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Background: The anxiety and depression are a public health problem in the elderly. Currently some studies have been shown a positive association between physical activity and good mental health. Objective: To compare the possible relationship between levels of anxiety and depression among active and sedentary elderly. Methods: The sample comprised a total of 72 patients divided into one group of 38 elderly subjects (GS) and another group of 34 physically assets (GA). These answered a questionnaire with socio-demographic characteristics and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results: The variables that influenced the presence of anxiety and depression were the level of physical activity (p < 0.001) and the level of instruction (p < 0.01). The GS showed 38 more probability to develop symptoms of anxiety and depression and subjects without qualifications had 11 more probability to develop these symptoms. For the GS 35 (92.1%) patients had levels of anxiety or depression and 3 (7.9%) did not. In GA, the presence of anxiety or depression were observed only in 8 (23.5%) and the remaining 26 (76.5%) revalidates not any kind of these symptoms (p < 0.05). Discussion: Practicing physical activity may represent a very important factor to reduce levels of anxiety and depression in elderly.

Recent work has shown that differential rotation, producing large scale drifts of fluid elements along stellar latitudes, is an unavoidable feature of r -modes in the nonlinear theory. We investigate the role of this differential rotation in the evolution of the l = 2 r -mode instability of a newly born, hot, rapidly rotating neutron star. It is shown that the amplitude of the r -mode saturates a few hundred seconds after the mode instability sets in. The saturation amplitude depends on the amount of differential rotation at the time the instability becomes active and can take values much smaller than unity. It is also shown that, independently of the saturation amplitude of the mode, the star spins down to rotation rates that are comparable to the inferred initial rotation rates of the fastest pulsars associated with supernova remnants. Finally, it is shown that, when the drift of fluid elements at the time the instability sets in is significant, most of the initial angular momentum of the star is transferred to the r -mode and, consequently, almost none is carried away by gravitational radiation.

Recently, it was shown that differential rotation is an unavoidable feature of nonlinear r -modes. We investigate the influence of this differential rotation on the detectability of gravitational waves emitted by a newly born, hot, rapidly-rotating neutron star, as it spins down due to the r -mode instability. We conclude that gravitational radiation may be detected by the advanced laser interferometer detector LIGO if the amount of differential rotation at the time the r -mode instability becomes active is not very high.PACS numbers: 04.30. Db, 95.85.Sz, 97.10.Sj, 97.60.Jd

A novel quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) analytical method is developed based on the transmission line model (TLM) algorithm to analyze the binding of transcription factors (TFs) to immobilized DNA oligoduplexes. The method is used to characterize the mechanical properties of biological films through the estimation of the film dynamic shear moduli, G and G, and the film thickness. Using the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor Haa1 (Haa1DBD) as a biological model two sensors were prepared by immobilizing DNA oligoduplexes, one containing the Haa1 recognition element (HRE(wt)) and another with a random sequence (HRE(neg)) used as a negative control. The immobilization of DNA oligoduplexes was followed in real time and we show that DNA strands initially adsorb with low or non-tilting, laying flat close to the surface, which then lift-off the surface leading to final film tilting angles of 62.9° and 46.7° for HRE(wt) and HRE(neg), respectively. Furthermore we show that the binding of Haa1DBD to HRE(wt) leads to a more ordered and compact film, and forces a 31.7° bending of the immobilized HRE(wt) oligoduplex. This work demonstrates the suitability of the QCM to monitor the specific binding of TFs to immobilized DNA sequences and provides an analytical methodology to study protein-DNA biophysics and kinetics.