo de investigação nessa área, dado o risco suposto ao qual essa população mais idosa está submetida. O objetivo deste artigo é verificar os estudos relacionados ao tema já realizados no Brasil e em diferentes países, com enfoque epidemiológico. O trabalho apresenta diversos pontos de abordagem da violência contra idosos, considerando questões relacionadas à cultura do envelhecimento, ações de políticas públicas, atuação de equipes de saúde, definição do termo abordado, aspectos legais e éticos da violência contra o idoso. Tal estudo permite ao pesquisador analisar os diferentes aspectos que envolvem a temática, demonstrando a necessidade de pesquisas específicas direcionadas ao tema.The world population is getting older and this is a very well known fact. The demographic transition of the Brazilian population is just beginning, and follows the world pattern: an increase in the number of older persons with an actual chance of reaching higher ages. As a consequence, there is the need of new studies to supply data about this new aspect of the population demands. Household violence against old persons has been growing and this strongly recommends that special research studies should be conducted, in view of the risk to which these individuals are exposed. The objective of this study is to list and analyze Brazilian and international studies related to aged persons, in light of an epidemiological point of view. The article presents many ways of approaching violence against old people, considering the culture of aging, actions of public policies, the practice of health teams, and legal and ethical aspects of violence against aged people. Such a study allows the researcher to analyze different aspects of the theme, showing the need of specific research on the elderly

Head and shoulder alignment among patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction

OBJECTIVES: To investigate head and shoulder alignment among patients with unilateral vestibular hypofunction (UVH), using computerized biophotogrammetry (CB) and to correlate these measurements with gender, age, duration of clinical evolution, self-perception of intensity of dizziness and occurrences of falls. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. Thirty individuals with UVH and 30 with normal vestibular function and without complaints of dizziness underwent CB in the anterior, right and left and posterior views, in an upright standing position. AlcimageTM 2.0 was used to evaluate three angles in order to verify the anterior deviation and inclination of the head, and the alignment of the shoulders. The groups were paired according to age, gender and height. The statistical analysis consisted of the Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the Dunn test, and the Spearman Correlation Coefficient. RESULTS: The patients with UVH had greater forward (55.44±16.33) and lateral (2.03±1.37) head deviation angles than did the normal individuals (34.34±4.60 and 1.34±1.05 respectively), with a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). The increment of forward and lateral deviation in the UVH group was 38.05% and 33.78% respectively. Forward head was associated with the duration of clinical symptoms of the vestibular disease (p=0.003), age (p=0.006), intensity of dizziness (p<0.001) and occurrence of falls (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with UVH had greater forward and lateral head deviations. Forward head deviation increased with age, duration of clinical symptoms and greater self-perception of the intensity of dizziness. Forward head deviation was also greater among patients who reported having had falls.OBJETIVOS: Avaliar o alinhamento de cabeça e ombros de pacientes com hipofunção vestibular unilateral (HVU) por meio da biofotogrametria computadorizada e associar esses dados com gênero, idade, tempo de evolução clínica, autopercepção da intensidade de tontura e ocorrência de quedas. MÉTODOS: Trata-se de estudo transversal em que 30 indivíduos com HVU e 30 indivíduos com função vestibular normal e sem queixa de tontura foram submetidos à biofotogrametria computadorizada. Foram registradas imagens em vistas anterior, posterior, laterais direita e esquerda em ortostatismo. O programa Alcimage® 2.0 foi usado para avaliar três ângulos que permitem verificar anteriorização e inclinação da cabeça e alinhamento dos ombros. Os grupos foram pareados por idade, gênero e estatura. Para a análise estatística, realizaram-se os testes de Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, seguidos do teste de Dunn e Coeficiente de Correlação de Spearman. RESULTADOS: Pacientes com HVU apresentam maiores valores para os ângulos de anteriorização (55,44±16,33) e de inclinação lateral da cabeça (2,03±1,37) quando comparados aos indivíduos normais (34,3±44,60 e 1,34±1,05, respectivamente), com diferença estatisticamente significante (p<0,001). O aumento da anteriorização e da inclinação lateral da cabeça do grupo de indivíduos com HVU foi de 38,05% e 33,78% respectivamente. A anteriorização da cabeça foi associada com o tempo de evolução clínica da doença vestibular (p=0,003) com a idade (p=0,006), com a intensidade da tontura (p<0,001) e com a ocorrência de quedas (p=0,002). CONCLUSÃO: Pacientes com HVU apresentam maior anteriorização e inclinação lateral da cabeça. A anteriorização da cabeça aumenta com a idade, com o tempo de evolução clínica, maior auto-percepção da intensidade da tontura e nos pacientes que relataram quedas.Universidade Bandeirante de São Paulo Programa de Reabilitação Vestibular e Inclusão SocialUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Programa de Reabilitação Vestibular e Inclusão Social Departamento de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia de Cabeça e PescoçoUniversidade Cidade de São Paulo Programa de Mestrado em FisioterapiaUNIFESP, Programa de Reabilitação Vestibular e Inclusão Social Depto. de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia de Cabeça e PescoçoSciEL

GWAS of peptic ulcer disease implicates Helicobacter pylori infection, other gastrointestinal disorders and depression.

Genetic factors are recognized to contribute to peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and other gastrointestinal diseases, such as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Here, genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses based on 456,327 UK Biobank (UKB) individuals identify 8 independent and significant loci for PUD at, or near, genes MUC1, MUC6, FUT2, PSCA, ABO, CDX2, GAST and CCKBR. There are previously established roles in susceptibility to Helicobacter pylori infection, response to counteract infection-related damage, gastric acid secretion or gastrointestinal motility for these genes. Only two associations have been previously reported for duodenal ulcer, here replicated trans-ancestrally. The results highlight the role of host genetic susceptibility to infection. Post-GWAS analyses for PUD, GORD, IBS and IBD add insights into relationships between these gastrointestinal diseases and their relationships with depression, a commonly comorbid disorder

Genome-wide association analyses identify 143 risk variants and putative regulatory mechanisms for type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a very common disease in humans. Here we conduct a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with ~16 million genetic variants in 62,892 T2D cases and 596,424 controls of European ancestry. We identify 139 common and 4 rare variants associated with T2D, 42 of which (39 common and 3 rare variants) are independent of the known variants. Integration of the gene expression data from blood (n = 14,115 and 2765) with the GWAS results identifies 33 putative functional genes for T2D, 3 of which were targeted by approved drugs. A further integration of DNA methylation (n = 1980) and epigenomic annotation data highlight 3 genes (CAMK1D, TP53INP1, and ATP5G1) with plausible regulatory mechanisms, whereby a genetic variant exerts an effect on T2D through epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Our study uncovers additional loci, proposes putative genetic regulatory mechanisms for T2D, and provides evidence of purifying selection for T2D-associated variants

Parthenogenesis and Human Assisted Reproduction

Parthenogenetic activation of human oocytes obtained from infertility treatments has gained new interest in recent years as an alternative approach to create embryos with no reproductive purpose for research in areas such as assisted reproduction technologies itself, somatic cell, and nuclear transfer experiments and for derivation of clinical grade pluripotent embryonic stem cells for regenerative medicine. Different activating methods have been tested on human and nonhuman oocytes, with varying degrees of success in terms of parthenote generation rates, embryo development stem cell derivation rates. Success in achieving a standardized artificial activation methodology for human oocytes and the subsequent potential therapeutic gain obtained from these embryos depends mainly on the availability of gametes donated from infertility treatments. This review will focus on the creation of parthenotes from clinically unusable oocytes for derivation and establishment of human parthenogenetic stem cell lines and their potential applications in regenerative medicine

GWAS of peptic ulcer disease implicates Helicobacter pylori infection, other gastrointestinal disorders and depression

Abstract: Genetic factors are recognized to contribute to peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and other gastrointestinal diseases, such as gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Here, genome-wide association study (GWAS) analyses based on 456,327 UK Biobank (UKB) individuals identify 8 independent and significant loci for PUD at, or near, genes MUC1, MUC6, FUT2, PSCA, ABO, CDX2, GAST and CCKBR. There are previously established roles in susceptibility to Helicobacter pylori infection, response to counteract infection-related damage, gastric acid secretion or gastrointestinal motility for these genes. Only two associations have been previously reported for duodenal ulcer, here replicated trans-ancestrally. The results highlight the role of host genetic susceptibility to infection. Post-GWAS analyses for PUD, GORD, IBS and IBD add insights into relationships between these gastrointestinal diseases and their relationships with depression, a commonly comorbid disorder

Genome-wide association analyses identify 143 risk variants and putative regulatory mechanisms for type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a very common disease in humans. Here we conduct a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with ~16 million genetic variants in 62,892 T2D cases and 596,424 controls of European ancestry. We identify 139 common and 4 rare variants associated with T2D, 42 of which (39 common and 3 rare variants) are independent of the known variants. Integration of the gene expression data from blood (n = 14,115 and 2765) with the GWAS results identifies 33 putative functional genes for T2D, 3 of which were targeted by approved drugs. A further integration of DNA methylation (n = 1980) and epigenomic annotation data highlight 3 genes (CAMK1D, TP53INP1, and ATP5G1) with plausible regulatory mechanisms, whereby a genetic variant exerts an effect on T2D through epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Our study uncovers additional loci, proposes putative genetic regulatory mechanisms for T2D, and provides evidence of purifying selection for T2D-associated variants.</p