Bachmann McGregor (berryfriday91)
Strategies to reduce osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms and increase physical function in persons with lower extremity (LE) OA is a public health priority. To examine associations between diet quality and measures of physical function among overweight and obese older adults with self-reported LE OA. 413 overweight and obese primarily African American adults ≥60 years old with LE OA were assessed. Diet quality was quantified using the Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010). The six-minute walk, 30-second chair-stands, and timed up-and-go tests were used to assess physical function. read more Unadjusted and multivariable linear regressions were performed to assess associations between the diet quality and measures of physical function. The mean age of the subjects was 67.8 (SD 5.9) years and mean BMI was 34.8 (SD 5.5) kg/m . Adjusting for total calories, AHEI-2010 total score was associated with superior performance on the six-minute walk test. However, the association was attenuated when also controlling for age, gender, BMI, waist circumference, self-reported pain, and physical activity. HEI-2010 was not associated with the physical function measures. AHEI-2010 total score was positively associated with walking speed among older overweight and obese primarily AA older adults with LE OA. However, the association weakened when adjusting for subject covariates. The relationship between diet quality and physical function among health disparate populations should be further investigated in larger cohorts and using rigorous experimental study design. AHEI-2010 total score was positively associated with walking speed among older overweight and obese primarily AA older adults with LE OA. However, the association weakened when adjusting for subject covariates. The relationship between diet quality and physical function among health disparate populations should be further investigated in larger cohorts and using rigorous experimental study design.Because every species has unique attributes relevant to understanding specific aspects of aging, using a diversity of study systems and a comparative biology approach for aging research has the potential to lead to novel discoveries applicable to human health. Monogonont rotifers, a standard model for studies of aquatic ecology, evolutionary biology, and ecotoxicology, have also been used to study lifespan and healthspan for nearly a century. However, because much of this work has been published in the ecology and evolutionary biology literature, it may not be known to the biomedical research community. In this review, we provide an overview of Brachionus rotifers as a model to investigate nutritional and metabolic regulators of aging, with a focus on recent studies of dietary and metabolic pathway manipulation. Rotifers are microscopic, aquatic invertebrates with many advantages as a system for studying aging, including a two-week lifespan, easy laboratory culture, direct development without a larval stage, sexual and asexual reproduction, easy delivery of pharmaceuticals in liquid culture, and transparency allowing imaging of cellular morphology and processes. Rotifers have greater gene homology with humans than do established invertebrate models for aging, and thus rotifers may be used to investigate novel genetic mechanisms relevant to human lifespan and healthspan. The research on caloric restriction; dietary, pharmaceutical, and genetic interventions; and transcriptomics of aging using rotifers provide insights into the metabolic regulators of lifespan and health and suggest future directions for aging research. Capitalizing on the unique biology of Brachionus rotifers, referencing the vast existing literature about the influence of diet and drugs on rotifer lifespan and health, continuing the development of genetic tools for rotifers, and growing the rotifer research community wil