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People with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) may have difficulty attending rehabilitation sessions. We investigated the feasibility (adherence and satisfaction) of implementing an 8-week home-based somatosensory, entirely remote, self-training programme using the TrainPain smartphone app in people with FMS. The secondary aim was to evaluate the effect on pain symptoms. The training was performed 15 min/day, 7 days/week for 8 weeks. Participants identified the number of vibrations emitted by vibrotactile pods positioned on the most painful site and the contralateral side of the body. They completed the Brief Pain Inventory before, during (4 weeks), and at the end of the 8-week programme. At 8 weeks, they also rated satisfaction and the overall perceived change. The app recorded session completion. Of the 34 individuals recruited, 29 (mean, age 46 [SD] 9 years; 27 women; median duration of symptoms 7 [5;10] years) completed all assessments. Participants completed 75% of sessions and rated the programme easy-to-use and enjoyable, 94% would recommend the programme, and 38% reported a very strong improvement at 8 weeks. Pain intensity reduced from pre to post (effect size 0.77), as did interference (effect size 0.7 to 1.17). This treatment could be a useful addition to a multidisciplinary, multicomponent approach to FMS.

Background: Cardiovascular comorbidities are increasingly being recognised in early stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) yet complete cardiorespiratory functional assessments of individuals with mild COPD or presenting with COPD risk factors are lacking. This paper reports on the effectiveness of the cardiocirculatory-limb muscles oxygen delivery and utilisation axis in smokers exhibiting no, or mild to moderate degrees of airflow obstruction using standardised cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)., Methods: Post-bronchodilator spirometry was used to classify participants as 'ever smokers without' (n=88), with 'mild' (n=63) or 'mild-moderate' COPD (n=56). All underwent CPET with continuous concurrent monitoring of oxygen uptake (V'O 2 ) and of bioimpedance cardiac output (Qc) enabling computation of arteriovenous differences (a-vO 2 ). Mean values of Qc and a-vO 2 were mapped across set ranges of V'O 2 and Qc isolines to allow for meaningful group comparisons, at same metabolic and circulatory requirements., Results: Peak exercise capacity was significantly reduced in the 'mild-moderate COPD' as compared with the two other groups who showed similar pulmonary function and exercise capacity. Self-reported cardiovascular and skeletal muscle comorbidities were not different between groups, yet disease impact and exercise intolerance scores were three times higher in the 'mild-moderate COPD' compared with the other groups. Mapping of exercise Qc and a-vO 2 also showed a leftward shift of values in this group, indicative of a deficit in peripheral O 2 extraction even for submaximal exercise demands. Concurrent with lung hyperinflation, a distinctive blunting of exercise stroke volume expansion was also observed in this group., Conclusion: Contrary to the traditional view that cardiovascular complications were the hallmark of advanced disease, this study of early COPD spectrum showed a reduced exercise O 2 delivery and utilisation in individuals meeting spirometry criteria for stage II COPD. These findings reinforce the preventive clinical management approach to preserve peripheral muscle circulatory and oxidative capacities., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is the fifth most important grain produced in the world. Interest for cultivating sorghum is increasing all over the world in the context of climate change, due to its low input and water requirements. Like other cultivated cereals, sorghum has significant nutritional value thanks to its protein, carbohydrate and dietary fiber content, these latter mainly consisting of cell wall polysaccharides. This work describes for the first time a transcriptomic analysis dedicated to identify the genes involved in the biosynthesis and remodelling of cell walls both in the endosperm and outer layers of sorghum grain during its development. Further analysis of these transcriptomic data will improve our understanding of cell wall assembly, which is a key component of grain quality., Data Description: This research delineates the steps of our analysis, starting with the cultivation conditions and the grain harvest at different stages of development, followed by the laser microdissection applied to separate the endosperm from the outer layers. It also describes the procedures implemented to generate RNA libraries and to obtain a normalized and filtered table of transcript counts, and finally determine the number of putative cell wall-related genes already listed in literature., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Single-voxel proton cardiovascular magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-CMRS) benefits from 3 T to detect metabolic abnormalities with the quantification of intramyocardial fatty acids (FA) and creatine (Cr). Conventional point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence remains the preferred choice for CMRS, despite its chemical shift displacement error (CSDE) at high field (≥ 3 T). Alternative candidate sequences are the semi-adiabatic Localization by Adiabatic SElective Refocusing (sLASER) recommended for brain and musculoskeletal applications and the localized stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM). In this study, we aim to compare these three single-voxel 1 H-CMRS techniques: PRESS, sLASER and STEAM for reproducible quantification of myocardial FA and Cr at 3 T. Sequences are compared both using breath-hold (BH) and free-breathing (FB) acquisitions., Methods: CMRS accuracy and theoretical CSDE were verified on a purposely-designed fat-water phantom. FA and Cr CMRS data quality and reliability were evaluated in the interventricular septum of 10 healthy subjects, comparing repeated BH and free-breathing with retrospective gating., Results: Measured FA/W ratio deviated from expected phantom ratio due to CSDE with all sequences. sLASER supplied the lowest bias (10%, vs -28% and 27% for PRESS and STEAM). In vivo, PRESS provided the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in FB scans (27.5 for Cr and 103.2 for FA). Nevertheless, a linear regression analysis between the two BH showed a better correlation between myocardial Cr content measured with sLASER compared to PRESS (r = 0.46; p = 0.03 vs. r = 0.35; p = 0.07) and similar slopes of regression lines for FA measurements (r = 0.94; p < 0.001 vs. r = 0.87; p < 0.001). STEAM was unable to perform Cr measurement and was the method with the lowest correlation (r = 0.59; p = 0.07) for FA. No difference was found between measurements done either during BH or FB for Cr, FA and triglycerides using PRESS, sLASER and STEAM., Conclusion: When quantifying myocardial lipids and creatine with CMR proton spectroscopy at 3 T, PRESS provided higher SNR, while sLASER was more reproducible both with single BH and FB scans.

The qualitative and quantitative aspects of elemental sulfur metabolization in wheat leaves and its effect upon photosynthetic metabolism were studied through the application of micronized sulfur upon the third leaf. Energy-dispersive x-ray analysis combined with scanning electron microscopy emphasized the existence of a sulfur peak associated with a strong potassium peak in the spectra of different tissue regions for treated leaves only, supplying an original evidence of sulfur uptake. Experiments with(35)S-labeled micronized sulfur showed that about 2% of the labeled S was absorbed and metabolized into cystine, methionine, glutathione, and sulfate. The close correlation between the excess of oxygen uptake and oxygen needs for sulfur oxidation in conjunction with the absence of hydrogen sulfide released by treated leaves support direct and fast oxidation of sulfur into sulfate according to a pathway still unclear but independent of photosynthetic CO(2) metabolism in treated leaf. The mechanisms involved in the primary metabolism of element sulfur in wheat therefore appear to be different from those in fungi.