Circulating cell-free nucleic acids as potential biomarkers for sarcopenia: a step toward personalized medicine

The effect of Sarcomeal® oral supplementation plus vitamin D3 on muscle parameters and metabolic factors in diabetic sarcopenia patients: study protocol of a randomized controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Diabetes is a significant risk factor for sarcopenia, a muscle dystrophy affecting older individuals. Sarcopenia management typically involves resistance exercise and oral supplements. Given the limitations of resistance training for many elderly individuals, oral supplements play a crucial role in treatment. This study is a protocol for evaluating the efficacy of the Sarcomeal® supplement, a mixture of whey protein, creatine, branch-chained amino acids (BCAAs), glutamine, and hydroxyl-methyl-butyrate (HMB) in diabetic people who also have sarcopenia. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study is a randomized clinical trial, in which sixty diabetic sarcopenia patients who meet the inclusion criteria will be randomly assigned to the control or the intervention group with a 1:1 allocation. The intervention group will receive one Sarcomeal® supplement sachet plus 1000 IU of vitamin D daily and both groups will be recommended to consume protein-rich food, be educated about the disease, and perform light exercises for 12 weeks. Anthropometric measurements, body composition analysis, muscle strength assessments, and blood tests will be conducted at the trial's start and end.

DISCUSSION

It is hypothesized that the Sarcomeal® supplement plus vitamin D may be beneficial for the management of diabetic sarcopenia by reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, and glucose metabolism. The outcome of this trial will provide a basis for prescribing sarcomeal to patients with diabetic sarcopenia.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

This protocol is registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT20230831059311N1) and also is approved by the ethics committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (September 2023, IR.TUMS.EMRI.REC.1402.071).

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (ID: IRCT20230831059311N1).

Past, present and future trends of sarcopenia research in endocrinology & metabolism research institute:a scientometric study

Background

Sarcopenia is an important disease that needs attention in the world. The aim of this paper was to quantify the trend of sarcopenia's scientific publications of EMRI (Endocrinology & Metabolism Research Institute, Iran).

Methods

All studies and scientific articles on sarcopenia which were affiliated to EMRI and its research centers have been recruited in this review through an inclusive search in web of science until 20th December 2019. The number of documents, publication year, main journals, citations, subject area and co-authorship network of authors were assessed.

Results

Totally, 28 documents from EMRI were related to sarcopenia and indexed in the web of science. The number of documents showed an increasing trend. Most publications were "meeting abstract" at prestigious congresses. The top subject area were "epidemiology" and "association with other diseases". The highest cited article was a systematic review study, and the top source was "Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders" Journal.

Conclusion

EMRI provides an appropriate face of sarcopenia publications in the world. However, there is a need for more effort in other subject areas of sarcopenia, this study would be helpful for Iranian researchers to conduct better research in this field.

Circulating Mediators of Apoptosis and Inflammation in Aging; Physical Exercise Intervention

Sarcopenia is an age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass caused by many cellular mechanisms and also by lifestyle factors such as low daily physical activity. In addition, it has been shown that sarcopenia may be associated with inflammation and cognitive impairment in old age. Regular exercise is key in reducing inflammation and preventing sarcopenia and diseases related to cognitive impairment. The study was designed to assess the impact of exercise training on circulating apoptotic and inflammatory markers of sarcopenia in older adults. Eighty older adults aged 70.5 ± 5.8 years were randomized to the physically active group who participated in a 10-month Tai-Chi training session (TC, n = 40) and the control group who participated in health education sessions (HE, n = 40). Tai-Chi training caused a significant decrease in fat mass (FM) by 3.02 ± 3.99%, but an increase in appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) by 1.76 ± 3.17% and gait speed by 9.07 ± 11.45%. Tai-Chi training elevated the plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNFα), and tumor necrosis receptor factor II (TNFRII), and decreased caspases 8 and 9. Despite the increase in TNFα, apoptosis was not initiated, i.e., the cell-free DNA level did not change in the TC group. The study demonstrated that Tai-Chi training significantly reduced the symptoms of sarcopenia through the changes in body composition and physical performance, and improvements in cytokine-related mechanisms of apoptosis.

Early-phase nano-genosensing of cell-free nucleobiomarkers in the plasma of cancerous patients

The extracted miR-21 and miR-155 from the plasma of clinical samples were targeted by non-crosslinking hybridization of Au-nanoprobes without the need for biomarker amplification. Thirty samples, including those suspected to cancer and chemotherapy-treated samples, were analyzed. An increase in the concentration of target biomarkers caused a blue-shift in the visible spectrum of nanoprobes. Using magnesium chloride, the change in the color of nanoprobes was shown to be dependent on time besides intensity. Samples with high averages of intensity needed less time for colorimetric differentiation than those with low average intensity. Au-nanoprobe-21 was turned to purple-gray in clinical specimens of stomach, colon, breast, esophagus, sarcoma, diaphragm, prostate, bladder, and lung while Au-nanoprobe-155 appeared as light purple-gray in colon, breast, lung, diaphragm and esophagus samples. The LOD was measured as 5 ng μL^-1 of targeted biomarkers. The developed nano-biosensing method could propose a point-of-care approach for cancer prognosis and diagnosis, facilitating targeted therapeutics.

Sarcopenia disease in Iran: an overview

BACKGROUND

Sarcopenia is a geriatric disease with adverse clinical outcomes, high rate of mortality and a major challenge to healthy elderly. This study aimed to undertake a survey to identify gaps and highlight strengths in sarcopenia research in order to progress research in this area for the next years in Iran.

METHODS

This study included all studies published from the beginning until the first of 2019 in national and international journals by Iranian authors conducted in the field of sarcopenia. The databases including MEDLINE (via PubMed), Web of Science and SCOPUS were used as the sources of information. All relevant available academic studies, including review articles, original articles, case reports, conference abstracts, and letters were included in the analysis.

FINDINGS

A total of 48 articles obtained and then categorized into six groups. These groups were; about Pathophysiology, Epidemiology of sarcopenia, Screening of sarcopenia, Nutrition, Physical activity and Association of Sarcopenia and Other Diseases that briefly findings of each study had been described. These findings showed that the prevalence of sarcopenia was 16.5% to 32.5%, using different definitions. A study developed and validated a screening model for identifying people with sarcopenia. Lifestyle changes such as diet can be appropriate strategies for the prevention of sarcopenia and also, physical activity is considered to be one of the few effective strategies to improve sarcopenia and prevent its outcomes, especially if in combination with appropriate nutritional supplementation. Sarcopenia is associated with adverse outcomes and other serious areas such as metabolic disorders, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, nephrology, gastroenterology, psychiatry, other geriatric diseases (such as osteoporosis, etc) and death. Some studies about these areas have been done in Iran.

CONCLUSIONS

By this study, we found that studies on sarcopenia, the gaps of sarcopenia research in Iran, and highlighted the research priorities for future works. The outcome of the present research is to ultimately improve the health, quality of life and well-being of sarcopenic people.