Data is inconsistent concerning the question whether cognitive-physical training (CPT) yields stronger cognitive gains than cognitive training (CT). Effects of additional counseling, neurobiological mechanisms, and predictors have scarcely been studied. Healthy older adults were trained with CT (n = 20), CPT (n = 25), or CPT with counseling (CPT+C; n = 23). Cognition, physical fitness, BDNF, IGF-1, and VEGF were assessed at pre- and post-test. No interaction effects were found except for one effect showing that CPT+C led to stronger gains in verbal fluency than CPT (p = 0.03). However, this superiority could not be assigned to additional physical training gains. Low baseline cognitive performance and BDNF, not carrying apoE4, gains in physical fitness and the moderation of gains in physical fitness × gains in BDNF predicted training success. Although all types of interventions seem successful to enhance cognition, our data do not support the hypotheses that CPT shows superior CT gains compared to CT or that CPT+C adds merit to CPT. However, as CPT leads to additional gains in physical fitness which in turn is known to have positive impact on cognition in the long-term, CPT seems more beneficial. Training success can partly be predicted by neuropsychological, neurobiological, and genetic parameters. Unique Identifier: WHO ICTRP (http://www.who.int/ictrp); ID: DRKS00005194.

Aims: This study investigates the influence of cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) on sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in patients with severe heart failure (HF). Methods and results: Seventy-seven patients with HF (19 females; 62.6 ± 10 years) eligible for CRT were screened for presence, type, and severity of SDB before and after CRT initiation (5.3 ± 3 months) using cardiorespiratory polygraphy. NYHA class, frequency of nycturia, cardiopulmonary exercise, 6-minute walking test results, and echocardiography parameters were obtained at baseline and follow-up.Central sleep apnoea (CSA) was documented in 36 (47%), obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in 26 (34%), and no SDB in 15 (19%) patients. CRT improved clinical and haemodynamic parameters. SDB parameters improved in CSA patients only (apnoea hypopnoea index: 31.2 ±15.5 to 17.3 ± 13.7/h, p b 0.001; SaO 2 min: 81.8± 6.6 to 84.8± 3.3%, p = 0.02, desaturation: 6.5± 2.3 to 5.5 ± 0.8%, p = 0.004). Daytime capillary pCO 2 was significantly lower in CSA patients compared to those without SDB with a trend towards increase with CRT (35.5 ± 4.2 to 37.9 ± 5.7 mm Hg, ns). After classifying short term clinical and haemodynamic CRT effects, improved SDB parameters in CSA occurred in responders only. Conclusions: In patients with severe HF eligible for CRT, CSA is common and can be influenced by CRT, this improvement depends on good clinical and haemodynamic response to CRT.

Penicillinase testing is required for Staphylococcus aureus isolates with a penicillin MIC of

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has recently been introduced for bacterial identification. To our knowledge, this is the first study where the Biotyper 2.0 database (Bruker Daltonics) has been applied for bacterial identification in a local strain collection of molecularly defined Staphylococcus aureus. We showed that the accuracy of the Biotyper 2.0-based identification for 602 molecularly defined strains of S. aureus, irrespective of meticillin resistance, was equivalent to that of the molecularly defined reference even at a score cutoff value of 2. Also, 412 isolates of 20 different species of non-S. aureus staphylococci were all correctly identified to species level compared to the molecularly defined reference. Moreover, the MALDI-TOF MS-based S. aureus identification approach was clearly faster than more time-consuming methods such as a molecular identification approach.