Lack of physical activity is an increasing public-health problem. Physicians should counsel elderly patients to maintain regular physical activity in order to retain functionality and quality of life. This study examined the patterns of physician advice about physical activity in an elderly population. A homogeneous group of older adults living in public housing (N= 146) was surveyed to determine the extent to which they received such advice. Their mean age was 77.9 ± 7 years, 74% were women, 70.5% were White, and 53.4% had high school education or less. We assessed the association between physician counseling practices and the participants’ demographic characteristics, overweight status, and type of physical activity performed. The prevalence rate of physician counseling was 61.6%. Elderly men who were married and those who were overweight were most likely to receive advice. Routine physician counseling of elderly patients regardless of overweight status could contribute to improving their quality of life.

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Background The prevalence of Ebola virus infection among people who have been in contact with patients with Ebola virus disease remains unclear, but is essential to understand the dynamics of transmission. This study aimed to identify risk factors for seropositivity and to estimate the prevalence of Ebola virus infection in unvaccinated contact persons. Methods In this retrospective, cross-sectional observational study, we recruited individuals between May 12, 2016, and Sept 8, 2017, who had been in physical contact with a patient with Ebola virus disease, from four medical centres in Guinea (Conakry, Macenta, N'zérékoré, and Forécariah). Contact persons had to be 7 years or older and not diagnosed with Ebola virus disease. Participants were selected through the Postebogui survivors' cohort. We collected selfreported information on exposure and occurrence of symptoms after exposure using a questionnaire, and tested antibody response against glycoprotein, nucleoprotein, and 40-kDa viral protein of Zaire Ebola virus by taking a blood sample. The prevalence of Ebola virus infection was estimated with a latent class model. Findings 1721 contact persons were interviewed and given blood tests, 331 of whom reported a history of vaccination so were excluded, resulting in a study population of 1390. Symptoms were reported by 216 (16%) contact persons. The median age of participants was 26 years (range 7-88) and 682 (49%) were male. Seropositivity was identified in 18 (8•33%, 95% CI 5•01-12•80) of 216 paucisymptomatic contact persons and 39 (3•32%, 5•01-12•80) of 1174 (2-4) asymptomatic individuals (p=0•0021). Seropositivity increased with participation in burial rituals (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2•30, 95% CI 1•21-4•17; p=0•0079) and exposure to blood or vomit (aOR 2•15, 1•23-3•91; p=0•0090). Frequency of Ebola virus infection varied from 3•06% (95% CI 1•84-5•05) in asymptomatic contact persons who did not participate in burial rituals to 5•98% (2•81-8•18) in those who did, and from 7•17% (3•94-9•09) in paucisymptomatic contact persons who did not participate in burial rituals to 17•16% (12•42-22•31) among those who did. Interpretation This study provides a new assessment of the prevalence of Ebola virus infection among contact persons according to exposure, provides evidence for the occurrence of paucisymptomatic cases, and reinforces the importance of closely monitoring at-risk contact persons.

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The aim of this study was to compare the impact of sterilized skim milk after being concentrated by three concentration techniques; namely cryoconcentration, vacuum evaporation, and reverse osmosis. To achieve this objective, skim milk was concentrated up to 18% total dry matter by cryoconcentration, vacuum-evaporation and reverse osmosis, heat sterilized, and stored during 3 months. The obtained results showed that the surface net charge of the proteins in milk concentrated by vacuum evaporation decreased during storage, while that of the other milks remained stable. The levels of free amino acids decreased as a function of the storage time for the three skim milk samples with a higher rate for the vacuum evaporated milk. Thiol groups were affected by sterilization, but remained stable during storage. After sterilization, the consistency coefficient of milk increased by 8.6, 2.25, and 2.35 times for evaporated milk, concentrated by reverse osmosis, and cryoconcentrated, respectively. This result indicated a more stability of sterilized cryoconcentrated skim milk in comparison with the other skim milk samples which showed a tendency to age thickening. Practical ApplicationsThe findings of this research work can be applied by the dairy industry to produce concentrated skim milk following a cryoconcentration procedure. This subzero concentrating technique can substitute vacuum evaporation and reverse osmosis. The advantage of cryoconcentration, as used in this work, is its low energy consumption and high product quality. Indeed, because of the low latent heat of freezing of water in comparison with its latent heat of vaporization (seven times lower), cryoconcentration is an effective energy saving technology. Thus, the dairy processing industry can exploit the advantages of cryoconcentration to develop novel dairy foods and to save energy.