BackgroundFrailty is considered to be a clinical syndrome characterized by decreased physiological reserves associated with a greater risk of health-related problems, hospitalization, and death. The current study examined hospitalization, falls, cognitive decline and disability between robust, prefrail and frail elderly in one year.Methods110 participants aged 65 or more who visited two senior welfare centers in Seoul from February 2008 to June 2008 were surveyed again from March 2009 to June 2009 with demographic characteristics, number of chronic diseases and medication, study of osteoporotic fractures (SOF) frailty index, instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), depression, mini-mental state examination-Korean version (MMSE-K), falling history and admission history within one year. These results were compared with participants' previous survey done one year ago.ResultsAmong total 110 subjects, 48 (44%) robust, 30 (27%) prefrail, and 32 (29%) frail subjects changed to 26 (24%), 54 (49%), and 30 (27%) respectively over the year. There were statistical significances in age, number of chronic disease, depressive mood, MMSE, falls, hospitalization, IADL disability contributing to frailty (P < 0.05). Frailty defined by SOF frailty index was associated with greater risk of adverse outcomes. Frail subjects had a higher age-adjusted risk of cognitive function decline (odds ratio [OR], 3.57), disability (OR, 9.64), fall (OR, 5.42), and hospitalization (OR, 4.45; P < 0.005).ConclusionThe frailty index like SOF frailty index might predict risk of falls, disability, hospitalization, and cognitive decline in the elderly, emphasizing special attention to the individuals showing frailty in outpatient examination.

Plant lectins have attracted much attention for biomedical applications including targeted drug delivery system and therapy against tumors and microbial infections. The main problem of using lectins as a biomedical tool is a batch-to-batch variation in isoforms content. The production of lectins using recombination tools has the advantage of obtaining high amounts of proteins with more precise properties, but there are only a handful of functional recombinant lectins presently available. A fetuin/asialo-fetuin specific lectin, Rhodobindin, has unique tandem repeats structure which makes it useful in exploiting for recombinant lectin. We developed three functional recombinant lectins using E. coli expression system: one from full cDNA sequence and two from fragmentary sequences of Rhodobindin. Hemagglutinating activity and solubility of the recombinant lectins were highest at OD 0.7 cell concentration at 20 °C. The optimized process developed in this study was suitable for the quality-controlled production of high amounts of soluble recombinant lectins.

Background:Frailty is a wasting syndrome that presents loss of physiological function by aging, lowering of reserve capacity, and disability of body system. It is currently being considered an important issue in geriatrics. This study examined frailty level of Korean elderly in community and whether frailty can be meaningful a predictive factor for functional disability.

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