Active clinical trials for "Sarcopenia"

Dietary proteins potently augment muscle protein synthesis. Because of poorer anabolic sensitivity with ageing, studies and guidelines recommend higher dietary protein intake for older adults. Although higher doses would benefit skeletal muscle remodelling, large protein consumption is not feasible for many older adults. To circumvent, high-protein quality which possesses a high amino acid profile and digestibility appears to have an emergent role for supporting anabolism. Since currently the best line of defence against age related muscle loss is resistance exercise training and regular protein consumption, emphasising high-quality protein ingestion, such as whey protein, within meals may be feasible and efficacious in supporting musculoskeletal remodelling in older adults, without requirement for large protein doses. The investigators propose that at low doses, high quality protein will have additive benefit to muscle protein synthesis compared to low-quality protein. Further, combining high-quality protein diets with resistance exercise training will have more profound benefits for muscle protein synthesis and muscle remodelling more so than low-quality protein diets.

Recent work in the investigators laboratory has examined the ability of a non-invasive 13CO2 breath-test to assess differences in amino acid oxidation rates and net balance in young healthy males following protein feeding and resistance exercise. The investigators aim to test the efficacy of this non-invasive 13CO2 breath-test to assess for differences in anabolic sensitivity between young and older adults following an acute period of habitual and reduced physical activity.

This study aims to follow a cohort of osteoporotic patients treated with anti-osteoporotic drugs and to evaluate the impact of these treatments on the osteoporosis-cardiovascular-sarcopenia triad and on pain.

The overall goal of this project is to develop modular, lower-limb, powered orthoses that fit to user-specific weakened joints and control force/torque in a manner that enhances voluntary motion in broad patient populations. This project aims to establish feasibility of assisting different populations with these modular powered orthoses. The investigators hypothesize that assisting lower-limb musculature with modular powered orthoses will improve 1) lifting/lowering posture in able-bodied subjects and 2) functional outcomes in elderly subjects.

As people age, muscle mass and function is lost and exercise training is an important way to reduce the effects of this and remain independent. However, not everyone can perform this exercise and the muscle responses to exercise are often reduced in older people. So far there has been no drug found to specifically treat or reduce this problem. Muscle size depends on the balance of muscle protein breakdown and synthesis (building). This balance is regulated by multiple signals within the body, but a particular molecule - the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), is known to play an important role. For protein synthesis to build up the muscles, this pathway is needed to start the process when triggered by eating protein or exercise. Although this would suggest that mTOR activity is good, excessive levels of this signalling seem to have negative impacts on muscle maintenance with age. In animal studies, blocking mTOR signalling has stopped the development of a number of age-related diseases and increased health-span. Drugs that block this pathway (e.g. Rapamune) reduce the stimulation of muscle protein synthesis, possibly through changing the immune system, but conversely have also been shown to increase muscle size and reduce markers of nerve supply loss. This means that drugs which block the mTOR pathway could, in older people, help to reduce the negative impacts of excessive mTOR signalling on muscle size and function. The investigators aim to recruit 16 healthy male volunteers over 50 years old to investigate how the drug Rapamune (which blocks the mTOR pathway) affects aged human muscle both on its own and when combined with resistance exercise training.

Hong Kong is facing a significant societal challenge - a rapidly aging society. The proportion of the population aged 65 and over in Hong Kong increased from 16.6% in 2005 to 20.1% in 2020. The number of people aged 65 or older worldwide is estimated to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. In terms of quality of life, a major difficulty that many older people experience is a severe limitation in mobility and manipulability in their daily life, resulting in tremendous social and economic challenges. Hence, the investigators propose to develop innovative intelligent robotics systems to improve mobility and manipulability, prevent falls, enhance independence, and improve the quality of life of older adults. In particular, the investigators propose a User-Centric Co-creation (UC3) approach to developing novel intelligent wearable robots to enhance mobility and manipulability. The UC3 approach will start with a psycho-social study to identify the individual needs of older adults for achieving mobility and manipulability, which then leads to determining kinesiology-based design parameters for personalized wearable robots. The robots will be developed based on novel hybrid soft/rigid structures integrated with intelligent sensors, distributed actuators, and cooperative control methods. The robotic devices will be tested with elderly users in a user- user-centric environment for evaluation and continuous improvement. The investigators have conducted preliminary studies of the proposed approach. The results of the preliminary studies have clearly shown the feasibility as well as the novelty of the proposed approach. It can be stated confidently that our multidisciplinary team of experts in engineering, gerontology and medicine will be able to work with the elderly community and potential users to successfully deliver the project objectives. Furthermore, an Impact Committee, consisting of leaders in Hong Kong's elder community, elderly care organizations and related industries, has been proposed. It will advise and facilitate the research team to ensure the maximum impact of the research results and successful technology transfer. Commercialization efforts will be embedded in every phase of the project to ensure that the results will both benefit the elderly community and contribute to the economic development of Hong Kong. The outcomes of this project will place Hong Kong at the frontier of global robotics research and technology, provide critical technology to transform the elderly care services in Hong Kong, and create opportunities for training the next generation of scientists and engineers in robotics technology in Hong Kong.

Muscle mass loss is a common adverse effect of cancer. Muscle mass loss occurs with or without reduction in body weight. Cancer cachexia (CC) is the involuntary loss of body weight of >5% within 6 months and it occurs in 50-80% of patients with metastatic cancer. It is estimated that CC is a direct cause of up to 30% of all cancer-related deaths. No treatment currently is available to prevent CC, likely because the chemical reactions that causes of this devastating phenomenon in unknown. No treatment currently is available to prevent muscle mass loss in patients with cancer but is urgently needed as the reduced muscle mass and function is associated with impaired physical function, reduced tolerance to anticancer therapy, poor quality of life (QoL), and reduced survival. There is evidence of an interdependence between informal caregiver (e.g. spouse) and patient QoL. Thus, identifying caregiver distress and needs can potentially benefit QoL for patients with cancer cachexia. Despite the enormous impact on disease outcomes, it is not known why the loss of muscle mass and function occurs and very few studies have investigated the underlying molecular causes in humans. In particular, there is a severe lack of studies that have obtained human skeletal muscle and adipose tissue sample material. Such reference sample materials will be invaluable to obtaining in-depth molecular information about the underlying molecular causes of the involuntary but common muscle mass and fat mass loss in cancer. At a whole body level, cancer cachexia is associated with reduced sensitivity to the hormone insulin, high levels of lipids in the blood, and inflammation. Within the skeletal muscle, the muscle mass loss is associated with elevated protein breakdown and reduced protein build-up while emerging, yet, limited data also suggest malfunction of the power plants of the cells called mitochondrions. The role of malnutrition and how it contributes to weight loss is understood only to the extent of the observed loss of appetite and the reduced food intake because of pain, nausea, candidiasis of the mouth, and breathlessness. Evidence is increasing that the environment of the intestinal system could be implicated in cancer cachexia, yet, the possible effect of cancer and the cancer treatment on the intestinal environment is not understood. Thus, large and as yet poorly understood details of this syndrome precede a later weight loss. Exercise training could help restore muscle function and how the chemical reactions works in cancer. In healthy people, and patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity exercise potently improves health. Exercise has been thought to slow down the unwanted effects of cancer cachexia by changing the reactions mentioned above. Thus, there is a tremendous gap in our knowledge of how and if exercise can restore the cells power plants function, muscle mass, strength, and hormone sensitivity in human cachexic skeletal muscle. Tackling that problem and examining potential mechanisms, will enable us to harness the benefits of exercise for optimizing the treatment of patients with cancer. The data will provide novel clinical knowledge on cachexia in cancer and therefore addressing a fundamental societal problem. Three specific aims will be addressed in corresponding work packages (WPs): investigate the involvement of hormone sensitivity of insulin and measure the chemical reactions between the cells in patients with lung cancer (NSCLC) and describe the physical performance and measure amount of e.g. muscles and adipose tissue across the 1st type of cancer treatment and understand how that is related to the disease and how patients and informal caregiver feel (WP1). find changes in the chemical reactions in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue (AT), and blood samples in these patients, to understand how to predict how the disease will develop (WP2). measure changes of skeletal muscle tissue in response to exercise and see if it might reverse the hormone insensitivity and improve muscle signaling and function (WP3). The investigators believe that: the majority of patients with advanced lung cancer, at the time of diagnosis already are in a cachectic state, where they lose appetite, and have hormonal changes, and an overall altered chemical actions between the cells affecting both muscle mass and AT. The investigators propose that all this can predict how the disease will progress, and how patient- and informal caregiver fell and how they rate their quality of life. lung cancer and the treatment thereof is linked with changes in the blood, the muscle tissues, and the adipose tissues, especially in patients experiencing cachexia, that could be targeted to develop new treatment. exercise can restore the muscles and improve insulin sensitivity and improve the function of the cells power plants in patients with lung cancer-associated muscle problems.

Bone and skeletal muscle are in a single unit that interacts with each other structurally and functionally. The aim of this study is to determine the contribution of bone myoregulation reflex as a neuronal crosstalk mechanism on the development of sarcopenia in postmenopausal and senile osteoporosis

This trial is a prospective multi-center study. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of dietary supplement combined with supervised exercised on the physical performance, body composition and lung function among patients with Sarcopenia and severe Sarcopenia in chronic lung disease. After participants enroll in this study, 12-week clinical trial will be conducted to analyze the improvement regarding Sarcopenia and different severity of Sarcopenia before and after the intervention of exercise and nutritional products, which can further provide reference for clinical intervention and rehabilitation.

Malnutrition and sarcopenia (muscle wasting) are common in health care settings and represent a health and economic burden due to associated increased mortality and prolonged hospital stays. Nutritional therapy co-management is recommended for both diagnoses. This study investigates the efficacy of individualized nutrition therapy (iNT) in pulmonary rehabilitation. Patients at significant risk for malnutrition already receive iNT within clinical routine during rehabilitation. The investigators will investigate if patients with only mild to moderate risk of malnutrition and possible sarcopenia also benefit from iNT.