Close to half of older adults might have sleep apnea, which is a condition where sleep and breathing are briefly interrupted many times throughout the night. A recent study has shown that this chronic tiredness may have serious implications for safety on the road.

People who have sleep apnea will wake up feeling tired in the morning and it doesn’t matter how many hours they actually slept. Sleep apnea causes people to stop briefly and restart breathing dozens and even hundreds of times in a night. Even those with breathing interruptions often won’t awaken a person that has sleep apnea and will prevent them from getting into a refreshing, deep sleep.

A recent study shows a variety of how dangerous chronic tiredness from sleep apnea can be when it comes to driving. For every eight added breathing interruptions each hour, the odds of making dangerous driving moves such as braking hard, speeding and suddenly accelerating increase by 27% according to the research.

Older adults are much more likely to develop sleep apnea. In addition, they are more likely to be killed or seriously injured in an automobile accident. This discovery, has suggested that screening adults that are older for sleep apnea and then for treatment if needed, might help the older population continue driving safely for a longer period.

The percentage of adults who are older with mild sleep apnea is 30% to 50%. However, if these adults do not have sleepiness during the day or any other proof of impairment, they may not become aware they need medical attention. The findings have suggested that it might be wise to lower the threshold to evaluate adults who are older for sleep apnea and track their interruptions in breathing. If their conditions are worse by just eight interruptions per hour, that might have significant negative effects on their driving and the risk of serious injury.

People 65 and older are the more responsible drivers on our roads. They tend to obey speed limits and drive defensively. They tend to avoid driving in bad weather, at night and in places that are unfamiliar. However, changes that come with the advancement of age such as slower reflexes, deteriorating vision and sleep difficulty, can undermine even some of the safest habits.

The researchers teamed up with a driving researcher to study the relationship between risky driving behaviors and sleep apnea.

96 older adult participants were recruited and had their sleep habits and driving monitored under real world situations. The team used a commercially available test that was taken at home to identify participants with sleep apnea and then measure its severity. Fewer than five interruptions of breathing an hour is considered normal. Five to 15 interruptions per hour is considered mild sleep apnea. 15 to 30 interruptiond is considered moderate, and greater than 30 is considered severe.

To assess the driving habits, the team installed a chip into the participant’s personal cars and monitored their driving for one year with focus on episodes of sudden acceleration, braking hard, and speeding. In total, they collected data on more than 100,000 participant’s trips. Additionally, the participants were evaluated by the team for molecular evidence of early Alzheimer’s Disease and cognitive impairments.

Although all participants were cognitively normal, almost one third had changes in their brain which was indicative of early Alzheimers. The team discovered that the frequency that the drivers made with moves that were dangerous behind the wheel increased in parallel with the frequency that their sleep had been interrupted at night. This was even though their brains did not show any markers of early Alzheimers.

Since there weren’t cameras in the participant’s vehicles, the team doesn’t know exactly what occurred that caused a participant to suddenly brake hard. An example would be not noticing a light that turned red until they got close and had to brake suddenly. The more tired a person is, the less attention they have to handle the task going on, particularly if it is constantly changing and is novel.

The study does help untangle the way risk factors that are age related, such as poor sleep and Alzheimers put older adults into danger when driving. It also might assist efforts to discover new ways to maximize safe driving for years.

To view the original scientific study click below:
Adverse driving behaviors are associated with sleep apnea severity and age in cognitively normal older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease

Many people know that an injury to tendons can be difficult, lengthy and many times an incomplete process of healing. As an example, repetitive or sudden motion which can be experienced by factory workers and athletes can increase the risk of ruptures or tears in the tendons. 30% of people will experience an injury to the tendon with the highest risk in women. Additionally, people who endure this type of injury are more likely to experience a future injury at the same site or never fully recover from the injury.

Muscles which are attached to bone are tendons which are fibrous connective tissues. The tissues are soft and connected to rigid bones which makes for a difficult interface that is a very defined structure. After an injury occurs, the structure becomes obstructed and the tissues that connect the muscle to the bone change from a linear formation to one that is kinked. Excessive scarring may additionally occur which changes the tendon’s natural properties and the capacity to bear loads.

While the body is going through its natural process of healing, tendons and other cells initiate to reconstruct the primary matrix of connective parallel tissue fibers. However, this process can take weeks and even months and the resulting tendon is very often not perfect. This will result in chronic pain, weakness and a lesser quality of life.

Potential treatments for injuries to the tendons include grafts from the tendon tissue taken from donors or patients. However these have a risk of infection, necrosis or transplant rejection. Transplants that are synthetic have been tried, but biocompatibility, bio-degradation and mechanical problems have hindered these attempts.

An alternative approach is to use MSCs (mesenchymal stem cells) which are specialized cells whose pivotal role is in regeneration of tissue. At the site of the wound, they can tell the difference between various cell types. They then produce molecules that signal which will regulate cellular migration, immune response, and new formation of blood vessels which enables regeneration of tissue.

However, methods of treatment that use direct injection, systemic infusion or MSCs being genetic modified have their own problems. Infusion that is systemic does not target specifically to the site of injury. An injection that is direct requires a prohibitively large number of cells, and modification that is genetic is insufficient and will produce cells that can be hard to isolate.

Another approach has been constructing bio-material scaffolds or frameworks, and then let in MSCs and growth factors to create new tissue in the tendon. A team has used this method in developing a procedure that is showing important advances in MSC regeneration of tissue.

The team initially looked to silk fibroin which is a silk protein that is produced by the Bombyx mori silkworm. It is used in silk fabrics and additionally used in electrical and optical material and in a variety of biomedical applications such as suture materials to bone, bio-engineered ligaments, and corneal tissue. Due to its superior durability, strength, bio-degradative, and bio-compatibility aspects, silk fibroin is perfect to use in frameworks for tendons.

To enhance the ability of the framework for regeneration of tissue, the team combined silk fibroin with GelMA, a gel that is gelatin based. It retains water due to the GelMA’s controllable degradation, biocompatiblity, stiffness and the ability to promote cell growth and attachment.

The synergistic results of GelMA’s capacity for the support of formation of regenerative tissue and the structural advantages of the silk fibroin make the composite material very well suited for repair of tendons.

The team prepared mixtures of a variety of ratios of silk fibroin and GelMA (SG) and created thin nanofiber sheets. Next they tested the sheets for fiber stretchiness and structure and chose the best formulation with the optimal mechanical properties. They noticed that the silk fibroin passed on an increased permeability to the material which enhanced repair of the tissue.

The improved SG sheets were then implanted with MSCs and put through a variety of tests measuring MSC production of growth factor, differentiation and compatibility, and gene activity that triggered matrix formulation.

The MSCs that were on the SG sheets indicated a rise in proliferation and viability of cells compared to those on silk fibroin sheets that did not have the GelMA (SF). Genetic analysis indicated that pertinent gene activity in SG MSCs was greatly increased as contrasted to those on SF sheets which was shown to be decreased.

Using stained test procedures it was shown that the MSCs on the SG sheets indicated a rate higher than 80% of attachment and showed an oblong shape which is similar to cells that are attached to surfaces. This was in comparison to a 60% rate of attachment on SF and GelMA only surfaces with spherically shaped cells.

Additional tests on a growth factor that was secreted by MSCs implanted onto nanofiber sheets indicated that the growth factors produced had the best ability to repair tendon tissue that was injured.

Experiments on live rats with injuries to their Achilles tendons were also performed. MSC implanted nanofiber sheets were attached to the site of injury and the SG sheets promoted the best healing acceleration with reduced sites of injury and remodeled muscle component and the formation of densely packed, well-aligned fiber.

Remodeling of tissue for repair of tendons is very challenging to achieve. The research done has significantly advanced that achievement.

To view the original scientific study click below:
Co-Electrospun Silk Fibroin and Gelatin Methacryloyl Sheet Seeded with Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Tendon Regeneration

Vitamin D is naturally produced when you are exposed to the sun. It is a natural source of a hormone essential to us and especially to our bones. However, according to new research, when you are low on this vitamin, not only do the bones take a hit but also cardio health.

The study which is the first of it kind, has identified genetic evidence that a deficiency of Vitamin D is causing cardiovascular disease. It indicates that people with low Vitamin D are most likely to have heart disease and high blood pressure. Participants who had the lower concentrations of the vitamin were shown to have a heart disease risk that was more than two times higher than participants in the normal range.

Worldwide cardiovascular diseases (CVD’s) are the leading cause of death. Low levels of Vitamin D are common in many places in the world. The team says the role of the deficiency of the vitamin for health of the heart could reduce CVD’s globally.

A severe deficiency is rare, but where is does occur it is important to be proactive and decrease negative affects on the heart.

We can get Vitamin D from food sources which include eggs, oily fish and fortified drinks and food. Unfortunately, food is a relativity poor source of the vitamin and a diet that is healthy typically does not contain enough.

If you don’t get enough from the sun, then supplementation will help keep up the requirements.

The results of the study are important as they suggest that Vitamin D levels can be raised to be within the normal range that will also affect rates of CVD’s. By increasing Vitamin D deficient levels at least 50 nmol/L it is estimated 4.4% of all CVD cases could have been prevented.

The study utilized a new genetic approach that made it able for them to assess how increasing the levels of the vitiman could effect CVD risk based on how high vitamin D levels were. The study utilized information from close to 267,980 participants which allowed them to provide strong statistical evidence for the association between CVD and Vitamin D.

To view the original scientific study click below:
Non-linear Mendelian randomization analyses support a role for vitamin D deficiency in cardiovascular disease risk