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The findings can help planners build more pedestrian-friendly communities. They are also useful for creating interventions that are sensitive to possible environmental barriers to physical activity in older adults.

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Aim: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity are significant associative factors for functional impairment related to aging. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity, and their associations with functional status among men aged 80 years and older in Beijing.Methods: A total of 75 young healthy volunteers, and 101 older men aged 80 years and older participated in the present study. Demographic characteristics, anthropometry, skeletal muscle mass measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), 6-m gait speed and handgrip strength were collected. Relative appendicular skeletal muscle index (RASM) and percentage skeletal muscle index (SMI) were obtained. Results:Overall, the prevalence of sarcopenia was 45.7% by using RASM. By the weight-adjusted skeletal muscle index definition (SMI), the prevalence of sarcopenia was 53.2%. The prevalence of sarcopenic obesity was lower by using RASM than SMI (4.9% vs 11.5%, P < 0.05). When we compared the sarcopenia prevalence (%) in obese participants, it was also remarkably lower by using RASM (40.0%) than SMI (95.0%). By using either RASM or SMI, gait speed was of no significant difference among the pure sarcopenia group, pure obese group and sarcopenic obesity group (0.76 ± 0.27 vs 0.82 ± 0.37 vs 0.82 ± 0.27 m/s, P > 0.05, by RASM; 0.75 ± 0.25 vs 0.92 ± 0.27 vs 0.82 ± 0.35 m/s, P > 0.05 by SMI), respectively. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that thigh skeletal muscle mass was positively correlated with gait speed independently (β = 0.221, P = 0.011), and total body fat (β = −0.216, P = 0.002) and age (β = −0.524, P = 0.000) were negatively correlated with gait speed independently. Conclusions:The prevalence of sarcopenia is high either based on RASM or SMI among Chinese men aged 80 years and older. Functional limitations were significantly associated with older age, skeletal muscle mass and total body fat. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 14 (Suppl. 1): 29-35.

Transition from pediatric to adult health care is a key milestone for children and young people (CYP) with chronic conditions. Family management (FM) and self-management are two important concepts during the process. This study aimed to explore the relationships between FM, self-management and transition readiness, and quality of life (QoL), and identify the potential CYP or family factors influencing the relationships. Data about FM, self-management and transition readiness, QoL, and various contextual factors were collected from 268 caregiver-child pairs. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between all variables. Results revealed that the easy aspects of FM mediated the relationships between the challenging aspects of FM, self-management and transition readiness, and QoL of CYP. Self-management and transition readiness mediated the relationship between the easy aspects of FM and QoL. Contextual factors indirectly influenced CYP's transition readiness and QoL through different aspects of FM. The results imply that to ensure the smooth transition from pediatric to adult health care and improve the CYP's QoL, strengthening CYP's independence and self-management competencies, combined with the support of the easy aspects of FM, seem to be useful strategies to increase CYP's readiness for transfer.

IntroductionWe investigated the effect and safety of ozone autohemotherapy combined with pharmacological therapy in postherpetic neuralgia (PHN).MethodsNinety-eight patients with PHN were enrolled in this study and randomly divided into a pharmacological therapy group and ozone autohemotherapy group (49 patients in each group). The PHN patients in the pharmacological therapy group were administered pharmacological therapy for 2 weeks, whereas PHN patients in the ozone autohemotherapy group were given ozone autohemotherapy (200 mL blood from patients, the concentration of medical ozone was set as 30 μg/mL using an ozone medical apparatus, 40 mL medical ozone was incubated in 200 mL autologous blood for 3–5 minutes) combined with pharmacological therapy for 2 weeks. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the 50% VAS reduction in the initial value, McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ), the Patients’ Global Impression of Change (PGIC) scale, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) instrument were used to evaluate the outcomes of all PHN patients before therapy and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after therapy.ResultsForty-five patients in the pharmacological therapy group and 47 patients in the ozone autohemotherapy group completed the study. Compared with before therapy, the two groups showed significant improvements in VAS, MPQ, PGIC, and WHOQOL-BREF scores after therapy (P<0.05). Moreover, compared with the scores of the pharmacological therapy group, the ozone autohemotherapy group’s scores were significantly improved in the VAS, MPQ, PGIC, and WHOQOL-BREF as well as the 50% VAS reduction of the initial value after therapy (P<0.05). Finally, there were no statistically significant differences in adverse effects between groups after therapy (P>0.05).ConclusionThe results of this study demonstrated that ozone autohemotherapy combined with pharmacological therapy was superior to isolated pharmacological therapy in patients with PHN and was an effective and safe way to relieve PHN.

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MMP-9 mRNA expression in PBMCs from NPC patients is increased and associated with the clinical characteristics and overall survival. It supports the belief that MMP-9 may contribute to the progression of NPC.