After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in the lowest versus the highest quartile of total plasma carotenoids at enrollment were at higher risk of developing poor hip (odds ratio [OR] = 3.01, 95% CI, 1.43-6.31, p =.004),

knee (OR = 2.89, 95% CI, 1.38-6.02, p =.005), and grip (OR=1.88, 95% CI, 0.93-3.56, p =.07) muscle strength at the 6-year follow-up visit.

Conclusion. These findings suggest that older community-dwelling adults with lower plasma carotenoids levels, a marker of poor fruit and vegetable intake, are at a higher risk of decline in skeletal muscle strength over time.”
“The Seychelles Child Development Study was designed to test the hypothesis that prenatal exposure to MeHg from maternal consumption of a diet high in fish is detrimental to child neurodevelopment. To date, no consistent pattern of adverse associations between prenatal AZD5363 cost exposure and children’s development has appeared. In a comprehensive review of developmental studies involving MeHg, a panel of experts recommended a more consistent use of the same endpoints across studies to facilitate comparisons. Both the SCDS and the Faeroe Islands studies administered

the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test. However, the method of test administration and scoring used was different. We repeated the test on the SCDS Main Study children (mean age 10.7 years) using the same testing and scoring procedure reported by the Faeroe studies to obtain Copying Task and Reproduction Task scores. We found Resveratrol no association between prenatal MeHg exposure and Copying Task scores which was reported from the Faeroese study. However, our analysis did show a significant adverse association between LY411575 nmr MeHg and Reproduction Task scores with all the data (p = 0.04), but not when the single outlier was removed (p = 0.07). In a population whose exposure to MeHg is from fish consumption, we continue to find no consistent adverse association between MeHg and visual motor coordination. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“Background.

Atherosclerotic peripheral arterial disease (PAD), common among older adults, is associated with poor low-extremity functioning. In considering functional status, varying domains exist, including activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), low-extremity mobility (LEM), and leisure and/or social activities (LSA). However, little is known about how PAD is related to functional status beyond low-extremity functioning.

Methods. A total of 1798 participants 60 years old or older was selected from the population-based National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2002 in the United States. ADL, IADL, LSA, LEM, and general physical activities (GPA) were obtained by self-report. Peak leg force was obtained from an isokinetic dynamometer. Habitual gait speed was obtained from a 20-foot timed walk. PAD was defined as an ankle-brachial blood pressure index <0.